The Win Column: How myths are made

Happy Monday, folks. It’s AJ Willingham from A.M. ATL in for Tyler, who’s on duty operating Gianni Infantino’s personal World Cup teleporter. Seriously, his private jet pilot must be a beast. (Infantino’s, that is. Tyler’s jet pilot stinks.)

Big World Cup thoughts today. We’ll get to the Braves and Hawks after.

THE WORLD CUP GAME I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT

Credit: (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Credit: (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Myth is sharpened on the whetstone of sport.

Sometimes, a game is just a game. Sometimes — some fascinating times — it’s a rich proxy for political machinations or acts of war; a retelling of the hero’s journey, humanity’s oldest story writ small on a single field of play.

Sometimes, it’s not David facing Goliath; it’s King Leonidas and his 300 summoning glory in defeat. In these great moments of myth, an incipient contender from a tiny country doesn’t just almost beat another team; they challenge the best of the best, make them sweat, and remind us all that gods can bleed.

But I’m not talking about Cape Verde’s dignified loss to Argentina, amazing as it was. I’m not even talking about Monday’s England-Mexico game, a heart-stopping affair that saw England overcome improbable late odds to best a host team in one of soccer’s most magical arenas. The most exciting match of the tournament so far, an all-time finish for England, and a heartbreak of truly mythical proportions for Mexico.

No, what’s stuck in my head is Morocco’s Round of 32 victory over the Netherlands on the very last, labored breath of the match.

It had it all: identity, revenge, bloodshed and a finish for the history books.

Bear with me, because yes, I’m going to be a little weird about it over next two sections. (Skip to the All-Star Game section if you don’t want a bunch of soccer nonsense but c’mon, of course you do.)

PART 1: HOW The NETHERLANDS-MOROCCO MYTH UNFOLDED

Credit: (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

ON IDENTITY AND BELONGING

The World Cup offers us a fascinating glimpse at the complexities of national pride and identity. Players who have a claim to multiple nationalities choose their World Cup team based on their personal views of who they are, who they want to represent and what they want to accomplish.*

Between the Dutch and Moroccan national teams, there are several players who could play for either side.

THE PROPHECY: MAYBE NOT SOMETHING YOU SHOULD SAY ALOUD

In March 2026, months before the World Cup, former Dutch soccer star Rafael van der Vaart made this fated comment on a Dutch soccer show:

“Not to be rude, but every Moroccan that’s not good enough to play for The Netherlands is now playing for Morocco.”

I don’t know about y’all, but I would simply not say that!**

You can bet your American bottom his words echoed through both teams’ minds, and indeed, both countries, when fate shoved them together in their Round of 32 knockout match.

Then things got really weird ...

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*French phenom Kylian Mbappé, Paris-born and of Cameroonian descent, has spoken about how strongly he feels his French identity while also appreciating the cultures of his forebears.

** This was not van der Vaart’s only questionable World Cup comment.

PART 2: THE GAME, THE DRAMA

Credit: (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

So the Moroccan and Dutch teams meet in Guadalupe, Mexico on June 29. The game isn’t just chippy, it draws blood. We’ll run through the narrative quickly here.

THE BATTLE: BLOOD AND RAGE

Bloody head wounds aren’t so rare in soccer, but two in one game?

Dutch player Jan Paul van Hecke got an accidental cleat to the head, opening up a dramatic and painful-looking gash that stained his light hair red for the rest of the match.
Morocco’s Ismael Saibari sustained a gash above his eyebrow that speckled his jersey with blood, so much he had to change into a different jersey.

Oh, and those two players had beef

Early in the first half, before any blood was shed, van Hecke and Saibari got into it with each other in dramatic fashion. In fact, van Hecke seemed to be warning Saibari that he almost injured the Dutch player’s head. There’s a lot of material here!

THE COUP DE GRACE: A HERO APPEARS

So the game goes into penalty kicks. Boo! That was a lot of running around for nothing.
In terms of penalties, it was still high drama. Both sides missed early kicks, but drew even after three rounds. The Netherlands, who kicked first, missed their fourth and fifth shots. All that was left was for Morocco to score one.

Morocco’s final penalty kicker? Why, Ismael Saibari, of course.

He made the goal. Morocco won.

Here’s the thing about Saibari, the thing that makes this so ridiculous I can’t stand it.

At the time of his winning goal*, Saibari played for a Dutch club team.

Like, that was his normal non-World Cup soccer job. He’s not a citizen, but he’s lived in the Netherlands since 2020.

He wasn’t just a random player, either. Saibari helped PSV Eindhoven to several excellent seasons.

And then, under the pall of a careless comment from a Dutch footballer about Moroccan players, a well-regarded player for a Dutch team secured a huge Moroccan victory on the international stage.**

Chills, man.

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*Barely two days after Morocco’s win over the Netherlands, Saibari got an offer from FC Bayern Munich, which I know is a good team because I recognize it even though I don’t know anything about non-American club soccer.

** In 2022, Morocco became the first African team to make it to the quarterfinals of a World Cup. After beating Canada on July 4 in the Round of 16, they’re the first African team to make it to the quarterfinals two times in a row.

🇲🇦 🇳🇱 Final note: In this particular myth, Morocco is a “hero.” That doesn’t mean Netherlands players are villains, or anything less than heroes for their country. (Or that the views of that one Dutch commentator reflect any larger sentiment.)

In fact, there were beautiful moments of sportsmanship and brotherhood on the Dutch side, especially as they supported striker Cody Gakpo. Gakpo and his partner recently lost their unborn baby.

After all, the best myths take our normal heroes-and-villains binary and punt it into a million pieces.

ANYWAY, ABOUT THE ALL-STAR GAME

That’s enough soccer for now. We’re less than two weeks from the 2026 MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia, and at least five Atlanta Braves will fill out the National League roster.

Let’s hear it for the boys:

Chris Sale (SP)
Drake Baldwin (C)
Matt Olson (1B)
Ozzie Albies (2B)
Raisel Iglesias (P)

Some obvious names here, but it’s a particular treat for Iglesias. This is the first time in the closer’s 11-plus season he’s been named an All-Star.

“I just kind of stopped thinking about it in that sense,” he said. “Now that this honor has been bestowed upon me, I feel very grateful and I’m very excited.”

The All-Star break can’t come too soon, either. The Braves are still trying to wiggle out of a mid-season rut, and have shaved their lead in the NL East to just three games ahead of the Phillies.

They beat up on the Mets a little this weekend, which is always heartwarming. The final of that four-game series is tonight, and the Braves will be looking for a much-needed series win.

THE HAWKS OF SUMMER

The Hawks began play in the NBA Summer League in Salt Lake City last weekend.

The AJC’s Lauren Williams has five big things for fans to keep in mind as the season unfolds. They include:

A first look at the Hawks’ big draft picks Zuby Ejiofor (No. 23) and Henri Veesaar (No. 52)
Whether point guard Kingston Flemings can carve out a leadership role

MORE THINGS TO KNOW

Credit: AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File

World Cup drama, U.S. edition

The U.S. Men’s National Team faces Belgium today at 8 p.m. ET in the World Cup Round of 16.

Speaking of political machinations, the match is already knee-deep in controversy. Over the weekend, FIFA reversed a red card decision against U.S. striker Folarin Balogun incurred during the team’s match against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

That alone is remarkable, but then President Donald Trump said he had called FIFA and asked them to reverse it. FIFA said his call did not affect the decision, but the president seems to think otherwise. Belgium is livid. USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino is trying to stay out of the fray.

Quick hits

🏈 College football season is less than two months away, and UGA is once again expected to be a title contender.

⭐ More than half the WNBA’s 180 players didn’t submit All-Star ballots ahead of this month’s game in Chicago. C’mon, ladies.

🏆 They’re just built different. Go inside the football hotbed that leads Georgia’s 159 counties in prospects per capita.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

One of the more respected players in the game, quite frankly ... It's a pretty cool name to have in a Braves uniform.

- Braves manager Walt Weiss on signing Andrew McCutcheon to a minor league deal

Theee Andrew McCutcheon is a Brave! Or rather, a Gwinnett Striper. Either way, the team is elated to have the 39-year-old five-time All-Star and 2013 NL MVP, hyphens and all.

Thanks for reading to the very bottom of Sports Daily. Questions, comments, ideas? Don’t bother Tyler, bother me.

Until next time.

About the Author

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