Adam Sharp

I feel confident about the groups but not the exact order.

“Pretenders” are teams that will compete for the top 4 but won’t be there after the final match.

“Thin ice” are teams that should be OK unless they fire their managers because then all bets are off.

EPL predictions for the 2025-2026 season:

Top 4: Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City

Pretenders: Aston Villa, Newcastle, Brighton, Tottenham

“Fine”: Man U, Crystal Palace, Forest, Fulham

Thin Ice: Everton, Bournemouth, Brentford, West Ham

Panic: Wolves, Leeds, Sunderland, Burnley

Enjoyed the first session of my @ussoccer.com C level coaching course through western Pennsylvania. Found out one of the other coaches played on a team I coached against.

The world is small, y’all.

10 PM kickoff for adult rec soccer.

Vamos.

YouTube video by Plasma Ben JFK - We choose to go to the Moon, full length

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills […]”

youtu.be/ouRbkBAOGEw?...

Today is Be a Kid Again Day but I’m not sure I’d want to be a kid again because for me it was often confusing and hard. For example, when I was a kid all I wanted was to be an astronaut, but when I shared that dream with my dad he shattered it with a single line. He said, “Son, the sky’s the limit.”

Justice Brandeis said “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

He was not referring to soccer pinnies. You need to wash that shit.

And this concludes this visit to BlueSky.

If I wanted to listen to Morbo announce “Doom!” on repeat for 10 hours there’s probably a YouTube video that does that.

Nancy Mace via Twitter: https://x.com/NancyMace/status/1940825505504313450 Did Hakeem Jeffries just say the Declaration of Independence reads like an INDICTMENT? Did I hear that right? 1:30 PM · Jul 3, 2025

She has not read the Declaration of Independence.

But were they likeable?

Shout out to all the fine folks in accounting recording negative variances due to exchange rates and having to explain those to higher-ups.

Palmeiras aims to upset Chelsea in Philly’s final Club World Cup game The Brazilian club embraces being the underdog, and manager Abel Ferreira asked for Philly's support on July 4: “It can be a good opportunity for local people to join with us against the English."

I asked Palmeiras manager Abel Ferreira what he makes of having many Philly fans' backing vs. Chelsea.

“It can be a good opportunity for local people to join with us against the English," he said. "Because tomorrow, if I’m not wrong, is Independence Day, correct?"

www.inquirer.com/soccer/club-...

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Independence Day.

The only way to afford tickets to this Club World Cup game is to have a 9-to-5 job. The only way to go to this Club World Cup game is not to have a 9-to-5 job

on a purely theoretical level, the failure of the Club World Cup is fascinating

you have famous teams, committed to winning because of the prize pool, in new and unusual matchups, a set of brand new underdogs, playing in cities where high-level football is rare

and no one cares

I’m coaching the 4:30 game, come out and support!

Stadiums that are supposed to be full for the TV cameras are going to have large empty sections. Gianni Infantino’s “legacy” crashes and burns.

World Cup is a year out.

This is not a 🌮 scenario.

I can relate; as a coach, I have often preached “next man up” when talent doesn’t want to put in the work.

International soccer is a very delicate balance between results and development. Wait too long to refresh a squad with younger players, and you get Italy.

But Poch needs results now.

I would like to think this will be a warning about how excessive greed led to adoption of pricing models that don’t fit the market, but the thing about greed is it doesn’t care.

On the one hand, the guys did all the work on the field; as the coach all I did was assign positions, develop a crude strategy, and encourage them.

If this were LinkedIn …

I recruited a diverse and balanced team, organized them to maximize strengths, and communicated a successful game plan.

I have thought a bunch about writing about parenting. And I do kinda agree with this piece that I don’t think the modern social media internet would be a very hospitable place to write in longform in any really authentic way about fatherhood.

I voted for an America with taco trucks on every corner. This is not it.

How do we celebrate the largest win in the club’s history?

With a burrito from Valley Lunch Box, of course.

I was in the car and thought it was technical difficulties music because someone started swearing.

Soccer field

Final game of the adult rec season!

We do not go gently into the good night.

“[W]e here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

You have to be carefully taught

Legit senior league about to kick off at Langley High School in McLean … kind of want to stay and watch.

Why do we believe the central Shenandoah Valley can support a semi-pro soccer team?

Because *3* of the young men representing us on the conference Team of the Week <<are still in high school>>.

The talent is here; we provide the stage.

Long day but worth it. Over 80 fans watched the guys win; great weather too!

Thanks to @jimsacco.bsky.social and @jeremyaldrich.bsky.social for their help today. They’re good follows too!