Spain u-19 champions!

 The u-19 European championship has been taking place over the last few weeks, and today an exciting final took place in Wrexham where two heavyweights of European youth football faced one another: Spain versus Germany. Spain won a well-deserved an impressive tenth title with a 2-0 victory with goals by Villarreal’s Hugo Lopez and Real Madrid’s Mario Rivas after a first half where Spain was in control. All in all Spain was the best team of the tournament and we may see more from some of these talented youngsters: Quim Junyent from Almeria was named player of the tournament and Betis’ winger José Antonio Morantes is one to watch. On the German side Francis Onyeka, newly signed by Bayer Leverkusen, is a player to watch.

Great and strong victory, with a view to the future, in a fair and balanced international tournament.

Champions League qualification 1st round

 Without much of relevance happening in the world of football these days, real football fans can celebrate the start of the best tournament in the world this week: the first qualification round for this season's UEFA Champions League started. This may not appear to the most glamorous round as it includes teams from smaller nations without much social media attention, but it still counts the champions from leagues with ambition to get as far as possible in the tournament. In the first leg we had some less surprising results like the Finnish champions KuPS defeating North Macedonia's Vardar and U. Craiova from Romania defeating Belarussian ML Vitebsk, but also saw the hope of teams like Faroese Kí, Iceland's Vikingur Reykyavik and Malta's Floriana to advance to the next round.

Although we will probably not see any of these sides in the CL, it is exciting that the tournament has started and that it engenders great excitement and fair competition between champions of the greatest football continent in the world.  

Boycott the World Cup

In a recent post I have stated how disappointed and sad I am about this World Cup. You can now add the FIFAs pandering to politicians to the list. 

Folarin Balogun was given a red card against Bosnia-Hercegovina. According to the rules, a red card means an automatic suspension in the next match, meaning that the US top-scorer would not play  Belgium when the USA faces them in the next match. The US Secretary of State called for FIFA to lift the suspension, and lo-and-behold, today they lifted the ban on Balogun, getting a big thanks from the US President along the way.

FIFAs possible favouritism had already been announced while lifting a suspension on the Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo when entering the tournament, but this is the first time it has been lifted during an ongoing tournament and with such obvious interference.

So much is wrong with this tournament, and I sadly see no other option than to boycott it. By just watching it I feel that am condoning all the bad things about this World Cup; we are as guilty as FIFA by following it. Criticism is not enough, but something must be done to end this systematic destruction of the game that real football fans love.

So this will be my last World Cup 2026 post, and I strongly urge everyone to stop watching the World Cup, no matter who you support or how your team is doing.

Would you not want them to compete in a fair competition anyway...? 

No Sweat

The match between Brazil and Norway was a bit of a disappointment in terms of quality, but certainly had the correct winner: Norway, with two great goals from Erling Haaland, who is surely one of the best strikers in the world, if not the very best.

The match was slow. At times it appeared as if the players did not want to sweat too much; Norway passed the ball around slowly, with little pressure from the Brazilians, while the Brazilians were indeed more dangerous in their attacks, but generally also slow to recover the ball from the Norwegians. 

That said, the match could have been entirely different were it not for the inefficiency of the Brazilian attack. Bruno Guimaraes did not shoot like a Brazilian when he missed the penalty in the first half. A young and overrated Endrick, who truly added nothing to the Brazilian team, made a huge miss in the second half. Perhaps it would have changed the match, but Brazil appears to have forgotten that to win you need a striker as efficient and unforgiving as the great Norwegian.

Why does Brazil not produce players like Erling Haaland any longer?

In the end Neymar, coming in as a failed saviour managed to score on a penalty against the excellent Norwegian goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland, who laughed off Neymar's frustration in the dying seconds.

Probably last kick of Neymar in a World Cup... 

Norway may not become World Champions; they still have weaknesses in defense and depend greatly on Haaland, but they are now surely the darlings of the tournament as they deserved a victory against another hugely disappointing Brazil side that is again eliminated in the knock-out phase against a European side (they have always been eliminated by European sides since 2006), and against a tiny but great Scandinavian nation that they have never defeated... 

Big Cheers to our Norwegian friends! 

Brazil-Norway preview

I think that today's match between Brazil and Norway has the potential of being a great match. Norway has been playing some excellent football led in particular by the two stars Martin Ødegaard and Erling Haaland, while Brazil has shown the potential to get far, even as their name is not among the biggest favourites, with Vinicius Jr. as the main star so far. Norway's attacking prowess is without question, but their defense has more than once proven shaky during the tournament, something that Ancelotti has probably eyed. Raphinha still appears to be doubtful, but may be replaced by Neymar, something that could prove either a huge risk, or a huge opportunity. 

It is notable that Norway is one of the few countries in the world that has never lost to Brazil. They have only played four times, with two victories for Norway and two draws. In 1998 they faced one another in the group stages of the World Cup that France later won against Brazil in the final. Norway won 2-1 with two heroic goals within the last ten minutes of the match by Tor-Andre Flo and Kjetil Rekdal, after Bebeto had brought Brazil ahead. Brazil still won the group, but the victory meant that Norway advanced to the round-of-16, where they were eliminated by Italy.

So no matter what happens it will be history!

Another thing: after a disgraceful match with a team that refused to play football like Paraguay, I hope to see two teams of real sportsmen for whom fighting does not mean to be violent pricks (like Paraguay), but who will compete hard, as equals and with mutual respect. 

Good luck to both and may the best team win!

Do you even know where Cape Verde is?

I saw a clip from a Latin American TV show where someone asked "Cape Verde; where is that?", to which the good looking female commentator replied sweetly with a gorgeous smile: "In our hearts".

Truth is that Cape Verde's World Cup performance has not only caused a rise in support for this small team, but most notably exposed the ignorance of people who could not find the small African nation on a map before the tournament (and I doubt they can now...). 

I have already said what I think of Cape Verde as a football team, but I have in fact been to the incredibly lovely country; enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of Praia, walked the verdant hills of Santiago, and bathed in the clear waters of Sal. I have enjoyed a dish of cachupa and the lovely singing of Cesaria Evora. 

But I almost never met anyone who cared about Cape Verde's beauty and culture, so excuse me if I find many of you hypocrites now that you suddenly "have Cape Verde in your hearts", because they defeated a nation you dislike on a football pitch. It has just exposed your xenophobia and ignorance (basically the same thing). 

Civilized team versus Paraguay

In one of the worst matches in a this World Cup, Paraguay lost 0-1 to France on a penalty kick by Kylian Mbappe. 

Paraguay are the worst example of a football team, playing not just defensively, but played a destructive and filthy style; the type of style that does not deserve to be called football, and not a single of those Paraguayans belong on a football pitch. Neither does the referee Ilgiz Tantashev, who allowed every violent trick by the South Americans. Hope he never referees again.

What is VAR for!?

Paraguay will not be missed and hope never to see them in any tournament again.

France has been the best team in the tournament, and despite the difficulties in winning this match, this is one of the most important matches on their way to win the tournament, because they won a difficult match against an opponent that refused to play football.

How is it going?

I have really tried to enjoy the World Cup; trying to find that magical feeling of a tournament that has defined my love for football. I have been to two of the matches in person, enjoying the atmosphere and beautiful stadiums. I have had beers over matches and been to fan zones and bars in four different cities in three countries; I have read, listened, talked and written about the tournament.

How is it going as we enter the round-of-16 phase of knock-out matches?

Not good. 

While the good things generally outnumbered the bad things four years ago in Qatar, there are too many bad things about the tournament to enjoy it:

• 48 teams are too many; too many poor sides and defensive matches that will barely be remembered. A few good moments on the pitch, but it is too far between them.
• VAR: the technology continues to be used far beyond its original purpose. Instead of settling controversies, it just deepens them, as it is clear that most decisions have a level of referee discretion. It thus becomes an excuse for referees not to make decisions, as well as a waste of time, rather than the tool it could be in selected situations.
• Hydration breaks are a terrible symptom of the excessive commercialization of the World Cup; an excuse for commercial breaks that directly damages the flow of the game. 
• Prices: I lived this myself; prices of tickets, but also of everything surrounding the tournament, from increased consumer prices and cable network subscription packages that include the World Cup. I am not suffering economically, but can see that the peoples’ sport has become exclusive to a rich globalized minority.
• The fans: A video has been circulating showing a Mexican woman who, unprovoked, pours beer on two Ecuatorian fans before the Mexico-Ecuador match. Social media has poured its collective punishment on the woman, who is said not to represent Mexico. Obviously she does not, but she does represent a growing part of football culture: ignorant supporters all over the world who have been herded like sheep by social media and FIFA's commercialization of nationalism to see football less as a shared celebration than as a way to express hostility towards others.  

Football does not unite.

Perhaps that is what saddens me most. I have spent this tournament trying to rediscover the feeling that made me fall in love with the World Cup as a child. Instead, with every match, I find myself feeling more distant—not only from the tournament, but from the world that has grown up around it.

May France crush Paraguay

Former Paraguay goalkeeper José Luis Chilavert may have been a great goalkeeper, but his opinions are provocative and nasty. Before Paraguay face France in the last-16, Chilavert has said that Paraguay are facing an African side and not France. While one could ignore this comment as coming just from a bitter old man, the worst part is how many South Americans of European descent agree and even applauds this nonsense. 

In fact, only three players on the French squad are born outside France. One in Italy, one in England, and one in the DR Congo (only the latter is in fact in Africa). 

In the meantime, five players in Paraguay’s squad are born outside Paraguay…

What really bothers these people is that France have players of African heritage. They are the same type of people who more than 100 years ago complained bitterly when Uruguay was the first country to use players of African heritage. People on the wrong side of history.

Because let us face the truth: the entire French team is thoroughly French. Many players are French of African heritage, and while I am not French, I am as a European proud of our diversity and inclusion whereby we accept people of any heritage as our compatriots who work, struggle, and celebrate together (I am deeply aware that not everyone agrees on this in Europe… ).

Chilavert and his people will never understand that.

Almost one hundred players in the World Cup are born and raised in France; in fact it speaks to the greatness of France and French football that they today produce footballers of a quality and skill that benefits the world of football. 

Players of a quality that Paraguay will never produce.

I hope that the French team crushes Paraguay today and sends them crying back to their hero, Chilavert.

VIVE LA FRANCE!

Argentina out

I am going to say something nobody likes to hear: Cape Verde are not a very good team. 

Yes, they qualified for the World Cup, they tied Spain, they tied Uruguay, and tied a very poor Saudi Arabia to luckily end second in their group. This was a surprise, yes, but was built on the luck of facing the poorest Uruguay side in history, as well as a Spain on its worse day in decades.

Facing Argentina, defending “world champions”, the Cape Verdians scored two goals by Dutch-born players Deroy Duarte and Sidney Lopes (we are unlikely ever to hear more about these players who play in the Bulgarian and Turkish leagues, respectively), with the latter perhaps the best goal of the tournament. 

In the end Argentina won 3-2 after extra time, taking away the aspiring sensation, but everyone is giving Cape Verde credit, when the result should be assigned exclusively to Argentina being a poor side that relies only on Messi and a bunch of overrated second-rate players who have no reason to call themselves “world champions” any longer. Argentina should destroy a team like Cape Verde 8-0; anything else is inacceptable. 

This predicts the end of the road for Argentina, who will be facing Egypt in the next match. 

Too many teams in the World Cup; too many teams that add nothing to football quality.

When in Spain

Today I happened to be in Madrid, Spain, and enjoyed a boring match that Spain won 3-0 over Austria. Mikel Oyarzabal scored two, Pedro Porro one, to give Spain an easy victory against an Austrian side that added nothing to the tournament.

Just another proof that 48 are too many teams.

We have not yet seen what Spain are capable of. Future champions usually pace themselves for the important matches; it would appear to be what Spain is doing.

Arrogance

There is a big difference between self-loathing and humility. Self-loathing is the result of a mixture of arrogance and inferiority complex. Humility is about being sure of your own abilities, but recognizing your limits, and especially admit when others are better. All things indicate that Joshua Kimmich lack humility: In an interview after Germany's elimination, Mr. Kimmich was full of self-loathing, saying that they had lost to teams that had no "world class".

I supported Germany against Paraguay and thought that they deserved to win until I heard Mr. Kimmich's arrogant comments. They sound particularly arrogant for a team that for two World Cups did not qualify beyond the group stages, and this world cup barely did, only to be defeated by a team that Mr. Kimmich ranks below his own "world class level". 

From Mr. Kimmichs comments I now believe that Germany lost because of arrogance and lack of humility. Again and again we see that you cannot underestimate any team, but that is a lesson that Mr. Kimmich and Germany appear to ignore again and again. That is a lesson that will take years to learn, specially because they have players like Mr. Kimmich, who thinks that you can win games by name alone, instead of by the skills that they obviously lack.

After being disappointed at Germany's defeat, I must at least thank Mr. Kimmich for opening my eyes again as to why I should not be disappointed.

Mexico in ecstasy

 Mexico is in the last-16 after eliminating Ecuador 2-0, on two great goals by Julian Quiñones and Raul Jimenez. The first half of the team was fantastic. With their incredible home crowd in the legendary Azteca stadium the Mexicans look like one of the best teams of the tournament, and surely expectations are growing as they advance. Javier Aguirre's starting lineup was very offensive and seemed to take the Ecuatorians by surprise; it looked as if they home team would crush the South Americans, but second half they stood back comfortably as Ecuador made some feeble attacks.

There was never a doubt about who would win. 

Mexico will face either England or DR Congo in what will be a huge hurdle for both sides. But it will also be Mexico's last match in the Azteca, as future games will move to the USA if Mexico advances. This will be interesting to see, but Mexico are celebrating that they are perhaps one fo the best teams in the world in their mighty home stadium. 

 

Congrats to Paraguay and to Germany

For some time, Germany appeared to be going the same way as Italy; since they won their fourth World cup they have been awful! 

In 2010 and 2014, following their famous 2006 victory, Italy failed to get past the group stages. The same has happened to Germany, who after winning in 2014, failed to get past the group stages in 2018 and 2022. So this is where Germany has improved compared to Italy. 

The Italians have failed to qualify for all World Cups since 2014, while Germany in this World Cup improved markedly from their two previous World Cups in that they moved beyond the group stage and to the last-32. However, today this was the end for Germany, who lost on penalties to a difficult Paraguay side, after a tough 1-1 (Germany's first loss in World Cup penalty contest ever). 

While some may say this is disappointing for Germany, I applaud them for getting out of the group stages and playing a good match against Paraguay; they were the better team but lacked speed and imagination against a South American side that played like they always do: organized, defensive, and counting on corners and free kicks. And with a strong goalkeeper in the San Lorenzo’s Orlando Gill, Paraguay proved too much for the German feeble attacks.... 

Germany are, like Italy, not at the level of former times; the players they produce are nowhere near the level of the players they used to produce and not only lack the skills and speed to defeat a team like Paraguay, but also lack a winning mentality that in the end might have been why they could not win on penalties. Paraguay are surely celebrating and will look forward to play another defensive and organized match in the last-16. 

Congratulations to Paraguay but I will certainly not support them as I do not like how they play.

In the meantime, I congratulate Germany for getting through the group stages and hope they continue improving after having fallen so far from their 2014 pinnacle. 

Brazil-Japan

Japan-Brazil was bound to be an exciting match, but it was more disappointing: the disappointing thing were Japanese side. The Asians have been touted as a potential new world power in football, but were tepid to say the least against the Brazilians, who were the deserved winners. 

Japan started the match defensively; they appeared nervous and were under pressure until after half an hour, when Danilo lost a ball to the Mainz´ player Kaisho Sano, who just rushed towards goal and shot flatly to the right of Alisson. 0-1 for Japan was completely against the match stats, but it was the result at halftime. 

Second half was the same: if anything, Japan pulled back even more, relying on sporadic and lukewarm counterattacks, while Brazil pressed forward. Japan was rather lucky in some situations and finally relief came for all football fans when Casemiro headed the ball into the Japanese goal. If anything, the goal gave Brazil more confidence and Japan more nerves, but despite hitting the post and numerous approaches, Brazil was unable to score until the dying second of the match, when a bad defensive mistake by the Japanese put Arsenal´s Gabriel Martinelli in a free position, and he scored Brazil´s winner via the goalpost. 

Thank football for Brazil being in the next round! They will face the winner of Norway-Cote d’Ivoire. 

In the meantime Japan will not be missed, and confirm the dreadful tournament for Asian sides: of 9 teams, only two (Japan and Australia) qualified for the last-32, and now Japan has gotten (rightfully) eliminated. Next World Cup Asia should lose some qualification spots to Africa.

The last-32

For the first time in World Cup history, we have 32 teams (too many!) in the knock-out round. So, the 32 teams are paired as follows: 

• Canada-South Africa: one of the surprise sides against one of the hosts. Both teams have for the first time ever progressed from the group stages. Canada are probably favourites but the South Africans have shown they must not be underestimated.
• Brazil-Japan: The five time world champions against up and coming Japan, who struggled to get a result against Sweden. Many people seem to think that Japan can make it, but I put my bet on Ancelotti’s Brazil.
• Germany-Paraguay: Thinking of this match makes me fall asleep. Paraguay only know how to defend; they never try to win a match. Germany always wins, even without trying.
• Netherlands-Morocco: this is the match to watch in the last-32. Morocco are strong, experienced and ambitious, as are the Dutch, who have been playing some great football. I will surely support the European side against the side that did not win the Africa Cup of Nations.
• France-Sweden: In my view France have been the best team in the tournament and they should hopefully walk over the Scandinavian side.
• Mexico-Ecuador: Mexico has only once defeated a CONMEBOL country in a World Cup: Ecuador in 2002. I think they will repeat the victory at home, in front of a passionate crowd, against an Ecuador side that only started playing with their potential when they defeated Germany.
• England-DR Congo: Most people will be cheering for the Congolese, but I hope England wins as I prefer to see the strong British side in a knockout match against a quality opponent.
• Côte d’Ivoire-Norway: two strong sides but with weaknesses, so this should also be one of the few interesting matches in the last-32. Very difficult to predict and both teams deserve to go through.
• Belgium-Senegal: The Belgians only woke up in their last group match, defeating New Zealand 5-1 to win the group. But they have not impressed. Senegal in the meantime lost two good matches in a difficult group, only to crush Iraq in their last group match. I think the Senegalese have the edge, but the Belgians are always unpredictable and have great players.
• USA- Bosnia Hercegovina: Pochettino’s USA were set to go through on maximum points but lost their last group match to Turkey. They still won the group, and I think Pochettino has paced his side to the knockout stages. So I do not give the Bosnians much of a chance.
• Spain-Austria: Spain has not been impressive, but they remain favourites and hard to see that they would not win this match.
• Switzerland-Algeria: Also a match that will not attract many neutral fans. Switzerland probably has the edge against an Algerian side that are not as strong as before.
• Portugal-Croatia: two top level European side that match each other well, so this will be a great match. Croatia has gone through with experience and solidity, while Portugal has not impressed. But both teams can defeat anyone in the world on a good day, and both will be great to see in the last-16.
• Australia-Egypt: Australia make me yawn, and will hope Egypt goes through because of the great Mo Salah.
• Argentina-Cape Verde: The little African nation are surely the darlings of the tournament and will have the support of most of the world. Not me. I will supporting the defending champions, but also have a soft spot for Cape Verde, so I mainly hope it will be good and fair match.
• Colombia-Ghana: May the best team win.

Stop watching and celebrating

I am not naive about football. It is moved by money, by interests, and referees and players can be bought. Declans Hill’s great book, “The Fix”, widely documents a history of match fixing going back to the 1930s to the early 2000s. 

I cannot comment on the possibility of corruption in this World Cup, but contrary to popular belief there is one thing I am certain about: FIFA has not fixed the tournament for a particular team to win. All FIFA cares about is money, and that money is the same whoever wins; in fact, surprises by “smaller” nations is probably even better for FIFA than the usual teams winning, as it brings in more interest from people who may not have watched. If any country should have an advantage in the tournament, it is the home teams, where the bulk of money is being earned during the tournament, but nobody has yet accused Mexico, Canada or USA of being future World Champions. And nobody mentions the favorable referee decisions for “smaller” countries as proof; instead if your team wins it is because they were good, if they lose, it is the referee’s and FIFAs fault. 

Nothing is ever your own fault because you are perfect, your country is perfect and your football team is perfect.

That is the pure true ugly nationalism of football fans.

In the meantime many matches of teams had some very questionable situations that could suspiciously fall into the categories that Declan Hill documented; players from sides that have less attention make strange mistakes and drops in certain core situations. 

I have often criticized FIFA. I am no romantic about it. But you are a fool if you think the entire tournament is fixed.

If not, why the fuck are you watching? Or even celebrating?

Uruguay's failure

A manager is a leader; he or she is expected to set direction, objectives, communicate it well, and coordinate and manage a team so as to achieve the objectives. Respect is not automatic; a good leader earns it. It is not easy; I could and will never do it, as one of the best qualities of a leader is to identify the skills and personality of each of his or her team members, and distribute the tasks and motivate them accordingly.

Marcelo Bielsa is not a good manager. He may be a great football thinker; perhaps one of the greatest, but his great tactical vision of the game is overshadowed by his lack of understanding of how to manage a team of people. In my view Bielsa failed in 2010 as Chile manager, and in 2026 he failed as Uruguay manager.

Granted that Bielsa has in an overtly emotional tone admitted to this failure, but it was a tragedy foretold when players announced their dissatisfaction with the Argentinean manager, who already made controversial choices, without listening to anyone but himself (perhaps the worst characteristic of an already bad leader is not to listen).

One of the more controversial choices was putting the veteran Fernando Muslera on goal. He cost goals, most notably Alex Baena's poor shot against Spain, that ended up giving Spain the victory and eliminating Uruguay from the World Cup. But this was not the only mistake by the manager who acts emotionally, but fails to see players as more than his chess pieces on a football pitch.

Not getting rid of Bielsa before the tournament was the biggest failure of the Uruguayan football federation. Perhaps hiring Bielsa was an attempt to make Uruguayan football look forward and not backwards; but that was not needed! Oscar Washington Tabarez, el Maestro, had already given Uruguayan football a direction for the modern age! Uruguay will never be World Champion again, but they have excellent players, history, and a solid and proud football identity. Bielsa attempted to disrupt that and failed miserably.

Time for Uruguay to go home, lick their wounds, forget about Bielsa and return to their football identity. 

The best team (so far): France

So far in the World Cup we have seen some great teams, some good teams, and some very bad teams. Today we saw a good team, Norway, play against a great team: France.

Granted, Norway did not play their two stars, Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard, but the team is good (and those two players bring them a level up), and it was not bound to be easy for France as the sides clashed for the first spot in Group I.

France were extraordinary in the first half hour, and it was enough to close off the match: three goals by the 2025 Balon d'Or winner, Ousmane Dembele in the first half an hour, was enough to give the French a comfortable lead that could have been more had it not been for goalkeeper Egil Selvik and the Glasgow Rangers' striker Thelo Aasgaard's Norwegian goal.

Ousmane Dembele has scored four goals in the tournament. While attention always seems to focus on Kylian Mbappe, there is no doubt to me who carried the French side; besides his goals, Dembele runs, fights and has the vision to push an already extraordinary side forward.

In the second half France pulled back as Norway vainly pressed forward (and the Scandinavians even missed a penalty kick). The French were nevertheless not done, and in the dying seconds the young PSG player Desire Doué scored his first World Cup goal (having already scored two in the 2025 Champions league final), and I am not afraid to say that it will probably not be his last.

France has in my view stepped into the limelight as favourites to win the title. It is hard to see that anyone can defeat them, but of course, anything can happen as we move into the knock-out stages.

But watch out for the Fantastic Frenchmen! 

Norway ends second in the group and will be facing Cote d'Ivoire in what will also be a great match. 

Record and surprise in Group A

Tournaments are often notably hard to predict, and Group A in this World Cup was notably difficult. After the opening match between Mexico and South Africa it was impossible to predict the strength of those two sides: Mexico won 2-0 against a very poor South Africa, and the home side only started showing their true strength when they defeated South Corea 1-0. Today Mexico were fantastic: 3-0 over a Czechia side that only played decent football during the first half hour, on goals by the Alkmaar defender Mateo Chavez, Julian Quiñones and Alvaro Fidalgo. 

Czechia proved to be one of the poorest side in the tournament, but that does not take away the fact that Mexico, for the first time in their World Cup history, won three matches in the group stages and progresses with a score of 6-0. The Mexican side, managed by the experienced Javier Aguirre, have shown that the doubts about the side were baseless, and that they are a side that aims to get far in the tournament. 

Any team that will face Mexico will struggle, not only against a great team, but also with an incredible local support.

We will see who they will play in the next match soon! 

In the meantime, everyone underestimated South Africa (including myself), most notably the South Coreans, whom everyone was expecting to go through on second place after Mexico. All the Asians had to do was tie South Africa. Instead, the South Africans won 0-1 on a goal by Thapelo Maseko, and they take second place in the group (and will be facing Canada next). It is a huge surprise, given how they played in the first match, and the fact that they only managed to tie Czechia (again: perhaps the poorest sides in the tournament). 

South Corea, who looked so good in their first match, and played a good match against Mexico, can only be disappointed as they are now on the verge of being eliminated. They can still hope to go through as one of the best third-placed teams, but with only three points and a score of -1, this would be incredibly lucky indeed!

The best tournament teams do not underestimate anyone, and pace their tournament. Mexico and South Africa perhaps paced themselves after the opening match, but now they are both deservedly celebrating that they are through to the last-32.

Why so surprised?

England were great in their first match winning 4-2 over Croatia, so they were obviously favourites against Ghana today. But Ghana managed to hold the favourites to a 0-0 draw that is probably a small disappointment for the English, who nevertheless appear to have the best odds of winning the group in their last match against Panama.

That said, I find it somewhat baffling that Mexican TV commentators called it one of the big surprises of the tournament: Ghana are in my view a solid side, with technically skilled, disciplined and athletic players, who can match all European sides, and defeat many of them, something they have proven before. Besides the fact that they are managed by the experienced manager Carlos Queiroz, they count players in top clubs in England, Spain, France, with wide experience at all levels.

Anyone who did not know that Ghana would not be a walkover for England, does not watch enough football.

Ghana have four points for two matches, and nobody has yet scored against them. They will face Croatia in their last match in what will surely be one of the matches to watch. Croatia fought hard to defeat a solid Panamanian side 1-0 (more surprising than Ghana is in fact how good Thomas Christiansen's side is), so they need a victory to pass Ghana in the group, and at least a tie to ensure a best third place.

I put my money on my dear old Black Stars. 

Koulibaly and I

If I had been a professional football player, Kalidou Koulibaly is whom I would have liked to emulate. I have admired the great Senegalese footballer since his times in Napoli (my favourite Italian side), when he was undoubtedly one of the best defenders in the Serie A and in the world. His strength, defensive vision, uncompromising style, and hard work, are qualities that I also try to have in my own working life. 

In 2022, before the World Cup, I was driving through Senegal, where I purchased a Koulibaly shirt, and proclaimed myself as his greatest fan amid the laughs of Senegalese and foreigners alike. I was wearing that very shirt when I celebrated his fantastic goal against Ecuador in the 2022 World Cup, and I have always kept admiring him, although not following his career as he moved to Saudi Arabia.

As Senegal faced Norway I was happy to see him on the pitch in what was surely to be a great match, and indeed it was, but not for myself or Koulibaly. In the 43rd minute, after a good match by the West Africans, Koulibaly gave the ball away to Marcus Holmgren Pedersen, who resolutely shot and scored Norway's first goal. Soon into the second half, Koulibaly was late on an interception on a pass by Ødegaard to Erling Haaland, allowing the Manchester City striker a shot that he seldomly misses. Again in the third Norwegian goal (after Ismaila Sarr had pulled one up for Senegal), Koulibaly seemed slow as Haaland scored again, and in the end the great Koulibaly was substituted.

Senegal scored a second almost at the end, and was close to equalising, but in the end Norway prevailed, and Senegal are likely out after two great matches (defeats nonetheless) against France and Norway.

I like Norway, but found myself disappointed about Senegal's defeat. most of all I was saddened because of Koulibaly, whom I identified with more than ever: a great youth behind us, but having reached the age where we reluctantly must accept we are no longer as sharp or good at things as before. That not much is ahead but the memories…

 

The Legend Leo Messi

Lionel Messi scored his first World Cup goal at the 2006 World Cup, at the age of 18, in a 6-0 against Serbia-Montenegro. It was the only goal he scored in that tournament, but today, 20 years and one week later, Messi has made history by scoring both goals in Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria. 

With 18 goals, he is now the most scoring player in World Cup history, two goals ahead of Miroslav Klose and Ronaldo Nazarinho. And we will probably see more goals from the Argentinean magician/legend, as Argentina is looking to win the group with one match to go against Jordan. 

We all witnessed history today.

The German machine

When I was a kid (West) Germany were a side that were impossible to like. A  machine of admittedly great players who nevertheless played a type of football that lacked soul and would use any means to win, and in general it always worked to their advantage. Germany always won.

Since 2006 it has been different, and crowned by their fantastic 2014 World Champions. But Germany seems to have been struggling with its footballing identity since then. Germans expect to win, and poor results are generally seen as a deep crisis. Expectations to this tournament appear to have been limited, but the team has started with two victories; firstly destroying Curacao 7-1, and now defeating Cote d'Ivoire 2-1 in a match where I found myself supporting the West Africans more and more as the match advanced.

First half the Ivorians were much better and they were leading 0-1 on a goal by the veteran Franck Kessie, who after his long career in Europe is now at Al Ahli. The match flowed well nevertheless, as Germany had a couple of goals cancelled for fouls on the determined Ivorian defenders. In the second half Germany pushed forward and were open for counterattacks where Cote d'Ivoire made some terrible misses that in the end proved fatal. 

The big change for Germany was a triple substitution by Nagelmann: Musiala, Sane and Pavlovic were substituted for Deniz Undav, Jamie Leweling and Nadiem Amiri. These three players changed the team entirely, and it was only eight minutes later that the Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav equalised on a set up by Nadiem Amiri. Pressure continued, and in the 94th minute Germany did what Germany always used to do: a ball into the area was controlled by Undav, who turned quickly and scored Germany's winner with a hard shot. 

Undav has six matches on the national team and six goals, and perhaps should be considered the starter for next matches.

Germany always wins in football, and with this goal we must start thinking of them as candidates for the title, since this is the German machine that we all know from before. It is likely that they will defeat a terribly disappointing and playing Ecuador side in the last group match.

The Fantastic Orange

The official FIFA fan zones are absolutely horrible. In Guadalajara and in Mexico City they have placed them in front of the Cathedral, in the central parts of the city, and they totally get in the way of the  architecture and views of these beautiful places. It is tasteless and without charm, and also lack the local cultural flavour, that is only added by the fans. 

But without FIFAs commercial interests, some places set up local fans zones, as the one I found myself in yesterday, in Coyoacan; it included a decoration of skeletons playing and local foodstalls and a more relaxed atmosphere.

It was here I was fortunate to watch a fantastic Netherlands side destroy a hapless Sweden side that went on the pitch without any direction. A three-line defense was immediately overwhelmed by an orange machine, who within 17 minutes was ahead 2-0 on two goals by the Sunderland striker Brian Brobbey, who could become one of the great players of the tournament. 

The unnecessary hydration break never came better for any team as it did for Sweden, who clearly returned to the game both hydrated and better organized, and a 4-man defense. Sweden had a couple of shots and more control, but it was clear that the Netherlands were a far better team, and they sealed a nearly-perfect first half with a 2-0 lead.

Second half almost started the same way: ten minutes into it, Cody Gakpo had scored twice, and with a 4-0 lead, the Netherlands relaxed a bit, and the match in fact became quite entertaining as the West Ham striker Anthony Elanga came on for Sweden, and the match opened with chances on both sides. Anthony Elanga indeed scored a consolation for Sweden, but in the end Crysencio Summerville, who had come on in the second half to set up Cody Gakpo, scored an excellent closing goal for the Netherlands.

Crysencio Summerville appeared to get a head injury at the end of the match, but hope that he is ready for the next match, as the West Ham player is surely one of the ones to watch in the tournament.

5-1 cancelled all of Sweden's goal difference from their victory over Tunisia in the first match, and they are looking at a difficult last group match against Japan (who defeated Tunisia 4-0). But the best thing was the Netherlands; a fantastic side that must be one of the candidates for the title for any neutral fan who loves good football.

 

The fight for best third

Scotland is in a difficult group and yesterday they lost to Africa's second team (after the champions of Senegal) 0-1 on an early goal by the PSV striker Ismael Saibari. Scotland now have to face mighty Brazil, who will be pushing for a victory to take first place on goal difference, assuming that Morocco will defeat Haiti.

But in a tournament where the best 8 third placed teams go through, it would appear that Scotland has good chances of going through with three points (unless they get hammered by Brazil). Paraguay, who yesterday defeated Turkey, is also in a good position, and with a game left against Australia, they could even take second place. Other sides that are not so attractive even have a chance: Czechia, who tied the South Africans, could in theory pull through with a tie against Mexico, while Bosnia-Hercegovina would appear to have excellent chances by winning against the hapless Qataris in their last match.

I hope Scotland will pull through, even losing to Brazil. They will be fun to watch, not because they play good football, but because of their beer-drinking fans.

Mexico celebrates

I watched the Mexico-South Corea match in my local bar, which was dressed up in Mexican colours as the rest of Mexico City had been for the entire day in expectation of a match that would likely show Mexico´s true strength in this World Cup. 

Mexico certainly lived up to the expectations: a high pressure that limited South Corea´s control of the midfield gave them some good chances in the first half of the first half, until the Coreans managed to get more control. But open chances were few in a tight but entertaining match, and first half ended 0-0. 

Second half started similarly, and it was hard to see a clear winner. It was indeed a fortuitous situation  that gave Mexico their goal: an apparently harmless high ball into the Corean area was going to be grabbed by the Kim Seung-gyu, but he fell over a defender and lost the ball which fell to Chivas' Luis Romo, who could easily score in his home ground. 

The bar I was at exploded into celebrations, as surely all of Mexico did. 

South Corea had to get forward and did, but the Mexicans fought well and with discipline. That said, South Corea did get some chances to equalize, in particular a very close effort by the line, which was incredibly saves by the Chivas´ goalkeeper Raul Rangel. 

 The Chivas players were crucial in winning for Mexico at their home ground in Guadalajara! 

A good victory for Mexico and thousands crowded to the Angel de la Independencia to celebrate almost as if Mexico had won the World Cup. 

While Mexico are not World Champions yet, they have nevertheless shown that they are a team to be respected in this World Cup, particularly when playing at home with their spectacular support. 

Czechia disappointed massively by tying 1-1 with South Africa, and it is hard to see the Europeans having a chance in Mexico City next week, while South Corea is set to be runner-ups in the group, as they are expected to defeat South Africa, although of course, nothing is written in stone. 

¡Viva México!

Unnecesary Colombian suffering

I was quite excited yesterday, first time in a long time: I would be able to leave work early and go to the legendary Azteca Stadium to see Colombia versus Uzbekistan in the World Cup!

After a lengthy and crowded ride in public transport arrived at the immense and sold-out stadium: a vast crowd of Colombians that surely made it a home-match for the South Americans.

I had no expectations of the Uzbekis: I only know their Manchester City player, Abdukodir Khusanov, and their manager, the legendary Fabio Cannavaro. And I was disappointed: perhaps it was the nerve of the World Cup debut, but it was a team that entered the pitch not to win, but rather not to lose. A five-man defense, with Khusanov in the right, in order to stop the quick Luis Diaz.

Khusanov did not have an easy first half: he was soon booked for a foul on Luis Diaz, who was a constant threat, while James was constantly moving to confuse the defense. Colombia had basically all possession and even a Luis Diaz shot on the post, but relief only came in the 40th minute when a deep high-ball into the area by Luis Diaz was caught with a high leg by the Crystal Palace defender Daniel Muñoz. 1-0 was deserved.

Uzbekistan did not change much their second half despite them being behind. Colombia had possession, but it seemed nerves started hitting the Colombians - at least the fans were calling for a second goal as the Colombians passed the ball around facing the closed Uzbeki defense. 

Then what happened was unnecessary as well as historical (at least for Uzbeksitan). The first real Uzbeki attack and a high ball that appeared to go out landed with an Uzbeki striker who first timed a precise but weak shot straight at the Colombian goalkeeper, Camilo Vargas, at the near post. The ball hit Vargas in a way that it went straight up behind him, and straight to Abbosbek Fayzullaev, who could easily score Uzbekistan's first ever World Cup goal.

1-1 was so against the match!

But soon after Luis Diaz himself made it 2-1 on a shot towards the far Uzbeki post, in a ball that the Uzbeki goalkeeper Utkir Yusopov should probably have saved.

Thus we see that there is indeed some poor goalkeeping in the World Cup.

2-1 was well-deserved, and Colombia should be in control. Both Luis Diaz and James were substituted as Colombia pulled back to defend the lead, and the Uzbekis pushed forward. The end was unnecessarily nerve-wrecking for the Colombians, who had seen the Uzbekis score, and in the dying minutes they were suddenly in control.

But two of the substitutes saved the day: Cucho Hernandez had come on earlier and fought hard winning a ball during a counterattack, and made a perfect pass into the Uzbeki area where Jaminton Campaz (who had come on for James) could easily head the ball into the Uzbeki goal and make it to a deserved 3-1.

Still, - and this was the most admirable part about the Uzbekis -, Uzbekistan had an incredible shot on the  crossbar in the dying seconds (would surely have been the goal of the tournament!), but it was never enough to deny the Colombians, who despite all the suffering, deserved the victory.

Intense and great match, and most of all, happy to cheer on the Colombian team with all other Colombian fans! 

The World Champions have checked in

Defending world champions often struggle to defend their title, but for Argentina tonight this was not the case. A solid 3-0 victory over Algeria, but most notably with an incredible Lionel Messi, who at his tender 38 years appeared to be everywhere on the pitch, and scored all three Argentine goals, equaling Miroslav Klose as the most scoring player in a World Cup.

Argentina also appeared solid in defense although I find it hard to assess how good the Algerians were. They passed the ball well and at times managed to put pressure on Argentina, but never really appeared to threaten the South American goal. At the same time they played slowly, something that only appeared to make the Argentineans comfortable. But it all may be to the credit of solid defense by Argentina.

While Spain grossly disappointed with 0-0 against Cape Verde, France won 3-1 over Senegal on a great second half and two Mbappé goals. Three of the biggest favourites for the title have started at different levels, but one thing is sure; everyone will be watching for Messi to break yet another historic record in his 6th World Cup.

Two matches today

 Two matches stood out for me today:

- Japan-Netherlands 2-2: Two of the sides we are looking forward to in the World Cup did not disappoint. Netherlands were dominating much of the match, but the Japanese were dangerous in their patience. Even though the Dutch went ahead after steady pressure, it was somewhat clear that the Japanese were never going to let the Europeans win. The Netherlands will likely win the group, but Japan will likely get far.

- Côte d’Ivoire-Ecuador: It was 0-0 for too long in a match that could have had many goals between two different styles of football. The Ecuadorians hit the post twice in the first half with their technical style, but the Ivorians were patient and much better physically. Manchester United’s Amad Diallo gave them a late victory that was painful for the South Americans, but also makes the following matches incredibly exciting, following the German thrashing of Curaçao.

USA in the house

 No matter how it goes USA under manager Mauricio Pochettino will be talked about a lot, and with the 4-1 victory against Paraguay, USA has stamped into the World Cup in style. It was characteristic Pochettino style high pressure and possession that the North Americans used to completely dominate the South American. Damian Bobadillas’s clumsy own goal after 7 minutes set the pace, and then the Monaco striker Folarin Balogun scored two goals before halftime (first time a US player scores twice in a World Cup match). Second half US lowered the pace but continued to dominate. Nevertheless a mistake gave Paraguay their goal, by Mauricio, and a glimmer of hope against the odds, but in the end Giovanni Reyna scored a splendid goal to give the USA a solid victory in their opener.

They play great football and their matches look to be entertaining, but we will only see their real strength against better opposition in the the knock-out stages, as they are in a very easy group where they should win all matches.

First day in Guadalajara

 If Denmark had qualified for the World Cup, they would have played South Corea in Guadalajara yesterday, and let me be blunt: Denmark would have lost bigger than the fighting Czechs, who are also very dangerous on set-pieces.

I was a bit disappointed about the atmosphere which was nowhere as electric as other matches. South Coreans far outnumbered Czechs, and Mexicans far outnumbered everybody in a beautiful Akron stadium that despite it all was not at full capacity…

The first half of the match was somewhat disappointing. South Corea had the ball and the chances, but appeared too elegant to be able to strike against a Czech side that were surely on the defensive, but played with heart. Ten minutes into the second half came the shocker for the Coreans: Ladislav Krejci brought the Czechs on 0-1 on a header, following one of the Czech specialties, namely set-pieces.

The Coreans were not stunned though, and scored a goal based on patience; they passed the ball around, almost making the stadium and Czechs falls asleep, until the explosion came. A pass to Hweong In-beom in the area and he skillfully cheated two defenders and the goalkeeper. 

Corea were the better team, but the Czechs played their chance. They pressed high and was dangerous with long balls, also seeking their dangerous set-pieces, and in fact appeared to have scored on one when the referee gave an apparent free kick to the Coreans. Instead, Oh Hyeon-gyu gave the Coreans the lead on a perfectly timed attack.

The final minutes of the match Czechia pressed and in fact managed to stress the otherwise better team of Corea, and came very close to an equalizer.

But Corea won, just as Mexico had done earlier in the day, 2-0 against South Africa in a sorry to say very poor match, where South Africa were not at any quality level of what you would expect of a World Cup team. So it is basically impossible to say anything of Mexico’s level on the basis of that match, and the real test will come in the next matches.

The World Cup is on. There is no magic; quite on the contrary, and as it has started, I find it hard to be in the slightest excited about it.

Chasing my World Cup dream

 I just read an interesting note by Irish journalist and author Paul Howard: "You spend your life chasing the way the World Cup made you feel when you were 11". The title says it all, and as this next world cup is slowly creeping up I can completely identify.

I have some vague memories of 1982, when I was 7 years old and living in Argentina: supporting Italy in the final, Hungary winning 10-1 against a country named "El Salvador" (first time I heard about it, and later in fact becoming very important in my life), and most of all, Argentina and the unfulfilled expectations of Maradona.

But in 1986 I was 11 years old. With my parents we were coming from Argentina, and spent some months in Mexico just before the World Cup. I was gripped by the fever, also because it was Denmark's first World Cup. I watched most of the World Cup in Denmark, who played some of the best football Denmark has ever played in matches against Uruguay and West Germany, as well as the debacle against Spain, that was indeed very difficult for an 11-year old Denmark supporter. But I also remember so many magic matches: USSRs extraordinary thrashing of Hungary; Mexico's wave and Jorge Negrete's special goal against Bulgaria; Belgium's great but lucky side against USSR; France-Brazil, which to me at that time was the best match I had ever seen; and most of all I remember Argentina and Diego Maradona, bringing the trophy home to a country that I had recently left physically but not by heart.

It was magic indeed, and I have since been searching for that feeling. I have enjoyed and vividly remember every World Cup since: 1990 living in Spain but still bitter at Spain's victory against Denmark, and wholeheartedly supporting a boring Argentina; 1994, opening match Germany-Bolivia, on the very day that I got my "studenterhue" and being in Colombia when Pablo Escobar was shot; 1998, painting a kitchen with my best friends and enjoying every crazy match (1998 is the closest I have come to feeling like in 1986); 2002 while finishing my Masters' and early breakfast matches that have since been difficult to remember from the least memorable World Cup; 2006 in Ghana, loving the atmosphere of the Black Stars' first world cup and disappointed about the final; 2010, recently living in Venezuela and thinking back of my time in Africa (Ghana and Mozambique) and watching the final (and finally able to celebrate my dear Spain) with my best friends in France; 2014, when I really went hunting for the "feeling", and traveled to many countries to watch matches, starting in Liberia, and ending in Denmark, and accepting the nevertheless disappointing loss of Argentina, against a German side that I admired for the first time ever; 2018, when I went to Russia with the best friend and enjoyed the atmosphere that the tournament brings, but also saw more clearly FIFA's obvious destruction of the game; 2022, the winter World Cup where I remember my enormous happiness seeing Argentina finally win again with best friends after a Julefrokost.

A four-year diary of my life, but while I have enjoyed, nothing comes close to the footballing magic of 1986.

It is serendipitous that now, 40-years later, I am living in Mexico for the biggest World Cup in history... But I am also older, worn-out, and more cynical person than that happy and dreamy 11-year old in 1986... I have seen my favourite teams win and lose; ups and down in life, and will surely not be as emotional about winning or losing. 

Behind my cynicism about FIFA and the destruction of the game I learnt to love 40 years ago, I am perhaps hoping - maybe still searching for that football romantic in my soul, like the great Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano once said: "Yo no soy más que un mendigo de buen fútbol. Voy por el mundo, sombrero en mano, y en los estadios suplico una linda jugadita, por amor de Dios. Y cuando el buen fútbol ocurre, agradezco el milagro..." ("I am nothing more than a beggar for good football. I wander the world, hat in hand, and in stadiums I plead for a beautiful play, for God's sake. And when good football happens, I give thanks for the miracle").

That is why, that despite it all, I am going to two matches here in Mexico. Behind all of my anger about the greed and ugly nationalism that I feel the World Cup has become, I am still pleading for the magic of a beautiful play and to feel some of the passion and beauty that made me fall in love with football and life as an 11-year old in 1986.... 

The Big Mac of football

I am old. I have seen plenty of football. I have suffered and I have celebrated. I have been overtly emotional (often too much) and learnt that being emotional is probably one of the worst things a human can be. 

And so in football: I have preferences, but I have seen it all, and I know that sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But as important as winning or losing, is the question of how you win or how you lose. 

Just like in life. Arsenal are efficient, effective, get results: just like a Big Mac.

Don't mistake me. I recognise that Arsenal are a great team, and today they showed it. When Kai Havertz brought them ahead early on in the match through a splendid run down the left side, Arsenal pulled back and defended with discipline and tactical intelligence, cancelling Vitinha in midfield and the threatening runs of Karavashkelia. Despite possession, PSG, perhaps the best attacking side in the world right now, could not get through the tight defense, while Arsenal played on a possible corner kick.

I am a football fan, and I don't want football to turn into a contest of corner kicks, and I think that with Arsenal's quality they could and should have tried to score a "real" goal in the first half, when PSG were clearly confused as to what to do about Arsenal's defense.

I was happy for the the game of football more than for PSG when the Parisians managed to equalise by Ousemane Dembele on a penalty kick. 

Home-made food had finally scored against the Big Mac of football. 

At the score 1-1 Arsenal again started to attack more, but still seemed to go more for a corner-kick than they did for a goal...?

PSG fortunately won on penalty kicks, with Gabriel Magalhaes missing the last kick for Arsenal in an intense contest.

People may be annoyed at PSG; they have won their second title since last year's trashing of Inter Milan, but for the game of football it is surely better to have a team like PSG win, than a team who plays like Arsenal. 

Arsenal's 2006 CL final side were amazing, but lost to an even more amazing Barcelona side. This Arsenal side would have gone into history for winning, but nobody would remember how they played.

I am a romantic; even worse, I am emotional. I like the art of football: enjoying a great game between footballers with quality and who are not afraid to show it; just like enjoying a delicious home-made meal rather than a BigMac.

Arsenal are the BigMac of football. They excel at the only thing that counts in the today: efficiency, results, numbers and winning.

Fortunately they lost. 

Arsenal champion

 It was bound to happen, finally, that Arsenal would be declared champions of the Premier League, but it did not happen on the last match-day, but instead happened on the 37th match-day when Bournemouth and Manchester City tied 1-1, and gave Arsenal the title. That said, Arsenal also won their last match 1-2 over Crystal Palace, enough to claim that nothing had been given away.

After 22 years the title returns to Arsenal in style under a successful Mikel Arteta, who still has a chance for a bigger title in the Champions League final next Saturday against PSG. Arsenal may not have been the most exciting side, but they are solid and have perfected the corner kick to become a winning (but boring) formula. 

Congratulations to Arsenal fans, including my cat Whisky.

 

My teams in the 2026 World Cup

In every World Cup, I have my favourite teams, countries that I in some way have some personal relationship to. That said, it is particular that in this World Cup with 48 teams, some of my favourites like Denmark and Chile have not qualified. That said, these are the countries I will follow:

• Argentina: where I lived as a child, will still be my favourite as I hope that they are able to defend their title
• Colombia: country of my mother. I hope they do well and will be supporting them as they play in Mexico City as well, with the certain invasion of a yellow army of fans for an overpriced match.
• Spain: Country where I lived and have family from, will be one of the favourites to take the title with an extraordinary team, and they will also play in Mexico, specifically in Guadalajara, against Uruguay
• USA: Lived there one year as a teenager; they may surprise at home, but I do not think they can go all the way, neither will I particularly support them.
• Ghana: My favourite African team since my time there 2003-2006, and their first World Cup in 2006, I have many lovely memories, and will be wearing my Black Stars shirt for the matches against England and Croatia!
• Mexico: I will surely support Mexico as they try to shine at home, mainly because of their fantastic fans as I do not find the squad very exciting. Perhaps it is good that they won't face Denmark!

All this said, it is not easy to get excited by this excessive, over-priced, over-hyped, and highly politicized World Cup; but I will watch nevertheless.

And Barcelona champion again

I could not watch the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. No matter how many subscriptions to different TV platforms and cable, these special matches are only shown on some other special channel, and it is increasingly annoying.

Money rules, and money rules in particular when these two teams play. Real Madrid will end its second season in a row without a single title and with serious crisis in a squad where the superstar Kylian Mbappe has never won a title, and the club he left, PSG, has only appeared to become better without him. In the meantime, their archrivals of Barcelona have under Hansi Flick taken their second league title in a row, today with a 2-0 victory on goals by Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford.

There is no doubt who is the best team in Spain right now. 

AGF Champions

The first time I went to watch a football match was in 1986 in Ikast, when now foregone Ikast FS was playing AGF. AGF won the league that season, and today, 40 years later, AGF have again won the League.

AGF won deservedly as FC Midtjylland, the usual favourites (and who incidentally used to be Ikast), could not keep up with the team from Århus. They had tied to FC Nordsjælland which meant that if AGF defeated Brøndby, they would effectively be champions with one match left.

AGF did what they had to do and won 0-2; surely next week a big celebration in Århus as they get their medals in an unimportant match against Viborg. 

Some Brøndby fans, including myself, may have thought back to the sad day in 2024 when Brøndby just needed to defeat AGF at home to win the league, but AGF won and FC Midtjylland instead became champions, and thought of revenge against AGF. 

Don't mistake me: I am not an AGF fan, but revenge is so old-fashioned and pointless. Instead, I find it refreshing that finally the championship goes to a club that is not a recent money-creation (FC Midtjylland and FC Copenhagen), but is instead one of the old traditional Danish clubs, and comes from the otherwise lovely second city of Denmark, Århus.

So congratulations to AGF, but most of all to all Århusianere, who today have every reason to smile! 

PSG again in the final

It was virtually impossible that the second-leg match would be as good as the first leg between PSG and Bayern Munich, but it was still a good match. PSG were in my view the better team overall, highly organised, and having learnt from the mistakes of the first match, they closed down Olise and Kimmich in midfield, held back after Ousmane Dembele early goal on a counter-attack, and remained a deadly force on the counterattack, with Manuel Neuer being the saviour on many occasions for Bayern Munich. 

Many players are worth mentioning, but Kvisha Kvaraskhelia and Ousmane Dembele are perhaps two of the best players in the world right now; the former will surely be missed in the World Cup, but Dembele will hopefully shine in North America this summer (not because I support France - certainly not - but I just want to enjoy watching an artist shine in his trade). 

But Bayern Munich were not hapless. They created great chances that in the previous match would have given goals, and the well-deserved equalizer by Harry Kane in the last minute only came too late. What is a shame in the match was the referee Joao Pinheiro, who decided to oversee two clear handballs in core situations that could have given Bayern Munich an edge. The handball inside the area by the referee's namesake  Joao Neves was more a penalty kick than the bad penalty call against Alphonse Davies in the previous match. And Nuno Mendes should have been given a second yellow card for handball earlier as well.

The best team won, and it was a great match, but it is a pity that with all this VAR, a great contest it made controversial by a very very poor referee.

PSG are now in the second final in a row, and favourites to take their second title in a row, but anything can happen in a final. Arsenal are in the final after defeating Atletico Madrid in two matches that were frankly a bore, and Arsenal, despite their solid lead in the Premier League, are surely not as complete as PSG, but are not hapless; a goal on one of their signature free kicks and a solid defense (and a bit of luck), and they could take the title... 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Sometimes you get two teams with great players, both teams full of confidence that they are the best, they are on a roll in their leagues, and have offensive style based on their confidence. And suddenly they are playing an important match (let us say a semifinal) where they can display all their skills and style.

Then you get an extraordinary match, and that is what happened today in the CL first leg semifinal between PSG and Bayern Munich.

Do not mistake me; it was not perfect in the sense that there were mistakes (including by the referee when awarding a penalty kick for handball), poor defending, and the occasional technical mistake, but frankly these are parts of a match that had it all.

I was working, listening on the radio, but by the score 2-1 for PSG I shifted to the TV; Harry Kane had brought the visitors ahead 0-1 on a penalty kick, but shortly after Kvisha Kvarashkelia scored his first of two great goals where he showed his fantastic skills, and a bit later Joao Neves brought the Parisians ahead. The great Frenchman playing for the German side, Michael Olise, ran through the PSG central defense to make it 2-2 before Ousmane Dembele made it 3-2 on a handball call that in my view was not a penalty.

3-2 at halftime, the match had already been extraordinary (it could have been 5-5), but it was PSG who came out with a high and steady pressure on Bayern Munich’s shaky defense, with Kvarashkelia scoring his second and Ousmane Dembele making it 5-2 on a quick counterattack: it appeared at this point that the Germans were defeated, but truly, if we know anything it is that Bayern is never defeated.

Another Frenchman, Dayot Upamecano made it 5-3 on a header and poor defending, and suddenly it was Bayern Munich who was pressuring a PSG side that pulled back but was still a deadly menace on counterattack. It was the Colombian Luis Diaz who made it 5-4 winning a thrilling 1 on 1 duel with Marquinhos.

The match could easily have had more goals, but you could also sense the tiredness in all these footballing heroes at the end of the match, which ended with a French 5-4 victory, and the most goals scored in a single semifinal match in the CL ever.

This was perhaps the best match we will see this decade (if not century), and surely the best match of the year.

Forget the World Cup.

Next week is the second leg in Munich, but considering what we saw today, anything can happen, and I just look forward to seeing these two great sides, whom I thank from the bottom of my footballing heart for today.

Manchester City-Arsenal

Great way to start Sunday morning was to watch the match between number 2 and number 1 in the Premier League: Manchester City versus Arsenal. At least my cat Whisky seemed excited...

Arsenal have been looking again to take the title after their last one in 2004, but many people are justifiably nervous that it could still slip, and today would be a test against their biggest threat to the title. 

Manchester City also had something to show, hoping to take the title that also eluded them last season. 

The Manchester side also started putting a high pressure on the Londoners, and it was the Frenchman Rayan Cherki who scored an extraordinary goal, almost like a Playstation player, getting in between many defenders in the area. City were still celebrating when Arsenal equalised, and perhaps Gianluigi Donnarumma was as well: in an easy ball, he fumbled in front of an aggressive Kai Havertz, who managed to put a foot to block the goalkeeper's kick, and the ball went into goal.

An undeserved but lucky equaliser, with Donnarumma showing the poor player skills that was apparently the reason he had to leave PSG...

Arsenal held well, and had some chances, but the rest of an intense match it was Manchester City mainly seeking the victory, which came of way of a typical Erling Haaland goal, striking a ball that came towards him by way of coincidences. 

2-1 was all in all well-deserved, and it looks to be a dramatic end to the Premier League: Arsenal remains 3 points ahead of Manchester City on top with 33 matches, but Manchester City has one match less, and goal difference could be what puts the title in either side, but also there the difference is minimal...

Greatest World Cup Matches: Argentina-France (2022)

The final of the World Cup in Qatar is one of the most memorable finals, in part because of the drama and many goals, but also because it was the final of a World Cup that truly defined FIFA’s commercial dominance over football; the tournament was awarded to a small nation with a lot of money, but with no football history or even participation in a World Cup, amid controversy about migrant workers and labour rights. According to some sources up to 6500 migrant workers may have died since the tournament was awarded to Qatar (although not directly involved in infrastructure building for the World Cup). At the same time too expensive ticket prices and no alcohol meant that the World Cup was full of controversy off the pitch. 

But on the pitch it had been a spectacle; and a spectacle that FIFA made a lot of money off, as they formed a narrative that made everyone forget the abuses of migrant workers. 

The masses were too entertained to care. 

Argentina was led by the great Lionel Messi. He was already a legend at club level, but the biggest prize had eluded him and Argentina: in 2014 they had lost a close-fought final against Germany, and in 2018 had flopped completely by falling in the first round. 

In 2021 Messi finally won his first title with Argentina with the Copa America in the final against Brazil, and the team had been strong during qualification under Manager Lionel Scaloni, who with limited experience when appointed in 2019, had forged a solid side that not only depended on Messi, but was able to exploit his qualities. So Argentina again entered the tournament as favourites. 

It was not only because of Lionel Messi, but Argentina had an outstanding team. On goal, a position that had hurt Argentina for years, Argentina had found a solid if provocative goalkeeper in Aston Villa’s Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez. Defenders included the veteran from Benfica, Nicolas Otamendi, and the veteran from Lyon, Nicolas Tagliafico, as well as Sevilla’s Gonzalo Montiel and Marcus Acuña, Tottenham’s Cristian Romero, Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez and the young Nahuel Molina from Atletico Madrid. A solid midfield to support Messi included Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo de Paul, Alexis McAllister from Brighton Hove & Albion, Leandro Paredes from Juventus, Benfica’s youngster Enzo Fernadez, Sevilla’s veteran Papu Gomez, and the fantastic Angel DiMaria, who was known for scoring in finals (he scored the winner in the 2021 Copa America final). Attackers were from the best teams in the world and included Roma’s Paolo Dybala, Inter’s Lautaro Martinez, Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa, and the young Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez. Manager Scaloni was a people-person, and forged a strong team spirit, where players who got replaced did not complain, but were still seen as a part of the team; it was thus that Lautaro Martinez eventually got replaced by the young Julian Alvarez in attack, while both Nahuel Molina and Alexis McAllister, who had been largely unknown before the tournament, became starters. 

All this said, Argentina fought hard to make it to the final, and in fact opened with a sensational 1-2 loss to Saudi Arabia; it was a huge disappointment, so Argentina was extra motivated for the following match against Mexico. Dominating but unable to score, it had to be Lionel Messi who opened the scoring and Argentina winning 2-0, and in the last match winning 2-0 over Poland, it was enough to win the group. 

In the last-16 Argentina faced a surprising Australian side who had made it to the last-16 by defeating Denmark. The Aussies also gave Argentina a difficult match, but the South Americans won 2-1 on goals by Messi and Alvarez. 

The quarterfinal between Argentina and Netherlands was pure drama: 2-0 down, Netherlands managed to equalize to 2-2 at the end of the match, but Dibu Martinez saved Argentina in a nerve-wrecking penalty shootout. 

In the semifinals Argentina faced a Croatian side who had defeated Brazil and humiliated Argentina 0-3 in 2018, but this time the Argentines hit back with their own 3-0 victory and made it to the final where they were to face the defending champions from 2018, France. 

France undoubtedly had one of the best teams in the world managed by the veteran and experienced Dider Deschamps. On goal was Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris, who despite occasional mistakes was a solid goalkeeper, supported by a string of super defenders: Bayern Munich’s Benjamin Pavard, Lucas Hernandez and Dayot Upamecano, Manchester United’s Raphael Varane, Barcelona’s Jules Kounde, and Arsenal’s young William Saliba. An extraordinary midifeld included the young Real Madrid player Aurelien Tchouameni, Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele, Juventus Adrien Rabiot, and the Real Madrid youngster Eduardo Camavinga. As offensive midfielder and strike threat was one of the best in the world in PSG’s Kylian Mbappe, complemented by other superstars that included Bayern Munich’s Kinglsey Coman, Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani, Borussia Monchengladbach’s young Marcus Thuram (son of the legendary Lilliam Thuram) and three highly experienced veterans in Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema, Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, and AC Milan’s Olivier Giroud. 

France qualified through a relatively easy group ahead of Ukraine, Finland, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kazakhstan, and were in the first round drawn in another relatively easy group D with Denmark, Australia and Tunisia. Despite losing to Tunisia, victories against Denmark and Australia were sufficient to win the group. 

They defeated Poland 3-1 in the last-16 and England 2-1 in the quarterfinals, before defeating the surprising Moroccans 2-0 in the semifinals to make their second final in a row and to defend their 2018 title. 

France did not appear to have struggled as much to make it to the final as Argentina, who nevertheless entered as nervous favourites; the 2014 defeat to Germany lingered in the Argentine mind, but the team was in its strongest lineup, including Angel DiMaria, who had missed the 2014 final. 

France was awful in the first half; perhaps the worst performance by a team in a World Cup final. It goes partly in credit to an Argentina side that pressed high and shot on goal from the start of the match, but the horrible first half, where France had no shots on goal, meant that Manager Deschamps already made two changes in the 41st minute, taking out an anonymous Ousmane Dembele and a hapless Olivier Giroud for Kolo Muani and Marcus Thuram respectively. 

In the meantime, Argentina seemed unstoppable in the first half. High pressure, close chances by Alvarez and Messi, as well as a Rodrigo de Paul and Angel Di Maria who were clearly enjoying the match. The first goal came thanks to Di Maria who easily dribbled past Jules Kounde into the French area, and Kounde could do nothing but pressure him for behind and causing him to fall. Messi was cool despite the enormous pressure and scored, deservedly for Argentina. Argentina’s second goal was one of the best goals of the tournament: coming from a counterattack, three perfect first touches by Messi and Alvarez, the ball arrived at McAllister at full speed towards the goal, who passed it to an onrushing Di Maria on the left. Di Maria elegantly lifted the ball over Lloris and 2-0 for Argentina, who until then were totally dominant. It was a splendid goal and totally deserved for Argentina. 

As the second half started France's changes meant more organization, but it was still Argentina that dominated and had the ball. In fact, nothing appeared to threaten the Argentine lead, and Marcus Acuna came on for the splendid Angel DiMaria, who again had scored in a final for Argentina. 

With 20 minutes left Didier Deschamps made two additional changes: Eduardo Camavinga came on for Theo Hernandez to give more energy in midfield, and Kingsley Coman came on for Antoine Griezmann to put more pressure on the Argentine midfield and defense. 

With 9 minutes left France was given a glimmer of hope: Otamendi could not keep up with Kolo Muani’s speed and brought him down inside the Argentine penalty area. Kylian Mbappe was cool-headed and made it 2-1 on what was effectively France’s first shot on target during the second half. 

After the goal, France started to play football for the first time during the match as Argentina was ready to keep suffering as they had done throughout the tournament. 

And they suffered as the saddest tango song when Kylian Mbappe made it 2-2: an elegant pass by Marcus Thuram above the Argentine defense and Kylian Mbappe resolutely volleyed the ball into goal. 

It was a dramatic end to the match as it went into extra time where France appeared on top as they had equalised a match that until the 80th minutes seemed to be under Argentina’s control. 

As expected both teams were tired but full of fight in the extra time. Argentina had brought on Lautaro Martinez for Julian Alvarez ten minutes into extra time, and the striker brought renewed energy into the Argentine attack; he had some close misses before one of his shots was blocked by Hugo Lloris, but Messi managed to score on the rebound from close range. 

Argentina was again ahead, but it was not to last. Another penalty was awarded for France in the 117th minute on a handball by Gonzalo Montiel, and again Kylian Mbappe scored, becoming only the second player in World Cup histroy to score three goals in a final, after Geoff Hurst in 1966. 

3-3 with 3 minutes left, but the match was close at not going into penalty kicks when Kolo Muani got the chance of a lifetime to win the World Cup: a lose ball landed for him at the edge of the area, alone in front of the goalkeeper, but an extraordinary save by Dibu Martines kept Argentina alive for penalty kicks. 

The two superstars, Messi and Mbappe opened by scoring, but it was then Martinez who took the stage. Openly using psychological tactics he first saved Kingsley Coman’s shot, and then made Aurelien Tchouameni shoot wide of goal. 

The Sevilla defender Gonzalo Montiel was to score on the penalty that gave Argentina the World Cup title, and make an entire country celebrate. 

In the social media hype of 2022 and after, some people have called this the greatest final of all time. I am sorry to say that it wasn’t, although it was certainly dramatic. But the French were simply too bad in the first half, and the reason it became so dramatic was because Argentina came so close to messing up a trophy that were basically in their hands. The South Americans were deserved champions, but they were not an overwhelmingly good team. It was certainly special for Lionel Messi, who could finally step out of the shadow of other great players, and sign up as a legend. Because you are not a legend until you win a World Cup.

Match Stats:

• Qatar, December 18th 2022 Lusail Stadium 
• Attendance: 89,000 
• Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland) 

Argentina-France 3-3 (aet) 
Goals: 1-0 Lionel Messi (p) (23) 2-0 Angel DiMaria (36) 2-1 Kylian Mbappe (p) (80) 2-2 Kylian Mbappe (81) 3-2 Lionel Messi (108) 3-3 Kylian Mbappe (p) (118) 

Penalty kicks: Argentina-France 4-2 

0-1 Kylian Mbappe 
1-1 Lionel Messi 
Kingsley Coman missed for France 
2-1 Paulo Dybala 
Aurelien Tchouameni missed for France 
3-1 Leandro Paredes 
3-2 Kolo Muani 
4-2 Gonzalo Montiel 

Teams:  

Argentina: Emiliano Martinez; Nicolas Otamendi, Cristian Romero,, Nahuel Molina (Gonzalo Montiel, 90), Nicolas Tagliafico (Paulo Dybala, 120); Alexis MacAllister (German Pezzella, 116), Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo DePaul (Leandro Paredes, 102); Julian Alvarez (Lautaro Martinez, 103), Lionel Messi, Angel DiMaria (Marcos Acuña, 64). Manager: Lionel Scaloni. 
France: Hugo Lloris; Raphael Varane (Ibrahima Konate, 113), Dayot Upamecano, Joules Kounde (Axel Disasi, 112), Lucas Hernandez (Edouard Camavinga, 71); Adrien Rabiot (Youssouf Fafana, 96), Aurelien Tchouameni, Ousmane Dembele (Kolo Muani, 41), Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann (Kinglsey Coman, 71), Olivier Giroud (Marcus Thuram, 41). Manager: Didier Deschamps. 

Wish I watched

 Unfortunately been having some health problems lately, so given this and time difference I was unable to watch the clash between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions league. I suspected it would be a memorable encounter, and indeed it was, as I was only able to watch detailed replays later on.

I missed a great match with amazing goals. As always and annoyingly, Real Madrid are never really beaten, and the fought hard to get back from the 1-2 defeat in Madrid. Arda Guler scored twice within the first half hour: punishing a serious mistake by Manuel Neuer, and a wonderful free kick, with Mbappe scoring a third just before halftime. But Bayern Munich had also struck: Aleksander Pavlovic had scored on a header where the Real Madrid goalkeeper Lunin also looked out of place, and Harry Kane had scored on a splendid pass by Upamecano.

Just first half had already been epic as I just lay crying.

Second half continued with attacks from both sides, in particular Real Madrid trying to take a definitive lead, and Manuel Neuer saving the day more than once. But it took a splendid strike by the Colombian Lucho Diaz to equalize and effectively eliminate Real Madrid, who in the last minutes nevertheless attacked, leaving space in the back for the best player of the match: in the 94th minute the splendid Michael Olise could have taken time, but instead went towards scored on a marvelous strike that gave Bayern Munich the 4-3 victory.

Epic.

Bayern Munich sign in as favourites, but also in footballing terms; they are a true joy to watch, but also make many mistakes, thus making them enjoyably vulnerable... 

The semifinals are as follows:

• Paris Saint Germain-Bayern Munich
• Atletico Madrid-Arsenal

 

Bayern strikes first

Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich are always intense matches, and tonight's CL first-leg quarterfinal in Madrid did not disappoint. 

Bayern dominated the match from the start; at the same time there were many individual mistakes that could have cost goals. In particular Luis Diaz seemed absent from the match, but it was him who scored first for the Bavarians when they counterattacked quickly following a lost ball by Real Madrid. Soon into the second half Harry Kane scored a second for Bayern Munich, and at this point it almost appeared that they could humiliate Real Madrid. But one has to respect Real Madrid, who facing adversity nevertheless pushed forward, and good old Manuel Neuer (who nevertheless did also look shaky at the start of the match) had to pull some spectacular saves. In the end Kylian Mbappe managed to score one for Madrid, but pushing forward they also opened for chances in the back, where Bayern could or should have sealed the match. Young Jamal Musiala returned to the Bayern team as a substitute, but after a long injury pause looked a bit afraid, while Michael Olise was the best player of the match (Real Madrid is apparently very interested in signing him, and today's match must only have reinforced their interest).

A 1-2 lead for Bayern Munich should put them with one foot in the semifinals before next week's match at Allianz Arena, but in the end Real Madrid showed that they can still rise from adversity, even when Bayern has all the aces.

Walk through the desert of World Cup ticketing

I am one of millions of people who have tried to get tickets for the World Cup. And this is just the people with sufficient income who can hope to make it; the ticket prices effectively put 95% of the world's football fans from even consider going to the World Cup, and it seems understandable that Mexico's president, Ms. Claudia Scheinbaum, has announced that she will not attend the opening match, but give the ticket to an indigenous woman. 

In general I understand FIFA; they are non-profit organization, but want to make money from the tournament to better promote football for the fans... That said, considering the hundreds of millions that they make from sponsors and TV deals, would it not be better to do a more "democratic" ticketing system, that is both transparent, accessible for the majority of fans, and with price ceilings? It seems completely out of place that tickets for the final are being re-sold for 11000 USD!

Attending a World Cup football match is not for the common fan... 

I have managed to get one ticket for a match, through a friend who won the FIFA lottery, but otherwise was unable to get anything. A few days ago I logged on to FIFA to try to get leftover tickets (basically to any match in Mexico) but was left disappointed after five hours in line as only tickets to wheelchair users seemed to be available. At the same time FIFA says re-selling can only happen on FIFAs own platform (I have nevertheless not found this platform of people re-selling tickets), but one can buy tickets for almost any match at disgustingly high prices on platforms such as stubhub.mx or vividseats.com.

Why is this even possible...?

It is a sad state of affairs and it creates the massive distrust of FIFA, and accusations of greed and not being there for the fans. I do not think FIFA is like that, but there seems to be a problem with how they are managing this.