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Arena Fonte Nova in Brazil opens!

Dave Taylor — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:53:43 +0000

We’re definitely paying attention to progress in Brazil for the upcoming World Cup, and are happy to see that a third stadium was unveiled yesterday in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Called Arena Fonte Nova, it has a capacity of 48,744 and gorgeous, as the photo illustrates. In fact, it’s also going to [...]

India’s sobering New Year’s eve

Klaus Holzapfel — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:38:59 +0000

On December 16th a 23-year old student was gang raped by six men in New Delhi. She died from her injuries in a hospital in Singapore on December 29th. All six men have been arrested and charged with murder. The name of the victim has not been released yet. With this sad story India has [...]

Abby Wambach, the best female soccer player in the world

Will Ris — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:36:25 +0000

Depending on whom you ask, Abby Wambach is currently the best female soccer player in the world. Out of the roughly 3.3 billion females on the planet, the US Women’s National Team forward is the best at playing the sport of soccer. For those that might disagree, simply look at Wambach’s recent Olympic stats as [...]

Goal Line Technology endorsed by FIFA

Dave Taylor — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:06:06 +0000

It’s not the first international match where a goal was denied, but when Ukranian forward Marco Devic had his ball cleared by England’s John Terry without being counted as a goal, it was a reminder of how much soccer relies on referees who can’t always be in the right place. Television replays showed the ball [...]

The Surprising Popularity of UEFA Euro 2012 in America

Dave Taylor — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:02:38 +0000

There are a lot of theories about why soccer, the most popular sport in the world, isn’t that successful in the United States. It’s getting better, but anywhere else in the world we wouldn’t have to explain why we like the sport, we’d be sharing knowing smiles with fellow fans, confident that our obsession is [...]

The US Men’s National Team is about to run a marathon

Dave Taylor — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 19:45:36 +0000

“Marathon” has numerous meanings, ranging from a long distance race to a time consuming process. The use of word to describe distance, just under 42.2 kilometers or slightly over 26.2 miles, originates from the distance between Marathon Greece and Athens, and isn’t necessary accurate for the case of the United States Men’s National Team (USMNT). [...]

Personal predictions and expectations for the 2014 World Cup

Klaus Holzapfel — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 23:43:31 +0000

Are you excited for the 2014 World Cup yet? I am. The qualifying started in June 2011, a full three years before the actual event. The teams in South America and Europe will start their long qualification runs later this year and selection of the final 32 spots will be made by November 2013. I [...]

The most important piece in the gender equality puzzle?

Klaus Holzapfel — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 03:11:59 +0000

Today I went to a panel on the Status of Women and Girls around the World. Experts Judith Morisson, Judithe Registre and Merle Lefkoff spoke at the 64th Conference of World Affairs (CWA) in Boulder. All three panelists agreed that women’s rights have taken a huge step forward over the last 15 years on a [...]

Demographics of Brazil

Klaus Holzapfel — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:04:37 +0000

This is a guest post by Elaine Hirsch. Her interests range from education to technology to public policy. She is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites. As part of the BRIC countries, Brazil was one of the countries which was designated as a developing country becoming a major global power in the 21st [...]

Child Prostitution Carries Far-Reaching Effects for Victims

Klaus Holzapfel — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:43:06 +0000

This is a guest post by Allison Gamble. She has been a curious student of psychology since high school. She brings her understanding of the mind to work in the weird world of internet marketing. The global problem of sexual exploitation of children stems from multiple causes and generates numerous subsidiary issues. Two major aspects [...]