Was fully expecting Italy to be in with a chance, but seeing the AB team I think they win this comfortably.

Will still be cheering on Italy though, cos that would send France through and I might be able relax with the final group match not being a must win affair.

Mine just use me as a tissue when I’m not paying attention.

And then they immediately take the lead. I swear I should be a commentator the way I curse teams.

Uruguay pulling a France and fucking it up when they’re solid favourites?

Edit: actually, not sure what the rules are around spoilers in here so will remove that for now

Possibly Existence by David Brin? There’s some stuff around space travel and alien contact, and it ain’t exactly a short, but is mostly set on a future earth.

There’s also a lot of “future jargon” which grates a little, but is quite fun to look at something written in 2012(?) about a future involving wearables and AI among others.

Can recommend The City We Became by them. Not entirely flawless, but I rattled through it in no time and was plenty good enough for me to go out and buy the second in the series (i think of two).

Ah yes. The bike I always wanted, but never had.

Seemed to work fine when I ran this recently.