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Backheel Breakfast: Sepp Blatter will never, ever go away
He will still be FIFA president after soccer is abolished.
Alessandro Della Bella/Getty Images
We’re stuck with Sepp Blatter forever. We know this. And yet, we allowed ourselves to believe that he might be defeated by Prince Ali. Then, despite being duped less than a week earlier, we allowed ourselves to believe that Blatter’s resignation was the end. Finally, we’d gotten rid of him!
Not so, according to Blatter. “I have not resigned,” said Blatter. “I put my mandate in the hands of an extraordinary congress.”
Why do we do this to ourselves?
In the news
I’m not going to spoil this spectacular Gonzalo Jara headline. Please click over. (ESPN FC)
Jara’s probably going to get axed by his club team over this. (Guardian)
Nigel De Jong has signed a three-year contract extension. (@acmilan)
Ghana paid a ball boy a $100k bonus at the World Cup. (BBC)
The Bundesliga schedule is out. First Klassiker is the first week of October. (Bundesliga)
Atlanta’s MLS team announced their lame team name. (SI)
You should be reading
Marcela Mora y Araujo on Lionel Messi and Gerardo Martino not yet meshing. (Guardian)
Michael Cox on Roberto Firmino needing a defined role at Liverpool. (ESPN FC)
Ian King on the three ages of fandom. (Two Hundred Percent)
Fun with transfer rumors
The section in which nothing should be taken seriously. It’s rumor season, so this section will be expanded, and as the summer rolls on, it will probably be bigger than the actual news section.
Manchester City think they’re in the lead for Paul Pogba. (Mirror)
But so do Barcelona. (Mail)
The Isco to Juve rumors are heating up again. (AS)
Which makes sense if this report that Juve have already sold Arturo Vidal is true. (Football Italia)
Morgan Schneiderlin is considering two offers, one from Man United. (ESPN FC)
United also apparently have a deal with Nico Gaitan. (Metro)
Real Madrid could buy Nicolas Otamendi as a Sergio Ramos replacement. (Marca)
Spurs are, somehow, getting their money back for Paulinho. (Standard)
Liverpool have upped their offer for Christian Benteke. (Telegraph)
Thursday’s games
Peru beat Bolivia in the Copa America quarters behind a Paolo Guerrero hat trick. (Guardian)
What to watch this weekend (click for listings, all times ET)
WWC: Germany vs. France (Friday, 4 p.m.) - Depending on who you ask, maybe the real World Cup final.
WWC: China vs. USA (Friday, 7:30 p.m.) - Who’s scared?
Copa America: Argentina vs. Colombia (Friday, 7:30 p.m.) - James vs. Messi. Should be a blast.
Euro U-21: Portugal vs. Germany (Saturday, 12 p.m.) - Watch the next generation of German footballing robots.
Euro U-21: Sweden vs. Denmark (Saturday, 3 p.m.) - Not sure how this happened, but cool!
WWC: Australia vs. Japan (Saturday, 4 p.m.) - Yikes, this timing. Mean to the participating countries.
Copa America: Brazil vs. Paraguay (Saturday, 5:30 p.m.) - Can Brazil get it done without Neymar?
WWC: England vs. Canada (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.) - Two teams who are excellent at failing to meet expectations and breaking their nation’s collective heart. Someone has to win, though.
MLS: NYCFC vs. Red Bulls (Sunday, 5 p.m.) - Based on the first game, this is a super legit and not contrived rivalry.
MLS: Timbers vs. Sounders (Sunday, 7 p.m.) - The rivalry that invented rivalries.
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