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Atletico Madrid’s links with radical ultras is a story of violence, emotion and change

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Atletico Madrid’s links with radical ultras is a story of violence, emotion and change

Sunday night’s dramatic derby with city rivals Real Madrid put Atletico Madrid’s relationship with the radical block of fans that gather inside their ground under a new global spotlight.

After Real Madrid took the lead, Atletico captain Koke and manager Diego Simeone pleaded for calm with balaclava-wearing supporters, who had thrown objects onto the pitch at rival goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for his supposedly provocative celebrations.

The match was suspended for 20 minutes before Angel Correa’s 95th-minute equaliser gave Simeone’s side a 1-1 draw.

After the final whistle, Atletico’s players celebrated in front of the section where the small number of supporters involved in the object-throwing regularly congregate — behind the goal at the south end of their Estadio Metropolitano, which on Sunday welcomed a record crowd of 70,112.

The whole night shone a spotlight on the more radical elements of Atletico’s support, especially the Frente Atletico ‘ultras’ (fans marked out for their choreographed and fanatical support) and their long and complicated relationship with the club’s hierarchy and the current team.

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It also drew further attention to the stormy relationship between the Spanish capital’s two biggest football clubs, including historical grievances on the Atletico side, and the racist abuse Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior has suffered around recent meetings between the sides.

Here, The Athletic dives into the deeper questions behind what happened.


Who are the Frente Atletico?

The Frente Atletico was formed in 1982, originally influenced by ultras movements in Italy and the UK. Atletico recognised it as an official supporters club and encouraged them as they brought atmosphere with chants and banners, motivated players and attracted bigger crowds to the stadium. Frente leaders got to know then-Atletico president Jesus Gil, occasionally socialising with Atletico players and appearing on Spanish radio shows in the 1980s.

Over time, Frente members holding more radical right-wing views took control of the group. They were also attracted by money-making opportunities, as Atletico facilitated the sale of blocks of match tickets that the Frente leadership could control. This continued after Atletico were converted into a private company in 1992, with Gil and film producer Enrique Cerezo taking control in a move Spain’s supreme court later deemed illegal — but no action followed as the court also said that the statute of limitations had passed.


Atletico’s Metropolitano had a record crowd on Sunday night (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

There was often violence involved with the Frente. In the 1980s, some members would ‘defend’ Atletico fans from opposition ultras at away games. There were also clashes with police.

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The group became increasingly radical. Frente members attacked and killed Real Sociedad supporter Aitor Zabaleta near Atletico’s old Vicente Calderon stadium in 1998. Despite this, Frente retained its privileges with the club, continuing to sell match tickets and storing its banners and drums at the Calderon.

More recently, in November 2014, Deportivo La Coruna ultra Javier ‘Jimmy’ Romero Taboada was killed during an organised fight between Depor and Atletico fans before a game at the Calderon.

How could such a group still be allowed into Atletico’s stadium?

After Romero Taboada’s death, Atletico revoked the Frente’s official status and banned some members from the Calderon. Over the next few years, Atletico began to modernise on and off the pitch, most notably moving to the Estadio Metropolitano on Madrid’s outskirts. Twelve consecutive seasons of Champions League football under Simeone have brought extra revenue and status as one of Europe’s elite clubs.

But Frente-aligned clothes, banners and chants are still a part of the Metropolitano’s matchday experience. Incidents are less frequent but still serious, including an Atletico ultra displaying a Nazi swastika at a game in May 2018 and a far-right banner flown in their section of the stadium during that year’s Europa League final against Marseille in Lyon.


The scene inside Atletico’s ground before kick-off on Sunday night (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

There have also been battles for control of Atletico’s most radical fans and the moneymaking opportunities presented by the Frente ‘brand’, such as ‘official’ scarves and T-shirts. A man was hospitalised in January 2018 after a fight between members of different hardcore Atletico groups outside the Metropolitano. A new radical group, ‘Suburbios Firm’, has emerged — its members are already banned from attending home games, but sometimes support the team away.

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In practical terms, especially within the stadium, the ‘Frente’ is now more of an idea than an actual group of paid-up members. Ultras from the 1990s and 2000s are older and less likely to attend matches. The club recognise an ‘animation section’ of fans behind the goal but they have long ended the practice of facilitating blocks of tickets for sale by ultras leaders.

Atletico say they can only ban individuals from the stadium after they have committed a crime and that it is impossible (and illegal) to take collective action against groups of people without evidence of wrongdoing. “We cannot expel 200 people from the stadium because someone believes they belong to a certain group or because they wear a certain T-shirt,” a club spokesperson told The Athletic. “The image might be awful, but there has to be a crime committed for action to be taken.”

After Sunday’s events, an Atletico statement said the club was committed to “working with the police to locate those involved, one of whom has already been identified”.

Were they involved in the racist abuse of Vinicius Jr?

Last December, four members of Frente Atletico were charged over the hanging of an effigy dressed to resemble Vinicius Jr from a bridge near Real Madrid’s training ground in January 2023. The mannequin was hung next to a 16-metre banner that read “Madrid hates Real” and was displayed hours before a Madrid derby in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.

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After last season’s Metropolitano ‘derbi’, police identified individuals who were caught on camera racially abusing the Brazilian. Atletico revoked their status as club members, banning them from the stadium. Similarly, when one ‘fan’ racially abused Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams in April, he was also expelled and banned.

Before Sunday’s game, messages on social media circulated with some apparent Atletico fans urging supporters to wear masks to the game to avoid detection by cameras when making racist insults, specifically calling Vinicius Jr a monkey.


Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois throws a lighter off the pitch (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

No racist abuse of Vinicus Jr was reported on Sunday, although there were chants against him when Madrid’s team bus arrived and whistles for his every intervention on the pitch.

Instead, the focus switched to Courtois, a former Atletico player who moved from Chelsea to Real Madrid in 2018.

How does Atletico’s self-image fit with all this?

Atletico fans, players and club officials have historically identified themselves as scrappy underdogs who fight against authority and power — especially against their richer and more glamorous city rivals. That self-image is deeply rooted within the club and most Atletico fans are convinced the media and authorities support Real Madrid.

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Atletico went 14 years without a win against Real Madrid (1999-2013) and still feel that any victory for Atletico over Madrid is a victory for the little guy.

“These are difficult times and people identify with us as we are fighting against many adversities,” said then-Atletico midfielder Tiago in 2014 as Simeone’s side won that season’s league title — their third in 37 years. “We’re like Robin Hood.”

Simeone’s style of football — with its emphasis on hard work and physicality — fits Atletico’s traditions and the emotional connection with the stadium has played a key role. After each game, Atletico’s players salute all four corners of the stadium, starting with their more hardcore fans.

On Sunday, when the game was stopped after objects were thrown at Courtois, Atletico captain Koke and long-serving defender Jose Maria Gimenez ran behind the goal to speak with the fans in the area the objects had come from. Simeone also approached them, making a ‘calm down’ gesture.

After the game, as usual, Atletico’s players gathered on the edge of the penalty area to applaud the Fondo Sur (the hardcore group of fans who congregate behind the goal at the stadium’s south end), which many felt could be seen as a gesture of support for their behaviour during the game.

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Simeone in front of the Fondo Sur section at Atletico’s ground on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

What do most Atletico fans think?

As the Frente is not an official group, nobody knows exactly how many members it has or how many regularly attend games. Some ultras who lead chants behind the goal have often covered their faces with scarves or balaclavas to avoid identification.

The vast majority of Atletico fans do not like the Frente at all. Many keep away from the bars where the hardcore ultras drink before games and also steer clear of them in the stadium.

Divides within the fanbase are clear. In November 2022, the Fondo Sur left their area empty for the first half of a game against Espanyol, protesting the team’s poor displays. Fans in other areas of the stadium loudly whistled them when they did enter.

On Sunday evening, when the referee took the players off the pitch in the second half, this divide was again evident. Amid a surreal silence in most of the ground, ultras behind the goal continued to chant and jump and down, only to be met by whistles from other areas of the ground. There were also whistles when the team went to applaud the Fondo Sur on the final whistle.


Atletico players acknowledging fans after the final whistle on Sunday (Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

“I was there and I was one of those who whistled the Frente,” said one Atletico fan (as the supporters consulted for this article work in football, they spoke anonymously to protect their position). “Atletico fans are fed up and embarrassed by what happened.”

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Another supporter said: “Ninety-nine per cent of the people in that stand are normal, but those who dominate are the brainless ones.”

Atletico’s ‘embattled underdog’ identity can blend into a feeling of persecution among regular fans, not just Atletico’s more radical ultras. Many agreed when Simeone said after Sunday’s game that Courtois bears responsibility for the way he celebrated Madrid’s opening goal. TV pictures showed him mouthing, ‘Vamos’ (come on) as he moved his hand towards the stands — a proactive gesture, in the view of home fans. Moments before the goal, chants of, “Courtois die” had been heard.

Courtois is not popular among Atletico fans. Since joining Real Madrid, they feel he has been disrespectful towards his former team, who he represented from 2011 to 2014. Like all players who have made more than 100 Atletico appearances, he has a plaque on the ‘centenary players’ walk’ on the stadium concourse. As they always do whenever Courtois plays at the Metropolitano with Real, Atletico fans left rubbish and other debris on his plaque.

What does the rest of Spanish football make of Atletico’s hardcore fans?

After Romero Taboada’s death in 2014, there was a concerted effort from Spanish football authorities to weaken ultras’ influence, even trying to keep them out of stadiums.

Many other clubs — including Real Madrid and Barcelona — have banned individuals and groups. They have also introduced their own ‘official’ animation sections, which are more tightly controlled by club authorities, so behaviour can be more easily policed.

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La Liga’s reputation took a battering following the global uproar at the racist abuse that Vinicius Jr suffered in Valencia’s Mestalla stadium last year and the league’s executives have since reacted much more seriously to any incidents of racism within or around Spanish stadiums, and also online.


Vinicius Jr has been racially abused by fans at several La Liga grounds (Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

La Liga’s official response on Sunday evening to the events inside the stadium was relatively restrained, with a post on X saying there was “zero tolerance for any acts of violence inside or outside our stadiums”.

Local coverage of the events, which made many headlines in international media, was also quite restrained. There were no angry op-eds calling for the Metropolitano to be closed or for the complete banning of all ultras from Spanish stadiums.

The Spanish Football Federation and La Liga have yet to decide what punishment Atletico will receive for Sunday’s incident. They could try to close parts of the stadium for a few games, but that may be difficult to impose. Real Betis successfully appealed such a sanction when a Sevilla player was hit by an object thrown from the stands in January 2022. Atletico also successfully appealed in April when a section of the stand was closed for two games after Williams was racially abused, arguing that it was unfair to punish a whole group for the behaviour of one individual.

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What about Atletico’s international image and the club’s medium-term future?

The evolution of Atletico into one of Europe’s elite clubs continued this summer, with the investment of more than €200million (£166.6m; $222.2m) in big international stars, including Julian Alvarez and Conor Gallagher.

It added to a feeling that Atletico’s hierarchy are looking to take a big leap forward. This summer, €70m was raised from the club’s shareholders, which include UK-Israeli company Quantum Pacific and U.S. investors Ares Management Corporation. Chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin laid the first stone at a new training ground on a site beside the Metropolitano.

Many within the Spanish football industry believe that Gil Marin and Cerezo will sell their controlling interest in Atletico to foreign investors. Sunday’s disgraceful scenes, which echoed around the world, will not have helped drum up interest.

When reporters asked Cerezo on Sunday afternoon about the online hate messages about Vinicius Jr, he first said, “At Atletico Madrid, I don’t consider that there is anyone anti-racist or racist.” Later, at the stadium, he clarified to broadcasters DAZN that he “meant to say that we all have a responsibility to fight against racism”.

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Cerezo (centre) in conversation with Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Perez (Oscar J Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Atletico are keen to project a more modern positive image and have launched campaigns in the stadium and online to educate their fans.

“’We Love Football’ is a project to channel all of our actions aimed to build a sport where diversity, inclusion, respect and tolerance inspire society,” the club’s website says.

On Sunday, Atletico quickly released a statement saying the club was working with police to identify all individuals who threw objects onto the pitch and that they will be banned from attending games. Since Sunday, Atletico have also changed their statutes so that fans who wear masks to avoid identification can be immediately expelled from the stadium.

There is an awareness at Atletico — within the club and among the fans — that their image has been badly damaged. The vast majority of fans are adamant that the Frente does not represent their views and the club say they are doing all they can to stamp out their influence — but the connection is still strong between the team and the section of the stand where there is continuing anti-social (and worse) behaviour.

“The image of the players talking to fans wearing balaclavas, and then going to applaud the stand at the end of the game, was terrible,” said another Atletico fan. “The club still has a lot of work to do.”

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(Top photo: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images)

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Court Vision: 11 things to know about 2024-25 NCAA men’s college basketball season before tipoff

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Court Vision: 11 things to know about 2024-25 NCAA men’s college basketball season before tipoff

It’s a long wait from the first weekend in April until the first week of November, but at last, the men’s college basketball season is upon us.

We’ve already shared The Athletic’s preseason conference rankings, full of stats and analysis. We’ve rolled out our preseason All-America teams and Top 25. And there’s plenty more to come. Consider this my first national column, which will regularly cover the week that was and preview the weekend that will be.

So, before the games actually tip off, let’s get you caught up on everything you need to know.

1. UConn’s quest for a three-peat is historic — but not impossible

Last season, Connecticut became just the third program in the modern era to win back-to-back national titles, joining Florida (2006 and 2007) and Duke (1991 and 1992).

But neither the Gators nor the Blue Devils were able to run things back a third time. Which means the only team that’s ever won three straight is still John Wooden’s UCLA dynasty, which won seven consecutive championships from 1967 to ’73 (and 10 over a 12-year span). But Dan Hurley wouldn’t have turned down the Los Angeles Lakers’ head-coaching job this summer if his team didn’t have a realistic shot at cutting down the nets (again) in 2025.

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Beyond the difficulty of winning a single-elimination tournament three years running is that Hurley, 51, keeps losing his best players. After his first title, three starters left for the NBA. After UConn won it all again, Hurley lost four more starters. At least Hurley convinced redshirt junior Alex Karaban to come back … but now he needs the 6-foot-9 forward to go from highly efficient role player to a true All-American.

Karaban will get help from guard Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) and center Tarris Reed Jr. (Michigan), both top-50 transfers according to The Athletic’s list of best available players, and five-star wing Liam McNeeley was the No. 17 recruit in the nation. Hurley also needs his role players from the past two seasons to take the leap. There’s enough talent here to make another run. And if UConn does? It would cement Hurley not just as the best coach of the modern era, but one of the best the sport has ever seen.

2. The coaching carousel

Who knew that SMU firing Rob Lanier would be so consequential?

But that became the first domino in a wild offseason. SMU, ahead of its move to the ACC, quickly hired Andy Enfield away from USC, which paved the way for Eric Musselman to leave Arkansas for Los Angeles. The Razorbacks responded with a home run swing: luring Hall of Famer John Calipari away from his lifetime contract at Kentucky as his act appeared to be wearing thin in Lexington. (A blue-blood coaching change, for the fourth straight offseason.)

Kentucky settled on BYU coach Mark Pope — a captain on UK’s 1996 championship team — as Calipari’s successor, after its pursuit of Baylor coach Scott Drew came up short. BYU hired former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young, who has seemingly unlocked the Cougars’ name, image and likeness vault.

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Those interconnected dominoes don’t even factor in Michigan winning the sweepstakes for Dusty May, who took Florida Atlantic to its lone Final Four. Louisville, which ended its disastrous two-year Kenny Payne experiment, pivoted to Charleston’s Pat Kelsey.

Tony Bennett’s recent abrupt retirement from Virginia, where he hung the program’s only national championship banner in 2019, left the ACC without a championship-winning coach for the first time since 1981-82. Ron Sanchez (former head coach at Charlotte) was named interim coach and will have every opportunity to win the full-time job. And lastly, tragically, South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim — who led Kennesaw State to its first NCAA Tournament appearance and was a rising star — died last week at age 43 due to complications from a medical procedure. Assistant Ben Fletcher will be the interim.

3. Zach Edey is gone, but there’s still returning star power

Edey — the first two-time Wooden Award winner since Ralph Sampson in the 1980s — is gone to the NBA, but The Athletic’s preseason All-America teams include several accomplished players.

North Carolina guard RJ Davis is the only first-team All-American back from last season, but two second-team honorees also return: Alabama guard Mark Sears and Kansas center Hunter Dickinson. (Thank the extra COVID-19 year of eligibility for guys sticking in school long enough to become household names.) Karaban is the face of UConn’s bid for a three-peat, Arizona guard Caleb Love is two seasons removed from ending Mike Krzyzewski’s Hall of Fame career, and Purdue guard Braden Smith is set to step out of Edey’s enormous shadow.

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That’s just a snippet of the talent back. But there’s also …

4. Cooper Flagg, the most hyped high school prospect since …?

Welcome to the year of Flagg. The 6-foot-9 Maine native was the top-ranked recruit in this year’s freshman class, and he’s long been the front-runner to go No. 1 in the 2025 NBA Draft. It’s not hyperbolic to call him the most-anticipated high school recruit since Anthony Davis at Kentucky in 2011-12. And the nine months “The Brow” was on campus turned out pretty well for the Wildcats, no? Duke and third-year coach Jon Scheyer are hoping Flagg leads the Blue Devils to similar national championship heights — and talent-starved NBA fans in Washington, Brooklyn and Detroit are watching just as eagerly.

Flagg’s hype train hit a new gear after his performance this summer at Team USA camp. Despite being the lone college representative on the Select Team — which featured rising NBAers like Brandon Miller and Jalen Suggs — Flagg was, at times, the best player on the court.

Flagg is a better defensive player than offensive one at this point, but he can still pour it in as a scorer. Regardless, Duke’s do-everything centerpiece will have a spotlight trained on him for good reason: He’s the rare talent, even at 17, who can lead a team to a national championship.

5. Experience rules

When the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19, the NCAA granted every player that season an additional year of eligibility. In the final season with those players still active, what is the legacy of that decision? The most experienced era in the recent history of the sport.

According to NCAA data, in 2018-19 — the final full season before the pandemic — the average experience level for DI men’s players was 2.41 years; for this season, it’s up to 2.62. But that data isn’t totally representative because it counts fifth-year players like normal seniors. If it accounted for the additional year, the average is pushed even higher. Take Xavier, the most experienced high-major team in the country this season. The Musketeers’ average experience is 3.35 years, per NCAA data. But if you account for the team’s eight fifth-year players, that figure rises to 3.53.

As for how experience correlates to winning? There have been only two freshman starters in the past two Final Fours combined, both for UConn: Karaban (2023) and Stephon Castle (2024). Duke, or another freshman-heavy team, may reverse that narrative this season. But recent history suggests experience is more valuable than ever.

6. Rutgers has 2 of the nation’s top 3 recruits

The only school in the past decade to land two of the nation’s top three recruits was Duke, until this summer. But by signing forward Ace Bailey (No. 2 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite) and point guard Dylan Harper (No. 3), Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell has accomplished the seemingly impossible in New Jersey. (The wonders that a family legacy — Harper’s older brother, Ron Harper Jr., also played at Rutgers — and a robust NIL pitch can do.)

Both Bailey and Harper are projected top-five picks in next summer’s NBA Draft — and they could even challenge Flagg to go first if they lead the Scarlet Knights to the NCAA Tournament.

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At 6 feet 6 and 215 pounds, Harper has ideal size for a lead guard, and he offers polished three-level scoring ability. Bailey is more raw, but there aren’t many prospects with his athleticism at 6 feet 10. They’ll be asked to carry a heavy load in a Big Ten predicated on physicality and post play.

7. Another transfer portal cycle sees top names find new homes

Where did some of the top names wind up? Former Final Four participants — point guard Jeremy Roach (Duke) and forward Norchad Omier (Miami) — will team up at Baylor this season. The remaining cornerstones from Florida Atlantic’s 2023 Final Four team scattered, as well; center Vlad Goldin followed May to Michigan, guard Johnell Davis went to Arkansas, while guard Alijah Martin stayed in Florida and joined the Gators.

Tucker DeVries — the two-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year and the No. 1 transfer in The Athletic’s rankings — went with his father, Darian, to West Virginia. New Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz brought his best player, the goggle-wearing Robbie Avila, with him from Indiana State. Forward Great Osobor moved from Utah State to Washington to stay with coach Danny Sprinkle.

Coleman Hawkins (Illinois) picked Kansas State. Rylan Griffen left one Final Four team (Alabama) for another potential one (Kansas). Louisville brought in an entire new roster, headlined by Chucky Hepburn (Louisville), Terrence Edwards Jr. (James Madison) and Kasean Pryor (USF). We could go on.

8. Can the Big Ten end its 25-year national title drought? It looks unlikely

No Big Ten team has won it all since Tom Izzo captured his first (and only) title with Michigan State in 2000.

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Since then, eight Big Ten teams — Indiana (2002), Illinois (2005), Ohio State (2007), Michigan State (2009), Michigan (2013), Wisconsin (2015), Michigan (2018) and Purdue (2024) — have made it to the championship game, but none have finished the job. Eleven coaches surveyed by The Athletic largely agreed that probably speaks more to the randomness of March Madness than any overarching condemnation of one conference but also spoke to style of play.

It seems unlikely the Big Ten snaps its dry spell this season. Purdue is the top-ranked preseason team in the league at No. 14, followed by Indiana (No. 17), UCLA (No. 22) and Rutgers (No. 25). There just doesn’t appear to be one or two clear front-runners. However …

9. Could we see a record for NCAA Tournament teams from one league?

The Big East holds the single-season record for NCAA Tournament bids by one league, when 11 of its 16 teams qualified in 2011. But with conference realignment leading to larger high-major leagues, will the record be broken this season?

Possible, but still improbable. Three leagues seem best-positioned: the SEC, Big Ten or Big 12. The SEC has nine teams ranked in the preseason Top 25 and a 10th (Mississippi State) that received votes in the poll. The Big Ten has seven others who received preseason votes in addition to the four ranked. The Big 12 is top-heavy; six of its teams are ranked, with the potential for more to emerge from its meaty middle class.

Even if it doesn’t happen this season, we expect that 11-bid mark to eventually be topped. It could also fall soon if there is moderate NCAA Tournament expansion, which could be implemented as soon as the 2026 bracket. Over the summer, The Athletic reported that the NCAA had presented proposals for both a 72- and 76-team field to DI conference commissioners. Under both proposals, the First Four would be expanded to include at least four more at-large teams.

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How much of an appetite is there to expand the 68-team field? Enough, although not to a major extent. But multiple high-major conference commissioners — including the SEC’s Greg Sankey and the ACC’s Jim Phillips — have previously expressed an interest in exploring tournament expansion. Talks remain ongoing.

10. Final Four predictions

In our staff survey, 11 teams earned Final Four votes: Gonzaga (8), Alabama (6), UConn (5), Houston (5), Kansas (5), Iowa State (4), Duke (2), Baylor (2), Arizona, Arkansas and Texas A&M.

Of those schools, five were picked as the preseason national champion at least once — but none more than Gonzaga, whom three of our experts picked to deliver Mark Few’s long-awaited first title. (The others? Alabama, Kansas, UConn and Houston.) That group makes up the clear top cluster of teams expected to compete to win it all.

11. Cheers to the schedule-makers for great opening-week games

Here are 10 of the opening-week matchups circled on our calendar, featuring 10 different ranked teams (times ET):

Monday

No. 13 Texas A&M at UCF, 7 p.m.

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Missouri at Memphis, 8 p.m.

No. 19 Texas vs. Ohio State, 10 p.m.

No. 8 Baylor at No. 6 Gonzaga, 11:30 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 8

No. 9 North Carolina at No. 1 Kansas, 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 9

No. 12 Tennessee at Louisville, noon

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No. 8 Baylor vs. No. 16 Arkansas, 7:30 p.m.

Northwestern at Dayton, 7:30 p.m.

No. 11 Auburn vs. No. 4 Houston, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 10

Michigan vs. Wake Forest, 1 p.m.

 (Photo of UConn’s Alex Karaban: Brett Wilhelm / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

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A Poem About Waiting, and Wishing You Had a Drink

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A Poem About Waiting, and Wishing You Had a Drink

If you ever see me at a party, I’ll most likely be standing off to the side, looking slightly lost, staring down into my glass. Perhaps you’re that way too — introverted, awkward, thirsty. Nice to meet you. And since we’re here, may I introduce you to my friend Philip? Or perhaps you’ve already met.

Philip Larkin, circa 1958.

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Rogers/Camera Press, via Redux

The posthumous publication of Larkin’s letters revealed him to be something uglier than a garden-variety curmudgeon. The private expressions of misogyny, antisemitism and xenophobia he shared with friends have dented his reputation in the years since his death.

If he hasn’t been fully canceled, it may be because his gift for self-cancellation makes such censure redundant. Larkin writes from the standpoint of someone who is out of touch, out of step and out of sorts, with himself and everyone around him. He’ll never be the life of the party, and you may wonder why anyone invited him in the first place.

Nonetheless, it’s good to see him there. For one thing, it’s nice to know that someone might be having a worse time than you are. He even has a theory about why some people have a better time than others; in fact, he’s an expert on the subject.

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Misery loves company, and this miserable chap turns out to be just the companion you’re looking for, at least until you can find another drink.

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Emma Hayes struck balance between USWNT celebration and evaluation, winning the October window

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Emma Hayes struck balance between USWNT celebration and evaluation, winning the October window

Center back Naomi Girma stole the show in Louisville as the U.S. women’s national team wrapped up the international window with its third win. But the real story of that October camp is the sheer amount of evaluation head coach Emma Hayes managed in addition to the celebratory nature of the team’s Olympics gold medal victory tour.

“I got out of it what I wanted to get out of it,” Hayes said Wednesday. “A ton of debutants, managed minutes for everyone that’s still in NWSL play, (and) a chance to develop some things that, for us, we set as targets for ourselves on the training pitch.”

Hayes has backed up everything she has said since taking over the job in May, going back to her first media appearances in New York City this spring — specifically: club form matters. While her hands were tied slightly in this window as Olympics celebrations meant she had to call up every healthy member of the squad that went to the Games in France in the summer, she used her remaining roster spots to the fullest. She also maximized rotation, not just in the starting line-ups and her substitute choices, but the 23-player game-day rosters.

All seven uncapped players on the roster, including a mid-camp addition, earned their first USWNT minutes.

Orlando Pride defender Emily Sams and Washington Spirit midfielder Hal Hershfelt were in France as alternates but did not see the field. Racing Louisville forward Emma Sears immediately impressed in her debut as only the fourth player in program history to record a goal and assist in her first cap. Bay FC defender Alyssa Malonson nabbed her first assist in her debut Wednesday against Argentina, playing provider to Girma. Paris Saint-Germain’s Eva Gaetino, Utah Royals’ Mandy Haught and Gotham FC’s Yazmeen Ryan rounded out the new kids.

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There were important returns too. Alyssa Thompson finally scored her first international goal in her return to the national team after missing out on the Olympic roster, and Ashley Sanchez and Hailie Mace picked up minutes against Argentina.

It’s hard to disagree with Hayes’ approach to club form after a successful window because she achieved all of her objectives and captured three multi-goal wins. As a bonus, she also finally saw the team down a goal, forced into mounting a comeback against Iceland in Nashville on Sunday. It was the first time the USWNT had fallen behind in a game managed by Hayes.

The challenge now is figuring out how much these matches actually matter in the long run. While the friendlies were fun to watch — no one will complain about a Girma brace either — with so much focus on rotation and evaluation, it feels more like one of the first pieces to the larger puzzle. One that won’t be completed for a few more years.

The back half of 2024 has generally felt like a period for recovery and big-picture thinking at the senior team level.

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While the next and final window of the year in late November and early December involves two high-profile European opponents on the road, the friendlies against England and the Netherlands will likely be an outlier from this period. Higher-profile opponents mean higher stakes, but it’s fair to expect Hayes to again use the full depth of her roster with an eye on evaluation and development.

Hayes has already shown she’s not afraid of big moments and prioritized using the depth of her roster to bring Jaedyn Shaw, Croix Bethune and others to their first major tournament this summer. While the starting XI against England on November 30 is sure to be the strongest possible, Hayes has another chance to ensure that players who will be crucial to the team’s success two or three years down the line experience an environment like Wembley Stadium as well.

The true sign of things to come will be January’s Futures Camp, which Hayes promised to run concurrently with the full senior team camp in Los Angeles. The USWNT hasn’t run a talent and identification camp since 2019, shortly after Vlatko Andonovski took over the team, but it was the only one to occur during his four-year tenure.

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Hayes has promised to cast a wide net, especially following semifinal appearances from the under-20 and under-17 teams in their respective World Cups this year. But for all the angst over the past few years about generational change, the runway has finally been fully cleared.

The Olympics were the most obvious symbolic gesture of the end of one USWNT era, with Alex Morgan not named to the roster. It was a surprise sunsetting of a generational player but was also a testament to the team she helped build.

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There are more options than ever before in every position. Making the U.S. roster seems harder than it’s been in the past, but doing so is also more clearly tied to form and thus more transparent than ever. Hayes has finally truly buried that “emergency surgery” line she came in with and led the team to Olympic gold, and as promised, the larger work is now underway.

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These three games provided a good start, but were just a start nonetheless.

The first 270 minutes of the cycle leading to the 2027 World Cup in Brazil and home-turf Los Angeles-hosted Olympics a year later are in the bag. There’s still so much more to come.

(Top photo: Scott Wachter / Imagn Images)

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