Team USA might be on the sidelines, but there’s no shortage of soccer fans in uniform who’ll be dealing with a case of World Cup Fever over the next few weeks. For those who find themselves overseas during the 2018 tournament, there’s some good news: American Forces Network will show World Cup action, either live or on tape delay, to troops across the globe. That wasn’t always a sure thing: AFN Broadcast Center director Catina Barnes said last week that securing broadcast rights required two years of negotiations and sign-off from more than 30 broadcast entities, including American provider Fox Sports.…
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If you haven’t been following all the invites from the Marine Corps, it’s becoming a bit of a trend to ask out a celebrity on YouTube. Now the Army is getting into it. Meet U.S. Army Capt. Nassar Jabour. He would like U.S. Women’s National Team goalie Hope Solo to join him in Vienna, Austria for his officer’s ball in January. The video itself is a bit out-dated because it was filmed before the U.S. lost to Japan on Sunday, but he wishes the team luck before the biggest game of their careers. No word on whether Solo has accepted…
When the women’s U.S. Soccer Team arrived for the World Cup playoffs, they were quickly dismissed. Everyone knew who the real contenders were. The Americans didn’t have a chance. But every time Carin Gabarra walked out on the field, she didn’t fret the naysayers. She knew better. “We always expected to win. As a group, we never had doubt in each other,” she says. And they were right. She remembers it like was yesterday, but it was 20 years ago when the U.S. team won the very first World Cup championship against Norway before a crowd of 65,000 at Guangzhou’s…
Lots of people are unhappy with the constant horn blowing going on at the World Cup. The devices, called vuvuzelas, are a constant soundtrack during the soccer championships. Players seem to hate them, despite the penchant for fans to continually blow ’em. German police say a U.S. Army civilian crossed the line — threatening his horn-blowing neighbors with an ax during Thursday’s Cameroon-Netherlands match because he was so annoyed with the noise. For the entire story, click here.
[HTML1] Stephen Colbert links yesterday’s two major news events on his show. Come to think of it, I wonder if Gen. David Petreaus, a soccer fan, was able to catch yesterday’s thriller. I’m guessing his schedule might not have allowed him to slink out to a bar down the street from the White House.
A Marine lance corporal fighting in Helmand province fired off a message to the U.S. National Team after Landon Donovan’s strike in the 91st minute of yesterday’s World Cup match. Lance Cpl. Nate Bickel didn’t know if it would reach the team, but it did and many players posted the link to it on their Twitter feeds. Here it is: Name: Lcpl Nate Bickel Subject: Group C Champions Message: So we aren’t sure who to send this to but my unit here in Helmand Province, Afghanistan wanted you to know the Kilo Company 3d Battalion, 3d Marine Regiment couldn’t be…
[HTML1] The English side has had a rough go of it so far during this World Cup, with players sleeping with other players’ ex-wives, the former captain speaking out against the coach, and then, of course, the embarrassing draw to the Yanks. Despite it all, though, the English snuck out of Group C and advanced to the Round of 16 after beating Slovenia 1-0 yesterday. Of course, the U.S. shocked everyone and won the group. Bollocks!!!!! Before the World Cup kicked off their fellow countrymen in uniform taped this inspirational message and sent it off to Rooney and Co.
Maj. Roy Nickerson and a group of soldiers at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan did their best to watch today’s epic U.S.-Algeria World Cup match on TV. But as you might expect, the realities of war zone life did not make it easy. In the end, Nickerson, a member of the 101st Airborne, was able to witness Landon Donovan’s game-winning goal. Sort of. Read his description of the scene at Bagram and you’ll understand: Tonight I was not able to partake in most of the festivities surrounding the US-Algeria World Cup Soccer match. “Festivities” at our location essentially equates to a…
A day before U.S. and England’s national teams square off in the World Cup Saturday, airmen at RAF Mildenhall, England, will challenge a local Mildenhall football club to a match. What they are calling a “World Cup kickoff match,” Mildenhall’s base team will play Mildenhall Town FC at 6 p.m. on June 11. The teams will play only two 15-minute halves, which sounds more like a dog-and-pony-show than an actual match. A standard half lasts 45 minutes, but organizers have allowed for interviews and photo opportunities with the teams an hour before the game. Tech Sgt. Kevin Wallace, one of…
