The Beautiful Game, Beautifully Told

Delirious De-javu: The three stars shine again

The World Cup rarely offers such neat symmetry. This almost feels scripted. And if it is, I am loving it. Last week, Messi, Mbappe and Haaland scored a total of seven goals within hours of each other. This time they scored a total of six,…

Unshaken Underdogs Share a Moment of Free-kick Magic

It’s a funny old game. The mighty La Roja tore away Saudi Arabia’s resistance to end the game as a contest within the first half an hour and without needing to enter second gear, but this day will still be rightfully remembered as a day of…

World Cup favourites ranked after the First Round

The eight most likely teams to win the 2026 World Cup, according to betting odds, are France, Spain, England, Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands. While there are a few other sides, like Morocco, Japan, Croatia and…

The Draw Heard around the World (Cup)

The opening game in Group C between Brazil and Morocco was one of the most anticipated match-ups in the bloated group phase of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The prospects of Brazil in this tournament, quite uncharacteristically, seem way less…

The most fitting World Cup opening match imaginable

What can be the perfect opening match in a World Cup tournament marked by such ponderous build-up and insatiable greed in an era which has become synonymous with maximisation of attention-grabbing tactics to the active detriment of the…

World Cup 2026: Five pre-tournament predictions

For a sport that is so meticulously data-driven at the top level, football still remains wonderfully alive for diverse analytic opinions because the data only tells the facts and omits the context that provides the story. And in…