Fatigue starts to show at World Cup
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The World Cup is soccer&#039;s greatest spectacle. It&#039;s also a monthlong grind, and the fatigue is starting to show.
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THERE is nothing new under the sun. Hereâs the scenario. Itâsa vital World Cup qualifier deep in the industrial heartlands of Poland.
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The phrase âit&#39;s a marathon, not a sprint&#39; is usually associated with the English Premier League. This saying now also describes World Cup qualifying, which has become a league of sorts in its own right.
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Now is the time for looking into the abyss at the World Cup of Hockey. The team that can do so without flinching and step back three times can call itself the finest hockey team in the world.
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One final horn-honking, flag-waving frenzy for the fans. One last, glorious opportunity for 40 of the world&#39;s best players to pull on their nation&#39;s colours and leave them wanting more in what should be a tremendous World Cup final.
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Few teams faced more questions heading into the World Cup than Italy and France. The French were over the hill &amp;#151; they couldn&#039;t even score. The Italians were consumed by the biggest soccer scandal in the nation&#039;s history. No teams have answered their doubters more emphatically.
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Heavyweights America, Russia, France and Argentina moved closer to the Davis cup quarter-finals on Friday on a day when opponents were cursed by illness and missing stars.
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Andriy Shevchenko has won almost every major honour in soccer. Yet there&#39;s still one major gap in his resume - playing in the World Cup.
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Anyone battling a mid-life crisis only needs to watch the World Cup. Plenty of people have been written off as washed up, only to play as if still in their prime. Zidane, Figo, Beckham &amp;#151; the list goes on. At the same time, many of those so-called prodigies are already watching the games on television.
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If the fans in the stands start yawning, Finland will know it&#39;s doing something right in the World Cup finale. In fact, tedium will be just fine for Finland if it means the suffocating checking style it has used to get this far is working against Canada.
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Now that the World Cup is underway, AP writers will be filing periodic, behind-the-scenes reports during soccer&#039;s largest spectacle:
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Three of the seven World Cup teams playing warmup matches Wednesday came away with wins &amp;#151; France, Iran and Paraguay.
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Foreign coaches and players often appear in a state of shock when first exposed to the conditions of professional soccer in the United States. The higher the level of their previous club, the greater the contrast when they arrive at their new team.
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El Salvador&#39;s national team began yesterday&#39;s World Cup qualifier at a disadvantage, conceding size and speed to the United States and fielding far fewer top-level professionals.
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The country is once again fielding a mostly white team at the World Cup. Politicians see that as a benchmark of failure
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Many of the footballers representing   their countries in an international tournament in South Africa   this week were remarkably gaunt, sallow-looking and groomed   haphazardly.
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The tension is building in Paris with less than two hours before kick-off in the World Cup final.