june 18 dnr
IDK if you know, but I was a competitive soccer/fΓΊtbol player growing up. I made the move from house leagues to rep/select leagues when I was about 13, and I played in what was called the Ontario Premier League. My original club team was called the West Rouge Rangers, and I was with them for a few years, but then I got courted by and signed with the Scarborough Azzurri.
β½ Sidebar: I'm not sure if the thing currently called the Ontario Premier League is the same thing as the league I played in. I clicked around a few websites a bit but quite didn't figure it out.
I have three brothers. We all played growing up and we were all good. My slightly older brother and I generally played together from ~1989 to 1997. Our two-man game went from the the house leagues to rep/select and, when we had time, we played for our high school teams as well.
At any rate, there was a World Cup match today in Vancouver pitting Canada against Qatar. And Canada went all the way off, winning 6-0 and making history along the way.
β½ Related: I'm still not over this.
It was the Canadian men's team's first-ever World Cup win. Like, ever ever. Like evooorrrrrrrrrrrr. Prior to 2026, the Canadian men's team competed at World Cups in 1986 and 2022 ββ and lost every match. Their first-ever points in the tourney came the other day by way of a tie with Bosnia and Herzegovina. After pounding Qatar today, they're atop Group B, which means all they need to take the Group is a tie vs. Switzerland.
When I was growing up, especially when I was at my best (the Azzurri yearas), I was good enough to be on the provincial team ββ but not nearly good enough to be on the national team.
Still, I dreamed about being a member of Team Canada during a World Cup. And, when the team started rolling today, I got legit emotional about it all. My dreams didn't come true, but the guys on the team during the Mondiale probably dreamed about this moment too. And today they got to live inside that dream.
Anyway, you've been good so here are some Instagrams: a good Haus of Decline comic, a good John Cullen comic, this cat, this poem, and these rollerskaters.
π² gonna
πΌ go
π± touch watch
π³ grass highlights
π· now
Be good to yourself.
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