BTP Newsletter #69 out tomorrow at 9am. Subscribe here: gregors-newsletter-aefa0e.beehiiv.com

I mean, when you frame it this way….!

Eight games in and Celtic is in second place and Rangers sixth. What the hell is going on in the Scottish Premiership?

Hard to imagine the day would come when Liverpool desperately need a late goal against United…and they take Mo Salah off.

Tricky scenario for the Caps at half time. 1-1 and down to 10 men. They’ll take first in West as it stands but three teams in the East will finish ahead of them making it unlikely they’d host the final if we make it there. Bring in Gauld and go for the win or settle for draw? #Whitecaps

Imagine being one of the most insecure, needy desperate people on the planet with a craving to be told every minute that you’re great, but seeing millions upon millions of people take to the streets to vent their repugnance with you. lol. #nokings

Yeah, can’t believe he didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize being such an incredible humanitarian and all.

Müller Time! #Whitecaps

Caps just got CONCACAF’d…in Orlando. That was a goal.

Not a single Real Madrid player on the field or on the bench for Spain today in their WCQ v Georgia.

Release the Epstein Files.

Player ratings: Crépeau: 5 Sigur 4 Cornelius 5 Waterman 5 Laryea 5 Kone 6 Saliba 5 Tajon 6.5 David 4 Larin 3 Ahmed 6 — Shaff 5 Choinière 5 Tani n/a LDF n/a Millar n/a Promise 5.5 Lotsa guys in this game fighting for WC minutes and none helped their case with Marsch tonight.

I say this because the goal has to be to advance from our group and if we win the group we get a very favourable R32 draw that lets us stay in Vancouver for the game and potentially play a 3rd place team (and I have tickets for that game 😂).

Cornelius for me is the leader of this back four and will be thru the World Cup but if you’re a CB and are going to take a yellow, especially in the first half, it can only be to stop a goal scoring opportunity or to send a message and hurt someone.

Invention, craft and ambition still lag organization, intensity and physicality in this team; and that prioritization will only get you so far in a World Cup. #canmnt

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

Lotta truth & hurt in this piece. I got to know Jas a bit better the year before this happened. She has certainly taken an unfair share of blame for what happened. This is her take & she's leading with accountability. Would be nice to see others do the same. www.theplayerstribune.com/jasmine-mand...

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

But who needs the Visa Presale Draw when you just go in and quickly pocket two tickets for the final for $60,000? Took this screenshot a couple minutes ago.

I finished issue #68 of my Behind the Play newsletter last night Its scheduled it to be sent to subscribers at 9:30a this morning. It's about how awful this ticketing procedure is for the World Cup Also this morning...I got an email from FIFA saying I'd been selected for the Visa Presale Draw. 😐

Anyone know what the actual betting odds are of the 2026 US mid-term elections being suspended? 2028 too if you have a source.

Credit to FIFA for one thing. I can go into their re-selling platform right now & buy a ticket for the final. That was never an option for me in 2014 or 2022. There's one ticket available at Cat 4 for C$2840. Cat 1, 2 and 3 also show one ticket available. Cat 1 is $9240.

Advance payment for citizenship and no extradition back to the US should it become necessary. Argentina have experience in this realm.

@grillermonsoon.bsky.social 👌

music.apple.com/ca/album/neo... It’s a good day when a new Neko Case album pops up on the front page of my Apple Music. #NowPlaying

The Athletic pieced together ticket prices based on info posted by those who were in the first wave of buyers allowed into the Visa Pre-sale Draw. It ain't pretty but it ain't as bad for BC Place games as those prices for Canada's first game in Toronto.

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” ― Jane Goodall 💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

Great ad for adidas’ new World Cup ball. Subtle yet evocative.

This totally changed my mood after seeing what FIFA decided World Cup ticket prices would be. They’ve ceded our game to financial analysts who’d rather see 60,000 day tripping multi-millionaires, who barely know the players or rules, at their premier event than people who deeply care about it.

Exactly. And in a Vancouver derby between two professional teams. 👌

Maybe you don’t like MLS, CPL, the CSA or CSB but I think most of us, and definitely me, who follow soccer here must’ve been smiling tonight to see two professional teams from Vancouver, who play in different leagues, playing a derby game to see who would qualify for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

It’s hard to understand resistance to well-considered civic pedestrian areas. Spain gets it. Great examples in Barca, Sevilla and San Sebastián. Just how influential is the car lobby?

If true and representative of what most round robin World Cup games will cost, this is a disgrace. I paid about $3k for eight Cat 1 tickets in Qatar.

Once again I’m reminded, trust is gained in drops and lost in buckets.

A true genius of the game announced he’s retiring soon. Sergio Busquets, in my mind, the best holding midfielder to play the game. "If you watch the game, you don't see Busquets. But if you watch Busquets, you see the whole game." -Vicente del Bosque

Went to the Caps v Portland game last night. Nice to see this little homage to U8 goalmouth scrambles. 😂

If you saw these guys in the 80’s, as I did, I guarantee you remember it vividly no matter how much you’ve tried not to.

Facts from Miami v NYCFC game: - 8 Arg players started; another 6 were on the benches - 3 Americans started; another 4 were on the benches - of the 7 subs made, 4 were from Arg, 1 from US - 3 of the 4 goals scored were by Argentinians - 5 of Miami’s starters were 36 or older - Miami won 4-0

Great to see these two starting up front together for Villarreal and Tani’s already on the board.

Dunno if SKC are scared or just bad but Caps are in total control of this game and doing it in second gear. No Muller, Gauld, Blackmon or White. Makeshift back four too.

Went to the Whitecaps v Forge game last night. Confident, dominant, structured, attractive football with no Müller, White, Gauld or Takaoka seeing the field and Cubas only coming on at half. Avg age of starters under 24. Got younger with subs. Jesper may be a genius.

Honestly, could the West Ham ownership look any more like Disney villains?

Just me @grillermonsoon.bsky.social or do Spurs look more composed and purposeful under Frank? Not necessarily dominating but it doesn’t seem to bother them. All without Son too.

Just me or does Nick Woltemade look like the love child of Rudi Voller and Jurgen Klinsmann?

There’s eight EPL games being played today. Five of them are in London. Two of them are London derbies so 7 London based teams are playing in the city. Don’t think that’d be possible in any other country’s top division.

😎

Some countries are still not overawed by celebrity and power.

Just sat outside in the morning sun with my headphones in and listened to this straight through. Direct, raw, poetic songs soaked in 80 proof tears and sweat. Such a great album. #Replacements

Sigur, more than any of the recent call-ups in the last year is forcing himself into Marsch’s starting 11 come next June.