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  • Football and Learning in Toulon

    Over the first two weeks of June, I had the unique privilege of covering the Toulon Tournament, one of the most prestigious youth tournaments in football.   What brought me to this opportunity was somewhat fortuitous—and also a bit of Déjà vu. A few months ago, on a random college night, my mind went searching…

  • Paxton Pomykal: Dallas’s next star

    The U-20 World Cup being played in Poland has brought us different emotions and feelings. Excitement, uncertainty, suspense, drama and pleasure, all of it in a competition played by young men who are trying to showcase themselves every day, while honoring and fighting for the colors of their country. I will emphasize a thing that…

  • Interview with Jayson Molumby

    As Ireland approach the semifinals of the Toulon Tournament, Zach Lowy spoke to the Ireland captain Jayson Molumby. ZL: I noticed a lot of interceptions from you, breaking up a lot of Bahrain attacks. What would you say is your strongest skill in midfield? JM: I think probably my work rate. I work hard for…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 10: Brazil-Qatar

    There was a moment during the match where, after lunging to make a tackle, Qatar’s Amro Abdelfatah Ali Surag tried to get back onto his feet, before his head met the sheer brunt of a Lucas Fernandes shot whilst in mid-rise. That was basically the jist of this game. With their qualification to the semis already…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 9: Brazil-France

    Going into the most star-studded match of the group stage, we knew what we were getting into. We knew that the French side, despite their ferocious performance against Qatar, was still largely packed with precocious teenagers, many of whom were still cutting their teeth in academy football, few of which had actually managed regular minutes…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 7: Japan-Chile

    Hours before England and Portugal gave us the best match of the tournament thus far, Japan gave us the best performance of the tournament thus far. The match took place next to Nostradamus’ former home in Salon de Provence, but as one witty commentator put it, not even Nostradamus could have predicted this. Whilst Chile’s…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 8: England-Portugal

    If Monday’s second match gave us the dullest match of the tournament, Tuesday’s second match gave us the most exciting match of the tournament’s early stages. With both of Group A’s favorites having lost their opening games, and with Japan having already secured their first-place status with a 7-1 drubbing of Chile earlier on in…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 6: Mexico-Bahrain

    This was, by and large, the worst game of the tournament so far. I considered skipping the last thirty minutes, but I stayed true to my commitment and grinded it out to watch the entire thing. Here you go. Bahrain’s standouts I say this in the nicest, most polite way possible: Bahrain did not have…

  • Toulon Tournament: Match 5: Ireland-China

    For the record, this match wasn’t as straightforward or lopsided as the 4-1 scoreline may suggest. Ireland got off to a quick start with two goals inside the first five minutes, and while they remained comfortable throughout the following 88 minutes, China showed some promising signs in possession and had a few impressive standout performers.…

  • Alexis Claude-Maurice: The latest Clairefontaine success story?

    Several exceptionally talented attacking players have progressed through the ranks of the infamous INF Clairefontaine. Thierry Henry learned his trade at the French football centre at which Nicolas Anelka and David Trezeguet honed their skills, and Kylian Mbappé is the most recent front-man to emerge as a product of the work that occurs just south…