Raging Bull All Grown Up And Leading The English
by Jeré Longman (Profile/Interview | New York Times - June 3)
The life and times of Wayne Rooney, England’s star and star-crossed forward, can be floridly traced in the body art of his tattoos. more details | go to article

Bradley Set With Most Of Lineup
by Paul Kennedy (Preview | Soccer America - May 29)
After many starters sat out Tuesday's friendly against the Czech Republic, look for Coach Bob Bradley to field close to his first team for Saturday's friendly against Turkey in Philadelphia (TV: ESPN2, Galavision, live, 2 pm ET). more details | go to article

Eyes On Hurting D When USA Faces Turks
by Ridge Mahoney (Preview | Soccer America - May 28)
On a teleconference call Wednesday discussing his World Cup squad selection, U.S. coach Bob Bradley said he'd like to field his projected starting XI, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, against Turkey Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN2) at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. more details | go to article

Will Soccer Heed Doctor's Orders?
by Paul Gardner (Commentary | Soccer America - May 28)
Just over a week ago I was talking of the refereeing clampdowns that invariably accompany each World Cup, wondering what would be clamped down on this time. more details | go to article

World Cup At San Francisco's City Hall
by No Author Listed (Article | Soccer America - May 28)
If the choice is city workers heading home or off to a local bar to watch World Cup or have them view the games in their front yard, the city of San Francisco would prefer the latter. It will be showing games on a 13-by-18-foot video screen at Civic Center Plaza. more details | go to article

Respect Elusive For U.S. Men's Soccer Team
by Linda Robertson (Commentary | Miami Herald - May 27)
On paper, the U.S. soccer team looks good. On the green grass of South African stadiums, lining up in front of millions of spectators and TV viewers, deafened by the cacophony of bleating vuvuzelas and competing against England, Slovenia and Algeria, the U.S. soccer team will have to prove it is good. more details | go to article

Brazil Cuts Beer Duties To Avoid Shortages
by No Author Listed and Peter Murphy (Article | Reuters - May 27)
Brazil has slashed beer duties to avoid shortages during the World Cup, after local brewers warned they would be unable to meet surging demand despite sharply increasing production. more details | go to article

U.S. Roster Soap Opera Settled On Daytime TV
by George Vecsey (Commentary | New York Times - May 27)
The call came after 2 in the morning, but DaMarcus Beasley was not asleep. His roommate, Oguchi Onyewu, gave him hugs and handshakes, and that was how Beasley knew he was going to the World Cup again. more details | go to article

Star-Studded World Cup Concert To Air Live
by Julian Quisquater (Article | Soccer America - May 27)
With America's interest in the World Cup at an all-time high, ESPN2 is taking full advantage by broadcasting complete live coverage of the Kick-Off Celebration Concert a day before the tournament begins. The event takes place at the 30,000-seat Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg June 10 (2 pm ET). A highlight presentation of the concert will be shown on ABC during primetime on June 11 at 8 pm. ET/PT. more details | go to article

U.S. Roster Is Set For Trip To South Africa
by Michelle Kaufman (Profile/Interview | Miami Herald - May 27)
Edson Buddle, Herculez Gomez and Robbie Findlay made the U.S. team at forward over Brian Ching as Bob Bradley announced his final roster Wednesday. more details | go to article

Obama Will Be Watching ...
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | Soccer America - May 27)
A day after the selection of the 23 players who will represent the USA at the World Cup, they headed to the White House for an official sendoff from President Barack Obama. more details | go to article

More World Cup Tickets To Go On Sale Friday
by Thandisizwe Mgudlwa (Article | Yahoo - May 26)
Another 150,000 World Cup tickets will go on sale Friday, including tickets for the World Cup final. more details | go to article

U.S. Sets 23-Man World Cup Roster
by No Author Listed (Profile/Interview | ESPN - May 26)
Edson Buddle and Herculez Gomez have made the U.S. World Cup roster, coming from obscurity a few months ago to earn trips to South Africa. more details | go to article

Official USA World Cup Roster Named
by Andrea Canales (Profile/Interview | Goal.com - May 26)
Bradley makes final decisions. more details | go to article

Rural South Africa Gets Taste Of World Cup
by Tshego Letshwiti (Profile/Interview | Yahoo - May 26)
Outsiders are rare as rain in this dusty corner of northern South Africa. So when cars carrying government workers, flags and a sound system arrived at the community sports field, curious villagers streamed in. more details | go to article