On FIFA’s history of scandal.

Why all soccer fans should root for Holland to lose to Spain.

For weeks, we looked for a standout, Instapaper-friendly preview of the World Cup. We couldn’t find anything on a single page, so we made one ourselves. Here it is: thirty-two teams, eight groups, one page.

Argentina’s Lio Messi, the best soccer player on the planet, stands all of 5’7″ and needed growth-hormone injections to get there.

On the day of the earthquake, two men went into Haiti’s Soccer Federation headquarters. Only one came out.

Sixty years ago, the U.S. upset England in the World Cup on a goal from Joe Gaetjens. In most countries he would have been idolized. Instead, he was ignored in America and marked for death in his native Haiti.