Sean Jacobs in NYT: ‘But the continuous treatment of Iran is scandalous — that the team is permitted entry into the United States only a day before each match. Second, we could see in the France-Senegal match that the partial travel ban on Senegalese fans affected their support in the stadium. And though the official American broadcaster, Fox, is not a state broadcaster, its hydration break, which is basically an ad break, lines up well with Trumpism. The Spanish-speaking channels do not cut away for the water break.’

And: ‘Even mighty FIFA, which normally expels a soccer federation if the state interferes in football matters, bends to Trump.’

As well: ‘Watching England versus Croatia fighting like two punch-drunk boxers until England wore Croatia down, in a bar with no air-conditioning on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn — that’s football.’

Steamy sex? Steamy soccer.

Soccer proves that the end of capitalism is far away.

(a sf 2160)