MainTain

“Teetering between enlightened and insanity.”

[The Athletic | Football @TheAthleticFC]

Xavi on Lionel Messi's first training session with the Barcelona first-team:

"I still remember that first training session. The way he controlled the ball, the way he dribbled, the way he passed, the way he linked up with his team-mates… he could do it all. He was a phenomenon.

"I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Nor could the other senior players — Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes, Deco, Ronaldinho. We just looked at each other, as if to say, ‘This isn’t normal.’ Leo was only 16 and he was pretty much the best player at the club, immediately.

"He was a hard-working boy and a fierce competitor, incredibly aggressive both on and off the ball, very hungry. Whenever he went forward, there was no showing off, no fancy footwork; he was direct, a one-track mind. My goodness, the way that kid attacked the goal… it was a rare sight.

"Even at Barcelona, you didn’t see that sort of talent."

FREE TO READ 🔗 https://t.co/08ORJQFjHc

[Iran Embassy SA @IraninSA]

The incompetent @FIFAWorldCup host, USA, is failing to fulfill its responsibilities properly.

We are guests of @FIFAcom, and it is FIFA’s responsibility to ensure that visas for all members are issued.

US Denies Visas to Iran National Football Team Officials Ahead of World Cup

https://t.co/sXw74OzmIt

[Dan @RetroShirtsFC]

just came across this on tiktok

[Belly of the Beast @bellybeastcuba]

Marco Rubio posted a video to Cubans claiming there’s no oil blockade. Needless to say, it didn’t land well with Cubans who are living through blackouts that became far worse after the U.S. began stopping oil from getting to the island.

[Antifa_Ultras @ultras_antifaa]

Mark Bonnick explains how #Arsenal sacked him for opposing the genocide in Gaza:

“I don’t regret speaking out about Palestine.”

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

78 years ago, 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Britain made it possible.

Today, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Britain made it possible.

78 years of the Nakba - and 78 years of British complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.

[Farida Bemba Nabourema @Farida_N]

The nation that arranged the poisoning of Toussaint Louverture of St Domingue ( Haïti) for demanding the end of slavery and the liberation of his people in 1803; that assassinated Ruben Um Nyobe, the Cameroonian independence leader hunted down and killed in 1958 by French forces before independence was even formally granted, that had Felix Moumie of Cameroon, poisoned in Geneva by his intelligence in 1960, that orchestrated the assassination of Sylvanus Olympio of Togo by soldiers of his colonial army in 1963, that armed and protected the man who murdered Thomas Sankara in 1987 and sheltered him for decades, that supported the destabilisation that led to the overthrow and death of Modibo Keita of Mali, that printed millions of fake currency to destroy the Guinean Franc after 8 failed assassination attempts at Sekou Toure because he stood his grounds and demanded independence, that stood behind the forces that removed and destroyed Patrice Lumumba, coordinating with Belgium and the CIA to ensure Congo’s most visionary independence leader did not survive his own government, that massacred at least 100,000 Malagasy people, 250,000 Cameroonians, 1.2 million Algerians between 1955 and 1962 simply because they demanded their independence.

The president of that nation, less than half a century after committing such atrocities stood before a room full of African heads of state in 2026 and declared itself the true Pan-Africanist. And not one of them stood up.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Not one said: you cannot use that word: not here, not with that history on this continent. Not a single one had the dignity to say what any person with an elementary knowledge of what Pan-Africanism means and what France has done to those who practiced it would have said immediately and without hesitation.

It is the equivalent of a Nazi leader standing before a Jewish assembly and announcing that Germany is the true defender of the Jewish people. There are words that carry such historical mass that no political convenience, no diplomatic ambition, no funding arrangement justifies allowing them to be stolen and worn by those who spent generations trying to destroy what those words represent; Pan-Africanism is one of those words. And it was surrendered in that room without a fight, by men who were supposed to be there representing us.

France is not even a formidable power anymore. It cannot impose its will on its own European neighbourhood. Its economy is strained, its global influence is null, its African military presence has been expelled. It intimidates no one who has chosen not to be intimidated. And yet these boneless, prideless, senseless humans we call Africa leaders sat and applauded this humiliation ritual.

What breaks me is knowing that every generation, without fail, produces its quota of leaders who will trade the dignity of their people for a photograph with a western head of state, for a seat at a table that was never set for them. They dress it up as pragmatism and call it diplomacy. But it is the oldest and most contemptible transaction in the postcolonial playbook: the surrender of collective dignity for personal visibility.

And these are days, I will not pretend otherwise, where I genuinely wonder if we will ever be free.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Not because the struggle is not real or the people are not capable, but because freedom requires leaders at the decisive moment, and every decisive moment seems to find us represented by spineless, glory-hunting, photograph-chasing men who would sell the graves of their own predecessors for a handshake with those that tried to erase their people. Every generation inherits the fight for freedom but also produces the cowards who auction it.

[kevinwilliams @kevvwill]

In other news, just catching up with the hell a Barcelona supporter got for pointing out Lamine Yamal hoisting the Palestinian flag and wanting politics out of football. Whoo, boy! A culer hoisting that flag is EXACTLY in keeping with the club's ethos, etc. Know your history.

[Alvaro Romeo @Alvaro_Romeo]

19/38 leagues won for Barça since Cruyff took over in the 88/89 season. The other 19 leagues went to Depor (1), Valencia (2), Atlético (3) and Real Madrid (13). Cruyff's arrival marks an astonishing turn of a page in the league's history. Before him, Barça had won just 10 leagues

[Business 2 Sports Group @B2SGroup_]

Jamaica's national basketball team just made history, JaBA x adidas, the first-ever apparel deal in Jamaican basketball. Read the full article: https://t.co/vjXQcSlVd9

[furidy 🇵🇷💫 @macheteada]

it just occurred to me that many people don't know the Digital Library of the Caribbean exists, but you really all should have it bookmarked! it has millions of papers, periodicals, transcripts and entire books from all over the region available for free:

https://t.co/KCHA6Rk0gy

[J. 🇭🇷 @JosipFCB93]

Volume MAX

[la diablesse @battymamzelle]

fun fact, Minshall created the tall boy (inflatable tube men) for the '96 Olympics. hired an israeli to make the prototype, who then patented it and started selling them w/o him. just one example of Trini ingenuity colonized and stolen. it's all I think about when I watch Nope.

[SANTAN @Santandave1]

IM RAPPING AGAIN!

[Miquel Blázquez @BlazquezFont]

Prohibido olvidar que, a pesar de la victoria contra el Celta, Del Cerro Grande ha vuelto a atracar al Barça inventándose un fuera de juego. Es el mismo árbitro que se inventó el 54 de pie de Lewandowski para anular un gol legal. Ganar esta Liga debería contar doble. #FCBarcelona

[Álex @LxoMessismoFCB]

Lewandowski con un 50 de pie, Lamine Yamal con el talón de una embarazada y ahora Ferran con el hombro de Hulk

Y todo con el mismo árbitro de VAR. Qué será lo próximo?

[Archivo VAR @ArchivoVAR]

🤨

[Kicks Deals @KicksDeals]

⚽️🇯🇲 The Bob Marley x adidas Jamaica 2026 Authentic Away Jersey is on sale for $45 OFF retail at $105 + you can get FREE shipping. //Ad

BUY HERE -> https://t.co/CTJ9iK4lxM

[Barça Femení @BarcaFem]

🔥🔥🔥 OLÍMPICO BY MAPI LEÓN! 🔥🔥🔥

𝑾𝑯𝑨𝑻. 𝑨. 𝑮𝑶𝑨𝑳.

[Archivo VAR @ArchivoVAR]

🖥️💥 Valiente intervención del VAR en el Metropolitano.

👉🏻 Gerard Martín realiza un despeje controlado y, en el acción, pisa el tobillo de Almada, el cual invade su zona de influencia.

✅ 𝗡𝗢 𝗘𝗦 𝗥𝗢𝗝𝗔 𝗗𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗔.

▪️ Para el CTA estas acciones son solo de amarilla.