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BBC Sport
- 07.18.2026
Something the US president says was "unusual" was the move to a defensive posture reverting to back five, in the substitutions, style of play, and DJT says putting Kane in defense in the second half.
"You have a great player in England who I've played golf with. And he is Harry [Kane] who has been fantastic. I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence."
"We got to be a little offensive, right. But no, I'm not going to call it, what do I know about coaching? But that was a little unusual."
Messi gets a lot of media attention because of media focus is on stars. In the actual results of the Premier League, Bundesliga, and La Liga, it is Harry Kane who stands out in Bundesliga performance during the last soccer season. He is arguably as good a player as Messi, and the Argentine team would have had a lot to handle with Kane and Bellingham, Saka, Rice and Stones all pushing up front. It may have broken up the Argentine attack with rapid counterattack and the result- England may still be in the finals with Spain.
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BBC Sport
- 07.16.2026
England coach Tuchel's tactics, substitutions, and England team's inability to put Argentina on defense after Gordon's goal with its own offense, are seen as a deciding factor in the loss for World Cup semifinal. Leaving the England goal keeper to fend off repeated and constant attacks without efforts to get the ballout of that zone, and make the Argentine team offbalance with its own counteratttack decided the result, even though England were ahead 1-0 upto the last 5 minutes of the game. With an improvising team like Argentina of Messi, Fernandez, Martinez, falling back deeper and deeper was not the right way to play the game, say many who watched the game.
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The Guardian
- 07.15.2026
This is the second time in the World Cup 2026 that Argentina came in with goals in the last minutes of the game. Three goals against Egypt and Salah, and now two goals in the closing minutes against England. In 2026 not until stoppage time is anything decided in a game, anything can happen. Argentina kept knocking at the England goal in the last 30 minutes including stoppage time relentlessly missing 4-5 opportunities till 2 passes from Messi hit the right spot for Hernandez and Martinez. It is not clear why the English team did not push offense and simply relied on a 1 goal lead to defend and hold on for the last 30 minutes. Offense can create opportunities and also run the clock. Instead coach Tuchel pulled out Rice and Stones some of his best players to defend, which is when the defense failed to keep off shots on the goal. Even Harry Kane was defending all the time and no players were up front on the Argentine side of the goal. At some point knowing the skill of the Argentines something was about to happen and it did.
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The Guardian
- 07.14.2026
Didier Deschamps on the 0-2 loss to Spain in World Cup semifinals July 2026-" we lacked offensive aggression" though he says aggression is not the right term as the Spanish put the French on the defensive right from the beginning. "We did not manage to make this game difficult for them, they forced us to defend." He says France were second best.
"The players are devastated but we have to be clear-headed … technically we were second best … that is on us … we lacked technical precision and energy … the Spanish are very good at breaking up moves by reading interceptions and passes … we would have liked to cause them more problems going forward … I don’t want to take anything away from Spain, a really good team which knows how to master its plan, but we lacked offensive aggression … although aggression might not be the right term … they forced us to defend … we did not manage to make this game difficult for them.”
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BBC Sport
- 07.12.2026
"By the end we felt dead"- Jude Bellingham on the game with Norway 2-1 where England did not play its best in the Miami heat and humidity, yet found a way in the closing minutes of the game.
BBC Sport
- 07.12.2026
It was not always so that Jude Bellingham would even play for Englans. Tuchel England's coach left Bellingham out of the England squad in earlier selections when Jude was not in top form. During the World Cup he has played with such passion and form that he and Harry Kane, with Rice, Stones and Saka have carried England right into the semi finals and with some luck into the World Cup Soccer Final. Teams from Germany, Brazil have fallen, Italy failed to qualify, Argentina barely made it to the semifinals with Messi in tears in the final moments of the game. In this kind of game Bellingham and Kane are still standing.
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The Guardian
- 07.11.2026
Norway vs England buildup for soccer World Cup quarter finals in The Guardian.
The Washington Post
- 07.11.2026
Erling Haaland Norway soccer striker who plays the British soccer team today. He is famous on the Viking Row practiced by the Norwegian team and being the one who scored the goals to put Brazil out of the World Cup in the US. Haaland plays for Manchester City in the Premier League and is a top goal scorer. In this World Cup he has become increasingly popular because of his unassuming style, simplicity and plain spoken habits.
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The Washington Post
- 07.09.2026
For better sleep set regular routine, 3 hours before sleep for dinner, and eat healthy food.
07.07.2026
Andrew Marchand
NYTimes.com
US's womens socceer's Carli Lloyd, who led the US women's soccer team many times in her career, was honest and blunt on FOX television coverage of the 4-1 loss to Belgium in World Cup Soccer 2026. The host country failed to make it into the quarter finals after so much advertising on television, way too much not even good for the players. There is so much money on television ads and promotions that it must hurt the players and the game. Messi, Neymar, Vinicius Jr., Pulisic, and some Mexican players, were all put up as players who could do anything on television. In the end none of them did well, Messi almost in tears after Argentina was behind 2-0 for most of the 90 minutes against Egypt, only miraculously surviving. Brazil is out going down to Paraguay. Christiano Ronaldo, the first billionaire in soccer, was a little kid from a struggling family in Madeira, Portugal, and he too went out after failing to score on several passes, with Portugal's loss to Spain. All this may be a good thing and a learning lesson for the sport. For all those who love the sport and think things have gone overboard with television advertising, with excessive brand sponsorship on television, making entertainment stars who knows to what purpose, but losing the best of the game of soccer in the process.
And these are Carli Lloyd's comments (Carli who after 318 appearances and bringing so much joy to young girls for the sport worldwide has a net worth of $2 million compared to the now billionaires and others on the way to billions, or hundreds of millions, television stars of the sport who could not get their game right in World Cup Soccer 2026.) There are lessons for the sport which is the most popular sport not only in all the developed countries but also the poorest large countries on the planet like China, India, Brazil, Egypt.
“I felt like they lost the game before they even stepped out on the pitch." “And I’m not sure why, and I don’t know the reasons. But just from the beginning: chasing. Tentative. Scared. Just not confident on the ball.”
"You wanted some of those big-time players to step up in big-time moments." “And I gotta be honest: I was a bit disappointed in Christian Pulisic. Whether he wants to be the star of this team or not, we didn’t see enough from him in this particular game — and, really, the whole World Cup. Little glimpses here and there.”
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US collapsed against Belgium. Brazil lost to Paraguay. Argentina trailed Egypt for most of the 90 minutes only to recover with 3 goals in the last 20 minutes and the winning goal in overtime. Messi almost in tears, moved by the near failure of Argentina till the last minutes of the game gave a miraculous reprieve. One by one the highly advertised on television in the US teams and stars, from US's Pulisic, Mexican soccer players, Messi, Brazil's Neymar and Vinicius Jr, are all in shock. Less advertised, less well known players are making their way, and this may be a good thing as the advertising has gone overboard. Companies were pouring money into these ads turning the players into constant presence in ads and creating an atmosphere that is not healthy for soccer as a sport. One just hopes France's Mbappe with his humility and quiet demeanor doesn't get into one more noisy ad on television like the others. Is Christiano Ronaldo, the little kid from Madeira, Portugal, coming out of nowhere at that time, a billionaire? Is Messi also from remote town of Rosario, Santa Fe province, Argentina, a billionaire? This doesn't do much for the sport. Germany's best goal scorer in this World Cup only dreamed of not having to do two jobs, and having a steady career, after struggling for a long period. There is something in this World Cup that has brought previously unknown players from unknown places like Cabo Verde to the forefront on world television, including the Egyptian and Moroccan players, the players from other smaller countries. Even the English players in the Premier League playing for England look good by comparison.
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07.06.2026
The Washington Post
"Saving America's Story" by the White House Domestic Policy Council - getting America's story told right and protecting its heritage and aspirational values, the issue the Nation faces in 2026. A new report "Saving America's Story" is issued by the administration as a result of an executive order DJT signed in March 2025.The report’s “central finding” - that “museum leadership has explicitly adopted an ideological framework that no longer treats the American story as a shared national inheritance to be taught or celebrated, but as a political instrument to divide, dispirit, and discourage our citizens.”
“To the extent that there is a story told at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, it is not one of ‘the victory of freedom and genius of our country’ but one of regret, tragedy, and shame."
Why is this important- seen from the outside world the ideals set out in the Declaration of Independence are the best ideas of the Enlightenment in Europe, have inspired the French Revolution in the 1790's, have inspired billions of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America in 1800, in 1900, and in the 1950's in the fight against Colonialism of the European Empires, leading to billions of people and many nations gaining freedom. Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln are not just the founding fathers of America but also in a way founding fathers of the principles that inspired these people and who created the Modern World we know today.
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Tuchel as England's coach - calmness, putting together a team effort (game with open Croatia), not getting ruffled (game with negative Ghana), and connection with his players Rice, Stones, Kane, Pickford and Bellingham (game with Mexico at Azteca). He replaced Southgate says this report, who tried to put together star players instead of a team effort and this did not work, leading England to defeat. It says Tuchel's team is not the best in the world, but it is good enough to win because it is dangerous as a team.
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What impresses most about Tuchel is his calmness and reassuring his players, taking the pressure off them so they can concentrate on the game on their skills and do better. In the half time talk for the game against Croatia he tells his players - “Even if we lost, it will not change my perception of you from the last 17 days, but let’s do it our way.” Players did not have to think of their self-worth, a load was taken off their backs, so they could concentrate on the task itself and use their skills effectively, says Cath Bishop in The Guardian. There are 10 articles on this German coach Tuchel one each for how he managed each game, with DRC, Croatia, Panama, and with Mexico, in The Guardian, and others on his approach, rare to find so many concentrating on the coach for England. Showing Tuchel has something of a rare quality- calmness plus confidence, and connection with his players.
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07.05.2026
Emmy Sasipornkarn
dw.com
See pictures and video of the 150h anniversary celebrations in the US for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration has the immortal words of Jefferson-
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Not just Washington DC and many places in the US, but also the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and across Europe and Asia, Latin America the Declaration has created the Modern World and the Democracies that we know today. The list is long from Germany and Japan that adopted these ideas to India and many nations of Asia, many nations in Africa and Latin America, all inspired by Thomas Jefferson's words. As Jefferson himself borrowed from the European writers of the Enlightenment this means it is a European experiment also, and in Asia an Indian, Japanese experiment also- futuristic in every way, daring and bold, and with the People in mind all the way. Every generation bearing a special responsibility to its children the next generation so that these values can continue to serve as a blessing to mankind. People tend to criticize the founders for aspirational views yet it should be remembered that in all of Asia, billions of people saw a lot to learn and a lot to gain from these aspirational views as they built the Modern World in the 1950's across Asia on these principles and ideas. This is also true of Latin America and Africa. The men on Mount Rushmore were truly unique, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt, and it is our task to continue the work they gave most of their life for.
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Norway 2-1 against Brazil World Cup Soccer to enter round of 16 with 2 Haaland goals. Brazil failed to impress as Norway had most of the ball possession. Norway's goalkeeper Hyland made 4 brilliant saves to make it difficult for Brazil to score. Brazil's one goal came in the 98th minute when a Norwegian player was given a yellow card for elbowing a Brazilian player and Neymar made a penalty kick. Without that Brazil would have lost 2-0 after Haaland scored twice. Brazilian player Vinicius Jr. was hailed in the media but could do little, and Carlo Ancelotti as coach could not come up with any ideas to change the game. The entire World Cup in 2026 is different because of the way smaller nations have played. Nations such as Cabo Verde have held firm, Germany was defeated by Paraguay, Italy did not even make it to the round of 32 losing to Bosnia. The loss of Brazil leaves only France with Mbappe, Argentina with Messi, and England with Kane standing. US faces Belgium on Monday July 6, 2026. Argentina barely stayed on when Messi scored in overtime against Cabo Verde, nearly losing. Only the French team has played consistently. Spain meets Portugal on Monday. No one knows how it will turn out.
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07.05.2026
RELEVANT
RELEVANT MAGAZINE
July 4th for the 250th of America was celebrated in the Badlands of North Dakota under Mount Rushmore and the carvings of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, the presidents who defined this Nation. "There is a silence over the Badlands and the whole universe over Kansas was still by the whisper of a prayer," these are the opening lines of the Song of the Badlands by Rich Mullins. Senator Cramer of North Dakota said these lines with much emotion as he opened the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Meduro, North Dakota for America 250th on July 4th. This is the region under God's skies, land stretching out forever under the sky in stillness, almost desolate till the sun rises and it all comes to life. The region Teddy Roosevelt went to as a young person for healing in the 1880's (1884-1887) after the loss of his mother and first wife within days. Relevant Magazine shows in this description of the North Dakota territory what the place does in inviting prayer. TR then took this silence and this prayer into the vast project of building America as the leader of the nations of the world by 1900 and the turn of the century. This is the inspiration for America on the 250th, this July 4th.
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