Latest / Yips and Giggles / World Cup Preview & Team Preparation
Transcript
- speaker-0: What's up guys? Welcome to our podcast. speaker-1: She finally realized that it was Welcome back. Woo! It is Memorial Day actually. How is your Memorial Day, Anya? speaker-0: quite busy. ⁓ been running around all day. Just got back from hanging out with your husband actually. Is correct. Getting some of the inside scoop on ⁓ some of the World Cup prep. Which coincidentally today's episode Segway guys. speaker-1: It's about the World Cup. Yeah. ⁓ that's hilarious. speaker-0: Ha ha ha. My day's been good. My day's been good. Highlight of my day has definitely been been seeing Alistair. So that was Yeah, for sure. How's your day been? speaker-1: Yeah, I was about to say I'm sure Olicer made it better. Yeah, good. I did not see my husband today. I might I'll FaceTime him after this. yeah, no, Salem and I have been ⁓ on our walks today. It is gorgeous in Scotland right now, which I do not say often. So you can tell by my slight sunburn. ⁓ You're glowing. Yeah, I'm glowing. I'm glowing. But yeah, yeah, this this episode will be breaking down pretty much everything about the World Cup. speaker-0: Ha ha ha. speaker-1: The news surrounding it. and I think it'll be a good episode for people that might not know a lot about how the World Cup works, ⁓ or just soccer slash football in general. What should we should we call it soccer or football in this episode? I don't speaker-0: I personally soccer. It's happening in the US and Canada and Mexico. True. Mostly in the US though. So I say we do soccer. speaker-1: I would also say that a majority of our listeners are in the United States. However, second place is the United Kingdom. So ⁓ we'll go with soccer today. Us American. speaker-0: Sorry guys. We'll go with soccer. Just pretend like we're saying football. Don't get mad. Exactly. speaker-1: Exactly, exactly. We apologize. but just know we it's a hard decision. We ⁓ so also this is our last episode of our first season, which is crazy. Mm-hmm. We had this is the 20th episode. I actually can't believe that. ⁓ So yeah, guys, we'll be taking a little bit of a break from the full episodes in the summer, and we'll kind of be restarting that in the August, September time. So speaker-0: Crazy. Do that either. speaker-1: We'll be looking forward to that. Have really, really excited to have new guests and new topics and all the good stuff. But this summer we'll definitely obviously keep you guys updated and on socials and everything. And I'll be at the World Cup. So we'll be getting all the insider on the ground journalism. Literally. speaker-0: Go to one World Cup game too and I'll I'll give you some boots on the ground journalism as well. ⁓ it'll be at MetLife. I don't know if people have been seeing a lot of the the commentary online about ⁓ non-US tourists, specifically European tourists, thinking that they can walk from Manhattan to MetLife. You can't, but I'll let you know what's going on when I'm over there. speaker-1: From a New Jersey and it's not speaker-0: Possible. You cannot cross ⁓ I ninety five and you're not gonna make it through the swamp. speaker-1: God, those videos have been so funny. So funny. I mean, yeah, this World Cup is gonna be quite different than past World Cups. just for for everyone that doesn't know, it's starting June 11th and going to July 19th. And again, the hosts are Canada, Mexico, and the US. Which there's 16 hosts host cities, right? I mean it. speaker-0: So funny. ⁓ speaker-1: Players are gonna be traveling all over. so in the US, we've got Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York slash New Jersey. I speaker-0: Every single time that there's something at MetLife, I don't know why New York claims it. MetLife is in New Jersey. The Giants and the Jets are not the New York Giants and the New York Jets. I know they're called that, but they play at MetLife in New Jersey. Anyways, whatever. And then people are like, New Jersey's so unprepared for the World Cup. It's like, well, apparently New York is hosting it, so it's not our problem. So speaker-1: Yeah. It ain't us apparently. ⁓ speaker-0: Anyways, sorry, rant. Just Statue of Liberty is in New Jersey too. For h those who didn't know, it's not in New York City. It's in New Jersey. speaker-1: You can see it, but it's in New Jersey. ⁓ God. Just some US geography lessons to start off. ⁓ but yeah, we've also got Philly, San Francisco, and Seattle. Mexico's got Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterey. And then of course Canada, we've got Toronto and Vancouver. So that's a lot. That's a there's crazy travel. within this entire tournament. So I think that's gonna be really interesting. Like it's gonna be a lot for the players. I think it's gonna be a lot. speaker-0: 'Cause if you think about any other country that they've held the World Cup in, maybe besides like Russia and like Brazil, ⁓ it they're relatively smaller countries and you just kind of go from city to city there and it's right. Some of the places you might even be able to like drive the whole time. Right. Here you're spanning what, like three time zones. You can go north and south, like what, five hour flights? Like it's it's gonna be a lot of travel for a lot of different teams. speaker-1: Yeah, I'm I do wonder how that's gonna affect players. I mean, having to adjust to those time zones is gonna be interesting. And also like getting off really long flights, you have to be careful. ⁓ but also like the weather, the heat and the humidity, a lot of people aren't gonna be used to that. Those Scottish lads are gonna have a rude, rude wake-up call. speaker-0: Scottish lads are here in ⁓ are supposed to be here in Charlotte training. I think it's probably a smart choice for them to try to adjust to the the heat and humidity beforehand. speaker-1: Get that SPF going, guys. speaker-0: Jesus. Make sure you drink lots of water, please. speaker-1: Yeah, please, please. It's a bit of a crazy World Cup just because there's forty eight countries playing now. ⁓ obviously exactly qualify but speaker-0: Which is like the most It's the most they've had like ever, right? Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. So like on one hand, a lot of other countries have more opportunity to actually play in obviously the biggest ⁓ tournament in soccer. And that's great. I mean, there I think there's about four countries that qualify who have never made the World Cup before. So like this is their first appearance. Yeah. so that's very cool for those countries. But I think at the same time, people are kind of like, What's the point? Like it's kind of like almost diluting the group stage. And when you look at the when you look at the groups you do kind of see that. It's like group stage isn't gonna be as difficult for those top two teams, you know? so I think some people are like, what? But then at the same time it's like you guys want more games and you're getting more games to watch. So kind of two sides to it. ⁓ but yeah, basically how it's broken down, obviously it'll be twelve groups of four. ⁓ speaker-0: Exactly. speaker-1: Group stage, it'll begin with kind of a round robin format. Each team plays each of the other three teams in the group, and then the top two teams obviously will be will be advancing to the knockout stage. So that's technically like the round of 32. But it's interesting because some third place teams can get out of their groups. Eight third place teams with the most points will advance the round of 32 as well. So that's important too. Like, you know, like for Teams that think like, ⁓ we don't have a chance. Like, for example, you might have like Scotland, for example, their group has Brazil and Morocco. It's like, okay, that's a bit tough. But you know, might have a chance to go off on points. so you know, there's fight till the end. there's always a chance. But obviously from after the group stage, it will be just single elimination. ⁓ win or go home. So yep. speaker-0: There's always a chance. speaker-1: That's basically how it works. There's obviously an extra knockout round. so it's gonna take even more matches to get to the final and win the tournament. That'll be interesting. Yeah. As if it were speaker-0: In the single, yeah, seriously. In the single elimination matches, like it anything can happen, right? Like it's got one bad day, one bad call. Like that it makes it more exciting for sure. I think. Obviously, in 2022, Argentina won. ⁓ it was a really exciting World Cup. And just for some history, I think Brazil has the most World Cup wins with five. There's only been a handful of nations that have won it. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah, it does. ⁓ speaker-0: I don't know, will we get a new new winner this year? Or will we get, you know, one of the more established countries? It'll be fun. Anything can happen, like we said, more teams, more rounds. Chaos. speaker-1: Right. Right. But it is just so cool that it's like a home world cup for Canada, US, Mexico. Like that's sick. I mean, that is like literally once in a lifetime. Literally once in a lifetime. Yeah. ⁓ 'cause like, you know, I was in Qatar during the twenty twenty two World Cup and it was like so far away from everything that it was just like ⁓ a a bit hard to get into it. Like it didn't feel like a usual World Cup, if that makes sense. Not that I'm like an expert or anything, but but I feel like this is just gonna be like so cool to have so many home crowds. Like it I think the fans will definitely be into it. Now the ticket prices might change that a little bit. Yeah. But speaker-0: Yeah. I was gonna I was gonna bring that up. So yeah, it's like so cool that US, Canada, Mexico get a host and again, like normally like the crowds are pretty good. I do think ⁓ the ticket prices have been extremely inflated this year, almost to the point where they're unattainable for like maybe the regular, you know, fan, which is really disappointing to see. I mean I just speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: That's like a whole different conversation to have. But you know, if you're if you're trying to generate as much interest as you can and get as many fans to you know, especially like US, a country where maybe soccer isn't like its number one sport and you're trying to promote the sport in that country, like maybe making the tickets like eight hundred bucks to sit with the birds isn't the best way to do that. who am I to talk? I don't know. ⁓ but yeah, guys like For those who don't know, I feel like we've talked about this before, but Peyton's husband, Alistair, plays for Team Canada. So it'll be a home world cup for him, which is super exciting. ⁓ yeah. That's gonna be awesome. That's gonna be speaker-1: ⁓ yeah, it's gonna be sick. yeah, getting all the fam out there. I can't wait. speaker-0: ⁓ fly back and forth between Toronto and Vancouver. speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, thankfully they go like Toronto, Vancouver, Vancouver for the group stage. so at least that's what like is planned out right now. ⁓ so it's not like we it's it's it's a five hour flight. It's like a five hour flight from Toronto to Vancouver. I don't think anyone realizes how big Canada is. Like it's massive. But going off what you said earlier with the ticket prices and everything, I I just think it's speaker-0: It's like coast to coast. speaker-1: I just think it's a bit disappointing because soccer is genuinely a the most global sport and the most accessible sport. Yeah. All you need is a ball and some grass. Like that that's the whole premise of soccer. It's like it's available to anybody and everybody. So like making these tickets not available to everybody and anybody is just like what are we doing? We're kind of like ruining the game here. I I'm very excited. Haven't been to Vancouver before, so I I've I've heard rave reviews. I have very high expectations. So you better show up. I know, right? I know. ⁓ yeah, we kind of wanted to look at the groups a little bit as well, especially, you know, with US, Canada, and Mexico. I again, when you look at the groups, I do think even if you're just looking at at it from like a world standings point, it's like those first two teams. speaker-0: I hope it doesn't rain. speaker-1: are probably going to get out. I was looking at it. I think I think Canada, USA, and Mexico are gonna get out. I ⁓ knock on wood. I hope so. ⁓ I think Scotland's gonna have a tough time. I'm not gonna lie. But they're gonna have fun doing it. They're gonna have fun doing it. I mean, the way that they qualified, I I genuinely I've never seen anything like it. Never seen anything like it. It was the I we could have gone to the game on you. We could have gone to the game. It was right down the road. It was right down the road at Hamden. We could have gone to the game. And Alistair and I were just sitting there watching and we're like, I can't believe we didn't go to this game. Because it it's like iconic. Who was it? It was Denmark, I think. It was Denmark. ⁓ but like just the goals that were scored and like ⁓ I it was just nuts. It was absolutely nuts. And and the celebration after it was just you g I Swear to God, I think I can hear it from my house. Like it was it was crazy. So I'm excited for them and I'm pretty sure they play Brazil in Miami, which is gonna be insane to me. speaker-0: Tough. That's gonna be tough. That's gonna be really tough. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ so yeah. speaker-0: Okay. Anything can happen again. speaker-1: Yeah, honestly. I mean, I think maybe like the strongest group might be group F with Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia. I don't know. I it it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting. ⁓ Yeah. But again, I do think it is a bit watered down. So I think if you're in those top two, you're pretty much gonna be the top two coming out of it. ⁓ Right. But it's so funny because You know, like like you said earlier, the US ⁓ soccer is not the biggest sport. We've got American football, we've got basketball, and I'm pretty sure soccer's actually like in third place technically now. ⁓ I think it's I think it's beaten baseball now, which is kind of crazy. ⁓ Yeah. ⁓ which is usually that's like America's sport. But anyways, ⁓ but I I do think it's funny that people don't really realize just how hard it is to win the World Cup. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Everyone's Yeah, US is taking it all the way and I'm like, guys, I think we need to take a step speaker-0: Ever taking it all the way? First off. speaker-1: No. speaker-0: See, this is why we need to make the tickets more accessible so that more people could go to the games and actually understand what it looks like. ⁓ speaker-1: Exactly. I I watched a video the other day actually that was like mapping out Canada's World Cup if they won the group. So like obviously you can come in like first, second, third, whatever coming out of the group, and that determines like where you go in the draw and where you're playing and things like that. And so this was bas this was the scenario if they won their group. So they would play like Algeria in Vancouver, which could be winnable. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean home crowd as well. Portugal. Next round. Tough. Let's let's say they beat Portugal on some like miracle whatever. Argentina. speaker-0: Mm. Mm-hmm. speaker-1: Yeah, reigning reigning world champions. Argentina. speaker-0: I mean a lot can change in four years, I guess. speaker-1: Not that much. next. Let let's let's say they beat Argentina, like, you know, just just a regular day. Right. Brazil or England would be next. Right. Right. speaker-0: Right. So like the country that has the most World Cups or one of the other top contenders. Cool, cool. Right. Okay. speaker-1: And then final, of course, France or Spain. speaker-0: ⁓ you mean like number one and number two in the world? Okay. Correct. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Correct. ⁓ So it's like I think people just need to like take a second and be a bit more realistic. But like, hey, I I'm all here for a Canada US final, a Canada Scottish final. I'm I'm I'm there. I'm there. speaker-0: I'll be there too. speaker-1: Yeah. ⁓ but yeah. speaker-0: But again, like like we've been saying it's it's a much more wide open ish field in terms of just the amount of countries that are in and with the amount of countries that are in, there's more matches and there's more things that could go wrong in a match. True. Or go right, you know, true for a person. speaker-1: And and again, like what like we were talking about at the beginning, there's a lot more variables in this with the travel, with the weather and all that. So Yep. speaker-0: ⁓ humidity, altitude, like speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. But I think kind of going off of that, a lot of teams are preparing as best they can with their training camps. So for those that don't know, teams always will have like some sort of training camp before tournaments and especially obviously for the World Cup. ⁓ they'll also play friendlies as well. And so it's really interesting because, like you said, Scotland is in Charlotte, ⁓ or will be in Charlotte, Canada's in Charlotte training. ⁓ North Carolina's a hot spot. It's clearly a hot spot. speaker-0: Hot spot. Like ⁓ Germany's at Wake Forest University are alma mater, yeah training in Winsos Salem. ⁓ Norway's at UNC Greensboro. Like people want to come to North Carolina and train here. ⁓ why? Maybe it's just because of the humidity and the heat and maybe we have a lot of soccer fields. I don't know. Like I haven't seen that many. Okay. Sure. I think speaker-1: Yeah, it's great. ⁓ Yeah. Ha ha. speaker-0: ⁓ South Korea's training in Salt Lake City because they're playing ⁓ some matches in Mexico at elevation. So they're trying to prep for that like elevation, right? So it's interesting how different teams take different approaches to try to prep for the coming weeks. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah, 'cause it it truly does make a difference, like at different altitudes. so I I always think that that is a smart thing to do. But I think a crazy thing that's obviously happening right now, which most of you probably have seen in the news, is the Ebola outbreak happening in the DRC. And so they have qualified and they've basically had to kind of cancel their training in the DRC and they're now training in Belgium. ⁓ and people have basically told them like you need to stay in a bubble. Yeah, I know, I feel terrible for them. It's not good. ⁓ speaker-0: But better to be safe than sorry for sure. speaker-1: Right. Yeah, exactly. So it's crazy what like different teams are having to kind of deal with. ⁓ but yeah, then you know, once you have the training camps, you usually move on to friendlies. and it's really interesting again, like everything is done so deliberately with like the planning before tournaments and before the World Cup. It's like all these opponents are picked to kind of match your World Cup opponents, right? So in within your friendlies. So like from a tactical or like analytical standpoint, you're trying to play a team in a friendly that kind of matches the team that the teams that you will be playing in the World Cup, which makes sense. It makes speaker-0: Yeah, that does make sense. Is it typically like other teams that have qualified for the World Cup or is it just they pick it so far ahead of time? speaker-1: Not necessarily, not necessarily. So, like, for example, Canada plays Uzbekistan and Edmonton, and they play Ireland and Montreal. and Ireland and yeah, Ireland did not qualify. Scotland plays Curacao here in Scotland, and I believe Curacao did qualify. ⁓ so there there are some some countries that will be playing each other. And then I think Scotland also plays Bolivia in New Jersey. So, Anya, if you want to hop over, the more you know. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah no. Yeah. ⁓ and then I think the US plays Senegal and Charlotte. Again, we're in North Carolina. ⁓ speaker-0: under a rock, like I didn't was not a aware of this. speaker-1: Yeah, I think they do. speaker-0: I'll look into that. Yeah. Sure. I'll look into that. speaker-1: Yeah. And then I think they also play Germany in Chicago. So that'll be kind of their like send-off. which is that'd be kind of like a sick place to play. Yeah, but I think we can also get into like how do people even get selected? Like how do rosters work, things like that. speaker-0: Yeah. So obviously. That would be really fun. speaker-1: And honestly, it kind of just boils down to like national team players are chosen by the head coaches, the the coaching staff, and they're very much looking at, you know, how have you played over your club season? Have you had any injury issues? Do you tactically fit into, you know, our playing style? How much experience do you have? You know, how many caps have you had? ⁓ or how many caps do they have? And then also like, you know, chemistry plays a role. It's like do you kind of fit in with this team? Can you be like a leader? And I think that's something that you have to think about. ⁓ speaker-0: Well, especially in like j it's just one big tournament, right? Like you can't afford to have any like weird chemistry or anything going bad, right? It's not like it's a full season. This is just a five week tournament where everything has to be like down pat, locked in. So I do think like I don't know, like I'm sure there's been scenarios where a player maybe did or did not get chosen due to some chemistry with like other people on the team, right? 'Cause they're just not willing to to risk that that performance for I don't know, whatever issue is going on or things like that. speaker-1: Yeah, like I think the last thing you want to be dealing with during a World Cup is drama. So if you can't get on the same page, then might be an issue. but yeah, basically how it works is the final rosters have to be submitted by June first. So right now, like people have put out like prel preliminary rosters basically. like for example, Canada has thirty-two players going to camp. So they have to narrow that number down because it has to be a twenty-six player roster with a mandatory three goalkeepers. And so some teams will do that, especially if there's a lot of injuries going on. And Canada has had so many injuries ⁓ this past year, some bad injuries as well. my husband included. ⁓ speaker-0: I wasn't gonna I wasn't gonna bring it up. speaker-1: He's good now. Knock on wood. He's good now, guys. ⁓ but yeah, when you have to deal with that many players that are like kind of on the bubble, kind of on the fence, it's like probably have to bring in a few more than usual just to make sure like we have a s full team ready to go. Right. You know. So speaker-0: Right. And I think it's interesting because it's so different country to country too. Like some countries have massive player pools. for example, Brazil, France, England, where, you know, soccer is their life or is one of the top sports and they have a big population of people too. Right. ⁓ and then maybe sometimes smaller nations have to recruit like diaspora players that are born abroad, but you know, parents immigrated out of there or they have some sort of tie back to speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: you know, nationality, things like that. And I think like form versus reputation is also some like a major debate before World Cups. For example, ⁓ I'm sure everyone has heard, I think Neymar got selected to the Brazilian team, but he's been injured a lot this year, but obviously his like reputation precedes him. Also, I think he got selected and then he got injured like the next day. Like do you want some of the star players on there? Like speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: You got the Ronaldos, the Messies, the Neymars, the Mbappes of the world. But what if, you know, maybe they're not playing as well. But you know they're like proven in World Cups or even not proven in World Cups, but they just have this like superstar power about them. Like I don't know. It's it's it's an interesting point. speaker-1: Yeah, like I do think also when you have players who are that experienced and have s that crazy reputation, they most of the time will play up in a World Cup. Like even if they haven't had like the greatest form, it's like they've done this before. This is their this is their stage. You know what I mean? Well speaker-0: So the fans the fans get so pumped about their superstar players and I'm sure that like fuels them even more. speaker-1: Right, right. Also I think when you do have such a big name like on your roster and other teams just see that, it's automatically probably gonna get in their heads a little bit. You know what I mean? So I I think it is is good to have have those players even if they're not in their greatest form ever. Which let's be real, like e even if they're not in their greatest form ever, they're still ridiculously good. So speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. ⁓ yeah. Again, especially if like you're a smaller nation that hadn't in previous years qualified for the World Cup, doesn't have much World Cup experience, like it could be very intimidating to go up and see Messi walk out on the field next to you and speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I feel like Yeah. Sorry. Didn't mean to didn't mean to come near you. Yeah. speaker-0: Like you can you can take the balls or it's fine. Teams can earn their spots either through direct qualification, again, like those continental playoffs or intercontinental playoffs as well. But again, I think like each continental confederation has just such a different way of doing it because well, I first of all, there's like a different number of countries in each continental confederation, ⁓ maybe different levels too. So very, very interesting to to look at. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean I mean when you look at Europe, it's like, Good lord, the teams that you have to get through is nuts. Actually nuts. speaker-0: Also, Korea, that's a combination of North and South Korea, right? speaker-1: No, I think it's just South Korea. Could it be North Korea? speaker-0: I thought it was I I could have sworn. Hold on. No, you're right. They just call themselves South Korea for whatever reason just calls itself Korea Republic in FIFA. I was like convinced. I like, Korea Republic? They sent North North Korean people to play there. Yeah, anyways, so I'm I'm really excited for the World Cup. Again, it rolls around once every four years. And how many times in your life is it gonna be, you know, in the country that you're in? Like speaker-1: Literally never again. speaker-0: So excited. speaker-1: Who are you rooting for, Anya? I'm speaker-0: rooting for Canada first hand, then I'll root for I guess I'll I'll then I'll root for Brazil by way of my boyfriend who's from Brazil. And then I'll root for the US. Yeah. I mean I'll root for the I'll root for all three right equally. But then I'll root for Canada more because I have obviously a personal connection to Canada. Correct. But if they fall I'll root for Brazil and the US equally. speaker-1: Yeah. Yep. I think that's the who are you rooting for? Yeah, I'm definitely gonna Scotland. Scotland No, I'm definitely gonna go like Canada, obviously. US, Scotland. Yeah. I think that would probably be my my three. obviously, yeah, again, if they're not playing each other, I'm I'm hoping all of them go through to the next round. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, I'll I'll be there for the World Cup on Canada side. We'll be giving updates. Anya will give updates on her game. Which game are you going to, Anya? To let speaker-0: Brazil, Morocco. ⁓ that's gonna be New Jersey. It's gonna be a great so excited. Anyways. ⁓ speaker-1: Also Also, you might want to bring earplugs because when Canada played Morocco and Qatar, I I've actually never heard a sound so loud in my life. Really? Well, they do that whistling thing. The entire country can do it. I'm pretty sure. Like literally the whole country can do it. speaker-0: Yeah. like the Brazilian fans are also just gonna be like so loud. speaker-1: ⁓ yeah. Yeah, they're obviously no genuinely. I I it was actually hard to watch the game. I was like, these guys know what they're doing. These guys know what they're doing. yeah, just a heads up there. But ⁓ but yeah, we'll we'll keep you guys updated again. This is the last episode of our very first season. We really appreciate you guys yeah, appreciate you guys listening. We'll be taking a break from the full episodes. We might hop on and do maybe a couple tiny episodes just throughout the summer. ⁓ keep everyone updated with the World Cup through Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, things like that. We'll be starting back up again, like I said, probably between August and September time. Can't wait for what's to come. We're excited for new guests, new discussions, and you know, we're just gonna keep laughing, gonna keep giggling. speaker-0: That's all you can do in this world. Keep laughing. Now, thank you guys so much, and we will see you at the end of the summer. speaker-1: See ya.