Wasn’t Gautama the Buddha? Did not know he was illuminated at penalty shooting too, but it makes sense. Something something and the art of the shootout by Robert M. Pirsig, right?
In the other current irrelevant tournament PSG beat Messi by a lot in the first half and had mercy in the second, and Bayern beat Flamengo because Kane and an own goal. I fell asleep, probably because of the time difference.
And a wide shot by Goretzka from 25m with eight Flamengo players in front of him who all screamed “Leon, why don’t you take a shot? See, we won’t attack you, and our keeper has left the left side of the goal wide open for you!”. It was the easiest goal from such a distance I ever saw.
The French Union of Football Players (UNFP) is very unhappy with the FIFA Club World Cup:
From the text of the declaration:
About Gianni Mafiantino:
“He’s not bothered about the fate that the international calendar reserves for the game’s leading players, while ‘his’ Club World Cup proves, to the point of absurdity, that it’s urgent to stop this game of massacre. He scorns the physical and mental health of players for a few extra dollars, while mocking, worse, ignoring collective agreements - La Charte, in France - which, just about everywhere, provide for an incompressible three-week rest period for footballers between two sporting seasons.”
And also:
"Let’s imagine, since this interminable season is smiling on him, that PSG play their 65th match on July 13 in New York, where the final of the Club World Cup will be played - which the Americans don’t care about just like they don’t cacre about their first hamburger… They’re not the only ones! -Luis Enrique will then have just two short weeks to prepare his team before the start of the championship… Because it’s hard to see how or why the Parisians shouldn’t benefit from the three weeks’ total rest to which they are entitled and which, this year more than any other, they need most.
Translated with the help of Deepl.com, with some corrections. The angry tone of French syndicalistes is hard to convey fairly, as it sounds self mocking. But they are dead serious. The complete declaration is in the link. The fools have published it on Xitter.
Care about it? I can’t even remember it!
Yes, this whole thing is a fiasco. Late-summer start dates for regular league matches, in case anyone is curious.
| League | Start Date |
|---|---|
| Premier League (England) | August 15, 2025 |
| La Liga (Spain) | August 16, 2025 |
| Serie A (Italy) | August 23, 2025 |
| Bundesliga (Germany) | August 22, 2025 |
| Ligue 1 (France) | August 15, 2025 |
But a lucrative fiasco.
As much as I generally agree with the negative sentiment for this tourney, that Man City - Al Hilal game was good and not something you’d see anywhere else.
I’ve been busy and completely missed that game. I’ll have to watch the highlights!
If I’m parsing you correctly, you’re mocking the 2 quotes you provided? Because they seem reasonable to me.
I am sorry I forgot to italize the word to make clear it is the original French, I am not mocking them at all. They are the French football trade union, they represent the players and their interests. I do fear that translated literally word for word their tone may come across as a bit over the top in other languages, but I quote them because I agree with them. If you think the content and the tone is reasonable then much the better.
The only thing I criticise is that they still use Xitter.
I meant to reply to the entire post, the reason only that word came up must be because i highlighted it to Google and it remained highlighted.
But yes I misread the tone of the fools putting it on X
At last! The USA has gained revenge for all of the terrible things Guatemala has done to us!
Jesus, don’t watch PSG vs Bayern highlights. Musiala’s going to be out for a long long time after that injury.
It was bad. Very bad.
The first round of the 2025-2026 Champions League kicks off today with the 28 champions of Europe’s lowest ranked leagues squaring off.
I find these games, played in their tiny stadia, endearing and I would be one of the dozens (there’s dozens of us!) of US fans who would watch Vikingur v Lincoln Red Imps if I could.
Huh. Vikingur’s games are televised in Iceland, but I don’t see any stream/TV in any country of this match!
After the French Union (see a couple of posts back) now it is the European arm of the World Footballer’s Union FIFPRO who expresses extreme discontent with FIFA, Mafiantino and the whole setting of this Club World Cup:
https://fifpro.org/en/supporting-players/health-and-performance/player-workload/fifpro-europe-statement-legal-claim-against-fifa
No preview, so some quotes from the article:
FIFPRO Europe member unions have today submitted a legal claim against FIFA, challenging the legality of FIFA’s decisions to unilaterally set the International Match Calendar and, in particular, the decision to create and schedule the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
Player unions believe that these decisions violate the rights of players and their unions under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights while also potentially violating EU competition law.
The English Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and the Union Nationale des Footballeurs Professionnels (French player union) are, with the support of FIFPRO Europe, asking the Brussels Court of Commerce to refer the case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) with four questions for a preliminary ruling.
I think this step is right and I am glad they posted the message on their own webpage, not on Xitter.
Yeah, kill me for watching the club WC final, but something I haven’t seen before: Cole Palmer scores two almost identical goals within 10 minutes. Shame on the PSG defense.
I have the game open on another tab so I hear it like radio and switch when they scream. The most interesting thing so far is that Chelsea has a player, number 27, whose name is Malo Gusto, which is almost Spanish for bad taste.
And Chelsea scores the third while I write this, still in the first half.
And now Neves gets a red card for pulling down Cucurella at his beautiful hair. Never seen a more pathetic foul, are we on a playground?
On that note - did Palacio ever get his rat-tail tugged on? Always bugged me.