My gosh Saturday afternoon was a tough day of sports ball.
12:30pm
My football team had a clash with league leaders. We took a 1-nil lead into the half-time break, for our Captain to sow the seeds of doubt “it’ll be okay if they score” and “we just need to keep our heads up.”
We took inspiration from the All Whites, headed into the second half full of confidence, and promptly lost 2-1.
And I sprained my foot.
3:00pm
It was always going to be hard. Belgium struggled against Iran and Egypt, but they’re a talented team. But we didn’t need to go down the way we did.
5-1 is a tough pill to swallow. That’s probably what hurts most. We weren’t out of our depth; we belonged there. The results didn’t go our way, but nobody can say we didn’t deserve our place.
5:00pm
At least the Warriors will make us happy, right?
The problem with pegging your personal happiness to watching sport is that you have no control over the outcome.
The Warriors played well up until the 79th minute. Lame.
The round-of-32 of the 2026 FIFA Men’s Football World Cup, or as I call it ‘the proper World Cup’, kicked off on Monday. Since then, we have been treated to some absolutely amazing knockout football:
Canada scored in the 90+2nd minute to win
Brasil scored in the 90+6th minute to break Japanese hearts
Norway scored in the 86th minute to win
England scored in the 86th minute to win
Belgium scored in the 120+5th minute to win
Plus, there were two penalty shootouts with Paraguay and Morocco being the coolest under pressure.
The round-of-32 finishes on Saturday, and I’m sure there’ll be more drama to come!
An exciting week of football was matched by an exciting week in The Magic Roast household.
Firstly, the latest issue of Standart Mag turned up, with a delightful Colombian coffee roasted by Doubleshot Roastery in Prague.
Standart Mag somehow continues to make printed magazines feel cool in 2026. Great writing, beautiful photography, thoughtful coffee stories and an excellent coffee from a new roaster each quarter. I’m a sucker for it every time.
The second exciting thing to happen is the arrival of my new (coffee) baby - the Z1Presso K Ultra hand grinder.
Oh baby this thing is sexy.
Now why on earth does someone need a hand grinder which is more expensive than most electric grinders? The answer is four-fold.
My other hand grinder, kindly gifted by an amazing reader of The Magic Roast, lives at work and is used on the regular. If I bring it home, I end up forgetting it and being sad at the office is not something I like.
My trusty Baratza Encore ESP coffee grinder is getting old. The burrs probably need replacing and it’s getting louder each month - that can’t be good. So, I needed a new grinder for home anyway.
The Aotearoa AeroPress Championships are next month, and this is my last hurrah - I’m going all in to win it after a few years of doing okay. This grinder will help remove one variable to worry about. I’m going out with a bang.
Shut up.
Just over two weeks of the World Cup to go. That makes me sad.
What’s been your highlight of the 2026 FIFA Men’s Football World Cup? Drop a comment below.
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