“Welcome to the final mid-season international window of 2025-26, the last chance for managers to work with players before naming their World Cup squads. Over the next 10 days, we will find out the identity of the final six of the record 48 qualifiers, with 22 nations still in contention via two play-off routes, one in Europe and the other playing out a rest-of-the-world mini-tournament in Mexico. So there are plenty of key decisions to make, while lots of players need to make a good impression now or risk missing out on the tournament altogether. We asked 20 of our writers to answer the key questions that will be addressed this month. You can use the tabs to scroll to the areas that interest you the most: European play-offs, inter-confederation play-offs, players, around the world (featuring key issues facing assorted managers), USMNT, England, Canada and how ready the co-hosts are off the pitch. Let’s start with perhaps the biggest question of all. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)
42 World Cup questions that will be answered during this international window
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“Arne Slot’s name was being bellowed inside Anfield 10 months ago as fans celebrated the 5-1 thrashing of Tottenham Hotspur that secured a 20th league title. The Dutchman was master of all he surveyed, hailed as a hero for delivering the Premier League in his first season in English football after accepting what seemed a treacherous job in succeeding Jurgen Klopp. Those days seem very distant now. …”
“THERE WAS a time when West Bromwich Albion were comfortably named among the top clubs in English football. They were, essentially, a ‘cup team’, a perfectly respectable label for any club in the days when the world didn’t revolve around the Premier League and nothing else. Albion were difficult opponents, especially on their own ground, the Hawthorns. The club also had some excellent players: Jeff Astle, Asa Hartford, Tony Brown, Cyril Regis, Laurie Cunningham, Bryan Robson and Derek Statham, to name but a few. When Albion won their last major trophy, the FA Cup in 1968, that brought their silverware haul to five FA Cups, one League Cup and one league title. The list has not been added to since Astle’s goal that beat Everton in 1968. Not only that, Albion have been in a slow decline in recent years and 2025-26 is their fifth consecutive Championship campaign and at the moment, they are hovering, precariously, above the relegation trapdoor. They recently won two games, ending a 13-game run without a victory. …”
Scissors Kick 