Stat from a Belgian colleague at RTBF: Romelu Lukaku has now scored 3 goals and provided 1 assist since the beginning of the World Cup, despite only touching the ball a grand total of *8* times. The day may still come when it is at last accepted that Rom is one of the great strikers of his age.

I'm surprised to read this in the Athletic."They [the USMNT] got beat, badly, by a team that on paper was not that much better than them, if it was even better at all". Would any USMNT player be a contender for a place in Belgium's starting XI? I don't think so but am happy to be corrected.

Chris Sutton giving Roberto Martinez and a teary CR7 both barrels of his elephant gun on 5 Live. Not undeserved.

The images of Roberto Martinez trying to find a way through the circle of Portugal players gathered to listen to Ruben Dias and failing to do so are...interesting. So is Diogo Costa and Neto completely ignoring their manager's impassioned speech and walking away.

Dire game in Dallas. It feels like watching two sides coached by Roberto Martinez playing against each other, a blood-curling prospect.

Maybe somebody will know where to start with this. I don't.

What Gianni Infantino has to say about the Balogun debacle.

UEFA statement on Balogun case. "An unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision".

I have long argued that what could precipitate Infantino's downfall was his incapacity to understand how "too far" he could go, a typical trait of autocrats. He's done it now that Fifa has bent its own rules to placate the recipient of its grotesque Peace Prize.

I've rarely loved-hated a game as much as this one.

UEFA may support Belgium's protestations against the suspension of Balogun's ban. This feels like a key moment - not in this WC, but in Infantino's reign. The award of the Fifa Peace Prize to Trump was the pivotal moment, but Gianni didn't hear the trigger. He carried on. He'll regret it.

so far at the world cup there have been three round of 16 matches between teams managed by someone from that country, and a foreign manager each time the foreign manager has lost, but not because foreign managers are worse, but because hiring a foreign manager is often a symptom of wider problems

A performance for the ages by Norway, the most joyful side at this World Cup. I'm surprised that the British pundits are downplaying the quality of their play. They were magnificent, at 100% of their potential, from Nyland to Haaland.

Whatever happens, Solbakken deserves a lot of credit for a very big call at half-time, bringing on Schjelderup and Bobb (who'd been terrific against France, mais oui) as he did. It's worked out a treat. So far...

The Royal Belgian Football Federation has published a - very strongly worded and argumented - statement after Fifa's decision to suspend Falorin Balogun's automatic ban for one year, making him eligible for the USMNT's R16 match v. Belgium. Merci à @samindrakunti.bsky.social!

Allez les Diables!

Oh. With thanks to @migueldelaney.bsky.social for the heads-up.

Fifa (mis)using article 27 of its disciplinary code to rescue Balogun as it had rescued Cristiano Ronaldo before. A disgraceful decision in line with what we now expect from that organisation. We can guess the reason why it was taken.

My new column for Eurosport - the Bellingham enigma and English football's obsession with Roy of the Rovers-type footballers. (The enigma, btw, is more the way English media portray "Jude" as an irreplaceable "world-class" player than Bellingham himself, who can be a match-winner - on occasion)

Oh joy! The Jacques Tati "rétrospective" will run at the Paris cinémathèque from 8 to 12 July.

My latest for @theguardian.com. Fernandes is an extreme case, but Jude Bellingham is another victim of this new kind of IP theft by illegal betting companies.

One final push for what I think is only going to become a bigger story as the government's deadline for tech companies to comply approaches.

A jaw-dropping investigation by the @thetimes.com. George Cottrell, the crypto "banker" propping up Nigel Farage is also the man at the heart of a High Court case involving Brighton's owner Tony Bloom.

Personal take is that the awful refereeing did not help Paraguay in the end: as their shithousery was going unpunished, they felt they could get away with more (which they did) and forgot that they too could play some football. And so goodbye and good riddance.

It is to be hoped that Mr Ilgiz Tantashev, to whom I wish a long a successful career, will not officiate again in this World Cup, unless it is for comedic value.

So 2 of the 3 teams (Switzerland and Portugal, not Spain) that won yesterday have an active player who has been accused of rape or sexual assault. So do 2 of 6 playing today (Ghana & Cape Verde). FIFA cut off reporters asking about accusations against 🇨🇻 captain: www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/footba...

This is unfortunately not a slice of biting satire.

"One guest had to overpay to reserve their desired hair and makeup team for a full 24 hours surrounding the wedding, or else lose them to other high-profile people in the know."

We've launched our first membership campaign here at Bellingcat. If you think that our work is important, please consider joining our membership program. Every donation will help us continue to expose wrongdoing around the world. Find out more here: www.bellingcat.com/donate/

Paid a visit to my friends of @theclientele.bsky.social in North London, where they are recording a new album. The two songs I heard there were magnificent, worthy of what is the best band to have emerged from this country in the last two decades.

"Football Unites the World"? — US Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Iran's World Cup team: "I'm just glad they're done and they're not coming back. I was so happy when we were able to pull their visas...I might have sung a song or two or maybe even danced a happy dance."

As quite a few names have been added to this starter pack since I last posted it, here we go again - and a collective thank you to those of you who have followed these journalists en bloc! Please feel free to suggest possible additions in the replies.

Chelsea is not the only BlueCo club to have been sanctioned by UEFA for breaches of FFP regulations. RC Strabourg have been hit by a €13 million fine which will wipe out the money the club earned by reaching the semis of the Conference League. #multiclubownership #typo

"Bellingham, misplaced pass, which is not like him". Do pundits actually watch football?

Malta Tycoon Stands Trial For Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s 2017 Assassination www.occrp.org/en/news/malt...

National day of mourning decreed by Trump?

Oh my word

There is no more beautiful sight in football today than Michael Olise. And bang on cue

Lise Klaveness, the Norwegian football association head, who has backed an ethics committee investigation into Gianni Infantino, clearly delighted to be sat next to him at Norway-Ivory Coast today

Before people start bemoaning the fate of Ivory Coast, a reminder that they fielded a player, Elye Wahi, who was recently arrested in France for match-fixing, has a long history of violence against men and women and should never have been in the team. And yes, there are others like him at the WC.

Deschamps is not a "negative" coach and never has been: he is a pragmatist, which is not the same thing at all. If France's best chance is to privilege its attacking potential (which it is), this is the option he will choose: out of pragmatism, not because of a late Damascene revelation.

Drop a cop.

New column and, yes, *breaking*, for Eurosport.fr: 50 MEPs send letter to Fifa, supporting the complaint of @fairsq.bsky.social to Fifa's Ethics Committee and asking for an investigation into Gianni Infantino's role in awarding the Fifa Peace Prize to Donald Trump.

It is very gratifying that a post about 1965 footage of Igor Stravinsky should generate more interactions than some of my posts about footie. Be proud, Bluekyers.

In case you missed it last night, BBC4's extraordinary "Stravinsky conducts Stravinsky" (The Firebird in this case, with the New Philharmonia, in September 1965) is available on the iPlayer for another month.

HALLELUJAH

The only redeeming thing about this game is that Gianni Infantino has to sit through the pain of it.

"Soccer" is fine. "Soccer" is not American for "football". "Soccer" is a perfectly acceptable word which has been used for well over a century all over the world, starting in England, including by this Scottish gentleman, who knew a thing or two about association football. #moveon

‘Say yes and never do it’ Mel Brooks knew how to deal with the studios