Oliver Kahn:
"Three national team coaches have failed at the same point: Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick, and Julian Nagelsmann. Three different game plans. Three different leadership styles. When three coaches with different approaches always fail at the same point, the cause lies deeper.
One scene says more about this elimination than any statistic. When the penalty shootout went beyond 5 takers, you could see Joshua Kimmich looking for penalty takers. For me, that was the most revealing moment of this elimination. A top team doesn't look for volunteers at that moment. They have players who demand the ball
Germany doesn’t have a talent problem. This team has exceptional footballers. What they lack is the confidence to take responsibility in the biggest moment. Those who don’t take it may be protecting themselves from failure. But at the same time, they’re forfeiting the chance to make history
"We're arguing about who has to go now and pinning our hopes on the next savior instead of asking why we've been repeating the same patterns for years. We replace faces and call it change. But we avoid the real question: Are we still willing to pay the price that elite performance has always demanded?
The defining moment doesn't begin when you put on the national team shirt. It begins many years earlier, the moment a young player learns that responsibility isn't something you pass on to someone else, it's something you take on yourself
Talent gets you to the World Cup. Responsibility determines how long you stay there."
A comment from a Cristiano Ronaldo fan under Bruno Fernandes’ latest Instagram post:
🗣️ “Before stepping onto that pitch, remember the man who opened the door for all of you.
Remember that 19-year-old kid who cried after the Euro 2004 final defeat. While everyone else left the pitch, he stayed there, heartbroken, because wearing the Portugal shirt meant everything to him.
Remember the 2006 World Cup. When Portugal were knocked out by France in the semi-final, Cristiano was once again the one crying. He felt the weight of that badge more than anyone.
That young Cristiano is the reason so many people believed a Portuguese player could one day become the best in the world.
He made an entire generation dream.
He showed every child in Portugal that it was possible to reach the very top of football.
He put Portugal on the world football map.
For more than 20 years, he has carried this shirt, this badge and this nation on his shoulders.
He has fought every battle.
He has gone through every disappointment.
He has endured every criticism.
He has carried the expectations of an entire country.
And now...
This could be his last dance on football’s biggest stage.
So fight for him.
Run for him.
Leave everything on the pitch for him.
Create chances for him.
Pass him the ball.
Give him the farewell he deserves.
Because if Cristiano still had the legs, speed and power of his prime, he would not need anyone.
He would carry Portugal on his back once again and finish the job himself.
But this time, it is your turn to fight for him, just as he has fought for Portugal for more than 20 years.”
Why haven’t two of the greatest players of our era, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, spoken out or shown any reaction to the situation involving Vinícius Jr. and Claudio Prestiani — especially since one is Argentine and the other Portuguese?
"People did fight, way before my time, for us to be able to perform... and to be in 2026 talking about the same thing, it's tiring.
Thierry Henry and @MicahRichards share their experiences and frustrations about how far football still has to go to fight racism 👇
❝I am Italian, I feel Italian. My skin color may be different, but in this game, we are all the same. If you throw a banana at me, I will go to jail, because I will kill you.❞
— Mario Balotelli
🗣️ According to Tati Mantovani, Kylian Mbappé chose to speak first with the Brazilian press about the act of racism that Vinicius Jr. suffered, because Brazil needed to know what happened. 🇧🇷🇫🇷
And what is even more impressive about that is the Frenchman arrived speaking in Portuguese with her. 🇵🇹