Daily Archives: May 14, 2026

How hot will it be at the 2026 World Cup and is it dangerous for players and fans?

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“It’s set to be hot in North America this summer. The ‘seasonal temperature outlook’ for the US, compiled by the National Weather Service, suggests every part of the country will experience temperatures above the historical average in June and July. It’s into this environment that 48 men’s national teams will arrive, all competing to win the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. As the tournament approaches, the Guardian has taken an in-depth look at the meteorological conditions players could face, how they have changed since the last time the World Cup was held in North America in 1994 (when the US was the sole host nation), and the locations most likely to expose players to stressful levels of heat. …”
Guardian

The Alternative Premier League Table: No 37 – Fouls won and conceded from corners

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“… After looking at big-chance creation and conversion last week, we will now, following events in east London last Sunday, dive into fouls won and conceded from corners. As usual, the article that follows is long but detailed, so please settle down and enjoy it all — or jump to a specific few clubs that you are interested in. Anyway, if you haven’t heard already: Premier League corners are broken. Inswingers, blocking the goalkeeper, wrestling in multiple parts of the box and several missed fouls seem to accompany most of them these days. The need for better legislation and stricter officiating to prevent moments that have become all too familiar is not lost on anyone. …”
NYT/ATH (Video)

An unexpected footballing kinship

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Mexico and South Africa playing the opening match of the 2010 World Cup.
“Playing in Mexico’s top men’s club football division, Liga MX, is not the most common career path for African footballers. However, there is a long history between Mexico and the African continent, including in football. That connection will surely deepen this coming June when at least three African countries make Mexico their ‘home base’ for the 2026 World Cup. The first player in history to play for a Mexican professional football club was a Moroccan footballer named Mohamed ‘Abdul’ Abderrazak. Little is known about him, but he played at Club Puebla in 1951. The most successful era for African players in the Liga MX came in the early to late 1990s, when some of Africa’s finest players came to play in the league. The most famous were Zambian striker Kalusha Bwalya, who played for Club América in Mexico City, and Cameroonians François Omam-Biyik and Jean-Claude Pagal. …”
Africa Is a Country

Now what?

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Congolese fans in Kigali, Rwanda during the 2016 African Nations Cup (CHAN) final between DR Congo and Mali.
“More than a month has passed since the Democratic Republic of Congo qualified for their second World Cup, their first after 52 years. The intercontinental playoff was one of the most emotionally intense moments that I’ve experienced in my life. I can still hear the ‘Congo, hermano, ya eres mexicano!’ chants echoing in my head. For a country that had waited and suffered, it was a collective release. But now that ample time has passed, the question that continues to resurface is: Now what? What can this moment actually bring to Congo at this critical juncture? …”
Africa Is a Country

VAR is broken. The furore at Motherwell, Tottenham and West Ham proved it

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“‘Minimum interference, maximum benefit’ was the promise when VAR was first introduced. Those were the words used by David Elleray, the technical director of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), in a presentation to journalists at Wembley Stadium in March 2017 to justify the profound change the game was about to undergo. … The logic was clear enough. Examples such as Diego Maradona’s handball against England or Thierry Henry’s against the Republic of Ireland were held up as proof. Under this new system, those headline mistakes could be surgically removed from the game, keeping everything else intact. The laser precision of technology was all that was required. …”
NYT/ATH