Will the US Make The World Cup?

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Firstly, if you received this email in your promotions folder make sure to move us to your primary inbox. Secondly, get excited––we have a new referral program coming out next week which we are excited about. International football kept us busy these last few days, but we can't wait for club football to be back. 

Let's get straight into it.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

AFCON: Sadio Mané scored and assisted in Senegal's win over Burkina Faso, taking Senegal to its second AFCON final in a row. They've never won the tournament. Despite a slow start (1 goal scored in the first 3 games), they've gotten better as the tournament has progressed. It's safe to say they have the most talented squad in this year's competition, with the likes of Ismaila Sarr, Koulibaly and Idrissa Gueye alongside the Liverpool star. 

Mané's friendship with Mo Salah will be on hold on Sunday as Senegal will face Egypt in the final. Egypt beat hosts Cameroon in penalties on Thursday to get through. A couple of poor penalties saw an impressive campaign by the hosts come to an end. 

Will The USA Be In Qatar?

Boys in Blue

With three games remaining, Berhalter’s boys are level on points with Mexico and sit 2nd in the CONCACAF Octagonal standings. With the top three teams advancing to the World Cup in Qatar, the USMNT’s matchup with Mexico (3rd) on March 24th holds all the marbles.

A loss or draw leaves the US open to a lurking Panama––who the US plays directly after Mexico on the 27th. A final game away to a still-alive Costa Rica awaits the US, with potentially huge consequences if things don’t go to plan.

Greg Berhalter is fighting a war on two fronts––a fight to get into the WC, and a constant battle against American fans to keep his job. He’s an MLS man, born and bred, and the fans don’t like his pedigree nor his tactics. Berhalter continues to call up MLS players of the past, and with every poor result his seat gets a few ticks hotter. For all of our sake, I just hope he can avoid another four years of non-World Cup American soccer. 

Luis Suarez Derby 

⚽️  Barcelona (+135) vs Atletico Madrid (+210)

Sunday 10:15 AM ET 

If you're ever in debt, we have the perfect person for you to call for clever financial maneuvering: Joan Laporta. The FC Barcelona president and his team are clearly masterminds of accounting and making money appear out of nowhere. After announcing that the club owed over 1.3 billion Euros, they went out and bought Ferran Torres for $60 million. If you're a fan of long term planning then get this one: in order to register Ferran and comply with Financial Fair Play, they offered Samuel Umtiti a new long-term deal with reduced wages. Umtiti has made 1 appearance in the league all season, an hasn't had over 15 appearances since 2017-2018. 

Barcelona, like most rich millennials on Prime Day, continued their spending spree by bringing former Arsenal talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Adama Traore in from the Premier League.

Despite their bad start to the season, they sit just one point behind Atletico Madrid in 4th place. Atletico were early favorites to win La Liga, but Simeone has not been able to get the most talented La Liga side clicking this season. 

Still, Barcelona come into this game as slight favorites. Xavi has a lot of work to do to get his new signings up and running. Do not miss this one on Sunday. 

Some Thoughts On Mason Greenwood 

Are we beginning to see a pattern with footballers and sexual abuse?

This week, Manchester United forward Mason Greenwood's girlfriend, Hariet Robson, took to social media with disturbing pictures and audio of what she claims is Mason Greenwood sexually and violently assaulting her.

The claims of abuse allegedly track back a ways, which begs the question: how long has Robson been subject to this abuse, and how much did it take for her to finally go public with what she's endured?

We cannot speak on the guilt of Mason Greenwood, simply because the investigation is ongoing and Greenwood himself has been let go on bail while the investigation takes place. But the evidence is damning––the images of domestic abuse Robson posted are clear to see, and the audio is quite frankly disgusting. Manchester United have stated he will not play for the club nor train or take part in any club activities indefinitely, while many of Mason's teammates have dropped him from their social media rolodex.

So, where does this leave us in the scope of footballers and abuse? Benjamin Mendy was just arraigned on a NINTH charge (seven of which are rape) earlier this week. Gylfi Sigurdsson was charged in July of 2021 with child sex offences, which are still being investigated as his bail period comes to an end. He has not played for Everton since. Yves Bissouma was arrested in October on suspicion of sexual assault, but is now back playing for Brighton, despite Sussex Police stating he is "currently released under investigation." 

Do we have a problem with footballers and sexual abuse? Perhaps it's systemic; perhaps it's not. After all, most professional footballers are not sexually abusing women. However, for a class of high paid athletes with the world at their fingertips, the rate of incidence is simply too high. Footballers are treated in a way that has made them feel special their entire lives, particularly the top level ones. From agents to trainers to friends and family, they get told "no" far less than most people, simply because of their status as elite, highly-paid and famous athletes. Does this cause these footballers to take their divine status and impart it on women who reject their advances? It's impossible to say, but improbable to imagine a frivolous aspect. Whatever the case, it needs to stop, and we must credit those like Hariet for coming forward, despite their fear, to help uncover the ugly lid.

Goal Of The Week 

A lot of Brazilians were surprised to see Coutinho called up for the qualifiers this time around. Brazilian manager Tite has always been a huge admirer of Phil, and he repaid his faith with a man of the match performance and a trademark rocket.

Red Card Of The Week 

Burkina Faso are out of AFCON after their loss to Senegal, but Dano Ouattara earned himself the Red Card Of The Week trophy after us a lovely elbow in the face of Tunisian defender Ali Maaloul.

Enjoy the weekend.