"The Liberal Playmaker," a.k.a. Jose Benavides, is now on Substack.
Benavides, a Texas attorney, past co-author, and excellent former student, has been producing informative and compelling content about soccer (football) and politics since launching a year ago (featured at The Savory Tort in March 2025).
Benavides has a passion for the beautiful game, and it is contagious through his writing. His narrative pieces recall great players and great games and also comment on the current business and art of the sport.
Here are recent titles:
- The Ghost of Old Trafford: Fernando Redondo's Masterclass
- The Triangle That Endured: Croatia’s Lesson in Collective Control
- Finding Young Del Piero (and What Modern Football Forgot)
- Totti The Thief
- The Misunderstood Final: Milan vs Juventus, 2003
The Liberal Playmaker will be a content maker to watch as we near World Cup 2026. Boston has deployed a massive publicity campaign to gin up interest, e.g., Boston's South Station, below, in July (RJ Peltz-Steele CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), though the relevant venue is Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, home to the MLS New England Revolution and NFL Patriots.
