For those whose Deutsch is as bad as mine, "The Fussball Channel" podcast did an interview with Schuster this week in English. Nothing revelatory, but he comes across as a mensch and a Steve Kerr type -- emotionally intelligent and a great communicator.
On the most recent Gegenpressing pod, Manu Veth (BC-based German-Canadian who works for Transfermarkt):
"Fantastic young player ... one of the up and coming second division players to watch.... You know, Freiburg together with Bayern Munich are in my opinion the two best run German clubs.... The fact that they have signed Ben Farhat now, before he becomes unaffordable... to get that deal done now is just fantastic business by Freiburg.
"The kid is going to be a star: book it. Absolute star."
Hey All, Tried to pay for my application yesterday. The web site said "authentication failed." (I contacted my credit card company this morning, they said it had been approved on their end.) I have tried going back in to pay again, with a different card and a different browser, and to pay anew, and I keep getting the same error message:
I can't seem to break out of the trap. Advice?
Edit -- not sure the automods let me post the screen cap. It says "This transaction has already been finalized and no further payment attempts may be made against it. To pay another fee please start here [hyperlink]." It also states that payment has NOT been approved. Trying "start here" just takes me back here. They also suggest I can try again [hyperlink]. That also just brings me back here.
Some football/soccer friends and I were doing the inquest on the US men's national team at the World Cup, and focused on youth development (that is, the talent pipeline). We noted the need for vastly more pickup play in the States -- to develop as both people and players kids really benefit from self-organized, low-stakes, fun playing spaces. Yet pickup sports play is declining in the US.
There are other things contributing to this decline, but one strand I argued is that car-centric development hamstrings the likelihood that American kids play pickup matches because 1) reduced population density reduces the likelihood of getting a critical mass player pool within workable walking (or transit if it exists) distance; 2) needing to be driven to and from the pitch requires parental collaboration and removes exactly the spontaneous, kid-driven activity that helps kids grow. I didn't focus on it, but cost of transportation can obviously also deter pickup -- if transit exists but is expensive, or if your parent can't drive you due to work or not owning a car, you probably can't make it to the pitch.
Am I right or wrong? What am I missing?
Not a ton new here for this sub, but Manuel Veth talking up Manzambi and tries to read between the lines to hope JM be back shortly. Manu is a German-Canadian journalist at Transfermarkt based near Vancouver so he's seen quite a bit of Switzerland, and was tearing his hair out earlier in the WC trying to understand why Manzambi wasn't starting. Full disclosure, as a subscriber I'm not sure what is or isn't behind the paywall at Gegenpressing so apologies if this is sequestered.
https://gegenpressing.substack.com/p/why-you-need-to-pay-attention-to
Meine Damen und Herren, the USA's most walkable tri-state area. This made me laugh out loud. https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2026/may/12/world-cup-2026-is-it-possible-to-walk-to-metlife-stadium-from-new-york-city-video
