In my experience Brenda's theories are always correct - so listen up!

Football scholars can address this more deeply, but what France tried to do in this WC — naively, it turns out — has echoes of the 3-2-5 and 4-2-4 formations of the 1950s, modeled by Hungary and Brazil in that era. Hard to pull off in the modern game; without top laterals, impossible.

Glory to the era of Zizou!

Ridiculous match. It’s like the 1958 World Cup with Ferenc Puskás and Raymond Kopa. Nothing wrong with a throwback.

That game! Not since Agincourt…

😂😂😂

Feeling blessed for that beautiful game - felt like redemption on both sides.

Wondering whether the final will end up more boring than the 3rd place match??

The World Cup gave us so many unforgettable moments to celebrate, but how Black fans and players get treated is impossible to ignore. I talked with Black soccer fans about joys and frustrations with this World Cup: www.huffpost.com/entry/black-...

Wait until Sisyphus finds out about emails.

Brazil 🇧🇷 A Brazilian magazine has featured the legacy of Sócrates, the Brazilian footballer and doctor who pioneered the Corinthian Democracy, a radical experiment in equal voting rights at a football club during Brazil's military dictatorship. buff.ly/ATGdul9

EP 7: Alan & Mel spend the hour with author Laurent Dubois @soccerpolitics.bsky.social to discuss the #FRA national team, #HAI 's strong showing at #WorldCup2026, and the evolution of African soccer. shows.acast.com/the-peoples-...

"A trust-enhancement system that destroys trust may sound like a bad idea, but VAR doesn’t stop there. It also makes soccer more alienating and less thrilling to watch. Get it out of here!" Wonderful & hilarious piece.

I wrote about VAR

must be nice

waiting for a game like ⚽

This is astoundingly awful. This is one of the most precious historical sites in the Americas.

I'm not sure why but I find this deeply funny somehow

Harry Kane furiously confronting the American referee with Jeane Kirkpatrick's perfidy in dining with the Argentine ambassador on the night of the amphibious invasion

Jude Bellingham staying up late last night, three Wikipedia windows open, getting angrier and angrier about Giancho's tactics during the Battle of Government House

Amazing to watch 22 young men who are simply so passionate about the political destiny of the Falkland Islands

I shall now burn oud on charcoal and behold this "world cup," as they call it

😂

As a neutral, I'm worried the second half could be even more ill-tempered and spatty than the first. The players need something to remind them that there are things more important than any match. This is supposed to be the beautiful game, after all. It's time to release a grizzly bear onto the pitch

Football doesn't always do what you want it to.

This is characteristically excellent from @bcmerchant.bsky.social www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/what-var-t...

#WorldCup26 An Argentine opinion piece criticised far-right outlet La Derecha Diario for boasting that Argentina is the only World Cup semi-finalist without Black players, countering with the country's immigrant heritage & rejection of racial nationalism. buff.ly/fWVwo3m

Oooh!

Key point with this piece is that Mandami is pushing back against the McKinsey approach to governing. Alondra Nelson actually put this best: "How a City interacts with its people shouldn’t be outsourced. It should be local and accountable."

This is inspiring. I have also found biking in various cities this summer to be the best form of transport in intense heat...

Oh wow - honored to be on that bookshelf indeed!

Pour survivre jusqu'a demain la treve du football, un peu de musique open.spotify.com/playlist/2Dv...

#WorldCup26 France's embassy in Argentina has declared Mendoza vice-governor Hebe Casado persona non grata after she called Les Bleus 'the African team, without any manners'. The ambassador called the remarks racist; Casado has not apologised. buff.ly/bzLhOeV

Don’t know who to credit for this. But it is how I feel.

#WorldCup26 A Paraguayan op-ed has condemned Senator Amarilla's racist attack on Mbappe, rejecting free-speech defences and linking Paraguayan nationalism to the erasure of Afro-Paraguayan and Indigenous histories. buff.ly/qJ55Zqb

I see pay to play is back in the spotlight. Don’t worry guys, I have a really easy solution to most of American soccer’s problems: dismantle capitalism. I’m not holding my breath.

🇫🇷🌟

Me dying of thirst because the TV’s not telling me it’s time for a hydration break

me when there are two entire days without a World Cup match

Throwback: Amilcar Cabral, front right, and his teammates from the Lisbon Institute of Agronomy football team. (Credit: Cabral Foundation).

france-spain: the perfect game of football, the best players playing at their absolute best and giving us a beautiful spectacle the likes of which only these two teams can produce argentina-england: hell in a cell

*France watching the TL quietly come to support them.*

Yes!

Rooting against FIFA unites the world.

Nothing in this means ENG have it easy against ARG. It's a whole different game. Stakes. Dark arts. History. Ghosts. Psychology. It's going to be something else.

Bear in mind that FRA v ESP and ENG v ARG are astrally preordained so everything remains on track

"Oooo they get by with a little help with the refs, yes they get by with a little help from the refs" 🎶

So heartbreaking to watch Embolo walk of the pitch in tears

Well this certainly won't extinguish the Theories

All in with the Diables Rouges on this one 🇧🇪!