Culture

With the 2022 FIFA World Cup set to begin the commercials are beginning to appear. The title for best 2022 World Cup commercial is up for grabs and right now Lays is a leading candidate. On Tuesday the chip (or crisp) giant released a two and a half minute Peyton Manning vs. David Beckham, soccer vs. football commercial.

There are so many cameos in this ad it’s hard to keep track.

Peyton Manning vs David Beckham Commercial

Brazil, king of kings, became one of the first World Cup participants to reveal their final squad Monday — basically telling the rest of the world to gaze upon its marvelous 26-man roster and despair. 

When Jack Elliott's 120+4' effort on the rebound put the Philadelphia Union up 3-2 on LAFC in Saturday's MLS Cup, it seemed like a fittingly batshit crazy ending to a remarkable match. Philly, after coming back from one-goal deficits twice during regular time, could breath easy and the city's special unit for greasing the poles could begin its work.

When Alejandro Garnacho was born in Madrid in 2004, he'd already missed Cristiano Ronaldo's first season with Manchester United and his legendary performance in the FA Cup final as a 19-year-old.

However, Ronaldo would transfer to Real Madrid five years later and Garnacho — who spent his youth career in Madrid with Getafe and then Atlético — was in the city for all nine illustrious seasons of CR7 at the Santiago Bernabéu.

It's early in the race for the 2023 Ballon d'Or, but with the season now over 30 percent complete, there's no denying that Real Madrid utility man Federico Valverde has put himself in the conversation with some unbelievable contributions in the Champions League and LaLiga.

It used to be that Valverde was the unsung hero of either the midfield (deputizing effectively for Luka Modrić or Toni Kroos) or right wing (with Karim Benzema and Vini Jr in the spotlight), but this year, whether deployed on the wing or in midfield, the 24-year-old has blossomed into the star of the show.

EA Sports have always been the curators of cool, finding the vibe before it exists and getting it right every single time. Over the years, the FIFA soundtrack has become synonymous with playing the game in our youth and the immaculate vibes that came with it. 

Everyone has their favorites. A culmination of great songs and the memories we hold near and dear make them more than regular music. It's the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling you get when “Love Me Again” by John Newman plays in the bar or when your friend queues up “Love Natural” by Crystal Fighters in the car. 

For the first time in far too long, MLS Cup is a meeting between the premier teams in the Western and Eastern Conferences. If it feels like we've been waiting a while for this sort of heavyweight clash, the anticipation is only heightened by two sides that make creating a 2022 MLS Cup prediction feel like a fool's errand.

Both teams and their respective squads have been steadily building towards this moment for years, and the pain of falling agonizingly short time after time has been eased with a first-ever MLS Cup appearance for both clubs.