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Who'll meet Spain in the World Cup final? · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July fifteen, twenty twenty six. Vital equipment Ukraine
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  Speaker 1: Australia and should be sent.
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  Speaker 1: Ukrainian soldiers in Poland. Our reporter Jacqueline Magnate has been
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  Speaker 1: to the training camp and her exclusive story is live
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  Speaker 1: now at the Australian dot com dot au. Donald Trump's
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  Speaker 1: plan to charge a twenty percent levy on all cargo
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  Speaker 1: shipped through the Strait of Hormuz would send Australian petrol
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  Speaker 1: prices up at least ten cents a liter, according to economists. Here,
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  Speaker 1: we've got the latest from the war in the Middle East,
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  Speaker 1: live right now. Just five more sleeps until the FIFA
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  Speaker 1: World Cup Final, and today we're lining up the contenders
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  Speaker 1: for the Cup, the aging Lions and the young superstars
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  Speaker 1: who've made this tournament so gripping and asking what's with
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  Speaker 1: all the rolling on the pitch? History Onyx our football
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  Speaker 1: columnist Josh Whittington is.
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  Speaker 3: Here the poise.
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  Speaker 1: Passing penetration, and they may be him for the first time.
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  Speaker 3: Here the goal for the world.
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  Speaker 1: Josh Whittington is the Australian's football expert. I'm Josh calling
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  Speaker 1: it football because I've now been indoctrinated by this World Cup.
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  Speaker 4: It's worked, Claire hasn't it. It works, It's worked on everyone.
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  Speaker 2: I'm exhausted, so are you.
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  Speaker 1: We've been getting up at five am for these games,
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  Speaker 1: which I wasn't speaking to enjoy as much as I am.
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  Speaker 1: They are sensational. Tomorrow morning England Argentina. Now you're great
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  Speaker 1: at tips. Who are you tipping?
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  Speaker 4: Well, if you're tipping, you probably maybe think Argentina would win.
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  Speaker 4: But I have to admit I'm very much an England fan,
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  Speaker 4: so I will be going for England. But whatever happens,
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  Speaker 4: it'll be a close game, I think, and it'll be
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  Speaker 4: full of incident they always are. This is a really
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  Speaker 4: big rivalry in world football. Probably if you're looking at
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  Speaker 4: it objectively, you say, maybe little Messi makes a difference.
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  Speaker 4: And I don't think England have been amazing and I
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  Speaker 4: don't think Argentina have been amazing because they've scraped by
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  Speaker 4: in a couple of games too, so tight game could
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  Speaker 4: go either way. Maybe penalty, who knows, let's hope not.
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  Speaker 2: We're seeing a lot of extra time.
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  Speaker 1: And this is something that I'm learning about what I
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  Speaker 1: used to call soccer, is that you never know when
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  Speaker 1: it's going to be over.
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  Speaker 2: It might go on and on and on for hours.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that seems completely random, whether it's going to get
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  Speaker 1: into extra time or not. You know, there's seven minutes,
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  Speaker 1: there's nine minutes extra, then there's another half an.
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  Speaker 2: Hour if the score is deadlocked. It's quite tiring.
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  Speaker 4: Four hours. Yeah, that's right. One kick of the ball
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  Speaker 4: to surely decide a remarkable game and he scores. They've
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  Speaker 4: never really found a great way to get away from
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  Speaker 4: extra time and penalties because it gets so tense and
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  Speaker 4: everyone it's so important to everyone that everyone just gets
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  Speaker 4: really defensive and really cautious. So extra time can be
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  Speaker 4: a real drag of thirty minutes, maybe with one chance.
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  Speaker 4: So I don't love extra time, but you don't want
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  Speaker 4: to go straight to penalties. So I don't know that point.
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  Speaker 2: They could take a lesson from the great game of rugulator.
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  Speaker 4: They've tried golden goal, as they would call it, but
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  Speaker 4: even then people got very defensive again, so it didn't
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  Speaker 4: really have the impact that they wanted.
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  Speaker 2: They go on and get the all important golden goal.
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  Speaker 1: Oh they can, and the noise in this stadium is
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  Speaker 1: absolutely incredible.
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  Speaker 4: So it's not a perfect system. But yeah, be prepared
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  Speaker 4: for another three hour epic.
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  Speaker 1: I would suggest, will this be the last time we
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  Speaker 1: see Leonel Messi take.
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  Speaker 2: To a World Cup?
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  Speaker 4: You would think, so, I can't see him coming back.
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  Speaker 4: He's just he's getting a bit old and it's such
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  Speaker 4: a physical game these days that I can't see him
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  Speaker 4: coming back.
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  Speaker 2: For another Massey flying forward, glens.
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  Speaker 5: Hitch time, his two hundredth cap, his six World Cup,
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  Speaker 5: majestic Tulane mercy.
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  Speaker 1: We've seen Christiano Ronaldo leave the game. It's a bit
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  Speaker 1: like in tennis, isn't it the end of the reign
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  Speaker 1: of these great masters?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, and I've got a lot longer than I thought
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  Speaker 4: they would, to be honest, probably too long in Ronaldo's case,
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  Speaker 4: like he probably shouldn't have played as much as he did,
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  Speaker 4: and that's a big issue. You could have a podcast
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  Speaker 4: on itself. But yeah, seeing him leave and Messi has
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  Speaker 4: probably been his last time, So it's a bit of
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  Speaker 4: an end of a year to be honest.
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  Speaker 1: England's Harry Kane is another one of these masters, but
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  Speaker 1: it's the young star Dude Bellingham, who scored all the
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  Speaker 1: points last time and also some quite spectacular diving.
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  Speaker 2: What have you thought of his form in this?
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  Speaker 3: Oh?
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  Speaker 4: I love dude. He's only twenty three. He's only a
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  Speaker 4: young guy. He's been around a long time, plays for
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  Speaker 4: a big club, so he's probably been their best player.
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  Speaker 4: He's their man now. Harry Kane is still a great goalscorer,
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  Speaker 4: but the man is Dude Bellingham. Like he's a superstar already.
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  Speaker 4: But we'll just get bigger and bigger. I think he's
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  Speaker 4: their number one guy.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, he's a brilliant broke juke.
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  Speaker 4: Bellingham tells you all.
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  Speaker 2: He's at the World Cup.
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  Speaker 1: There has been some remarkable diving during this tournament, Josh,
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  Speaker 1: including in the Switzerland game when they got knocked out
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  Speaker 1: after losing a man for tripping himself over, then rolling
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  Speaker 1: around on the floor like a complete drama queen, then
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  Speaker 1: getting sent off so they only had ten men in
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  Speaker 1: their quarterfinal.
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  Speaker 4: He's going to be sent off here and bono it
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  Speaker 4: is a second yellow cart. Switzerland irate, but they are
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  Speaker 4: down to ten.
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  Speaker 2: It's not good, is it?
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  Speaker 1: No?
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  Speaker 4: No sympathy for me? Him like that was a blatant
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  Speaker 4: dive and I'm glad they picked it up. I would
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  Speaker 4: say my view on it is, yes, it's been some
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  Speaker 4: terrible diving because everyone reacts so strongly to any sort
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  Speaker 4: of contact. I think they give too many yellow cards
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  Speaker 4: for minor fowls where they should just blow the whistle,
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  Speaker 4: play on, get on with it. But they give yellow
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  Speaker 4: cards out like confetti for not very serious.
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  Speaker 2: Fouls, so there's an incentive.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, So I just think they need you know,
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  Speaker 4: you could even bring in a third card, get on
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  Speaker 4: with it.
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  Speaker 2: Give you a purple card, yeah, stopp being a whim.
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  Speaker 4: A green card? Does that work in the US?
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  Speaker 1: Maybe I don't get up and stop complaining, to get.
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  Speaker 4: Up, stock complaining, you get another one, you might get
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  Speaker 4: a yellow. But yeah, it's too easy to get a
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  Speaker 4: card and people just milk it for what it's worth.
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  Speaker 1: It was funny watching those quarterfinals after the State of
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  Speaker 1: Origin decider.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not going to go back.
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  Speaker 1: To your sorry, but you know we are used to
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  Speaker 1: such violent football in Australia and all the codes and that.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, has terrible consequences. What is the deal inside?
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  Speaker 1: Are they trying to avoid injury by policing fowl so
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  Speaker 1: hard or is it just the way the game has evolved.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's just the different cultures colliding in the
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  Speaker 4: world's sport. Just different countries have different cultures of how
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  Speaker 4: they react to injuries and it's considered an art form
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  Speaker 4: and trying to get people sent off and get people
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  Speaker 4: carded in some countries. So it's just that mix of
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  Speaker 4: different cultures. It's very hard to have a consistent attitude
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  Speaker 4: towards it because you have one team that has a
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  Speaker 4: completely different view of it than another. So this has
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  Speaker 4: been you know, they've been trying to fix this fouling
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  Speaker 4: and diving for many, many, many years. It might be
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  Speaker 4: better than it was, it might be worse. I don't know,
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  Speaker 4: but yeah, there's no it's hard when you've got so
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  Speaker 4: many different cultures playing the sport, which is maybe the
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  Speaker 4: beauty of it, I don't you know. That's up for debate.
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  Speaker 2: So the winner of Thursday's game will face Spain.
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  Speaker 1: In the final. That's going to be an amazing contest. Josh,
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  Speaker 1: have you got a prediction?
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  Speaker 4: Spain will probably win? I think that side of the
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  Speaker 4: drawer has always seemed like the strongest side of the drawer.
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  Speaker 4: Or Spain, they don't conceive many They've just played beautiful football,
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  Speaker 4: technical football, and that is it.
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  Speaker 5: Belgium Roles, Spain having to Danas Tatny con France and
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  Speaker 5: what a semi final.
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  Speaker 4: That is gonna be. They should win, Let's be honest.
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  Speaker 4: They might not, but they should be. They be the
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  Speaker 4: favorites for.
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  Speaker 2: Sure coming up. Can the World Cup afford to get
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  Speaker 2: any bigger?
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  Speaker 1: This has been quite a remarkable tournament, Josh, not least
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  Speaker 1: for the intervention of Donald Trump halfway through getting a
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  Speaker 1: review of a decision to send off one of America's players.
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  Speaker 2: But all I did, all I did.
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  Speaker 6: I asked for a review because I didn't think it
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  Speaker 6: was a foul.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, again, I'm good.
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  Speaker 6: With this stuff, and I think it's I think it's
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  Speaker 6: a terrible If they wouldn't allow a top player, maybe
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  Speaker 6: the best, maybe among the best players on the team
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  Speaker 6: to play, I think it would have had a big stand.
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  Speaker 6: And I related just that fuel I didn't tell them
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  Speaker 6: what to do.
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  Speaker 1: I that speaks to the whole relationship between Trump and
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  Speaker 1: the new president of FIFA, who kind of came in
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  Speaker 1: with a remit to remake the game and make it cleaner.
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  Speaker 2: Has that worked?
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  Speaker 4: No? No, Gianni Infantino is almost a mini Trump in
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  Speaker 4: a way. Like FIFA is all about money, they're all
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  Speaker 4: about making the game bigger because that increases their coffers.
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  Speaker 4: I would suggest that was completely undermined FIFA's integrity that
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  Speaker 4: decision to suspend his red card automatic one match ban,
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  Speaker 4: and now every decision that they make is going to
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: be looked at through that lens. So they've made a bit.
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  Speaker 4: They've had a bit of a shock of there, and
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  Speaker 4: their reputation probably wasn't anyway, but it's even worse now.
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  Speaker 4: It's really in the toilet.
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  Speaker 1: I would say, what is ahead for the World Cup?
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  Speaker 1: What can we expect next time?
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  Speaker 4: Well, they're already talking about making it bigger. And I
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  Speaker 4: was watching it last week early this week and I
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: think I crossed one hundred game mark. I feel like
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: raising my TV remade in some sort of celebration.
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  Speaker 2: Gin.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, but they're already talking about making it bigger again
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  Speaker 4: to I think sixty four teams. Maybe the logic is
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  Speaker 4: they want to make it completely well game so every
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: country can sort of compete in it. Sixty four teams.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: This one's already gone for like six, we're coming up
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: to week six, I think, so how big would that be?
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  Speaker 4: Would we be going for two or three months? It's
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  Speaker 4: just I can see it from a financial point of view,
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  Speaker 4: and it's nice to have more teams in it, but
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  Speaker 4: it's too big, it's too long. Did we start this
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: in January? I don't know where when we started it?
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  Speaker 4: It's crazy.
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  Speaker 2: Do they know where it'll be held?
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  Speaker 4: Yes, it's in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and I think
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: a couple of games have started are in South America.
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: So it's sort of involving six countries. I think. So
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  Speaker 4: it's already getting bigger and bigger and bigger with more
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  Speaker 4: countries involved. But to give them bigger again, Oh, I
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  Speaker 4: don't know. This is getting a bit silly now.
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  Speaker 1: The soccer US went down valiantly, but they did probably
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  Speaker 1: better than some people were expecting. What's your take on
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: how the soccer is did this time and what it
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: says about Australian football.
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  Speaker 4: Well, everyone's got pretty down on them getting they got
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  Speaker 4: knocked down on penalties and that's no shame in that.
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  Speaker 4: I thought they played all right. I went into it
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  Speaker 4: thinking they would struggle to score goals, and they struggled
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: to score goals, and the defensively they were very good.
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  Speaker 4: So it wasn't a surprise to me. I think we
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: have an expectation. A lot of people keep saying they should.
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  Speaker 4: We need to learn to get past that stage, we
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: need to get better.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: And there it is another high point of a soccer's
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: World Cup journey, the third time I've qualified for the
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: knockout phase.
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  Speaker 4: We just don't have the players to get past that stage.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: We just don't. They'll probably be a better team in
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: four years time, but I think expectations are a little high.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: We're a sporting nation, but we're not a football soccer nation.
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  Speaker 4: We're just not at the moment. So unless we want
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  Speaker 4: to sort of move heaven and earth and put huge
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: amounts of money into it. We're playing against countries that
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: this is their religion, this is all they this is
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  Speaker 4: our whole thing. Well, this is what they live for.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, I was I thought they were fine. It
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  Speaker 4: was good. They could have gone through. They didn't, But
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  Speaker 4: that's all right. This is a big time. This is
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  Speaker 4: big time, Josh, thank you very much. All right, thanks Clay,
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: go England.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Josh Whittington is The Australian's News director. You can check
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: out all our coverage of the World Cup live at
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au