USMNT Gen Zeagles Back in Action 🇺🇸🇨🇴🦅

Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers filled with Burnt Ends and a profound love and appreciation for the Magical Kingdom of Kansas City. Last night, my friend Sam Mewis and I took the stage for her first ever live show at the Madrid Theater. We came to tell the incredible story of the Kansas City Current, who have forged, in this city born of beef, barbecue, and meat sweats, a delirious footballing culture, and the world’s first-ever stadium purpose-built solely for a professional women’s team. Never have I seen an NWSL team own a town like the Current. Their logo is all over the city. As true pioneers in the sporting world they deserve it, and I leave here truly inspired by what I have seen and heard. A story that is about the present, and what has been built here, which I hope is riveting for listeners across the nation, but one that is most importantly about the future. Because I hope this team, this fanbase, and this town are a pathfinder. That this stadium will be the first of many that rise up in the next decade across our nation, purpose-built for our women's football teams in NWSL. May they energize and propel the players to that next level we dream of, and may this be a moment of profound construction, and transformation, for the women's game across our land.  

📺 WATCH THE ENTIRE SHOW HERE. 🎧 LISTEN TO THE SHOW HERE.

ii. Most of all – I adored meeting so many football fans across the flatlands of this city. I spent a day filming at two incredible museums here – the National WWI Museum and Memorial and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum – while destroying all the Burnt Ends at the singular Joe's Kansas City BBQ, the wings at The Original Peanut and a late-night burger at the crackingly ecstatic Town Topic. I asked Jerry, the pitmaster at Joe’s what the human truth he has gleaned from 22 years spent dedicated to perfecting barbecue. He told me to “take life slow and low, and appreciate every moment for what it is,” which is very much the vibe of the entire town. A place packed with kindness, warmth, and joy, fused with a rollicking sense of storytelling, and, as the two museums suggest, a willingness to preserve the memory of crucial – and tremendously challenging – fragments of our nation’s history. As Anthony Bourdain once said about this singular place, “God bless America. Now serve the pork.”

To more – I can’t wait to come back to KC on June 30th – and with thanks to our friends at Olipop for making this entire night possible. Visit drinkolipop.com/twg20 for 20% off your first order.

iii. 🚨🗣️ LOS ANGELES GFOPs WE ARE COMING TO YOU ON JUNE 19th with the magical BRENDAN HUNT co-hosting a show in which we will break down the United States’ impending victory in the Copa and all there is to come, raising a glass and making incredible memories with all of you. We will kick off our FC to Shining Sea Tour in Los Angeles Wednesday, June 19 at the El Rey Theatre. Tickets for the show are now on sale HERE. Wear your kits. Bring your signs. Raise a Tifo inside the theater. Let’s make summer memories.

P.S. This was my son’s Graduation Yearbook Message. Reading him quote Peter Drury both thrilled me and broke my heart in equal measure.  

Congratulations to all graduates across the nation. May football give you some of your most profound memories. I did love this Insta post from GFOP Vincent Pistone who wrote “It goes beyond winning, losing, or drawing. It's the time spent with your son that he'll treasure the most. It's the joy and love for a shared entity that your son will pass on one day. Everton may not win often, but they're a vessel for which you've gotten to share love with your children. That's an eternal three points for you, Rog.”

2. To the Football: US Gen Zeagles are back in Action: USMNT vs. Colombia (Saturday, 5.30 p.m. ET, TNT) 🇺🇸🇨🇴🦅

The Copa America is 13 days away, and our boys are back in town, playing the first of a pair of audacious friendlies (the second being Brazil on Wednesday night after which I will Do It Live!) in which they hope to begin to make some noise and break through the summer clutter ahead of a tournament whose kick off has been, sad to say, strangely muted.  

One of the highlights of my week was taping with Tyler Adams, who has joined the Men In Blazers Media Network to unfurl his new show, The Captain presented by Allstate (watch now). Tyler made it clear the goal of the tournament was for our still-young American squad to test themselves against truly potent South American opposition in games of consequence. Something they have not had the chance to do in the empty calories of CONCACAF and Nations League play.  

Some of the big storylines ahead of this game are evergreen – who will lead the line for the US between the consistently clinical Josh Sargent, sizzling Haji Wright, perpetually potent Ricardo Pepi, and Next Big Thing Flo Balogun? One massive new intrigue: who will fill in for Sergino Dest as the Dutch-American Nutmeg Addict rehabs from an ACL tear? Will Gregg play it safe and field Joe Scally, or experiment with Weston, Yunus, or Tim Weah dropping back there? Answers to all Saturday. I will tape a post-game show on Monday. Call in your thoughts and questions at 646-450-9472 and have your voice heard. It will be so good to see our boys take the field together once again. Go! Go! USA!

ii. England vs. Iceland (Today, 2.45 p.m. ET, Fubo) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇸

After months of speculation, Gareth Southgate’s final Euro Squad was announced Thursday to much fanfare and Jack Grealish on vacation jokes. In what could be his last hurrah, a ruthless Southgate has dispatched his old notions of conservatism and loyalty. 12 players including Eberechi Eze and his Palace teammate Adam Wharton have been given their first tournament call-up.  Grealish’s absence made the headlines, but the loss of Harry Maguire to injury will cause the most tactical challenges. Whether Southgate carries over his audacious decision making to his midfield set-up remains to be seen.

More: Supporting England even more painful than supporting Everton: Penalties, red cards and shocks - England's 58 years of hurt.

🏆 Join our UEFA EURO 2024 Fantasy League and win the EUROs even if England don’t 

UEFA EURO 2024 is right around the corner, with the first match beginning next Friday, June 14th. And there is not just action on the pitch, but off of it as well. We are partnering with UEFA EURO 2024 to join the official Fantasy League of the tournament. It’s quite simple, pick your players, click submit, and you can win a whole range of prizes throughout the tournament as you watch along. Run, don’t walk to join the official UEFA EURO 2024 Fantasy League this summer and be sure to look at the top of the leaderboard for my entry “Jack Grealish’s Calves”. 

iii. France v. Canada (Sunday, 3.15 p.m. ET, Fox Soccer Plus) 🇫🇷🇨🇦

Godspeed Jesse Marsch. The Canadians suffered a sobering 4-0 loss in his first match in charge against the Netherlands. The Pride of Racine, WI now travels to Bordeaux to take on a French team considered one of the favorites for this summer’s Euros. Les Bleus beat Luxembourg yesterday in their second-to-last friendly before the Euros, with LAFC’s Olivier Giroud coming on in the 81st minute to become the oldest player ever selected for France.

3. Manchester City take on the Premier League and plunge English Football into Civil War 😢

The Cold War between the Premier League and its four-in-a-row champions Manchester City has ratcheted up to full frontal assault. This week it was revealed the defending title-holders have brought a case against the league challenging everything from sponsorship rules to the means by which decisions are taken by the competition. It will begin to be heard by an independent tribunal next week, months before the much-anticipated and long-awaited hearing on City’s 115 charges of alleged financial fair play skulduggery which is said to begin in November. City’s claim revolves around whether the League should be able to police fair market value for club’s sponsorship deals. They also are tilting at the league’s voting rules which require that 14 of 20 clubs must vote in favor of any proposal in order for it to be adopted, claiming that system preserves “the tyranny of the majority,” a quote borrowed from the 19th Century iconic liberal reformer, John Stuart Mill, who used it to describe how mob rule can overrun government institutions. Make no mistake: City are locked in a game of high-stakes chicken that feels awfully akin to mutually-assured self-destruction.

This is a massive moment of challenge for the Premier League. In the 2000s, they allowed nation states to come in and own their footballing institutions, blinded by the money, without any kind of sophisticated scenario planning for the possible consequences. This week, we saw: these are the consequences. A team with infinite resources, experiencing historic unprecedented glory yet still positioning itself as a victim, and when challenged by the rules of competition, seeking to smash them. The stakes could not be higher. The outcome of this challenge will determine who runs the league. The Premier League itself? Or the powers that be at the Etihad? The only winners this week are the lawyers whose billing hours must be at De Bruyne-salary levels. 

More: Barney Ronay on City: “As club’s powerful owners rail against ‘the elites’ in legal battle with Premier League, there is a looming danger to the game”

4. This Week at Men in Blazers World Headquarters

“I'm going to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.”

🤩 Our night of nights, The Women’s Game Live in Kansas City, recorded at a sold out Madrid Theater is available as a PODCAST and a full video version is now up on YOUTUBE. 

🇺🇸 Rog mentioned it earlier in the newsletter, but it was launch week here at Men in Blazers World Headquarters as we dropped Episode 1 of our new Podcast with Tyler Adams: The Captain, Presented by Allstate. LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE Episode two coming up in the coming weeks. 

😴 Football Don’t Sleep and Neither Do We. And as this summer of football stretches out before us like a buffet at the Golden Corral, we have you covered. We started this week with a special edition of WGFOP Summer of Soccer Preview, Presented by PrizePicks in which Rog took your questions on the COPA and EUROS. LISTEN HERE. And this Wednesday, after the USMNT take on Brazil, we will begin a series of Do it Lives! on YouTube. This week we will be joined by that Oklahoman wonder Daryl Dike to talk about the US’s final tune-up ahead of this competition. Subscribe to our YouTube and get notified every time we go live this summer. 

5. US Women look back on a week in which the Emma Hayes New Bold Era Began 🇺🇸

Emma Hayes’ tenure began with a pair of comprehensive clean-sheet victories, albeit against a limited, overmatched South Korea played under the caution, “don’t read too much into friendlies.” The exclamation point moment came in the second game when 16-year old Stargirl Lily Yohannes, strolled onto the field, unfurled a composed, creative cameo performance, and capped it off by delivering a debut goal, which triggered joyous scenes. Lily’s moment underlined that this is now a youthful team, in transition, but undoubtedly packed with talent in which Emma is in complete control.  

In between games, Hayes talked about feeling like “a heart surgeon in the middle of emergency surgery,” attempting to inculcate her philosophy at speed with the Olympics kicking off in just 48 days.  She must now wield that scalpel and work out how to reduce the 23 to an 18 — choosing five forwards from the array of old and new talents at her disposal is some footballing Sophie’s Choice. 

More: Sam Mewis’s reaction and takeaways to the games.

ii. NWSL keeps delivering the Magic 🪄

The Invincible Orlando Pride sit atop the NWSL league standings. Tonight they’ll attempt to make it nine wins in nine as they travel to Shield holders, San Diego Wave (10 p.m. ET, Prime Video), who sit ninth in the league after two disappointing results against their California rivals Bay F.C. and Angel City. Sunday at the CPKC Stadium, 2nd placed KC Current (no doubt buoyed by our TWG live show) will be without center-back Gabrielle Robinson (ACL) as they play host to a struggling Seattle Reign side looking to put points on the board after three straight losses (6 p.m. ET, Paramount +).

☀️🌴 West Ham going on a Florida Tour…and we want to get you there 

West Ham are visiting Florida for the first time for a two-match Sunshine State Tour this summer.​ The Hammers will cross the Atlantic Ocean to the US to take on Premier League foes Wolverhampton Wanderers and Crystal Palace as part of the inaugural Stateside Cup (Champions of Florida Cup you’ll never sing that).​

The matches will see them take on Wolves at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville on Saturday July 27 at 7 p.m. ET, before facing the Eagles at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday August 3 at 7 p.m. ET.​ You can get your own tickets HERE.

Thanks to the GFOPs over at West Ham, we are excited to be able to give away two West Ham prize packages that include two (2) tickets to the match of your choice in Florida AND two (2) personalized yet-to-be-released 2024/25 kits. All you have to do is sign up for our text line by texting “HAMMERS” to 513-572-3171 (you can click the number to open your messages) and you’re entered to win.

For all the info you’d need – and to get tickets of your own – you can visit the FAQ page RIGHT HERE. Godspeed to all you Hammers traveling this summer.

6. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. Brilliant piece on Mbappe to Real Madrid and his PSG legacy by Sid Lowe.

ii. Mourinho and Fenerbahce. A “sanctuary of discomfort.”

iii. Meanwhile, at Everton, club’s lenders battle to take over the club.

iv. The impact of neuroscience on elite footballers’ performance: The next frontier.

v. Long loved the performer Mull Historical Society. His musical tribute to Scottish Football History is epic.

PrizePicks. Best PP since Pete Postlethwaite

Charlie Kipp Writes: The summer of soccer is nearly upon us. The operative word in the previous sentence, though, is “nearly”. In a couple weeks, we will be in the midst of the Euros, Copa America and looking ahead to Emma Hayes’ USWNT taking the field in the Olympics. But not yet. Right now we are in Championship Season in the NBA and NHL and with the wonder of PrizePicks’ wide range of offerings, across a multitude of sports and statistical categories what better time than to take a quick breather from the beautiful game and turn our attention elsewhere, say, Connor McDavid LESS than 1.5 points.

Hockey fans reading this (a friendly hello to all four of you!) will see this pick and likely scoff at my analysis, but allow me to defend my pick for a moment. For the uninitiated, Connor McDavid is essentially the NHL equivalent of an even better Harry Kane. A prolific goalscorer who is on pace to go down as one of the best players of all time, playing in hockey-crazed Edmonton, Canada. But - like Kane - he’s never won anything. With the Edmonton Oilers, the team he captains, reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2006 - McDavid has the chance to deliver the trophy his nation has not won for 30 years and will be under the brightest lights the sport has to offer. Call me crazy, but I think it will take a game or two for him to grow comfortable to the pressure, and two points (goals and/or assists) is a LOT to ask of any player. Maybe he’ll prove me wrong Saturday night in Game One when the Oilers visit the Florida Panthers, but for now - we look at this like Kane at the Euros: glass half empty. Connor McDavid LESS than 1.5 points. 

If you haven’t joined PrizePicks, CLICK HERE and use code MiB for a first deposit match up to $100.

7. Not Football, and All the Better for It

i. I must be hanging out with a different crowd: Why Is Everyone on Steroids Now?

ii. Inside the Savage, Surreal, Booming World of Professional Slap Fighting. Quite possibly the only sport that seems like it could've been invited in the back of a station wagon on a long family road trip.

iii. Did a Group of Irish Tweens Write the Song of Summer? Yes, next question. 

iv. May the Texas Monthly x Richard Linklater partnership never die: Richard Linklater, Poet of the Hang-Out Movie.

v. We can finally rest. A 27-Year Old Tamagotchi Mystery Has Been Solved.

vi. "Few people drive into Richmound, Saskatchewan, without purpose." How the “Queen of Canada'' and Conspiracy Theorists Splintered a Small Town.

vii. Can't wait to read this: Could Elaine May Finally Be Getting Her Due?

viii. Don't mess with Big Mike. Meet The New Kingpin.

ix. Fudgetown, USA. "You can't keep a good fudge down for long." Amen. 

x.Beautiful and brave: We must remember the heroes of the AIDS epidemic, not just the trauma.

xi. Scouse background on how to understand Proper Liverpool.

xii. I read and loved this book: The Birds That Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness by Ken Kaufman. An immense piece of work looking at the golden age of birding in which men competed to find, name, and paint new discoveries in the natural world, self-mythologizing, plagiarizing, and plain-old making crap up as they did so. A phenomenal piece of narrative-telling, which examines the stories we tell about ourselves, to ourselves, and how fiction can harden into legend. 

Finally, this week marked the 4th Anniversary of Jason Kennedy's passing. Jason was the original GFOP – the gent who first started to weave the Men In Blazers fan community together. A man of passion, empathy and love for everybody in general, and Liverpool Football Club in particular. We mourn his passing but his spirit of making every moment count and savoring every second is embedded at the heart of all we do. I will raise a glass to Jason’s memory when I am finally home tonight.  

To better days ahead for all.

Big Love

Courage,

ROG