“The fingers of Europe and Africa were almost touching and between them, at the end of a golden hour, the sun merged with the horizon. With the sky turning from orange to purple, the serrated edges of Morocco’s extreme north became clearer. The Port of Tarifa in Spain was getting smaller, yet it never disappeared. Laurie Lee described the town as ‘washed-up Africa’ because of its proximity to the continent, which is just nine nautical miles away. From the eastward-facing deck of the Balearia ferry, you could see the white cliffs of Gibraltar. There, you have warm beer, Marks & Spencer, red phone boxes and cannons facing towards the invisible enemies. On the other side, you could see Morocco, with Jebel Musa brooding and the sparsity of the Rif mountain range behind it, which forks sharply like a sheath of daggers. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
AFCON has become too big to ignore: Unpredictable, dramatic and elite-level stars
Leave a reply
“In urban centers and tiny villages, amid plains, deserts, forests, rainforests, coastal areas and any other habitat on our spinning sphere, football found a formidable foothold. ‘Is there any cultural practice more global than football?’ author David Goldblatt asks at the outset of The Ball Is Round: The Global History of Soccer. Well, is there? Birth, death, taxes—all are imbued with what we might call universality, but as Goldblatt points out, differing rituals greet these occasions from place to place. Though styles of play can vary based on culture, history, innovation, daring, success and failure, commonality lies in the rules and rudiments of the game, which are uniform across six of seven continents. …”
“How do you properly assess, evaluate, and explain Manchester United’s 4-4 draw with Bournemouth without descending into well-worn football verbiage (‘Football, bloody hell!’) or frequent repetitions of the word ‘chaotic’? Ruben Amorim’s men entered Old Trafford on Monday on the precipice of change. The upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (which begins on December 21) will see him lose two of his best attackers in Bryan Mbeumo and Amad. Earlier in the day, The Athletic reported the head coach had spent a significant amount of 
“Welcome to the latest edition of Inside Barcelona, our weekly series to follow throughout the 2025-26 La Liga season. Every Monday, we will bring you information and analysis on the biggest talking points, cutting through the noisy world of all things Barca with reporting you can trust. The information contained in this article reflects multiple conversations with various sources at the Spanish champions, all of whom wanted to speak anonymously to protect relationships. …”
“Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday The Athletic discusses three of the biggest questions posed by the weekend’s 
“Liverpool’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion was always going to be centred around Mohamed Salah. Whether he was going to be involved or not, though, it was unlikely any definitive conclusions were going to be drawn about what happens next. Exclusion from the squad may have pointed towards an exit, but the fact he was included leaves the door for reconciliation open. 
The opening ceremony for the 1994 World Cup took place at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
“‘So many times we are creating more than we concede, but the end result has been far too many times that we lose a game of football,’ Liverpool head coach Arne Slot told BBC’s Match of the Day highlights show after their 1-1 Premier League home draw against Sunderland just over a week ago. Slot has a point. Using 
Mohamed Salah, Unai Emery and Thomas Frank have already experienced highs and lows
“Emiliano Buendia crashed home a stoppage-time winner to stun leaders Arsenal and end their 18-match unbeaten run. Trailing at half-time to Matty Cash’s opener at Villa Park, Arsenal were far from their best but looked set to take a point thanks to substitute Leandro Trossard’s 52nd-minute equaliser. But Villa were not to be denied, with Buendia coming off the bench to hammer a shot beyond David Raya following an almighty scramble. …”
“Paulie Gualtieri wanted to know why Tony Soprano was a quiet and sullen presence at dinner. The goomahs in attendance were having to listen about the good old days, a time when many of them weren’t even born; a beach house booked on the Jersey shore, the summer of ’78, the hippie kid who mysteriously drowned during a party. … On the morning of the World Cup draw on Friday, a photo from the restaurant of the FIFA hotel went viral. It showed the coach of Uzbekistan and Italy’s last World Cup-winning captain, Fabio Cannavaro, sat round a table with Christian Vieri. Behind them were Francesco Totti, the original Ronaldo, Marco Materazzi, Roberto Baggio and Vincent Candela. ‘Once upon a time in Serie A’ should have been the caption. …”
“This time, it’s West Germany in 1990. This is remembered as the most negative, defensive World Cup, supported by the lowest goals-per-game figure on record, 2.21. It was so disastrous that FIFA and IFAB felt compelled to improve the spectacle afterwards, largely by clamping down on dangerous tackles and introducing the backpass law — although not, as was floated by some, by increasing the size of the goals. West Germany won the competition in somewhat unglamorous fashion, as their key matches were dominated by penalties and opposition red cards. But in the group stage, they played some good football, and in the knockout stage, they at least attempted to, which was more than most of their opponents could claim. …”
Harry Kane (England)
“The cold nights are drawing in, hopes and dreams from those optimistic, innocent, bright summer days are long gone. Reality has bitten. With the Premier League table still tighter than the proverbial camel’s backside in a sandstorm, with just six points separating fifth from 15th (this time last year the gap was 12 points), it’s hard to judge which clubs and which fanbases are happy with what they’ve seen so far. A week of wins can lift you from relegation concerns to a European push, while successive defeats can take you from the Champions League places to looking downwards to the Championship. It’s temperamental. Far more reliable than the actual league table, then, is The Athletic’sHappiness Table, in which we accurately summise each club’s xH (expected happiness) level, but without the xH bit because that’s a bit silly. …”
“Welcome to The Athletic’s 2026 Transfer DealSheet — covering the January and summer windows. Our team of dedicated writers will take you inside the market to explain the deals being worked on. The transfer window will reopen on January 1, 2026 — at which point The Transfer DealSheet will return to its weekly in-window format. The information found within this article has been gathered according to The Athletic’s sourcing guidelines. Unless stated, our reporters have spoken to more than one person briefed on each deal before offering the clubs involved the opportunity to comment. Their responses, when they were given, have been included. …”
“World Cup 2026, previously just a dot on the horizon, starts to come into full view this week. With qualification now wrapped up (well, mostly — more on that shortly), the draw for the tournament takes place in Washington, D.C. on Friday. In the lead-up to that event, we answer some of the big questions you may have about that draw and the World Cup more generally. Let’s start with the basics, and then we’ll delve a bit deeper. …”
“This was the weekend when 
Scissors Kick 