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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.
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.
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