TAKTIK

SC Freiburg are top of the Bundesliga after three matchdays. Say that sentence out loud a few times, because it doesn't get less strange. A 5-0 demolition of ten-man Gladbach puts them there on goal difference over an equally perfect Dortmund, who needed goals from Fabio Silva and a Felix Nmecha brace to see off Paderborn. Bayern Munich, meanwhile, had to go to a town of 13,000 people and grind out a 2-1 win over newly-promoted SV Elversberg, who very nearly repeated their opening-day miracle against Leverkusen — and who gave Bayern a real fright before Harry Kane's 72nd-minute winner settled it. Elsewhere: RB Leipzig went from a historic 4-1 Champions League beating at Como to putting five goals past a hapless Hamburg side that still hasn't scored a league goal this season. Schalke picked up their first win with a dramatic 3-1 away at Union Berlin. Augsburg and Leverkusen played out a VAR-heavy 2-2. Frankfurt beat rivals Mainz to hand Adi Hütter his first win back in the job. And down in 2. Bundesliga, Hertha Berlin have won all five of their games and sit top of the table, with 1. FC Nürnberg right behind them on a nearly-as-good run of their own.

Bayern's unbeaten start to the season continues, but their 59-match scoring streak doesn't — held to a goalless draw by newly promoted Schalke at the Veltins-Arena, in front of a crowd that celebrated the point like a trophy. Jamal Musiala made his first appearance back from the neurological condition that caused him to collapse twice in preseason — Kompany confirmed it's seizure-related and said a recurrence "wouldn't be a big deal," which we unpack carefully.

Elversberg are two wins from two Bundesliga matches. After shocking Leverkusen on opening day, they came from behind twice at Gladbach — with their own head coach sent off at halftime — to win 4-3 through a stoppage-time Maurice Krattenmacher winner. Population 13,000, and undefeated.

RB Leipzig came back to earth after their emphatic opening win, losing 3-1 at Werder Bremen. Leverkusen answered last week's shock defeat with a 4-0 win over Union Berlin. Dortmund won 3-2 at Hoffenheim but confirmed their big summer signing Giannis Konstantelias is out for months with a serious knee injury.

Also: Mainz 5-0 Hamburg, Augsburg 4-1 Frankfurt (their second big win in two matches), Freiburg 1-0 Paderborn, Stuttgart 4-1 Köln.

Next weekend: Union Berlin travel to Schalke, and Bayern host Elversberg — suddenly not the formality it looked like a fortnight ago.

Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga is done. Bayern beat Stuttgart 5-1 — business as usual, with Ismael Saibari setting up two goals off the bench on his debut, and Musiala still absent while his return is carefully managed following two preseason collapses linked to a neurological issue, not just heat exhaustion as first reported.

The real story: SV Elversberg, newly promoted, population 13,000, beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-2 in their first ever Bundesliga match. 2-0 up inside 9 minutes. Cole Campbell — the ex-Dortmund winger we flagged as their smart summer signing back in July — scored the second. Leverkusen's captain and goalkeeper both admitted their team was disorganized in the first match of their third head coach in a year.

Schalke's long-awaited Bundesliga return went badly — 3-0 away at Augsburg, down to 10 men after a 62nd-minute red card. Edin Džeko made his Bundesliga comeback after 5,734 days away. One road defeat doesn't undo a mid-table prediction — the real test is next week at home against Union Berlin.

Also: RB Leipzig 3-0 Gladbach, a winning debut for new coach Martín Demichelis. Köln 3-2 Hoffenheim, with Said El Mala — who nearly left for Dortmund this summer — on the scoresheet. Union Berlin 3-3 Frankfurt in a six-goal thriller. Dortmund 2-0 Hamburg overshadowed by a serious knee injury worry for Konstantelias. Mainz 0-0 Paderborn. Freiburg 4-1 Werder Bremen.

Next weekend: Schalke host Bayern, Leverkusen host Union Berlin in the match that tells us if their opening-day collapse was a blip.

SSV Jeddeloh II, a fourth-tier Regionalliga club, beat 1. FC Heidenheim 5-2 in the DFB-Pokal first round — one of the great cup shocks in recent German football. Heidenheim's coach Frank Schmidt was suspended and watched from the stands as his team missed a penalty and conceded five. Elsewhere in the Pokal: Frankfurt 11-0 St. Tönis, comfortable wins for Stuttgart, Leverkusen, Hoffenheim, and Leipzig. Bayern and Dortmund don't play their first-round ties until September 1-2.

Premier League kicked off — Tottenham spent close to £300M this summer and got beaten 3-0 by Brentford on De Zerbi's opening day. Panic spending meets a brand new spine with zero time to gel.

La Liga also underway — Real Madrid and Barcelona both had delayed starts due to World Cup recovery. Mourinho's actual Real Madrid return: a grinding 2-1 win at Espanyol, substitute Carlos Espí scoring in the 90th. Flick's Barcelona debut: a statement 5-0 win over Elche, Raphinha and Fermín López both scoring twice. Two completely different coaching philosophies on display in the same weekend.

One week out from Bundesliga kickoff. Bayern vs Stuttgart at the Allianz next Friday. Full state-of-play check on the title race, the European race, and the relegation battle heading into matchday one.

Two weeks until Bundesliga kickoff — Bayern vs VfB Stuttgart at the Allianz on Friday August 28. Full season preview.

Musiala scare: fainted from heat exhaustion during Bayern's friendly against Leipzig (30°C+ in Munich, dizziness and circulatory problems). Bayern also lost Laimer and Kim in the same match — three first-teamers down before the Supercup.

Schalke 0-3 Real Madrid at the Veltins-Arena — Mbappé, Huijsen, Espí. Reality check for the newly promoted side, though it shouldn't scare anyone off their season.

Full title race: Bayern still favorites (double last season, goals record, Kompany to 2029). Dortmund challenge but Kovač's contract is a live question and they lost Adeyemi to Barcelona. Leipzig's Demichelis is the wildcard after Leipzig fired a coach who finished 3rd. Leverkusen have their third coach in a year — from a title two years ago to genuine uncertainty now.

European race: Hoffenheim took a real hit losing Touré to Newcastle for ~€50M but stay in the mix. Frankfurt lost Nathaniel Brown to Bayern with no equivalent incoming. Stuttgart consolidate after their Pokal final run.

Relegation: Elversberg and Paderborn are the drop picks. Köln and Hamburg fight for the playoff spot — genuinely a coin flip. Schalke, with their fanbase and finances, land comfortably mid-table at 13th, not scrapping for survival.

Full 18-club prediction table. Klopp names his first Germany squad in September. Musiala's health is the story to watch.

Next Friday: Franz Beckenbauer Supercup — Dortmund vs Bayern.

Seven big managerial changes this summer. Andrea Pirlo just added to the list — Italy appointed him Friday after Guardiola and Ancelotti both said no. Plus Jürgen Klopp at Germany, Zinedine Zidane at France, José Mourinho back at Real Madrid, Rúben Amorim at AC Milan, Massimiliano Allegri at Napoli, Enzo Maresca at Man City. Half of them national team jobs. All three of Europe's biggest football nations — Germany, France, Italy — have new coaches going into September.

Transfer window is chaos. Real Madrid signed Bernardo Silva on a free — hijacked from Barcelona — plus Konaté free from Liverpool, Cucurella €55M from Chelsea, Dumfries €20M from Inter. Mourinho building defensively. Bayern spent €110M on Nathaniel Brown (€55M from Frankfurt) and Ismael Saibari (€55M from PSV). Barcelona signed Anthony Gordon for €80M from Newcastle - and Karim Adeyemi for €29M from Dortmund. The Adeyemi transfer has Germany asking why: inconsistent Bundesliga output, disciplinary problems, missed CL final chances. Barcelona's bet: Hansi Flick can revive him.

Tottenham spent €267M after finishing 17th — Tonali at €100M leads the panic buying. Newcastle are being pillaged. Bayern strengthens, Bundesliga weakens. Same story as always.

Still in play: Julián Álvarez to Barcelona (Arsenal also bidding), Michael Olise to Real Madrid, Rodri chase, Bruno Fernandes to Galatasaray.

NBA: LeBron signed with Philadelphia. Two-year, $8M deal — 90% pay cut from his $53M last season. Sixers starting five: Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown, LeBron, Embiid. Most stacked team he's ever joined.

Charles Barkley on Stephen A. Smith: "The number one knock on LeBron for older guys like myself has always been, 'Yo, man, you always stacking your team.'" Coach's-eye on whether Barkley is right — LeBron's teams: Miami (Wade+Bosh+Allen+Battier), Cleveland (Irving+Love), LA (AD+Doncic+Reaves), now Philly with four All-Stars. Is he strategic or is he not a builder? Both, and neither.

Next episode: season preview. Premier League Aug 15. Bundesliga Aug 21.

Spain are World Champions for the second time in their history. Ferran Torres scored a 106th-minute extra-time winner against 10-man Argentina after Enzo Fernández was sent off in stoppage time for a reckless tackle on Pau Cubarsí. Emiliano Martínez was heroic — 11 interventions — but couldn't stop Argentina's third World Cup title bid.

Spain finish the tournament with 7 clean sheets (a record) and just 1 goal conceded across 8 matches (the fewest ever by a champion). They swept the individual awards — Rodri Golden Ball, Unai Simón Golden Glove, Pau Cubarsí Young Player. Mbappé takes the Golden Boot with 10 goals after his brace in the maddest third-place playoff ever played: England 6-4 France, 10 goals, most in a WC match since 1982.

Honest coach's-eye on Argentina: they were Paraguay with Messi. Grinding, fouling, sitting deep, hoping for a Messi moment. Won three straight knockout matches with late comebacks that weren't tactical control — they were Messi bailing out an aging squad. In the final, when they had to actually play against Spain, they had zero shots on target. Four yellow cards, one red. Argentina now hold the record for most red cards in World Cup finals.

Bigger picture: preparation beat talent this World Cup. Luis de la Fuente is 65 — the oldest coach to win a WC. Spain won because they were the most prepared. England finished third for the first time since 1966. Germany goes home under Klopp. Ronaldo, Messi, Kane — three legends move on.

Plus a transfer teaser: Mourinho is back at Real Madrid with Konaté, Bernardo Silva, Dumfries, and Cucurella. Bayern spent €110M on Nathaniel Brown from Frankfurt and Ismael Saibari from PSV. Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for €80M. Tonali to Spurs for €100M. Proper breakdown next week.

The 2026 World Cup semi-finals are set. For the first time in World Cup history, the four semi-finalists are the top four ranked teams in the world. Spain vs France in Dallas on Tuesday. England vs Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Coach's-eye segment on the biggest statistical trend of the tournament: every team that has shot first in a World Cup penalty shootout at this tournament has lost. 4 for 4. And in the last 13 WC shootouts before this one, teams going first have won just 15% of them. Before that: 49%, essentially a coin flip. Something has shifted. If your captain wins the coin toss, they should pick to shoot SECOND. Most coaches are still telling them to shoot first.

Plus: quarter-final recap. France 2-0 Morocco (Mbappé goal + assist). Spain 2-1 Belgium (Merino again, and Spain's 6-match clean-sheet run ends). England 2-1 Norway after extra time (Bellingham brace, including one goal that Norway's manager thinks was affected by "a cable falling from the sky" — being called the Cable of God, a 1986 callback). Argentina 3-1 Switzerland (Álvarez golazo from outside the box in the 112th, Argentina's 6th straight WC semi).

My call for the whole tournament: Spain still to win it. England to beat Argentina in the semi. Spain to beat France. Final in New Jersey on July 19: Spain lifts it.

Jürgen Klopp is the new Germany head coach. Officially agreed Sunday, formal announcement in two weeks. Coach's-eye on what he inherits, what he changes, why the Wirtz reunion matters, and why it might still not be enough. Plus: the DFB paid Nagelsmann a hefty severance to walk away — that's how badly they wanted him gone.

The USA-Trump-FIFA saga: Balogun red-carded in the Round of 32 vs Bosnia. Trump called Infantino. FIFA overturned the suspension. Belgium then beat USA 4-1 with De Ketelaere brace and assist, Balogun with 10 first-half touches and one saved shot. Belgium's federation X account after the whistle: "Overturn this." Greatest federation tweet in modern football.

Ronaldo's World Cup career is over. Spain 1-0 Portugal, Mikel Merino 91st-minute winner in Dallas. Diogo Costa kept Portugal alive as long as he could. Spain's 6th consecutive clean sheet. Cristiano finishes his WC career with 9 total goals across 5 tournaments. He never won the trophy.

Cabo Verde went out 3-2 to Argentina in extra time — Lopes Cabral scored a goal-of-the-tournament candidate, Vozinha made 8 saves, Messi (with his 20th career WC goal, all-time record) publicly admitted Argentina couldn't press them properly. Bubista's coaching masterclass is the coach's-eye lesson of the tournament.

Round of 16 carnage: Norway 2-1 Brazil (Ancelotti's project dead), Morocco 3-0 Canada (host out), England 3-2 Mexico (host out), Belgium 4-1 USA (third host out), Spain 1-0 Portugal, France 1-0 Paraguay. Post-R16 favorites: Spain still my pick. Norway is the dangerous dark horse. France-Morocco Thursday. Norway-England is the quarter-final of the tournament.

NBA offseason: Giannis to Miami. Kawhi to Toronto. Jaylen Brown for Paul George (Celtics/Sixers). Ja Morant to Portland. LaMelo to Minnesota. LeBron leaving the Lakers. And the Warriors are trying to build the oldest superteam in NBA history — LeBron, AD, Curry, Draymond, Porziņģis — with a combined age of 178 in the starting five. Coach's-eye on why that's nostalgia, not a title strategy.

Tuesday: Argentina-Egypt. Wednesday: Switzerland-Colombia. Thursday: Quarter-finals start with France-Morocco.

Germany are out of the World Cup. Round of 32. Penalties. To Paraguay. The four-time champions just lost their first ever WC penalty shootout. To the 34th-ranked team in the world.

The Tah header in extra time that was disallowed should have stood — ESPN's VAR analyst confirmed it. Schmeichel, Shearer, Friedel all said the same. Plus the Woltemade handball claim. Plus the disallowed penalty in the Ecuador match earlier. The refereeing was a mess.

But the refereeing didn't lose this. Nagelsmann did. Same system in every match. Sané a "black hole" on the right for the entire tournament. Wirtz — the £116M Liverpool man — wasted on the left when his best position is behind the striker, exactly what Vladimír Šmicer just publicly told Liverpool not to do. No pace in the squad. Substitutions that fixed things, coming too late, again. And in sudden death of the shootout, the SIXTH German taker was Jonathan Tah — a center back who, per the German commentator, "has never taken a penalty in his entire career." Tah skied it. Canale buried it. Out.

Bonus: the Netherlands also went out on penalties to Morocco. Saibari scored the winner. Hakimi hit the post. Multiple misses on both sides. Morocco plays Canada in the round of 16.

Plus: Brazil 2-1 Japan with a 95th-minute winner — Ancelotti's project is also fighting itself. Canada beat South Africa 1-0 with a Eustáquio stoppage-time winner. Real coach's-eye on why so many penalties are getting missed across the day — it's coaching, not pressure.

Tonight: Norway vs Ivory Coast. The dark horse is still alive.

Germany are through to the knockouts. Nagelsmann made a triple sub at the 60th, Deniz Undav scored twice, and Ivory Coast were beaten 2-1. Real coach's-eye lesson: when your starters aren't doing it, change the structure, don't wait. Most managers don't make that call. Nagelsmann did. Schlotterbeck off at halftime, replaced by Rüdiger, suspected ligament damage — Germany may be down a starting center back going into the knockouts.

Cabo Verde drew Uruguay 2-2 — Pina scored their first ever World Cup goal from a 32-meter free kick. Two draws against major football nations. They could qualify. Population 600,000.

Curaçao got their first World Cup point with a 0-0 against Ecuador. Their keeper Eloy Room made 15 saves — the most in 90 minutes of a World Cup match since records began in 1966.

Türkiye are OUT. 62 shots across two matches, zero goals — the worst two-match goalless run in World Cup history. Vincenzo Montella goes home.

Plus: the first mouth-covering red card in World Cup history — exactly as the rule was designed.

Then: I went to two VNL Women's matches at Huamark in Bangkok last week, and twenty years of coaching team sport jumped out at me. Even the pros can't pass — and I think I know why. Early specialization, the libero rule, and the cost of building specialists instead of generalists. Why Italy keep winning, why Thailand can take Canada to four sets, and what every youth coach in every team sport should be thinking about.

Thursday: Germany vs Ecuador. Final group match.

Germany 7-1 Curaçao. Big debut. Ivory Coast beat Ecuador in the 90th minute and Group E is still interesting. Neuer started. Calf held. Wirtz was excellent. Real test is Saturday in Toronto.

Other World Cup notes: Brazil were rescued by Vinícius against Morocco and look like a team still adjusting to Ancelotti. Sweden five-one'd Tunisia. Japan held the Netherlands 2-2 with an 89th-minute equalizer. Scotland got their first World Cup win in 28 years. Australia upset Türkiye.

NBA: The Knicks won the championship — first since 1973. The Spurs held leads of 12+ in all five games and converted one. Wembanyama walked off the court without shaking hands. He's 22 and learning what losing feels like. Brunson was Finals MVP at 29 and deserves more credit than he's getting.

UFC Freedom 250 from the White House South Lawn: Justin Gaethje TKO'd Ilia Topuria via corner stoppage in round 4. Topuria's first career loss. Ciryl Gane denied Alex Pereira a three-division title by beating him in round 2. All seven fights ended in finishes.

Saturday: Germany vs Ivory Coast in Toronto. The real test.

Germany 2-1 USA in Chicago. Havertz in the 2nd, Sané with the winner in the 57th, and an Antonee Robinson goal in between that you should look up. Germany got the win but the Neuer-Baumann question is still unresolved seven days from the opener. Lennart Karl is out of the squad with a thigh injury. Coach's-eye honest take: Germany are about 10% to win this tournament, and that's being generous.

Plus a proper World Cup preview: Spain are the favorites and probably the right pick. Argentina are the narrative pick. France are the coin flip. Brazil under Ancelotti is the genuinely unknown variable. Norway are everyone's dark horse with Haaland and Ødegaard. Morocco are still being called a dark horse even after making the semis in Qatar. Belgium are quietly scoring seven goals in two friendlies and nobody is talking about them.

Christian Eriksen collapsed on a pitch in Denmark on Sunday. He's in hospital, he's stable, his pacemaker did its job. We wish him well.

FIFA's new rules: 5-second goal kicks, 10-second substitutions, mouth-covering red cards, expanded VAR. The 5-second rule is going to fundamentally change how some teams play.

Women's VNL just started — USA control, Italy still the team to beat, Germany off to a good start, China losing at home.

NBA Finals: Knicks up 2-0 on the Spurs. Wembanyama threw a pass into his teammate's back to lose Game 2. He's 22. He'll be back. Maybe this series, maybe next year.

The World Cup starts Thursday Bangkok time. Germany play Curaçao on Sunday. In Houston.

We're back after a week off. The football season ended without us — Bayern won the DFB-Pokal 3-0 over Stuttgart with a Kane hat-trick, PSG won the Champions League final on penalties against Arsenal, and Wolfsburg lost the relegation playoff to Paderborn. Three new clubs in the Bundesliga next season, including Elversberg, who play in a town of 12,800 people.

The actual story of the past two weeks: the Spurs beat OKC 4-3 in the Western Conference Finals. Wembanyama outplayed SGA. Real basketball beat foul-baiting. NBA Finals start Thursday: Spurs vs Knicks. Spurs in six.

Plus: Germany beat Finland 4-0 in a meaningless friendly (Finland aren't at the World Cup). A coach's-eye preview of what to actually watch for the German team in two weeks. AAA's mask-vs-mask match in Mexico on Saturday was the best wrestling storyline of the year — Chad Gable unmasked, gave a heartfelt speech, and we explain why this is a coach's-eye masterclass in commitment. Clash in Italy: Cody beat Gunther on a controversial finish, and Brock Lesnar is back winning. Again.

Next week: World Cup is two weeks away. NBA Finals underway. Lots to talk about.

Bayern equalized in the 94th. They were dead in the 3rd. Dembélé scored before the Allianz crowd sat down, then PSG defended for 87 minutes — and we have a coach's-eye correction to do about last week's body-language read, because Luis Enrique just showed how a real coach manages his team's psychology at this level.

Plus: Bundesliga matchday 33 produced relegation chaos - Heidenheim climbs, St. Pauli sinks, Wolfsburg ...stays. All three play at the same time Saturday. Eta got her first win. Riera might be done at Frankfurt. Stuttgart destroyed Leverkusen one week after Leverkusen destroyed Leipzig. The Bundesliga is now the most chaotic-at-the-bottom league in Europe.

In the NBA: Knicks sweep Sixers, OKC about to sweep Lakers, Wemby vs Edwards is the next decade. UFC: Strickland upsets Chimaev. WWE: Asuka may have just said goodbye.

PSG vs Arsenal in Budapest, May 30. Bayern in the DFB Pokal final on May 24. Bundesliga finishes this weekend.

PSG 5, Bayern 4. Champions League semi-final, first leg, Paris. Nine goals. The match of the year. And somehow Bayern came out of it looking better than the team that won. That's a body-language story and we're going to do it properly.

Plus: Bayern drew 3-3 at home to 18th-place Heidenheim because Kompany was already mentally on Wednesday. Leverkusen destroyed Leipzig 4-1 - apparently they heard us praise Leipzig two weeks ago and took it personally. Dortmund lost to Gladbach because Dortmund. Eta got her first points. The relegation race is now the best story in the league.

In the NBA: Boston is OUT. The Lakers nearly bottled a 3-0 lead. The Pistons needed seven games against the 8-seed. SGA still flopping his way to the Finals.

Wednesday: Bayern-PSG second leg. Need to win.

Bayern were 3-0 down at Mainz on Saturday. So Kompany brought on a bench that costs more than Mainz's entire annual revenue. Bayern won 4-3. This is what Bundesliga football looks like in 2026 and we're going to talk about it.

Also this week: Bayern in the DFB-Pokal final, ending the great six-year drought of mostly winning the Pokal. Eta still being asked the wrong question. Jokic finally found something he runs fast for. The Knicks were cursed by a wrestler on live TV — actual sentence. And the Pistons' team-basketball season meets an interesting test.

Wednesday: Bayern at PSG.

Bayern win the Bundesliga for the 35th time — with four games to spare. The real story is one club down the table: RB Leipzig. Hated by half of Germany, run better than most of the clubs that hate them. A coach's-eye case for separating what you dislike about a club from what it's doing right.

Plus: Union Berlin hire Marie-Louise Eta, the first woman ever to head-coach a men's team in Europe's top five leagues. Rodtang settles with ONE. And WrestleMania 42 reminds us that Roman Reigns is the new John Cena.

Welcome to TAKTIK — a coach's-eye look at sport, from Bangkok.

This week: Bayern beat Real Madrid 4-3 to reach the Champions League semi-final. Güler scored two bangers, then got ushered out of the dressing room before Pérez came down to yell. We look at what that tells us about coaching — and why Kompany's Bayern is suddenly likeable.

Plus: ONE Championship sues Rodtang in three countries. And the FIVB has announced the stupidest volleyball rule of the decade.

~30 min. Next week: CL semi-final first legs, Bundesliga, and what ever else catches the eye!