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

What a weekend — donning a new green jacket, sinking 276 of the finest Irish shots, and making grown men cry tears of joy all over the bar. I heard Rory McIlroy had a good few days in Augusta or something also?

On the menu this masterful Monday:

Let's tap in.

When I pour myself a drink, the glass matters.

Guinness goes in a Guinness glass. Michelob Ultra goes in a Michelob Ultra glass. Lagunitas goes in a Lagunitas glass. Budweiser goes in the bin. The list goes on.

“Bud is like a brother to me, how dare you.”

The point I’m getting at is that just as you associate red solo cups with backyard BBQs and drinking games, different balls are tied to memories of different iconic goals, competitions and even players.

The NFL uses the same Wilson ball every single game. The NBA and MLB too: one ball, one look — always. For soccer, that’s never been the case.

Open the keyboard on your phone, type in “soccer” and look at that emoji that comes up.

The iconic 56-year-old, 32-panel, black-and-white Adidas Telstar ball you’re probably looking at has become THE global standard for what people picture when they think of a stereotypical soccer sphere.

It’s the soccer version of the glass everyone pictures when you ask for a pint of beer.

The iconic ball was named after the Telstar satellite as testament to 1970 being the first full World Cup to be broadcast on global television.

Before this though, whatever ball was used at World Cups was a bit of a free-for-all:

That same World Cup logic of different balls for differantiate competitions still plays out across club soccer today. Which brings us to this week’s big balls news.

After a quarter century, Adidas is losing the Champions League ball contract. Nike — who held the rights in the late '90s before Adidas took over in 2001 — are now in exclusive talks to take it back from 2027 for €40 million.

Just as Adidas’ iconic starball has been the focal point of every major moment in elite European soccer for 25 years, Nike now wants the same — to build their brand image, reach an annual audience of 1.2 billion people and of course, sell a few balls while they’re at it.

“So Nike are willing to fork out nearly $50 million a year for someone else to play with their balls?”

Wouldn’t you?

Now please excuse me while I go apologize to all my Budweiser-drinking regulars.

What a weekend (unless you’re an Arsenal fan)…

This Tuesday and Wednesday, the Champions League quarter-final second legs arrive. Here's where things stand:

The Wrexham dream of an unprecedented fourth straight promotion is hanging by a thread.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney's Red Dragons lost 2-0 at Birmingham on Sunday — their second defeat in five days following a 5-1 hammering by Southampton last Tuesday. They didn't manage a single shot on target.

They're now four points outside the playoff spots with four games to go. The bar is still open, but last orders might be approaching.

Also on tap

The world's oldest soccer ball was discovered hidden in the rafters of a Scottish castle in 1981 — and it's believed to have once belonged to a famous royal. But roughly when was it made?

Answer at the bottom 👇

SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles is one of the most impressive sports venues on the planet — $5.5 billion, 70,000 seats, opened in the middle of a global pandemic in 2020 (nice timing, fellas).

This summer it hosts eight World Cup games, including the USMNT's opening match against Paraguay on June 12 — the first game of the tournament on US soil.

And right now, it's facing a potential workers' strike.

Two thousand stadium workers including cooks, servers and bartenders (won’t someone please think of the bartenders?!), say they’re prepared to walk out unless FIFA meet their demands.

The workers have two main concerns. First, pay and working conditions. Second — and this one has real weight — the potential presence of ICE agents at World Cup venues. Union members say they've already walked off the job at a nearby hotel after ICE showed up.

The worker’s union put it plainly: the people pouring the beer and cooking the food at SoFi are the ones making the World Cup possible — and right now they feel like FIFA is looking straight through them. Will keep you topped up on this one.

Also on tap:

Phrase: Knuckleball

Origin: Borrowed from baseball, where it describes a pitch thrown with no spin, causing unpredictable movement. Soccer players noticed their shots did the same thing — and the name stuck.

Definition: A shot hit with minimal spin, causing the ball to dip and swerve in ways the goalkeeper can't read. One of the best examples you’ll ever see below.

Usage: "What on earth was the keeper doing there?”, “Ah I’d cut him some slack, it was a knuckleball. He moved one way and the ball moved three.”

April 13, 1978. Happy birthday to Carles Puyol, born 48 years ago today.

Puyol was a ”one club man” — a player who spends their entire career at a single club, never chasing a bigger contract elsewhere. In modern soccer, it's increasingly rare. Puyol spent every one of his professional years at Barcelona, captaining a side that won six La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues.

Feliz cumpleaños, Carles.

90% — since April 2021, Manchester City have not lost a single game in the month of April, winning 28 of their 31 games during that stretch. This is a club that finishes seasons like my regulars finish pints. Inevitable.

Arsenal play City away at the Etihad Stadium next Sunday. There’s six points in it and City have a game in hand.

Buckle up.

The ball was found tucked behind some panelling in the Queen's Chamber at Stirling Castle, Scotland — a room used by Mary, Queen of Scots.

Made from cowhide with a pig's bladder inside, it's officially the world's oldest soccer ball.

Proof that soccer’s always been a gutsy affair.

Thanks for stopping by at The Tap-Inn.

If you enjoyed this, forward it to that friend who knows nothing about soccer and help spread the good word. For every 10 friends that use your referral link to pull up a stool, I’ll personally buy you a beer.

You read that correctly.

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

— Joe