The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, July 29

Hi, everyone!

Today’s ramble was just supposed to be a note at the top of a Hoddle, but I’ll explain why it became a full ramble in the ramble.

Ramble of the Day

Last year, I rambled about Mike Petke, the Real Salt Lake coach who doesn’t mind telling referees when he disagrees with them. I was going to share a quick video of his latest interaction with some referees after his side’s 1-0 loss to Tigres UANL in the Leagues Cup on Wednesday at the top of the Hoddle some day last week, but then I forgot. Petke was reacting after getting a red card.

The funny thing is that the Leagues Cup is a manufactured set of friendlies posing as a tournament between a few Major League Soccer teams and Liga MX teams. He not only got a red card during it, but also got mad about it. Back to the point, though: I remembered that I hadn’t shared the video because I saw a video of Petke explaining what happened with the referees, and it was entertaining enough for a share of its own.

The best part of this one comes at around the one minute mark. After Petke explains what happened, essentially saying the referees unfairly gave him the red card, he admits what he said was worth a red card, “but I said it after the red card.” The thick Long Island accent is back in a big way there, which makes it a very complete Petke experience. It’s very simply a hilarious line.

Watching this video, of course, means you hear about a cat about halfway through, which is something most people don’t talk about at post-match press conferences. I couldn’t possibly just leave you hanging here with a question about a cat, so I’ll just tell you a cat entered the match in stoppage time.

The commentator is absolutely right; it was a great overlap from the cat.

You’ll see that this was way to much material for the top of the Hoddle, but it makes for decent enough ramble material.

tl;dr: Mike Petke yells at refs again, and there was a cat.

Links of the Day

FIFA has requested an expansion of the women’s World Cup to 32 teams for the 2023 edition.

Martin Sordell has retired at age 28, saying his mental health has been “severely impacted” during his ten year career.

Danish brothers Alexander and Christoffer Reedtz have completed their takeover of Notts County.

A number of players on the Guatemalan U15 boys team were denied U.S. visas ahead of the Concacaf championship.

Transfer updates: Liverpool has signed Harvey Elliott from Fulham; Sheffield United has signed Dean Henderson from Manchester United and Ben Osborn from Nottingham Forest

Today’s longer read: Stuart James interviews Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santo on his coaching style and the future of football for The Guardian