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. 

 

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.

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!

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.

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.

Monterrey countdown

 Monterrey, a lovely city that will also host matches in the World Cup, is also counting down:

No worries about the World Cup hosts

I live in Mexico. Mexicans are not naive about their country; they know it has problems. Serious problems in terms of violence, as evidenced in the recent violence following the killing of authorities of a major drug lord. Some of this violence happened in Guadalajara, a city that will host the World Cup, so suddenly news (and actually a lot of fake news were published on media, specially social media, and with the uncritical approach that most people have to social media, these were taken as truths...) started complaining about the World Cup being in Mexico, and requiring a cancellation. Even Portugal, who will be playing a friendly match in Mexico City in March, expressed concern about the match.

This baffles me for so many reasons.

Mexico is huge; it is larger than France, Germany, Spain, and Italy combined, and as such a large country, regions are very different, also in terms of where you should go. Surely it is a problem that gang violence can erupt like it did in a city hosting the World Cup (that said, take my word for it, Guadalajara is a great city), but it is also a result of the government's firm response to criminal groups, a response that in my personal opinion also illustrates how seriously Mexico will take the World Cup. 

And Mexico is amazing, full of kind and welcoming people, and frankly they have more experience in hosting world events than many: this will be their third World Cup, but they have also hosted Olympics, numerous international events, that includes yearly Formula 1, NBA and NFL games. It hosts world class museums, universities, and some of the most visited and famous tourist sites in the world.

So people should have no worries about Mexico.

It almost baffles me as much to hear people say that the US should be withdrawn as host because of the policies of the current government, given that this tournament has before been hosted by rather unsavoury regimes that I am not going to bother mentioning, but who hosted memorable tournaments. The US has the infrastructure and the experience in hosting events, including the 1994 World Cup. Perhaps, some years ago, I would have criticized it for not being a real footballing country, but I do not think that this is valid today; of course other sports are bigger, but football (I refuse to call it soccer) is a big and growing sport, with an interesting and solid MLS with decent quality.

I do not know or can I comment on the government policies, but notwithstanding the mess in the Copa America final, I think the US will be great hosts, also because no matter what, in my experience, the vast majority of US Americans are also kind and welcoming people.

There are huge problems with FIFA and how the World Cup is awarded, the exaggerated and overblown prices and the completely shameless pursuit of money rather than the popular beauty of football. 

But Mexico and the US  (and Canada) co-hosting is not one of these problems.

2025 Football memories

It has been a bit of a poor year in terms of football as we await next year's big but probably overblown World Cup. Time-difference did not help as I worked too much and was more often than not too tired to watch football.

That said, some footballing memories worth mentioning:

• Cruz Azul-Monterrey: I went to watch my favourite Mexican team, Cruz Azul, a few times, including this match, the debut of Sergio Ramos for Monterrey (he played one season in the side from Nuevo Leon) and the match ended 1-1
• Argentina-Brazil: Watched the match in a local bar in Mexico, and it was a mixture of delight and surprise as the World Champions of Argentina completely dominated their arch-rivals as I had seldomly seen. Argentina won 4-1 and this match qualified them to the World Cup and ensured that Brazil's coach lost his job to be replaced by the great Carlo Ancelotti.
• Independiente Medellin-Once Caldas: I happened to be in Medellin when one of the local sides played a league match against Once Caldas. Not a memorable match but a fantastic atmosphere in the beautiful Colombian city.
•  Crystal Palace-Manchester City: Probably the best result for a neutral in 2025, with Crystal Palace taking their first title ever by winning the FA Cup against mighty Manchester City!
•  Cruz Azul-Vancouver Whitecaps: Cruz Azul took the Concacaf Champions Cup at home by trashing the Canadian side Whitecaps 5-0. Despite the title it was generally not a great year for Cruz Azul against MLS sides, specially as the got trashed by Seattle Sounders 0-7 in the Leagues Cup...
• PSG-Inter Milan: Watched the CL final in a bar in Mexico with some very happy Frenchmen present, with all reason as PSG finally took the coveted title, and in awesome style, playing a fanastic match where the 5-0 victory was none too little. Great for the Manager Luis Enrique.
• PSG-Chelsea: The first club World Cup final was between PSG and Chelsea, and PSG were surely favourites, but were torn apart 3-0 by a highly motivated Chelsea, and sadly PSG, including Luis Enrique, were incredibly sore losers, making it an ugly final instead of the spectacle it should have been from what was surprisingly a great tournament.
• Morocco- Argentina: The two sides faced one another in the u-21 World Cup final, and the African side were by far the better team, and we will look forward to see some of these great youngsters in 2026.
• Denmark-Belarus: with a victory at home, Denmark could have qualified to the 2026 World Cup. But instead poor attitude left them with a 2-2, and in the next match Denmark lost to Scotland, ending second in a group they should have won. As many Denmark fans I was hugely disappointed, and now I doubt that they can take the play-off spot, even if the do, they will play Mexico in the city where I am currently residing...
• Cruz Azul-Chivas: Went to watch this match at the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico, where the home side won 3-2, but only after suffering and the veteran Chivas' striker Javier Hernandez awfully missing a penalty that could have put them in the final.

Wishing everybody a happy new year 2026, for all fans and their teams, to enjoy football no matter who wins and who loses, even for my Cruz Azul-supporting cat:

Seen in Mexico

 A great homage to Diego Maradona, seen in Mexico on occasion of Day of the Dead celebrations.

Mexico Exhibition

Mexico is preparing for the World Cup. A World Cup that given its ticket prices is only to be witnessed by the wealthiest people... 

This World Cup is the third one to take place in Mexico, and a beautiful exhibition on Avenida Reforma, alongside the Chapultepec Park in Mexico City, shows this history through images by the outstanding artist Cynthia Saide. 

 

The 1970 World Cup in Mexico was historical in many ways, but notably on one technological improvement: it was the first World Cup to be transmitted to the World in colour TV. 

The images of Pele, The King,  celebrating his third World Cup title in the mighty Azteca stadium after thoroughly defeating Italy in the final, were seen in colour across the World, and surely led to more of globalizing football.

But it was not only Brazil, Pele and colour TV (as well as some fantastic matches and a marvelous atmosphere) that made the 1970 World Cup special. The tournament also saw the introduction of one of the rules that we take for granted today: the use of yellow and red cards.

After the violence and questionable decisions of many matches in the 1966 World Cup, the introduction of this system was to try to curve the violence and give the players a warning before being sent off.

The first red card was awarded by the Turkish referee Dogan Babacan to the Chilean player Carlos Caszely in the first round match between Chile and West Germany.

And thus a rule was born on Mexico.

The 1986 World Cup in Mexico was not supposed to have been. The tournament had been awarded to Colombia, but Mexico stepped in when Colombia was unable to go ahead with the organization.

Despite a horrible earthquake barely a year before the tournament, Mexico stepped in to organize what to many people who lived it has been one of the best World Cups ever (and totally subjectively I include myself, thanks to the performances of Argentina and Denmark); many fantastic matches and some of the best collection of players, overshadowed by the most extraordinary of them all: Diego Maradona, who in Mexico reached heights perhaps never seen in a World Cup. At the Azteca Stadium, against England in the quarterfinals, he scored two of the most memorable goals in history (for good and for bad), and was eventually crowned World Champion with Argentina beating West Germany in a very exciting final.

Legends were made in Mexico in 1986.

The exhibition by Ms. Saide includes many other fantastic pieces, and I would recommend anyone in Mexico City to see it.

That said, my last picture, here to the right, has a more personal character. It shows the clock counting down to the World Cup, and in the background you can see a large building, which is a large hotel in Mexico City. In 1986 I was in Mexico as an 11 year old kid before the World Cup, and enjoyed the same type of warm-up to the tournament as I am seeing now, 40 years later, when I am again living in Mexico, and looking forward to what will hopefully be another historic tournament, notwithstanding the fact that it has 48 teams, takes place in three countries, and that ticket prices are completely overblown.

But ok, such is the world of today. 

Bad day for Mexico

Yesterday I decided to relax with some beers and football, as Mexico were playing two matches. Firstly, the young Mexicans were facing Argentina in the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup. The Mexicans were not bad, they tried to play the Argentineans, but Argentina went ahead by Maher Carrizo, who caught a rebound from the Mexican goalkeeper after only 9 minutes in what was effectively Argentina's first shot on goal. The rest of the game Argentina were in control despite Mexico playing well. In the second half the new Inter Miami player Mateo Silvetti completely outran two Mexican defenders to make it 2-0 and seal the match. It was a pity that two Mexican players got red cards in the dying minutes of a match they had already lost; but Mexico had a great tournament and can hold their heads high.

Argentina will face Colombia in the semifinals. Colombia defeated Spain 3-2. 

The bar I was at slowly filled out with Colombians, who came to watch the friendly match between Mexico and Colombia. These friendlies should be important for Mexico, who has not gone through qualification, as they try to find a squad for the World Cup here in Mexico. In the meantime, Colombia have qualified strongly and by far outplayed the Mexicans: 4-0, with goals by established players Luis Diaz and Jefersson Lerma, but also Bologna's defender Jhon Lucumi scoring his first goal for Colombia, and Internacional's Johan Carbonero scoring in his debut for Colombia.

Colombia is looking strong (and look at their strong u-20 side), but Mexico is hopefully going to improve before they receive the world in 2026.

 

U20 World Cup in Chile

The U-20 World Cup is taking place in Chile. A group with Spain, Brazil, Mexico and Morocco should be considered a group of death at any level, and yesterday I watched the final group match between Morocco and Mexico. Morocco have been flying and defeated Spain and Brazil 2-0 and 2-1 respectively, and before the match against Mexico were sure to win the group no matter the result as Mexico arrived in the match with two 2-2 ties. 

Mexico ensured the second spot by winning 1-0 on a penalty goal by the 16-year Tijuana player Gilberto Mora (also the youngest goalscorer in the history of the Mexican top league). In the meantime Spain won 1-0 against Brazil, who are surely disappointed to be eliminated in the group stage.

Morocco and Mexico are through, and so are Argentina and Japan, with three victories, as well as Ukraine, Chile, Paraguay and Italy. There are still matches left in the last groups before we have all the teams in the last-16 of a very interesting tournament.

Countdown

Near my house in Mexico City they recently set up a clock counting down to the opening match of the World Cup, which will take place on June 11th 2026 at the legendary Azteca Stadium.

The stadium is now being refurbished to accommodate this great event as if it were the first time it hosts a great event...

But with this, starts my own countdown, and should perhaps try to relate some of the impressions of living in a country that will host the Mens' Football World Cup for the third time ever, but this time alongside Canada and the United States of America.

Mexico Gold Cup Champion

I am currently in Denmark, so I was unable to watch the CONCACAF Gold Cup final between USA and Mexico. Despite making the final both sides have been looking shaky lately, with particularly the USA appearing weak under the leadership of Mauricio Pochettino. That said, the arch-rivals were now in their 8th final after difficult matches against Guatemala and Honduras respectively. Of the previous finals Mexico have won five, and the USA two. 

USA opened the scoring on an early header by the Crystal Palace striker Chris Richards, with the Fulham striker Raul Jimenez equalizing for Mexico (and dedicating the goal to his former teammate Diogo Jota). Second half it was another PL player, Wast Ham's Edson Alvarez, who scored the winner for Mexico, giving them their 10th Gold Cup title of 18 possible.

Internationals

Thursday and Friday there have been a lot of internationals. In Europe the UEFA Nations League quarterfinals kicks off with the first legs, and Denmark defeated Portugal 1-0 on a goal by the young Manchester United player Rasmus Højlund. More surprising perhaps than the victory was that Denmark outplayed the classy Portuguese who are managed by Roberto Martinez, who for six years managed the best Belgian side ever, but never gave them any titles. The Portuguese were bad against Denmark, who may now eye a surprise semifinal?

In other matches Germany defeated Italy, Croatia defeated France and Spain and the Netherlands tied 2-2.

Nearer to home the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals took place. Mexico defeated Canada 0-2 to make it to yet another final, but the real surprise came in the USA-Panama match, where a last minute strike by the Coquimbo Unido striker Cecilio Waterman, gave the Panamanians the victory. The result may nevertheless not be surprising since the Panamanians have the screws on the arrogant North Americans: the have defeated USA in four of the last five matches, among them the 2023 Gold Cup.

Panama will face Mexico in the final on Sunday.

In South America the World Cup qualifiers are heading into the last phase. Brazil and Colombia played, and Brazil got a last second 2-1 victory on a strike by Vinicius Jr. and are third in the qualifiers behind Argentina and Ecuador. That said, Colombia is also likely to qualify as six out of ten teams qualify directly.

In the meantime the Argentine World Champions are all but certain to qualify after having defeated Uruguay 0-1 in Montevideo, on a fantastic long-range strike by the young Lyon player Thiago Almada. Argentina just have to not lose their next match (against Brazil), and will be assured qualification.

Coming to Mexico

The Mexican league is an interesting league, partly because of intense historical rivalries, the passionate fans, the quality of Mexican players, as well as many interesting players from specially South America, but also from Europe; either players who made the change unexpectedly and have had great success such as the former Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac, who has played for Tigres for nearly ten years, as well as the Greek striker Giorgios Giakoumakis, who joined Cruz Azul last year. 

Colombian player and journeyman James Rodriguez joined Leon this year, and started well with a goal in his first match in a side that is currently top of the league, and today it was announced that the Rayados of Monterrey have signed former Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos in a very interesting move. Monterrey already have former Sevilla star Lucas Ocampo, as well as Sergio Canales, with a long career in Spain, including the national team.

While it is interesting to play in Mexico, and surely to live in this beautiful country, there is another draw for these recent signing: both Monterrey and Leon will be playing the highly touted FIFA World Club Cup this June in the USA, and for these old stars it is an opportunity to shine late in their careers. But it will also be interesting to see how they fare in Mexico.

Cruz Azul and other things

Yesterday was a special day, as I moved into my new apartment that will hopefully be my home in Mexico for years ahead.

Shortly after receiving the keys I went to a nearby bar that was showing the classic match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. I must admit that it has been some years since this match has excited me, but this one was special: it was 0-0 at halftime, but I expected that Barcelona’s forward defensive line would succumb to the quick Real Madrid strikers, as there were indeed close calls in the first half. But Barcelona were simply extraordinary in the second half: two goals by Robert Lewandowski, a splendid strike by Lamine Yamal (sadly marred by racist chants amid Real Madrid fans) and a great lob from Rafinha made it 0-4 and a demonstration by a resurrected Barcelona under Hansi Flick. They also destroyed Borussia Dortmund 1-4 in the Champions League and if they keep it up they are a team to beat.

Later that day I went to the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City. The legendary stadium of the 1968 Olympics, where Bob Beamon made the second longest jump in history. Today the beautiful stadium is home ground to Pumas de UNAM, and they were facing Cruz Azul a home derby in the Mexican league. I got the tickets through Cruz Azul, so was sitting amid hardcore Cruz Azul fans behind one of the goals surrounded by copious (but largely unnecessary) riot police.

And perhaps for the best, as Cruz Azul, current leaders of the league, were by far better. It took only 27 seconds for them to go ahead on a goal by veteran striker Angel Sepúlveda, and barely 12 minutes later Uruguayan Ignacio Rivero made it 0-2. Cruz Azul then relaxed and really Pumas represented no threat in a match that all in all appeared too easy for Cruz Azul, and it ended 0-2, and I may be on the way to becoming a Cruz Azul fan, whose mascot is a piece of cement,

The mascot of Pumas is supposedly a puma, but it looks more like a cross between the lion king, Beverly Hills chihuahua and Robert Procineski. And the mascot sang karaoke love songs at half time: “nunca voy a olvidarte” (I will never forget you) seemed totally out of place as I would have wanted to forget the Puma defense after that first half….

But respect to the Goya, Pumas fanbase, who despite their team, were never silenced.

Good time with beer and chants, but I look forward to going to a match at Cruz Azul’s home ground in Mexico DF.

Trying for Cruz Azul against Necaxa

 Today I wanted to go and watch the local Mexico City side of Cruz Azul face Necaxa. I was trying to buy ticket online on my way to the stadium in the metro and metrobus, but on the one hand had a bad connection, but worse, Ticketmaster.com continues to be the worst facilitator of tickets in the world. I already had big problems with tickets I had bought for an MLS match in the US: I had already purchased the tickets, but when heading to the match, I could not get them in my account that was "registered outside the US". The problem was similar yesterday, as I have a Danish ticketmaster account, but could not access the tickets on that account, while when I accessed through Mexican ticketmaster, I was not able to pay with a non-Mexican credit card.

I did make it to the stadium twenty minutes before kick-off. In this digital world it was not possible to buy a ticket outside the stadium which makes it so much more ridiculous that it has to be so difficult to get a ticket.

In the end, without a ticket, I went to a bar and watched the match which Cruz Azul won 3-0, and they maintain a comfortable lead at the top of the Mexican Apertura league. As I had my beers I could see that the stadium was not full, which makes this ticketing challenge so much more stupid.

Champions League in Mexico

Yesterday Mexico inaugurated its first female president, so I was off work as the focus was on this historical event. It was thus a good day to watch some Champions League.

There is scant interest for other teams than the Spanish teams in the CL, most of all, obviously, Barcelona and Real Madrid, so the only option to watch in a bar was Barcelona-Young Boys, even though there were so many interesting matches playing simultaneously.

And Barcelona-Young Boys was indeed as boring as expected, as Barcelona cruised to a victory with 5-0, and it comes at a good time after they lost their first match 2-1 to Monaco. That said, with all its crisis, Barcelona is doing great under German Hansi Flick: top of the Spanish League and giving chances to a lot of young promising players appears to be working for now, but is also what Barcelona needs as they are unable to sign super stars. And surely on the long-term it is better for Barcelona (and Spanish football overall) to be promoting so many young players from the outstanding Barcelona youth academy.

The new format of the Champions League is confusing though. As everyone is in a big league, but without everyone playing one another, one cannot study the teams against other teams that you will face, and most annoying for real football fans, adapt the tactics according to other results and new matches in smaller groups. In my personal view it takes away some of the excitement about the planning. As the 8 initial rounds come to an end, the excitement will not be about the top teams, but about the 7th-8th or 23rd-24th, who will snatch the last position for the play-offs. And the top teams will all go through....

 I appear not to be the only one annoyed at the new format. The fans of Borussia Dortmund (a team that incidentally is first in the league after two victories, the latest trashing Celtic 7-1) welcomed the new CL format at home with a huge banner: "UEFA Mafia", protesting against the new format that indeed appears to be a way for UEFA to make more and more money from the ones who love the game.

In Dortmund 

Goodbye El Salvador, hello Mexico

Every country I have lived in has done well in football. 

Until now that is, because El Salvador is awful, and in the seven years I have lived here appear only to have become worse as their national team football appears to be disorganised, unfocused, and lacking of a long-term perspective for a country that loves football and does not lack talent.

It is a pity, because I would have liked to see El Salvador be successful, not least for the Salvadoran fans, who nevertheless are often more keen to watch European leagues than support their domestic clubs.

Frankly, I found the domestic league much more interesting: I saw some great matches and could see that there is indeed talent in the country, and I became a fan of Alianza, something I will always be.

I am going to a new country, a country I have visited before and with which I already have a footballing relationship: from having stayed there in 1986 up to the World Cup, going to the mighty Azteca Stadium, as well as a love-hate relationship with their national team (something that seems to be the case with many of the Mexican fans, many of whom I had the pleasure of celebrating with in Russia 2018).

I very much look forward to Mexico! For a new chapter in my life, including a new footballing chapter!