Told you so:
The US just beat Uruguay 5-1 in a friendly. Neither team’s A team, but wow. Maybe Pochettino is putting together a plan.
Inter Miami wins MLS Cup 2.5 years after Messi joined. Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets’ last game. Not sure how I feel about it, they have some interesting young players, but 4 ex UCL winners from Barcelona and Rodrigo de Paul still pretty young. A decent amount of the time, more last year than this year, it’d be the quad playing amongst each other and leaving out the rest of the team.
Ok, watching the Barca guys be emotional (I’m a Barca fan) flipped it. Glad for them. Hope Miami builds a real club in the future though.
OK, here’s a random question. I just read on a soccer blog that the most hilarious pun ever in a footballer autobiography title is “My Turn”, by Johan Cruyff. I’m mystified…anyone get the alleged joke?
Cruyff has a move named after himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1k7DGqRF5g
As @Snarky_Kong linked to, the “Cruyff Turn” is up there with the Elastico, Rainbow, and Roulette (Maradona/Zidane/etc) for “skills kids try to learn” when playing soccer.
But of course ‘My Turn’ can also mean “this is my opportunity to set the record straight”.
Cruyff gets all the credit for that but players were doing it decades before.
Maybe they did, but he did it more often, faster and better.
Yeah, that’s like the gymnast Kurt Thomas and the “Thomas Flair”. Before him, it was just called The Helicopter, IIRC.
He was just a bit before my time. I figured it might be something like that, but I still don’t think it compares to “Taking Le Tiss” or “Blood, Sweat & McAteer”.
A followup to your article about Russian solidarity clubs. I don’t know how important this is or how much influence Estonia has in the football world, but at least someone’s actually discussing the discrepancy between the Russian and Ukrainian clubs.
There’s one thing that just occurred to me: Bayern’s Lennart Karl is one of the most exciting and promising young talents of the Bundesliga season so far, and everybody calls him Lenny. So Lenny Karl. Like Lenny and Carl from the Simpsons, Homer’s working and drinking buddies. I find that funny, and Lenny Karl is young enough at 17 so that his parents could have intended the joke.
In one of the greatest upsets ever in the FA Cup, sixth-tier Macclesfield beat Premier League member Crystal Palace 2-1.
Not just premier league member. Defending FA Cup champions!
The last non-league team to beat the cup holders were…. Crystal Palace! They beat Wolves in 1909.
This is always my favorite part of cup upsets, regardless of the league:
The fans sprinted onto the field at Moss Rose — a modest 5,900-capacity stadium in northwest England — in celebration at the final whistle while Dawson and Duffy were carried aloft.
Judging by the stats they basically played even too. Usually you’ll see like a 0.7-2.8 xG where the favored team just didn’t finish their chances. The only thing I know about Crystal Palace is that Chris Richards plays there so I know at least one regular starter played.
Yesterday, the NYT proclaimed that Real Madrid’s fighting (but losing) performance in the Super Cup had saved Xabi Alonso’s job. Today, he is out and replaced by Arbeloa.
Breaking: Real Madrid confirm Xabi Alonso’s exit after second place - Yahoo Sports
I’ve liked him since his Bayern days, but I also thought the role of luck in Leverkusen’s run was underappreciated…so, I’m still not sure how good a manager he actually is.
I haven’t followed it closely but I’ve seen some people say that Perez forced Xabi to change tactics and they started dropping points. They were playing well early in the season, but can’t confirm if there was actually meddling.
This could be posted in the World Cup 2026 Thread, but it fits better here IMO: It has everything. Ceferin, Mafiantino, Trump, Israel, ban on Russian sides, Greenland…
The sense persists, though, that football’s biggest tinderboxes are still waiting to be lit elsewhere.
Can’t wait!