There’s something about soccer manager nerds

Especially if they’re German.

Women just can’t resist them.

Oh Thomas Tuchel, how I love you! Unlike the last boss of the England team, Saint Gareth of Southgate, there’s no smart suit and fashionable theories about sad young men for you. You won’t write a book called ‘Anything Is Possible: Be Brave, Be Kind & Follow Your Dreams’. No one will ever write a play about you, though you are beautifully portrayed in the current series of Radio 4’s Dead Ringers, repeatedly correcting Gary Lineker’s sloppy thinking and Harry’s Kane’s flights of fancy with a kindly but firm ‘No, Gary’ and ‘No, Harry’ before explaining to them exactly what’s what. There’s always a special affection about the way the studio audience laugh at your small speeches and cheer when the sketches conclude…

Be more like Freddy

German of the day: Amerikabild

That means image of America.

The soccer fan who is shaking up Germany’s image of America – For years, Germans have viewed the U.S. primarily through headlines and mostly negative news: Donald Trump, polarization, gun violence, and culture wars. And now an unknown German soccer fan named “Freddy from Germany” comes along, posts on social media about his first visit to a “Waffle House,” expresses amazement at a massive gas station with more than a hundred pumps and a shooting range right in the middle of an outdoor store—and suddenly, millions of people are seeing a different side of America…

Perhaps this World Cup ultimately says more about Germany than it does about the United States.

Freddy rescued!

Just in the nick of time.

J Watt, American Airlines help rescue viral stranded German tourist Freddy in time for World Cup game – Viral German soccer fan Freddy’s frantic race to reach Germany’s World Cup match in Toronto appeared headed for a happy ending late Friday after he revealed he was finally airborne following a day of weather delays, canceled flights and a social media campaign to get him to Canada.

“UPDATE: We’re on the plane to Buffalo!!!” Freddy wrote on X. “American Airlines was incredibly helpful and made it possible for us to get on this flight.”

Freddy also credited former NFL star JJ Watt, who he said worked behind the scenes to help arrange the last-minute travel plans after severe weather threatened to derail his trip to Saturday’s Germany-Ivory Coast showdown.

I’d rather watch baseball anyway

Run with that boycott!

‘Last Resort’—German Politician Suggests World Cup Boycott Over Greenland Issue – A member of the German parliament has raised the possibility of a boycott of the 2026 World Cup.

A German politician has suggested that the German national team could boycott the 2026 World Cup, held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, “as a last resort in order to get [President Donald] Trump to see sense on the Greenland issue.”

Jürgen Hardt, who works as a spokesperson on foreign policy for the Christian Democratic Union party, made the claim on his own to BILD. He was not publicly backed by Sports Minister Christiane Schenderline, also from the CDU, who said that the German Football Federation (DFB) and FIFA, as “the responsible associations,” should field inquiries.