Looking forward to the World Cup? I do hope so. You can complain and say that a gargantuan tournament without Italy but with Cape Verde isn’t really worth bothering with. But Italy have been rubbish for years and it’s no bad thing when establishment sides get a good kicking (yes West Ham, we’re looking at you). And dear old volcanic Cape Verde, bless it, is in a group with Spain (shorn of any Real Madrid players), Saudi Arabia and Uruguay. I would love to see any of those games.
And England manager Thomas Tuchel has played a blinder. But goodness, he was blessed with options. Take a look at this team: Nick Pope; Lewis Hall, Harry Maguire, Levi Colwill, Trent Alexander-Arnold; Morgan Gibbs-White, Cole Palmer, Adam Wharton; Phil Foden, Jarrod Bowen, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. None made the cut, but that team could easily have reached the semis. Who wouldn’t admire Tuchel’s commitment to his principles: it’s the team, stupid, not the best players.
The Bible Brothers posed for a photo dedicating their title win to the Lord
And who can argue? Shoe-horning Lampard, Gerrard and Beckham into the same team never really worked. No other recent manager would have had the guts to leave out some of the stars Tuchel has. And the meddling from the wider Maguire family, who have slagged off the England boss, hasn’t been helpful. It feels like a massive distraction no one needed, and not the sign of a man who would have been a good water-carrier in camp.
Meanwhile this mighty Arsenal team has one more giant hurdle to overcome, the effortless fluency of PSG in the Champions League final this Saturday. We know already about Arsenal’s set-piece brilliance, their squad depth, and their niggardly defence. What we know less about is the easy camaraderie within a sizeable group of players that comes from a shared Christian faith.
‘I just want to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’ were Noni Madueke’s first words to journalists after scoring against Bayern Munich in November. They’re known as the Bible Brothers, Arsenal’s Christians, and are doing pretty well. ‘We believe we have God fighting for us. It brings us closer together,’ says Madueke. ‘Before every game we pray together for a few minutes.’
Full-back Jurrien Timber, who posts Bible verses on X before games, is nicknamed ‘Pastor Timber’. He says of his faith: ‘For me it’s a way of life. It brings unity and understanding.’ Timber’s partner on the Arsenal right, Bukayo Saka embraces the nickname ‘God’s Child’ and tries to read the Bible every night, memorising passages ‘to take them into my life’. Eberechi Eze, another of the league’s most public Christians, says: ‘The one solid rock and foundation is Christ and having that allows me to deal with whatever circumstance I’m in.’
A large group of the Bible Brothers, including Myles Lewis-Skelly, Piero Hincapié and Max Dowman, posed for a photo dedicating their Premier League title win to the Lord. Christian Mosquera wore a shirt reading: ‘Made by God for His glory.’
You can’t argue with results, or the tremendous sense of togetherness that this Arsenal side generates. I just hope they can keep it going this weekend against PSG, not least because I have put a few quid on them. So we all need God on our side.
Please, Emma Raducanu, you don’t have to keep putting us, your fans, and yourself through this terrible ordeal of being bounced out of tournaments in the early rounds and then blaming a virus. Here’s an idea: you have some terrific A-level results (A and A* in economics and maths), and are clearly highly intelligent and sophisticated. Why not just go to university and then pick up a very well-paid job commentating. More fun all round, I’d say.
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