For other countries, a second-round World Cup match is a big step. For the United States, Saturday’s game against Ghana is so much more.

The television audience back home could top the U.S. national team record of 13.7 million, set during the 1994 World Cup loss to Brazil.

With a victory, the Americans would advance to a quarterfinal matchup versus Uruguay or South Korea on July 2 and match the farthest the U.S. team has advanced since the first World Cup in 1930. Confidence is soaring.

“If we continue to build on the successes so far, we can go to the end,” coach Bob Bradley said Friday.

Read it all.

Kevin Rudd may be happy about at least one thing: he can avoid Toronto this weekend.

Nothing against Canada’s business capital, but by stepping down suddenly as Australia’s premier, Rudd got himself out of a much-hyped gathering with virtually no chance of putting the world economy on a more even keel.

Why is that? We are suffering from a chronic leadership vacuum, one starkly underlined by Rudd’s untimely departure. The Group of 20 will go through the motions and consider the burning issues of our day. Yet the list of pressing problems is a daunting one….

Read it all.

Debt is as powerful a drug as alcohol and nicotine. In boom times Western consumers used it to enhance their lifestyles, companies borrowed to expand their businesses and investors employed debt to enhance their returns. For as long as the boom lasted, Mr Micawber’s famous injunction appeared to be wrong: when annual expenditure exceeded income, the result was happiness, not misery.

For a long time debt in the rich world has grown faster than incomes. As our special report this week spells out, it is not just government deficits that have swelled. In America private-sector debt alone rose from around 50% of GDP in 1950 to nearly 300% at its recent peak. The origins of the boom go even further back, reflecting huge changes in social attitudes. In the 19th century defaulting borrowers were sent to prison. The generation that lived through the Great Depression learned to scrimp and save. But the wider take-up of credit cards in the 1960s created a “buy now, pay later” society. Default became just a lifestyle choice. The reckless lender, rather than the imprudent debtor, was likely to get the blame….

Rich-world countries now face two sets of problems. The most pressing is how to pay off their debts. Many people who have cut back their credit-card spending and firms which have seen their credit lines slashed would be horrified to see how little the rich world’s overall burden has fallen. Much of the debt has merely moved from the private to the public sector as governments have correctly stepped in to support banks and save the economy from falling into depression. And in the future, even more money will have to be raised, because of governments’ lavish promises of pensions and health care for the retiring baby-boom generation.

Read it all.

World Cup winning…[Italian coach Marcello] Lippi made no excuses.

“I take all responsibility, there are no excuses because when a team comes to a match as important as tonight’s with terror in their legs, their heads and their hearts, and don’t manage to express themselves, it means that the coach hasn’t prepared them in the right way,” an ashen-faced Lippi told a news conference without even being prompted by a question.

“I didn’t think we could win the World Cup but I thought we would do better.”

In a strikingly honest assessment of what went wrong, Lippi pummelled himself verbally for 15 minutes.

Read it all.

You only needed to watch Fabio Capello’s post-match interview on the BBC to realise just how much England’s 1-0 victory over Slovenia meant to the Italian coach.

His impassioned performance in front of the cameras matched his players’ increased intensity on the Port Elizabeth pitch. Make no mistake about it, the stakes were very high not just for Capello but for the whole of English football.

Read it all and make sure to watch the interview as well (if you can, it is sadly unavailable in the U.S).

Watch it all.

Over and over, everything seemed to go against them.

A referee took away a win last week, and a linesman disallowed another goal Wednesday.

Now there was just 3 1/2 minutes left in their World Cup, just that much remaining until all the doubts about American soccer would rise again.

But then, in one of the most stunning turnarounds in World Cup history, Landon Donovan scored on a lightning fast counterattack 45 seconds into 4 minutes of injury time. With the most amazing late-game moment in American soccer, the United States beat Algeria, 1-0, and reached the World Cup’s second round.

“This team embodies what the American spirit is about,” Donovan said. “We had a goal disallowed the other night, We had another good goal disallowed tonight. But we just keep going. And I think that’s what people admire so much about Americans. And I’m damn proud.”

Read the whole article.

Update: Sally Jenkins (Washington Post): U.S. soccer victory unleashes the happiest fans, bar none

Money line:

Nevada Smith’s pub on Third Avenue is such a home for devout fans from all over the world that its nickname among the hard core is “The Church.”

Fabulous goal in stoppage time.

Captain Steven Gerrard has vowed that England will adopt a “do-or-die” mentality as they bid to avoid crashing out of the World Cup on Wednesday.

Fabio Capello’s stuttering team must beat Slovenia to guarantee a place in the last-16 knockout stage.

“It is a do-or-die situation,” conceded Liverpool midfielder Gerrard, 30.

Read it all.

One more game, one last chance to make their reputation. When the Americans play Algeria at the World Cup on Wednesday they’ll either live up to all the hype and earn a spot among the final 16 teams ”” or fall painfully short of their long-stated goal and lose a watershed opportunity.

“We have a great chance tomorrow night to get a win and advance on to the second round,” captain Carlos Bocanegra said Tuesday. “It’s important for us because we had that disappointment in ’06. It’s not really extra motivation, but it’s just in the back of our minds. You work so hard and you train for so long for the World Cup, and it can be over so quickly if you don’t advance.”

A victory or possibly a tie would move the United States into the knockout rounds on a high that will set off midday celebrations back home. Replicate the loss to Ghana that knocked the U.S. out in 2006, and it will start a new round of soul-searching for that could cost coach Bob Bradley his job ”” not to mention dampening the burgeoning enthusiasm for soccer in America.

Read it all.

France exited in disgrace from the World Cup on Tuesday with no victories and little sympathy for a team that infamously used an intentional handball to get into the tournament and self-destructed on the way out.

France’s petulant image did not gain much redemption in its final match, a 2-1 defeat to host South Africa in Bloemfontein, south of here. Les Bleus, as the team is known, played the final 65-plus minutes a man short after midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was ejected for elbowing an opponent in the head.

Afterward, the eccentric and departing French coach, Raymond Domenech, declined to shake hands with his South African counterpart, Carlos Alberto Parreira. Apparently, Parreira said, the snub was related to his criticism of the way France had qualified for the World Cup: the illegal handling of the ball by forward Thierry Henry, which was unseen by the referee and led to the decisive goal in a cumulative playoff victory against Ireland in November.

Read the whole article.

(Anglican Journal) A prominent Canadian senator and retired general has challenged world religious leaders to offer a vision of what the world can be, saying political leaders are simply reacting and “swimming in the complexity and ambiguity of our time.”

The world hasn’t seen statesmanship in this era of “new world disorder,” said Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, widely known as the commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in 1993 that tried to stop the genocide in Rwanda. “What world leaders are doing is leadership by crisis management”¦We are not shaping the future but reacting to it.”

Read it all.

The idea of a tax on financial transactions championed by France and Germany is unlikely to gain much traction at the next meeting of leaders of the world’s 20 largest countries because it faces opposition both within the European Union as well as from countries such as the U.S. and Canada.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday said the EU will propose a tax on financial transactions to the G-20 when it gathers at the end of next week in Toronto, stressing that France and Germany would work together to make this a “major issue” and are even ready to implement it without the support of others.

Sarkozy didn’t specify, however, what the proceeds of such a tax would be used for, but France has said in the past it favors using it to fund efforts to control climate change, foster innovation or fight poverty. Germany, on the other hand, sees such a tax as a way to curb speculation….

A person close to the IMF said the report to be submitted to G-20 leaders next week will mention the idea of a financial transaction tax, while making clear it isn’t the best way to make the banking sector cover the cost of future crises or to limit systemic vulnerabilities. The report will also point out the concern that the cost of such a tax would be passed on to clients, and that it doesn’t necessarily target the riskiest types of trades.

Read the whole article.

CHARLIE ROSE: And soccer’s popularity or football as they say everywhere else, grows like crazy?

TOMMY SMYTH: Yes, it’s continuing to grow, there is no question about it. I mean, you travel the streets of any major city in the United States now and you will find kids wearing the jerseys of Barcelona–

CHARLIE ROSE: And every bar’s got it turned on along with baseball.

TOMMY SMYTH: Yeah, everybody’s watching it now, and the ratings on ESPN have been tremendous, through the roof.

CHARLIE ROSE: Yeah, and high-definition television, unbelievable.

TOMMY SMYTH: It’s almost like you were on the field, Charlie. You have to look out or somebody will kick you.

Read or watch it all (click on the picture to start the video).

In his address, Archbishop Marchetto noted that “in the cultural realm a mentality is beginning to unfold that is increasingly ‘transnational’ — we can describe it as ‘intercultural’ because, thanks also to the continuous technological innovations, we are able to ‘live’ at the same time in different social environments.”

He stated that “the urgency of today and the secret of the future lies in the dialogue between persons, communities, authorities and civil organizations, peoples, cultures and religions, to counteract the blockage and intolerance that at the bottom is born from the idolatry of oneself, of one’s group and of one’s socio-cultural tradition.”

He added that “a dialoguing acceptance is expressed in an authentic meeting, which serves the difficult and never exhausted art of combining the personal and group aspect, of articulating identity, complementarity, co-responsibility and creativity, moving from multi-culturality to inter-culturality, offering dynamic areas to reciprocity and fruitfulness.”

This does not mean having one man “‘over,’ ‘against’ or ‘without’ the other man, but all together, for a new society, beginning from Europe, so that it will be in line with its original humanism,” the prelate said.

“Tolerance is no longer sufficient,” he noted. It is necessary to move to the “coexistence of differences.”

Read the whole thing.

Ever since the 1994 World Cup was played in the United States, we have been reading reports that Americans are no longer thinking of soccer as an amateur game for women and children ”” there are more than three million kids registered with the U.S. Youth Soccer Association ”” but are joining the rest of the world as big-time fans of men’s soccer. And yet, the day when Americans massively embrace the most global sport has yet to come.

But there are signs that, at long last, soccer is catching on in America. Shortly before the start of the World Cup, the Fox network pushed back its usual Saturday afternoon major league baseball coverage for three hours to broadcast the European Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. It may have been the first time in American TV history that a soccer match not involving the U.S. team or outside the World Cup displaced a baseball game.

Simultaneously, Vanity Fair magazine’s May cover featured Portugal’s national team star Cristiano Ronaldo and Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba in underpants, and shortly thereafter, Sports Illustrated carried a World Cup cover story under the title, “The beautiful game.”

As the World Cup started in South Africa last Friday, FIFA ”” the tournament’s organizers ”” said that 130,000 U.S. residents had flown to Johannesburg to watch the games, more than had come from any other country.

Read it all.

The president of a Christian anti-hunger lobbying group won the premier award for fighting world hunger.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton awarded the World Food Prize to Bread for the World President David Beckmann at the State Department on Wednesday (June 16).

Beckmann, an economist and ordained Lutheran minister, shared the $250,000 prize with Jo Luck, president of Heifer International.

Read it all.

Take a look.

So far, European leaders have tried to deal with this spreading disaster by ruses. Existing European treaties ban bail-outs of member states. So the “European Stabilisation Mechanism”, recently set up precisely to provide these illegal bail-outs, does so under Article 122.2 of the Lisbon Treaty. This article gives emergency assistance to a member state “threatened with severe difficulties caused by natural disasters or exceptional circumstances beyond its control”.

Natural disasters! We are experiencing a totally unnatural disaster, one brought about by the artificial structure of the European project. Exceptional circumstances beyond its control! It was this system that every eurozone member state proudly (though usually without asking their electorates) voted for.

The situation is not funny for the people of Greece, Portugal, Spain, and so on, because their governments have run up dreadful public debts while sacrificing their power to devalue to become competitive. They cannot cut their exchange rate, so they must cut wages and jobs. Unemployment in Spain is already 20 per cent ”“ and 40 per cent among young people.

It is not funny for Germany, either. German banks are overcommitted in the southern countries now afflicted. The German people are fed up with paying for the profligacy of their poorer neighbours and furious at the suggestion that the only solution is that they should pay even more.

Read it all.

The World Cup isn’t supposed to be like this.

For all that soccer is known as the “beautiful game,” this tournament has typically offered little for romantics: In this sport, the favorites usually win””and when it comes to the world’s most coveted trophy, that means Europe.

Home to the best professional leagues and the biggest superstars, half of the 18 World Cups have been won by European countries. You’ve got to go back to 1950 to find the last time a team from this continent failed to make the final. But as the 2010 World Cup entered its second week, England was held to a 0-0 draw by lowly Algeria””one of the country’s most embarrassing results in this tournament since its defeat by the United States in 1950. “We are not in a good moment,” said England coach Fabio Capello. “I don’t know if it’s the pressure but it’s not the team I know.”

The long list of underachievers from the old world already comprises France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and””after its shock defeat by Serbia early Friday””Germany.

Read it all.

Somewhere along the road from Andorra to Croatia, Ukraine and all places in between, Fabio Capello has lost the team that qualified for this World Cup in such decisive style and has in their place the insipid side of England past: the team of Euro 2008 failure, of big tournament paralysis and of the wasted golden generation.

Last night England were the nation’s collective worst nightmare, a sleepwalking shambles who are now third in group C and must face up to the prospect of World Cup elimination. They must beat Slovenia on Wednesday in Port Elizabeth to be sure of reaching the second round and to retain a chance of finishing top of the group. All we know of that is that nothing is certain any longer.

Read it all.

Mr. Coulibaly’s call, made in the 85th minute after the U.S. had recovered from a 2-0 deficit to draw even, remains a mystery. After Landon Donovan’s free kick from the right side and Maurice Edu’s deflection into the net for the apparent winning score, he refused to explain why he blew his whistle and disallowed the goal.

Slow-motion instant replays show Mr. Coulibaly starting to raise his hand and blow his whistle as Mr. Donovan approaches the ball. Mr. Coulibaly’s eyes are focused on the center of the penalty area where U.S. players Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, and Michael Bradley are all in contact with Slovenian defenders. Mr. Dempsey is closest to Mr. Coulibaly and appears to try to shove his defender aside as he begins a run for the goal, though such a move is typical on free kicks that are sent into the penalty area.

Read it all.

It is still early days at the 2010 World Cup but the tournament is already taking shape.

From South Africa’s draw with Mexico in the curtain-raiser through to Switzerland’s shock win over Spain on Wednesday, we have now had a chance see all 32 teams play at least once.

For some, like Germany, qualification already looks a formality, but others are less certain of their fate. With the help of Jurgen Klinsmann and Mark Lawrenson, BBC Sport takes a look at what we have learned about each of the eight groups so far.

Read their analysis and see what you think.

Two second-half goals gave Mexico their first ever victory over France to leave El Tri well-placed to make the last 16 and the 2006 runners-up on the verge of elimination.

Mexico were the brighter of the two throughout but were unable to take any of their chances until just after the hour, when substitute Javier Hernandez broke the offside trap and rounded keeper Hugo Lloris before slotting home.

Another Mexican substitute, the 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, sealed the victory from the penalty spot after a third replacement, Pablo Barrera, had been felled in the box.

Read it all.

What does the U.S. have in common with countries in sub-Saharan Africa?

Both waste large, obscene amounts of food. Better knowledge and technology would reduce food waste, deter environmental damage and, especially in that region of the African continent, reduce the number of people who go hungry each day.

In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 265 million people are hungry, heightening the travesty of the food waste problem. More than a quarter of the food produced in Africa spoils before it is eaten. Farmers battle post-harvest losses caused by severe weather, disease and pests, or poor harvesting and storage techniques. Annual post-harvest losses for cereal grains, roots and tuber crops, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk and fish amount to some 100 million tons, or $48 million worth of food.

To prevent these losses in Africa and elsewhere, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is trying to provide the information and technology to begin turning this tide….

Read it all.

Spain isn’t supposed to lose to Switzerland.

Spain has never lost to Switzerland.

Perhaps Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas believed that would last forever just a little too much.

In a 1-0 loss, it was his peculiarly complacent misjudgment that heaped the pressure of a billion expectations on a team that, for many, was the pre-tournament favorite.

Read it all.

“We’re trying here to create a Catholic theology that is no longer a European or Eurocentric Catholic theology,” Father Massingale explained. “The way I put it we’re trying to create a Catholic theology that is truly Catholic, truly universal. And if we’re going to be Catholic, genuinely universal, then inclusion is not something of political correctness. Inclusion is a requirement of our faith.”

The effort to include formerly missing voices in the development of theology in the United States stems from necessity because Catholics of European descent no longer make up the majority of the U.S. Catholic Church, said Dominican Sister Jamie Phelps, director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

“Once you get into the minority position and you have the power and the authority, but you don’t have the manpower to be in charge … then we’re forced to do what the Second Vatican Council told us to do a long time ago: that everyone is called to communion,” Sister Jamie told Catholic News Service during a convention break. “We’re supposed to call leadership from each cultural family.”

That leadership extends not only to positions within the church and its various ministries, but the development of theology as well, she said.

Read it all.

“The collapse of the financial system as we know it is real, and the crisis is far from over,” Soros said today at a conference in Vienna. “Indeed, we have just entered Act II of the drama.”

Soros, 79, said the current situation in the world economy is “eerily” reminiscent of the 1930s with governments under pressure to narrow their budget deficits at a time when the economic recovery is weak.

Concern that Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis may spread sent the euro to a four-year low against the dollar on June 7 and has wiped out more than $4 trillion from global stock markets this year. Europe’s debt-ridden nations have to raise almost 2 trillion euros ($2.4 trillion) within the next three years to refinance, according to Bank of America Corp.

“When the financial markets started losing confidence in the credibility of sovereign debt, Greece and the euro have taken center stage, but the effects are liable to be felt worldwide,” Soros said.

Read it all.

There’s just one problem: Financial muscle doesn’t much impress international soccer officials, who say their bid decisions are driven more by a concern for parity than profit.

“You may be confusing the world of football with the IMF or the World Bank,” says Michel Platini, a top executive of FIFA, the international governing body of international soccer.

“When it comes to decision-making in international football,” he says, “the U.S., like Germany or China, has as much power as San Marino, Vanuatu or Belize.” (Ouch!)

One of the misconceptions Americans tend to make about the World Cup is that its economics are similar to those that guide the Olympics. But there’s a big difference: the Olympics like to take in lots of money because they use the funds to support impoverished sports like swimming, which can’t support themselves. The World Cup, however, is a showcase for professional athletes who earn decent to fantastic salaries in private leagues around the world. This sport doesn’t count on the tournament for its livelihood.

Read the whole thing.

Check it out.