George Bush Was a Goalscoring Machine

Before reaching the Oval Office, George H. W. Bush was slotting in goals all over New England. This week, we look back at the former President’s astonishing youth and college soccer career. Plus, we reveal our upcoming collab with the Washington Spirit and Guerrilla FC over in DC, examine the weird math behind the new World Cup ball, and much more.

This week’s stories:

• 🚌 Street to the Stadium in DC

• 🤓 The Controversial Math Behind the New World Cup Ball

• 🇺🇸 George Bush Was a Goalscoring Machine

• 🦅 Red Bulls Gave Us Wings

• 🗳️ Poll + Last Week’s Answers

• ➡️ And More

CLUBELEVEN
Street to Stadium in DC

DC friends! Come join us on August 15th and 16th for a special weekend of festivities celebrating the Washington Spirit’s rich history and the vibrant grassroots soccer culture of the city.

It’s an honor to be teaming up with the Spirit and Guerrilla FC for this one, and we’ve got a ton of stuff planned!

From an exclusive exhibition with the bus on Friday at Audi Field (we’ve got game-worn inaugural season jerseys, player trophies, soccer balls signed by Magic Johnson, and more 👀) to a dream pickup session in the heart of DC run by Guerrilla FC (and spectated by Spirit players), it’ll be a weekend for the ages.

Here is what you can expect across these two jam-packed days with the CLUBELEVEN Soccer Bus, Guerrilla FC, and the Spirit!

SCIENCE
The Controversial Math Behind the New World Cup Ball

Jabulani 2.0? The 2026 World Cup ball could be just as magical, controversial, and unpredictable as that one.

And it’s all down to one really interesting math concept. If you like the science behind the game, you’ll love this story. 

COVER STORY
George Bush Was a Goalscoring Machine

George H. W. Bush may well have been the first genuine “soccer star” to make it to the Oval Office.

I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves. In 1941, as a forward and captain for Phillips Academy Andover, he scored 14 goals in 9 games during his senior season and led the team to an undefeated campaign. Bush was so good that he even made the soccer team at Yale the following year.

All of this during a time when prep schools and elite colleges in New England remained hotbeds for soccer, like they had been since the beautiful game arrived on our shores in the 1800s.

Bush’s golden season for Andover had incredible highlights. He scored a poker against New Hampton and a hat-trick against another prep school. The story goes that after that three-goal game, he boasted to his mother, and she replied:

“That’s nice, George, but how did the team do?”

Just class soccer parenting right there.

In another game for Andover against the Harvard freshmen team, he’s said to have dribbled past two defenders inside a muddy penalty box and smashed a shot off the post to tie the game 1-1 in the final minutes. He also scored a spectacular header against archrivals Exeter in overtime to secure an undefeated season for Andover.

Truly, an absolute machine on the pitch.

Who knew at one point we had an undercover Haaland sitting in the White House? In another life, the Bushes could’ve been the Reynas.

TRAVEL LOGS
Red Bulls Gave Us Wings

The front left tire on our bus hit something and exploded as we were driving down the highway en route to the NY Red Bulls game against RSL over the weekend. We were towed, dropped in a strange Massachusetts parking lot, and had nowhere to turn to. It was an insane ordeal.

Fortunately, we were able to find a couple of replacement tires in the middle of the night and finished our five-hour drive in the morning.

We made it to the BULLevard outside Sports Illustrated Stadium right on time, and it was super fun to work with the club to deck out the bus in Red Bulls memorabilia from head to toe. Some of the stuff they pulled from their archives was unreal.

We even had a signed Thierry Henry jersey as the centerpiece of the whole thing!

It was an absolute honor to spend the day with the club and their amazing supporters, who also dropped off multiple historical artifacts for us to take and showcase down the road. Oh, and Redd climbed on top of the bus and slapped stickers all over our bumper. What a day…

CLUBELEVEN
The Supporters Section

Let us know your thoughts! We’ll highlight your best answers next week.

CLUBELEVEN
Aggregates

Maine Event: It’s been an incredible year of “firsts” for the Hearts of Pine. The scenes at Fort Fitzy for their first international friendly last week were incredible. 

Marooned: After this past weekend’s accident, we’re busy with essential bus repairs for the next two days ahead of our drive down to DC. If you’d like to support our efforts in mending the Soccer Bus, you can do so right here! We appreciate all the support and messages of encouragement over the last few days. We can’t thank you all enough! Onwards!!

PK Expert: Saving two pens in one game? No problem.

Soccer Mystery Chronicles: It’s officially out! The perfect gift for when I visit my little brother this week. I’ve tried everything to get him into soccer to no avail, but he loves reading, so this one could really do the trick.

Save of the Year: For a brief second, it looked like Luis Suarez had a Puskas nomination in the bag. Then, we all found out Orlando has an octopus that can fly.

NATURE
Phallon Explores the Amazon Rainforest

Everyone’s favorite goalie/marine biologist went on another incredible adventure recently.

During this offseason, American keeper and Manchester United star Phallon Tullis-Joyce joined Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinosa and her research team on an expedition to the Peruvian Amazon to shadow their studies on stingless bees.

Is there anything she can’t do? Here’s how it looked. 

ARCHITECTURE
Detroit City’s New Home

It’s a beauty.

Starting in the 2027 USL Championship season, DCFC is scheduled to play at this gorgeous new stadium, which will be built in southwest Detroit.

The new 15,000-person capacity venue will be constructed just a few blocks away from where one of the club's co-founders has been living for the past 20 years. What an absolute dream for him, and of course, for the whole Detroit community.

CLUBELEVEN
Your Takes 🗯️ 

Last week, we asked you: Do you support promotion & relegation in the US? Here are some of your answers:

• “Yes. It’s the most US idea of all time: total meritocracy. The argument against is about protecting money. Nothing about that makes sports better.” - M. Willis

• “Yes. More excitement. Plus, it makes every game important.” - M.W. Gordon

• “Yes. Without Pro/Rel, there's no incentive for the MLS to make changes, and there's no endgame for lower leagues. Pro/Rel is the future of U.S. Soccer, and everyone better get used to it.” - Kathryn E.

• “Yes. Give teams the opportunity to move up!” - Steve N.

In the poll, “Yes” finished first with 90% of the vote, while “No” came in second with just 10% of the vote.

UP NEXT
The Soccer Gods Shall Decide

As we get the bus checked up and ready for DC, we’ll be anxiously watching the Open Cup replay between the Philadelphia Union and the Red Bulls on Wednesday. It might just end up determining where our next stop after DC will be…

But first things first, we have to get the bus checked up 🙏

Enjoying This?

Make sure to forward this email to a friend and help us spread the soccer gospel far and wide! We’ll see you next week with even more untold stories of soccer.

Have a great Tuesday!

Pablo