Hail GFOP!

I type with fingers filled with Pochettino-propelled American victory. OK. It was not pretty. But don’t they say, that “in CONCACAF, you never want to know how the sausage is made,” or something like that?  

The game was an eyesore, but it was a blast to be up into the wee small hours, drinking a few beers and breaking it down live with you GFOPs and my friend Brendan Hunt – hearing his opinions on the Poch project for the first time, while only occasionally being sidetracked into whether Cake were an overrated/underrated band. 📺 Watch our analysis here. 🇺🇸🍻

I am off to Chicago today for a flying visit to recharge my batteries in my spiritual home, be let down by the Bears, and eat all the Pequods Deep Dish. I will, most definitely, be eating my feelings.  

⭐️ In the week ahead, we charge into Kansas City for a live show ahead of the NWSL final. 🚨 Come and raise a pint with Sam Mewis and me and a cast of thousands in “The Women's Game NWSL Championship Live Show: Night of 1,000 Stars Presented By Ally” – a showcase celebrating 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’ve quite the cast joining us. GRAB A TICKET NOW. 🐄🚨

More on the United States below, as well as some thoughts on the painful David Coote refereeing debacle, and all the football to come in the weekend ahead. Remember, as REM taught us: When your day is long and the night, the night is yours alone, football, sweet football, is always there for you. 

This Week at MiB World HQ

• The international break is reputed to be some kind of rest, but it has been a time of harvest at MiB. We have filmed this week with the magical Eberechi Eze, the England and Crystal Palace Poet Laureate whose grinding fight to success is one of the most inspirational in the game, as well as Phil Parkinson, Wrexham’s manager, who has led the Town on their journey from non-league football to the cusp of the Championship. We also taped a deeply philosophical conversation with Wilfried Nancy, the Columbus Crew coach who is being scouted by Premier League teams and more. 

• We dropped a couple of really lovely interviews this week too – this conversation with Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo and another with Arsenal’s Gab Martinelli, who ended up singing his own song.  

• In the week to come, I hope to spend some time with Bournemouth’s quite remarkable Andoni Iraola. I admire so much how he thinks about the game, and makes adjustments in-game. He is also a fellow Bears fan… send me your questions for him here.

• Sam Mewis has been on fire over on The Women’s Game platform. This interview with USWNT and Gotham star Emily Sonnett is a human wonder. 💙🦇

The USMNT go into Jamaica and win Ugly. Rip and Run, it’s the CONCACAF way 🇺🇸🇯🇲

I am not going to lie. This one was hard to watch. But in international football – in CONCACAF especially – all that matters is finding a way to win. And Mauricio Pochettino did that, surviving the heat, challenging field conditions, and football played in Star Wars Cantina-conditions, to emerge with a 1-0 victory, and in so doing, instantly tie Gregg Berhalter for career Confederation wins on the road.  

This Nations League rumble was Poch’s first competitive match, and the fight night belonged to two heroes, both on singular journeys of vindication. Ricardo Pepi, the Texan striker, who is still just 21, but has lived, and died, and risen again, backed up his claims that he is ready to be “The Man,” by scuffing home the only goal after just five minutes. Savor Christian Pulisic’s assist here: Exploding on the half-turn, charging through three players, then taking out two more with the slip pass. Most transcendent moment of football in the entire game. 

Then, the tenacious Matt Turner, gave away a penalty, flinging himself across the face of goal to block Demarai Gray’s ensuing shot like Dikembe Mutumbo. The save was wonderful. Matty T’s roar of redemption that followed, even more so. 

All that within the first 14 minutes. The rest of the game was a grinding festival of terrible decision making broken up by occasional football-style fisticuffs. The United States backline was vulnerable, the midfield, a work in progress, unable to control the game in the second half. Credit Jamaica, who were propelled by the feisty Leon Bailey, returning from a year of self-imposed exile, and the potent Shamar Nicholson as they outshot us 12 to six and were somehow denied only by a quite brilliant interception by Yunus Musah here. 

Watching Berhalter’s teams, we were always left to wonder what the idea of football was at the core of the project. Pochettino’s identity remains a work in progress as the players respond to him, and the Argentinian adapts his methods to the fleeting realities of international management. We face Jamaica again on Monday night in St. Louis, and I have to believe that in those better conditions, this US team can and should deliver a signature victory. For now, let's just celebrate not losing, and acknowledge that a win away on the patchiest of fields in CONCACAF should be counted, like dog years, as worth more than three points.

🗣️COME AND JOIN US ON MONDAY NIGHT: We will Do It Live! at the final whistle with the quite wonderful Ginger Lion in Winter, Dax McCarty (AKA Lionel Messi’s Dad). Come and raise a pint with us on YouTube (subscribe now!) and break down American Glory with us together 🇺🇸🍻

A GFOP had a great idea. Enter now and WIN A COVETED MIB PATCH 🤣🤣🤣

GFOP Stephen Mellin wrote to me: “Dear Rog. New competition. Get readers to write in their best Wordle entries:

Example: Bite your _____ off for a _____ .

In any case, your Friday newsletter is a verdant oasis in the Sahara of spam that has overtaken my Yahoo email account. Courage!”

Rog says. Let’s do it Big Stephen. Complete this sentence via email here:

Bite your _____ off for a _____ .

Patch for the one that makes me laugh most. World needs more Joy. 🤣

On the sad, sad David Coote Controversy

If you think you have had a bad week, spare a thought for Premier League referee David Coote, who has been suspended after video footage emerged of him crudely badmouthing Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool. A subsequent video unearthed by the English tabloids, allegedly shows him snorting a white powder while on duty at Euro 2024. Coote has been suspended by the refereeing oversight body, PGMOL. The 42-year-old will surely never referee again.

Conspiracy theories will now kick in. Liverpool fans have compiled a list of his terrible decisions which include being on VAR and failing to penalize Jordan Pickford;s challenge that tore Virgil van Dijk’s ACL and, again on VAR, failing to give a clear handball in the box by Martin Ødegaard.

To be clear, this is not evidence of a conspiracy. More terrible, terrible optics at a time when referees are ever more fan’s go-to post-match scapegoats. In law school I specialized in Police Studies, which essentially looks at how the police as human beings, are biased when using discretion in decision making. In a similar way, Referees are meant to be neutral. But they too are human, have feelings, emotions, and as it turns out, a shit list. And after hearing a fraction of Coote’s, we now have living proof that they are after “Insert your team’s name here.”

The truly terrible fallout here, is the damage this does to refereeing at the grassroots, which is already in crisis. Put another way, who in their right minds would want to be a referee and voluntarily put themselves in the crosshairs? Right now, I hope David Coote gains the help he needs, and a level of fan rationality kicks in… fat chance though, right?

More: Glassy-eyed David Coote was made by modern football.

More Football, Did Ya Say?

• Thoughtful read on how modern football fans react to their team’s search for revenue with a bi-polar mix of both pride and outrage.

• Lovely piece about how 1980’s Manchester City fans reacted to their then-hapless team plummeting in the bowels of English football, by starting a surreal inflatable banana craze. 🍌

• Everton’s new stadium early looks are fantastic. I have been in there and toured the place and can attest, it is a magical piece of design. 

• Ange Postecoglou on Celebrity Master Chef is very strong. 

• Everton launch a Mitchell and Ness baseball-inspired line which makes me think of both the Blues and the Chicago White Sox. Why be miserable about one of your teams, when you can think of the simultaneous sadness of two? 

• Paraguay beat Argentina last night. This overhead kick is unreal.

• Argentina and adidas have teamed up to release a kit commemorating 50th anniversary of the nation's first Adidas shirt. Simply stunning.

Great Football to Watch this weekend

• England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

England top Nations League Group F after a 3-0 win yesterday against Greece, despite nine players leaving international duty and captain Harry Kane benched in favor of Ollie Watkins. Interim manager Lee Carsley takes charge of his final game Sunday against his native Ireland (*cue another idiotic national anthem discussion) where debutant Curtis Jones will likely feature after an impressive first performance (Sunday, 12 p.m. ET, Fubo). 

• Wrexham, Don’t Wrexham it Up 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Crushing injury news: Wrexham will be without star goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo for up to six weeks after the Arsenal academy-trained wonder suffered a broken wrist in last week’s 1-0 win over Mansfield Town. The boys rumble on to Stockport at the weekend (Saturday, 10 a.m. ET, Paramount +). With Birmingham’s match with Stevenage postponed, a win in south-east Manchester would see Phil Parkinson’s mob return to second place. 

Interesting: Wrexham could lose a player for a transfer fee for the first time in their new era. Big Boys starting to sniff around Rob and Ryan’s talent.

• NWSL 🏆

And then there were four! Wins for the Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC, and the KC Current in the quarterfinals make for a predictable semifinal lineup of the regular season’s top four sides. The first of the weekend’s two matches features Gotham taking on the Washington Spirit (Saturday, 12 p.m. ET, CBS), the only side the Bats failed to earn a single point off this season. 

More: Ranking the Four Clubs Competing in the 2024 NWSL Playoff Semifinals.

• WSL

Two derbies and a top-of-the-table clash to look forward to this weekend in the Women’s Super League. The North London derby kicks off first, with Spurs hosting Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Saturday, 8.45 a.m. ET, ESPN+/WSL Youtube), followed by league leaders City traveling to second placed Chelsea (Saturday, 12.30 p.m. ET, ESPN+/WSL Youtube). Sunday, Goodison Park hosts its final WSL Merseyside Derby, with a still-winless Everton side taking on Liverpool (Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, ESPN+/WSL Youtube).

Not Football, and All the Better for It

• Where are all the dating app love stories? Best not to mess with "You've Got Mail" perfection. 

• ‘It wasn’t sexual in any way!’ 50 years of streaking – by the people who dared to bare all. Not surprised in the least that these people answered the phone. 

• This is wonderful: No one wanted them to win: Texas' first baseball champions.

• The Shipwreck Detective spent a lifetime searching for sunken treasure—without leaving dry land. Who knew "shipwreck detective" had a WFH option?

• Loss, hope, and Steve Kornacki: How It Went. 

• Brits asked to explain ‘the horror of Mr Blobby’ with hilarious results. LIVE IN IGNORANCE AMERICANS! You will have nightmares!

• Who needs senators when you have supermarkets? How H-E-B Became Texas Most Beloved Brand.

• The Academisation of Rave: Is Everyone Talking About Dancing, Rather Than Doing It? Seems to me like everyone's WRITING about dancing, rather than doing it. 

• The 50 Best SNL Musical performances. Would love to know who Chapell Roan knocked off (PS this was my favorite).

• Lindsey Vonn Plans a World Cup Return as She Rejoins the U.S. Ski Team. Not surprising to anyone who watched our USWNT Altcast 👀

• This song made my week: Eye Spy by Sarah Levins. 

• I am reading this book and it is quite amazing: Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death by Susana Monsó. What do animals know about death, mourning, and life? So very much. Any dog owner will tell you this. I have adored this book. I read it in the voice of my dog, Martin Scorsese. And I think all pet lovers will gain real meaning in it too. More here.

Dear Rog... GFOPs Write ✍️

I received a lovely letter this week from Jenna Cervantes whose husband, Ander, called into our WGFOP show asking how he could best share his love of football with his wife who had no passion for the game. Jenna writes: “We just got back from our trip to Portugal and the UK where we attended Sporting v Man City and Chelsea v Arsenal and I wanted to send you an update on how it went. I have been watching football with Ander on TV for all 12 years of our relationship, but I just discovered that does not compare to the electricity of the game in a stadium full of tens of thousands of chanting fans who all share a love of the same club. It was so easy to feel like part of the club and the energy that came with jumping and cheering with a stadium full of strangers was insane.”

Rog writes: Jenna. We are all on a footballing journey. Like religion itself, the experience can strike us at different moments in our lives, and impact us in profound ways when we need it. I hope you and Anders continue to find real meaning, and make great memories together through the game.  

Send me your emails and stories and questions at [email protected]

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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