Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers still quaking after watching Manchester City neuter, overwhelm and dismember Real Madrid. The defending Champions of Benzema, Modric, and Vinicius Jr. tossed aside as if they were merely Southampton. Garry Kasparov once came on MiB and told me that Big Blue only had to beat him once for humanity to know the age in which people were smarter than computers was over. That is how I felt on Wednesday afternoon watching Carlo Ancelloti gobsmacked on the sideline, unable to muster enough strength to raise as much as a quarter of an eyebrow. His charges rendered impotent, shorn of their diabolical magic that made them invincible last season. Let’s just say this: Everton held out longer than Madrid.

This weekend, City could “Michael Jordan” the Premier League title and deliver a Three-Peat, a feat only United, Liverpool, Huddersfield and Arsenal have experienced before. Yet, for the last 15 years, since Sheikh Mansour took over and transformed the club, the Champions League has been their singular goal. This season, they have been awesome to witness in the true sense of the word. Yet, watching them is a strange, clinical, almost sterile experience. Football without jeopardy. We know Manchester City will win. They are that inevitable. Miguel Delaney calculated Pep’s mob have only been behind for 116 minutes in their last 2,145 minutes of football.

When you tune in to watch City kick off, the only question is how they will score. After the signing of Haaland as the ultimate deterrent, it is normally him. Yet, if he does not get you, KDB will. Or Gundogan. Or DJ Greals. Or Foden. Or Alvarez. Or Mahrez. Or, as on Wednesday afternoon, Bernardo Silva, who would be one of the most intelligent, skill-soaked players on any other team, but whom, for City, has been reduced to a Best Supporting Role, in which he crops up and steals scenes with his ruthless majesty. It all feels like watching the Robots overwhelm humanity. I don't know about you, but I never love that moment in a movie. (And if there are financial misdemeanors empowering the construction of this peerless squad build, City can merely hire Britain’s most expensive lawyer, Lord Pannick, on retainer, and have him swat them away like a Legal Ederson).

Can Inter win the final on June 10? Of course they can. That is the magic of football. But this is the same Inter team who were clipped by Bayern Munich in the group stage, and we all remember what City did to Thomas Tuchel in the quarter-final. City’s greatest opponent may be themselves. Their own stage-fright. Or, as Jonathan Wilson wrote, “Their own neuroses – the accumulated scar tissue of Pep Guardiola’s disappointments and whatever traces of City-itis still remain.” 

b. Some week at MiB Gardens. We have been shooting the award-winners of the “American Football Awards” we will be announcing on Peacock with Rebecca Lowe and One Robbie on Sunday May 28. We shot with the remarkable Julie Ertz in an interview which will be released this weekend. Julie talked with true human insight into the experience of becoming a mother as an elite athlete, and the emotions lived through 611 days out of the game. Becky Sauerbrunn also taped Episode 2 of Road to the Cup which was a slice of magic. I have spent a ton of time going through all your feedback in our 2023 GFOP Data Survey in which so many of you took the time to tell us about the content you want us to provide in the year ahead. Incredible statistic: 80 percent of MIB listeners rely on our Crap for all of their football fix – a reality that is humbling and that we do not take for granted. To more!

One lovely note: 🎉 We won 2 Webbys for the Best Partnership or Collaboration for World Corrupt with my friend Tommy Vietor and Crooked Media, landing both the Webby Winner, and People's Voice trophies. Here is my Five-Word Acceptance Speech. 🏆🏆

2. To the Football

i. Manchester City vs. Chelsea Big Game Preview, Presented by Bud Light (Sunday, 11 AM ET, USA)

Manchester City attempt to clinch* the first of their treble of trophies, facing up to the chaos club who once pioneered the model of fleshy-wallet football, which they as a state-run club have taken to the next level of near perfection. There is a big debate roiling in the British Media as to whether City, with the arrival of Haaland, that smiting Biblical Fist, and Pep having the team peak at the right moment in the season, are a pure, peerless footballing phenomenon. Or, whether the 115 charges leveled against them for financial misdemeanors will ultimately undermine all that. I believe both things can be true. Pep can be a great manager, the football elite, and the whole enterprise, built with a finger on the scale. Genius and Cooked Books can exist side-by-side – just as this Chelsea demonstrates that immense amounts of money splurged on a football squad does not inevitably equate to exquisite play and effortless glory.

*City’s Title Permutations: Pending Arsenal’s result earlier in the morning. If Arsenal have already won, a point for Pep will do it. An Arsenal draw will effectively deliver the title as City’s goal difference is so immense, but they will make it official with a draw of their own. If Arsenal have crapped the bed and lost, City will have won the title without kicking a ball. Cue party. 🏆 

ii. Nottingham Forest vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 12.30 PM ET, NBC)

After the sting of an impotent defeat last week against Brighton, Arsenal’s mission is to complete this season of both over-achievement and regret with dignity. They must win to maintain the merest pretense of a “Title Race”. Wobble and it is all over. Same could be said for Forest but for very different existential reasons. Three more points for Forest and their human hand grenade Morgan Gibbs-White should lead them to safety.

iii. Bournemouth vs. Manchester United (Saturday, 10 AM ET, USA)

Ten Hag will be desperate to lock down 4th place with the sound of the Klipp-Klopp Liverpool hooves fast-approaching. Marcus Rashford’s participation is crucial but unclear as he battles back from illness.

iv. Liverpool vs. Aston Villa (Saturday, 10 AM ET, P’Cock)

Anfield says Farewell to Bobby Chompers. The 31-year-old glare-toothed Brazilian leaves after a trophy-laden eight-year stay at the club. The club has had greater sons. Attackers who have scored more goals. Better goals. More important goals. Though he netted so many of those too. (109 goals in 360 appearances). But few have done them with his giddy absurdist spirit. The game played as if a no-look goal should count double. Firmino rode the naive joy we all experienced playing the game as kids on schoolyards across the world all the way to the Premier League. He took to the field as if he knew each moment was a chance to send a message about how transcendent life can be, and how silly it all is in equal measure.

More: Farewell interview with Firmino’s dentist. John Oliver used to joke that Firmino looks like he used boat varnish by the barrel load to whiten those teeth. This piece reveals the Brazilian 'asked for "beyond grade one" white teeth' and had to have a 'super-white' color CREATED for his famous smile.

v. Wolves vs. Everton (Saturday, 10 AM ET, P’Cock)

A dread game in which I am rooting for eucatastrophe. A word I have just learned was created by J.R.R. Tolkien to refer to “a sudden turn of events in a story which ensures that the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible and probable doom.” All week, well meaning friends and GFOPs have been telling me that Everton have “got this.” Which normally means Everton most definitely do not Got This. My whole world seems to revolve around the health of DCL’s groin. Would give that man my own if I could.

More: Year ago today, Everton beat Palace and survived with Frank Lampard. Drunkest Rog of all-time?

vi. West Ham vs. Leeds (Sunday, 9 AM ET, USA)

Fresh off qualifying for the Europa Conference League Final against Fiorentina, the sole focus for David Moyes for the rest of the season will be to win the club’s first appearance in a European final since 1976, and hopefully get a Mourinho-trophy tattoo in the wake. Leeds will hope their opponents hangover and lack of interest in Premier League dead rubbers will be enough to deliver victory, propel them out of the relegation zone and enable Big Sam to feast on his reported $3.11M savior bonus.

vii. Newcastle vs. Leicester (Monday, 3 PM ET, USA)

A game that is akin to one of those Face-Off movies. Newcastle, for so long a muddled relegation battler, face up to the greatest overachievers Leicester City, with the Foxes deep in the relegation zone and Saudi-backed Toon soaring into the Champions League. Two years ago this week, Brendan Rodgers was dancing with the FA Cup with his victorious Leicester team on-field at Wembley. A reminder that life is unpredictable. Joy is fleeting. Savor it while you can.

More: Full Television Broadcast Schedule HERE.

3. Folarin Balogun is a Great American 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 

How good is it to have great news emanating from our USMNT? 21-year-old Brooklyn-born, London-bred Arsenal-reared striker Folarin Balogun has one-time switched to become eligible to ride with us. Balogun is a very good footballer. Yet, the on-loan at Reims goalscorer is not a Messiah. He is also not a very naughty boy. But a fast-paced striker who lives to counter, and though still raw in his young career, has so much potential in a position we cry out for elite alternatives. My instant reaction to the news is here.

One important note: We US fans are paragons of magical thinking. We have yearned for so long, we want instant-dream fulfillment and are willing to persuade ourselves that one massive arrival, or a deal with the greatest manager in the world is going to make our fantasies real. Sadly, football, like life, does not work like that. When you find yourself doodling our World Cup 2026 starting lineup and fantasizing about Pulisic, Gio, Tyler, Weston, Sergino, and Old Man Tim Ream, balling it up with Folarin, savor that surge of joy. But recognize it for what it is. If our last World Cup cycle has proven anything to us – it should be that this young generation of footballers has true talent, but that its development (see Dest, McKennie, Reyna) is never straight-line and always filled with bumps. So revel in this news. Folarin is a true upgrade in a position that the United States World Cup campaign (three goals total: one stunning, one crotched, one a total fluke) cried out for. But the decision over who will be our next manager is the real news to obsess about.

4. This Week at Men in Blazers, Where no one is trying to “find the guy who did this…”

i. Another wild week at MiB HQ where we churn out Pods like West Ham churns out Bubbles. And on a week in which City reached the Champions League final, it is worth going back and listening to European Nights with Rory Smith, Presented by Paramount Plus in which we detail why it means so much to Pep to win the Champions League without Lionel Messi LISTEN HERE. We’ll be back with episodes ahead of all the European Finals.

ii. We also recorded a Pod with one of the brightest young minds in American football ahead of this summer’s World Cup. None other than Stanford Symbolic Systems graduate and San Diego Wave defender Naomi Girma. LISTEN HERE. A player whose mother thought her first US Youth call up was a kidnapping attempt. For real. And coming up this weekend, a life-affirming conversation with Angel City’s Julie Ertz. THIS IS A CONVERSATION NOT TO BE MISSED. And Tuesday, it’s episode 2 of Road to the Cup with Becky Sauerbrunn. USWNT Hero. The People’s Captain. Defender of the Semi-Colon (it’ll make sense Tuesday).

iii. Talking of World Cups, the Baby Baby Eagles kick off the U-20 World Cup Saturday at 2 p.m. ET against Ecuador and this week’s VAMOS with Herc Gomez, Presented by Bud Light has you covered, breaking down all the emerging stars you need to know. LISTEN HERE

iv. The entirety of the Men in Blazers Podcast is now available on video, thanks to the GFOPs at Camarena Tequila. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL. This week, those who watched the Pod on video saw Rog unironically do the Klopp fist pump as he rooted for Liverpool to defeat Leicester. This is end of days stuff.

v. And subscribe to our American States United Newsletter to keep up with the latest on all Americans Abroad. SUBSCRIBE HERE.

5. The Women’s Game by Meg Swanick 🍻

I am delighted that Meg Swanick is working with us now at MiB to bolster our coverage of the Women’s game. I have revered her writing for a long time and I am elated that she is sullying herself by hanging out with us. Meg wrote the below. Brace yourself, we will be launching a dedicated newsletter shortly.

This Weekend: Fresh off the release of their brand new HBO series, Angel City F.C head to North Carolina for a battle featuring two ascendant playoff hopefuls and 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson coiled to unleash her next golazo. (Saturday, 7 PM ET, Paramount+) Gotham FC’s turnaround season continues at a rapid pace, as 2022’s last-placed club could supplant OL Reign in second place this Sunday in Seattle. (Sunday 6 PM ET Paramount+).

b. Macario to Chelsea? 🇺🇸

The Athletic reported this week that USWNT’s Catarina Macario is ready to sign for English powerhouse Chelsea this summer. It’s a seismic move to England’s top flight from Europe’s most successful women’s side in Lyon, where Macario remains in recovery from an ACL tear suffered on the final day of last season. It will be incredible to watch her evolve amidst the spotlight and competition and to see how her versatility, creativity, and megawatt smile thrive under the tutelage of Emma Hayes.

c. Washington owner begins Multi-Club strategy by buying Lyon! 

Speaking of Lyon, that trophy-heavy women’s side is set to be purchased by Washington Spirit’s very own businesswoman extraordinaire and majority owner, Michele Kang. Kang will run the pair of clubs as separate entities, though one can’t help but wonder what Trinity Rodman might look like in France, or perhaps what Ellie Carpenter looks like in Washington.

6. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. The Logo for the 2026 World Cup was revealed this week. It is a bit bland. Does not say a lot about the personality of our region. What do you think?

ii. The Championship Playoff for a Premier League place will feature two magical stories pitching Coventry City against Ethan Horvath’s Luton Town at Wembley on May 27. The two teams were in League Two as recently as 2017-18. We will release a pod special ahead of the game next week.

b. Marvel at this: Sheffield Wednesday come back from a 4-0 first leg beatdown to shock Peterborough and win a place in League 1’s playoff in a penalty shoot out. Magnificent, especially for coach Darren Moore.

iii. Phil Jones released an incredibly honest farewell letter as it was announced he will leave Manchester United after 12 years at the end of this season. The 31-year-old wrote "It's been very difficult, the last couple of years, there's no denying that," he added in his club interview, he felt like he was "letting people down" and that he "found it hard to even speak to my team-mates" because he was "hurt that I couldn't help them.” It feels like yesterday, I was at the 2011 MLS All-Star Game when Jones had just made his debut and was being talked about as the next Great English Center Back. His career has seen some highs -- Premier League Champion, FA Cup Winner, World Cups -- but he will mostly be remembered as a Premier League Meme Lord. His descent often mirroring that of his club, and his passion and commitment misconstrued. As such, he, along with Joe Hart, amongst the most human footballers of the Premier League era. Wishing him success, inner-peace and joy in all that is to come.

7. 🥾 Men in Blazers x New Balance Boot Giveaway 🥾

We're teaming up with the GFOPs from New Balance to give away a pair of signed boots from Bukayo Saka. Yes, THAT Bukayo Saka. 😱

All you have to do is fill out this short form. That’s it. One lucky GFOP will go home with Arsenal starboy Saka’s signature boots signed by the man himself. We’re so happy to bring GFOPs things like this as a thank you for sharing football memories with us.

8. Not Football, and All the Better for It

i. Might be some nuggets of wisdom in here for Sean Dyche and Pickford: How the 90s Rave Scene Brought War-Torn Bosnia Together.

ii. Tell me how many of these have you been to? The 11 Most Beautiful Post Offices Around the World.

iii. Colorado man gives Florida man run for his money: Colorado Man tries to switch spots with dog after DUI arrest. Spoiler Alert: he was unsuccessful.

iv. How lucky are we to live in Martin Scorsese's timeline? (My dog & the filmmaker). If you'd like to break your own heart a little bit, read the director's comments on life, aging, and art in his interview with Deadline.

v. Skip the driving and Read Your Way Through Los Angeles.

vi. Lyz Lenz is a remarkable journalist. I found her through an incredible and stress-inducing profile she did years ago on Tucker Carlson. Her substack is a public service to her beloved Iowa and readers all over the country. Her latest: How the Town of Delta Saved Its Fire Department.

vii. The long, strange history of the baseball cap. I was recently on a MiB staff call where 7 different baseball caps were worn. Different people, but still. #Team47

viii. A MONSTER piece of storytelling courtesy of The Atavist Magazine: The Titanic Of The Pacific: A tale of disaster, survival, and ghosts. Incredible artwork in there too.

ix. This article was created in a click factory to perfectly fit this newsletter and its target audience: BEHOLD Why Ted Lasso’s Shoe Game Is So Strong.

x. An Ancient Hebrew Bible sells for $38m in NYC. Todd Boehly thought Hebrew Bible was the name of a prodigious left back prospect at Brighton and reportedly attempted a late bid of $45m that was swiftly rejected.

xi. Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day surprises London Pub band covering Green Day live on stage. Like having Raul stroll on to join your 5 a side team.

xii. I love this new collab between K-Way and Universal Works. Designed for the English Festival Experience.

That is it for today. I talked in Monday’s pod about the tragically early passing of my cousin Dan Kay who was a Liverpool journalist and Hillsborough campaigner. At Liverpool’s game on Saturday his memory will be honored by Anfield erupting in applause. With so few members of his family left to celebrate his achievements, this moment is beyond meaningful. To Dan’s memory, and the selfless, grueling work he did in the fight for justice.

Let’s make great memories together through football and not take a second for granted.

Big Love.

Courage.

ROG