The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, October 14

Hey, everyone!

Above is midfielder Coral-Jade Haines, who joined the club first on a season long loan two seasons ago. She made the move permanent last year.

Ramble of the Day

If you’re a footballer, there are a few ways to confirm veteran status — age and number games under one’s belt being the most obvious one. In the case of Jan Vertonghen, holding the record caps number for the Belgian men’s national team does the trick. Nothing draws more quick reactions, though, than his Instagram story from yesterday.

On both occasions, he’s pictured with one of the national team’s newest players, Anderlecht’s Yari Verschaeren. Vertonghen is 14 years older than Verschaeren, and is seemingly a nice sport about working with someone born in a different century than him. There’s no timestamp on the second photo, which might’ve been fun, but the content itself is fun enough.

Of course, there’s another version of it that’s a little bit less personal. Neither Eric Dier nor Harry Kane has played with David Beckham, though both were professionals by the time Beckham retired. Same sentiment, I’d imagine, but while I’m here, I might as well use this as an excuse to post those old pictures of Kane and Dier (separately) meeting Beckham as kids.

photo via REX

(Fun fact: While finding that picture of Kane, I found that his favorite film is apparently Law Abiding Citizen, which has a 26% Rotten Tomatoes score.)

tl;dr: Jan Vertonghen’s an old footballer now (but Harry Kane and Eric Dier aren’t just yet).

Links of the Day

Poland, Russia, and Italy have qualified for Euro 2020.

An animated series based on the Manchester City academy is in the works, and could begin airing episodes in 2022.

Today’s longer read: Caitlin Murray on Nike’s decision to make only 1,000 kits to celebrate the U.S. women’s team’s fourth World Cup, and the impact for players and fans for Yahoo