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The World Cup Final will be held Sunday in Berlin at 2 p.m. ET (ABC). Germany will face Portugal to play for third place on Saturday in Stuttgart at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN).

The World Cup is generating record television audiences for soccer in the U.S. But some diehard fans think the coverage deserves a red card. Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN and ABC have been hit with complaints from soccer devotees that their telecasts are unsophisticated and mistake-ridden. The popular Web site Big Soccer has a thread titled "Pick your favorite insane thing said by the announcers so far."A major gripe: ESPN selected an announcer, Dave O'Brien, who had never called a soccer game before this year to serve as the tournament's lead play-by-play man. Some English-speaking viewers have switched to Spanish-language Univision,...

The Elite Eight!! The quarterfinal round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany gets underway Friday with a pair of highly-anticipated matches. The hosts kick things off against Argentina in Berlin (10:55 a.m. ET; ESPN). Italy will face Ukraine in the day's second game (2:55 p.m.; ESPN2). Two of the quarterfinals are rematches of championship games: Brazil-France (1998) and Germany-Argentina (1986 and 1990).

France coach Raymond Domenech has alleged that his players were subjected to racist taunts by Spanish fans before Tuesday's second round tie. He said: "When I arrived with the bus there were fans making monkey chants." The claim seems certain to reignite the racism row that has plagued Spanish football in recent years. In 2005 Spain coach Luis Aragones was fined for making racist remarks about France's Thierry Henry and players have suffered racist abuse in La Liga games. Aragones' comments about Henry were the most high-profile and Henry was clearly delighted that France were able to beat the Spaniards...

Defending champs Brazil encounter surprise Group E second place finishers Ghana (10:55 a.m. ET ESPN). Then, at 2:55 p.m. (ESPN), European powehouses Spain and France meet.

My theory is that Americans have neither the belief system nor the temperment for such a sisyphean sport as soccer. We are a society of doers, achievers, and builders. Our country is dynamic, constantly growing, and becoming ever bigger, richer, and stronger. We do not subscribe to a “zero sum” mentality. We do not labor for the sake of laboring. And we like our sports teams to score.

LET THE FUN BEGIN!!! The World Cup field has been trimmed to 16. The opening round of the 2006 World Cup is complete, as Groups G and H wrapped up play on Friday. Victories allowed Spain, Ukraine, France and Switzerland to move into the Round of 16. Knockout play begins on Saturday as hosts Germany face Sweden and Mexico meets Argentina.

Sunday games in the 2006 FIFA World Cup will kick off at 9 a.m. ET (ABC) in Nuremburg with a meeting between the only two winless teams in Group F, Japan and Croatia. They will face each other knowing that a defeat will put an end to their World Cup adventures. In their opening match against Australia, the Japanese could not maintain a 1-0 lead and they were scored on three times in the last 15 minutes. Croatia's debut was not any better, as Brazil's Kaka scored to give the South Americans a 1-0 win over the Europeans. In Sunday's...

Starting off the day will be Real Salt Lake's Douglas Sequeira and his Costa Rican teammates, who play Ecuador at 8:55 a.m. ET in Hamburg (ESPN2). The ticos showed pluck in their Group A opener against Germany on Friday, making a game of it by scoring twice against the hosts before falling 4-2. The Central Americans will need to have more players get involved in the attack against Ecuador, as Paulo Wanchope provided their only offense. The Ecuadorians got a huge weight off their shoulders by downing Poland 2-0 in their group play opener Friday. Previously, the side had been...