Free Republic

For an entire month every four years, the FIFA World Cup dominates the sporting spotlight. And for both diehard or fair-weather soccer fans cheering on their country (or another one if theirs didn’t make the cut like the US men’s team), it’s an electrifying four weeks. Here’s what you need to know about the World Cup 2018:

There are countless reasons to feel uneasy about the fact that in less than 72 hours, a World Cup will kick off in Russia. There is the inevitable racism. The expected, state-encouraged homophobia. The oft-discussed hooliganism that threatens to mar the greatest sport’s greatest spectacle. There are broader reasons, too, why Russia’s hosting of the 2018 World Cup is problematic. But it only seems right to begin an article on the topic with the nagging question: How did we get here? How did Russia, a nation so utterly undeserving of global sport’s biggest showpiece, manage to land it? The answer...

(CNSNews.com) – Although no group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bomb blasts at the Boston Marathon, a leading al-Qaeda ideologue last year recommended that jihadists in America include sporting events in their list of prospective terror targets.

The president spoke with FIFA head Sepp Blatter in a meeting at the White House on Monday and stated his belief that hosting the event may help to promote the profile of soccer in the United States. Blatter said in a press conference that he has a duty to be impartial to all 11 contenders for the 2018 event -- but confirmed that Obama had appealed to him to "make another move toward United States soccer."