Free Republic

PARIS (AFP) - First there was hope and expectation, then there was undiluted joy, a reality check, exasperation, despair and finally deflation - that was the Champs Elysees during the World Cup final. What was supposed to be a great swansong for a player rightly lauded as the greatest of his generation, ended in disgrace for French star Zinedine Zidane. And his hoards of loyal fans looked on in disbelief as they watched their talisman head-butt his way - the victim being Marco Materazzi - into an inglorious but dramatic retirement - more Eric Cantona than Zizou. The wild party...

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,...

Long unknown at home and ridiculed abroad, the United States isn't being written off in the soccer world anymore. But the Americans will need to pull together as team to get past their tough World Cup group. A motorcade of police cars with flashing blue lights and a massive, unmarked FIFA bus has announced the arrival and often rapid departure of the US soccer team in Hamburg over the past week. But when the American players are on their own, it's a different story. On Friday, star midfielder DaMarcus Beasley sat, blissfully anonymous, at a sidewalk café outside the Americans'...