2026 FIFA World Cup thread [R]

And home improvement superstores. I always thought that was an odd one. Maybe the target there is not upper middle class white suburban male baseball fan but immigrant from soccer country contractor?

 

And rumor has it had a singing career at one time.

 

“Get your hands off me, creep, imma bust your chops in the World Cup!”

 

Don’t know about Becks but Messi is definitely doing Lowe’s. He looks funny wearing a Lowe’s shirt. Could be worse I guess - Walmart?

 

Pretty good conversation between Ted Ramey and Joe Cannon about "where does the US go from here" in terms of national team / soccer development. Not surprisingly, Joe is not in the "burn it all down" camp, as the executive director of a big youth soccer club. You're not gonna be in the tear down the system camp when you're part of the system. He said he wanted to talk about "solutions" - well it's all "solutions" but I think he's tired of hearing people just complaining about how broken things are w/o offering any ideas.

So he talked about making sure we don't leave out underserved communities - kind of goes w/o saying, don't artificially create boundaries between youth team systems which requires more travel when you could play a team in another system that's much more proximate, the MLS academy system is good - similar model all over the world, but college soccer can continue to play a part (go to a longer calendar), etc. He also stressed that the national team coach should be focused just on coaching the team and not on setting the path for development of soccer in the country generally. He implied that Poch had that role but that's not a role I really saw him play. Maybe he meant that no one is really playing that role and we that needs to be a dedicated position.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...ns-to-discuss-the/id967090792?i=1000777127594

 

Messi's Miami home (at least one of them):

 

Hideous. Would not trade my San Jose bungalow for that apartment.

 

by the time you're putting kids in leagues or camps, it's too late.

 

Yeah, I want a yard for a garden and for the dog, not a giant parking garage that I have to take a "car elevator" to.

 

Kids playing unorganized soccer in the street or at the park? I'm not seeing it - around where I live anyway. We need some of that.

At my elementary school there was one teacher, Mr. White - great teacher, who'd go out on the playground and play soccer with the kids. I wasn't interested - I'd play basketball, football, tetherball, 4-square, or just goof around. Soccer was not at all mainstream at that time / place.

 

I can't shake that old school American suburbia framework where the people with money have houses and the people with lots of money have bigger houses and the people with no money have apartments. I saw a video of Messi kicking the ball aound in (I guess) his apartment with his kids. You don't want to go outside and play?

Anyway, I'm sure Messi has other houses, and the penthouse apartment has a great place to park his cars I'm sure. His cars are certainly happy!

 

I've never seen a kids, self organized pickup soccer game growing up in San Ramon outside of school, but my friends and I did do that at recess in grade school in the 70s.

 

My best friend in junior high in the 70s was a goalkeeper. Started in high school and eventually in college at UB in 80s. He trained with me and a brick elementary school wall with painted outline of a goal for a couple hours nearly every day all summer.

 

Jejeje
He's never lived there. Bought it for investment reasons.

 

Here’s an idea - when it’s 95 degrees and humid as hell in the summer…

https://bsky.app/profile/mayor.nyc.gov/post/3mquqaa3rcc2y

 

In World Cup years, this statement is very true....