Latest / Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos / USMNT World Cup Fallout, Plus Quarterfinals Previews & Predictions

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USMNT World Cup Fallout, Plus Quarterfinals Previews & Predictions · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I know that out of the fifty million people, there's
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: gonna be five million or four million who will never
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: watch a soccer game again. Yeah, that could be.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: But for the that's fine.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, But for the other forty five million people, maybe
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: there was ten of them that said, you know what,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I want to see more of this.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: What's going on? Everybody?
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USM and
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: T insider Tom Boger. I'm joined by one of the
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: greatest players in US M and T history, tab Ramos
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: tab We are now a few days following the US
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: M and t's elimination from the World Cup in disappointing
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: fashion at the hands of Belgium with the round of sixteen.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I know you've been back home for a little bit
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: after calling all the great games that you called. I
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: got in early this morning, three am, after flying back
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: from Seattle. I will say, throughout this trip, the travel
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: between the cities, whether it was going from LA to
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: the first knockout game, the first knock game to the second,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: you look around and there's USM and T people on
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: your flight, Like you bump into somebody's dad or somebody's
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: somebody's partner, or oh, I think that's somebody's kids. And
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: the feeling between the games tab were was much much
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: more positive. And then last night there was a lot
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: of sad USM and T apparel on my flight from
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: my very much delayed flight from Seattle back to the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: East Coast. So, Tom, I don't know if you've had
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: a similar experience in your travels here.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I mean, in old fairness, everywhere I've gone,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I've seen US men's national team jerseys. You know, you
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: see them all around the streets, and we've seen them
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: all over the country. And again I was based mostly
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: East coast of the Our national team was not anywhere
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: near here, obviously, they were purely West Coast, but you
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: still saw I mean, I saw national team jerseys every day,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: every day, everywhere I went, when I went for coffee
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: in the mornings, when I took my flight to Toronto,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: from Toronto to New Jersey, you're always seeing national team jerseys,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: and I think, you know, that's obviously a great sign.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: It's a positive sign. Of course, you see in jerseys
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: from all the other countries too, you know, you know,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: and if I have to say, I think i've seen
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Ecuador jerseys everywhere. I've seen Columbia jerseys everywhere I go,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: so there's always someone with a with a yellow on
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: and I can't tell sometimes if it's Columbia Ecuador, but
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: there's they're everywhere. And uh in Mexico jerseys as well.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: So those are some of the more I think populars
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: that I've seen. Of course, Brazil is yellow too, so
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: it could have been Brazil. But but yeah, it's been
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: it's been really exciting, you know. And you you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: I do remember back in nineteen ninety four, you know,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: thinking why can't they just why why can't this just
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: last like forever? Why isn't this the way it is
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: all the time? Right? Uh? And and this is kind
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: of the same, you know, as we're drawing towards the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: end of the tournament, and obviously I know that our
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: team is out and that a lot of people are
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: obviously disappointed about about that, including ourselves, and you know,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: at some point our run was probably going to end, right,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: but the World Cup is still here, and uh, and
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: we have some great games coming up, I mean, the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: best games coming up. So this this is I'm still
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: really excited about being a fan for the rest of it.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: You and me both My friend particularly though that you
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: could feel it coming to an end, not just because
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: the US are out. But we're recording on Wednesday. This
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: is the first day since the opening match that there's
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: been no World Cup game on today, so we're getting
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: closer to the end. There's only a few games left,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: but these are the games that define legacies and win trophies,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: so I can't wait for it. Today we're gonna check
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: back in on the fallout from USMNT after going out
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: in the World Cup to Belgium. Then we're gonna talk
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: about the rest of the World Cup, the some insane
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: round of sixteen games, including Messi's stunning comeback with Argentina
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: over Egypt, and then we're gonna break down the quarterfinal
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: games to come, and Tab's gonna give his DraftKings match predictions.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: But let's start with the US TAB Monday, it was
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: the most watched soccer game in US history, breaking the
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: record from the game against Bosnia, and if they won
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the quarterfinal would have set a new record. So on
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: one hand, it's really awesome. Thirty seven million people watched
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: on Fox and another twelve million on Telemundo. It's almost
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: fifty million people watching an American soccer game. It brings
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: a tear to my eye. It's beautiful and I hope
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: that these are going to create lasting connections. And I
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: know it will because it did in nineteen ninety four.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: The ground work that you and that team did, the
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: legends that you are helped build us this moment. But
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: tab On, maybe maybe a pessimistic side is is there
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: any worry to you that the dud open performance from
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the usmn T being the one that is now the
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: most watched game in American soccer history.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Do you think that's gonna have any adverse effects?
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: That's a good question. And if the question is is
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: it gonna have any at all? Yeah, it'll have some.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: You know. But you know, Tom, you've been playing soccer
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: since you were born and as you've you know, grown up,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: just as me coming up in this country through when
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I was little. You know, you always find people who
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: are going to be negative about soccer, regardless of what
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: they're watching. And I think, you know, from our standpoint,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: you know, to have fifty million people watch our national team,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I can't imagine that there's anything negative about that. I
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: think it's all positive for me. And yes, of course
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: you're going to have, you know, the American fan who
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: only wants to watch NFL anyway, who's going to say, hey,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: you know, I tuned the game on just because I
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: wanted that excitement. And I didn't see, you know, the
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Christian polistic become Tom Brady and throw that touchdown into
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the end zone. I didn't get that feeling. And yeah,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you didn't get that feeling because you don't understand the game.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people who watch the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: game who have been in some sort of way involved
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: with the game because their kids player or their grandchildren play,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: who can actually in a way understand the difficulty of
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: passing a ball or hitting a ball over the top,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: or heading a ball or just the simple things that
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: we do in soccer. I think those people appreciate the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: quality that they saw, and if they didn't appreciate it
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: on the American team, they certainly appreciated it on the
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Belgian team. But they did appreciate it. And I think
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: that there's a value there because I'll say this. You know,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I'm not a baseball fan. You know, obviously, I you know,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: as you know, I was not born in this country.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: But but I but I do know that that's our
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: you know, pastime. You know, baseball is the old American pastime,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: and I understand that, but I didn't understand it until
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: a baseball fan explained to me why they like baseball,
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: and because to me, baseball looks, you know, in a
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: way like it looks like to some of these fifty
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: million people that watch the game, let's say ten million
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: of them would have felt this way like I feel
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: about baseball. I don't really understand it. Okay, so you
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: go into the ninth inning and it's a shutout, and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: you know, and to me it's just as boring because
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: nothing's going on. But then somebody said this to me,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: you know, they said, you know, there's nothing to me
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: like the sound of the ball hitting that the wooden bat.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: And at that point I got it and I understood
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that by the sound of the ball and the bat,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a baseball fan can tell where the ball is going.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: They can tell if they got a hold of it
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: or if they didn't, and that has a huge value.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And forget everything else, forget the stadium, forget the field they'reund,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: forget the team they're on, just the sound of the
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: ball and for the soccer fan. We have to remember,
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: and this goes for the people who really understand golf,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that it's really difficult to kick a soccer ball as
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: you're running right, And I'm going to the basics here.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Maybe World Cup, a World Cup episode is not the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: time to do it. But for those millions of people,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: those ten million people that watch it are new, some
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: of them are going to recognize that. You know, when
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: you get on a golf course and you're standing by
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: yourself and you need complete silence, no one making a sound,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: so that you can hit a golf ball with a club, Well,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: try hitting a soccer ball running with the same spin
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: that you're hitting that golf ball. And that's kind of
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: what it is. And it's the difficulty of a pass
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: that a soccer fan recognizes when they watch a game.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: It's not all about the goals. We can watch a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: gray zero zero game. So I'm hoping that not only
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: am I hoping, I know that out of the fifty
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: million people, there's going to be five million or four
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: million who will never watch a soccer game again. That
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: could be. But for these that's fine, yeah, But for
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the other forty five million people, maybe there was ten
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: of them that said, you know what, I want to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: see more of this, And there was definitely another thirty
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: million that said I'm all in moving forward and this
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: is what I want to be watching. So I think
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: was there anything negative about it? Absolutely not. This has
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: been nothing but great. Do I wish our team could
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: have advanced a little bit more, Yeah, of course, because
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: instead of fifty million, it might have been sixty million
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: the next time. But here's where we are, and we've
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: made a lot of progress and I'm really happy about it.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: It's been great.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: A few things I really liked a lot of what
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: you said there. One like you talked about baseball. It's
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: a great example and even beyond like the sound of
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: the bat, stuff like you talk about it in the pastime,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: like whether it's baseball or basketball or football. Well, your
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: grandparents might have had season tickets to the New York
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: Giants or the Chicago Bears, and you might have grown
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: up watching, you know, Commander's games, Dolphins games, Seahawks games
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: with your family, like it's ingrained in you. Soccer is
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: speaking just of MLS. MLS, you're only starting to see
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: like the second generation of fans or whatever.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Like the league is thirty years old.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Soccer is obviously much a much older across the world,
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: and there has been American soccer fans of European League
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: South American leagues, particularly gat Mecki's, but it's part of
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: the generational build and tab like that's that's why I
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: keep tying it to ninety four like that that is
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: a very tangible like all right, this is where the
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: foundation starts, so that I'm growing up watching like some
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: of my first memories with my family, Like, yeah, giants
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: games for sure, like we were we love all the
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: traditional sports. But I remember, like I was seven in
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: the two thousand and two World Cup. I can hear
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: JP Della CAMRA's voice from that tournament, Like I don't
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: know how much I remember the highlights and stuff too,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: but that's because my parents were like, this is what
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: we do, you know, on Sundays when we watch the Giants, okay,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: the World Cup the US were playing, we watch it
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: together and those are the things that help build fans.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: And a second thread is I like in this in
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: some ways to the Olympic hockey run. I like, I
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: enjoy hockey, but there's just not enough time in the
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: day to watch a billion soccer games. And then also,
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: you know the Knicks that you've heard me scream about
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: for a while, like there's just not enough time today,
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: but I appreciate it.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: But I'm gonna tune in for the Olympics.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: And they like people didn't know who Jack Hughes was,
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: the guy who scored the game winning goal in overtime
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: in the Olympic final, but they do now. And even
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: if you're not, I'm technically a Devil's I am a
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Devil's fan, but it's not like I watch them all
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: the time, like that guy's a hero now he plays
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: for the Devils. And there's a bunch of people in
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: the country who had no idea before those moments. And
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: maybe there's people in this country who didn't know who
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: Pusick was, or didn't know much about Wes McKinney, you
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: didn't know much about didn't know anything about Flaubaaligan. And now,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: whether you're gonna tune in for the September friendlies, or
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: if you're gonna come back for the Gold Cup or
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: the Copa America, if you're gonna come back for the
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: next World Cup, this is where it starts to build.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: And to my point, before of like, yeah, like there,
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: You're never gonna get fifty million outside of a World
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: Cup and that's fine, but the fact that it's a
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: big enough event for this to happen at all is
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: usually positive. And yeah, Toad, we wish that the game
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: went better, particularly for growing the game in this country.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: But it's I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. It's
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: even though I framed it a little bit negatively, I
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: think it's all positives and it would have been better
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: to go out on your shield kind of like Mexico did,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: fighting until the death and Canada did as well. But
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, man like, this run
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: was special and this is while we can be disappointed
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: and critical of how it ended and where it ended,
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: it's still positive tangible moving forward.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because what you want to get is you want
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: to get eyes on the game. You know, that's what
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: maintains the game. And I think we got eyes on it.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: You know, we have a major network on it. They
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: they I think, are getting good returns on their investment
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: in soccer this summer, and I think that we'll pay
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: dividends for soccer down the road. You know, we don't
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: know if obviously you know it's if it's likely that
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: FIFA continues with with the hydration break, but I'm sure
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: that MLS at some point is going to take it
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: on because that's probably going to be good for business.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: And I'm not saying that's going to be good for
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: the game, but I'm saying they're probably going to try
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: to find a way to continue to deliver the game
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: to the fans and try to figure out to make
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: money at the same time. So you know, all these things,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: unfortunately have to come together for this to work. And
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: I think this World Cup just the sheer numbers. Because
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: of the sheer numbers, it just can't be ignored. Some
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: people can choose to be ignored about it and decide that,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: you know, this sport doesn't matter, but this sport really matters,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: and actually now it matters in this country too.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: It certainly does, and the country comes together for these
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: big moments. It's a sports country and I'm just really
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: glad that soccer is in that conversations as it should be,
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: and as Tad, we both knew that it was. But
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: you can't argue with those numbers. Sometimes I can get
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: annoyed listening to let's say, like traditional mate like ESPN
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: or Fox on their like shows that focus on the NBA,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: the NFL and everything talking about the World Cup, and
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: I need to stop myself from being annoyed, like oh,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: like that's an ignorant opinion or what are you talking about, Like, no,
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: this is fifteen years ago we were saying, like the
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: jokes ESPN would be making jokes, like the anchors would
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: be making jokes about soccer. So again, these are just
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: some of the ways that the games move forward. We'll
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: keep discussing that this fallu but like well and truly,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: there's gonna be so many stories from this tournament, like
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: there wasn't ninety four, and it's a huge boost for
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: the game and hope for eternal and in the future
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: will keep dissecting what went wrong or what could go right.
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: But back kind of a little bit to the micro here.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: Balgin put up the statement. They put up a post
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: on social media pretty much thanking the fans, talking about
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: how great of inexperience it was his first World Cup
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: and all, even though he's been thrust in the middle
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: of a controversy that is straight up not his fault.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: I feel for him there. If there's anybody he's the
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: most calm, cool and measured person in this team. And
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: the way he's handled this from his initial red card
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: through now, he's done nothing but class and I hope
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: that people are recognizing that and are not conflating politics
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: or the US government or even the bad decisions from
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: FIFA with him, because he did nothing wrong. He got
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: a controversial red card.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: We all know.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: It wasn't unintent, it wasn't dirty play, nothing. He was
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: at the center of a controversy that he didn't have
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: much control over, and I feel bad for him. The
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: other piece of news is Mariso Pochatino. No news yet
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: because he said he's gonna wait, take some time and
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: then have discussions with the federation. We'll see kind of
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: where that ends. But TAB from from your seat, what
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: were your kind of favorite moments from this World Cup
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: run for the United States?
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, in terms of favorite moments, you know,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you have to say the beginning of the Paraguay game.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: We're just crazy, you know, the way we just came
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: out all over this team. It just seemed like we
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: could we were world beaters at that moment. We could
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: just we could beat anyone, And it was really exciting
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: to see because he knew it wasn't happening by chance.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I mean, we have good players and they were all
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: at the top of their game that day, and I
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: think to see, you know, in particular, the full first half.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: You know, with a three zero lead, it's hard to
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: make a whole half one moment, but that was that
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: was certainly think what I will take out of this
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: World Cup as that's the team that we want to
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: always be right and so yeah, after that, I thought,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: you know, the team getting into the second round, I thought,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you know, the Pochettino making all the changes for the
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: third game against Turkey, and that second team really fighting
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: to win the game. Obviously we lost it in the end,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: but that was still a very competitive team. We get
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: into the second round, we have a really professional win.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Even though we weren't at our best, we still were
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: able to win a second round game. Of course, a
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: World Cup is bigger now, but we did win a
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: second round game playing with ten men for thirty minutes,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: and that was really what I thought would bring our
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: team together enough to get us through the next game.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I thought that would be fuel for the next game. Unfortunately,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the next game couldn't be that. But I think if
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I had to take the moments, I would say that
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I would say, first half against Portugal, in the last
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes against Bosnia.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: The first half against Paraguay. Yeah, in the last thirty
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: minutes against Bosnia, I love. I'd like I love that
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: to the again when when Pochatino brought the team together,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: so the hydration break came five minutes after Baligan's red
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: card or something like that, and when he was saying,
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: this is where we prove we're united. This is where
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: we prove everything we say isn't just words, but its actions,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: like right now is the go show everybody, And then
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: they outplayed Bosnia at ten verse eleven. It was really
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: special stuff and I hope that doesn't get lost to history. Myself,
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: Paul Scenario and Henry Bushnell at the Athletic we've just
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: published a big inside read about the whole World Cup.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: I would encourage you guys to read it, not because
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: of me, because I think Paul and Henry are the
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: best and there's some good stuff in here, including like
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: the fact that the game they were eliminated in Seattle,
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: they played in Seattle against Australia and that Australia game
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: is really where the phenomenon of singing country roads with
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: the fans like really really caught on. They did it
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: after the first game too, but the second game went
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: because that was more of a surprise and I don't
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: know if it's spontaneous or not, but like that was
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: a thing. Second game, the whole stadium saying it, and
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: the players loved every second. But it was incredible, like
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: the connection between the players and the fans. So the
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: juxtaposition of that same Bury field, those same blades of
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: grass is where Chris Richards dropped to the drop to
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: the ground like a lot of other players, but Chris
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: Richards had his head in his hand, forehead on the
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: turf for longer than any other player who was out
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: helped up by a couple of his teammates, got some
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: big hugs and while they're on the field in just heartbreak.
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: They couldn't you know, Giorano was sitting out for the game.
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: We didn't fathom anything other than we'd be flying the
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles for the quarterfinal right now.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: This is He can't believe it. We can't believe this
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: is how it ended.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: We can't believe it's over, Pochattino gathers the team as
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: Belgium are the ones celebrating, and Belgium are mocking Donald
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: Trump doing his dance, and the Belgian social media are
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: putting up a picture of Lukaku's celebrating, saying overturn this.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: And in that moment, Pochettino, who we all think isn't
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: here for the long term, whether he stays for a
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: little bit longer or not, that's kind of the idea.
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: He's out of contract now we'll see what happens. But
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: even in that moment, Pochatino brings the team together. He
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: looks around and he looks at them. He says, quote,
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: belief doesn't end here. We have so much talent, so
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: many good players. We can definitely achieve something in the future.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: We still gotta believe and that's all we can do,
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: and that's all the team can do from here.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: But it's time for a quick break up.
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Next, we discussed the greatest player ever all my words,
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: I don't know if it's Tabs or the greatest player ever,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: Lionel Messi in another incredible comeback.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Win at the World Cup.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: And then we're gonna give our previews and DraftKings predictions
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: for the quarterfox So please rate, review, and subscribe to
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: Inside American Soccer with Tom Bog and Tab Brownless wherever
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: you at your podcast. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: It's time for our quarterfinal predictions segment, presented by our
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: friends of DraftKings, the sports app that moves the game
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: and is now available nationwide. TAB four quarterfinal matches ahead
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: of us. I'm looking forward to every single one of them.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: Let's start with Francis Morocco. France is the overwhelming maybe
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: not overwhelming, but they are the favorite at this stage
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: of the tournament to go on and win it. This
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: match is Thursday, Tab. Do you give Morocco any chance
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: of pulling off the upside?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Well, this is gonna be prob likely. You know, one
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: of the best matchups of the whole tournament. You know, France,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: as you said, you know, has a great team. We've
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: been talking about them. They just have so many options
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to score goals, and I know that, you know, Paraguay
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: held them to just a one zero game by defending
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: the whole time. However, I just don't think Morocco will
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: do that. I think Morocco will take their chances to
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: try to win their game, and because of that, they
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: likely will get opened up a little bit. Morocco has
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: a great team. Obviously, we all know about Hakimi, how
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: he gets up and down the field. But he's gonna
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: have to be a little bit more were careful because
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: likely on his side he'll have his club teammates. Either
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: it's either gonna be Barkala on that side or Doue
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: on his side. So he knows those guys really well,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and he knows those guys can hurt you. So I
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: think it will be a good game. I like Morocco's chances. However,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: I think this is gonna be too much France. My
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Draftkinks pick for this game is France three Morocco one.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: You had me there, you said I like Morocco's chances.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: I was like, oh man, oh man. They are one
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: hell of a team though, and running into France, anybody's
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: gonna be the ononderdog. But hey, we'll see, we'll see
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: what happens. They are one of two non European teams
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: left in the quarterfinal stage. Let's go to the next game.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: It's an all European affair, Spain versus Belgium. Obviously this
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: could have been the US. I could still be in
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: Los Angeles right now, or I could have flown from there,
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: but I'm not. I'm home because the US got eliminated
• 21:54
  Speaker 3: by Belgium, Spain or another one of the heavyweights in
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: this tournament. Belgium played Listen, I'm gonna throw out the
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: They won a big game against Iraq. No district for Iraq.
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Their best performance, hands down, was against the United States.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: Given the opponent in the stage in the stakes, can
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: they continue that against me?
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Well, A couple of things happened with his Belgium team
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: right because as they were losing the senegalue before they
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: played the US, the coach was forced to take off
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: de Bruyna and Doku and in a moment when they
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: were losing to zero, made the substitutions. Obviously controversial because
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: these are big, big stars, and the team kind of
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: turned things around because of it. Those guys didn't start
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the game against the US, and I think, if anything,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: that moment unified this team because I think Rudy Garcia
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: went for it all at that moment, he said it's
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: either this or nothing, because we're finished, and the team responded,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: you know, on top of that, they had the additional
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: motivation with the situation with the US and Baligan card right,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: so that was additional, but it only brought this team
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: even more together. And I think Belgium is at a
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: really good place right now. I honestly think that this
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Spain Belgium game. Let me talk about Spain a little bit.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Spain has not been convincing in this tournament, actually at all.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: You know, they do have good possession, but they're not
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a scary team. They're not the team that I thought
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: they were going to be coming into this tournament. They're
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a good team, no question about it. They're still a contender.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: They can still potentially win the whole thing. But I
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: think they're also a beatable team. Havn't said that. I
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: think they're just gonna be a little bit more than Belgium.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: My DraftKings pick for this game is Spain won Belgium zero.
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: That's the script for Spain.
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: They control games really, really well, but they've been they've
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: been a little bit toothless and attack and that's been
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: a disappointment for me. Tap But we haven't heard a
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: ton from Lemna Mal and it just feels like he's
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: due so if he plays to his ability, then this
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: team then I don't have any questions about him. But
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: it's been very elusive for them because they don't have
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: match winners anywhere near that degree in the attack. And
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: if la Vamon isn't driving the game forward and creating
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: special plays, then like you said, they they're not. They're
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: not that scary going forward, but they control games and
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: that'll be a fun one. Next up Norway versus England,
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Harry Kane versus Early Holland.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: This is gonna be a classic one too. I think Norway.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know what you think.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: Norway might be the neutral favorite at this stage, unless
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: you know, are outside of the Leno messy ties with Argentina.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: But I think Norway has kind of captured captured the
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: world with their play and and and with their fans.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean certainly with their rowing, right. I think
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I think American fans are all in.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: I think this is because that's a that's an easy
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: one to learn, and I.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Say this, I think I think Norway is America's team.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Norway is America Seamon. You know, once I saw Holland
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: with the cowboy hat, I thought, man, if they win
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the next game. Norway is America's team and they are.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: It's great at this point, it's a great I think,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: you know, we talked about if the US had advanced
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: that likely there would be in this country there would
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: be sixty to seventy million people watching our game against Spain.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: I think in this quarter five of these quarterfinal games,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: this is the game that's going to draw the most.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I think people can't wait to watch Holland. I think
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: he's becoming a favorite in this country by people even
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: from other sports, and I think they will they won't
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: be able to wait to watch this game. I think
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: this England Norway game is going to be a great one.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, at some point,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: you know, when you're rowing, at some point you're going
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: to hit the shore, I think, and I think in
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: this case England who England by the way, comes from
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: a great win in Mexico, maybe one of their best
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: all time wins, certainly on the road. Jude Bellingham comes
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: from playing a game that I think can be put
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: up with at the at the at the top of
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: individual performances worldwide in any World Cup. Because of the
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: whole circumstance of where he was playing the game, who
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: he was playing against, at the altitude, the whole thing
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: an absolute masterclass from him, and I think in the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: end England is going to be a little bit too
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: much for me. My DraftKings pick in this game will
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: be England to Norway one.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: I'm very much looking forward to it. And we talk
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: about the Golden Boot race. Holland's up there with seven
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: and Bope has seven and Lino Messi has eight. So
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: let's go to Lino Messi and Argentina. They play Switzerland
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: tab this is the first of all is a Golden
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: Boot race for generation. I know that it sounds silly
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: to say because every World Cup feels that way, but
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: my god, you've got Messy and Poppa and Holland. There
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: are automatic goals pretty much every time they play. Messi
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: and Argentina come back in dramatic fashion against Egypt. That
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: was an incredible, incredible game. And they're playing Switzerland. They're
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: gonna be big favorites. Switzerland are not a team to
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: overlook because it's a quarterfinal. They're really strong. Is there
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: any upset potential here for Switzerland against this Argentina team.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: Let me start framing it this way, Argentina has not
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: looked like the world champion that they were. The last
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: World Cup, Cape Verdi took them to overtime. They won
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: that game three two. Right at the end the game
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: against Egypt, I think there were a couple of really
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: tough calls that went their way, let's just put it
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that way, to win the game against Egypt. I think
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: the Cape Verdy game was one of those where if
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you're argent if you're in Argentina's camp, you can chuck
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: it up as you know what, maybe we were not
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: ready for that one. You just had your second scare
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: by being down to zero with fifteen minutes left against Egypt.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: I don't think they'll be surprised this time. I think this.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: I think this Switzerland team is much better than both
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Egypt and Cape Verde, so they certainly could beat Argentina.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: But I think this will be a much more prepared
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Argentina team than it was in the last two games.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: So I don't Switzerland winning this game. I think Argentina
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: will take this game. My draft picks pick for this
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: game will be Argentina to Switzerland one.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I think we are set up for a one hell
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: of a quarterfinals Slate tab. I can't wait to watch
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: it and then I can't wait to talk to you
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: about it all after these games. So thank you for
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscriber you
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: ever get your podcast.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: We'll be back on.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Monday with a full breakdown of these games and look
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: ahead to the semifinals and more USM and T talk.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. We'll be back very bagly.
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