Brazil’s Indigenous women often lead their villages and groups, but for many years they were looked down on when they tried to play soccer. As the South American nation improves its structure for female players, Indigenous women say they also feel encouraged to take up the sport.

For the first time in its history, the Haitian women’s soccer team has qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup after defeating Chile 2-1 on Tuesday.

Lionel says he wants to keep playing for the Argentinian team, so maybe we’ll see him in another World cup. But for now, the Messi-Ronaldo debate has ended for many, and Argentina has won their first World Cup in 36 years, their third all-time—and one that will resonate in the proud fútbol nation forever.

Lionel Messi and Argentina set their sights on World Cup glory in Sunday’s final against France. For Messi, it means one last chance to cap his amazing legacy with the biggest prize in the world’s most popular sports tournament.

Mexico is going to have to suddenly find goals — and perhaps even several of them — to extend its knockout-round streak at the World Cup. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has already come to Argentina’s rescue at the World Cup, and he might just have to do it all over again.

Argentina’s 2-0 win over Mexico was the most-watched Spanish-language World Cup group stage broadcast in U.S. history, drawing 8.9 million viewers on Telemundo television and the streaming services of Telemundo and Peacock.

Ricardo Pepi was left off the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup roster after giving stellar performances in the qualifying matches — and even after the 19-year-old Mexican American chose to play for the U.S. team over the Mexican one. Will his fate convince dual nationals in the future to choose otherwise?

The final match was held in Lyon, France, where the crowd chanted “Equal pay! Equal pay!” as the game ended.

Experts are calling this the “most important women’s World Cup in history.”

Awful.

Latino Rebels Radio: June 17, 2018

In 2006, my parents, my grandmother, and I left Rio Verde for Jataí, Goiás to watch the World Cup Germany final between Italy and France at my great-uncle’s place. I happened to be in Brazil in 1994 and 2002 when Brazil won it all, so I had an idea of the parties for days that […]

Ricardo Trade , Executive Director of Brazil’s Organizational Committee for the 2014 World Cup, recently gave an interview in which he spoke about the impact of nationwide protests that have occurred in Brazil since June have had on the event’s planning. He had the following to say, via The Raw Story: “The protests are democratic in […]

To discuss the surprise success of non-European teams at this year’s Women’s World Cup, Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes back Brenda Elsey, author of ‘Futbolera: A History of Women and Sports in Latin America.’

Hotel workers in Los Angeles are holding a second wave of strikes —the largest such strike in Southern California’s history— demanding fair, livable wages. The industry employs a largely immigrant workforce.

Now that Haiti’s national women’s soccer team has qualified for the Women’s World Cup, Latino Rebels Radio host Julio Ricardo Varela welcomes Brenda Elsey, a professor at Hofstra University, to discuss and celebrate this exciting moment in Haitian sports history.

Gunmen threatened Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi in a written message left Thursday when they opened fire at a supermarket owned by his in-laws in Argentina, police said.

A wrap-up of the most important and interesting Latino news items from the past week

Two former Fox executives went on trial Tuesday, accused of bribing South American soccer officials for TV rights to one of the continent’s biggest annual tournaments and using information gathered in the process to help the network’s winning World Cup broadcast bid.

A rundown of the Latino-centric news from the first week of the new year.

Brazil said a final farewell to Pelé on Tuesday, burying the legend who unified the bitterly divided country. Newly inaugurated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva paid his respects at Vila Belmiro, the stadium where Pelé played for most of his career.