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Hello, all!
Eric Dier lost another Spurs TV challenge, bringing his overall record in such challenges to three wins and nine losses. Speaking of Eric Dier...
Ramble of the Day
It really comes as no surprise that, after weeks without seeing each other, the Tottenham players were happy to see one another when they went back to individual training. Eric Dier admitted as much the other day when speaking to the club website after individual training sessions begun, providing us with a necessary friendship update.
It may have come as news to some, but Dier’s friendship with Vertonghen is not a new development. Spurs clearly found a few pictures of them hanging out, and the latest Spurs TV video (another long video that’s a lot of fun) shows they have similar interests and are clearly on good terms. The two watched the World Cup draw together (and with Vertonghen’s baby) back in 2017 in a video that made the media rounds because England and Belgium got drawn into the same group. I wasn’t trying that hard to do my research, but you can track the friendship back to 2015, when the two played backgammon during the team’s postseason trip to Malaysia and Australia.
It wouldn’t have been hard to link them together based on their interests, even if you were only paying a little attention to their interests. You might be asking where Dele is in all this, and the answer is probably that Dier has room for many friends (and that he clearly still has a fine relationship with Dele considering their recent Instagram Live session that really should’ve been a FaceTime session). I couldn’t possibly judge which friendship is stronger (nor do I have even the slightest interest in judging that), but I think Dier’s statement about Vertonghen shows that their friendship should be similarly regarded to Dier’s with Dele. In that case, maybe Dier-Vertonghen could compete for Spurs’ top friendship, but I won’t decide on that (until I get bored enough to do a Hoddle about it).
A parting thought: What exactly does Dier mean by his time away from Vertonghen “taking its toll?” Does Vertonghen keep him in check in some way?
tl;dr: frienship ended with Dele now Vertonghen is my best friend (not really, but clearly Eric Dier is very close with Jan Vertonghen)
LInks of the Day
Coronavirus:
- NWSL teams are allowed to train in small groups this week, and will be allowed to resume full team training starting Saturday.
- Clubs in Rio de Janeiro have permission to resume full training in June as COVID-19 cases rise in Brazil.
FIFA suspended Haitian FA president Yves Jean-Bart after he was accused of sexually assaulting multiple female players.
Atléti’s João Félix injured his knee in training.
Today’s longer read: Ed Aarons, Romain Molina, and Alex Cizmic interview alleged victims of sexual assault by Haitian FA president Yves Jean-Bart and provide updates on the allegations for The Guardian