World Cup Soccer

Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa said Monday that its second-quarter profit jumped 75%, helped by strong political and World Cup advertising and lower costs. However, the results were weaker than expected. Televisa earned $204 million, compared with $120.2 million last year. Revenue climbed 21% to $893 million from $738 million. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast profit of $221 million.

Re: "Ripped, Buff, Tough -- It's a Goal" [July 3]: I too have been remarking on how athletic-looking the World Cup soccer players are, so I was pleased to see this article. However, I thought the drills, or "body without the game," to be quite uninformative. The ideas put forth are simple ones, and lack recommended frequencies and repetitions. What would be far more informative is a typical professional soccer player's training schedule and how they periodize it throughout the year.

The Islamic militia movement that controls Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, arrested two members for killing two people who were watching a World Cup soccer match, the group's leader said. The two allegedly shot a teenage girl and a businessman who defied their orders to stop watching a Tuesday match. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said the group had not officially banned TV. The fighters will be charged with manslaughter under Islamic law; punishment could include compensation for the victims'

When traveling abroad into the heart of the soccer world, the only thing worse than being an Ugly American is being an Ignored American. That describes the U.S. soccer team. A non-factor here in a Fussballland obsessed with its home team, enthralled with Brazil and cautiously observant of England. The Unites States is the smallest big nation here. I've seen this played out during the World Cup, from souvenir stores that don't stock U.S.

Koreatown is splattered in red these days. And it's not just South Korean soccer fans, who are easy to identify in their bright red T-shirts bearing the South Korean flag and phrases like "Go Corea Go." The business community has caught World Cup fever too. If South Korea beats Switzerland today, several Koreatown businesses plan to offer free or discounted services and merchandise.

Drummers and dancers flooded the streets of Accra, Ghana's capital, Thursday in celebration of their team's World Cup victory over the United States, with men climbing on car rooftops to wave Ghanaian flags and a rising chant of "Ghana go go go!" filling the city. "This is a great day for Ghana," said Emelia Ameya, a 52-year-old phone company administrator, amid the uproar. "We have beaten the Americans and go, go, we go!"

World Cup team uniforms -- "kits" as they're called in most of the soccer-loving world -- are not just a sideline topic. They are the face of a nation, and perhaps even a tactical tool as well. Carefully designed for the quadrennial event by huge athleticwear companies like Nike, Adidas and Puma, the soccer players' sleek jerseys have been easily adopted by fans off the field as both fashion and patriotic statements.

England's Guardian newspaper, making a rare and uncharacteristically flattering comment about the U.S. World Cup team, called its game with Italy a "blood and thunder" affair. That it was, but at least three questions remain after the Americans' combative 1-1 tie with the Italians in Kaiserslautern on Saturday night in a game the U.S. could not afford to lose.

There is soccer and then there's the Brazil Experience. Combine the world's best players with the most fun-loving fans and you get something that just can't be found anywhere else, not even elsewhere in the World Cup. Fresh off the underdog United States' hard-fought draw with Italy, I came to see how the other half lives, to spend a day in the presence of soccer royalty.