France​ and​ Belgium​ have clashed​ on​ the​ field for​ more​ than​ 120​ years,​​ but on Tuesday, in the World Cup semifinal in Saint Petersburg, the stakes will be higher than ever before. Men who usually play side-by-side as professional teammates will instead be pitted against each other as internationals for one night. Then there’s the fact that Les Diables Rouges’ assistant coach Thierry Henry is one of France’s heroes of 1998 (alongside French head coach Didier Deschamps), infusing the match with additional tension as two veterans of the famous black-blanc-beur team square off on the touchline. Yet, for all that Titi has given Belgium—including a “taste for the attack,” in the words of French Football Federation president Noël Le Graët—France and Deschamps retain an advantage: the children of 1998.

France​ slayed​ the​ naysayers Saturday​ afternoon​ in​ Kazan with a 4-3 triumph​ over​ Argentina, and it’s clear we’re living in a Mbappé world.

France​ nearly​ stumbled​ against Australia,​ leading​ some​ people to worry that​ a terrifically​ gifted​ team​ might not​ fulfill​​ its potential at In Russia. But in another regard, France is clearly dominating this World Cup regardless of on-pitch results. Some 52 players across five teams at the tournament in Russia are French-born, and nearly a third of them come from Paris and its surrounding suburbs. What some call the greatest concentration of soccer talent in Europehas become a strong quadrennial presence. Since 2002, France has supplied more players and coaches for World Cup rosters—218 in total—than any other country, according to RunRepeat. As a result, the country’s soccer influence extends well beyond its own 23-man squad.

1968 was a year that shook the world as protests rocked the United States, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Tokyo, and points in between. By mid-May in France, workers joined student protesters in a nation-wide strike that shut down much of daily life. Often overlooked was the role of the sports world during the “Events of May,” as the movement is still referred to.

Unofficial people-to-people diplomacy occurs daily in places where you least expect it, including on the basketball court and in cyberspace. Take the French NBA players or Boston Celtics Bill Russell for example.

This week, I had the honor of discussing basketball's early origins in snowy Springfield, Massachusetts to how the game spread in France - and shattered stereotypes - with the WW1 Centennial News Podcast.

The calendar says printemps but Mother Nature has different ideas. While I haven’t yet hung up my ski boots for the season, I’m ready to think spring. And April kicks off an active month on the sports side.

Sixty years ago, Gonzaga recruited the tallest college basketball player in the country from France, a nation not known for basketball. Over the years, the Zags have helped change that.