..to The Tap-Inn. Where you can tap in to the world of soccer with me, your first-gen Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe.

Happy Monday. We’ve got an action-packed one this week, including:

Let’s tap in. 🍻

Being an Irish-American bartender lends itself to more than just code-switching between accents depending on what’s going to land me a bigger tip.

I’ve no issues pronouncing Saoirse or Aoife. I can pour a pint of Guinness without a 2-inch head. And I know not to kick out any youngins for having themselves a bit of craic out the back (iykyk).

Most importantly however, as a self-proclaimed soccer guru, I know that when it comes to the whole “soccer” vs “football” debate, it’s the English that we can all really blame.

In 1800s England, there were two main “football” codes being played:

To shorten names, British students (especially at Oxford) added “-er” to abbreviations:

“Joe, you’re telling me “soccer” comes from “association”, not from the word sock, and definitely not from the US?”

Indeed I am, reader. Indeed I am.

By the early 1900s, rugby football had split into “rugby union” and “rugby league”. Once there was only one main type of football in England (association football), the word “football” eventually became enough.

Because us yanks already had American football however, calling the global game “football” would’ve caused as much confusion as heading to the UK and asking a bartender for some chips. So “soccer” stuck as the practical distinction.

Easy peasy.

Who is the oldest player to ever play in the World Cup? 👴

A dramatic late equalizer from Enzo Fernandez in the 4^th minute of injury time saw Chelsea snatch a 1-1 draw away to Manchester City on Sunday.

A Declan Rice double helped Arsenal to a 3-2 win away to Bournemouth on Saturday. That’s now 5 wins on the bounce for Arteta’s men.

Manchester United could only muster a 1-1 draw at Elland Road against a revived Leeds side, who are now unbeaten in 6 and putting some real space in between themselves and the relegation zone. This game would prove to be Amorim’s final game in charge.

Lastly, pour one out for Fulham’s Harrison Reed who on Sunday — 2-1 down to Liverpool in the 97^th minute — absolutely launched one into the top bins to bag a draw for his side and a spot on the goal of the season shortlist.

Both Chelsea and Manchester United have decided that the most wholesome way to kick off a new year would be to say sayonara to their respective managers, Enzo Maresca and Ruben Amorim.

Both decisions come as a surprise, with Maresca having picked up the Manager of the Month award as recently as November and United CEO Jim Ratcliffe having publicly backed Amorim only in October, saying he would be given, “three years, because football is not overnight”.

And yes, Amorim was indeed sacked this morning, one night after his last game. Nice one, Jim.

No major upsets. Round of 16 results so far:

🇸🇳 Senegal 3–1 Sudan 🇸🇩

🇲🇱 Mali 1–1 Tunisia 🇹🇳 (Mali won 3–2 on penalties)

🇲🇦 Morocco 1–0 Tanzania 🇹🇿

🇨🇲 Cameroon 2–1 South Africa 🇿🇦

🇪🇬 Egypt 2-1 Benin 🇧🇯 (latest)

Still to come: Nigeria vs Mozambique, Algeria vs DR Congo, Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso. Quarter finals begin on Friday.

This is when a player finds space between the opponents midfield and defense - the most dangerous area on a field to create an opportunity to score.

Players who have mastered getting between the lines: Messi (of course) and Kevin De Bruyne. Brenden Aaronson and Christian Pulisic are the best USNMT players at this.

The World Cup’s all-time top scorer with 16 goals. A man for the big moments. He had a respectable club career but truly came alive in a German shirt. No tricks, no flash, just effortless movement and finishing across four tournaments.

Most 45 year olds would slip a disc just at the thought of diving through the air to catch a ball, but not Egypt’s Essam El Hadary.

At 45 years and 161 days old, he became the oldest player to ever play in the World Cup when he starred in goals at the 2018 tournament in Russia, saving a penalty in his final match.

Next round’s on us, Essam.

Thanks for stopping by The Tap-Inn.

If you enjoyed this, forward it to that friend who knows nothing about soccer and help spread the good word.

I’ll be behind the bar every week, Monday and Friday, serving up soccer. Sláinte.

— Joe