Why Is China Bad at Soccer?

Podcast: The Jacob Shapiro Podcast · Jacob Shapiro

Opublikowano: 2026-07-19

Jacob grabs Chris Branch, senior writer at The Athletic and author of The Pulse, to talk about the World Cup as geopolitics. They cover Trump's red-card intervention and the Balogun controversy, England-Argentina and the ghost of the Falklands, why sports and politics were never actually separate, and why China and India can barely qualify while Cape Verde runs wild. Plus: whether soccer ever truly takes hold in America, and why it might take a billionaire treating the sport like a Carnegie library to make it happen. -- Timestamps: (00:00) - Welcome and Guest Intro<...