Bretton

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Cristiano Ronaldo struggles, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham arrive in style, and an Ivory Coast is arrested for alleged fixing offences.

Your daily World Cup briefing, from The Athletic.

🎙️ @megan_feringa

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Sydney Lohmann is equipped with the perfect ice-breaker as she settles into her new surroundings.

Manchester City’s new signing was the subject of Jill Scott’s iconic Euro 2022 final expletive-laden upbraiding after a late tackle.

“I never knew it was such a big thing,” the German midfielder tells The Athletic’s @megan_feringa.

“I’m part of English football history,” she jokes.

She says the relationship between her and the former England international is more than amicable. Scott has since canonised the rant in a rib tattoo; Lohmann received a welcome video from Scott upon her signing for City.

“I want them to know me as a player,” she says. "But, hey, I mean, it’s good they know me from that. They can watch me when I play now.”

🔗 https://t.co/xsHqGXBERx

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Olivia Smith was always going to be women’s football’s first £1m player this summer. But nobody was meant to know.

Inside Smith’s deal, incl Arsenal’s long-term interest, Sleger’s sway + Liverpool’s faith in making this a “Coutinho moment”. @ArtdeRoche

https://t.co/rI3K2HRkAa

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Piece w Olivia Smith + her dad, Sean, from a booth in Liverpool last Nov. Olivia was a fresh WSL face then. But discussing her journey, the hardships, the love alongside Sean, there was no denying she would transform the game one day. @TheAthleticFC

https://t.co/8XjBxlidcY

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Excl: All agreements signed between Liverpool and Arsenal for world record £1.1m transfer of Canada forward Olivia Smith. Personal terms agreed. Deal set to be announced imminently. History in the making.

Full story @TheAthleticFC

https://t.co/qCgu1Bgc9l

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Midnight. Eve of Wales’ final game. Yma o Hyd fills a karaoke bar despite Andrea Bocelli avowing ‘time is up’. Midnight 24hrs later. Wales family section sings Yma o Hyd in an empty stadium. Song is how Wales brace for battle. It's also how they leave it. https://t.co/P8w5n2m606

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

1992: 3 women pen a letter to FAW gen sec Alun Evans lobbying for a women's national team. 33yrs later: Switzerland.

No one has seen the letter since. Rumours said Aberystwyth. I convinced @TheAthleticFC to let me go letter hunting.

This is the tale.

https://t.co/avZ1lDiuMK

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Lucerne was the perfect setting for Wales’ first match: a city surrounded by imposing, confounding heights that, before kick-off, felt scalable. Memories of Euro 2016 abounded. It was giddy, real, tear-stained. The first steps of a long-awaited journey.

https://t.co/MOFhnNuRMS

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Olivia Smith was pursued by Chelsea, PSG & Brighton. But Matt Beard’s 4th-place WSL finish w/ Liverpool last season & winning MOTY triumphed.

“I saw what he did w/ the team, I knew I’d be a better player. Matt doesn’t wear a mask, which I love.”

https://t.co/h1kDYfDaN2

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

On 3 Sept 2024 missiles struck Poltava, Ukraine, killing 59. 24hrs later Vorskla Poltava won a WCL qualifying semi-final in shirts bearing a broken heart.

'We cannot speak about women's football development, only staying alive.'

@TheAthleticFC

https://t.co/AMPOaUwqbU

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

2003 is remembered in Wales as a year of footballing hope. For Wales Women it was the year they all but ceased to exist.

The untold story of the Euro 2005 team pulled from qualifying due to budget cuts as history beckons for Wales Women 20 years later. https://t.co/QvsxtWp7OW

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

First day at @TheAthleticFC so here’s why I joined: because for 15 years I claimed I hated football.

A story of under-7s rejection, unrequited love, an Aaron Ramsey brace and a re-claiming. https://t.co/Z8VHW1dchK

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

When Brian Flynn texts you that he “still has the keys to the Racecourse”, know that he is speaking in the most literal sense.

Wonderful weekend w the nicest man in football for a work in progress w/⁦@StDavidsPress⁩ x

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

McElhenney left the locker room revelry & greeted those on the pitch: players, players' kids, doc crew, staff. The only A-lister there he didn't act it. 2024/25: the 'real' test. Not everything will be perfect. It's not now. For a moment it felt it could. https://t.co/i7i9fD65G1

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Wrexham’s last goal in front of Kop: 2008, 3-1 loss, already relegated from the football league.

1st goal back in front of Kop: 2023, 2-0 win, third in League Two, 12,000+ crowd.

If you wanted a visible representation of the club’s shift in trajectory…

https://t.co/vDVZFL4omc

[Bretton @brettferinga]

@leroybasslines @megan_feringa Not sure if that’s it but I won’t lie, I do enjoy making fun of her American/Welsh slang

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

happy Thursday, if you woke up w/ a desire to start your morning with a cheerful, just-under-six-min doc on Wrexham (who doesn’t?), check out https://t.co/HmPuaBy4qK.

My American lilt is scattered amongst the better Welsh accents as I wax lyrical & shoehorn in the word soccer.

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

'Of everything the new owners have given the club (&the list runs long), a bona fide platform to showcase the community’s interminable football appetite — men’s & women’s — is one of the more subtle yet powerful ones'

A piece on Wrexham & potential.

https://t.co/UznDgDeMMk

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

Mom, Dad, I made it, I'm a footie writer and not the American kind (I will not be addressing my USA prediction)

[Megan Feringa @megan_feringa]

What a day hosting Soccertown USA w/ @TomMcCabe5, @the_mevs & @jessemarsch. The history of US soccer is incredibly rich. A week to USA v Wales, it was fantastic to revisit it. Cheers @gwylwalgoch. And shoutout to @GemmaOwenWxmAFC for the peek into Wrexham👀