Remember you will not always win. Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat. But there is, in this case, always tomorrow – after you have done your best to achieve success today.
Maxwell Maltz
The Defector – Bill Haisley – The World Cup Is About Great Players And Nothing Else
If I’d been born ugly, you’d never have heard of Pele.
George Best
My mother was my biggest role model. She taught me to hate waste. We never wasted anything.
W. Edwards Deming
American Dream Mall: World Cup 2026 Guide
I’ve stopped drinking, but only while I’m asleep.
George Best
“I didn’t see a single soul on their phone,” he said, “They had a beer in their hand and they were talking to each other. They were doing what beer is meant to do, which is helping people enjoy each other’s company.”
SportsNet- AP – Beer sales are hopping, brewers hope demand outlasts the World Cup
Phil has a question:
Are Messi and Yamal earthlings or Vulcans.
The Athletic – Adam Crafton – Why pink boots are causing problems for World Cup commentators
ESPN – Messi tells Argentina critics: ‘Nothing was handed to us’
ESPN – Mark Ogden – Argentina stun England with late rally to reach World Cup final
Phil has a question:
Have you ever seen a team win playing Kitty Bar the Door.
Can they pull the goaltender in soccer.
Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
George S. Patton
I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays.
Johan Cruyff
The Ringer – Jordan Ritter Conn – Lionel Messi Was Dead. Then He Wasn’t.
Phil has a question:
Did the French players get time and a half for playing on Bastille Day.
The Ringer – Anthony Dabbundo – World Cup Cheat Sheet: 20 Things to Know About an Epic Final Four
The Ringer – Anthony Dabbundo – Is This France’s World Cup to Lose?
I look at Messi, and he makes me laugh. A beautiful footballer who is still like a kid. A world superstar, but still a kid. Innocent, you know. He just plays.
Johan Cruyff
Point:
The Ringer – Jordan Ritter Conn – Lionel Messi Was Dead. Then He Wasn’t.
Counterpoint:
“There seem to be pressures from the Argentina side on this outcome,” he said. “We were objecting to the selection of the referee because of the French situation [Argentina beat France in the 2022 World Cup final], but everybody has to suffer at some point, and we suffered.
“We haven’t seen respect or fair play. A penalty was ruled out [an alleged foul on Mo Salah]. It was not even checked by the VAR, and our second goal was remarkably, for whatever reason, disallowed.
“I want to put it in beautiful words and say, ‘Hard luck,’ but we have been treated unfairly and it has been an injustice,” he said.
ESPN – Matt Ogden – Egypt boss bemoans ‘injustice’ after loss to Argentina at World Cup
New York Times – Sam Anderson – The Perishable, Never-Ending Genius of Lionel Messi
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 16-18
More than 170 red cards have been shown in the tournament in the intervening 64 years, and no FIFA committees have done anything to mitigate any of them. Add to that Infantino’s years of servile groveling to Trump, and the inescapable implication was that Trump had gotten Balogun out of his ban in the same way the mayor might get the mayor’s brother out of a parking ticket. Which, it should go without saying, is a miserable look, and a transparently crooked way to run the world’s biggest sporting event.
The Ringer – Brian Phillips – The Worst Ending to the Best U.S. Men’s World Cup Ever
I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating.
Sophocles
Front Office Sports – Margaret Fleming – U.S. Gets Reality Check With World Cup Knockout by Belgium
Cheating is not the American way. It is small, while we are large. It is cheap, while we are richly endowed. It is destructive, while we are creative. It is doomed to fail, while our gifts and responsibilities call us to achieve. It sabotages trust and weakens the bonds of spirit and humanity, without which we perish.
Terrence McNally
The Guardian – Alexander Abdos – Ragged USA crash out of World Cup with last-16 defeat to Belgium
Phil has a question:
Did the gods of football fairness just piss all over that cheating FC Donald Trump.
Did you know that FC does not always stand for Club de Football.
Does the FC Donald Trump know where Belgium is.
Will the Prime Minister of Belgium send a case of Brussels Sprouts to the White House.
Would Clarence Campbell ever bow to pressure and overturn a suspension.
Would the Rocket ever ask a Canadian Prime Minister to intervene on his behalf.
Phil M. Stockmen