A podcast asked me to record a voice note about my prediction for 2026 and here it is.

maybe we can talk about this once it’s the common dem position to affirm the humanity and rights of trans people at least as directly as he has

@akeaswaran.me made this neat graph of a quick strength of schedule model. Really interesting to see how relative difficulty between the front and back parts of the season may drive narratives. Neville might find his seat pretty hot, while Varas is my pick for COTY winner w/ a likely hot start.

ICE using the same ruse that Ted Bundy used to kidnap people should tell you something.

Doyle is the most relevant voice talking about MLS. But the league’s short-sighted choice is fans’ gain as I’m sure Matt’s insight will only grow. This is the easiest subscription any MLS fan will make this year.

American soccer wouldn't be the same without Doyle, who works incredibly hard to tell smart stories and build fan culture in a league that's starved for both Blows my mind that MLS didn't beg him to keep doing that, but go subscribe to his work to keep the league fun in spite of itself

Go subscribe to Matt Doyle’s new site if you love MLS (and futi phase of play data).

There’s no draft in NWSL but teams sure are signing players out of college. So @paulharvey.theoutfield.nyc made the NWSL college prospect dashboard. www.americansocceranalysis.com/home/2026/1/...

lotta injury/playoff question marks but maybe some of these guys could come play for us next week?

gaze upon ecuador's defensive works in wcq and despair. or dont despair and score a buncha goals against them in this friendly that would be fine too

A fun thing to do whenever a manager complains about expected goals is to google their name and "better chances." Sometimes you get something especially beautiful like "At the start of the season you can ignore this and hope it levels itself out"

i'm confident about nearly half of these guys making this morning's roster

I been locked out of this mf for a few days…PLAYBILL‼️ @awaygoals.bsky.social

What the fuck?

Des Moines is the semi-liberal bastion in Des Moines, and the Des Moines Public Schools are one of the particular bugbears for the Iowa GOP. This is absolutely a specific political attack on the DMPS, on the African community in Des Moines, and on the most diverse city in the state.

Talk Of Fascism Dangerous, Warns Ministry Of Compliance

so we thinking adams drops between cbs, dest-seb pivot, luna-pulisic dual 10s?

Give MLS streaming rights to watke you cowards

lund szn

Free Newsletter: USMNT depth charts for a friendly fans would care about Plus deadline day stuff, Leagues Cup & Sunday Night Soccer open.substack.com/pub/tacticsf...

the mark of great goals is that they compel you to rewatch older great goals lemme search tim cahill world cup real quick

If you loved Sarri's Napoli or De Zerbi's Brighton, you should be watching Mikey Varas's San Diego. I wrote for the Guardian about the risky press-baiting style that makes MLS's newest team its most tactically interesting, statistically extreme and just plain fun.

our sauciest player to ever do it, had so much sauce that sometimes she didn’t need to use any

Minnesota United became the most aggressive set-piece team on the planet with old-fashioned tactics backed by new analytics — and now they can’t stop scoring from it. My first for The Guardian:

BREAKING: 18-year-old #USWNT midfielder Lily Yohannes is set to join eight-time European champions OL Lyonnes, sources tell @espn.com. Lyonnes and Ajax have agreed to terms of the transfer. Yohannes and Lyonnes are finalizing personal terms.

Here’s the kind of influence Weston McKennie has on people: Tim Weah started a conversation saying he didn’t want to make Italians mad and 60 seconds later Wes had him saying “I prefer American Italian food” on camera

Last call for my latest for Backheeled. Thank you to everyone who read and especially if you subscribed to read it. I might have more of my content there in the future. If you are a fan of US leagues and national teams, I highly recommend subscribing to Backheeled for all their amazing coverage!

The best part of the Club World Cup is learning how many of the world's greatest athletes would spontaneously combust if they had to do a single August two-a-day for Texas high school football

Ha ha that's crazy, what are they afraid to speak freely about

Every high-level decisionmaker at a club should be strapped to the Clockwork Orange chair and forced to read this interview

@americansocceranalysis.com has provided advanced data for the #ClubWorldCup, so I decided to throw together a dashboard with a whole bunch of data. Check it out here: public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

It's GAME DAY in Nashville and we have plans. The Scuffed flag will fly on the northwest corner of Craighead and Bransford starting about 3pm CT. Got a lil keg of beer and plenty of ice. Vince and Belz are gonna record something on site. Come grab a beer and jump on the mic, give us your opinions.

On rewatch of the 🇺🇸-🇹🇷 game: - For once ball progression was not as big of an issue, LdlT actually did really well playing on the turn. He did take more responsibility in buildup after Johnny's howler - A lot of attacks died at Agyemang's feet. Not sure he's that good back-to-goal

Starting a SCARED STRAIGHT style program where pro athletes visit high schools across America to make parents realize their kids have no chance

Late night Pod! Recap w/ Vince from @scuffed.bsky.social boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.com/episodes/18-...

The lovely friends at the indispensable @scuffed.bsky.social podcast had me on to talk about my upcoming United States men's national team book (out spring 2026 from @vikingbooks.bsky.social) and a million other things. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/5...

i’ve seen enough, alyssa thompson is officially the fourth espresso

might make today lo labonta appreciation day, here's one of my fav passes from her

wife: how was guarding the two paths today, honey? guard: [looking away] fine wife: did something happen? guard: [tearing up] no wife: would the other guard tell me something happened?

john doing stuff he likes to do is always gold

Had a great time interviewing Jeremiah Oshan yesterday. Here's the episode scuffed.simplecast.com/episodes/591...

I’ve been meaning to make this public and it’s finally in a “good enough to post” state: advanced analytics dashboards for MLS and NWSL. These are posted in Tableau and will get regular updates. Glossary and explanations coming soon. The pictures here are just a preview but there’s a ton of depth:

if you are a cis person it costs you nothing to just say today that you see & hear your trans sisters & brothers & others over in the UK today -- and around the world, too, knowing that rulings like today's ripple out in ugly ways.

This is really unfair to everyone who just voted for him for the racism.

🥾New Pod! We recap out 2-0 win against Brazil and bask in the glory of Catarina Macario, Alyssa Thompson, and the mystery of Emma Hayes boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.com/episodes/12-...

Revealed preferences theory suggests that Wall Street executives value their ability to call their subordinates gay at approximately 8 trillion dollars

Thinking about these guys