Around the world in 8 goals
The field may be makeshift. The goalposts may be bent. But the game is always the same.

The World Cup is by far soccer's flashiest stage. Brazil spent something like $11 billion to host this year's games — making this the most expensive World Cup in history.
But at its heart, soccer is a simple game that requires little more than a ball, a patch of land, and a couple goal markers to play — which is among the chief reasons that the beautiful game is so beloved across the globe. And while the fields themselves can be marvelously diverse, as these photos from Reuters show, the sport played on them remains the same.
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Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.
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