Soccer Archives - Hal Phillips https://www.halphillips.net/category/soccer Small-Batch Journalism & Comment Fri, 16 Oct 2026 18:54:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.halphillips.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-BNyb0KwmkKGrHgoH-C8EjlLlhlGBJrZchZqHQ_35-32x32.jpg Soccer Archives - Hal Phillips https://www.halphillips.net/category/soccer 32 32 The Essential Soccer Book for 2026: Sibling Rivalry now Available, from Bloomsbury https://www.halphillips.net/sibling-rivalry-halphillips-net?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sibling-rivalry-halphillips-net Fri, 13 Mar 2026 15:04:00 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=4987 Welcome to HalPhillips.net, where the lede headline remains the March 2026 publication of my new book. My publishers at Bloomsbury issued Sibling Rivalry: How Mexico and the US Built the Most Contentious, Co-Dependent Feud in World Soccer on March 5, 2026. Get your very own copy here, or click that handsome book cover. We recommend […]

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]]> Heart-Stopping: My Big Day Out in Spokane https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane#respond Mon, 01 Dec 2025 03:20:26 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5757 While I’m a “Masshole” born, bred and proud (the word’s now ensconced in the Oxford English Dictionary), I’ve made my home in Maine since 1992, and never has there been a bigger soccer story to hit the Pine Tree State than Hearts of Pine, our first-year entry in USL One. The club’s fairytale run finally […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane/feed 0 Decoding Distaff Indifference Toward Women’s Professional Sports https://www.halphillips.net/decoding-distaff-indifference-toward-professional-womens-sport?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=decoding-distaff-indifference-toward-professional-womens-sport https://www.halphillips.net/decoding-distaff-indifference-toward-professional-womens-sport#respond Thu, 27 Jun 2019 15:02:31 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=3653 LYON, France (June 27, 2019) — Ever wondered why women’s professional sports are watched and otherwise supported so meagerly by women themselves? The underlying premise here may strike one as obtuse, even churlish this week, what with thousands of women in the stands watching the 2019 Women’s World Cup in stadia all over France. But […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/decoding-distaff-indifference-toward-professional-womens-sport/feed 0 English Football’s unique Global Following Grapples with yet Another Reality Check https://www.halphillips.net/grim-realities-for-english-football-and-its-global-following?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=grim-realities-for-english-football-and-its-global-following https://www.halphillips.net/grim-realities-for-english-football-and-its-global-following#respond Thu, 12 Jul 2018 14:15:44 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=3308 MOSCOW (July 12, 2018) — While their close neighbors and erstwhile enemies crow this morning over another anguished English exit from the World Cup, great swaths of the soccer-loving world suffer alongside the Albion faithful. Some of this cooperative hand-wringing is due to the sheer size of the cultural footprint left by the mother country, […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/grim-realities-for-english-football-and-its-global-following/feed 0 World Cup 2018 Digest: Why refs & linesmen so often get touch line decisions wrong https://www.halphillips.net/in-or-out-why-world-cup-refs-so-often-get-it-wrong?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=in-or-out-why-world-cup-refs-so-often-get-it-wrong https://www.halphillips.net/in-or-out-why-world-cup-refs-so-often-get-it-wrong#respond Thu, 05 Jul 2018 17:22:55 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=3299 MOSCOW (July 5, 2018) — We’ve reached the first 48-hour break in what has been a delightful frenzy of World Cup matches. The round of 16, our first knock-out stage, concluded Tuesday. Quarterfinals start Friday. Through the magic of YouTubeTV and its DVR function (we cut the cable cord in June), I’ve managed to see […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/in-or-out-why-world-cup-refs-so-often-get-it-wrong/feed 0 FulhAmerica Phenomenon Revisited https://www.halphillips.net/decade-old-yank-laden-fulham-phenomenon-revisited?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=decade-old-yank-laden-fulham-phenomenon-revisited https://www.halphillips.net/decade-old-yank-laden-fulham-phenomenon-revisited#respond Wed, 26 Jul 2017 14:05:28 +0000 http://www.halphillips.net/?p=2870 LONDON (March 26, 2007) — There are moments, sublime moments, when spectators sitting in the Johnny Haynes Stand at Craven Cottage can look to the far corner of the ground — where the perpendicular, geometric grandstands fail to meet — and see straight through to the Thames. The river fairly well glistens on sunny spring […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/decade-old-yank-laden-fulham-phenomenon-revisited/feed 0 USMNT 2017: Mr. Federation Man — Just how bare is thy cupboard? https://www.halphillips.net/usmnt-2017-mr-federation-man-just-how-bare-is-thy-cupboard?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=usmnt-2017-mr-federation-man-just-how-bare-is-thy-cupboard https://www.halphillips.net/usmnt-2017-mr-federation-man-just-how-bare-is-thy-cupboard#respond Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:00:02 +0000 http://halphillips.net/?p=2690 SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (March 22, 2017) — Sixty minutes into what remained of the March 15 match here in the Costa Rican capital, BeIN color commentator Thomas Rongen festered aloud at the visiting Americans’ inability to go forward. He rightly identified the problem in the center of midfield, where 29-year-old Michael Bradley dropped ever […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/usmnt-2017-mr-federation-man-just-how-bare-is-thy-cupboard/feed 0 Penalty Kick Reform: Take Them like all Free Kicks, from Spot of the Foul https://www.halphillips.net/a-modest-proposal-award-penalty-kicks-from-the-spot-of-the-foul?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-modest-proposal-award-penalty-kicks-from-the-spot-of-the-foul https://www.halphillips.net/a-modest-proposal-award-penalty-kicks-from-the-spot-of-the-foul#respond Mon, 07 Jul 2014 20:32:09 +0000 http://theaposition.com/halphillips/?p=1789 2014 World Cup penaltiesRIO DE JANEIRO (July 7, 2014) — FIFA should conduct an under-20 World Cup where, as a trial, penalties are taken not from the so-called “spot” but rather from where in the box the foul occurred. Judging from the World Cup now ongoing — from tournament and league play all over the world, for decades […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/a-modest-proposal-award-penalty-kicks-from-the-spot-of-the-foul/feed 0 At Brazil 2014, ‘Brave Futbol’ Means Goal-hunting https://www.halphillips.net/fortune-favors-the-brave-in-brazil-that-means-goals?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fortune-favors-the-brave-in-brazil-that-means-goals https://www.halphillips.net/fortune-favors-the-brave-in-brazil-that-means-goals#respond Sun, 29 Jun 2014 16:38:01 +0000 http://theaposition.com/halphillips/?p=1784   RIO DE JANEIRO (June 28, 2014) — I was just listening to the excellent Guardian Football Podcast, posted daily during this World Cup, and someone described Costa Rica’s performance against Italy — a 1-0 group-stage victory for Los Ticos — as having proved particularly brave. These podders are UK -based, mainly, and describing a […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/fortune-favors-the-brave-in-brazil-that-means-goals/feed 0 Suarez is Unhinged, and a bit Peckish, but Post-Facto Ban Doesn’t Fit https://www.halphillips.net/suarez-warped-a-bit-peckish-but-a-ban-doesnt-fit?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=suarez-warped-a-bit-peckish-but-a-ban-doesnt-fit https://www.halphillips.net/suarez-warped-a-bit-peckish-but-a-ban-doesnt-fit#respond Thu, 26 Jun 2014 05:05:58 +0000 http://theaposition.com/halphillips/?p=1779 RIO DE JANEIRO (July 25 2014) — What the preternaturally peckish Luis Suarez did to Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini on Tuesday was certainly a red-card offense. And yeah, it was weird — even more disturbing when you consider the man’s track record. The Uruguayan has now chomped on three guys in his illustrious and notorious career. […]

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