DoctorYtu

“what a glorious day for two remarkable young women. yes, it may be ‘only’ sport, but in that ‘only’ there can be found so much of human joy, despair, glory, disappointment, wonder and hope. a brief flicker of light in a dark world” — stephen fry slices it up and aces it nicely.

but let’s not go too fast and get ahead of ourselves. slow down a bit and listen to leylah: “i know on [september 11th] it's especially hard for new york and everyone around the united states. i just want to say that i hope i can be as strong and resilient as new york has been the past 20 years. thank you for always having my back — thank you for cheering for me. i love you new york and hope to see you next year.”

if you want bang for your buck, gerd müller is the way to go. dude was unimpressive and unspectacular, but he was utterly unstoppable.

a quick messi vs müller comparison: messi needed 69 games to score 91 goals for club and country in 2012, his annus mirabilis; müller only needed 60 to score his 85 for club and country in his annus mirabilis, 1972. now you do the math.

but here's the bigger take: when messi had his awesome year, he only won la copa del rey. müller, on the other hand, the bundesliga and euro '72 in his awesome year. in that euro, by the way, he scored twice in the semi-final and twice in the final — that right there says a lot about meeting the moment. and we haven't even talked about the '74 world cup, where he scored the winner to win it all — i mean, what more do you want?!

"der bomber really was the bomb."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOC1TS9A1I

— charles bukowski

i guess the answer to the messi situation at this point is that there are no great answers. we just have to move on.

speaking of which: dani alves 43, leo messi 38: that's their titles and trophies count, if you're into keeping score.

and on that note: brasil became the fifth country to win back-to-back olympic gold medals in fútbol, after britain (1908, 1912), uruguay (1924, 1928), hungary (1964, 1968), and argentina (2004, 2008).

(once upon a time in barcelona, it was nothing but the best.)

usa! usa!! usa!!!

https://twitter.com/USMNT/status/1422219783815143425

talk to me, red.

https://twitter.com/FOXSoccer/status/1422255237105020929

speaking of finding happiness between the lines, today is national coloring book day. i am going to try to step my game up and try to make my childhood dreams come true. it'll be like therapy without a therapist, the therapist says.

"rara vez me pierdo de vista". — paul valéry, filósofo francés

fue más foto que película: más empuje que fútbol.

the game itself? let me put it to you this way: i will not be watching it again any time soon. not any time ever, actually. not even as i get older and as time goes by. i mean, what the hell for? they kicked each other (41 fouls! 9 yellow cards!) and played no soccer for most of the match. and then listen to this: argentina defender gonzalo montiel had a better player rating (close to an 8.0) than brazil's main man neymar (closer to a 7.0). that right there ought to tell you the whole story. still, i tip my hat to neymar for at least attempting to provide some futebol and for giving us the best part of the final — the highlight, if you will: seeing him come over and hug messi as if they were brothers. that was it. that was the highlight. the hug takes it all.

meanwhile, you will be happy to know that at least one ecuadorian won bigtime at copa américa: rául palacios montero, an ecuadorian from guayaquil, created the gold medal design that the copa américa winner got.

https://www.eluniverso.com/deportes/futbol/estadio-monumental-de-barcelona-sporting-club-inspiro-el-diseno-de-la-medalla-de-la-copa-america-2021-nota/

now, on to today's game: MAKE WEMBLEY GREAT AGAIN vs THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE.

the italians are chanting OLÉ… OLÉ, OLÉ, OLÉ… SPINA, SPINA… for their injured teammate leonardo spinozzola and what they're dubbing the SPINALE!

and on the other side of the pond, it says here that the top five tunes on the uk itunes song chart earlier this week were as follows: #5, fat les, vindaloo; #4, atomic kitten, southgate, you’re the one (football’s coming home again); #3, neil diamond, sweet caroline; #2, david baddiel, frank skinner and the lightning seeds, three lions; and #1, ed sheeran, bad habits.

i just hope we get better football than the fútbol we got last night.

“and not to burst anyone's bubble, but can a tournament — in this case, the eurocup —  truly be considered legitimate if it doesn’t embrace the entertainment and craziness of a third-place match — like the one we got in south america?” —  funny fútbol fan from afar does it again, this time alluding to the copa américa 3rd-place match between colombia and perú, which was full of fireworks and was the best game yet!

¡que viva el fútbol!

¡por favor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cQlVww0zKo

and the second biggest game of the day today is england vs ukraine: it’s coming home!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJqimlFcJsM

se viene un súper sábado sensacional.

i could go with ferguson’s “football, bloody hell” or radiohead’s “how to disappear completely”, but instead i’ll keep it positive and go with luis enrique: “i'll tell you the headline: enjoy football."

that is it, my man. THAT. IS. IT.

and it’s only going to get better!

ladies and gentlemen… 

i give you the weekend — and beyond!

 "now we're going to find out more about every team. there is going to be a lot of twists and turns. there is going to be big performances and low performances depending on where you play, if you're in a neutral venue or in front of your fans. i think we are going to get a very inconsistent tournament from this point on" — roberto martínez, belgium's brain and belgium's coach.

 "we have certainly popped that bottle of cava, therefore we are delighted — we are pleased the fans and players have had a good time. now it's time for us to get another bottle and see if we can pop that, too" — luis enrique, spain's coach, still thinking bottles pop and bottles up.

 "england's path to conquering the euro (not) 2020 looks a bit daunting, but it's pretty much the same for all the remaining teams. in fact, i'd say it's worse for the other 15 teams, some of whom will have to face the eventual winner" — hahaJAJA™ — funny football fan does it again — from afar!

 ¡que viva el fúbol!

¡por favor!

it never gets old.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmE-jz_Xx2Y

"this was nothing big. i think you saw the tv pictures. this is all over; this belongs to the past. i'm not crying for yellow or red cards for such actions. he nibbled, i think, a little bit on me." — paul pogba

https://twitter.com/XaviSol_/status/1404891600371687424

(hahaJAJA™)

(talk about happy hump day!)