FootBiz newsletter #177: Julian Alvarez uses World Cup stage to demand a transfer

Gianni Infantino likes to say that “football unites the world”, and he is, of course right.

The key distinction being that football, rather than FIFA, does so.

Through our early World Cup travels and also soaking up the videos of what is happening elsewhere (Koreans in Guadalajara, Scots in Boston) it is a worthy reminder of what was missing from the 2022 edition.

The curse of American exceptionalism has convinced Americans that this is down to the tournament being in America, rather than realising that this is simply how tournaments are. I think back to some of the greatest scenes during the 2014 World Cup, not just on Copacabana beach but also in cities like Belo Horizonte, where 100,000 Colombians (very few with tickets) travelled across South America to witness their team in its first World Cup since 1998. Though that was partly because their opener, vs Greece, fell on general election weekend and alcohol was forbidden for sale in Colombia.

No such issues on the streets of Belo Horizonte, I can assure you.

The sheer number of Peruvians and Argentines in Moscow genuinely stunned much of the travelling media, given so few Western nations saw fans travel in significant numbers, and the 2006 World Cup in Germany and 2016 European Championships in France continue to stand out as the best in terms of atmosphere and public fun.

But the common thread is this: the World Cup brings together people from countries that would otherwise never meet, possibly in places they’d never otherwise travel to, and the most common result is a brilliant party atmosphere.

Sitting as we do in the first two weeks of the group stage, we are right in the middle of the best bit as far as the fun goes. As the football gets more serious, whittling teams down to the more recognised elite with a couple of surprise packages providing great stories, the fans start to thin out and the focus moves away from the drinking in the streets and towards the trophy itself.

For now, though, you can sit down and watch France vs Iraq (as I type) and just think about how crazy it must be for these Iraqis to be on American soil given, y’know, everything that’s happened (twice) in the last couple of decades.

Iran’s situation this tournament has been well documented, but much less has been said about Iraq, a country who paid the price for George W Bush’s daddy issues and the overwhelming power of the USA’s military industrial complex.

The Iraqis have come very close to qualifying multiple times but only qualified for a World Cup once before, in 1986, and they lost every game. Given the quality of their group, they were always likely to continue that run this time around and two defeats from two thus far, plus Senegal needing to win that final group game, suggests they may end up with six defeats from six in their World Cup history.

Yet as the teams came out of the tunnel in Philadelphia, the Iraqi diaspora in the stadium not just cheering but roaring with an almost unimaginable patriotic fervour, it brings home how surreal and unique the World Cup is.

Lots of news below the paywall today, so get stuck in.

Table of Contents

• Alvarez blows up Atletico’s position

• Man United secure land for new stadium

• Italian federation chooses new president

• Ipswich hire O’Neil

• Lampard signs three-year extension

• AC Milan restructure leadership

• Krosche stays with Eintracht

• Chelsea fetch £10m+ for Maresca