Reuters Soccer Blog
World Soccer views and news
from Shop Talk:
World Cup soccer hits home-run in U.S. bars
From our correspondent Nivedita Bhattacharjee:
Surprised at the roar from the bar around the corner on an otherwise normal work day in New York City? Don't be. It's the FIFA World Cup, and that pub's full of people rooting for team USA.
As a record number of U.S. viewers tune in to experience the 90-minute soccer matches, bars and taverns from New York to San Francisco are doing all that they can to keep the cheers loud and the beers flowing. And even while at work, some Americans are letting daily tasks idle while they keep score.
Anthony was watching Friday's nail-biter match between the United States and Slovenia at the Irish Rogue Bar with a friend who had taken a break from work.
"Everyone's watching it in the city … It's cool because it's only once every four years, and unlike the Olympics, there's only one single country that wins," he said. "It's definitely catching … it's 11 o'clock in the morning and we're sitting at a bar for the match."
It’s not all fast cars and parties
Footballers. If we aren’t reading about their exploits on the pitch, more often than not we can read about their exploits off it. Much is speculation and the rest can’t be mentioned before the watershed, but as I recently read, it’s not always bad.
West Ham United striker Craig Bellamy is more used to finding himself in hot water rather than hot weather, but following a recent trip to Sierra Leone, the Wales international has formed the Craig Bellamy Foundation there.
Domestic bliss for Real and Bayern, but what about Europe?
Two giants of European football, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich wrapped up their respective league titles with plenty of room to spare this weekend.
Real, the nine-times European champions, snatched a dramatic 2-1 win away to Osasuna in the teeming rain to clinch their 31st Spanish title.
