Welcome back to the World Cup Weekly! After what was an absolutely jam-packed day of football yesterday, we now have quite a bit of clarity as it relates to this summer’s tournament:

More: Here’s a full look at the 48-team field in all its glory. 🏆

ii. Besides what we’re covering in the newsletter today, we’ve also got Rog and Rory Smith recapping all of yesterday’s finals later on YouTube and wherever you get your pods. Make sure to check that out this afternoon. 📺

iii. ICYMI, we announced a new live show this week. On May 12, we’re heading to the City of Brotherly Love (and cheesesteaks) for Men in Blazers Live from Philly, presented by Verizon. Rog will take the stage with some very special guests for a night of making memories through football. Come raise a glass. 🍻

iv. There were so, so many great goals yesterday, but these three stand above the rest:

🇨🇩 A finish five decades in the making. DR Congo are headed to their first World Cup since 1974, thanks to Burnley's Axel Tuanzebe scoring this 100th-minute winner.

🇨🇿 Not quite as dramatic, but this finish from Lyon midfielder Pavel Šulc for Czechia should be studied and taught in schools.

🇿🇦 The best of the bunch, however, might’ve been from a friendly in Cape Town where South Africa’s Mbekezeli Mbokazi unleashed the cleanest strike of a football you will see all week.

v. Lastly, you tell us. Which of these Scandinavian fanbases is more likely to strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams this summer:

🇳🇴 Norway’s perfectly in-sync battalion of viking rowers?
OR
🇸🇪 The Swedish faithful’s ever-increasing army of Banes?

Cheers,
Tommy Stewart, Jacob Schneider & Max Bonem

PS - Seven words for you: Pelé playing football on a baseball field. That is all. ⚾️

Italy Will Sit Out a Third Consecutive World Cup 🇮🇹

After losing on penalties to Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday, four-time World Cup winners Italy will spend the summer at home with their curtains closed suffering crippling FOMO. The last time Italy played a World Cup match was when Luis Suárez tried to bite a chunk out of Giorgio Chiellini in 2014, and with an Italian team not winning the Champions League since 2010, we’re witnessing the slow decline of what was traditionally European football’s strongest flag-bearer. It felt appropriate that Wisconsin-born, former USMNT player, Esmir Bajraktarević (more on him below), scored Bosnia’s winning penalty to send his country to North America this summer for their second-ever World Cup and first in 12 years. Bosnia captain Edin Džeko said Gennaro Gattuso’s side were “scared” before the match, but nothing can prepare this talented squad for the fear their own fervent fans and media will strike into them as they spend the next four years overanalyzing this “third apocalypse” of failure.

More: The joy felt in Bosnia and Herzegovina last night captured in one image.

Welcome to the Party: Sweden, Türkiye & Czechia 🙌

There will be an Italian legend at this summer’s tournament, though. Gattuso’s former teammate Vincenzo Montella takes an exciting Türkiye team to their first World Cup since 2002, where they’ll join the USMNT in Group D after beating Kosovo 1-0 yesterday. Sweden and Poland went blow for blow in a 3-2 classic that peaked with Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres scoring the most important goal of his career so far, an 88th-minute winner to send Graham Potter’s side into a dangerous Group F alongside the Netherlands and Japan. Czechia will return to the World Cup for the first time in 20 years after beating Denmark 3-1 on penalties, which might teach the Danes to think twice about doing a kit launch before securing qualification. 

Democratic Republic of Congo & Iraq Round Out the Field 🎉

DR Congo defeated Jamaica 1-0 in a 120-minute thriller in the first intercontinental playoff final yesterday, becoming the 10th African nation in this year’s 48 as they return to the world stage for the first time in 52 years. The Leopards last participated in the WC in 1974, when they competed as Zaire, and join Group K with Portugal, Uzbekistan, and Colombia. Iraq also secured a World Cup berth last night, sealing their return to the tournament after a 40-year absence by defeating Bolivia, 2-1, in the final playoff of the March window. They’ll play in Group I with Norway, France and Senegal this summer.

Was anyone surprised by the way the U.S. went down 2-0 to Portugal last night? Yes, we had our moments in the first half hour but were woefully unclinical – the best chances fell to the feet of Christian Pulisic, who has not scored for the United States since 2024! Portugal barely had to raise their game from light training mode to do us. The quality of finishing unfurled by Roberto Martínez’s Ronaldo-less squad, and the rampaging Belgians before that, was the starkest difference between us and them. Our naive American football, prone to lack of focus that was instantly punished, is the other.

But the most numbing hangover from this woeful window was that the anger and disappointment that the fanbase used to feel in defeat has burned off. We almost expect it. The sense of hope that used to reign supreme has evaporated watching this team, who have now lost a startling eight straight times against European opponents. We simply adopt the position, which is the most un-American truth of all. 

I will write more about this in Friday’s newsletter when the smoke has cleared, but our post-whistle show with Clint Dempsey was both mournful and joyful. Your questions were actually uplifting and wonderful. Watch it here. -ROG

Visa Issues Posing Challenges for Foreign Fans 🚫

Senegalese football fans have labeled the United States’ World Cup visa restrictions a “disgrace,” as the African nation is one of five countries in the field of 48 this summer that are set to deal with travel constraints. President Trump has issued two separate proclamations over the past year relating to travel bans for citizens of respective countries around the world, citing security concerns as the reason. Along with Senegal, Tunisia, Iran, the Ivory Coast and Haiti will be subjected to differing restrictions. Players, coaches and necessary team staff are exempt, but fans, spectators and extended family members of the teams will not have it as easy. Individuals could face up to a $15,000 visa bond to enter the U.S., which would be refunded after their travels conclude, and is required for passport holders to enter the country legally under B-1 or B-2 visas.

More: Guess why everyone’s favorite DR Congo fan wasn’t able to attend yesterday’s final in Mexico.

Amnesty: World Cup in the USA Is a Human Rights Risk 🪧

Amnesty International has declared that the forthcoming tournament risks becoming a “stage for repression” amid what they describe as a “human rights crisis in the United States.” FIFA, meanwhile, has stated that this summer’s tournament will be an event where everyone “feels safe, included and free to exercise their rights,” but Amnesty’s 36-page report says otherwise. Within it, details of strict immigration enforcement, mass deportations and reports of unlawful arrests by armed and masked ICE agents working under the jurisdiction of the current administration were laid out.

This, of course, isn’t the first time Amnesty has raised such concerns at the world’s largest football tournament. In Russia in 2018, they published a report highlighting human rights concerns surrounding forced labor and anti-LGBTQ laws ahead of the competition, while shortly after the 2022 edition in Qatar, the organization highlighted FIFA’s responsibility in illegal labor practices and human rights violations at the tournament.

Esmir Bajraktarević’s winning penalty yesterday was a moment years in the making. His family escaped the Bosnian War in the early 1990s, and arrived as refugees in Appleton, Wis. in 2001. At 16, he joined the New England Revolution Academy and made his USMNT debut at 18 in 2024. However, just six months later, Bajraktarević filed a one-time switch to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina after their federation came calling, and soon thereafter left MLS to sign with Dutch big boys PSV Eindhoven.

Now, just months out from the World Cup, the 21-year-old has become a regular starter for the Eredivisie’s top side and secured his home country's spot in this summer’s tournament. As Bajraktarević told a journalist in 2024, “I’m very proud of where I’m from… It means a lot to me. I was raised in a Bosnian culture, so it’s everything.” Something tells us that Bosnian fans might feel the same way about you, Esmir.

More: Watch the exact moment Bajraktarević sent Bosnia through to the World Cup. This is what international football is all about.

As is tradition, we’re wrapping up today with a bit of trivia. So, without further ado: Name the past three Golden Boot winners at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Email us with your answers for a chance to win a much-coveted MiB patch!

The inaugural winner from last week is Amelia Graytock, who was the first person to answer that Uruguay defeated Argentina 4-2 in the first men’s World Cup final in 1930. Amelia, expect that patch in the mail soon!

👋 We’ll see you again tomorrow. In the meantime, keep sending your stories and questions to [email protected].

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