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

This week: football and phonebooks, the perfect time to impregnate your wife, and a great place to go for a dip in South Africa. 🤿

Pull up a stool. It’s time to tap in.

4-4-2, 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2.

No, they’re not international dialling codes*, they’re soccer formations. They can determine a team’s style of play, what players are in the line-up and can even impact how the opponent will line up themselves.

Formations explain the amount of players that will be in each of the three position types in a team.

More of one number can indicate a more offensive or defensive display.

“Three types of position??”

Defenders, midfielders and forwards. They’re the bread and butter of any team.

Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly used formations in soccer and how those numbers play out on the pitch 👇

*I lied. 3-5-2 absolutely is an international dialling code - sincere apologies to all our Luxembourgish readers.

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After a barren run of four straight losses, the English side finally got back to winning ways with a dominant 5–1 victory away to German outfit Eintracht Frankfurt. Their $130 million summer signing, Florian Wirtz, finally notched his first assist after 12 appearances.

Lift off. ✈️

There’s no standout matchup in the Premier League, but fear not — Spain’s biggest rivalry takes center stage: El Clásico 🇪🇸

Opta’s AI model gives Real Madrid a 45.6% chance of winning, Barcelona 33%, and a boring old draw 23.6%. But who needs AI when you’ve got Joe? I’m backing Barça all day, and predicting a Marcus Rashford masterclass at his new club. The English forward finally looks settled, and that’s bad news for Madrid. Mbappe who?

Joe’s Prediction:

Real Madrid 1–2 Barcelona

The game is at 11:15am EST on Sunday October 26th. You can watch it on ESPN+.

Which country hosted the very first World Cup in 1930? 🥇

If you’re hoping for your wife to give birth at the exact same time that Christian Pulisic scores a hat-trick in the World Cup Final, you’d wanna get a move on. It’s 8.8 months before the big day and the time is going to fly.

Speaking of the final..

Every February, America crowns its ‘world champions’ after four hours of ads, snacks, and stop-start football. In 2022, The Superbowl drew 113 million viewers. Cute.

When the World Cup final rolled around that same year, over 1.1 billion people tuned in. Now that’s a global show.

On October 24th, 2004, Man Utd ended Arsenal’s record-breaking 49-game unbeaten run. The game is infamously referred to as the ‘Battle of the Buffet’ — a disgruntled Arsenal player is said to have thrown a slice of pizza at Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Spicy.

The ‘Gaffer’ is an english term for a soccer coach.

So popular is the expression that many Brits even refer to their boss as the gaffer - something I’ve been trying to get going at The Tap-Inn (to absolutely no avail).

Cape Town Stadium, South Africa. Just in case fans want to go for a swim after the game.

Uruguay - who won it that same year. Salud.

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