Soccer Archive

  • Amazing Twitter World Cup mash-up needs to be seen right now

    Amazing Twitter World Cup mash-up needs to be seen right now

    Whew! Day One of the World Cup is now behind us, and I wanted to take a moment to point y'all in a particularly awesome direction. The Guardian, one of my recommend sites from yesterday's catch-all post, has a truly amazing Twitter mash-up that needs to be seen to be believed. What it does is analyze tweets that occur during a game, then it creates a dynamic chart that corresponds to said tweets.

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  • How to make the most of the World Cup: Apps, Web sites, podcasts and more!

    How to make the most of the World Cup: Apps, Web sites, podcasts and more!

    Let's get down to business. The World Cup begins tomorrow, June 11, 2010. The tournament kicks off with hosts South Africa against Mexico at 9:30am ET/6:30am PT on ESPN in the U.S. (International readers: you'll have to consult your local listings.) Consider this post a general how-to on making the most of the tournament. Mobile Apps, helpful Web sites, podcasts, etc. Woo~!

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  • Videos: Soccer-playing robot

    Videos: Soccer-playing robot

    Building robots capable of playing soccer - that's apparently very hard to pull off, as shown several times in the past. But this new robot, the RoboErectus Jr., is different. Developed at the Robotics Center of Singapore Polytechnic, he looks like he's a little small, but his moves are pretty cool.

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  • Spain’s David Villa: That second goal against Poland was something out of a video game

    Spain’s David Villa: That second goal against Poland was something out of a video game

    Continuing with our (well, my) nearly non-stop World Cup coverage! Spain beat Poland yesterday 6-0 in Murcia. It was an awesome display, and an illustration of why Spain are the favorites to win the tournament. And yes, there is a tech connection~! That second goal, my word...

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  • Video: Nike proves once and for all the world needs a bearded Rooney

    Video: Nike proves once and for all the world needs a bearded Rooney

    We’re about three weeks away from the beginning of the World Cup. You know this because I’ve mentioned it over and over again since 2008. Fancy Adidas this, super-advanced Nike that. And so on. Today’s edition: a three-minute Nike advert that was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (of “Babel” fame). Even if you have no [...]

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  • Say hello to the environmentally friendly Nike kits that Team USA will wear at the World Cup

    Say hello to the environmentally friendly Nike kits that Team USA will wear at the World Cup

    Close readers will have noticed that A) I write quite a bit about soccer+technology but B) never about Team USA. Messi this, Cristiano Ronaldo that. Well that ends today! Nike recently unveiled the kit that Landon Donovan & Co. will use to get second place in Group C this World Cup. USA, USA!

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  • Adidas F50 adiZero: Messi (and others) will wear the lightest soccer boot in human history at the World Cup

    Adidas F50 adiZero: Messi (and others) will wear the lightest soccer boot in human history at the World Cup

    A little while ago I brought news of the super-duper technology that adidas' kits ("jerseys") will utilize at the World Cup. We all had a good time, yes? Well today there's news of the boot, the F50 adiZero, that the likes of Leo Messi and David Villa (soon to be teammates at FC Barcelona maybe~!) and Jozy Altidore will use to score many goals. Adidas says it's the lightest football boot ever produced by man! At this rate, we'll be zipping around the galaxy using mass relays, knock on wood.

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  • England manager delays launch of player-tracking Web site amid criticism

    England manager delays launch of player-tracking Web site amid criticism

    People who hate to see technology in soccer, rejoice! England manager Fabio Capello has delayed the launch of the so-called Capello Index, a Web site that would have tracked various statistical measures of England players. It was to have started with the World Cup next month and continue into the Premier League season, but the whole project has been shelved for the time being.

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  • Will Algeria use technology to win the World Cup?

    Will Algeria use technology to win the World Cup?

    Will technology defeat The Three Lions (that's England, or course) at the World Cup this year? Maybe, but then again, maybe the injuries to Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, and Wayne Bridge will have a role to play as well. There's a fun story in the Daily Telegraph that details Algeria's plan to use technology to defeat England at the World Cup, which begins on June 11. Incidentally, Algeria and England, along with Slovenia, are in Team USA's group, so put on your Uncle Same t-shirts and get ready to chant USA! USA! till your throat it sore.

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  • First 3D baseball game ever will air on DirecTV in July

    First 3D baseball game ever will air on DirecTV in July

    Listen, it's all well and good that DirecTV gets to make these grandiloquent announcements that it's going to offer this or that sport in 3D—today's news is that DirecTV will be the first TV provider to show a Major League Baseball game in 3D with this July 10 and July 11's Yankees-Mariners clash on the YES Network—but I have one question: why in God's name is Fox Soccer Channel still shown in standard definition? That's right, four years after I purchased my first HDTV specifically so I could watch ESPN-HD and ESPN2-HD coverage of the World Cup, I'm still staring at SD coverage on FSC with DirecTV. It's all a little bit stupid.

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  • Videos: Watch Japanese soccer robots scoring “spectacular” goals

    Videos: Watch Japanese soccer robots scoring “spectacular” goals

    Remember the soccer-playing humanoid we've shown you Monday? Well, the “RoboCup Japan Open 2010″ [JP] he was taking part in during the last few days ended yesterday, but not before the yet to be named robot showed off his (limited) skills as a goalkeeper. And he faced an (apparently) stronger adversary.

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  • New Japanese soccer robot shows the way to human-less sports is still long

    New Japanese soccer robot shows the way to human-less sports is still long

    The "RoboCup Japan Open 2010" [JP] is currently taking place in Osaka, and the world's biggest robot soccer tournament has attracted 225 teams from all over the world this time. Started in 1997, the official goal of the RoboCup is to have a team of humanoids play and defeat a team comprised of human soccer players during a "real" world soccer cup sometime around 2050. But judging from what we can see currently, there is still a long way to go. Take the humanoid you can see on the picture and in the video embedded below, for example. It's taking part in the RoboCup 2010 Humanoid League's adult size class, meaning it competes against other robots that stand between 130 and 160cm tall.

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  • The Adidas Jo’bulani will be used in the FIFA World Cup final

    The Adidas Jo’bulani will be used in the FIFA World Cup final

    You're already familiar with the Adidas Jabulani, the ball that will be used during the FIFA World Cup this year. It's the roundest ball ever created—impressive—and hopefully Messi will score many goals with it. Well, now say hello to the Jo'bulani, the ball that will be used during the final game of the tournament. It seems to be a palette swap of the Jabulani, with gold paint in place of the Jabulani's green-black.

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  • Only one game per matchday will be in 3D during the World Cup

    Only one game per matchday will be in 3D during the World Cup

    More info on Sony and FIFA's plan to bring us the World Cup in 3D. It turns out that Sony will only film one game per matchday in 3D. That's for all 25 days of the tournament, so if multiple games are played on the same day only one game, presumably the highest profile, will get the 3D treatment.

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  • FoxSoccer.tv learns that Web sites work best when they’re actually online

    FoxSoccer.tv learns that Web sites work best when they’re actually online

    Call me crazy, but Web sites usually work best when they're online. Nobody knows this better than we do here at CrunchGear, where the site is down a good 20 percent of the time. But at the very least you're not paying for our crummy service, unlike the poor FoxSoccer.tv customers. Fox wants $45 per season for online access to a whole host of content, including live games from all over the world. It's really not a bad service when it works, but when it doesn't work people freak out, and rightfully so.

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