“Nigeria outclassed Mozambique to set up an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) quarter-final against Algeria or DR Congo. The Super Eagles were runners-up in 2023 and, while they were always likely to beat outsiders Mozambique, this performance and their form so far in Morocco suggest they will take some stopping. They won all three group games and were dominant in Fes on Monday, with Ademola Lookman opening the scoring, Victor Osimhen netting twice and Akor Adams also on target. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
YouTube: Nigeria vs Mozambique | EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS
Africa’s superpowers assemble for Cup of Nations knockout stages – Jonathan Wilson
“For a decade or more, a familiar theme of Cups of Nations has been how the pyramid of African football has been growing little taller but much broader. African sides came no closer to really challenging at a World Cup, but the range of teams capable of beating the continent’s elite, of getting to the knockout stage of the Cup of Nations, was becoming more diverse. Perhaps, though, a new phase is beginning. It’s dangerous always to read too much into the performance of one side at one tournament, but in Qatar in 2022 Morocco at last broke through the quarter-final barrier and became the first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final. …”
Guardian
Mohamed Salah is enjoying a rare dose of tranquillity with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations
“In Tamraght, a dry village on a hillside 15 kilometres north of Agadir, the main street is nicknamed for a laugh because the Champs-Elysees is a broken mess of rock where rains bring water pools, causing havoc for drivers. Its popularity, however, has accelerated over the past decade, especially amongst hippie types, following a boom in the nearby surf town, Taghazout. They come for the waves, to eat vegan food and wind down the evening in a hostel. This low-key settlement is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the N1 road, which runs all the way up to Casablanca, but often gets closed in remoter parts when there are red weather warnings, like last weekend. Nearer to the beach, international hotel companies spotted the potential of the geography and moved in. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
YouTube: Egypt vs Benin | EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS
The opening ceremony for the 1994 World Cup took place at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
“The weirdest aspect of Ange Postecoglou’s 40-day reign at Nottingham Forest was how inevitable it all felt. The only shock was that he was sacked on Saturday, within minutes of a 
“It was the Community Shield, and that should not be forgotten. There isn’t anybody who has been watching English football for any period of time who hasn’t made the mistake of taking too seriously a conclusion drawn in the midst of the traditional curtain-raiser, giddy on the sight of Wembley in its pomp and the return of competitive club football from the summer wilderness. … They are learning a new system, the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 hybrid of last season yielding to a 4-2-3-1. It’s not a huge shift but Wirtz, as the most advanced of the triangle of central players between the centre-backs and the centre-forward, is very much a forward, whereas Dominik Szoboszlai, who tended to be the most advanced of the central midfield triangle last season, is an attacking midfielder. …”
“If Anthony Martial hadn’t been injured in the warm-up, and Manchester United hadn’t already been missing 12 players, Marcus Rashford wouldn’t have played. It hadn’t seemed a particularly significant game: the second leg of a 
“At Trump Tower, the new home of FIFA in Manhattan, Gianni Infantino hailed the Club World Cup a ‘huge, huge, huge success’ on Saturday. The president of soccer’s world governing body later posted on Instagram that the tournament had ‘taken over the United States and united people in joy’. FIFA has been on a victory lap since Chelsea’s 3-0 victory against Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final in front of an 81,118 crowd at MetLife Stadium, a few miles to the west in New Jersey. … Dynamic pricing and empty seats. FIFA adopted a dynamic pricing approach to tickets, where prices fluctuate according to supply and demand. For high-interest sports and music events, this can lead to prices skyrocketing in value but during the Club World Cup, where not a single game was a complete sellout, these costs often tumbled instead due to a lack of demand. … Similar deals emerged with different universities during the tournament as FIFA scrambled to avoid tens of thousands of empty seats becoming a regular occurrence. The group-stage games recorded an average of 35,000 spectators, but the size of the venues chosen — largely NFL stadiums with capacities of more than 60,000 — left big gaps in the stands. The dynamic-pricing market made for some absurd fluctuations. Standard admission pricing for the semi-final between Chelsea and Brazil’s Fluminense at MetLife was 
Empty seats were an issue at Club World Cup games
“Football’s memory is short, particularly when it comes to national sides. The most successful resemble club teams in that they have a core of players and a clearly defined style of play. There’s always an in-form player around whom a clamour develops, but continuity is just as important, perhaps even more so, in the international game. But next week inevitably represents a new start as Thomas Tuchel picks his first 
Leeds striker Joel Piroe celebrates with a young fan after scoring against Hull. Daniel Farke’s side currently top the Championship ahead of Sheffield United.
“Liverpool this season have been very good at being good enough. There have been very few games in which they’ve dismantled the opposition. They have won fewer league games by more than three goals than Tottenham have, but ended the day nine points clear at the top with their closest rivals to play the defending champions on Sunday. If 
“It was a very good weekend for Liverpool, and a pretty good weekend for the Premier League. It’s one round of games, and blips and quirks do happen. But that three of the top four on Saturday morning could lose felt not only invigorating – maybe this isn’t a league entirely predetermined by how much money you have – but also, perhaps, part of a pattern. And that pattern is of football that is a bit patchy, a bit scratchy, a bit lacking the sort of fluidity and quality we’ve become used to, which is perhaps not so good. Moisés Caicedo’s equaliser aside, Chelsea’s draw at Manchester United in 
“For the third time in eight games this season, 
“It was the third game of the Euros. There was a slow sense of familiarity returning. The night before, Italy had beaten Turkey 3-0 in Rome. Earlier in the afternoon, Wales and Switzerland had drawn 1-1 in Baku. In Copenhagen, 
“F
Scissors Kick 