When Italy lost to North Macedonia, many fans thought it was just a poor performance or bad luck, without seriously doubting the European champions' strength. Some might say: Italy fielded so many substitutes against Argentina the other day, of course they weren’t strong.

This edition of the Nations League features two “Lands” that are real black holes: Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland, the elder brother, has played 12 Nations League matches and no matter the opponent, they’ve always taken hits without fighting back, never winning even once.

Costa Rica is ranked 31st in the world, higher than Egypt, Norway, and Turkey. The level of importance is different too; football is the number one sport in Costa Rica, and today is a national holiday, just like Peru had yesterday.

Today's first topic is Brazil Serie A: Flamengo vs Cuiabá! Flamengo's previous poor performance was due to two problems, but these issues might now be fixed. The first problem was the head coach. The former coach was Sosa, previously with Tianjin Tianhai, whose stints with Tianjin, Bordeaux, and the Poland national team were disastrous, especially defensively.

Gimcheon Sangmu is affiliated with the South Korean military, mainly relying on players serving their mandatory military duty, so their strength depends on luck—whichever year has more national team players serving, the stronger the team is.

Today’s first match discussion is about MLS: Cincinnati vs Orlando City! Why is Cincinnati no longer the bottom team this season, and what significance does today’s game hold for them?

Last season they let go of Kaoru Mitoma and Hidemasa Morita; this season they lost Reo Hatate and Ao Tanaka. Kawasaki keeps exporting key players overseas every year, and this season they finally couldn’t hold up.

For Elfsborg, today marks a special occasion. It’s their 118th anniversary match, and they have organized a series of celebrations, including releasing anniversary balloons before the game.

Japan, a team even our China squad struggles against, can they make an impact against South Korea? The football styles of Japan and South Korea are completely different. Since our China team surprisingly kept a clean sheet against Japan, the situation favors South Korea, who only need a draw to clinch the title.

Lewandowski and Barcelona truly seem like a perfect match, and Barcelona’s recent five consecutive wins in official matches have thrilled fans. But wiping away the shame of the “82 Rafa” might still be a long way off. Why do I say that?