INTERNATIONAL RESCUE?
It’s the international break but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. There are, of course, crunch playoffs for the Geopolitics World Cup – if anyone actually wants to be there – in Europe and over in Mexico. But for the rest, this is a chance to rip up the rulebook and play whoever the hell they like. Those heading to North America in the summer have to keep things semi-serious. England have got Wembley friendlies against Uruguay and Japan. Fine. Brazil are in the USA USA USA to play France and Croatia. Check. The defending champions, Argentina, had their Finalissima against Spain in Qatar cancelled because of the threat of rogue missiles and have scheduled friendlies against anyone that was available, namely Mauritania (115th in the world) and Zambia (a lofty 91st). Spain clearly had a better agent and have booked Serbia and Egypt. But these are a mere sideshow to the Fifa Series 2026, a set of village fetes dotted across the globe, pitting nations from different continents against each other in four-team tournaments.
This is the second edition of the Fifa Series – how can it live up to 2024, eh? – which Gianni Infantino himself has deigned to say “is about unlocking development potential for players, coaches and fans, while promoting football’s universality and diversity through meaningful matches”. Finally, the development potential us fans have been crying out for. Fortunately none of these mini-tournaments are being hosted by a country that is bombing one of its fellow participants. Puerto Rico is the stage for the Fifa Series curtain-raiser as the US Virgin Islands take on American Samoa on Tuesday. Puerto Rico, coached by the Gainsborough Trinity legend Charlie Trout, get their tournament under way against Guam later in the evening. Spot the link there. Focus then turns to Rwanda on Wednesday with the blockbuster double-header of Aruba v Macau and Tanzania v Liechtenstein in Kigali. “We want to have more extended spells in possession,” cried the Liechtenstein skipper Nicolas Hasler this week, so hopefully it’s worth the flight, vaccination checks and anti-malaria medication for a bit of keep-ball on the edge of the Tanzania box. Estonia are also on their way to Kigali to renew their age-old rivalry with Kenya. Grenada or buoyant hosts Rwanda await in the final.
And if you like big lists of fixtures there’s so much more the Fifa Series has to offer. There’s China v Curaçao in Sydney. Don’t forget the Solomon Islands v Bulgaria in Jakarta. Auckland’s Eden Park will host Cape Verde v Chile. Set your clocks for Venezuela v Trinidad & Tobago in Uzbekistan. We’re not making these up. In the space of a few days, St Kitts and Nevis’s Ruben Freeman will swap Sporting Club Inkbarrow’s Sands Road (1,000 seats) in England’s eighth tier for the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium (77,000 seats) in Indonesia. “By connecting nations through competition, the Fifa Series aims to strengthen the game at every level – bringing local communities to the global stage,” gushes Infantino about his latest creation. Kuwait and Oman have had to pull out of their trips to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan because of, in (large) part, the consequences of the actions of Fifa’s peace prize winner. Away from Fifa-sanctioned mix-and-matching, Haiti and Iceland are an unlikely couple in a Toronto friendly. The void caused by the absence of Genoa or Sampdoria fixtures at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris can be filled by going along to Algeria v Guatemala on Friday night. Have you had enough now?
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Luke McLaughlin at 8pm (GMT) for updates on Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea in the first leg of the Women’s Bigger Cup quarter-final at the Emirates.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We feel it’s an injustice, not just for us but all the others as well. I just feel really sad about it. I feel helpless and hopeless” – Manchester United fan Tony Riley, 76, reacts to news that he is among 1,100 supporters forced to move from his Old Trafford seat his family have held since just after the second world war because of cash-boosting corporate plans overseen by Big Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
After reading Peter Harris’s letter about his walk home from the football (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), I was inspired to find out more. I phoned up my local rambling society … but the guy just went on and on” – James Vortkamp-Tong.
I take it Peter has not enjoyed the pedestrian pathway from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to Seven Sisters underground. Two hours of woe followed by a race walk/jog down to closest tube station. Stunning” – Chris Brown.
Re: football’s capacity for generating Shakespearean quotes (yesterday’s letters). Presumably more than one striker, when bearing down on the Liverpool defence back in the late-2000s/early-2010s, would ask himself: ‘Is this a D Agger which I see before me?’” – Andy Korman.
In King Lear Act 1 Scene 4, the Bard remarks: ‘Nor tripped neither, you base football player.’ Clear proof that diving took place as early as 1605” – Max Maxwell.
If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day is … Max Maxwell. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here.
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