{"id":489947,"date":"2026-02-25T16:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489947\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T16:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T16:45:07","slug":"world-cup-fears-as-arsenal-and-liverpool-champions-league-paths-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/489947\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup ‘fears’ as Arsenal and Liverpool Champions League paths ‘clear’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Football headlines that aren\u2019t about football, exclusives that aren\u2019t exclusives, fears that aren\u2019t fears, and an icon who isn\u2019t an icon.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another tip-top morning in the world of football journalism, and Mediawatch has waded through it so you don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n

The headlines<\/p>\n

Mediawatch tries desperately hard not to be too much of an old game\u2019s gone misery yelling at modern football clouds, but sometimes it\u2019s just very hard.<\/p>\n

Here, for instance, are the top five stories we woke up to on the Mirror football homepage this morning.<\/p>\n

DROP IT LIKE IT\u2019S HOT! Wild Snoop Dogg scenes as Swansea City co-owner forces warm-up to be stopped and record crowd shows up for rap legend\u2019s first game<\/p>\n

Case against Premier League club executive accused of sexually abusing teenager dropped<\/p>\n

Gianluca Prestianni to allege Vinicius Jr called him a DWARF in defence against racism claim<\/p>\n

Man City handed 115 charges boost as former Premier League chief spots major hint<\/p>\n

F1 2026 teamwear: Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull unveil new merchandise ahead of Australian GP<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not even having a go at the Mirror here really, more railing forlornly against the universe itself. This collection of what they consider this mild Wednesday morn to be the five biggest stories in all of football is just so unflinchingly and notably grim and depressing for just so many reasons. Does feel like it holds up a, well, mirror to life in big 2026.<\/p>\n

Celebrity fluff. Alleged sexual abuse. Racism. Corruption. No actual football whatsoever. It\u2019s all so depressingly unpleasant we can\u2019t even be bothered to make the low-hanging yet entirely offensive joke about the inexplicable F1 story being the worst of the lot.<\/p>\n

Why not read about Arctic football instead?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joint winner<\/p>\n

Talking of low-hanging jokes, credit of sorts to The Sun for at least correcting one clear error from the Mirror\u2019s hard-hitting Snoop Dogg coverage. Why call Snoop Dogg a co-owner when JOINT OWNER is right there?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dog days<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s episode of Words Have Meanings is a reminder to The Sun that an EXCLUSIVE really ought to be a story that you have to yourselves because nobody else got it rather than because nobody else wanted it.<\/p>\n

MIDFIELD TERRIER!\u00a0Forest\u2019s Ryan Yates hires \u00a31k a week trainer to tame his aggressive SAUSAGE DOG which kept lunging at people<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t really qualify, we don\u2019t think. But we\u2019ll let it slide because there must have been some serious digging to uncover such a story. How precisely did The Sun\u2019s \u2018Investigations Editor\u2019 Rob Pattinson manage to land this Fleet Street-scooping exclusive tale?<\/p>\n

He read it on Insta, obvs.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0Instagram\u00a0testimonial, Yates said he sent Peanut for a residential stay.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHe was very reactive with dogs and people. He\u2019d be lunging when we were at caf\u00e9s and with family members who weren\u2019t seen that often.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quiet Please! Invetigation in Process!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fear we go<\/p>\n

\u2018WORLD CUP FEARS\u2019 barks a headline from the Mirror, before going full Daily Mail brevity be damned and adding:<\/p>\n

Mexican cartels\u2019 position on ruining tournament with violence as Brits given travel advice ahead of potential England and Scotland clashes<\/p>\n

And what, precisely, is the Mexican cartels\u2019 position on \u2018ruining\u2019 the World Cup<\/a> \u2018with violence\u2019?<\/p>\n

However, foreign visitors have been\u00a0told they should remain safe in the country,\u00a0as it\u2019s in the cartels\u2019 best interests for the World Cup to go ahead, given the financial stake they have in their nation\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n

So the FEARS and \u2018ruining\u2019 and \u2018violence\u2019\u2026 probably won\u2019t happen? Ah. Right. Still, a lovely calm headline you got to use to cover a serious subject over dramatic pictures of chaps with guns and all fires burning. Not like any of this is important, is it?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Draw comfort<\/p>\n

The confirmation of four more Champions League last-16 qualifiers on Tuesday night means a raft of perfectly valid updates on who might be drawn against who on Friday now that possible opponents have narrowed from four to three for each of the teams who qualified via a top-eight finish.<\/p>\n

All absolutely fine. But obviously that alone isn\u2019t enough. No, it\u2019s vital that these updates sit beneath misleading headlines pretending the draw has already taken place. Otherwise they won\u2019t get as many clicks, will they?<\/p>\n

So we get this from the Express\u2026<\/p>\n

Champions League last 16 draw as it stands as Liverpool and Newcastle handed tough ties<\/p>\n

And this from the Mirror\u2026<\/p>\n

Champions League last 16 draw as it stands with Arsenal and Liverpool paths clear<\/p>\n

It\u2019s coming to something when the Daily Star is the moral voice in the Reach stable, opting as they do for the entirely accurate\u2026<\/p>\n

Champions League last-16 draw clearer as Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea set to learn fate<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Icon watch<\/p>\n

A variation on the ever-popular Ace Watch theme from The Sun here as they bring news of the latest trials and tribulations at West Brom.<\/p>\n

The former\u00a0Manchester United\u00a0coach only managed nine games at the Hawthorns after replacing\u00a0Tottenham\u00a0icon Ryan Mason last month.<\/p>\n

We know times are tough at Spurs right now, but we are simply not having that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football headlines that aren\u2019t about football, exclusives that aren\u2019t exclusives, fears that aren\u2019t fears, and an icon who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[463,424,24663,3450,80494,77850,403,99,18068,84938],"class_list":["post-489947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-arsenal","tag-front-page","tag-home-page","tag-liverpool","tag-mediawatch","tag-popular","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-uncategorized","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}