Soccer

A NATION TURNS ITS LONELY EYES TO JURGEN:

Germany out of 2026 World Cup: What went wrong? (Jonathan Harding, 6/30/26, Deitsche-Welle)

Firstly, key players did not deliver on the field. Captain Joshua Kimmich underwhelmed. Florian Wirtz appeared to carry his poor club form into the World Cup. Jamal Musiala looked like a player desperately trying to get back into form after a long injury lay off. It was far too disappointing from far too many players who needed to deliver to keep the group together.

Collectively, Germany were shaky in defense and lacked penetration and decisiveness in attack. They did not go a game at this tournament without conceding, and other than against Curacao, failed to transfer promising passages into powerful performances.

Injuries certainly didn’t help. Losing Serge Gnabry before the tournament was a blow. To then see Lennart Karl suffer a major injury in Chicago just days before the tournament start really stopped Germany in their tracks, as the Bayern teenager looked set to shine down the right-hand side. Nico Schlotterbeck being ruled out for months during the first half of the Ivory Coast game was perhaps the biggest loss of all, though. The Borussia Dortmund defender was an integral part of Germany’s play, particularly in the build-up which Nagelsmann said was “too slow” against Paraguay.

Then there’s Julian Nagelsmann. His decision to recall 40-year-old Manuel Neuer did not prove, despite a save in the shootout against Paraguay, to be the factor he made it out to be. His substitutions suggested a coach still searching for his best 11. Against Ecuador, with the group already won, his changes left Germany disjointed and wiped away any hope of maintaining their momentum into the knockouts. Even though this Germany team were not contenders, it would also be fair to say that Nagelsmann appeared to struggle to get the best out of this group.

IRISH NEED NOT APPLY:

Tartan Army winning hearts and influencing people across Boston: No Scotland, no party: skirling bagpipes and swirling kilts — and a formidable performance in the bars — are charming New Englanders (David Leask, June 17 2026, Times uk)

Boston bars have been allowed to stay open extra late under special licensing rules — hailed as the “Tartan Army Bill” — and have enjoyed roaring trade. One Irish pub said takings were triple that of St Patrick’s Day. Sam Adams Boston Taproom ran out of beer. Manager Billy DeCain told NBC Boston: “We’ve never seen anything like it.”

But it was one waitress who spelled out how much the business meant. Identifying herself as Kale, she took to TikTok to say she had earned nearly $1,000 in a single shift in which she was “absolutely whacked”. She was instantly converted by the Tartan Army. “I am rooting for them,” she said. “Let’s go Scotland.”

IT’S A UNIPOLAR WORLD:

World Cup fans from around the globe share 1st US food experiences on social media (Kelly McCarthy, June 17, 2026, Good Morning America)

The diplomatic power of American food has become a breakout star of World Cup content on social media.

From massive trays of traditional Texas barbecue to late night orders at Waffle House, thousands of tourists who have flocked to the U.S. for the first time to attend 2026 FIFA World Cup matches are obsessing over their first taste of American food and dining culture.

World Cup visitors react to beloved American foods
Before international tourists even stepped foot in stadiums hosting the various World Cup matches this month, they had begun filling social media feeds with videos of themselves trying new favorite bites from fast food chains, discovering free refills on drinks, and deli sandwiches at regional grocery stores.

We are unimaginably affluent.

WHEN LAWRENCE, KS BECAME AN ALGERIAN SUBURB:

Scottish Fans Remind America How to Celebrate (Henry Zavalick, June 17, 2026, American Spectator)

Boston has once more been occupied by the United Kingdom, albeit rather happily this time. For the last week, tens of thousands of “Tartan Army” soldiers have descended on the city with World Cup zeal, good cheer, and an unparalleled thirst for beer. The occasion, of course, is Scotland’s first appearance in the World Cup since 1998, accompanied by its first World Cup victory since 1990 after June 13’s 1-0 win over Haiti.

Scotland’s first World Cup win in 36 years led to an impromptu victory lap of the city, bagpipes and all, and historic sales for restaurants and pubs. A full parade of raucous, singing Scots with bagpipes and kilts marched to Fenway Park on Sunday, where they threw in support for the Red Sox against the Texas Rangers. The Scottish fans have brought an animated energy to the city of Boston, and its residents have embraced it for the singular event that it is.

Sad that it has taken all these visitors to remind us how great daily life in America is.

IT’S STAYING HOME:

A near-perfect World Cup opener takes the USMNT into uncharted territory (Henry Bushnell, June 13, 2026, The Athletic)

It began with thunderous chants of “U-S-A” and climaxed with the best 45 minutes in U.S. men’s World Cup history.

It was seven years and 364 days in the making, and it was worth every day, hour, second of waiting.

U.S. soccer fans and players had, for years, dreamed of this moment, a glitzy World Cup opener on home soil, an unparalleled stage for their sport. They had dreamed of meeting it, of igniting America, of elevating soccer.

But no one could have realistically envisioned this — a rousing 4-1 win over Paraguay, patriotic glee on the field and in the stands, silky soccer and eruptions of noise.

“I mean, my whole life I feel like I’ve envisioned it,” U.S. defender Chris Richards said. “But tonight was way better than what I could’ve envisioned. It was surreal.”

In front of 70,492 fans at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles, it was more than a near-perfect start to this home World Cup.

It was, as Sebastian Berhalter said while recalling the victory lap to thank the fans, “what U.S. soccer should be.”

OPEN THE BORDERS:

They came for the World Cup. They fell in love with Buc-ee’s and ranch dip. (Angela Yang, 6/10/26, NBC News()

“People are kind of amused seeing me experience America and thinking so big of little things for them, because if you live here, you might just be used to it,” she said. “But for someone like me … it’s really cool.”

Other tourists who have gone viral sharing their U.S. experiences have also remained apolitical in their posts, appealing to American social media users seeking more “wholesome” content.

A German fan, who goes by Freddy on X, appears to have gotten the most attention online with his posts about the gas station chain Buc-ee’s, the sheer size of American stadiums and his first meal at Waffle House.

NATIONALITY IS A CHOICE:

How migration became a key to World Cup success (Ben Brindle, June 5, 2026, The Conversation)

The 2026 World Cup will feature more foreign-born players than any previous edition. Nearly a quarter of the 1,248 players selected for national teams were born in a different country from the one they will represent.

In some squads, the proportions are far higher than this – 96% of Curaçao’s players were born abroad, as were 85% of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s and 73% of Morocco’s. Overall, foreign-born players make up the majority of footballers in eight of the tournament’s 48 squads.

DEVELOP TALENT, DON’T PAY FOR IT:

Lille were close to bankruptcy. This is how they became Europe’s most profitable club (Tom Burrows, April 4, 2026, The Athletc)

In addition to that, Schirmer says the previous ownership had run a strategy where they would buy relatively costly players to try to challenge for the league. They also found Lille had a high number of fees still to pay on transfers.

“If you run a football club, your ideal world is that you have more receivables than payables (on transfers),” Schirmer says. “But what we saw in 2020 was a huge number of payables for all these expensive players they had brought. So you had external debts and you had payables. And then to round up the picture, you had a significant salary bill. It just wasn’t sustainable.” […]

Lille’s new owners also set about revamping the club’s academy, one that has produced Eden Hazard, Benjamin Pavard and Yohan Cabaye. In the years before their takeover, very few players had graduated from the academy to the first team.

Schirmer says it was key to their vision as it helped forge a strong identity, developing players who had an attachment to the club and city, as well as a production line of talent.

She says the academy at the club’s Domaine de Luchin training centre, 20 miles east of Lille and close to the Belgian border, is home to players from the age of 15. Lille have around 70 children there, with 35 living on site and attending the private school.

In the younger age groups, there are around 50 children — from under-eights to under-11s — who train at partner clubs. For the under-11s to under-15s, also around 50 children, Lille work with a public school that offers a sports focus. The children go to school there while training with the club. They have the same set-up for the girls’ teams.

YNWA, BRO:

An American Who Became a Football Fan (DAVID CAMPBELL, 5/02/26, Country Squire)

I grew up in the era of the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty of the seventies, when Coach Chuck Noll, Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, and the Steel Curtain Defence led by Mean Joe Greene ruled the roost. They were the American equivalent of Liverpool FC during those same decades—the Liverpool of Shankly and Paisley, of Keegan and Dalglish, Rush and Souness.

Now here is the surprising thing: for all my travels throughout England, my love for Premier League football was discovered not in a Liverpool pub or a London stadium, but in a sports bar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There, a faithful congregation of Liverpool supporters gathered to cheer their team at unholy hours, watching matches beamed across the Atlantic. The brethren took me in and patiently explained the intricacies of the game: the positions and responsibilities of the goalkeeper, the defence, the midfield, and the attack (and yes, a striker and a forward can be the same thing, but do not assume they always are). They taught me it is called a pitch, not a field; a match, not a game; a kit, not a uniform. They reviewed the laws of the game and the endless complexity of tactics—a lifetime’s study, I am discovering.

COMETH THE MOMENT, COMETH THE USMNT?:

How the next 18 months could reshape soccer in the U.S. forever (Henry Bushnell, Feb 13, 2025, Yahoo! Sports)

The next 18 months aren’t just an exciting time for the sport; they could reshape it at all ages and levels, for all genders, in a variety of ways across the United States. They’ll conclude with a men’s World Cup right here, at home, but it’s not just that; it’s the Club World Cup, and a bid for the 2031 Women’s World Cup; it’s the dwindling days of Lionel Messi in Miami, and a pivotal period in the still-early days of the NWSL. It’s ongoing talks of overhauls in MLS and college soccer. It’s the opening of a national training center, and the implementation of the “U.S. Way,” U.S. Soccer’s new nationwide player development strategy. It’s the USL, an organization of lower-tier clubs that has ambitious plans to expand — and start a new top-tier men’s league.

It’s possibilities, but also pressure. It’s consequential decisions, and a moment that no American soccer stakeholder wants to miss.

And most of it, of course, is centered around 2026.

The women’s league, in particular, should do anything it has to in order to be more accessible.