45 FOOTBALL

A daily football game, in the Wordle sense

One puzzle. Everybody gets the same one. It is gone at midnight.

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The shape of the day

A new half-time situation appears each day and stays for twenty-four hours. Everyone playing that day faces the same problem with the same squads, which is what makes the result worth sending to someone. There is no library to grind through and no way to play ahead: the scarcity is the point.

Three attempts, not three lives

You get three goes at the same half. That is not a life system — it is a hypothesis loop. The first attempt tells you what the opponent does about your idea; the second tells you whether your fix held; by the third you are solving rather than guessing.

What you get at the end

A grid of coloured tiles, one per decision, capped by the result — no green tiles in a defeat. A scoreline for each attempt, a manager title that is usually at your expense, and a countdown to the next one. No account, no sign-up, nothing to install.

Recent puzzles

• #1 — Brighton & Hove Albion v Brentford, BHA 1–2 BRE at half-time
• #2 — Arsenal v Ipswich Town, ARS 0–1 IPS at half-time
• #3 — Egypt v Morocco, EGY 0–1 MAR at half-time
• #4 — Manchester United v Ipswich Town, MUN 0–2 IPS at half-time
• #5 — Hull City v Arsenal, HUL 1–0 ARS at half-time
• #6 — Chelsea v Leeds United, CHE 0–2 LEE at half-time

Play today's puzzle