A Tongan World Cup dream, Greenland’s Disko Island & Olympic sprinter-footballers

Aug 6, 2024

Maikeli Lomu, an American with Tongan heritage, shares his inspiring journey from pottery in Utah to chasing a World Cup dream for Tonga. He reveals the challenges of grassroots football in Oceania and the emotional pull of representing his ancestors. The conversation also dives into the unique 2024 Greenlandic Football Championship on Disko Island, and thrilling Olympic chaos, including a wild match between Australia and Zambia. Plus, catch stories about the scandals and unforgettable moments shaping the world of football.

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Episode notes

Intro

00:00 • 2min

Driven by Heritage: Mike Lomu's Football Journey

01:51 • 12min

Challenges of the 2024 Greenlandic Football Championship

13:34 • 5min

Engaging with Football Through Patreon

18:57 • 6min

Drama and Controversies in Football

24:57 • 14min

Listener Insights: Myanmar and the Global Reach of Football

38:29 • 2min

Global Listener Reach and Extraordinary Football Scores

40:22 • 4min

In Part 1, we bring you all the top stories from around the football world: Maikeli Lomu, an American with Tongan heritage, has sold his pottery studio in Utah and relocated to his ancestral homeland in pursuit of a World Cup dream. The 2024 edition of the Greenlandic Football Championship – the shortest season in world football at one week – is taking place on Disko Island off the west coast. And the FA Cup preliminary rounds are serving up some great stories, including the earliest goals in the history of the world’s oldest club competition.

Then in Part 2 we turn our attentions to the men’s and women’s football tournaments at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris: the chaos and controversy between Argentina & Morocco, Canada’s spying scandal, the 6-5 thriller between Australia & Zambia, and the Malawian footballer-sprinter racing the 100 metres. There is also a selection of great listener emails, a competition to accompany the Sweeper team to San Marino vs. Liechtenstein in the UEFA Nations League and a giveaway for a limited-edition Nauru national team shirt.

If you don’t want to hang on until Wednesday 21 August for another dose of world football goodness, then sign up to our Patreon at patreon.com/SweeperPod to get the bonus episodes. In the episode set for release on Wednesday 14 August, we talk about Japan legend Keisuke Honda’s one-match contract with Paro FC of Bhutan, Kuwaiti club Kazma’s phantom pre-season friendly, Libertad de Pirayu of Paraguay's trophy that disappeared from an open-top bus parade and Partick Thistle’s failed substitution due to accidentally cropped team sheet.

RUNNING ORDER

00:00 - Intro

00:32 - The Football Cliches Quiz

02:01 - Tongan World Cup dreams

07:18 - The FA Cup preliminary rounds

13:25 - Disko Island in Greenland

18:53 - San Marino & Nauru competitions

24:24 - Olympics: Opening game outrage

28:45 - Olympics: Drone debacles

32:06 - Olympics: Goals galore

36:28 - Olympics: Sprinting strikers

38:51 - Listener emails

Editor: Ralph Foster

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