Monthly Archives: July 2026

Belgium pull off World Cup’s biggest comeback win over Senegal, but was it a penalty?

“Even by the standards of this World Cup, this was ridiculous. Belgium produced the biggest comeback victory of the 2026 tournament so far, rallying after going 2-0 down to equalise through Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans in the space of five mad minutes late in normal time before snatching a 3-2 win deep in added time of extra time through Tielemans’ penalty, awarded after a VAR review, to advance to the last 16. At 125 minutes, it is the latest goal in the history of the World Cup finals. …”
NYT/ATH
YouTube: Senegal 2-3 Belgium | Full Match Highlights & All Goals | FIFA World Cup 2026

Harry Kane and the shot heard ’round the World Cup. A defining England moment

“The England men’s team has been playing football for 154 years, but it has never had a player quite like Harry Kane before. England have had some great moments in their history, winning the World Cup in 1966. But they have rarely won a game quite like this. Not with this same sense of being seized, being saved, of one man deciding to take control of a game that was slipping through English fingers. There was something about the simple individualism of this turnaround, the way the long complicated game was reduced to one tired man, his will, his execution, that gave it a comic-book hero feel. Watching a great player turn the course of a tournament like this is a reminder of why we all watch sport. …”
NYT/ATH (Video)
YouTube: England vs DR Congo 2-1 Highlights | All Goals & Extended Highlights | FIFA World Cup 2026

Fear of a Black France: You want to troll French fascists?

“I was born in the late 70s of a mother from Martinique and a father from Lorraine region in eastern continental France: I was always aware that, for good and bad, France was more than white, more than Europe, more than what most thought and took for granted. I looked to history to make sense of the very existence of my family, and the history I found was a history of exploitation, slavery, abuse ignored by most French people. Growing up in the 1980s, there were few places where French flags were acceptable: government buildings, sporting events, right-wing and fascist meetings. …”
Africa Is a Country (2018)
Africa Is a Country: What Mbappé, Olise and Yamal can’t fix
Africa Is a Country: United by football?
Africa Is a Country: Football won’t rescue the nation

World Cup: Creeping corporatisation and off-pitch nonsense, but the football’s not bad

“WE should not be surprised at the way the World Cup looks after the bloated and occasionally dull first stage, but the overwhelming appearance of the competition smacks of “Entertainment USA”. Where do we start? The pitch-side announcements, the absurd kick-off countdowns, the obsessive celebrity spotting and the strange jeering when fouls occur. If that isn’t bad enough, the hydration breaks, which will go down in history as the most blatant back-door way to make a little extra money, are really moving a global game closer to US sports culture. …”
Game of the People