When two teams take to the World Cup pitch, their national histories and politics take the field with them. Seldom is that weight as present as in Wednesday’s knockout stage game between the U.S. and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The U.S. played a decisive role in ending Bosnia’s nearly four-year war in the 1990s, a conflict…
BRUSSELS — The Matongé area of Brussels was filled with drums and flags on Wednesday evening as every bar and barber shop showed the DR Congo vs. England game — the biggest Congolese match since 1974, when it won the African Cup of Nations and competed in the World Cup under the name Zaire. Belgium’s…
BELGRADE, Serbia — The nearly four-year Bosnian war in the 1990s set off a massive wave of displacement, with a third of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s pre-war population permanently leaving the country as refugees. Team captain Edin Džeko, a 40-year-old striker who left his native Sarajevo soon after the war, has recalled playing soccer in the…
No matter the result on Wednesday night, the roughly 60,000 Bosnian Americans who call St. Louis home — reportedly the largest population of Bosnians outside Bosnia and Herzegovina — will have something to celebrate. Many, however, are unapologetically cheering for their homeland when it takes on the country they now call home. “They are like…
Spotted at World Cup matches so far: King Felipe VI from Spain, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima from the Netherlands, and Norway’s Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. The European royals have been out in force supporting their national teams. Hardly spotted yet: Europe’s elected leaders. European heads of government only tend to make…
The scorer of the opening American goal against Bosnia, Folarin Balogun, is eligible to play for the United States only because airline employees in New York kept his pregnant mother from returning to London until her son was born. As our Riya Misra wrote recently, it makes Balogun not only the leader of a reinvigorated…
Ken Burns on Trump’s America 250: ‘Washington needed no monuments’ lead image Politics
The U.S. men’s national team was stunned on Wednesday when Folarin Balogun was sent off in the 64th minute of its World Cup round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. USA won, 2-0, to advance to the round of 16 and will face Belgium. The question now is:…
Next up for the United States: Belgium. For the second time in its last three World Cups, the USA will take on the Red Devils in the round of 16. Earlier on Wednesday, Belgium completed a stunning comeback to beat Senegal to seal its spot in the round of 16, while the USA took care…
You wanted power rankings? I got your power rankings right here. Don’t like mine? You can always get your own. Remember, these 2026 FIFA World Cup power rankings change as the tournament goes on. And we do have changes from last week. My colleague Thierry Henry is going to be happy because France is right…
