20230707 Raven Newsletter

I type with fingers heavy with jet lag. I returned from France late Wednesday night and am right back into it. We had a remarkable week charging around a quite surreal Paris. A city attempting to gussy itself up for the Olympics even as the all too real social and political challenges that crackle just beneath its attempt to project a perfect veneer were evident all over town. I have not been there in over two decades and fell right back in love with Calvados, the Mont St. Michel store, and the quite incredible Basquiat-Warhol exhibit. I was struck by the number of tourists walking around in PSG garb, which made them literal walking billboards for Qatar. (Best meal I ate was here.)

b. Before that, I was in Tel Aviv. Another city of both wonder and profound challenge in equal measure. The city is one of the world’s great sportstech centers and it was fascinating to spend time with some of the technologists who will shape the future of football. I was blown away by the Playermaker technology. A performance and technical data tracker so detailed, Manchester City employ it. I loved two things about it: how any kid who is serious about improving their game can start using the app to analyze their own strengths and weaknesses, and that the company is using its data gathering to propel our understanding of why so many women players are experiencing devastating injuries and what can be done to prevent them. Short of it is – the area of sportstech is something I hope we can build on next year on the MIB Network. Both the technologies changing the game, and how they will change it are fascinating to me. PS. This was the best meal I have eaten in a long, long time.

Big News: FOLLOW US ON THREADS now. It is like our Twitter but without our innate toxicity. 😉

c. I landed back to a sweltering New York, and after being thankfully reunited with Martin Scorsese, am right back into it. The Women’s World Cup is just 13 days away. We are putting the finishing touches to our programming slate which I am so bloody proud of. Brace yourself for a cacophony of Twitch LiveStreams, player interviews live from USWNT Camp in New Zealand, podcasts with some of the most thoughtful analysts in the game, and a lotta, lotta Sam Mewis 🙌🇺🇸 We filmed with the legendary Ada Hegerberg last night who I have long wanted to tape with. More, much more to come next week.

d. So proud of this: We launched our new Women’s Game Newsletter this week! Our goal is to deliver a concise, intelligent framing of every day of football during the World Cup so you can maximize your viewing pleasure. I am particularly elated to have Meg Swanick work with us on this project. I have admired her by-line for a long time, and to have her join us at the MiB Network is what I want this community to be all about: Doing good things with great people. Newsletters spread best through personal recommendations: Friends sharing with friends. So, please sign up for the Women’s Game HERE and encourage your mates to do the same. 🍻

PS: Our American States United Newsletter is growing and growing. This joint drops every Wednesday and empowers readers to cover every major and minor storyline, triumph and challenge, experienced by our American hopefuls toiling abroad. This project is helmed by the quite magical Randy Kim – I love it because only the truly obsessive can watch every single European game every weekend. This newsletter makes it feels like you have done just that. Subscribe here 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

2. To the Football

1. Happy Gold Cup Weekend. Quarter–Finals Time Baby

USA Canada (Sunday, 7.30 PM ET, FS1) 🇺🇸🇨🇦 

Yes, its unforgiving placement, directly in the exhaust fumes of the Nations League Final has given this poorly branded CONCACAF tournament lesser brother vibes bordering on levels that are Chet Hanks-ian. Watching a second, third, and even fourth-string caliber US player open a can of whoop-ass on woeful opponents is an offering for the truly committed. But let’s be honest. This is the deadest time in the men’s football calendar. What else are we going to watch?  

I have really enjoyed watching Matt Turner step up and lead this squad. A gent who was somewhat tortured before winning the starting gloves in the run up to the World Cup, now clearly relishing in the moment to be the proud face of even an experimental US team. I also get a massive kick out of Cade Cowell. I love everything about him. A 19-year-old who feels like he is on the cusp of living out a transformative life moment.

It has been truly surreal watching Jesus Ferreira receive so much scorn for having the temerity to blast back-to-back hat tricks. Yes, the opposition has often looked so slipshod the games might be more competitive if the US had fielded its best amateur players (the finest bar-man defender, plumber/midfielder, and librarian striker we can find). Yet the derision that has surrounded a young American player who is winning games for his nation is a reflection about the complex moment we find ourselves in as American football fans. Remember this: Ferreira is just 22 years old. He has so much room to develop. So many more steps to his professional journey. The noise feels like a re-sounding of all the confusion running into, and trauma stumbling out of, the last World Cup campaign. Pepi/Pefok. Haji Wright. Dispatching Ferreira to sink without trace against the Dutch in that Round of 16. The delta in performance levels between that appearance and Jesus now bullying the likes of St. Kitts and Nevis will close in time. None of this is his fault. If I was Gregg Berhalter, one of the first things I would do upon inheriting the reins of the team again is to give a really reflective interview that can take steps to heal the rift between the program and many of its fans in the wake of his return.

PS. Ricardo Pepi’s Announcement video will make your morning. Pulisic to AC Milan sounds close to a done deal.

Come Join US at the Final Whistle: 🍻🍻🍻 This Sunday evening, after our quarter final clash with Canada, we Do it Live! on AMP. Come join us at 9:30 p.m. ET and ask your questions live on the Pod as we chop it up in the wake of BJ Ball vs. our Neighbors to the North. Click here to download the app or listen live on your desktop. And if you have an Alexa Sanchez, just say “Hey Alexa, play Men in Blazers” while we’re live and you can hear our show.

More: Other Quarter-Final Games here.

2. Big Week in Premier League Moves

i. Pochettino at Chelsea. Surreal seeing Poch roll into Stamford Bridge. I do love that man though and believe he is exactly the kind of culture builder Chelsea cries out for. His opening presentation was pitch perfect. I am rooting for him.

ii. Declan Rice: Arsenal get their man. Declan Rice to Arsenal reported by Fabrizio for a startling $127M, the most expensive signing ever for Arsenal and most expensive English player ever. Saliba signed a new deal and Jurrien Timber also undergoing a medical test. Stan Kroenke is going all in this season and it is magical to see.

iii. Mason Mount is a Red. Mr. Chelsea no longer. An emotional 24-year-old who joined Chelsea aged six looks so bloody weird in red. United also closing in on signing Inter goalkeeper Andre Onana, as David De Gea, after 545 appearances and 190 clean sheets, has become both a club legend and a spare part. A conundrum. Meanwhile, Harry Maguire is unsellable. And not in a good way.

To stay up to date on all of global football’s comings and goings, subscribe to “Here We Go” with Fabrizio Romano on the Men in Blazers Media Network. SUBSCRIBE HERE. If you truly want to stay informed about whom your club is tracking, listening to this Pod will do the trick. We are so honored to be working with Fab and his partner Francesco Porzio on this endeavor.

3. USWNT FINAL TUNE UP TIME: USWNT v Wales (Sunday 4 PM ET TNT, Telemundo, Universo, Peacock) 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Meg Swanick writes: The US Women meet Wales for the first time in history this Sunday in San Jose, in what will be their first and final friendly before Team USA’s World Cup three-peat quest kicks off in New Zealand. The visiting Welsh side will not head to this year’s World Cup, but the nation ranked 30th by FIFA have plenty of quality in their ranks to test the preparations of US manager Vlatko Andonovski’s 23 player roster. NWSL’s loyal watchers may be keen to see OL Reign’s dynamic veteran, Jess Fishlock, coordinating an attack that tests a US center back pair of World Cup debutantes Naomi Girma and Alana Cook. And while that pair of center back Stanford grads will be feeling at home in the Bay Area, their cohesion alongside presumed starting goalkeeper, Alyssa Naeher, will be key to watch. Elsewhere on the pitch, Sunday may provide pivotal minutes to players who need it most, including the still uncapped midfield sensation Savannah DeMelo, who Vlatko Andonovski hinted we will see on Sunday, as well as the long-injured and utterly irreplaceable Rose Lavelle. Wales will be without their captain and Chelsea deep lying midfielder, Sophie Ingle, who is suspended for this match, in what may be a massive problem for a team hoping to stymie the attacking force of a US side looking to start reeling the goals in early.

More: Subscribe to more Meg Swanick at the Women’s Game Newsletter HERE.

USWNT Collection with the GFOPs at Homage ⭐️🇺🇸👕

Get ready to cheer on 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. This collection takes 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.

4. This Week in MiB World HQ

A week in which we celebrate all things America, by recounting Rog’s speech to a group of Newly Minted American Citizens; re-released a special episode of HBO Band of Brothers Podcast with Damian Lewis; and made a short digital film about that time a group of angry American soccer dads confronted Pep Guardiola for… coaching their kids (for real). WATCH THAT HERE. Two out of three ain’t bad.

ii. We also released another brand new episode of VAMOS with Herc Gomez, Presented by Bud Light. Herc is doing an incredible job on the road covering the Gold Cup. And this week’s episode features none other than his former teammate, USMNT hero, and current US Soccer Vice President of Sporting Oguchialu Onyewu. LISTEN HERE.

iii. And today, we’re back with a new episode of WGFOP: Weekend Preview. Call and ask your questions about the Gold Cup, the USWNT’s final tune up game ahead of the World Cup, the fact that absolutely no one is speaking about Everton… (646) 450-9472.

iv. Next week, we are back with a slew of exciting projects, including one that focuses on youth development in this country, presented by the GFOPs at Allstate. We trace the youth development ideologies back to their source and explore what’s gone wrong, what’s gone right and where we go next. And we’re doing so with the help of some very, very special guests. Watch the Pod feed.

Men in Blazers x Bud Light Sweepstakes - Exclusive Prizes for GFOPs 🍺

You’ve long known about the GFOPs at Bud Light’s support of the game we all love. Now, they’re giving us the chance to give away some exclusive prizes only to those of you reading this newsletter. Entering is easy: just head to budlight.com/MIB to enter for your chance to win signed gear, exclusive Bud Light merch, and more.*

5. More Football Did Ya Say?

i. What is a Football Club? I loved this piece and what it asks in the face of the Saudi league and also multi-club ownership: What has a club become? As traditional industries have declined, their role as emblems of their communities has become increasingly important. They offer a nostalgic link to past generations, even as the fanbase becomes more global – a tension that itself is not easily reconciled. But modern clubs are also vehicles for the profit of an outsider, whether that is economic or political.

ii. Wither Mbappé? Real Madrid plan to hold on for next year and acquire a legend in the making on the free. Arsenal and Liverpool cannot afford him. Possibilities are infinite but options are severely limited.

iii. Best story of the week: In a landmark move for English football, Forest Green Rovers have asked their academy manager Hannah Dingley to take charge of the first team and become the first woman to manage a men’s professional team in England. I loved this line: “By the end of Wednesday evening Dingley was busy posing for photos and signing autographs. ‘Do you know what’s nice with that? How many young girls are down there. Hopefully we are inspiring young girls in football and in any industry that there aren’t these glass ceilings and if there are then you just have to break through them.’”

Canadian GFOPs 🇨🇦: An Exclusive Offer from FuboTV

We love our friends north of the border, and FuboTV loves football as much as we do. FuboTV is Canada’s home to streaming live soccer with 57+ live channels of soccer and other top sports. With the 23/24 PL fixtures just announced, there’s no better time to head to FuboTV and get the entire Premier League season for as low as $14.99/mo with an annual soccer plan. To learn more check out fubo.tv/signup.

6. Not Football and All the Better for It

i. Scooter, a Chinese crested, is crowned world’s ugliest dog. I fear for Scooter's self esteem.

ii. All in a day's work (if you work at a food magazine) Which Supermarket Bagel Is Best? A Blind Taste Test of Thomas’, Trader Joe’s, and More.

iii. I've been thinking about this piece all week: Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors. Such a beautiful examination of friendship, sport, and battles on and off court. A great read for Wimbledon Middle Weekend.

iv. This is actually a win for the USA (he's from England!): Colosseum: Tourist who carved on wall 'unaware of arena's age'. I have a feeling that excuse won't fly with the Italians.

v. Will you see the Barbie Movie first, or Oppenheimer? (Def Barbie right? We all know what happens in Oppenheimer.) Mull it over while reading this excellent piece from The Times, Barbie, Her House and the American Dream .

vi. This is an EPIDEMIC and we must take it seriously: Tim Robinson Broke My Boyfriend's Brain.

vii. I watched Bad Sisters. Imagine if The Chicks song "Goodbye Earl" was a TV Show set in Ireland. You cannot forget the husband or the word “Mummy.”

viii. Unlike most things in this section of the newsletter, this might actually be useful: Was your flight canceled amid bad weather? What you need to know about rebooking, refunds and more. Godspeed to anyone traveling this weekend.

ix. Bill Callahan is a lifeforce. I love this list of his 20 best songs. Cannot argue with No. 1 But The Ballad of the Hulk has given me so much joy in my life when I have needed it. All of these tunes are gifts for you.

x. I read two incredible books while I was away that shaped my understanding of Tel Aviv and Paris. Victorious by Yishai Sarid. A gripping telling of a military psychologist undone by the conflict between her professional purpose and real life role as a mother. The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq. Holy Crap. Yes. Just Yes.

That is it for today. The end of a week in which, as so many of you sent me, Tracy Chapman became the first Black woman in history to have the sole songwriting credit on a #1 country hit, as Luke Combs’ cover of her 1988 song “Fast Car.” I loved Tracy’s statement. I only love her version but am happy for Luke. I hope this moment encourages her to come out of retirement. There is no one I want to interview more.

Big Love,

Courage

Go, Go, USA

ROG