United's New Manager 🔴; City in Injury Crisis? 🔵

Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers filled with suspense. City roiled by injuries. Arsenal playing the vortex of the early game. United’s cavalry coming in the shape of a new manager. Liverpool swagger into a Seagull-inflected potential Trap Game. And Everton prepare to crap the bed and hand Southampton their first big boy top flight win since the end of the Boer War. I say this after watching Warren Zevon – on the 22nd anniversary of that great poet’s legendary appearance on Letterman after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Letterman asked what he had learned about life and death knowing his days were numbered. Zevon did not have to wait a beat, before proclaiming the life truth, “Enjoy every sandwich!” I had not watched this conversation in over a decade, and perhaps it is the chaos of the world, or the stakes we are currently living through, but I found it overwhelmingly meaningful and wanted to share it with you. Let’s enjoy every sandwich with each other this weekend…

• The highlight of my week – honestly, the highlight of my year – was time spent with Noah Kahan talking about life, football, and Chelsea Football Club last Monday. At this time of unsettling turmoil, I wanted to do something positive and uplifting. Noah is that and then some. A human joy. A light in the darkness. The conversation was really rich. Noah is a gent who really feels things and speaks with a deep emotional intelligence and honesty. It was incredible to talk about how deeply he fell in love with the game at a time of real challenge in his own life, and how – I am NOT making this sentence up: Chelsea Football Club were his rock stars. Giants who walked the earth, and made him believe that everything was possible. Short story: Noah Kahan is a really beautiful human being and this conversation – which you will find in full on our YouTube now, will make you feel better about life, even fleetingly. 🍻 

• A couple of conversations I really enjoyed this week: This one with Jamie Vardy, where I asked him how he wants to be remembered, and he said as a man who “created carnage.” Talking to Becky Sauerbrunn, the single greatest human being I know, after watching Naomi Girma score not once, but twice for the USWNT. This week we are filming with Dominic Solanke to go deep on Ange, anime, and goalscoring. Send us your questions for him.

• 🚨Kansas City: WE ARE COMING FOR YOU NWSL FINAL WEEKEND: In what I hope will become the start of an annual tradition, Sam Mewis and I will be live on stage at the “The Women's Game NWSL Championship Live Show: Night of 1,000 Stars Presented By Ally” – a showcase celebration of the championship game, the incredible growth of the league in this moment, and reveling in the singular, surging soccer culture that thrives in Kansas City. We have a ton of friends, leading players, and a celebrity surprise guest or two, joining us on stage. My plan is to revel with you, and eat all of the burnt ends. The show is at the Madrid Theater. TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW and if you are coming to the final, or live in Kansas City, I would love it if you would come and join us…. Let’s raise a glass… celebrate this incredible moment together. 🐄🚨

PS Hawaii GFOPs! Where do you watch your Football?
You are the only state we have not had a recommendation for a Good Soccer Bar for our forthcoming guide. Where do you watch your games over there? We would love your recommendations for the best place to watch football in The Aloha State. Submit your entry here. Mahalo. 🌺

Also: Please, please help grow this newsletter community by sharing it with your fellow-football-curious friends so we can keep spreading the love and Good Vibes. It helps more than you know. Subscribe here.

2. To the Football 🍻

• Manchester United vs. Chelsea (Sunday, 11:30 a.m. ET, USA)

United now exist in hope-filled limbo. A new manager, Ruben Amorim, has been crowned but will watch United from a foreign kingdom until after the next international break, November 24th. Ruud van Nistelrooy will continue as United’s interim head coach for three more home games. The 39-year old Amorim is undoubtedly one of the most coveted, brightest young managers in European football. A gent seen as both tactical genius, culture builder and charismatic man manager. It is one thing to do that at Sporting, an altogether different feat to do it in the unforgiving crucible of Old Trafford, with high-profile, high-salary, underperforming stars, in a foreign language, and the English tabloid press salivating to turn any wobble into a crisis. 

Make no mistake, this is an enormous moment for Ineos, United’s new controlling owners. They floundered over the decision surrounding Ten Hag’s retention last summer. Cynics would say they are just trying to graft the model on to United they desire at the moment from elsewhere, and that it is one thing to resurrect Sporting in Portugal, another to take on the Giant Grey Gardens that is Manchester United. This weekend’s opponents Chelsea, who themselves have been refashioned by the confident, calm, decisive leadership of Enzo Maresca are themselves a living example that anything is possible. 

More: Amorim turned Sporting around. Manchester United will be a whole different scale of challenge.

• Newcastle vs. Arsenal (Saturday, 8:30 a.m. ET, USA) 

A clash of two teams surging with the empty calories of Carabao Cup victory. Newcastle are on a five game Premier League winless run but they clipped Chelsea in the League Cup midweek. Arsenal are already five points behind pace-setting league leaders Manchester City, yet their fans glimpsed the future as 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri reminded them he can thrash goals like this. Winner gets Bryan Mbuemo. 

• Bournemouth vs. Manchester City (Saturday, 11 a.m. ET, Peacock)

City are in injury crisis. Pep Guardiola has proclaimed his league leaders and quintuple-seeking (Community Shield, FA Cup, Premier League, Champions League, Club World Cup) defending champions have "13 players" and are in "trouble" and have 13 injuries heading into this one, after Manuel Akanji and Savinho picked up knocks in a midweek Carabao defeat – their first defeat in all comps this season – after which, it has to be said, the City players on the bench did not exactly look sad at the final whistle. 

A good time to play Bournemouth then: this is the most one-sided game in Football League history. The Golden War Cherries have lost all 14 previous clashes with Pep’s all-conquering machine.  

PS. City fans’ new chant for Ballon D’Or winning Rodri is quite something. 

• Liverpool vs. Brighton (Saturday, 11 a.m. ET, Peacock)

After last weekend’s hardfought draw at Arsenal, Arne Slot’s English managerial record is now dented to just 12 wins in 14. Behold this sequel to Wednesday’s Carabao clash, won 3-2 courtesy of a late dancing Luis Diaz goal at the Amex. Schadenfreude-filled readers (AKA Me) take hope: Brighton have already taken points from Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United this season…

• Tottenham vs. Aston Villa (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, USA)

No one was more surprised than Timo Werner that time T. Werner swept home this emphatic finish to cap an incredible team move that tore Manchester City apart and delivered Spurs Carabao glory. What’s the German word for “I always win trophies in my second season, mate?” This game an altogether crueler test for an inconsistent Postecoglou side that have lost nine of their last 16 league games. Champions League-caliber Aston Villa are in fourth place and living the life that Spurs fans yearn to experience by right.  

• Everton vs. Southampton (Saturday, 11 a.m. ET, USA)

Has a game ever seemed more likely to end in humiliating, self-soiling Everton defeat? Yes, we might be unbeaten in our last five Premier League matches but just look at Southampton’s record: Bottom of the Premier League table. One point off nine games. Winless in their last 22 top flight games. Do you catch my drift? Everton fans know all too well, our team is, at its very core, world football’s most selfless Make-A-Wish charity. Prepare for darkness.  

More: Whole Premier League broadcast schedule here. 📺

3. Wrexham, Don’t Wrexham it Up! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Wrexham are in FA Cup First Round action this weekend – in a sign of their progress, they are no longer underdogs – as they travel away to League Two’s Harrogate Town (Sunday, 10.30 a.m. ET, ESPN+). A win at The Exercise Stadium would end the Red Dragons’ two-game winless streak brought on by last week’s controversial draw against Charlton.

More: This Week in Wrexham tells the tale of that game at Charlton. It is one of my favorite episodes Tomi Caws has ever made. To watch him grow as a broadcaster has been one of the joys of my year. He is so very talented. 

Also: What’s in store for the FA Cup’s lowest ranked teams including Hednesford Town, “The Pitmen,” who ply their trade in the eighth tier of English football, where they are 14th in the Northern Premier League Division One West. US Open Cup should be this good!

4. AC Milan: I have a feeling there will be American goals… 🇮🇹

Milan hope to shake off their lethargy which has left them in eighth place going into this weekend’s matchup with lowly Monza (Saturday, 3.45 p.m. ET, Paramount +.) A midweek loss to league leaders Napoli saw Christian Pulisic on the bench after suffering from the flu, marking the first time this season he hasn’t been in Paulo Fonseca’s starting lineup. Saturday’s match marks the first of two games the Rossoneri play in the next four days, with Real Madrid awaiting in Tuesday’s Champions League match. 

Action Step: To follow every European kick of the ball through an American-player lens, subscribe to our dedicated weekly USMNT newsletter here.

5. The Women’s Game: It NWSL Decision Day! 🏆

Although slightly less dramatic than last year’s decision day, the stakes are still SKY HIGH for this weekend’s final NWSL regular season matches. The Washington Spirit, Gotham, and Kansas City jockey for that all-important homefield-granting No. 2 seed in the playoffs, while three sides: the Portland Thorns, Bay FC, and Racing Louisville joust for the last two remaining playoff spots. A win or a draw for Portland against Angel City (TONIGHT, 10 p.m. ET, Prime Video) would see them clinch seventh, while the same result for Bay FC against the Houston Dash (Saturday, 9.30 p.m. ET, ion) would see them claim the eighth and final spot. Should one or both lose, the weekend’s final game between Louisville and the San Diego Wave (Sunday, 5.30 p.m. ET, ESPN) will decide which team’s season is over. 

More: full playoff scenarios here.

PS: Can I say just how much joy I experienced watching center back Naomi Girma score her first ever goal for the USWNT – then following that up by artfully heading a second. I have revered Naomi since she made her debut. I have been lucky enough to have Naomi as a guest on multiple occasions and she is such an intelligent footballer to talk to, and that translates onto the field in her positioning and leadership. Make no mistake – FIFA may have snubbed her for the Ballon D’Or nomination because she is not in a goal-scoring position. But she will soon be the Captain of this US Team and the best player in the world. The joy her teammates experienced after her scoring feats tells you all you need to know about how beloved, and central, Naomi is to this surging American squad. 

Action Step: To follow every storyline in the Women’s Game, subscribe to our weekly Women’s Football newsletter here.

Men in Blazers x WorldSoccerShop Giveaway Winner 🎁

We love making football memories with all of you and the GFOPs at WorldSoccerShop help us give back and thank you for sharing these moments with us. This week, they’ve hooked us up with the new 24/25 Yellow Premier League Matchball to give away. So many of you have signed up for these giveaways and we’re so excited to be able to bring you more and more.

A massive congratulations to Shane H. for winning the PL ball this week (just in time for winter). Make sure to sign up for all the giveaways we have coming up. 

6. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. How Rodri won the Ballon D’Or and Vinicius Jr. didn’t. 

ii. Amorim’s tactics and the challenges he must fix at Manchester United.

iii. I loved this story of the rise of Mousehole FC in Cornwall, one of the most extraordinarily beautiful and non-football parts of the UK. 

iv. A human rights audit of FIFA makes for important but heart-breaking reading, detailing “a wide range of social harms, not least very serious and systematic human rights abuses” in its current form. I strongly encourage you to take a look at what FairSquare details here, including the action steps for “total overhaul of dysfunctional patronage structure.” If you are not a report reader, this Miguel Delaney piece is a must-read.

v. Copa Football — one of our favorite brands out of the Netherlands — have released a brand new collection of retro-inspired merch. From the iconic kits of Jorge Campos to Diego Maradona running rampant for Napoli and Argentina to Striker, the beloved World Cup 1994 mascot, Copa Football blends a fanatical love of the game with respect to the past. It’s available now on our shop.

PrizePicks: Best PP since Pablo Picasso

Charlie Kipp Writes: We continue our journey into the 2024-25 Premier League season and with all the action going on, there is nothing better than firing up a PrizePicks entry to help you get stuck-in to ALL the football - not just the match featuring your team. Who doesn’t want a distraction? (Looking at you, Southampton fans.) A matchup that jumps out to me is the weekend opener, the not-so-early kickoff (shoutout to Daylight Savings) between Arsenal and Newcastle, where we will grab Alexander Isak MORE than two Shots.

Newcastle are a strange example of a nation-state team that have not exactly spent as if petro-dollars are monopoly money and this season, performances have been impotent. One player, however, in their new-era of ownership who does reflect some of that “splash the cash” ambition the Geordies were promised is 25-year-old Alexander Isak. Signed in 2022 for $80 million, Isak has shown flashes of brilliance but ultimately not been the Haaland-esque force that some might have thought he would be. With only two goals to his name so far this season (that’s less than Dwight McNeil!!) - I think Saturday is prime time for Isak to show up and display what many know him to be capable of. The pick: Alexander Isak MORE than two Shots.

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and play $5 and instantly get $50 when you use code MiB.

7. Not Football, and All the Better for It

• 50th anniversary of The Rumble in the Jungle. Did Ali plan the rope-a-dope, or just improv it? Your annual reminder to watch the movie, When We Were Kings.

• Wonka Costumes, arrests, a comically large check, and the man himself: The Agony and Ecstasy of a Timothée Chalamet Lookalike Contest.

• Wojtek: The bear who was a private in the Polish army. Bears this generation...no sense of patriotism. 

• Too scary for children! How Halloween used to be – in pictures. Never too early to start planning for next year. 

• The Rise of Ending Explainers, Explained. Was about to get on my high horse about this then realized I had a reddit thread open discussing the ending of the book Kala.

• Loved this from Emily Raboteau: Daylighting a Brook in the Bronx.

• The Coming Collision Between Whales and Tankers on British Columbia’s Coast. For reasons beyond my own entertainment, we need the return of Whale Wars. 

• Can a Sneaker Fanatic Win the Hypebeast Game With Homemade Kicks? I know what SOME of these words mean. 

• Writing in Pictures: Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature. If children were allowed to get tattoos I would have gone for a Richard Scarry full sleeve at age 8. (One of my most treasured possessions is Richard Scarry’s painting easel which his son sent me after my memoir came out.)

• Online shopping can’t be trusted. (Note: Does not apply to the MiB World Soccer Shop store, obvs.) 

• This song has helped me through my week: Any Time Soon by Ten Fé.

• I am reading this book and love it so much: A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg. As a lover of novels rife with family dysfunction and schisms, this slim volume is a masterpiece. Attenberg is such a crisp writer, and so emotionally observant. The Martin Ødegaard of words.

That’s it for today. GFOP @SeanDelanoy was one of many agonized MLB fans who reached out to me this week via Twitter asking: @rogbennett is being a Yankee fan right now what it’s like to be an Everton fan? Periods of light and darkness causing nausea, and yet you can’t pull yourself away.

Sean. Why are you coming to me? A White Sox fan. What is this light of which you speak? To be honest, huge respect to Todd Boehly this week. His Dodgers Champions. Chelsea green shooting towards renaissance. Sean, listen to the Noah Kahan interview, which I am going to do every time one of my teams lose now. He talks about the pain of defeat in such a nourishing way.  

To Better Days Ahead for All.

Let’s not take a moment watching football together for granted and make great memories,

Big Love,
Courage.
ROG 

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