Vermont, We Love You

I write with fingers propelled by maple syrup, Creemees, and joy after last night’s live Show o’ Shows up here in truly stunning Burlington, Vermont, from where I now type. We barnstormed north to spend a day celebrating Vermont Green FC, a hyper-local club who are one of the most thoughtful and creative communities I have seen built around a football team in our nation. The Green are a USL 2 club – the United States’ fourth-tier – but their founders have made clear the mission of the project is not about soccer – because the goal from the origins was to create a platform for community and Environmental advocacy. With true thought and creativity, they have willed it into reality and built something that is a true reflection of the essence and values of their city. I adored being up in Burlington (even though I inadvertently walked into some kind of mad beef the people have here with New Hampshire). It is a magical kingdom. A state of mind as much as a place. I am now 87% made up of Cabot Cheese, Maple Syrup-products and Love, and I leave with a reinforced belief that football ingenuity can come from everywhere.

In the run up to World Cup 2026, one of the goals of my work is to travel the nation whenever we can, and use the platform we have built to cast a spotlight on some of the most fascinating teams, in some of the most singular cities, and hear their stories. Let us know where we should go next. 🇺🇸

Listen to MiB LIVE IN VERMONT POD. Thank you to all in Burlington. We were honored to be with you. 🌲🏔️

1. To the Football

i. FA CUP FINAL WEEKEND 🏆🏆🏆

Manchester United vs. Manchester City Big Game Preview, Presented by Bud Light (Saturday, 10 AM ET, ESPN+)

There have been 189 Manchester Derbies but this is the first in the FA Cup’s 151 year history to take place in the vaunted tournament’s final.

AKA Wout Weghorst’s Last Dance, as two hairless managers plot to be the one true Bald King. This is more than a football game. This is City’s Battle for World Domination colliding with their crosstown rival’s battle for self-respect. Part of United’s fans’ fury with the Glazers has been heightened by the humiliating fact that it is the shambolic mob in east Manchester who have risen to become global football’s treble-chasing Gold Standard.

Hard to believe: As recently as January, United came from behind to beat City, but that now feels like a world away. A game in which Ten Hag was willing to cede possession, yet watched his team snatch two late goals. A different City has emerged since then. A Machine. A Widow Maker. A footballing inevitability.

More: A journey through the Manchester Rivalry. Excellent read.

b. Ten Hag and Pep were once allies. Now they meet as foes. Easy to forget, Ten Hag once worked for Guardiola…

ii. Godspeed Baby Baby Eagles 🇺🇸 🦅 USA U20 v Uruguay U20 🇺🇸🇺🇾 (Sunday, 5 PM ET FS2)

Our U.S. U20's face Uruguay in the quarterfinals of the U20 World Cup. Our gents have not so much as conceded a goal at this tournament after smashing New Zealand 4-0 in the round of 16. This is the fourth U20 World Cup in a row that the U.S. has reached the quarter final stage. We will try to reach the semifinals for just the second time and first since 1989. For all we malign our youth development in this nation, there is a lot going right in those MLS academies. Godspeed to our Boys.

iii. Everton: Alive but still hellbent on self-destruction

I don’t know if you heard, but we survived. Or more accurately: We live to die again. What is fascinating is how the magical win against Bournemouth catalyzed an outburst of relief but little joy. The dominant emotion was fatigue and anger. Watching this once proud team muster just 36 points out of 38 games will do that to you. I exchanged texts with a great friend of this show who captured the emotions perfectly by telling me, “No one knows the excitement of life more than a man who willfully erects his tent on the lip of a volcano.”

With the massive financial challenges, Financial Fair Play charges, and ownership changes ahead, “staying up” feels more like a Stay of Execution.

iv. Leeds “It is always darkest just before it goes pitch black”😢

Leeds announced this morning Sam Allardyce will leave the club by mutual consent and most probs with as many post-its he could fit in his pockets after cleaning out his desk. Brendan Rodgers is heavily linked as uncertainty swirls everywhere. Owner Andrea Radrizzani has closed a deal to lead to the acquisition of Italian fallen power Sampdoria. Yesterday it was revealed he intends to use Leeds’ stadium, Elland Road, as security to finance that deal. His ongoing status and liquidity in terms of Leeds remains unknown as the 49ers ownership group agonize over whether to activate their ability to become majority owners. I am hearing all of our American boys could be gone before next season begins. Expect Tyler Adams to make a move somewhere truly tasty. Didn’t we American fans feel like we almost had it all there? Football, like life, can be so unexpected in the most punishing ways.

More: Leeds fans have been let down by baffling board decisions.

🦊 Leicester City: How the Foxes sleepwalked into the Championship and what other clubs should learn from their implosion.

2. Men in Blazers. Where the heat map is the opposite of our hairline.

What a week at Men in Blazers World Headquarters where the Premier League season may be done, but the Pods runneth over. We wrapped up said Premier League season with a special Everton are Still Alive/Championship Sunday Instant Reaction Pod, recorded immediately on the final whistle of Sunday’s matches. The sound of a man who has just reached the shoreline after swimming through shark-infested waters.

ii. As one page turns, another one opens (that’s how it goes, yeah?). And not 48 hours after that Podcast, we recorded with the Men in Blazers Media Network’s Fabrizio Romano for a special Men in Blazers x Here We Go Crossover Podcast in which we previewed what Fab believes will be the most bonkers transfer window of all-time, with a special eye on our American boys and where they may play next season. LISTEN HERE.

iii. Wednesday evening, Men in Blazers Do it Live! returned with a special episode recapping the Europa League Final and the fact Jose Mourinho will have to miss out on another trophy tattoo and use that same ink appointment to get what we can only assume will be a tribal band instead. It was so great to speak with you live, GFOPs, which is the beauty of these Do it Live! sessions on AMP. LISTEN HERE. And we’ll be back this Wednesday upcoming to recap the Europa Conference League Final. Come on you Irons. DOWNLOAD AMP and come ask Rog your questions, live on the Pod.

iv. And talking of European competitions, this week we plan to preview The Big One - next Saturday’s Champions League Final - on European Nights with Rory Smith, Presented by Paramount Plus. It drops Wednesday morning.

v. After the Final, MiB Live and Dangerous is coming back to Twitch where we’ll be your officially unofficial Champions League Sidecast. We have some incredible guests lined up for this beauty. Paramount+ on the main TV, MiB Twitch on your streaming device. Stay tuned to our social for more details.

vi. Summer is here, but the United Newsletter is not going anywhere. Our weekly newsletter, which provides you everything you need to know about America’s best and brightest players plying their trade abroad, rolls on throughout the summer. SUBSCRIBE HERE for where the likes of Puli, Tyler and Flo Balogun may end up next season. Delivered direct to your inbox every Wednesday.

3. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. Lionel Messi will leave PSG. Where he goes next remains unknown. Barcelona have a desperate desire but no money. Saudi football has infinite piles of cash and a desperate desire to fling it at any fading super star who can confer footballing legitimacy. MLS is always mentioned in dispatches.

ii. Watching Jose Mourinho’s abhorrent post-Europa League Final antics in which he publicly lambasted match officials including British referee Anthony Taylor will have terrible repercussions. Mourinho greenlit Roma fans to harangue Taylor and his family at the airport. Images that no doubt will be mimicked by over-entitled parents at youth games all over the world. There is already a terrible shortage of referees at the grassroots of football. Who in their right minds would want to be one now? This morning, the Premier League issued THIS STATEMENT on the treatment of Taylor.

More: Referees body slams abuse and the darkness that ensued

iii. “Nothing has changed at Canada Football despite the Scandals”

iv. This is really, really silly: MLS fans please stop acting like Milan Ultras.

4. The Women’s Game by the Great Meg Swanick

This weekend: NWSL’s top of the table bouts stay bouting as a near-deadlocked Top Four collide once more in a clash of domestic titans. Gotham FC host Alex Morgan’s San Diego Wave before a record crowd (including Rog) at Red Bull Arena. It’s a battle of first place against fourth to kick-off the start of Pride Month (Sunday, 6 PM ET, CBS). Saturday evening, the Battle for Cascadia kicks off in Seattle, as defending champion Portland Thorns travel to OL Reign after unleashing this Challenge Cup dagger on Angel City (Saturday, 8 PM ET, CBS).

b. Best Bay Since Willow?
NWSL is set to expand by two teams in 2024, with California’s Bay Area holding one of those coveted positions. Thursday, that burgeoning Bay squad unfurled its official name and logo upon the nation. Ladies and gents, “Bay FC” is soon upon us. Bay Football Club’s momentous milestone evinced myriad responses, with many enthralled by the bold brand unveiling… others suggesting it looks like a confused baseball team.

c. World Cup Rosters Are Upon Us

The World Cup rosters are starting to drop like it's hot upon the summer. England’s 23-player Lioness squad was officially confirmed this week. The provisional names for Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands followed soon behind them. With seven weeks remaining before the winningest-Women’s-team-ever sets off for another trophy, the U.S. player pool has about three weeks left to fight for their spot by delivering in their NWSL games.

d. Women’s Champions League Final

Barcelona Femení vs. VfL Wolfsburg Women (Saturday, 10 AM ET, CBS Sports Network, Paramount+) Good piece on what it is like to face both powerhouses.

More: Emma Hayes from Surgery to Glory. Reflections on a remarkable Chelsea Season.

And: Why FIFA is right to demand more money from European broadcasters for Women’s World Cup by Miguel Delaney.

Launch of USWNT Collection with the GFOPs at Homage ⭐️🇺🇸👕

Celebrate the US Women's National Team, pay homage to the history of 90s sports that I love, and get ready for the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The GFOPs at Homage are letting us - yes us - release their USWNT collection ahead of this summer’s World Cup. They’ve let us give you GFOPs exclusive first access to the collection and you can check it out HERE, taking us back to the iconic moment when Brandi Chastain's penalty kick secured victory against China, a moment that still reverberates in our collective memory. It was a turning point, a moment when the nation's love affair with soccer and women's sports ignited. Support our women trying to go back-to-back-to-back this summer and gear up HERE.

5. Not Football, and All the Better for It

i. One of the most influential albums of my childhood, a forgotten classic, turns 40. Malcolm McLaren was a genius. So much of this still sounds insanely good.

ii. Climatologist Brian Brettschneider maps out a Roadtrip to stay in 70 degree weather. Might be easier just to move to Los Angeles.

iii. NPR tells the complex story of the late David Brandt, the Ohio Farmer behind the "It's Honest Work" Meme.

iv. Truck driver held after spilled potatoes cause chaos on Danish bridge. God Bless this police spokesperson: “It looks weird,” he said. “We are working on two hypotheses: it is either an accident or it is something that has been done deliberately.” Jamie Redknapp level insight there.

v. Melissa Giannini attempts to interview one of rock music's most elusive musicians. It's always a good time to listen to White Blood Cells and consider the fact that Meg White is the effing coolest.

vi. This event would never happen in America: Contestants chase cheese wheel down a hill in chaotic UK race. Does the winner get cash? A car? A brand new home? Nope. Just the cheese.

vii. I've been sending people to Tenacious D's cover of "Wicked Game" since they performed it on SiriusXM last December. They've now gifted us a proper video + studio version.

viii. What Nextdoor dreams are made of: Neighbors complain about Transformer statues outside Georgetown townhome. The star of this piece is indisputably neighbor Kitty Kelley, who has lived in the area for “two husbands” and who herself has had decorations including "topiary monkeys, a seven-foot bird feeder and ‘an angel who’s shooting something across the yard.’"

ix. Trains, excessive desserts, and a cameo from Harrison Ford. This Ryan Gosling profile has everything.

x. GFOP Jason Isbell has a new single out and new album out June 9. He and Rog's convo back in 2020 is a MiB all-timer.

xi. Happy Pride Month. It's a scary time in America: Threats against the LGBTQIA+ community intensifying: Department of Homeland Security. Celebrate and protect your LGBTQ+ loved ones this month and always.

xii. Beautiful story of how Nick Drake encountered the Rolling Stones in Morocco. Meet your Heroes.

xiii. This Song has propelled me through this week: Burnt Pictures by Audiobooks. Love everything about this.

xiv. I read this book: I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel. A challenging, brilliant read. A diary-like dive into a young woman’s toxic relationship with a married man and the confusion, fear, and powerlessness that ensues. Hard to describe in a way that will make you want to read this, other than to say, Sheena Patel is an immense writer.

That is it for today. I have to run to the airport to head home to my family whom I cannot wait to see. Big Love to All.

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

To better days ahead for all.

Courage

ROG

Courage Cap Up for the Summer ☀️🧢