🚨🇯🇵 Thierry Henry: “Zion Suzuki Deserved a Big-Money Move After This World Cup”
“When a goalkeeper performs like that on the biggest stage in football, you stop calling it a good tournament—you call it a career-changing statement. Suzuki didn’t just make saves; he gave his team belief. Every time the pressure increased, he became calmer. That is the mentality top clubs pay a fortune for.”
“If I were one of Europe’s biggest clubs, I would already be on the phone. World Cups reveal players who are ready for the next level, and Suzuki has shown he belongs there. You cannot teach that composure, that presence, that courage in one-on-one situations. Those are qualities of a goalkeeper who is ready to compete for trophies.”
“For me, this tournament has increased his value enormously. He deserves a transfer to one of Europe’s elite clubs—not because of hype, but because he proved, under the brightest lights, that he can carry the responsibility. Perform like this at a World Cup, and the biggest clubs start watching. Perform like this consistently, and they start bidding.”
José Mourinho on Japan's substitutes constantly supporting their teammates:
🗣️ “Look at the players on the bench. Nobody is sitting with their heads down. Every single one of them is standing, shouting, encouraging and living every second of the game. That's not luck that's a winning mentality.”
“People always talk about tactics and talent, but they forget that trophies are built on unity. Japan are showing the world that the players not on the pitch can be just as important as the ones playing.”
“You don't build a team like this overnight. You build it through discipline, sacrifice and a culture where every player fights for the badge instead of fighting for themselves.”
“If every national team had this mentality, football would be a completely different game. This is what a real team looks like.”
Japan leaves this World Cup with its head held high. 🇯🇵 Against Brazil, the difference wasn’t talent or organization, it was squad depth.
In the second half, Japan no longer had the resources to sustain the same attacking pressure. A proud exit that highlights how far this team has come, while also showing the final step still needed to compete with the very best.
Ganbare Nippon 🇯🇵
People ask about my daily smoothie a lot, so here it is.
I use it to make it easier to get a meaningful amount of leafy greens, berries, healthy fat, fiber, and protein in one meal.
Mine usually has:
- 3 cups kale
- 2.5 cups blueberries
- 1/2 avocado
- 1 scoop protein powder
- beta-glucan fiber
Why these ingredients?
Kale gives me lutein, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin K1. Blueberries provide anthocyanin-rich polyphenols. I use avocado instead of banana because banana contains polyphenol oxidase, which can reduce some of the beneficial polyphenols in berries (and the avocado fat also improves absorption of carotenoids from the kale). I add beta-glucan for extra prebiotic fiber, LDL support, and its potential to help increase excretion of PFAS or "forever chemicals."
It’s just an easy way to build one meal around foods I know I want more of.
I broke down my entire recipe on @melrobbins podcast!
■한일 축구 격차가 너무 심해진 이유
무패로 조별리그를 통과한 일본, 탈락 위기에 몰려 다른 조 결과만 목 빠지게 바라보는 한국.
이번 월드컵에서 드러난 양국의 명암은 잔인할 만큼 선명함. 근데 이걸 홍명보 한 사람의 무능으로 환원하면 본질을 놓침. 격차의 원인은 시스템에 있음.
유럽 주요 8개 리그에서 뛰는 일본 선수는 62명, 한국은 13명. 5배 차이임. 프리미어리그는 일본 4명 대 한국 1명(황희찬), 분데스리가는 일본 15명 대 한국 4명. 벨기에 리그엔 일본 선수만 19명임. 세계 최고 무대에서 부대끼며 쌓은 경험의 총량이 애초에 다른 것임.
이 격차는 20년 전략의 산물임. 일본축구협회는 2005년에 이미 '2050년 월드컵 우승'을 목표로 박았음. 세계 경쟁력은 유럽 진출에서 나온다는 공감대를 협회·구단·선수가 공유했음.
J리그 구단은 거액 이적료를 양보하며 선수의 유럽행을 밀어줬고, 선수는 고액 연봉에 집착하지 않고 일단 도전장을 던졌음. 팀도 개인도 눈앞의 돈을 포기하고 미래에 베팅한 것.
이제는 지도자까지 손을 뻗음. 지난달 일본 주도로 AFC와 UEFA가 지도자 자격증 상호 인정 협약을 맺음. 일본 감독들이 유럽에서 자유롭게 일하며 선진 축구를 배우는 길이 열린 것임. 감독 개인의 인맥에 기대 단기 연수나 다녀오는 한국과는 차원이 다름.
한국은 손흥민이라는 세계적 자원을 가졌지만 그건 개인의 성취였음. 일본은 슈퍼스타 없이도 시스템으로 톱클래스를 양산하는 단계에 진입했음.
소수의 천재에 기대는 나라와, 천재가 없어도 굴러가는 나라. 격차는 거기서 갈림.
감독만 바꾼다고 풀릴 문제가 아님. 20년 전 일본이 그린 설계도를, 한국은 이제라도 그려야 함.
Chamath accused Sam Altman and Dario Amodei of running a three-act playbook where apocalyptic AI warnings were timed to fundraising rounds, not safety concerns.
If you think this is a fringe take then you are so wrong.
This is one of the most connected investors in Silicon Valley saying the quiet part out loud.
Act one: a lab needs money. So they seed the conversation with apocalyptic language. AI could end humanity. Regulation is urgent. The threat is real. The press runs it. Policymakers panic.
Act two: the agitators are now fully wound up. Critics of the other lab pile on. Their fundraising process gets complicated. Their model release gets scrutinized. The chaos benefits whoever started it.
Act three: the same lab that warned about extinction flips the narrative. Here comes the mythical new release. It will solve everything. It could also end the world. Investors clamor to get in before it does both.
Sam Altman said it himself in April. He called Anthropic's safety rhetoric fear-based marketing used to justify concentrating AI control among self-declared trustworthy companies. The CEO of the rival lab gave the same diagnosis.
Chamath called it deeply selfish.
His reasoning was simple.
These labs took the most important economic tool of our lifetime and wrapped it in their own personal agendas. Every person who could benefit from this technology watched the people building it turn it into a weapon for settling scores.
The doom cycle was never about safety.
It had a release schedule.
Watch the full show here on The Axios Show: https://t.co/rKZrmN9JFX
🇳🇴🤯 A remarkable World Cup coincidence: in 1994, Erik Thorstvedt, Alf-Inge Haaland and Gøran Sørloth were part of Norway’s squad at the World Cup in the United States. Thirty-two years later, at the 2026 World Cup in North America, their sons — Kristian Thorstvedt, Erling Haaland and Alexander Sørloth — are representing Norway on the same stage.