Key events
Alexander Abnos
We are only six months away from the biggest sporting event in the world. On July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the men’s World Cup final begins and a champion will be crowned (although it will be difficult to beat the last one).
The final will be more than a coronation (or a confirmation, if Argentina repeats as champion). It will also be the culmination of six weeks of virtually non-stop football played in three countries, four time zones and 16 cities. It is likely that conclusions will already be drawn by then about how the entire tournament will unfold. But for now, at this semi-practical stage, it’s worth taking stock of where we are in six months.
“Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day across the pond!” writes Peter Oh. “Isn’t Amine Adli playing for Morocco? If he manages to take a penalty for Bournemouth today, I strongly advise him not to do it, you know…”
In this scenario, I would be more worried about the Brighton players.
The beautiful game
Team News
Three changes for Brighton from their last Premier League match, a 1-1 draw at Manchester City. Joel Veltman, Brajan Gruda And Danny Welbeck replace Maxcim De Cuyper, Yasin Ayari and Georginio Rutter. Gruda and Welbeck were the stars of the FA Cup victory at Old Trafford eight days ago.
Bournemouth make one change from the 3-2 win over Tottenham in their last Premier League match: Antoine Semenyo, who joined Manchester City after that match, is replaced by Amine Adli.
Brighton (4-2-3-1 possibility) Verbruggen; Veltman, Van Hecke, Dunk, Kadioglu; Hinshelwood, crude; Gruda, Gomez, Mitoma; Welbeck.
Substitutes: Steele, Ruter, Minh, Baleba, Baleba, Constraint, Milner, Boscali, Ayari, Coopolola.
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovich; Jiménez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Cook, Scott; Tavernier, Kroupi, Adli; Evanilson.
Subs: Forster, Christie, Smith, Diakite, Milosavljevic, Rees-Dottin, DaCosta, Sadi, Stevens.
Arbitrator Paul Tierney (Lancashire).
Tonight’s match – please – will surely be calmer than last night’s.
Preamble
It’s one of football’s most bittersweet accolades: the unofficial title of the Premier League’s best-selling club. Of course, this means you are a perfectly run club, unlike most of your peers, and have an enviable recruitment network. But it also means you have to constantly regenerate – Bournemouth inevitably had a difficult season – and endure the slight frustration of seeing players you’ve discovered become superstars elsewhere.
Bournemouth took that unofficial title to Brighton last year, selling five major players for around £250 million. The two teams meet tonight at Amex Stadium, and there will almost certainly be superstars of the future in action.
Given that both teams are as progressive on the field as they are off it, this should be a good watch.
To start up 8 p.m.
