Erling Haaland (and friend) may have been the big winner at the 2026 World Cup.

We’re happy to welcome back Ken Early (@kenearly.bsky.social) from the Second Captains podcast for a futbol chat.

Ken was in North America for this summer’s World Cup, so we talk about how he found things in mainly the US and Mexico (only a stop over north of the 48th parallel). We discuss city center venues vs their suburban cousins and the commute those require, stadium concessions, being trapped in fishbowl-like enclosed press boxes and seeking relief from them and more. What were Ken’s best and worst matchday experiences?

We also chat about what Ken got up to away from the matches, including stumbling into a political convention in Houston and going to a gun club in South Florida. Also, the saturation of gambling and predictive markets in American sports and other sporting ills.

It’s early in the new Premier League season, but there was some analysis of the start of the campaign, including, Arsenal’s win over Chelsea the day before recording. Can Chelsea or a Pep-Less Manchester City thwart an Arsenal repeat?

There’s also a brief mention of the Katie Taylor fight over the weekend just past in Dublin and a brief cameo from a Second Captains listener favorite, Ken’s dog Ted. There was no time for any popular culture chat, so hopefully next time we can have some movie talk with Ken.

As with our other European guests, scheduling is always complicated, so thanks to Ken for being so patient in finally being able to record this show.

Reading The Blizzard in, well, not a Blizzard but a Snowstorm, in 2016.

It’s time for another bucket list guest, after years of on-again, off-again attempts, I’m happy to welcome polymath/head in a har Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) to the podcast.

Of course, Jonathan has a new book to discuss and this time around, it’s The Power and the Glory, a history of the World Cup. We talk about a number of the World Cups, including France 38, Mexico 70 and Mexico 86, USA 94 and the upcoming tournament this year in Canada, the USA and Mexico. We discuss how politics has always been a part of the event and how to balance the ethics of attending this year’s matches versus wanting to see a World Cup match an hour from your house.

There’s also chat about popular culture and the World Cup, including Fassbender’s The Marriage of Maria Braun, Miracle of Bern and the not-yet-released in the USA, Saipan, about the Mick McCarthy/Roy Keane showdown in the Ireland team at the 2002 World Cup.

We also discuss soccer in the US, the early success of the sport in the 1920s, the NASL, college soccer and I sneak in a plug for the MISL and the Baltimore Blast.

There’s also time to discuss many of Jonathan’s projects, including the Blizzard magazine, Guardian Football Weekly and the now-approaching 100 episodes Libero Podcast and how it got started and where it will be moving forward.

We end the show on an odd note, as I wanted to chat to noted Detective devotee Wilson about some Victorian and Edwardian detectives like Dr. John Thorndyke and Max Carrados, but Johnathan did not know them. Hopefully, some of the links I passed along after the show may give him an appreciation.

Episode 10 - Uncle Slam

Episode 4 - World in Motion