Photo of the Day
A Mexico soccer fan wearing a Lucha Libre wrestling mask reacts after his team’s goal against Cameroon was disallowed at thier World Cup match, as he watches the game from inside the FIFA Fan fest area on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, June 13, 2014. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Chile’s Jorge Valdivia (front) celebrates his goal against Australia with his teammates during their 2014 World Cup Group B soccer match at the Pantanal arena. Eric Gaillard | Reuters
For play-by-play, minute-by-minute coverage of every ball touch, throw-in, direct kick, indirect kick, yellow card, red card, corner kick, goal kick and every other possible football feat in every World Cup match, tap into VOA’s unparalleled multilingual, multinational analysis.
On one side of the Pacific Ocean, Australia. On the other, Chile. Today at 6 PM ET (10 PM UTC), the two teams face off in Brazil.
Click here to follow the action live.
And for even more exclusive VOA coverage with a special focus on Africa’s national teams, check out VOA’s Francophone blog.
Daniel Ochoa de Olza | AP
In 2010, Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta banged home a goal in the 116th minute of the World Cup’s final match, lifting Spain to victory over the relentless and creative attacks of Arjen Robben and the Dutch national team. The victory gave Spain its first World Cup title.
Robben and his teammates get a chance to redeem themselves when they take on the Spaniards in the two teams’ opening match of the 2014 World Cup, which kicks off at 3 p.m. USEDT (7 p.m. GMT) today.
For play-by-play, minute-by-minute coverage of every ball touch, throw-in, direct kick, indirect kick, yellow card, red card, corner kick, goal kick and every other possible football feat in every World Cup match, tap into VOA’s unparalleled multilingual, multinational analysis.
Click here to follow the match as it happens.
And for even more exclusive VOA coverage with a special focus on Africa’s national teams, check out VOA’s Francophone blog.
Thanassis Stavrakis | AP
The 2014 World Cup kicked off yesterday with Brazil beating Croatia 3-1. But the game was not without controversy: Croatia alleges an early penalty that gave Brazil the lead shouldn’t have been called.
Speaking to the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Croatia’s players could hardly hide their anger:
Dejan Lovren was judged to have fouled the Brazil striker Fred, resulting in a penalty. The Southampton defender was the most furious among Croatia players. “I can hardly hold back the tears,” he said. “Why don’t they just hand out the trophy to Brazil right away? Everything is going their way, everyone is saying they must win it, so why do we play then?
“The ref didn’t even speak English. I asked him why did he give the penalty and he just mumbled something. My team-mates tell me the same thing – how can you have an international ref who is officiating the opening match, but he doesn’t speak English and you can’t even speak to him?”
Was the ref’s call justified? Or are the claims of favoritism for Brazil true? Tell us below, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
Jose Gomez | Reuters
For play-by-play, minute-by-minute coverage of every ball touch, throw-in, direct kick, indirect kick, yellow card, red card, corner kick, goal kick and every other possible football feat in every World Cup match, tap into VOA’s unparalleled multilingual, multinational analysis.
At 12 PM ET (4 PM UTC), Mexico takes on Cameroon. Click here to follow the match.
And for even more exclusive VOA coverage with a special focus on Africa’s national teams, check out VOA’s Francophone blog.