The lesser known MVP award

Welcome to another World Cup edition here at The Tap-Inn. Where, as always, you can tap in to the world of soccer with me, your Irish Tap-Inn bartender, Joe.

On tap today:

• 🔱 The honor that is receiving the golden ball.

• 🌎 What’s a Worldie?

• 🇪🇸 How Spain bounced back from an underwhelming start.

Ready? I thought so. Let’s pour.

⚽ GOAL OF THE WEEK

Lamine Yamal— Spain vs Saudi Arabia (10')

I’m going to be honest on this one. This one isn’t making GOTW for the technique.

But on Sunday in Atlanta, Spain got their first World Cup win against Saudi Arabia. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring. Oyarzabal floated a cross to the back post, and the 18-year-old just had to be there to tap it in.

Here's why it matters. It was Yamal's first-ever World Cup goal, and it made him the eighth youngest scorer in the history of the men's tournament. This is a kid who told reporters afterward that he watched the last World Cup from his classroom at school. Now he's scoring in one.

The simplest finish you'll see all tournament.

🥃 TOP SHELF

The lesser known MVP award at the World Cup.

Every World Cup, there is one player award that gets all the attention. The golden boot. It’s pretty easy to follow. You score the most goals, you win it. It's the scoring title, basically, and casual fans love it because the leaderboard updates every time the ball hits the net. But there's a second prize handed out the same night, and it's arguably the bigger one. The Golden Ball.

“Sounds pretty cool. How does it work??"

At the end of the tournament, FIFA's technical panel draws up a shortlist. They share that list with a group of media voters who pick the player who's been the best across the whole month. Not the top scorer, the best player overall. Goals count, but so do assists, big moments, saves, dragging your team through rounds, the lot. Italy's Paolo Rossi was the first official winner, back in 1982.

“This sounds familiar…."

It should. It's the same setup as MVP awards in US sports, a panel deciding who meant the most, voted on by the media. But there's one significant way that soccer is different.

Only twice, has the NBA or NFL championship MVP not come from the winning team. With the Golden Ball that is way more likely to happen.

It's gone to a beaten finalist on the regular. Lionel Messi took it in 2014 when Argentina lost the final to Germany. Luka Modrić won it in 2018 when Croatia lost the final to France. Back in 2002 it went to a goalkeeper, Germany's Oliver Kahn, after Germany lost the final to Brazil. And in 2010, Uruguay's Diego Forlan walked off with it after his side finished fourth. Fourth and he still got the award.

The logic is simple. The Golden Ball rewards the best player at the World Cup, full stop. Lift the trophy or go home in the semis, if you were the best, you were the best.

“So, who is in the running this time.."

Great question. As always, this year’s award gets handed out after the final on July 19. It’s far too early to tell who is in the mix but a few names who’ve made a great start include Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane, and Spain's Lamine Yamal, who would be the first teenager ever to win it.

So next time, the pundits on Fox bring up the goal scoring leaderboard, remember, the Boot tells you who scored the most. The Ball tells you who mattered the most.

🌎 SOUND LIKE A PRO

Worldie

Origin: British slang, a chopped-down version of "world-class." It spread fast in the social media age, when every jaw-dropping goal got clipped, shared and shouted about online within seconds.

Definition: A world-class goal. The kind that pulls you up out of your seat. Usually a long-range rocket that flies into the top corner, the sort of strike most players never manage in a whole career.

Usage: "Did you see that hit from forty yards? Absolute worldie. Top corner, no chance for the keeper."

🗞️ THE WORLD CUP TAP-IN

The Main Course

Spain 4-0 Saudi Arabia.

You know the bar everyone swears is the best in town? Sky high reputation, queue out the door. Then you finally get in, order, and the first round lands flat. That was Spain a week ago.

The European champions, one of the favorites to win this whole thing, opened their World Cup with a goalless draw against Cape Verde, a nation of barely half a million playing their first ever World Cup. Beautiful story for the islanders. For Spain, a flat pint in front of a packed house. Sunday brought the chance to right their wrongs and Saudi Arabia had to deal with the reaction.

Spain won 4-0, and as we saw in GOTW it only took them ten minutes to get going. Lamine Yamal, barely back from a hamstring injury, slid in at the back post on his first ever World Cup start. Mikel Oyarzabal added two in three minutes, and a Saudi own goal made it four.

Here's the barstool stat. Spain had 20 shots to Saudi Arabia's 3. They were completely dominated. Spain top Group H and meet Uruguay on Friday. Whatever went flat last week, the keg's been changed. La Roja are pouring properly again.

World Cup Specials

• 🇩🇪 Germany 2-1 Ivory Coast. Germany mean business. They were pushed hard for spells, but they handled the pressure better, stayed patient in possession, and struck at the right moment. Ivory Coast had enough pace and power to make it uncomfortable, especially in transitions. It wasn’t flashy, but it was the sort of controlled, grown-up win that tells you a team knows how to navigate a tournament. Die Mannschaft are back in the mix.

• 🇧🇷 Brazil 3-0 Haiti. Samba soccer is back. Brazil were slick, sharp, and never really looked in danger. Once they found their rhythm, Haiti couldn’t live with the pace or quality. The scoreline reflected a pretty comfortable afternoon for the five-time champ. They’ll have bigger tests to come.
  

• 🇯🇵Japan 4-0 Tunisia. Too much pace, too much quality. Japan tore through Tunisia, showing what makes them such a dangerous tournament side. Fast starts, crisp passing, ruthless finishing. Don’t sleep on these guys. I’m going to dig into them a little more later on.

Next on the Menu

The best fixtures for the coming few days are:

• 🇵🇹Portugal v Uzbekistan (Tuesday, 1pm ET, Houston). This is a Ronaldo last-dance moment. Portugal stumbled to a 1-1 draw with DR Congo in their opener and need a win here against tournament debutants Uzbekistan, who are tougher and better drilled than you might think

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿England v Ghana (Tuesday, 4pm ET, Boston). Both came through their openers with wins, so this is effectively a shootout for top spot in the group. England have the deeper squad and the bigger names, but Ghana have pace and swagger.

• 🇧🇷Brazil v Scotland (Wednesday, 6pm ET, Miami). Brazil never play a game that doesn't feel like an event, and Scotland will bring the kind of noise that makes this one crackle. The stakes are real. Scotland need a result to keep their knockout hopes alive. If Brazil click early, it could get away from the Scots fast.

🌎 BAR CRAWL AROUND THE WORLD

Team Review: Japan

Best World Cup finish: Japan have become one of the tournament’s most reliable dark horses, with a run to the round of 16 in each of their last two World Cups and a reputation for pushing bigger nations to find their best in order to beat them. They’ve built that on discipline, speed, and a refusal to panic when the game gets messy.

Star player:Takefusa Kubo is the spark. He brings the creativity, the dribbling, and the kind of confidence that makes Japan dangerous when they can break lines and turn possession into chances.

Top-selling beer: Asahi Super Dry is an obvious shout. Crisp, clean, and easy to drink, it fits Japan’s vibe pretty well. Efficient, refreshing, and never trying too hard.

Joe’s favorite city:Kyoto. It has a slower, more elegant feel than Tokyo, with temples, narrow streets, and a strong sense of old Japan that makes it a great contrast to the team’s modern, high-energy style.

📝 ASK JOE

Q: "Why do some games end in a draw and just... stay a draw? No overtime, no penalties?"

Thank you to Johnny in Oregon for the question.

Johnny, thanks for writing in. It trips up nearly everyone coming over from American sports, where somebody has to win before you're allowed to go home.

Right now we're in the group stage, which works like a mini league table. We’ve covered this before but every team plays three games. A win is three points, a draw is one. The top teams in each group move on.

The knockouts are a different animal. Come the Round of 32, a draw won't save you. That's when you get extra time, and the dreaded penalty shootout. So for now, enjoy the draws for what they are. Come the knockouts, the gloves come off and somebody's going home.

If you’d like to submit your own question about soccer or the World Cup. Email: hello@thetap-inn.com

🔥 QUICKFIRE

Fanzone

The Hague in the Netherlands is usually known for being home to International war crime courts. But this week they made headlines for different reasons. The entire city has turned into a proper World Cup street party. Locals dressed up the Marktweg neighborhood in orange and soccer gear for the Netherlands’ opening match. Flags, banners, and a wall of national pride made the whole place feel less like a regular street and more like a shared living room for Dutch fans. Local reporters spoke of that special tournament energy too, strangers chatting, drinks in hand, everyone glued to the same game and the same hope.

That’s what makes World Cup fan culture so good. It doesn’t always need a stadium or a giant official fan park to feel huge. Sometimes it’s just a street, a screen, and a city deciding to go all in together. The Hague did exactly that, and the result was a scene that felt loud, welcoming, and wonderfully communal.

Underdog of the Week

Last Friday we toasted Cape Verde's 40-year-old goalkeeper. Tim Payne is the other unknown this tournament turned into a star, except he pulled it off before he'd even kicked a ball.

Here's what happened. Back in May, an Argentine influencer named Valen Scarsini, known online as El Scarso, posted a video branding the 32-year-old New Zealand defender the "least-known player at the World Cup," based purely on his tiny following. Then he rallied his fans to change that. "We have to make videos featuring the legend of Tim Payne," he said.

The internet obliged. Payne's Instagram following rocketed from around 5,000 to over five million in three weeks. "No Payne, No Gain" became the slogan. Payne now has more followers than every team in the NHL, and Kiwi fans are lobbying Tim Hortons to rename a Vancouver shop "Tim Paynes"

Last Call

File this under only-at-a-World-Cup.

In Mexico, police needed to arrest a suspect described as a die-hard soccer fan. Their plan? Dress two officers as the official tournament mascots, Clutch the Eagle and Maple the Moose, and waddle right up to him. After a minor scuffle, the footage shows two cartoon animals marching their man down the street, badges swinging. Sadly there was no room on the squad for Zayu the Jaguar. The suspect never saw it coming. Neither did we.

That's the bell, folks. Drink up.

As they say in Japan, Kanpai!(乾杯)

Have a friend who is all of a sudden a big soccer guy - why not share The Tap-Inn with them so they actually understand what’s going on. Sláinte.