SUGARMANOUT 🛡️

It got me thinking…who is this World Cup actually for? In 1994, I was able to take my family to matches here in the United States. It wasn’t a luxury decision, it was something that felt within reach, and that mattered because that’s how the game grows and that’s how memories are made. I was living in Boston working for Reebok at the time, and so we were able to go to so many games at Foxborough as well as in New York City. In full disclosure, my work also allowed me to travel to games on the West Coast, including the final. While that was not the best shop window for The Beautiful Game it was stunning to see the Rose Bowl fulled to the brim with 94,000 fans. Now fast forward to 2026. Imagine a young family here in America today. Mum, dad, two kids who love the game. They sit down and look at the cost of attending just one match…tickets, travel, maybe a night or two in a hotel…and they pause. Not because they don’t love the game enough, it’s because they simply can’t justify it. in my 45 years living here in the US and being involved in the game at so many different levels, I’ve never seen its popularity spike like it is today. Gen Z has fully embraced the game, Welcome to Wrexham has laid bare the passion and the joy it can ignite in a previously beleaguered community, and we are spoiled for the choice of just about every major game in the world brought to us by streaming channels fighting for their place in broadcasting live sports. Or think about a supporter from abroad. Someone who has followed their national team their entire life. For many, this isn’t just a trip, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage. Between ticket pricing, travel costs, and uncertainty around access, that dream starts to slip out of reach. That’s the part that sits uneasily with me. The World Cup has always been more than a tournament. It’s been a gathering of people, cultures, stories. A place where the game feels like it belongs to everyone. If too many of those people are left watching from afar, we lose something that can’t be measured in revenue. It becomes a made-for-tv spectacle like the Super Bowl, and then we lose the soul of it… And once that starts to go, it’s very hard to get back.

@USKeeper turner is also in MLS rn and freese was good

How much extra money is US Soccer paying these announcers to not say anything negative about Matt Freese? #USMNT Other than Turner going through #WCQ & playing in a #WorldCup there's little difference between those keepers.

Wisconsin-born Esmir Bajraktarević converts the shootout attempt that sends Bosnia to the World Cup and keeps four-time champ Italy out for the third consecutive tournament. Bajraktarević played one match for the #USMNT, in early 2024, before switching allegiance.

In Hindsight, Maybe Selling and Trading Your Best Players Every Season is Not a Sustainable Winning Strategy #DOOP crossingbroad.com/news/union/in-…

A statement from the Sons of Ben Board of Directors

He should be fired, not put on leave. And I’d like to hear the explanation and justification from the next person that hires him.

Cristian roldan in the world cup kit release video

@GrahamSmyth two attackers for two defenders christ’s sake farke

Leeds out for the second half. Gruev and Bogle on. Aaronson off. Nmecha off. #lufc

@GrahamSmyth replay was close… shocked they’re not looking at it

CHANC! Stach's corner, DCL header, keeper catches it, feet behind his line but ball in front of it. Another huge chance gone. 0-0 #lufc

We have to be approaching Bradley Carnell out at this point. He manages the first team of the best talent producing academy in the country, by a good margin. He has arguably the most exciting prospect we've developed in the United States since Freddy Adu. Philly has scored one goal all year. It was a penalty. They just lost to San Jose at home. That prospect was an unused sub. Instead he continues to force a player that has been mid his entire career. Meanwhile teams like RSL, RBNY and San Diego are winning with lots of youth impact. Make it make sense. It was a head scratching hire from the start and he is getting head scratching results. "But Philly won the supporters shield last year". True, but Carnell also did well in his first year at St. Louis and then it tanked. We could have all saw this coming.

@PhilaUnion i dare you to get serious ownership

We, the Union, dare to dream.

Should have listened to Wagner, huh? Wagner and Birmingham lose to Aaronson's Leeds in penalty kicks. Great match to watch. #doop #MLS #bcfc #leeds 📹: ESPN

In PK shootout, Wagner repeatedly gestures to his GK Allsop that Aaronson will go to Allsop’s right. Allsop dives to his left while Aaronson hits what would have been savable PK to Allsop’s right, if Allsop had only followed Wagner’s @philaunion scout advice. Leeds win 4-2 on PKs

Per @MattGelb, this should be the lasting memory of Castellanos: he never truly wanted to be here

The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy. It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

boy do i have something to tell you

A former 25 year career federal agent whose entire job was dealing with gun incidents involving federal agents details all the ways Ross messed up on CBS. It didn’t air on the actual show tonight. CBS did post it to YouTube—and it has nearly 800k views already

This morning, an ICE agent murdered a woman in Minneapolis—only the latest horror in a year full of cruelty. As ICE attacks our neighbors across America, it is an attack on us all. New York stands with immigrants today, and every day that follows.

WHAT A GGGGOOOOAAAAAALLLL!!! BRENDEN AARONSON TAKE A BOW! 0-1

DHS tweeted this yesterday. Little more than 24 hours later, ICE agents just shot and killed a legal observer in Minneapolis.