Ever since I was 6 years old soccer has been my passion. I love to play soccer because it releases all the energy I have inside me and it also is fun to play. I love to kick the ball and run around with it. But it’s more fun when you’re playing with a group of friends. Read more...

The aftershocks of the 2010 World Cup are still rippling through the soccer world. Choreographed goal celebrations are YouTube phenomenons, and have inspired young soccer players everywhere to celebrate their goals in creative ways.

Soccer commentators on various Internet sources agree that soccer goals are so rare, “like shooting stars,” they need to be celebrated.

On a blog called, “Sports Are 80 Percent Mental,” Dan Peterson did some research on goal celebrating. According to Dr. Gert-Jan Pepping, Sports Scientist and lecturer at the University of Groningen, "The more convincingly someone celebrates their success with their teammates, the greater the chances that team will win.”

Check out a couple unique goal celebrations: 

What happens when you put soccer, volleyball, and tennis in a blender?  You get soccer tennis. Two Bay Area soccer players have taken up the cause of spreading the game of soccer tennis to their community.  

By: Rasam Aminzadeh

For a lot of people moving to a country they are not familiar with can be difficult. That's what 17-years-old Alex Begzsuren found out after moving from Mongolia to the United States two years ago. Begzsuren moved to the United States for a better education. He is currently a senior in high school and wants to attend UC Davis because his family suggested him to go, and also one of his friends is going to that university. He wants to study computer technology and become a computer technician.

When he arrived to San Francisco, he thought it was going to be a lot better than his hometown in every way possible, but he was wrong. Being thousands of miles away from home, he found out just how much he missed his hometown of Ulaanbaatar. “I missed all of my friends, all the places I used to go in my hometown and hangout with my friends.” Begzsuren thinks nothing can compare to his hometown of Ulaanbaatar.

He thinks that no one would like another place more than their hometown because they have lived there more. People know more about their hometown, and they can communicate better with the people there. He sees no similarities between the two cities, “There are a lot of differences. Everything is different even the people,” Begzsuren said. He sees his country better than San Francisco in a lot of ways. He thinks the weather in his town is better because you can actually feel all four seasons opposed to San Francisco.  He loves his country, and he wants to go back to his hometown.

He loves to play soccer, but he says, “there aren’t too many public soccer fields to go. You have to have permission to play.” He also added, "There aren't a lot of soccer fields in Mongolia, but most of the ones I go to don't need any permission for playing in there."He is a good soccer player, but he doesn’t aspire to become a soccer player. He’d rather watch his favorite team, Barcelona and his favorite player Lionel Messi on TV.

Although he misses his hometown, he says that he's slowly getting more comfortable here in San Francisco and hopes to pursue his college dreams.

By: Rasam Aminzadeh

After thirty-six years, FIFA World Cup is finally headed back to South America. The biggest sport event will take place in Brazil, a country that's known for having the best team.

Brazil has won five FIFA World Cups, Making them the team with the best record. The country hosted one of the most memorable FIFA World Cups in 1950. The only world cup that had no official final in that tournament.

 "In a FIFA World Cup™ that concluded with a four-team mini-league, the hosts met Uruguay in a deciding fixture which proved a final in all but name. Needing only to draw, Brazil led through Friaca's 47th-minute strike before Uruguay turned the game on its head via goals from Juan Schiaffino and Alcides Ghigghia. A deathly hush descended on the Maracana as some 200,000 voices fell silent and Brazil's little neighbor to the south celebrated a second world crown." via FIFA

Brazil didn’t win the world cup at home, so 2014 could be the year they redeem themselves or not. The Esquadrão de Ouro or the Golden Squad is getting ready to host the 2014 World Cup. They don’t want to disappoint their followers as they did in the last two world cups. In this years World Cup, the favorite team "lost to the Netherlands 2–1 despite gaining an early lead." This was the first time Brazil was defeated outside the European continent in 42 matches." That wasn't the only time they dissapointed people. In 2006, the team was defeated in the quarterfinals against France by a score of 1-0.

Coach Dunga and all of his technical staff were dismissed after losing to Netherlands in quarterfinals. Now, the pressure is on Mano Menezes, the new head coach, to bring back one of soccer's favorite team, Brazil.  Everyone expects him to lead his team to victory, especially since country is set to host.

Last time Brazil won the world cup was in 2002, which is not too long ago, when they defeated Germany 2-0 in the final. Can they do it again?

In my opinion, the winner of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is going to be a South American team. History has proven that everytime the world cup has been hosted in South America, the winner has been a South American team. 2014 will be a must watch tournament since the favorites are going to host the biggest sport event in the world.
 

By: Rod Aminzadeh 

There are several major reasons why Soccer is not a popular sport in the United States. First of all, there are just too many national sports in America such as football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Most people have grown up with these sports and soccer is kind of a new game, so people haven't adapted to it. Secondly, there are not enough international games for the soccer clubs playing in the U.S. The only important soccer tournament in America is Major League Soccer (MLS). There are also some college tournaments but not many people even know about it.

Soccer clubs in other continents like Europe, Asia, and South America, are really active and have several international games and tournaments such as "Champions League" and "UEFA Europa League" in Europe, "Copa Libatadores" in South America, and "AFC Champion Leagues" in Asia.

Sports in America are seasonal. On other continents, the soccer season lasts about nine months plus playing a couple of international tournaments during their regular season.

"Soccer has very few chances for commercials and so very few opportunities for television companies to make money from showing soccer, especially as it is not a massively popular sport in the U.S. Perhaps if it had the coverage, it would generate fans and in time make the money, as the rest of the world knows, the potential is there for some serious profits."

via Helium.

Another reason why people aren’t as interested is the lack of scoring in soccer. Americans enjoy watching sports that have a high scores, making it more exciting for them. For example, in football, the players score several touchdowns. Basketball scores can get as high as 100 points per game. Then you have soccer, where teams score about one or two goals on average and it's not exciting enough to grab people's attention—at least in the U.S

"Soccer has become more popular in the US in the last years and many young people, either male and females, regularly play it in the colleges, but it hasn't still reached the popularity and passion levels of Europe, Latin America and also Africa, so that it's difficult to find in the US stadiums build just for soccer."

via Helium.

Hopefully, we'll see more soccer being played and watched in the United States in the upcoming years and gain the respect that it deserves in America.

Reporter Lindy Hlobo
Produced and Edited by Czerina Patel
YENZA WORLD CUP ROOTS 

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA-- While today is a time of celebration for U.S. soccer supporters after a 1-0 win over Alegeria, yesterday was a sad one for the host country of South Africa's fans. Or  is it really a unifying one? This is the question 13 year old Lindy Hlobo took out to the hometown fans around the Cape Town stadium the evening after South Africa didn’t beat France by enough to get to the next stage of the FIFA World Cup. She asked some South African and African male soccer fans their feelings about South Africa. This montage shows a general feeling of disappointment surmounted by one of deep pride, unity, hope for Africa, and gratitude to Nelson Mandela.

Photo by Phiwokuhle Papama Budaza for Yenza (Copyright Yenza Inc. 2010)

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This commentary originally aired on WAMU, American University Radio in Washington, D.C.

By Nicholas Eckenwiler

Being a public school student in Washington, D.C. is like learning to play soccer on a field of dirt and pebbles, just as some of the game’s best players have done. Let me explain.

The most anticipated competition of the past 80 years is less than a week away. Every four, years 32 teams from all over the world compete to prove who the best in the world is. It’s like the Olympics just times two. The World Cup is set to start on Friday June 11th in South Africa.

This is the first time South Africa will host the most watched sport tournament ever. Five stadiums were build and five of the existing venues were upgraded. South Africa also improved its current public transportation and roads.

Getting ready for the World Cup also means having an official 2010 FIFA World Cup song. Singing this year’s song is non-other than the hip shaker Shakira. Check out the official video of this year’s World Cup theme song Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)--it references various African cultures and countries

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By: Elena Hernandez

My high school badminton team doesn’t get a lot of support, and no one really cares, or comes to watch our games. But despite that, we’re the fastest growing team.

Last year I played basketball, and after running suicides 6 days a week, I thought badminton would be a piece of cake. But this sport offers different challenges.
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