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âMust winâ won!
âWinning isnât everything, itâs the only thing!â And the Irons did exactly what was needed on Friday evening against Wolves: they won and moved out of the relegation zone, changing places with Tottenham!
Britainâs Gifts to the World
There was not only a last-minute-goal at the London Stadium, but even two goals in injury time in this FA Cup match! Though with West Ham 0-1 down at halftime, and 0-2 after 75 minutes, I had thought this was âgame overâ and had left the pub where I was watching the match, âThe Tube Stationâ, after 90 minutes. I had no idea what I would be missing out on!
The unexpected and unlikely happened: Mateus Fernandes in the 93rd and Axel Disasi in the 96th minute equalised for the Irons and took the game to extra time!
However, after an other West Ham goal was disallowed (Tatyâs second âgoalâ of the afternoon which did not count, and the Argentine had also been unlucky when his header just hit the post!), fortune was hiding again when the tie had to be decided on penalties. West Hamâs skipper Jarrod Bowen and Pablo could not convert their penalties, and the Irons lost the shootout 2-4. Now Leeds will play at Wembley, in their first FA Cup semi-final in 39 years, against Chelsea! The other semifinal is Southampton vs. Manchester City.
West Ham manager Nuno said on the performance of his team: “We prove to ourselves that we can never give up. The game is not done until the referee says so and we have to take that into our future starting on Friday [against Wolves].â
âIt will take more time to recover. The legs go when you win and recover quicker. We have the sadness and that will drag into this evening and tomorrow, but we have to react. We have important games [against Wolves, Crystal Palace, Everton, Brentford, Arsenal, Newcastle and Leeds], so we will keep fighting.”
Well, parts of the game were really good; we came back well, and that could give us confidence for the upcoming matches. Unfortunately, we were unlucky with two offside goals and hitting the woodwork twice. đŹ
Come on you Irons!
Archbishopâs Easter Message
As the King has decided not to issue an Easter message this year, RapidHammer wants to wish you a Happy Easter pointing to the newly installed Archbishop of Canterburyâs Easter letter. Sarah Mullally was installed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation.
This is her first ecumenical Easter letter as Archbishop of Canterbury:
In her statement, Archbishop Sarah said that the message of the gospel is not an abstract hope but a âliving realityâ that could give strength and comfort to all of humanity.
She quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, writing from prison, reflected that âonly a suffering God can help.â These words remind us that in Jesus Christ, God does not stand distant from human pain, but enters into it, bears it, and transforms it.
The cross and the empty tomb together tell us that suffering and death do not have the final word. Suffering and pain are penultimate; ultimate is the loving embrace of God in glory. Easter proclaims that even in the darkest places, God is at work bringing life.
Pointing to the words of Jesus: âUnless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies⌠it bears much fruit,â the Archbishop said that Easter invites each of us to entrust ourselves anew to this mystery. What in our lives, our churches, and our relationships must be surrendered so that God may bring renewal? The resurrection assures us that no act of faithful surrender is ever wasted.
Easter calls us to live from this hope: to trust in the victory of Christ, to stand alongside those who suffer, and to bear witness with renewed confidence to the Gospel. In a wounded world, we are called to be people of resurrection â people who live not in fear, but in hope; not in despair, but in the promise of new life.
The Archbishop closed her letter with: As we celebrate this holy season, may the joy of Easter renew our faith, strengthen our fellowship, and deepen our commitment to one another in Christ.
Holy Week
What happened this week 2000 years ago is not as improbable as many thinkâŚ.
âśď¸ Alexandra Battenberg
Tuesday Delight for Four
The European World Cup playoff finals brought delight for four nations, but heartbreak for all fans of the Italian national team and of their wonderful anthem which now will not be played at the World Cup. With a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes and a 1-4 in the penalty shootout the Azzurri failed to qualify for a third World Cup in a row. Former Austria Wien player Haris Tabakovic had scored Bosnia and Herzegovinaâs goal to make it 1-1 in the 79th minute against ten-men-Italy (due to Bastoniâs red card in the 41st minute).
Turkey reached their first World Cup in 24 years as Kerem Akturkogluâs goal gave them a narrow win in their play-off with Kosovo.
The Czech Republic drew 2-2 with Denmark in Prague, but won their second penalty shootout within five days. The Czech Republic (with West Hamâs Tomas Soucek and Ex-Hammer Vladimir Coufal in the team) have last appeared on the global stage in 2006, while Denmark will be absent for the first time since the 2014 tournament.
Last but not least, Sweden won their play-off final 3-2 against Poland to reach this summerâs World Cup. They did not need extra time or a penalty shootout for booking their trip to the USA, Canada and Mexico, but scored a dramatic 88th-minute winner through Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres. Former West Ham manager Graham Potter who had landed the Sweden job last autumn, just four weeks after having been sacked by the Hammers, helped Sweden gain revenge as they had been beaten by Poland in the World Cup qualifying play-off final for Qatar 2022, four years ago.
âśď¸ FIFA World Cup 2026
Thursday Tears
The summer of 2026 was meant to belong to all of them. Mexico, Canada, the United States â a World Cup sprawling across a continent, expanded to 48 teams, the biggest ever. Surely there was room. Surely, this time, there was room for all the five national teams from the British Isles. England đ´ó §ó ˘ó Ľó Žó §ó ż and Scotland đ´ó §ó ˘ó łó Łó ´ó ż had already qualified for the tournament via the group stage, and now, on the evening of Thursday, March 26, 2026, the three other nations from this small, rain-soaked corner of the world tried to do the same via the World Cup playoffs: Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland.
All three went into the play-off semifinals with hope and determination. All three of them came home with nothing.
It started, as the cruelest nights often do, with hope.
In Prague, the Republic of Ireland made the most electric of starts. Troy Parrott, the striker who had dragged this team to the playoffs almost single-handedly with a stunning hat-trick against Hungary, won and converted a penalty. Then an own goal by Czech keeper Matej Kovar made it 2-0. Two up, away from home, against a team ranked above them. Heimir HallgrĂmssonâs men were on the verge of something extraordinary.
But football is not kind. Patrik Schick pulled one back from the spot for the Czechs, and then, just as Ireland looked like they might hold on, Ladislav KrejÄĂ equalised to send the match into extra time. The momentum had shifted like a tide, and there was no swimming against it.
In the penalty shootout, saves from Czech goalkeeper Matej Kovar denied Finn Azaz and Alan Browne, and Ireland were out â beaten 4-3 on penalties, their two-goal lead turned to dust. The players stood in the Prague night, some with hands on heads, some staring at the turf. Parrott, the hero who had conjured them here, could do nothing in the end to save them.
In Cardiff, Wales endured their own rollercoaster.
Dan James scored a beauty to put them 1-0 up after 50 minutes, and for much of the second half that looked like enough. The Dragon was flying. The dream was alive. Craig Bellamy prowled the technical area, daring to believe.
Then Edin Dzeko â the veteran Bosnian striker, a man who has been scoring goals in big moments for what feels like forever â came up with a leveller late on from a corner. In the same minute, 3,000 miles away, KrejÄĂ had equalised for the Czechs. Two nations, two hearts, punctured in the same breath of clock.
In the shootout, Harry Wilson and Mark Harris both converted. But Brennan Johnson and Neco Williams missed, and with young Red Bull Salzburg striker Kerim Alajbegovic converting the fourth penalty, Bosnia-Herzegovina triumphed 4-2 to march into the playoff final on Tuesday. Welsh tears fell in the Cardiff rain.
And in Bergamo, Northern Ireland faced the hardest task of all.
It was Italy that the North Irish were up against. Albeit the Azzurri had failed to qualify for the last two World Cups, the gap in resources, in pedigree, in ranking between the two sides was vast: Northern Ireland hadnât played on the big stage of the World Cup since forty years. Yet it was a cagey first 45 minutes, with the hosts far from their best â Northern Ireland, organised and resolute, refusing to be swept away.
It took until the 56th minute for Sandro Tonali to finally break the deadlock. Then, ten minutes from time, Tonali turned provider â an elaborate pass over the top found Moise Kean, who put it away off the post. 2-0. It was over. Northern Ireland were beaten, and Italy had taken a big step towards reaching their first World Cup since 2014. They will go on to face Bosnia and Herzegovina, not Wales, in the playoff final.
So Thursday ended, and three footballing nations began the long journey home.
England are going to the World Cup. Scotland are going. But Wales, the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland will spend the summer watching it on television â as close, and as impossibly far, as they have ever been.
The expanded tournament that was supposed to open the door wider had, in the cruelest fashion, slammed it shut all the same.
But the story didnât end on Thursday night.
Because the day after is when football quietly rebuilds itselfâin conversations, in memories, in small defiant acts of belief. There will be another big tournament to qualify for. The UEFA Euro 2028 will be played across four host nations: England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. And the capital of NI, Belfast, will host the qualifying draw on 6 December this year. New season, new luck: the group stage of the qualifiers will begin in March 2027 and run through to November 2027.
EXTRA TIME 
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