FIFA World Cup

Madonna Searches For Molly, Finds Herself Embroiled In A Brand-New Controversy

Ultra Music Festival pummeled Miami's Bayfront Park last weekend, motivating innumerable fist pumps over thirty hours of music, but it was the brief speech by a 53-year-old woman wearing a shirt emblazoned with the letters "MDNA" that has prompted disbelief within parts of the electronic dance music ... More >>

The Super Bowl Prostitution Hoax

Indianapolis mobilizes for an epic battle with an urban legend

You Can Now Bet On the Quidditch World Cup

Middlebury is favored to win the World Cup. ​You heard it here first, gamblers: it's coming time to place your bets on who will win the Quidditch World Cup. Yes, the Quidditch World Cup is real, don't you remember? (Muggle Quidditch, FYI.) It's coming to New York in November. And now an online ... More >>

Moscow Cops Find Suicide Bomber's Head in Airport Rubble

Cops in Moscow think they've found the head of the suicide bomber who blew up the city's busiest airport today, killing 35 people and wounding at least 168 others. As a Russia Today talking head puts it, it's "the head of a man wth an Arabic appearance." The mid-afternoon (Moscow time) attack "spr ... More >>

World Cup 2018 Goes to Russia, 2022 to Qatar, Psychic Octopus TBD

​Russia has been chosen to host the 2018 World Cup, via a secret ballot vote by Fifa's executive committee today. Condolences to England, Spain and Portugal, and Belgium and the Netherlands, (the latter two in joint bids), who were all finalists.

Paul the Octopus Has Died

Paul in happier days​Sad, sad news in cephalopods this morning: Paul the psychic octopus who predicted the results of World Cup soccer games with eerie accuracy, has died in his aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany.

Sons of Medellin Collide in The Two Escobars

Manhattan Now Has a Souvlaki Truck

Geoff Peters 604/FlickrBehold, souvkaki.​Indentured office workers now have another reason to take to the streets: over the weekend, the new Souvlaki Truck began peddling grilled meats and pita throughout Manhattan.

Everybody Wants a Piece of Paul the Octopus (Especially Spain)

Not Paul, but adorable nonetheless!​By now, surely, you've heard of Paul the Psychic Octopus, who predicted eight out of eight World Cup games correctly? Well, Paul is German, or at least inhabits a German aquarium via the luck of the draw. But when Spain won the World Cup final (as he predict ... More >>

Sad Things for Lonely People: 85% of America Knows What Twitter Is

​According to a new Pew Research report, we are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma (or maybe that was Winston Churchill talking about Russia) but at any rate, damn, we are confusing! And complex! And, chained to our computers, all the better to tweet to other persons who are chaine ... More >>

Morning Links: Roman Polanski Won't Be Extradited; Well May Be Re-Capped Today; Mayor Bloomberg Hearts His iPad

​• Switzerland has refused to extradite Roman Polanski to the U.S. over a child sex case (regarding a 13-year-old girl) dating from 1977, and he has been freed from house arrest. "The reason for the decision lies in the fact that it was not possible to exclude with the necessary certainty a ... More >>

CNN: 'No One Is Interested In Sex' at World Cup

​The hookers are starving! Everyone believed that the sudden appearance of thousands of testosterone-oozing nationalists in South Africa would be a boon to the sex trade. As it turns out, no one is horny. Or they're just more interested in seeing art galleries and museums. What a classy bunch.

Paul the Octopus Predicts German Loss to Spain in World Cup Semi-Finals (Video, Plus Bonus Video!)

Paul, with his World Cup paraphernalia​I always thought octopus was best grilled and cut into bite-sized pieces until I watched these two videos. Now, I have a much deeper appreciation for the creatures, especially the psychic one called Paul, a name we usually associate with suburban dads and ... More >>

Hitler Crashes Fourth of July Weekend World Cup Party

​Fourth of July weekend is when Americans get all giddy about independence and democracy, right? Well, that's the case most years, at least until the beer-guzzling numbs the patriotism, but this year was different -- this year, American pride shared the weekend spotlight with the World Cup qua ... More >>

Buka Gets a Liquor License in Time for the Big Ghana-Uruguay Match

Chantal MartineauBuka gets booze.​ It may be positioning itself as "the most authentic Nigerian restaurant" in the city, or so say the business cards, but Buka in Clinton Hill actually has more of a Brooklyn bar feel. Instead of your usual African restaurant accoutrements -- masks, colorful p ... More >>

Coffee Cocktails All the Rage; Whitesnake Launches Rocking Wine Label

​As cocktail culture evolves and the drinks themselves get more intricate, the job of naming them has become a craft in itself. Sip a Penelope Cruiser at 675 Bar, or a Chupacabra at Fatty 'Cue. [NY Times] A new DIY winery is coming to Williamsburg, where you'll be able to do everything from s ... More >>

The Long and Ambivalent Genesis of "Waka Waka," the Cameroonian Military Theme Song Shakira Pilfered for Her World Cup Anthem

Note the chanting. Ace critic Jeff Chang points us to the never-less-than-prescient blog of local freeform radio titans WFMU, where one intrepid writer traces the origins of "Waka Waka"--the song now famous for providing the base text for Shakira's official/abysmal World Cup anthem "Waka Waka (Thi ... More >>

World Cupdate: USA and England Score the Same Amount of Baskets, Tie

​It's hard to explain the collective feelings of the United States when it comes to the World Cup this afternoon. As mentioned earlier, energy is a contagious thing, especially when it comes to bandwagon fans. And so it was going to take a pretty special underdog performance from the U.S. team ... More >>

Watch R. Kelly Kick Off the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

The song is "Sign of a Victory," R. Kelly's Soweto Spiritual Singers-assisted bonkers paean to the evils of global warming and the glory of rainbows, the light at the end of the tunnel, the spirit of nations, sung with the bombastic, reality-denying conviction that is Kelly's signature. He perform ... More >>

International Perspectives From a LES Soccer Club

​We thought all soccer enthusiasts huddled around a big-screen TV during the World Cup, but the soccer club at Manhattan Comprehensive, an international high school, played right through the games today at Roosevelt Park on the Lower East Side.

This Week, in the Voice: The Andrew Cuomo-Shelly Silver Donkey Show

​How many Democrats does it take to make a donkey show? In this week's cover story, Village Voice columnist Wayne Barrett takes account of the opposition New York gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo will actually have to face: Shelly Silver, and the rest of our state's old-school democrats.

Reconciliation, If Not Truth, in Clint Eastwood's Invictus

The World Cup Refigured in Deep Play

Harun Farocki gets his kicks out of soccer and video

Tribeca Preview

25 movies that intrigued, annoyed, and greatly pleased our fest-happy critics

Net Loss

Kick Out the Hams

Metros and Soccer Look to Advance

Status Report

Objects of the Game

Olympic Female Athletes Are Disrobing for the Cameras at a Record Pace

Sports

Our Bodies, Ourselves

The Mainstream Embraces the Athletic Amazon

The Century in Sports

The Eighth Annual Village Voice Sportswriters' Poll

The Year in Sports

Sports

Kicking and Screening

Hooligans, punters, murder, romance, and the existential crisis of the goalie

Sports

The Girls of Summer

The Summer of Love

The Women's Soccer Team Swept the U.S. Public Off Its Feet. What Happens Now That the Affair Is Over?

American Pie in the Sky

Soccer Sociology

The World Series

The Women's World Cup Enters The Elimination Round

International Imbalance of Power

Kicking Off

U.S. Smells Victory

Lost and Found

Foreign Affairs

Taking on the World

The U.S. Team Begins Another Hard Road To Glory

Women of the World: The Class of '99

Dream Makers, Heartbreakers

Strawberry and Other Star Athletes Who've Suffered Self-Inflicted Tragedy

The Long Way Home

Women's World Cup '99: the latest stop on the U.S.'s road to glory

Winners Take All

The Seventh Annual Village Voice Sportswriters Poll

Foot in Mouth