David Novo from Lisbon's Record newspaper joins to help us preview the Dérbi de Lisboa, as Benfica host Sporting CP in a battle for bragging rights in the Portuguese capital. Along with Porto — which hails from the town of the same name further north — they make up the Big Three clubs in this nation of under 11 million people that punches far above its weight on the global stage.

We got into how, exactly, Portugal and these clubs in particular produce so many fantastic players. We traced some of the history of this rivalry, including the crucial intervention of the legendary Eusébio, who turned the tide after years of Sporting dominance to deliver Benfica into a new era. We talked over the return of José Mourinho to Portuguese football, as he's now coaching Benfica after all his years of massive success with Porto and across Europe. And David offered some intel on where to eat and drink if you’re going to the Estádio da Luz — where this one will be played on Friday — or the Estádio José Alvalade.

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Brad Friedel played his college ball at UCLA and had a stint at Liverpool before a longer and seriously fruitful one at Blackburn Rovers. He also stopped shots for Aston Villa and for Tottenham Hotspur, where in his final season he ran into a guy named Mauricio Pochettino. The goalkeeper, who was capped 82 times for the U.S. Men’s National Team, got a front-row seat to the Argentine’s methods when he came in and transformed the club, and his faith has never wavered that Pochettino will deliver now as head coach of the American team.

We talked about all that when Friedel joined the show this Thanksgiving week, but we also got into a fascinating early chapter of his career. In 1995, he went off to Istanbul to play for Graeme Souness at Galatasaray. Along the way, he got a true taste of one of the world’s most combustible football derbies, Galatasaray against Fenerbahce, the latest edition of which will play out this coming Monday.

Friedel talked the derby, his times with Brian Clough and Kevin Keegan, and a bit about life in Istanbul.

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The World Cup is a sporting competition between national football teams to determine the best of them. But it’s always been a vessel for so much more, not least the ambitions of political leaders ranging from the mildly ethical to the downright evil. Host countries want to tell a story about themselves on the global stage, the winners make the case for their own national greatness, and there are a million more stories around this famous tournament that nobody planned for.

A new book from Jonathan Wilson — columnist for The Guardian, co-host of the Libero podcast, and esteemed local Substacker — seeks to tell the very best tales from nearly 100 years of World Cup football. The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup is a delightful read, full of sharp insight and laugh-out-loud moments. From Benito Mussolini’s bonus trophy for the 1934 World Cup winners — the Coppa del Duce — to the inside story of France’s disastrous 2010 World Cup, to the insidious inner workings of FIFA in the modern era, it’s all there.

Wilson joins the show this week to talk a little Premier League title race before we get into his book, the latest edition of the World Cup next summer, why Gianni Infantino’s reign as FIFA chief makes us all pine for the days of Sepp Blatter, and a whole lot more.

Go get your copy of The Power and the Glory after you’ve had a listen here!

Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

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