Links, Stories, and The Beautiful Game: Late June Edition
Women’s Euros preview, Club World Cup drama, a happy cry, and a Black List podcast vault you (and I) didn’t know existed.
So, we’re one week into this Substack experiment. I’ll admit, I had more than a little anxiety about launching it, especially with the essay I chose to lead with, but I must say: So far, so good. We were even briefly #8 on the Rising list for Culture publications. Go figure.
Thank you all for your kind words about “Take That For Data,” for liking, subscribing, and sharing it around. (Please keep doing all of the above. And if you have suggestions for what you’d like to see here, I’m genuinely interested. Just let me know.)
I think I mentioned at some point that I’d also use this outlet to share things I like, things I’m thinking about, or just to talk about football. That’s exactly what today’s communique is. You can't say you weren't warned.
Today: A preview of next week’s Women’s Euro football championship, thoughts on the upcoming Club World Cup knockout round, some other bits and bobs from the sports world, and the reemergence of Black List podcast interviews I genuinely didn’t know were available to the public (turns out they’ve been live for months, which was news to me).
As always, I’d love to hear what’s been on your radar, what you think I’d love to know about, and what you think other curious folks might want to know about—add them in the comments below.
And keep an eye out next week: current plan is to open the floor for an AMA (Ask Me Anything), just in time for the holiday slowdown.
Let’s get into it:
The Women’s Euros Start Next Week!
The UEFA Women’s European Championship — better known as the Women’s Euros — starts on Wednesday, and suffice it to say, I’m already hype.
If you’re not yet for some reason, here’s Adidas’s “You Got This” ad to help you along:
Fox Sports will be broadcasting the tournament in the United States (all times here will be Pacific, because that’s where I live.)
Here’s a shallow dive into each of the four groups. Consider this your unofficial cheat sheet for keeping up with the folks who already have the wisdom to be full-blown women’s football fans.
Group A - The Nordic Mini-Tournament (Finland, Iceland, Norway) + Host (Switzerland)
Every single one of these teams failed to make it out of the group stage at Euro 2022, so whatever happens, two of them are going to be breaking new recent ground. Iceland has the highest FIFA ranking (14th), but just barely. Norway is 16th. Switzerland and Finland aren’t far behind at 23rd and 26th respectively. Switzerland has home country advantage and the new leadership of former US national team coach (and two time Olympic gold medal winner) Pia Sundhage. Real talk: Every match in this group is a toss-up. I can’t call it.
Match of the Group: Look to Norway v Iceland (July 10, 12:00 pm PT), their last, to have some potential. They’ve drawn twice in competitive matches in the last two months, and it’s very likely that everything will still be on the line for both teams at that point.
Group B - The World Champions (Spain) and a Wide Open Battle for Second (Italy, Belgium, Portugal)
If you're not already familiar with the triumph of, and injustice associated with, the 2023 World Cup winning Spanish team, do yourself a favor and watch It’s All Over: The Kiss That Changed Spanish Football on Netflix (Hate that title, for the record. The Spanish title #SeAcabó: Diario de las Campeonas is far more appropriate.)
The Spanish women's program is the best in the world at the moment. They won the 2022 U17 World Cup. They won the 2022 U20 World Cup. They won the 2023 senior World Cup, and they followed that with a 2024 UEFA Women's Nations League win as well. Any loss or draw in this group would be a massive upset (but that's why they play the games.)
The rest of the group feels like a dead heat to me, with Italy currently ranked 13th in the world as the slight favorite, and Belgium and Portugal at 20th and 22nd, respectively.
Look to the Italy v Belgium (July 3, 9:00 am PT) group stage opener as one to watch. The last time they met in a competitive match was the final match of the last Euros’ group stage. Belgium sent Italy home. The grudge match awaits.
Group C - Two Titans (Germany, Sweden) and Two Possibly Dangerous Underdogs (Denmark, Poland)
Germany and Sweden should advance from this group.
Germany are eight time (!) European champions, even though they crashed out of the last World Cup with their worst ever performance in an international tournament. Sweden are consistently one of the best teams in the world. They've place second or third at the World Cup and Olympics seven times (!) but they've only won one major tournament (Euro 1984.) According to Google Translate, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride” in Swedish is “Alltid en brudtärna. Aldrig en brud.”
Inevitably Germany v Sweden (July 12 12:00 pm PT) should be a good time even if they’ve both handled business in their first two matches and are just playing for knockout round seeds, but a more intriguing fixture might be the opening match Battle of the Øresund - Denmark v Sweden (July 4 9:00 am PT). Sweden throttled the Danes 6-1 in a June 3 Nations League clash, but it's unlikely it’ll go that way again. Or at least it won’t go that way that hard.
Group D - Maybe the Most Murderous Group of Death There Ever Was (France, England, Wales, Netherlands)
Pity poor Wales. This is their first major tournament, and they drew themselves into one of the most insanely murderous Groups of Death I’ve ever seen.
England are the holders, victorious in 2022 under the leadership of manager Sarina Wiegman, who also won the tournament with the Netherlands in 2017. The Netherlands has never quite recovered from Wiegman’s exit five years ago, but they remain a real threat to go deep.
And France? A perennial power with some of the best talent in the world, but they’re very much in transition. This is the first time since the first Obama administration that they'll be without taliswomen centerback Wendie Renard and attacking midfielder Eugenie Le Sommer, two of the most decorated women’s footballers of all time with 368 national team appearances between them. Dropping them from the squad is an incredibly bold move from new coach Laurent Bonadei in his first ever senior leadership position. We’ll see if it pays off for him.
As for matches to watch, dealer’s choice: England v France (July 5, 12:00 pm PT), England v Netherlands (July 9, 9:00 am PT), France v Netherlands (July 13, 12:00 pm PT). If I had to choose one, it's probably the latter, if only because there should still be all to play for at that point, doubly so if Wales somehow manage a point in either of their first two matches, improbable though that is.
More thoughts as the tournament progresses. Enjoy!
Yes, Men Play Football Too!
For the last 25 years, the FIFA Club World Cup was an amusing little winter knockout tournament played over ten days somewhere warm, featuring the champions of each FIFA region (Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, North America & the Caribbean, and Oceania) and almost always won by the reigning European champions (Corinthians' 2012 championship was the last by a non-European team. No team outside of Europe or South America has ever won the tournament.)
It’s probably underselling it to say there was a fair bit of sturm und drang since controversial FIFA President Gianni Infantino first proposed an expanded tournament back in 2016: It’s critics, myself included, suspected it was just a cynical money grab, an astroturfed competition that would inevitably be dominated by the European clubs despite the fact that their best-in-the-world players were saddled with an unsustainable volume of annual matches that included their club season, their domestic cups, continental club competitions, and international tournaments including Infantino’s similarly pilloried Nations League.
And all of this is probably true. It's arguably inarguable.
But since the opening 0-0 draw between Egypt’s Al Ahly and MLS’s Inter Miami (a team whose tournament berth was given, not earned, almost entirely due to the fact that possibly greatest ever player of all time, Lionel Messi, plays there), it's also very possible that the on field action has well-justified the tournament’s existence.
Since then, we've come to realize that Brazilian teams play more matches each year than even the European elite.
All four purveyors of joga bonito (the Brazilian teams) have advanced to the knockout round.
And oh the unexpected results!
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami beat perennial Portuguese powerhouse Porto.
And after getting crushed 10-0 by Bayern Munich and 6-0 by Benfica, Auckland City, a team of literal amateurs ranked 4715th in the world, drew with 152nd in the world Argentinian juggernauts Boca Juniors!
And tomorrow begins a knockout round that I truly think no one could have predicted.
Three matches that might be worth your time if you’re distracting yourself until the Women’s Euros start (All matches on DAZN. All times, again, are Pacific):
Palmeiras v Botafogo (June 28, 9:00 am PT): A Brazilian derby match. Sao Paolo against Rio. Even if the teams are languishing in fourth and eight place in the Brazilian league twelve matches into the season, this one’s gonna feel like a title fight, on the pitch and likely among the spectators. I can’t call it, honestly.
Paris Saint-Germain v Inter Miami (June 29, 9:00 am PT): No one’s had a better week than David Beckham. King Charles III made him a Knight. Inter Miami because the first North American team to beat a European team in a major competition and improbably advanced to the knockout round. Barring something truly hilarious, his run of good fortune ends here. Fun subplot though: Both Messi and Beckham played at PSG. Also, current PSG coach Luis Henrique coached Messi and Inter Miami stars Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba, and Sergio Busquets when they won absolutely everything at Barcelona during the 2014-2015 season. Oh, and Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano too.
Real Madrid v Juventus (July 1, 12:00 pm PT): A match between Europe’s traditional elite, both of whom were revealed to be vulnerable during the group stage. New Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso’s first match in charge resulted in the aforementioned draw with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hillal, and Juventus got curb stomped by Manchester City 5-2. This could be Kylian Mbappe’s first on-pitch appearance at the Club World Cup after being briefly hospitalized with gastroenteritis a week ago, and he’ll likely be trying to prove something if it is.
Other Bits and Bobs from the Sports World
Remember this name: Radha Sonthalia. She’s 13 years old and playing on a boys team at the MLS Next Cup, possibly the most competitive youth soccer tournament in the United States. And she just scored an absolute golazo in the round of 32.
One of the greatest runners of all time, Faith Kipyegon, attempted to become the first woman to run a four minute mile on Thursday. She ran it in 4:06.42, which is still the fastest mile ever run by a woman (She holds the official world record at 4:07.64 too). Unalloyed hero(ine) shit. You can watch the attempt here and the documentary/long form Nike ad about her preparation here.
For the first time in 26 years, teams in the top division of South Korean football can sign foreign goalkeepers. Back in 1999, the K League banned clubs from registering foreign players as keepers. Since then, the league has grown from 8 to 12 teams, and there’s now a 14 team K League 2, so there’s less fear that domestic players can’t get reps in goal. I’m almost certain there’s a movie in this.
I’ve long said that one of my favorite things about sports is its capacity to reduce even the hardest adults to tears, so shoutout to the NBA for giving us a Draft Day Tears Supercut, with special attention to 3rd pick VJ Edgecombe. I won’t front: By the one minute mark, I was tearing up too.
And One More Thing…
In the “news to absolutely no one but me” department:
On Wednesday, I discovered that an interview podcast the Black List recorded at the very beginning of the pandemic is now available on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts. (Our former partners at Luminary did not inform us of this.)
I have to admit I remember very little about the specifics of these conversations, but there are some great ones in there: Charlie Kaufman, Spike Lee, Radha Blank, Ramy Youssef, Bowen Yang, Seth Rogen, Janelle Monáe, Jack Thorne, and many more.
Enjoy.
And that’s all for this week.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. Hit reply and share something from the sports world or beyond that you wish more people were talking about. Share this publication somewhere else.
But most importantly, have a great weekend.
I wish more people were talking about good news from around the world. There’s always ww3, the threat of AI, rich vs. poor etc. I think those topics are of supreme importance, but what about the positive stuff? Doctors invent new minimally invasive procedure for brain tumors, Dad builds his family of 8 a backyard funhouse, a dog saved an infant from drowning? That’s why I liked this post so much. A cheat sheet to football for the uninformed? Sign me up! Thanks for this. Looking forward to your next drop.
This was exactly the content I needed on Club World Cup. I was traveling with my kids the last two weeks and missed it all. Thanks to you I’m ready for knockouts now that we’re home!