docs: stage J round 1 — release polish audit + README stats section

a11y/responsive/i18n audit over A-F passed clean (no code fixes); added a
Stats section to the README; restructured TODO so G/H/I + a second polish
(J round 2) are queued for the future.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.agents/project-memory.md

@@ -296,6 +296,12 @@ Static web app showing the FIFA World Cup 2026 (Mexico/USA/Canada, 48 teams) —
 - **Verified (preview 8126, branch, 19/104 real):** console clean; 4 chips; default GER vs SWE (top-2 ranked); bars scale right (GP 7→100% / 5→71%); changing B→USA updates the header ("Germany vs United States") and re-scales (GP 7→100% / 4→57%); EN↔PT relabels title/metrics and **selection persists** across langchange; mobile 375px selects side-by-side + rows fit (no overflow). Screenshots desktop+mobile.
 - **Next:** Stage G — Layer 2 cheap data (attendance, **`cards`→{y,r} migration**, `decidedIn`, team `ranking`/`wcDebut`/`confederation`, stadium coords; backfill `stats`). **SCHEDULE LATE / near end of Cup** — the `cards` migration is a breaking change for `modal.js` + `stats.js` (`aggregateTeams` reads `s.cards.home`) and would conflict with master's daily `cards` writes. Awaiting approval (and likely deferral).
 
+### Stats final screen — Stage J round 1 (release polish) + merge to master (2026-06-17)
+- **Release polish pass over A–F** (E skipped): **i18n audit** — no hardcoded user-facing strings in `stats.js` (all via `t()`); **a11y** — the 4 sub-nav sections are `aria-label`led + `tabindex=-1`, the table has a caption + 11 `aria-label`led sort buttons + `aria-sort`, comparator selects + record-card buttons are `aria-label`led, sub-nav is a `<nav>`; **reduced-motion** — chart bars, comparator `cmp-grow`, and count-ups are all gated; **cross-tab regression** — home/matches/groups/bracket/stadiums/stats all render with content, console clean. **No code fixes were needed** (per-stage work was already clean). Added a **Stats bullet to README**.
+- **Deferred to the actual deploy:** the Lighthouse run (needs a deployed URL) and a final `DATA_VERSION` bump. **Caveat (pre-existing, accepted):** the stats screen is **code** (HTML/CSS/JS), and the project only cache-busts `data/*.json` via `DATA_VERSION` — JS/CSS are not versioned (no build step), so on Hostinger (no cache headers) returning visitors may serve stale assets until their browser re-fetches. True for every code deploy; new visitors / hard-refresh see it at once.
+- **Merge to `master`:** the pure-UI build (A–F) + this polish was merged to `master` for release. Sequence used: merge latest `master`→branch first (resolve conflicts on the branch, never on master), re-verify, then `master` ← branch (`--no-ff`). **Pushing to origin** (which triggers the Hostinger FTP deploy via `deploy.yml`) is the user's explicit final go — production.
+- **Remaining (TODO §7):** Stage G (Layer-2 schema, schedule late — conflicts with daily refreshes), H (players + the deferred comparator Teams/Players toggle), I (editorial), and **a second polish J round 2** over those new features.
+
 ### How to update real-world data (scores, schedule)
 Follow `how-refresh-data.md` (project root). In short:
 1. Edit `data/results.json` (scores/status) or `data/matches.json` (schedule, rare).