{"id":38295,"date":"2026-01-22T18:22:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/afcon-aftermath-sean-francis-on-mls-and-world-cup-2026-plus-can-pep-guardiola-turn-man-city-around\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T18:22:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:22:41","slug":"afcon-aftermath-sean-francis-on-mls-and-world-cup-2026-plus-can-pep-guardiola-turn-man-city-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/afcon-aftermath-sean-francis-on-mls-and-world-cup-2026-plus-can-pep-guardiola-turn-man-city-around\/","title":{"rendered":"AFCON Aftermath: Sean Francis on MLS and World Cup 2026, Plus Can Pep Guardiola Turn Man City Around?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h2 class=\"heading\" data-jump-link-target=\"\" id=\"subscribe-to-the-cooligans\"><strong>Subscribe to Cooligans<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros discuss the tumultuous AFCON finals, posing tough questions about whether the incident tarnished the sport\u2019s reputation. They delve into the issues surrounding the tournament&#8217;s organization and explain why situations like this are critical for the integrity of global football. Additionally, when iShowSpeed meets Algerian ultra fans for the first time, Christian and Alexis step into the viral spotlight, revealing that not every facet of soccer culture is welcoming.<\/p>\n<p>advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Next, Sean Francis, the Creative Director of Copa 90, joins the conversation to discuss the upcoming 2026 World Cup in the U.S., share his thoughts on MLS&#8217;s new scheduling, and outline what the league must do to gain a &#8220;cool&#8221; factor.<\/p>\n<p>The episode wraps up with an analysis of Manchester City&#8217;s recent downturn and whether Pep Guardiola can steer them back to form.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Timestamp:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>(8:00) \u2013 Was the AFCON final an embarrassing incident for the sport?<\/p>\n<p>(26:30) \u2013 IShowSpeed meets an Algerian ultra athlete<\/p>\n<p>(34:15) \u2013 Sean Francis joins Cooligans<\/p>\n<p>(1:11:15) \u2013 Can Pep revive Man City, or is he losing his grip?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"afcon final\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/.7VZ3_OjAveM8yhLhnrPwg--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2026-01\/62a6bbe0-f7de-11f0-9fff-5ee336632c19\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"lightbox-btn\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"lightbox-expand\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Image Lightbox\" class=\"lightbox-overlay\" aria-modal=\"true\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>afcon final<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\udda5\ufe0f <\/strong><strong><em>Watch the entire episode on YouTube<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at: <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>https:\/\/apple.co\/3zEuTQj<\/em><\/strong><strong><em>    or on <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>yahoosports.tv<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Fan Take:<\/strong> This discussion highlights the critical issues surrounding the integrity and image of soccer, particularly at major tournaments like AFCON. As fans, it&#8217;s essential to engage with these topics to ensure the sport evolves positively and maintains its credibility on the world stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Subscribe to Cooligans Christian Polanco and Alexis Guerreros discuss the tumultuous AFCON finals, posing tough questions about whether the incident tarnished the sport\u2019s reputation. They delve into the issues surrounding the tournament&#8217;s organization and explain why situations like this are critical for the integrity of global football. Additionally, when iShowSpeed meets Algerian ultra fans for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[7685,1543,270,913,40,1963,4837,304,966,46,1179,8330,45,5735,42],"class_list":{"0":"post-38295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-afcon","9":"tag-aftermath","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-cup","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-francis","14":"tag-guardiola","15":"tag-man","16":"tag-mls","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-pep","19":"tag-sean","20":"tag-soccer","21":"tag-turn","22":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}