The Guardian has the best English language all-round football coverage. They have Jonathan Wilson, whose probably the best tactical analyst in journalism, and the other writers are smart, irreverent and funny. Their great regular podcast, Football Weekly, is renamed The World Cup Daily during the tournament. And if you can’t watch a game, their minute-by-minute reports are the finest online. If you only have time to check one website a day, make it The Guardian. 

Zonal Marking is the best blog about football tactics. The anonymous writer has analyzed all World Cup teams, explaining their tactics and formations. He also writes match reports of most games. Add a glossary of football terms and clear diagrams, and you have a site which is impossible for a football fan not to love. 

The Goal Post is the World Cup blog of American political and literary magazine The New Republic. Most newsmagazines with blogs are covering the World Cup, and many have launched special blogs (ahem), but none are as ambitious as The New Republic who have recruited a crack team of writers from all over the world. Some of them are much better known for fiction rather than journalism, though there are also respected sportswriters and journalists in the crowd. This isn’t surprising considering that the editor of The New Republic wrote a fine book on football called How Soccer Explains The World: An Unlikely Theory Of Globalization. The Goal Post is also recommend because they do a fine job of spotlighting other good writing on the web.

Photo by luckytom