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

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day — the one day a year the whole world wants to be Irish. The Guinness is on me.

Before you paint the town green, pull up a stool. I’ve got some soccer knowledge to dispense.

Ready? I thought so. Let's pour. 🍀

I’ve got a regular called Mike, great guy, knows nothing about soccer. The type of guy I write this newsletter for but he doesn’t even bother reading the damn thing.

He grabbed me during a quiet moment last week, nodding at the screen.

"Joe. Why do all the Arsenal fans go crazy when they win a corner? It's just a corner."

Ah Mikey, I’ve still got so much to teach you. It’s not just a corner. A corner is a type of set-piece. And set-pieces are one of the most important tools in a team’s arsenal (no, I could not resist the pun).

A set piece is any situation where play is stopped and restarts from a dead ball — a corner kick, a free kick, a throw-in. The ball isn't moving, everyone gets into position, and for a brief, beautiful moment soccer starts to look like a planned sport.

Think of it like a play in American football. The offense huddles, everyone knows their assignment, and on the snap they execute. A set-piece works the same way. Teams practice for hours on the training field to create the perfect set-piece routine — who runs where, who blocks who, who peels off the back post at exactly the right moment.

"Okay Joe that’s great but Arsenal and corners, what’s the deal?!”

Soccer goes through trends. And right now, set pieces are having a moment.

At a World Cup, goals are hard to come by. Set pieces are how tournaments get decided. So watch out for them this summer.

The second legs are here. Win on aggregate, you're through. It's as simple and brutal as that. Here’s what I’m watching:

Tuesday, March 17:

Wednesday, March 18:

After getting two assists on Sunday vs Aston Villa, Bruno Fernandes now holds the record for the most assists by a Man Utd player in a Premier League season with 16 in total.

But who holds the all-time assists record in a Premier League season?

Keep scrolling for the answer.

We've got less than three months until the biggest tournament on the planet kicks off. There's an energy in the air I haven't felt since the last World Cup — when I was significantly younger and significantly less tired. But I've never felt more alive.

Two weeks ago, I shared a story with you that a small town in Massachusetts was taking no nonsense from FIFA. Foxboro, a town about 30 miles south of Boston, was refusing to host seven World Cup games at the Gillete Stadium if they didn’t receive the $7.8m payment required for security at the tournament in advance. And they set a deadline - tomorrow, March 17th.

Thankfully, the saga is not going to run into the early hours of St. Paddy's Day. Over the weekend it was announced that “all of Foxboro’s funding concerns have been addressed”, and the games will go ahead as planned. Foxboro never relented on their position that the payment must be made in advance. My mother always told me never to mess with a Bostonian, she forgot to tell FIFA.

Phrase: “Six-Pointer”

What it means: A game between two teams close together in the table, where the result is basically worth double. It’s not just the three points gained, but three points taken away from a direct rival.

Where it came from: Simple math. Beat a team right beside you in the league and the points swing is effectively six.

Use it: "Keep an eye on Spurs vs Nottingham Forest next Sunday, that's a proper six-pointer. Both teams are scrapping to stay up. Whoever loses that one is in serious trouble."

It had to be this one. Launched today, Nike and US Soccer just dropped the official USMNT kits for this summer's World Cup and they are something special.

Two jerseys: a Stars kit (dark navy with silver stars) and a Stripes kit (wavy red and white horizontal stripes). The backstory is the best bit. The players hated their 2022 Qatar kits so much they refused to do the photo shoot — unless Nike gave them full involvement in designing the 2026 ones. Nike obliged. Multiple sessions, player interviews, dozens of iterations later — they have their kit.

Tyler Adams summed it up: "I feel more pride. I feel this finally represents us."

Now they just have to go and make some memories in them. Check it out is here.

March 16th, 1872. Today marks the 154th birthday of the FA Cup — the oldest cup competition in soccer history. The first final was played at Kennington Oval in London, in front of around 2,000 fans. For context: this was 24 years before the first modern Olympics. The Eiffel Tower wouldn't exist for another 17 years.

It's still running. Still throwing up upsets. Still making grown adults cry in pubs on Saturday afternoons.

The next final is May 16th at Wembley. 154 years on, same competition, slightly better pitches.

A trick question today. Gotta keep you on your toes.

Thierry Henry (2002/03) and Kevin De Bruyne (2019/20) jointly hold the record for the most assists in a Premier League season with 20 assists.

Can Bruno catch them this season? He’s got 8 games and needs 4 assists. I know where I’ll be putting my money.

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