Soccer in Seattle: A New Kind of Football Team Woos Fans

The more than 65,000 fans who filled the seats at Seattle’s Qwest stadium on a recent Saturday made clear by their neon-green body-paint and their buzzing South African-style vuvuzela horns that this was no Seahawks game. They had come to see a different kind of football, the kind that speaks the word with a foreign accent: Chelsea, erstwhile champions of England’s Premier League, vs. the Seattle Sounders, the Emerald City’s new Major League Soccer franchise.

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Beckham clashes with another Galaxy fan

England midfielder David Beckham has clashed with another supporter in the U.S., just a week after an ugly exchange with supporters on his return to the LA Galaxy following his loan spell in Italy. The 34-year-old confronted a fan wearing an England shirt during Galaxy’s 1-1 draw away to Kansas City Wizards on Saturday

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Football in Iraq begins new era

When the final whistle blew after Iraq’s 4-0 win over Palestine at the Al-Shaab Stadium it was abundantly clear this was not just any international friendly. Supporters spilled out on to the streets to celebrate not just the goals from Hawar Mullah Mohammed, Karrar Jasim, Ala Abdel Zahra and Emad Mohammed, but the fact Iraq had staged their first international match in Baghdad since 2002

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Wimbledon champion Venus crushes Safina

Defending champion Venus Williams ensured the Wimbledon final would be another family affair with a devastating performance against Russia’s Dinara Safina in Thursday’s second semifinal. Third seed Venus produced an awesome display on Centre Court, crushing world No.1 Safina 6-1 6-0 in just 51 minutes, after sister Serena had earlier won an epic three-set semifinal against Elena Dementieva. There was no way five-times champion Venus, was being sucked into such a dogfight.

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Federer powers on as Djokovic crashes out

Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is through to his 21st grand slam semifinal in a row after crushing big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets on another scorching afternoon on Centre Court on Wednesday. The second-seeded Swiss, who is attempting to win a record 15th major title, will now face unseeded Tommy Haas for a place in Sunday’s final, after the German repeated his Halle final victory over Novak Djokovic by ousting the fourth-seeded Serb in four sets. “It’s difficult against Karlovic because there aren’t many baseline rallies on his serve or mine,” Federer told the BBC after going through 6-3 7-5 7-6 in just one hour and 42 minutes

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