Evvvvverton, I Know This World is Killing You

Hail GFOP! 

I type with joyously fatigued fingers. This week we have taped with the inimitable Megan Rapinoe, goal-scoring sensation Sophia Smith, People’s Captain Becky Sauerbrunn and the mighty Meghan Klingenberg, my personal broadcasting hero, Andrés Cantor, of “goal orgasm” fame, and more. It is an incredible time to be alive and covering the game in this nation. A time in which there are so many young players thriving in the Premier League, as the NWSL and Women’s Super League continue to go from strength to strength. And even our retired heroes are returning to the field and unleashing heroics. 

All Hail Heather O’Reilly, who retired from football in 2019 (and sobbed through her USWNT farewell podcast with me), was lured back to the game recently at age 37, after Arsene Wenger told her she still had what it takes when coaching her at a charity game. HAO joined Irish side Shelbourne FC, motivated by the chance to play Champions League football. In her first game in that tournament yesterday, against Slovenian side Pomurje, the Pride of East Brunswick, New Jersey took just four minutes to give her team the lead. Dispatching a looping header with intelligence and guile from further downtown than I could throw it, in what proved to be the only goal of the game. As that old football adage goes, “Chat Shit to Ronaldo, Score a Banger.” I am genuinely giddy for my friend HAO. Her love for the game, and the joy she derives from it, are truly inspirational. May she, her growing family, and her fast-developing Irish fanbase, experience many more incredible memories through football.

🍺 Beers are good. Order Budweiser via Drizly and get $5 off your first order when you use the code: BUDXMIB Courtesy of Drizly. New Drizly users only. Must be 21+. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Per applicable law, value may be applied towards order total or shipping or delivery fees. Includes order of non-alcoholic items. Void where prohibited. Expires on 12/31/22 at 11:59 EDT. 🍺

Pre-Order our Book!: Keep sending me your Indie Bookstore recommendations via [email protected] so we can shout them out during the pre-order period for Men in Blazers Present Gods of Soccer: The Pantheon of the 100 Greatest Soccer Players (According to Us)." Your response has been absolutely in-cred-i-ble. We cannot tell you how grateful we are. We know how counter-intuitive it is to order a book weeks before you can get it – but it means the world to us. And we want to use this launch to shed light on this nation's great Indie Bookstores, the cornerstones of communities across America. So please send us the name of your favorite Indie Bookstore via email at [email protected] - they have been flooding in - and we will spotlight one a week going forward. Pre-orders make or break a book, so please grab your Signed copy of "Gods of Soccer,” support our two incredible Indie partners, Elliott Bay in the Magical Kingdom of Seattle and New York City’s The Strand, and receive a limited-edition Print with the copy. We will host a special night of celebration to which all those who have pre-ordered the book will be invited.  

2. To the Football

i. Tottenham vs. Wolves (Saturday 7.30 AM ET, USA)

Conte continues to bed in new arrivals. Some forced: Cristian Romero picked up a muscle injury during the Chelsea game, perhaps hyperextending his wrist whilst horse-collaring Cucurella’s curls. Some tactical: expect Richarlison to be given the chance to inject his manic running, and Perisic to unleash those pin-point set-pieces at some point. Wolves desperate to prove, like second cousins at a wedding, they are just happy to have been invited. 

ii. Bournemouth vs. Arsenal (Saturday 12.30 PM ET, NBC Proper)

Arteta’s side attempt to win their first three games of the season for the first time in 18 years. Perhaps more importantly – they can create the mirror opposite of last season’s three-loss start and heal some of the dark regret of May’s deflating slump. Pity Bournemouth’s backline. Haaland last week. Gabriel Jesus in Rapture, this one.

iii. Newcastle vs. Manchester City (Sunday 11.30 AM ET, USA)

Saudi Arabia faces up to Abu Dhabi in a footballing proxy battle for feuding Gulf states. Geopolitics is the only certain winner. Actually, scratch that. Last week Newcastle were overrun and could barely hang on against Brighton. Watching Manchester City feels like sitting through one of those Godzilla movies in which King Ghidorah has waded ashore, a three-headed monster laying waste to city after city with his gravity beams, hellbent on destroying our planet.  

iv. Everton vs. Nottingham Forest (Saturday 10 AM ET, P’Cock)

Why am I dreading this game so much? Forest are a squad with so many new players, they run solely off good vibes, hustle, and “Hello My Name is…” stickers. However, Everton have, for the last two seasons, taken the selfless decision to gift every newly promoted team they faced three points, like some kind of self-destructive house warming present. Expect this 2022-2023 Season – a television series composed of 38 micro-miseries – to roll on. Amadou Onana, you are our only hope… 

More: Taiwo Awoniyi’s long journey to the Premier League finally at an end with Forest .

v. Leeds vs. Chelsea (Sunday 9 AM ET, USA)

Come for the Manager Fights. Stick around for the Football. Two undefeated Manager/Pugilists face-up to each other. Tuchel AKA Bavarian Bob Probert may be suspended after his red card but he has the reach to start a ruck, even in his absence. Yet, Jesse Marsch is from Racine, Wis. and fuelled by cheese curd and Brandy Old Fashioned, will back down for no one. Let the Fisticuffs begin. On lesser issues such as the game itself: Patrick Bamford faces a late fitness test and Leeds will pray he can lead the line against the team who sent him into a dispiriting five-years of exile as part of their Loan Army Diaspora.

More: ‘He’s a fighter’: Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic backed to prove his worth 😢

vi. Manchester United vs. Liverpool (Monday, 3 PM ET P’Cock)

I am old enough to remember when this Footballing Grey Gardens was the single most anticipated fixture of the season. Yes, children, Manchester United and Liverpool were once both great football teams. And wait. There’s more. Chad Michael Murray was once a major celebrity. I jest, I jest. Liverpool have been merely banged up and slow to gel, spotting Manchester City a chasmic four-point lead after just two games. But the spotlight here will be on United. Their flailing manager and rotting squad are a shambles, linked to so many incoming players (with Casemiro’s arrival likely imminent) they are like a theoretical Nottingham Forest. The story of this game will be the United fans’ continuing attempts to expel their absentee owners, the Glazers. Fuming at the decrepit state of their club, their stadium, and their future, fan group The 1958 is planning a massive pre-game protest. They deserve better. 

More: A deep look at the United Financials which explains why fans are livid with the Glazers despite their transfer spending.

Investors circle United and there is a growing sense the Glazers might sell.

vii. Entire Premier League Schedule and TV Listings HERE.

3. Men In Blazers. So much crap. So little time. 💩💩💩

a. On Monday's Men in Blazers Pod, Rog and Davo went deep on an all-time Premier League Moment. Tuchel vs. Conte. And you can watch them break down the gripple grapple frame-by-hyper-aggressive-frame on our VIDEO PODCAST. We are releasing these video pods every week on our YouTube channel. Subscribe. 

b. Tuesday, we dropped Episode 4 of Tyler Adams: Road to the Cup, Powered by Volkswagen, our eight-part series with the USMNT hero. I LOVE THIS EPISODE. To hear a young American vibing so hard after making his Premier League dreams come true is so humanly affirming. VIDEO POD HERE (did we mention we're now on YouTube?). Please Subscribe to our YouTube Channel. We are dropping a lot of content on it that appears nowhere else.

c. Thursday, an all-Portland Thorns episode of The Women's Game, Presented by Paramount+, featuring The People's Captain Becky Sauerbrunn and that pre-game hype speech poet laureate Meghan Klingenberg. And what a time to Pod with those two heroes, in the wake of the rare Sauerbrunn goal. Rog gets the story behind her ebullient cele HERE. 

4. More Football, Did Ya Say?

i. Sergiño Dest to Manchester United? I would say the same thing to Dest that I did to Pulisic on Wednesday. 

ii. How England legend Casey Stoney transformed San Diego Wave from expansion side to NWSL title contender.

More: I interviewed Casey Stoney here. She blew me away. Few playing legends have the emotional intelligence and empathy she leads with.

iii. News breaking as we type: Congratulations to our friends at  CBS, Viacom and Paramount who have agreed a six-year deal for the Champions League rights, in a total package worth $1.5 billion, which breaks down to $250 million per season. This is a dramatic increase on the $100 million per season previously paid by Paramount and Univision. The Spanish language rights are still to sell. Explosive growth in this tournament's popularity in the USA has been magnificent to witness.  

iv. 🇮🇹 Serie A. 15 Madones 🇮🇹

Serie A is back on Paramount+. And week two features some matchups tastier than Antonio Conte's signature braciole. It kicks off Saturday with Torino vs Lazio at 12:30 p.m. ET. And then, Sunday, title winners AC Milan continue their Scudetto defense against the Bergamo Boys, Atalanta. That one goes down at 2:45 p.m. ET. And Monday at 2:45 p.m. ET, it's Sampdoria (one of football's great crests) taking on the Old Lady of Turin, Juventus. Stream every match from Italy's top league live, only on Paramount+. Try 1 month FREE with promo code ITALY!

5. Fantasy Football is Better than the Real Thing

Rog's squad, RELEGATE ME NOW is in 242nd place in our fantasy league GFOPrimavera, which is roughly where it feels like Everton currently sit in the Premier League. So this week, he's asking for your help.  

If you are not yet in our fantasy league, it's not too late. SIGN UP HERE. Code: m0wxiw. Reminder, the winner gets $1,000 to spend at the MiB Store and VIP tickets + pre-show drink at an upcoming MiB Live Show.

6. Not Football, and all the better for it

i. Down by the river in upstate New York – in pictures. Dutchess County Greatest per capita exporter of Leeds United midfielders since… Burlington County? 

ii. Documenting India’s Distinctive Birdhouses. Who do I talk to about getting these into American cities?

iii. A sweet, simple, salt-of-the-earth scruffball: why I love Columbo. The craziest part of this article is it's written by a guy randomly named "Paul Verhoeven."

iv. Latinx Files: Meet the 6th Street Bridge barber. This is such a good name for a serial killer damn I hope no one gets any ideas.

v. Awesome film poster. Infrastructure is great isn't it folks?

vi. The Psychology Behind Cults. Afraid to find out how similar the psychology is to football fandom.

vii. Why the world's most difficult novel is so rewarding. Must be the most satisfying Goodreads addition of all time.

viii. Choose Your Own Literary Adventure. Wondering why all roads do not lead to "Gods of Soccer."

ix. Lee Pace's Body of Work. Stealth handsomest man in Hollywood. Reminder that there is never a wrong time to rewatch Pushing Daisies. 

x. Capri Sun has been recalled because it’s diluted with cleaning solution. Honestly this explains so much about the holes in my memory around 2003-2006. 

xii. It’s Horse Girl Season. Shoutout to Massie Block, OG horsegirl and hero to many.

xiii. Our friend Aitch drops a new album that is a fascinating mash-up of Manchester identities old and modern. Huge, suffering Manchester United fan. One of my favorite podcasts of last year.

xv. I Love This Song: Pájaros en Verano by Ela Minus and DJ Python 

7. A Look Ahead to the Next 7 Days of Crap 

• Tuesday, we drop our second installment of American States United, Presented by ESPN+ featuring Valencia's Yunus Musah. Most underrated Baby Eagle in the Squad?

• Wednesday, we're back on AMP to Do it Live! with another American star. Journalist Tom Bogert aka American Fabrizio Romano aka Tommy Scoops. The man who broke the Bale to LAFC transfer news. If you're not already on AMP, download the app here and follow us @meninblazers. It's where we'll be live every Wednesday at 5 p.m. ET during the Premier League season and where you can listen to us Pod live and ask us your questions on the Podcast. When the transfer window is open, it's Tommy Scoops' America and we're just living in it. 

• Returning imminently. European Nights, Presented by Paramount+ with the New York Times' Chief Soccer Correspondent Rory Smith. Stay tuned to our social for more. 

🚨Talking of European Nights, we are on the precipice of finding out this season's group stage matchups. It's draw week on Paramount+. And we're not talking ties. We talking which team going to have to face that Champions League buzzsaw Real Madrid in the opening stages. The Champions League draw goes down Thursday, Aug. 25 at Noon ET. The Connoisseur's Competitions, The Europa League and Europa Conference League, follow Friday, Aug. 26 at 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. ET, respectively. And you can stream them all on Paramount+. Try Paramount+ FREE. 🚨

That is it for today. I want to thank GFOP Allison Hatch in the Netherlands, who wrote a beautiful Raven this week about our suggestion that Elvis Costello’s song of inextricable heartache, Alison, could be, with a lyric change, Everton’s official anthem:

“Everton, I know this world is killing you

Oh, Everton, my aim is true, my aim is true.

As an Everton supporter named Allison, how immensely wonderful it is to have an Elvis Costello classic turned into an anthem for a club as begrudgingly beautiful as our blues.”

Allison told a very funny, and honestly heartbreaking story about her first, and last, pilgrimage to the classic Everton bar, Mr. Denneheys, where she talked to the owner as the kitchen suddenly caught fire. Perhaps the most Everton story of all time. Which made me both ache with sadness, and realize the whole story may just be a thinly-veiled allegory for the season we have to come. Wishing you strength, and reminding you, as ever, TO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FOOTBALL BARS, AMERICA! And keep sending me your ravens to m[email protected]. 

Make Great Memories Through Football.

Big Love.

Courage.

ROG

PS. We've partnered with Classic Football Shirts, offering curated collections of some of our favorite football shirts of all-time. Indelible designs that are seared into our memories and still conjure the same joy now as when we put them on decades ago. Even if they don't fit the same. This week, to celebrate this partnership, we've launched a gift card giveaway via Instagram. And check out our first two curated collections at meninblazers.com.