In advance of the United States’ World Cup debut against Ghana on Monday, Sam Borden of The New York Times wrote about a curious dilemma faced by the American players: To flop or not to flop? Several sources in Borden’s feature floated a theory that, culturally, American athletes find it hard to embrace the dishonesty of what FIFA calls “simulation.” […]
In advance of the United States’ World Cup debut against Ghana on Monday, Sam Borden of The New York Times wrote about a curious dilemma faced by the American players: To flop or not to flop? Several sources in Borden’s feature floated a theory that, culturally, American athletes find it hard to embrace the dishonesty of what FIFA calls “simulation.” […]
Monday marks the 2014 World Cup debut for the United States men’s national team, and with it begins the Americans’ 10th attempt to capture soccer’s most prestigious trophy. Since 1930, when the team placed third in the inaugural World Cup, the U.S. has never come closer to victory than the quarterfinals in 2002. The United States has the […]
Monday marks the 2014 World Cup debut for the United States men’s national team, and with it begins the Americans’ 10th attempt to capture soccer’s most prestigious trophy. Since 1930, when the team placed third in the inaugural World Cup, the U.S. has never come closer to victory than the quarterfinals in 2002. The United States has the […]
On Monday we released FiveThirtyEight’s World Cup predictions, which are based on an algorithm I created with ESPN in 2010, the Soccer Power Index (SPI). Our model has Brazil as the clear frontrunner — partly because of the substantial advantage to the host nation in the World Cup, and partly because SPI rates Brazil as […]
