Latest / Friends on Football / Ep. 13 - USMNT Shine, World Cup Updates, The Tartan Army Entertains and USA vs. Australia Preview

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Ep. 13 - USMNT Shine, World Cup Updates, The Tartan Army Entertains and USA vs. Australia Preview · Friends on Football

0:22
SPEAKER_00: Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 13 of the Friends on Football Podcast.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: I am one of your co-hosts, Brandon Johnson, and I'm here with my other co-host, Mr.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: Sean Boyle.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: Sean, how are you feeling today?
0:34
SPEAKER_01: Brandon, I am doing well.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: We are knee deep in World Cup action.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: It couldn't be better.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: The games are electric.
0:41
SPEAKER_01: I'm buzzing about this tournament.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm buzzing to talk about it with you.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: How are things on your end?
0:46
SPEAKER_00: They're good, Sean.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: It's been a great first few days of this tournament.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: We've seen some crazy results.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: We'll get into that a little bit tonight, but it's it doesn't stop.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: We're just getting started.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: So it's gonna be a great, great rest of the month and into July too.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: So tonight, Sean, we gotta do first, we gotta go over the US men's national team game.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: We'll get your reaction, Sean, your your breakdown.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I I need to hear your thoughts on that one because that was that was something special on Friday.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Then we'll do a little bit more of a general World Cup recap.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about some of the different games, any key moments we've seen so far.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: And then to close it out, we'll look ahead.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: What games are we looking forward to watching?
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've some teams are on offset alert, so maybe we'll we'll preview some of those games.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: But Sean, just to get us started, US men's national team Paraguay, 4-1 game.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: USA looked like one of the best teams in the world on Friday night.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: What was your initial reaction to the match?
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Brandon, it simply couldn't have been better.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: On almost all accounts.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of nerves coming into it.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: I think we both said how confident we were in this team.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: We ultimately, there's been so much weight heading into the tournament that we had our critiques about the roster.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: There's different things that we were nitpicking.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: But then in the week before the game started, we kind of shifted our focus to saying, hey, no, you know what?
2:09
SPEAKER_01: Our team's good and we're behind these boys.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: And we carried that in, but then you just never know what's going to show up when the ball is kicked.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: And I could basically say from minute two, because there was a brief little scare in minute one, but it from minute two onwards, that was everything we dreamt about as US soccer fans.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: We have not seen a US men's national team play like that at this level ever in our lives.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: There's been good performances from teams in the past, but never in the fashion that those boys did on Friday night.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's a few days removed from that, but I still think it's worth us diving into every detail of this game because it truly was, in my opinion, the best performance in United States men's soccer history.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Sean, I I agree with you.
2:56
SPEAKER_00: I think we're we're still uh on the uh come down from all the the celebration this weekend because it was special.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I I would love to hear first, Sean, just give me a reaction to your lineup, to the lineup.
3:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh we saw Chris Richards entering back into the fold.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: He had been not in the previous two uh lead up matches, but we thought he would be ready.
3:21
SPEAKER_00: We weren't positive.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: We saw positive signs, he was training towards the end of last week and then gets the start at center back with Chris, but also the rest of the lineup.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: What was your reaction to that?
3:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it was exactly what we expected.
3:34
SPEAKER_01: There was no surprises, and my reaction was hey, this is our best 11, let's go get it.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: This is the best team we could put out there.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: We are pretty much all in agreement.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't think there was any dissension amongst any media really as to oh, this player should start over that player.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I think it was pretty unanimous that this is our best squad, they're all fit, they're able to go.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Let's see what we let's see what we put out there against Paraguay, and boy oh boy, what was it a treat?
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I agree with you.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: I think that was definitely the best team we could have put out, and yeah, it was what we'd what we've been asking for forever, and we finally saw that, especially I feel like the first half, Sean, and I know you're about to break down some of the goals and key moments, but that first half had to be without a doubt the best 45 minutes we've ever seen as US men's national team fans.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: But overall, like you said, one of the best of all time, definitely the best in our lifetimes.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Break down some of the things you saw, especially in that first half.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you mentioned it.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: I should have been maybe more specific when I said this was the best performance ever for the US MNT.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: It at least was the best half we saw from this group.
4:43
SPEAKER_01: The second half had a little bit of bobbles in it, but nothing really to write home about.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: I still thought they were pretty good in that half.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, in the seventh minute of the game, it was a Paraguayan-owned goal from Baba Dia, all because of the pressure that Christian Pulisic put on their defense.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: He was simply unplayable in that first half.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: I've never seen him like that.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: I've seen him be great before, but he seemed to be completely healthy, completely fit.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: And that burst that he showed, I haven't seen that from Pulisic in a while, and maybe that's because he's been carrying injuries, but he splits two defenders and then just squares it to Weston McKenney, who then tries to make one additional touch into the center of the box, but that touch instead comes off Babadia.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: It's an own goal, but it was due to the pressure that the U.S.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: put on Paraguay.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: Did you have the similar feeling that all nerves were gone at that point and it was we were about to roll?
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Because once that hit the back of the net, I was like, oh, we're gonna we're gonna steamroll these boys.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think, Sean, it goes back to what we've talked about in previous podcasts where Pagatino plays that style where he wants to get on the front foot.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: And from minute one, those boys were flying.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, an own goal to start probably isn't the sexiest or or greatest way to have your first goal at the World Cup, but hey, it's one-zero.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: So I I think I agree with you.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: I think it was really what we wanted to see, but also once that first goal went in, you thought, could this be five six?
6:15
SPEAKER_00: And we almost got there, but the relentless pressure and that pursuit to win the ball in those high areas really, really benefited the U.S.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: uh, especially early, and it truthfully resulted in that first goal.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: So I agree.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: Now break down the the next key moment you think you saw in that first half.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the next key moment, I would lump a few of them together.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: And it was basically we had three chances before ultimately scoring that second goal, but we had the chance to make it two where Florent Balogun gets the ball, and it's a two-on-one with him and Serginho desked, and he passes it off to Sergino.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: But Serginho takes a real heavy touch, and ultimately the chance breaks down.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: Right after that, Chris Richards has a header opportunity from a corner kick that goes inches wide.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And all the while we're thinking, okay, the second one's coming soon.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: And then in the 28th minute, the second one goes in, but is ultimately ruled offside after some brief celebrations.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: Balogun scores it, but you could see him running looking at the linesman, kind of half-hearted, because he kind of knew that he was going to be off or Pulisic was going to be off in the buildup.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: It turns out Pulisic was off in the buildup, which is why it was ruled off.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: I think Balogun himself might have been off as well.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: But then in the 31st minute, we double the lead.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: It is Fular and Balogun.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: Another really good team goal, a tidy finish first time.
7:33
SPEAKER_01: But again, Christian Pulisic is the one pulling the strings.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: It was a great ball from Jedi Robinson.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Robinson into the half space.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: CP runs onto it and then just delivers a timely, accurate cross.
7:44
SPEAKER_01: Balogun one-time finish.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: And we're absolutely loving life at this point.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: We mentioned that this was the best performance we've seen from the US MNT, but I think the reason we need to really highlight as to why it was was because we've seen them be gritty and aggressive before, but they've been a counter-attacking team.
8:02
SPEAKER_01: They've they've fought hard.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: They haven't been the most talented, but they've put in good performances on big stages.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not trying to undermine that.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: What was different about this was the counterpressing, the aggressiveness that we played with, we were on the front foot the entire time.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: Paraguay didn't have a sniff of the ball for the whole first half.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: They they would seldomly get across the midway point of the pitch.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: It was total and utter domination.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: And against a good opponent, that's something I want to highlight.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: It's not like Paraguay are doormats by any means.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: Paraguay are tough to break down.
8:35
SPEAKER_01: They've only conceded more than two goals, I want to say like once in the last four years.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: And they they played in some serious competition throughout that time.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: So I really don't want to undermine how good Paraguay are, but I really think we should just be celebrating how good this performance was.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: And I think this first half, like you said, it was everything we wanted to see on full display.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Watching that, you almost you almost think about all of the games we've seen over the last four, eight, twelve years, however long.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: And we're always the other one.
9:08
SPEAKER_00: We're always a team getting pressed, and we're always trying to play out of the back and getting stuck and giving up corners and throw-ins and not making the right reads.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: But seeing that tonight Friday night, it was like we are on the front foot, we are pushing.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: We are going to be the ones that dominate possession.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: We're going to dictate how this game goes.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: And some of that is probably, you know, we have an LA crowd, it's the first game of the World Cup, you're on home soil.
9:33
SPEAKER_00: But to be fair, that could have made the team a little bit nervous and come out maybe a little bit more timid.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: But instead, I don't know if it was Pagatino, I don't know if it's Tim Reim, Tyler Adams, the captains leading them and shifting that from hey, we have this great opportunity to hey, no, this is our moment.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna take full control of that and seize it was incredible to see something that we truly have not seen much at all following this team.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Sean, do you want to go into a little bit of Balogun's second goal to make it 3-0 right before halftime?
10:07
SPEAKER_00: Because I think that for me was the moment where I was like, all right, this game is done and dusted.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: They always say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead in soccer, and I agree.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: If it goes 2-1, the game flips a little bit, you get a little nervous, but to go 3-0 into halftime was kind of like this is this is it.
10:25
SPEAKER_00: So break that third goal down for us.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 3-0 means done and dusted.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: I do agree with you.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: And to your point, before I break the goal down, to your point about how the expectations and the environment in LA could have created some tension and some nerves if you don't come out and score right away or dominate the game in the manner that we did right away.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: All of that could be written differently if we don't come out and score that early girl, or if Paraguay score off that first chance that they have.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: What was key was we took our chances in a way that, like you said, we haven't seen before.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: It was really a combination of all the elements of a good performance.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: And this third goal was something special.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: Again, it was a brilliant ball from Malik Tillman, inch perfect with the weight of his pass.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: Plays in floor in Balogun, who does a great job to take it, cut back onto his weaker left foot and then just bury a finish in the upper 90.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: Three of the foot before halftime.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: And the fans in LA are on the beers.
11:26
SPEAKER_01: We're at home happy.
11:27
SPEAKER_01: It was a perfect, perfect half.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't say better, Sean.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Balogun, and maybe we'll talk about this a little bit after your full game recap, but he took another step, in my opinion.
11:38
SPEAKER_00: He's been the number nine and nothing against Balogun, but his competition at that position hasn't always been the strongest.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: It was kind of like, hey, if you can find the net every second or third game, you can probably start for this team.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: But to see the form that he is currently in, I mean, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but depending on how far the US goes, like, is he in a golden boot conversation?
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Is he making a big transfer to a bigger team?
12:05
SPEAKER_00: We'll get into that, I know.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: And I don't let you analyze the second half, Sean.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: But coming into halftime, I'm like, is this the second coming of R9 or one of these best all-time strikers?
12:16
SPEAKER_00: Because we just haven't seen that.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: No, that was uh I think well said by you because we knew the potential that Balogun had, and he's shown it in spaces that he could do it, but it was never consistent and at this level.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, maybe he's just coming into form.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: He's 24 years old, that's a good age for a striker.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're a bit more of a slow cook as some other positions develop more quickly.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: Strikers sometimes need just a couple more reps under their belt, but you said it correctly.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: He was unbelievable in that first half, and as were a few other guys, but he's the one who is getting on the end of these goals, putting himself firmly in the golden boot mix, currently leading that conversation.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, unbelievable half by him, unbelievable half by the boys.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: In the second half, I wouldn't say it was perfect by any means, but a large part of that was not at the forefront of my mind because all I could think about was what happened to Christian Pulisic.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: Because at halftime we got the news of the substitution, Seb Bearhalter comes in for Christian Pulisic, and I'm stunned.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, whoa, Potch really thinks this one's over, huh?
13:27
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's bold because usually you're up 3-0, those guys come out for 15 minutes in the second half, make sure that nothing crazy happens to start the half, and then you make some mass changes.
13:37
SPEAKER_01: Pulisic not coming back out.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: I was kind of alarm bells started ringing, and I was like, oh no, he might be hurt.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's pretty unusual.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And Seb Bearhalter comes in, he held his own, no complaints there.
13:48
SPEAKER_01: We were all concerned about what was going on with Christian Pulisic.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: It seems like it was a calf injury.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: He got a tackle put on him and he experienced some tightness in the calf, which sounds pretty bad because of all these Achilles injuries we see.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: That calf injuries sometimes take a long time to heal because you don't want to risk it.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: But he said seems to think he's fine and he's played with this injury before.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: So we'll see on that front.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: We don't have anything new really in the way of pullistic news, but that really dominated my mind for the first 15 minutes of the second half.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure you were in the same boat.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely felt the same way.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: When I first saw the sub, I was watching it out and it was loud and you couldn't really hear the TV, but I saw the sub happen, and I instantly went to my phone and I was like, Can you look up what happened?
14:33
SPEAKER_00: Did someone see an injury?
14:34
SPEAKER_00: What's the deal?
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Is Pachatino just resting him because we're up three and three nil and this game is dusted?
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Every thought went through my mind.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: And then first 15 minutes, and Parag you'll probably go over this a little bit, but Paraguay gets an early chance, and I'm like, oh my gosh, like we went up 3-0 and we're taking out our best player, and now it's 3-1.
14:52
SPEAKER_00: And you know, every negative thought goes into your head, Sean, because that's always what it's been for us.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: So we just can't have a date to just enjoy.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Enjoy the full 90 minutes, no pressure, no worries.
15:03
SPEAKER_00: We we've never had that.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: So naturally, 45 to 60, I'm sitting there panicking.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: In a injury, but B, if we give up a goal, this game's right back on.
15:14
SPEAKER_00: And so you can you can you can go through a little bit of the second half, but yeah, definitely had the same worry you did.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: It was it was all about Christian.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: It, you know, the the attention's half on the television, half on the phone, trying to figure out what's happening.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think because of the fact that our best player was subbed off due to precaution and the fact that we were up three, zero.
15:37
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you're going to experience a drop in levels.
15:40
SPEAKER_01: The aggressiveness won't be at the same, and it shouldn't be.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: You shouldn't put yourself through that for 90 minutes up three.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: But it did raise some concerns.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: Like you said, Paraguay started getting a little bit stronger in the game, a couple of half chances.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Then in the 49th minute, we had a case of mistaken identity, which was a sick VAR intervention.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: I had to point that out.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: Great job by you, VAR.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: A mistaken identity popped up on the screen.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: I said, What is going on here?
16:07
SPEAKER_01: It was like a true crime documentary broke out.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: But it was a case where Tim Reem puts a tackle on Miguel Almiron as he's kind of skinning him on the touchline.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And Reem seemingly pulled him down, and that's what the ref thought.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: So he books Tim Reem and gives Paraguay a set piece outside the box.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: VAR intervenes and says, no, no, no.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Almiron dove.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Tim Reims an innocent man.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna take that yellow card back from you, Uncle Timmy, and we're gonna place it on Miguel Almiron.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely lovely intervention from VAR.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: More of that.
16:40
SPEAKER_01: We need that in the Prem.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
16:44
SPEAKER_00: I think that does need to be brought into the Premier League.
16:48
SPEAKER_00: I think, though, just just knowing a little bit about the refereeing world, I think they use the term mistaken identity really for when a situation where Tim Reen puts a tackle in and they mistakenly give the yellow card to Miles Robinson or whoever instead of Tim Ree, and they can go back and check and change it.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: But I guess because of the way the situation was, they had to put a label on it.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: So technically speaking, I don't know if that was actually mistaken identity, but uh really funny to see that on the TV because that's not something you see every day.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: It was great.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: I love seeing that.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: That's VAR, I will say, largely has been pretty good, I think, throughout this tournament.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: So I some of the tweaks that they've made to it, I think we'll maybe dive into more of those as they become more prevalent as the tournament goes on.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: But so far, so good on that front, which I didn't expect to hear myself saying.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: In the 59th minute, uh another bit of bad news comes for the United States.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Tyler Adams picks up a yellow card.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: And normally, hey, it's a normal match, yellow card, whatever.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: In tournament play, yellow card accumulation can result in a one-game suspension.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: Two yellow cards in the group stage means one game suspension.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: So, Brandon, I ask you the question, and this was a totally dumb yellow too from Tyler, which he is addicted to doing.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: He loves taking an asinine yellow.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: As great as he could be, he he's addicted to this, and it bought it it frustrates the shit out of me.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: Well, my question is for you is if we're beating Australia on Friday in the second half, do you tell does Pachetino say, hey Tyler, lay one on somebody and take that second yellow so he's suspended for the third group stage game, which will likely be irrelevant, instead of that knockout game where we're absolutely gonna need him, or do you want him to walk the tightrope for the next two matches?
18:32
SPEAKER_00: I knew you were gonna ask me this, and I appreciate you asking me this, and I agree.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Like it's I always think about the basketball analogy when you're up three and it's like, do we foul?
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Do we let them shoot?
18:42
SPEAKER_00: I think in this situation, yeah, if we're up and the game's in control, yeah, just just a yellow card.
18:50
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, not a red card, nothing malicious, but it's a hey, kick the ball away when it's uh the other team's free kick or or something goofy, timeless.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh don't let it be something that's like that orange card where it could could lean red, could lean yellow.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: We don't want any questions asked, just a straight yellow, pull someone down on a counterattack, basic.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: I agree though, because you have to play the long game here.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You have to understand that this is not easy.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: This we're going to need him in the group stage, especially if everything goes right.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: And to for him to miss, we don't want to even risk that.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's it's a it's a sticky situation to be in, Sean, but I think you have to do it if the opportunity arises.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I was what when I was watching the game, I got so frustrated with him when they gave the yellow card.
19:37
SPEAKER_00: And I think people that were out at the place that we were at were kind of confused, and I was like, no, yeah, it doesn't really matter tonight, but come Friday, come Friday's game, he gets another one, then he's out for the third game, and depending on how results finish, we may need him.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: So it's if it was a necessary tackle and he made the tackle, fine.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, you you deal with it and live with it, but up 3-0 wasn't really a necessary play.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: You're you're definitely disappointed in Tyler a little bit for that.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure if you interviewed him, he'd say the same.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Because he knows, but yeah, we have to we have to be better, and especially Sean being the US, where we have that starting 11, like we talked about, that's definitely our best team.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: We the the the quality drops a little bit when you go to the bench.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: So to miss out on a Tyler Adams in a round of 32 knockout game is huge.
20:27
SPEAKER_00: So I think that besides the Christian injury and and the great performance overall, are definitely the dark spots on this game.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: And uh I think we'll get into a preview of the Australia game a bit later, but my opinion right now, in terms of the Tyler Adams case, would be just come out and batter Australia like you did Paraguay in the first half and have Tyler pick up a dumb yellow, like you said.
20:51
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he talks a little bit too much to the ref.
20:54
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he kicks a ball away on the set piece, maybe it's a tactical foul that's not anywhere near a dirty challenge or anything.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: If we're winning that second game against Australia, you do need to get that suspension out of the way so it doesn't come in a knockout game.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm with you there.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: And I'm also a foul of three guy, so it all checks out on the basketball front.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: A few minutes later, Paraguay do capitalize on a comedy of errors from the United States back line.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Not well done by our captain Tim Reem.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: Kind of commits, gets caught in no man's land.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Not good by him.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: Chris Richards also didn't cover himself in glory.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't say it was entirely his fault.
21:31
SPEAKER_01: It was just kind of a situation where he could have done more to maybe stop it.
21:35
SPEAKER_01: You know, it was like he was not driving the getaway car and didn't rob the bank, but he was with his friends when they did.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, you know, you could have said something, you could have talked him out of it.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: And then also Alex Freeman, not his best moment, doesn't do enough to get in the way of that chance.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: And it is, it leads to a goal.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: Mauricio scores, assisted by Nciso, who paraguay started the dark art.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: They had this guy.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: He was pronounced dead last week, and all of a sudden he he's starting and playing well, assisting for them.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: So that was a bit much, but not our best moment to concede.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: And I wouldn't say any doubt crept in because that was their best chance and they took it.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: So a credit to them.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't entirely concerned at this point at 3-1.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it kind of stung, of course.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: You want to keep a clean sheet, you want to have that perfect game, but I wasn't too worried either.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: I think the US definitely had control.
22:30
SPEAKER_00: Like you said, it was a a bunch of errors that just happened to compound on each other and the other team took the chance.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna happen in soccer.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: I think the NCSO him playing, I feel like we lied to the listeners.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'd like to hand up apologize because I said he's gonna be out the first group stage at least.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: I said, I said maybe if he makes it to the round of 32, he'll play again.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: So whatever Paraguay's medical team got going on, kudos.
22:57
SPEAKER_00: Or you guys were lying and he wasn't really hurt.
22:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: But that was very surprising, Sean, when I saw the team sheet and his name was on it.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was shocked as well.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: And I thought immediately we lied to the listeners, which I'll hand up again.
23:11
SPEAKER_01: I did on multiple fronts.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Some of my breakout players aren't even considered by their coaches.
23:16
SPEAKER_01: So a couple own goals here.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Us and Boba Dia are scoring some onies.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: But I will say we we responded well.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: That was really it for Paraguay.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: We took over the next 15 or so minutes to close out the game, and then to tie a bow on it, an exclamation point that I mean, even the filmmakers couldn't write this script.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: Gio Reyna, the man who derailed our World Cup last time around with some of his antics and childlike behavior, he he caps off a 26-touch sequence by the United States, 26 passes in the buildup to this goal before a Travella finish.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Unbelievable stuff from Geo.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: And that's the kind of quality he brings.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: There's not many guys in the squad that could finish like that, and that's why we keep coming back to this guy.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: We just wish we saw it more and more often.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: But boy, oh boy, what an exclamation point to end the evening.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: It really was, Sean.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And I have a little question for you because it's gone through my head, and I don't know if it's gone through your head, but does Geo potentially start on Friday night?
24:20
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you changed lineup.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm typically, I would say, a proponent of hey, we had a really good performance.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: And if Christian's healthy, again, you know, will we play the same team?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: But he played really well in his moments.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: And does he fight for a starting spot, or do you still just use him as that sort of spark off the bench?
24:42
SPEAKER_01: I will say I'm keeping the lineup the exact same if poolistics 100%.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: But to your point, if pool is six 95%, I'm not risking it against Australia.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: I'm starting Geo and he could either play in the role Malik played in, or Malik can move out wide, or Geo can move out wide for Christian.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: There's several variants you could do with those players.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: And you could drop McKenny further back and play those two more advanced.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: I think there's a lot of different things you could do.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: I would try my best to keep Malik Tillman in that position because I thought he was brilliant, and we're gonna have a ton of the ball against Australia too.
25:14
SPEAKER_01: In games where we're gonna be back against it a little bit, I think that situation looks a little bit different.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: And maybe Malik isn't as strong out of possession in that eight spot next to Adams.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: But when we're gonna have a lot of the ball, I thought our lineup flowed perfectly, so I would keep it the same, but I do agree to your point.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: If Bullsix not 100% fit, I'm totally comfortable starting Geo because we know what he could give us.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: Okay, okay.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was just interested to hear your thoughts on that.
25:43
SPEAKER_00: Just overall, we we've definitely gone over this.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: We've said how much this this improv this match inspired us, excited us.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Sean we'll we'll we'll definitely preview this towards the end, but are you worried about a hangover?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Are you worried about a little bit of you know, my shit don't stink kind of kind of vibe?
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Because you have a match like that, but then you go to play Australia, who on paper you should take care of, but Australia beat Turkey 2-0.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: So is there a little bit of a worry going into the next game?
26:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, Brandon, years past under a different manager, for sure I'm worried.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: But under my guy Potch, he's magic, you know, Mauricio Potch, you know, he's he's magic.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: And these boys, I've never seen him play like that.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: And I think we're gonna batter Australia too.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: We'll get to that in a little bit, but I don't know that there's anything that could get in the way of what I saw on Friday night.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: That's how high I am on this team now.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: At least in this group, I don't think we're gonna be derailed.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: I think we'll have tougher games.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: Not to say Paraguay wasn't a tough team, but they didn't play their best on the day.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: We'll have tougher games in this group.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: And Australia, I think, will be a tougher game, just the style in which they play.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: It'll be difficult, at least more difficult, to break them down.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: But I am full of confidence that the United States will get the job done against them.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: And then the last group stage game, it might not even matter.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: It might matter a ton.
27:12
SPEAKER_01: We'll see how the group shakes out around us, but I couldn't be more in on just about everything I saw from the US.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm telling people, I'm having people reach out that don't watch the sport at all, saying, hey, are we good?
27:24
SPEAKER_01: And I'm saying, put word up, we're good.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: We're good, we're we're co-favorites with France.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: No, I love that, Sean.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And we'll we'll we'll get into the Australia match at the end, Sean.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: But I just wanted to go over some of the other games.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: So we can go a little bit maybe group by group, just looking at some key games.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: We don't have to break everything down, but things that have stuck out to you so far.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: We've had probably around 10, maybe a little bit more, uh, matches.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: So group A, Sean, both Mexico and South Korea win.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: Probably what we had expected.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Anything from those games that really stuck out to you?
28:05
SPEAKER_01: The Mexican game was interesting because it was the first match of the World Cup.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: It was the anniversary, 16 years later to the day of Mexico playing in South Africa.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: So I had my eyes on that one as everyone did, and there was a ton of sending offs.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: Ref was showing everybody red.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: And some of them deserved for sure.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: The first South African one.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't think you could argue much with the second South African one.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: I've seen some people say that's kind of a natural move to push off where we couldn't get it the best video angle of exactly what his hand did up there.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: So maybe that was a bit harsh.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: I will say I did not agree with the Mexican Cesar Montes being sent off.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was a really harsh.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a yellow card all day long, and I think he took it because he thought it was a yellow.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: Not with that ref.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: Hey, whatever.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: It provided some interesting fireworks to start the tournament.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Mexico took care of business and looked in control the whole time, but I will say they were up 1-0 and they were pretending it was 10.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: They really didn't have any interest in scoring a second goal until the South African red card, and then they made substitutions.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: One of the guys I highlighted as a young break out star, Hilberto Mora came on, and he at least provided energy, and then seemingly right after that, it was like, oh, we do need a second goal.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: And eventually they they got it in the form of a Raul Jimenez header, which that's my boy from the player pool, which my only goal so far.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: So there's not much to worry about for you.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: And then you mentioned South Korea.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: They outlasted Czechia, I would say.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say that game was anything too special, but they South Korea was definitely the better side.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Checkia had their moments in set pieces, and that's really all they offered.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: They played some pretty miserable football.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: South Korea started off a little slow, but then they grew into that game, and I thought they were definitely the better team and deserved three points.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: I agree with you.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: That group looks to probably be shaping how we'd expect.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: Moving to group B, I think there's probably a little bit more spice in this group.
29:56
SPEAKER_00: We had two draws, Canada, Bosnia, and Qatar, Switzerland.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Now Canada, I watched that game, Sean.
30:06
SPEAKER_00: I Canada is allergic to scoring goals because oh my goodness, Sean, they could have had eight, nine, ten goals in this game and crossbar post.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: The one save, the goalie saves, and defender hits it off his own crossbar to prevent it from going in.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesse Marsh was losing his mind on the sideline per usual.
30:28
SPEAKER_00: It was it was almost comical watching that game.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: It looked like a comedy show because it the ball just couldn't go in the net for them.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: I I don't know what it is, but they they really seem to struggle with uh scoring, which of course doesn't help me because I have their forward on my player pole team.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I will say the theatrics in Toronto leading up to kickoff, Canada showed out.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Their fans, they they were it was a sea of red.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: It seemed like they were up for the occasion.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: They had some I want us more set, did the anthem, Boo Blay was out there doing his thing.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: Love to see all that.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: Love to see it, but I just can't, I cannot get behind Jesse Marsh.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: I talked about it in some of our preview stuff.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: He has officially turned the corner and he rubs me the wrong way now.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Everything he does, I hate his overreaction when your guy, Jonathan David, missed a chance.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: It was all it was like he killed a family member of his.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: That's how angry he was at just a mistake.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure he was trying his best in that moment.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: I I don't think he tried to miss.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: And Jesse Marsh throws his temper tantrum on the touchline, and I'm like, I'm done.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: I'm out.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: Just a reminder to the listeners.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: This guy, I'm out on Jesse Marsh.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: I can't stand him.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: And I'm glad that Canada didn't win because of it.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, did you happen to see Sean?
31:44
SPEAKER_00: He had a little spat with Clint Dempsey, or at least it came to came to fruition with Clint Dempsey.
31:48
SPEAKER_00: Clint Dempsey, former U.S.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: men's national team player, Jesse Marsh, former men's national team assistant coach, basically came out and said that players didn't feel the passion.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: They weren't singing the national anthem when it played.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: And Clint Dempsey basically said, dude, stop talking.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You coach one of our biggest rivals now.
32:07
SPEAKER_00: You took a paycheck to go to the enemy.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: So a little bit of beef in the uh social media soccer world behind the scenes, but yeah, Jesse Marsh is definitely not playing himself into even potentially being, you know, he could potentially be a future US coach.
32:22
SPEAKER_00: There's very strong rumors that Pachetina will not be back after this tournament.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: That job will be open.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Jesse Marsh theoretically could have been a quality candidate, and he's just talking himself out of it.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: So if you're Jesse, there's there's a little bit of hey, shut up and dribble.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: Like go go do your thing, prove us right, win a game, win a game with the World Cup, then maybe you can talk.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: But he he's definitely he's definitely grown some enemies over the last few weeks here.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're right.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: I did see I didn't know it was with Clint Tempsey specifically, but I did see Jesse's comment about Americans not singing the anthem, and then I saw him belting the Canadian national anthem as if he was born in Nova Scotia.
33:04
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, hey, Jesse, we're good here.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: Don't even I I wouldn't hate a travel ban on Jesse Marsh back on U.S.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: soil.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: I I think we need to look into that.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: There, I mean, there's a lot better men being left out of this country than Jesse Marsh.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: So that point needs to I run that up the ladder.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: I I would I would agree, Brandon.
33:25
SPEAKER_01: Pachetino will not be the coach of the US MNT, probably on July 15th.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: I think it's gonna happen pretty quick.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: But Jesse Marsh will never coach in this country, and that's an SB guarantee.
33:35
SPEAKER_01: He has and you're right though, beforehand, if he never took the can of the job, if he never ran his mouth like an idiot, he was he was right in the mix to eventually be a US MNT coach.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm so happy to say that he will not be.
33:49
SPEAKER_01: You can't you can't chirp Clint Dempsey and then coach the national team.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: Clint Dempsey's an American hero.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I'm glad that this game ended in a draw and disappointment for the Canadians.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: Laren was a substitution who came on and scored the equalizer.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: It was a really good finish, took a deflection, but pretty good play by him to spin and get the shot away.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Bosnia deserved more than a draw.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: I will say that.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they were fine, but they weren't very inventive or creative with their chances.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: So I think this group is interesting.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: If we zoom out and just look at the group, both team, both all four teams have a point.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Two draws.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: The Swiss played with their food against Qatar, winning one nil early.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: Brielle Mbolo, who only he's like memo show.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: He only shows up for national tournaments.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Don't know where he goes in the meantime, don't know what he's doing.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: It's like in Wedding Crashers with Will Farrell.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: I never know what she's doing up there.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: I never know what he's up to.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: And then he comes and he scores goals for the Swiss.
34:47
SPEAKER_01: So it's good to see that they have a striker, but I was not very impressed with their killer instinct.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: I still do think that Canada and Switzerland will be the two that finish atop this group.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: I am hoping it's the Swiss on top.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Even though I predicted and my bold predictions that Canada, Mexico, and the United States will win their groups.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: I'm all in on Switzerland over Canada.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: So I'll hold firm that those are the two that make it out.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm assuming you think the same.
35:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I still have them as the top two going through.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: Third place could be interesting.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: But Sean, to be honest, we'll we'll get through this with some other groups.
35:23
SPEAKER_00: You said it best.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: You can't play with your food.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Dinner served, you gotta eat.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: If you let it sit, someone else is gonna eat.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Because you don't put games away, especially with goal differential mattering.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we're talking three points versus one point, but also, hey, go win five zero if you can win five zero because these goals are gonna matter, come later.
35:42
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, Switzerland learned their lesson.
35:45
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, they learned it early and it won't happen again.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: They won't let it happen twice.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: But you you really have to take care of business when you're supposed to.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: And one of the teams that did do this in a way, it was not pretty, but in group C, Scotland are leading the group, and they're the play on the field isn't even the biggest storyline.
36:05
SPEAKER_01: They were able to grit one over the line against Haiti.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't pretty, but they got it done.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: And we didn't think it would be.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: The Scottish aren't known for their beauty, but boy oh boy, are they beautiful souls.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: These folks have infiltrated this country in a way I've I I predicted, I said, Heads up, America.
36:22
SPEAKER_01: If you haven't drank with the Scottish guy, go do it.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: And look what they're doing.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: They're running amok in Boston.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: They're having a piss.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, an absolute time.
36:31
SPEAKER_01: They took over Fenway, they played 500 miles, the song in between innings, and they played a snippet of it.
36:39
SPEAKER_01: The Scots carried through every lyric.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: They sang the whole four minutes.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: They are singing Freed from Desire from the Boat, about 200 of them.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: Absolute scenes.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: And then to top it all off, they they had this American cop.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: They're just all standing around him, they're trying to get him in a Scotland jersey, and he gets the jersey just over his head, it's a tight fit, and he's pulling it down, and when he finally gets it on, they go, Ah, they celebrate.
37:03
SPEAKER_01: I mean, these guys are absolutely loving life, and I'm so happy that Scotland seemed to be at least in a good position to go through after their result against Haiti.
37:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm I'm glad you brought that up.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: And as much as we'll talk about the on-the-field stuff, the off-the-field stuff is beautiful, and seeing the Scots take over Boston.
37:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it was just different.
37:26
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere you turn, the kilts, the bagpipes, they they said, Hey, we're coming.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: And Sean, you caught it, you said it first on this podcast.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: Be ready.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if Boston was ready.
37:36
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if Boston heard you, but they hear you now.
37:39
SPEAKER_00: So kudos to those guys.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: The other game in group C.
37:42
SPEAKER_00: One more note on the Scots, Brandon.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they are staying.
37:45
SPEAKER_01: I think their next game's in Boston as well.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: They play Morocco in Boston.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: These people are posting up, they're not leaving, and they might sign some leases in Boston.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: So I I I might ship up myself and just enjoy it for a few days because oh my god, it's gonna be special.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: They play Friday night at Foxborough again.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you mentioned how the stuff off the field is just as good sometimes as the stuff on.
38:11
SPEAKER_01: In terms of my predictions, I didn't get much right on the pitch, but I'm thrilled to say I I I was able to identify correctly some vibes candidates, and there's none better than Scotland.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: The Tartan Army forever and all.
38:24
SPEAKER_00: You've really done well on those, and yeah, it's it's it's been great to see.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: The other game in group C probably on paper, the the best two teams in that in that group, Brazil and Morocco with a 1-1 draw.
38:39
SPEAKER_00: Good game.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: I saw a lot of it.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I thought Morocco really held their own.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: I think Brazil probably was the first quote unquote favorite to play in this World Cup, and they were a little bit disappointing, Sean.
38:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, only to put one through and actually almost losing at the end.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: Morocco had a couple chances there.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh Allison makes a nice double save.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: I believe it was right before stoppage time.
39:03
SPEAKER_00: And you have now a group that's very wide open.
39:08
SPEAKER_00: Uh, does Scotland play Morocco on Friday night and they're they're playing off the highs from their Haiti win and steal a point or steal three points from Morocco?
39:18
SPEAKER_00: Possibility.
39:19
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know how I don't think we had Scotland too high.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: I think we both probably had them in that three, two, three range, but they might mess around and win this group shot.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: Would that be just awesome?
39:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Brandon.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: I was alluding to it a second ago, just about how my on-pitch predictions weren't strong.
39:36
SPEAKER_01: I picked Brazil to win the World Cup.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: I don't love that.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: I predicted Endrick to be a star breakout player, didn't play, coach's decision.
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Tough.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: That's that's tough.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure what my guy Don Encelotti was doing.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: Don Carlo, I don't know necessarily why Endrick couldn't get on the pitch.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: They didn't look great at any point in this match.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: Vinny Jr., he scores a great goal, but he barely defended.
40:03
SPEAKER_01: And that hurts, and especially when you have Casemiro out there running, basically a one-legged Casemiro.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't really encouraging from Brazil.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: I I still maintain that I do think they're a good side.
40:15
SPEAKER_01: I think they will grow into the tournament, which is a phrase we hear with some of these bigger countries.
40:19
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they they don't put their best foot forward in the first match and they grow into it.
40:24
SPEAKER_01: I think we'll see that, and I think they're lucky that Haiti's in this group, who not a bad side by any means, but I think you're if you're able to take care of business against them, I think it could help your goal differential.
40:35
SPEAKER_01: I think you could beat them by more than one like Scotland did.
40:38
SPEAKER_01: So that's something to look for, but I feel a bit better about Morocco after watching this game than I do Brazil, which is not something I thought I would say.
40:47
SPEAKER_01: I thought the result was pretty even for both teams.
40:50
SPEAKER_01: Maybe Morocco just edged it out, but 1-1.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't think either team will be killing themselves over this, knowing that they played the next best team in the group.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: No, it's I I appreciate that.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: Also, Vinny Jr., my guy, scoring a goal.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: So we'll take those points for team Brandon.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: Can't do it.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't it wasn't in the rules.
41:13
SPEAKER_00: It's fair.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Group D, obviously, we went over the US game.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: We mentioned it earlier.
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Australia beating Turkey A 2-0.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: That's a big, big result, Sean.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: Turkey A probably thought to be the second best group team in this group, and getting beat 2-0 is is huge.
41:29
SPEAKER_00: And Australia not really.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I had them fourth.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, hand up.
41:35
SPEAKER_00: They're not probably not gonna finish fourth at this point.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: It's now on three points in second or tie for first, I'm sorry, with the US in the group, US winning on goal differential technically.
41:46
SPEAKER_00: Sean, Australia, are we are we putting the word out?
41:50
SPEAKER_00: Are is Australia here?
41:52
SPEAKER_00: Are they are they just was it a was a little fluke effort by Turkey?
41:56
SPEAKER_00: What were your thoughts on that one?
41:58
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Australia is here in terms of I'm not scared of Australia, but I what I thought the difference in this game was Australia had a plan of how exactly they wanted to play, they were comfortable with it, and they executed it.
42:10
SPEAKER_01: Turkey did not have a plan.
42:12
SPEAKER_01: They had way more talent on the pitch, but they looked clueless, like a chicken without a head.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: I I was not impressed at all with them.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: And I think they really need to figure out exactly what they're trying to do ahead of the next match, or else this World Cup could get away from them quickly.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they're in a strong position at all in this group, and now have to face a Paraguay side that's also been embarrassed.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: And I think that game is a loser-leave town match.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: So that's Friday night at 11 p.m.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: And all of the stakes are on that one.
42:42
SPEAKER_01: So I'm interested to see how Turkey A responds, but I was not impressed at all with what I saw from them, and I was expecting a lot more.
42:49
SPEAKER_00: Agree.
42:50
SPEAKER_00: So definitely one listeners that Sean mentioned, definitely one we want to keep our eye on.
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Friday.
42:55
SPEAKER_00: Friday will be a big day for group D.
42:57
SPEAKER_00: We have both teams, all four teams playing.
42:59
SPEAKER_00: Looking at group E, Sean, we had Germany, Curacao 7-1, probably what we expected, and then Ivory Coast beating Ecuador 1-0.
43:08
SPEAKER_00: The Germany game, look, that was gonna happen.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: That that should happen.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: But I will say the best piece of thing, the best piece of media I saw was they interviewed a woman from Curacao and basically said, Hey, how did you feel about that?
43:24
SPEAKER_00: And she just said, We are so happy to be here.
43:26
SPEAKER_00: We're a tiny country, we scored a goal in the World Cup.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: She said, We basically won.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's beautiful because let's be honest, they they probably weren't gonna actually ever win the game.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: But to score a goal against them, and you saw what it meant.
43:41
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the players jumping on each other, the coaches hugging, celebrating, it wasn't your regular goal, Sean.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: So to see Kierosel have that moment in the World Cup against Germany and to make it 1 1 at that point in the game, it was it was it was something special.
43:57
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, kudos, kudos to those guys.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: But Germany, are we is that is that a performance that inspires you if you're German, or was that just business as usual?
44:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm really knocking it out of the park with my predictions.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: I predicted Germany to be a flop.
44:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh put up a touchdown and an extra point.
44:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
44:15
SPEAKER_01: I I I was impressed.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't tell, honestly, I couldn't tell if Germany were that good or Curaçao were that bad.
44:21
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
44:22
SPEAKER_01: I think the answers are likely somewhere in the middle.
44:24
SPEAKER_01: I think Germany maybe have some bully tendencies to them as a country.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: Maybe when the going's good, they they are able to run downhill and and rack up the score.
44:34
SPEAKER_01: And I think Curacao, like you said, the moment was when they scored and it was level.
44:39
SPEAKER_01: If I'm a fan there, I that game ended at that point in my mind.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: It ended in a draw 1-1.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: We scored a goal at the World Cup.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: We had the biggest celebration we'll ever have against Germany, too, not against the Cupcake, one of one of the predominant countries when it comes to football.
44:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, unbelievable scenes after that goal, and that's what I'll remember from that game, even though Germany went on to score six unanswered, and when rather convincingly, and maybe just a bit shift my thoughts on how successful this German team will be.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to make any sweeping judgments yet until after their next game.
45:12
SPEAKER_01: Because it gets a lot tougher for the Germans.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Because, Brandon, I'm going to throw it to you.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: The other game in this group, Boy Oh Boy, Germany plays the Ivory Coast next, Cote d'Ivoire.
45:21
SPEAKER_01: And my oh my, you were boots on the ground in attendance for the Jan Diamond show.
45:27
SPEAKER_01: I want to hear all about it.
45:28
SPEAKER_00: Sean, it it was special.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: I've never been to a World Cup game.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: So first time ever doing that.
45:36
SPEAKER_00: That was incredible.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: When I tell you, Sean, it felt like the Eagles were playing the Dallas Cowboys.
45:41
SPEAKER_00: That's what it was.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: Ecuador fans to Ivory Coast fans.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: Ecuador had 95% of this stadium, all in yellow, all chanting, singing, dancing.
45:51
SPEAKER_00: It was a party for them.
45:52
SPEAKER_00: And and it should be.
45:54
SPEAKER_00: It's the World Cup.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: They said, hey, we're gonna all meet up in Philly.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: We're all gonna go to this game.
45:59
SPEAKER_00: I think the whole the whole country of Ecuador was in that stadium because it was packed, just a sea of yellow.
46:07
SPEAKER_00: There were very tiny little patches of orange.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: But this is again what happens, Sean.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: What you say when you don't eat your food, finish your plate, this is what happens.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: Ecuador, I would say, controlled most of the game, Sean.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: They had majority of the chances, probably more of the possession, but you messed around and Ivory Coast scores in the 90th minute and you lose one nil.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: But Yandi Amande, you you prefaced with him, Sean, that boy special.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: And I'd heard things and you see a highlight here and there, but Sean, the the combination of speed, strength, and skill that that man has at 19.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: Sean, I mean, I don't want to be dramatic, but but hey, we're on a podcast, we we gotta do it.
46:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, hand up, like, dude could be a in Ballon d'Or conversation in years, in a few years.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying today, I'm not saying tomorrow, but with the right team around him, he's not gonna be able to be double and triple teamed like that, like Ecuador's trying to do, because he will he will lead the world in assists.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: That man can pass as well.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: So he sean, I I was thoroughly, thoroughly impressed.
47:17
SPEAKER_00: Yande Monde, 19 years old, was playing a year and a half ago in US in USA in the fourth division, which is essentially semi-pro, like almost like a post-grad high school situation.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: And now he's about to go to Liverpool this summer.
47:33
SPEAKER_00: So it it was Sean.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: I I can't even put into words.
47:38
SPEAKER_00: This game was you know 24 hours ago, and I'm still shocked.
47:41
SPEAKER_00: He was led the led the game in in touches.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Jay-Z is his agent, sports agent.
47:47
SPEAKER_00: He is on the sideline cheering for him.
47:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this dude, talk about breakout stars.
47:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if we actually formally mentioned him as a breakout star.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: We may have, but if not, he he needs to be on the list because that was special.
48:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, he he's in my squad for our player draft, so I'm happy to now.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Here's the shitty thing: no goals are game.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he absolutely ran the game.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: You're singing his praises.
48:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm singing his praises.
48:12
SPEAKER_01: It was his show, and he doesn't get on the end of the goal or assist it.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: So that's the game, that's what I'll remember most from this game.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: Aside from the Ecuador takeover in Philly, it was just how special he is.
48:24
SPEAKER_01: I've seen him play at Leipzig, and I referenced this to you earlier in the show when we were just talking about him.
48:30
SPEAKER_01: He has this ability where at Leipzig, I would always see him do a couple really nice things and a couple things on scratching my head, kind of confused about the decision making or maybe his choice of pass or things of that nature.
48:42
SPEAKER_01: Against Ecuador, he's going up against one of the best defenders in the world, and Pierre and Capier plays for Arsenal, the best defense of the Premier League.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: He skinned him over and over.
48:51
SPEAKER_01: He beat him like a drum, and then he beat him again.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: And it was awesome, awesome to watch.
48:56
SPEAKER_01: And then once he beat him, the final ball, so incisive, on the money each time, perfect weight, fizzed it about, just unbelievable stuff from him.
49:04
SPEAKER_01: The combination of athleticism and skill, it's it's freakish.
49:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the sky's the limit for this guy.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: He was the main story for me for the Ivory Coast.
49:13
SPEAKER_01: I thought you were right with Ecuador.
49:14
SPEAKER_01: They were the better team in the first half, I think.
49:16
SPEAKER_01: Created more of the chances.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: My guy Ener Valencia kind of just had the night off, was not really interested in anything in front of the net.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: More interested in starting some kerfuffles, getting in the refs here, which hey, that was in the models.
49:28
SPEAKER_01: That was that's in the models for Ener.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm not shocked by that by any means.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: But Ivory Coast, really, in the second half, they had several good moments.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: And I think for me, if I had to pick a winner in that one, I think Ivory Coast deserved it just a bit more than Ecuador did.
49:43
SPEAKER_01: But a great game and two strong teams is my takeaway.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not down on Ecuador yet.
49:48
SPEAKER_01: I think they're gonna make it out of this group.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: I think this is they would have preferred a result in this one, obviously, but I don't think it's a nail in a coffin by any means.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: I think they will pronounce back in a big way against Curacao, and they'll be right back where they need to be.
50:03
SPEAKER_01: So impressive stuff on both sides in that one.
50:06
SPEAKER_01: I leave thrilled for my elephants.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: I talked about them in the previews, how they're my squad, I'm hitching my wagon too.
50:11
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't have been happier.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: We need more fan support, and I'm happy to see up the boots on the ground for the final group stage match against Curacao.
50:18
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna run up a number against those against those folks.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: So just stay tuned for that.
50:22
SPEAKER_01: I will be in the elephant army for that final group stage match, and I can't wait.
50:27
SPEAKER_00: No, they need you, Sean.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: They were they look, they the ones that were there, they were loud, they were proud, they were cheering, but they were severely outnumbered.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: So I'll I'll also be there.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: I'll join the elephants with you.
50:39
SPEAKER_00: We gotta that's two more for you.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: Ivory Coast.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: Love that.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: We got you.
50:44
SPEAKER_00: You got the Friends of Football podcast behind you, and that that that's powerful.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: That that is powerful.
50:50
SPEAKER_00: Looking at group F, Sean.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: We had I think probably so far, maybe the best game in the tournament with Netherlands and Japan 2-2 draw, and then Sweden and Tunisia.
51:00
SPEAKER_00: We don't even really need to reference that, other than the fact I'm sorry, Sweden won 5-1.
51:06
SPEAKER_00: Tunisia actually fired their coach today.
51:08
SPEAKER_00: Sick.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: One game into the World Cup just fired him.
51:12
SPEAKER_00: So not sure what's going on in that camp, but that doesn't seem too good.
51:16
SPEAKER_00: But Netherlands, Japan 2-2.
51:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Japan scores a late header equalizer to get a point against the Netherlands, which are all the probably the tallest team in the World Cup against Japan, one of the shortest teams in the World Cup.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: I think it just goes to show that belief, that character, that will.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: You can make things happen.
51:35
SPEAKER_00: So big ups to Japan stealing a point out of that game because on paper, the Netherlands should have taken care of taken care of business.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: You said it perfectly there, I think.
51:47
SPEAKER_01: I did have Japan winning this group, but they were underdogs to do so.
51:51
SPEAKER_01: And the Dutch physically are a much stronger side, especially that back line.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: In fact, in the second half, Japan is just spamming crosses into the box.
52:00
SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm sitting there, and the announcers are saying it too.
52:03
SPEAKER_01: Why are they doing this?
52:04
SPEAKER_01: They're not winning any of these headers.
52:07
SPEAKER_01: And then minutes later, after I'm texting my friends saying, Oh, why are they doing this?
52:10
SPEAKER_01: They score from a header.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, of course.
52:13
SPEAKER_01: That just goes to show how little I know.
52:15
SPEAKER_01: But I think this was a case where Japan, they're fans, by the way.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: They're not like Scotland fans.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: No, the most respectful bunch in the world just to touch a class, brought their own trash bags, so we're not gonna make a mess.
52:28
SPEAKER_01: We'll pick up your stadium will be spotless when we leave.
52:31
SPEAKER_01: They're waving their trash bags around to support their team, multi-functional.
52:35
SPEAKER_01: They use those to pick up on their way out.
52:37
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
52:38
SPEAKER_01: Just really, really cool stuff.
52:40
SPEAKER_01: There's a Twitter kind of stumbled upon who's a Japanese man who's experiencing the United States for the first time, similar to your guy Freddie from Germany.
52:48
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely hilarious.
52:50
SPEAKER_01: He's it's just one of one.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: I forget the handle.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: I'll get that in the show notes for next time.
52:54
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, good stuff from Japan on the fan front.
52:56
SPEAKER_01: And then I think there was a case of they respected their opponent too much.
53:00
SPEAKER_01: They in the first half were very passive.
53:03
SPEAKER_01: They sat in that low block, they were very compact and hard to break down against the Dutch, but I think they could go toe-to-toe with them.
53:10
SPEAKER_01: And I think they're honestly going to make a deeper run in this tournament than them after that one game.
53:15
SPEAKER_01: And if Takafuse Kubo is healthy, he did leave injured.
53:18
SPEAKER_01: That's a big thing to monitor.
53:20
SPEAKER_01: But I'm very impressed by Japan.
53:21
SPEAKER_01: It seemed like anytime they went down in this match, we saw the real version of Japan that I thought we'd see.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: They were more aggressive, they had to come out of their shell a bit, and they dominated those spurts to get level in the game, and then were content with the draw.
53:34
SPEAKER_01: So I think they'll be very difficult to play against for the other two teams in this group.
53:37
SPEAKER_01: I suspect that they'll beat Sweden and Tunisia.
53:41
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure if they'll beat them by more than the Dutch do and finish first or second in this group, but I think stock is up on Japan.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm just really a fan of that group.
53:51
SPEAKER_01: They've been with that manager for a long time.
53:53
SPEAKER_01: They know their roles, they know how to play, and they're fun to watch.
53:56
SPEAKER_01: So, all in on them.
53:57
SPEAKER_01: The Dutch, boy oh boy, it's what we talked about in the preview.
54:01
SPEAKER_01: You look through the spine of their team, the midfield, big names, good players.
54:05
SPEAKER_01: The defense, big names, good players.
54:08
SPEAKER_01: It's how are we gonna get goals consistently?
54:10
SPEAKER_01: And Cody Hackbo was decent, some good moments from him, but the striker position, Danielle Mullen, not an out and out number nine necessarily.
54:19
SPEAKER_01: I'm a big fan of him.
54:20
SPEAKER_01: He plays at Roma, he had an unbelievable season, but it was because there was a guy pushing up next to him all the time and really helping, and they worked in tandem.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't have that with the Netherlands national team.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: And Memphis DePai came on and he was brutal in that second half, just absolutely out of out of his depth.
54:37
SPEAKER_01: So I'm a little bit more worried about the Dutch moving forward.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: What about you?
54:42
SPEAKER_00: I agree with you.
54:43
SPEAKER_00: I actually had in the preview the Dutch as one of my teams a little bit of a dark horse, and that worried me.
54:49
SPEAKER_00: That performance worried me.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: I think Japan really, like you said, the first half, Japan definitely was a little bit more lenient.
54:56
SPEAKER_00: And I think if Japan would have taken it, taken the game to them in the first half, this could have been a loss for the Netherlands.
55:01
SPEAKER_00: And it's shocking to say based on those two teams, but the Netherlands, they really have to figure that out.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: And look, they're gonna get they're gonna get and beat a lot of teams just on their size, their strength, and their skill.
55:16
SPEAKER_00: We we understand that.
55:17
SPEAKER_00: But when you play against a team like Japan, who's gonna be very disciplined tactically, they know exactly how they want to attack you, how they want to defend.
55:26
SPEAKER_00: That could be troublesome.
55:27
SPEAKER_00: And in a knockout round, maybe you get you match up with a team like Japan and you struggle.
55:33
SPEAKER_00: So definitely a little bit of worry for the Netherlands.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, again, it's only that was only the first 90 minutes, they still have two more games, and like you said, I think they'll take care of Sweden and Tunisia, but maybe a little bit of a not a red flag, but a yellow flag kind of going off in their camp.
55:51
SPEAKER_00: Group G, Sean, we had Belgium and Egypt uh with a 1-1 draw.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: I did not see any of this game personally, but good result, bad result.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: I would assume on paper, Egypt Egypt takes that and they're happy.
56:06
SPEAKER_00: But Belgium, are you are you disappointed, or is it, hey, this was just our first game, we're getting the the cobwebs off.
56:13
SPEAKER_01: I am a bit disappointed because I was high on this Belgium side, similar to how you were with the Dutch.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: I would say this didn't do anything to encourage me, this performance.
56:21
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't say it fully discouraged me either.
56:23
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of somewhere in the middle.
56:24
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't good from them, but I thought they had chances to win in the second half, as did Egypt.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm more concerned with the Belgian back line than I thought I would be.
56:33
SPEAKER_01: That was their biggest question mark coming into the tournament.
56:36
SPEAKER_01: And and Doy, who started at center back, had some moments of brilliance on the ball, but then some moments of absolute horror in defense, just not knowing when to go and when to commit and when to retreat and stay off a few paces.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: I was really not thrilled with that.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: I also really worried the Belgian starting lineup featured Charles Descatellier instead of Romello Lukaku.
56:59
SPEAKER_01: And Big Rom is a guy who polarizing.
57:02
SPEAKER_01: He he I feel like he often anytime I expect something from him, he he ruins me.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: And anytime I don't, he also ruins me in the other direction.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: He comes in, and I'm not kidding, his first touch, his first action in the game is a goal.
57:16
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't his, it looked like his originally.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: The announcers thought it was his.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: It looks like he got gets on the end of a cross.
57:21
SPEAKER_01: He actually didn't.
57:22
SPEAKER_01: It was an own goal, but it was due to his physicality and his run in the box.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: It was you could basically give the goal to Lukaku.
57:29
SPEAKER_01: Although he did technically miss it, which is it sums him up perfectly.
57:33
SPEAKER_01: It sums him up so perfectly.
57:35
SPEAKER_01: He didn't actually score it, but he did everything to get a goal for Belgium.
57:39
SPEAKER_01: And then late on in the game, Brandon, he has a free header, six yards out, not even probably three, four yards out, and just sends it for a hot dog.
57:49
SPEAKER_01: And and it's like, hey, Rom, we can't do that, man.
57:52
SPEAKER_01: We gotta take the World Cup brother.
57:54
SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, not the best, and that's another concern.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: So, really at the front end back of Belgium because they have some really talented players midfield.
58:01
SPEAKER_01: Thielemans, good, Onana, De Bruyne, Doku.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: A lot of skill, just a little bit discouraged.
58:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm still picking them to win this group, but that's largely because of the rest of the teams in this group.
58:14
SPEAKER_01: So Egypt were fine, Mo Salah assists the goal.
58:18
SPEAKER_01: They weren't spectacular.
58:20
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the best game to watch.
58:21
SPEAKER_01: I think you're fine missing it.
58:23
SPEAKER_01: I don't necessarily think there's anything more to add on that one.
58:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
58:27
SPEAKER_00: And then the last game, we will recap Sean.
58:30
SPEAKER_00: Big upset, or I don't want to say upset because it was a tie, but Spain, Cape Verde, Spain, Cabo Verde, nil-nil draw this afternoon.
58:39
SPEAKER_00: I again didn't did not have eyes on this game because all of a sudden we want to start playing games at 12 o'clock.
58:45
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have to work during the day.
58:47
SPEAKER_00: But the one piece I will say, Sean, and you can break down the game because I know you had definitely more eyes on it.
58:54
SPEAKER_00: I saw the Cape Verde goalkeeper before the game.
58:58
SPEAKER_00: This man plays in 2nd Division Portugal, had just over 40,000 Instagram followers.
59:04
SPEAKER_00: Legit account, nice guy, whatever.
59:07
SPEAKER_00: Following the match, just a few hours after the game today, it's reported that he has over two million Instagram followers.
59:16
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, that man had it had the day, a game of his life, but were it was Cape Verde great?
59:23
SPEAKER_00: Was Spain terrible?
59:25
SPEAKER_00: Are we in the middle?
59:26
SPEAKER_00: Luminium all, what are we what what did he do?
59:29
SPEAKER_00: Just give me a little bit of a breakdown of this one.
59:33
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the the storyline, you were right in saying an upset.
59:37
SPEAKER_01: That result was the most shocking we've seen so far.
59:39
SPEAKER_01: Getting getting a draw against Spain, the champions of Europe, for one of the newcomers in the World Cup, making their first ever appearance.
59:46
SPEAKER_01: It was shocking.
59:47
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's a combination of both.
59:49
SPEAKER_01: Cape Verde were very solid defensive, they were hard to break down.
59:53
SPEAKER_01: They allowed, I think it was just over two expected goals to Spain.
59:56
SPEAKER_01: So it wasn't something crazy where Spain should have had four or five.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_01: They Spain were also just wasteful and pretty poor throughout much of the match, especially compared to their standard.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_01: They did not have, and here's I made this point, so I got something right.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_01: But I said how important Nico Williams on the left side was and Laminha Maul on the right side was.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_01: And those are the only two, the point I brought up was those are the only two guys that can play like that for the Spanish side.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_01: They're able to develop a ton of really skilled technical defenders, midfielders, goalkeepers, even some technical holdup false nine strikers.
1:00:31
SPEAKER_01: They don't develop freaks like those two on the wings too often.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_01: And I mean that in the most complimentary way.
1:00:38
SPEAKER_01: They're two of my favorite players to watch in all of world football.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_01: And the reason Spain dominated the Euros in 2024 was because of Nico Williams and Laminha Mall.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_01: They're simply unplayable.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_01: So you're able to get the ball to them on the wings, and they're able to beat a man or two and then get the ball into an advantageous spot inside the box.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, Laminha Mall didn't start this match, and neither did Nico Williams, and I don't think Spain planned on using either of them because I don't think they're fully healthy.
1:01:02
SPEAKER_01: But what happened was we got to the 65th minute, and all of a sudden it's still 0-0, and Spain really didn't look too much like they were going to score.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_01: So they break glass in case of emergency, they bring on Lamin first, and as soon as he comes on the pitch, things get a lot better for Spain.
1:01:18
SPEAKER_01: They start to get more chances.
1:01:20
SPEAKER_01: They're sending two guys over his way, which opens up somebody else.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: They didn't ultimately take those chances, but Nico Williams comes on for like the last 10 minutes.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: He barely had a kick in the game.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: And that was another one.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he's 100%.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't think either of those guys are.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they wanted to play them.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_01: They had to, and they still ended up only getting a draw.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't kill Spain, but it just shows just how valuable those guys are and how their fitness going forward is going to be a key, key component of how deep Spain can go.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's an interesting one, Sean.
1:01:48
SPEAKER_00: And with Uruguay and Saudi Arabia also in this group, you're right.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_00: I think Spain still is okay.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_00: It's not.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_00: I know today was break glass in case of emergency, but I don't think they're in that mode for the whole tournament.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_00: But kudos to Cave Verde.
1:02:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had a game plan, they executed their game plan.
1:02:06
SPEAKER_00: They didn't score, but hey, they didn't give up a goal.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_00: So they get their first point at the World Cup, and you take that, and it probably feels like three points in that camp.
1:02:14
SPEAKER_00: So big shout out to those guys.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_00: They celebrated it like a win.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_01: They honestly stay they Vazinha was the keeper who gained all those followers.
1:02:23
SPEAKER_01: He was great, kept kept the score zero-zero.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_01: And Cape Furt actually had a couple of chances late, some half chances and counterattacks.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_01: And the stadium and all of us at home watching were like, oh my god, here we go.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_01: And you're just rooting for a goal to go in.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_01: They didn't make the most of those chances.
1:02:40
SPEAKER_01: They it was a bit shocking in the final third, but I'm I'm happy this ended in the result.
1:02:45
SPEAKER_01: Another historic moment.
1:02:46
SPEAKER_01: Similar to Cursao's goal, getting a point from Spain for Cape Verde is unreal stuff.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_00: Do you think do you think Cape Verde can get a goal against Uruguay or Saudi Arabia?
1:02:57
SPEAKER_01: They didn't offer much in the way of attack, but they also barely had the ball against Spain.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:03:03
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's as ball dominant as Spain is.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_01: But I would like to see more in the way of attack.
1:03:09
SPEAKER_01: I didn't see much.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_01: But again, that could just be because they didn't have opportunities to.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_01: They will have more of those against the other two teams.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_01: And I would not be surprised again if they pick up another point or even a win against those two, honestly.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_00: No, I love to see that.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_00: Sean, and then that sort of brings us into our last segment here.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_00: Just looking ahead.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Cape Verde will play Saudi Arabia and Uruguay over the next couple of weeks.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_00: But this week, are there any games specifically the next couple days that you'll have your eyes on?
1:03:37
SPEAKER_01: A game today, Brandon, is France Senegal.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_01: It's the first game here on Tuesday.
1:03:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just interested to see how the Frank, how the French get off the bus.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, they have all the talent in the world.
1:03:51
SPEAKER_01: The French, I've seen Patrice Evra, a former player.
1:03:54
SPEAKER_01: He he said the only way, the only thing that could get in the way of France is France.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the sentiment around this camp is if we don't beat ourselves, we're going to be in the mix towards the end of this tournament.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_01: And I kind of predicted that they will beat themselves at one point because I know how talented they are.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_01: I just think it might not work.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_01: There might be something that comes up.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: But the last couple days, Mbappe's press team is doing business.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_01: They they kind of got me back in on him again.
1:04:18
SPEAKER_01: Seems like a great guy after being here for the last couple years, but how he's not.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what to believe.
1:04:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm interested in that one.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_01: We have some heavyweights starting their tournament still.
1:04:27
SPEAKER_01: It seems like we've played so many games, Brandon, and yet so many teams haven't started yet.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_01: So a crazy amount still to play and still to get underway.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm interested to see what you have in terms of what you want to watch the next couple days.
1:04:40
SPEAKER_00: Definitely France Senegal today.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_00: 3 p.m.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_00: kickoff.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_00: So end of day at the office.
1:04:47
SPEAKER_00: You can throw that one on.
1:04:48
SPEAKER_00: Finishing up your reporting and all your all your work.
1:04:51
SPEAKER_00: And then tomorrow we have England-Croatia 4 p.m.
1:04:54
SPEAKER_00: Eastern kickoff, which is beautiful right at the end of the day.
1:04:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm interested to see.
1:04:59
SPEAKER_00: The the big dogs in this tournament haven't really, besides Germany, really haven't shown us that they're the big dogs.
1:05:06
SPEAKER_00: We have a Spain tie, a Brazil tie.
1:05:09
SPEAKER_00: They're not, we haven't seen that sort of the United States, maybe I would say arguably had one of the best performances, most dominating performances of the tournament against a team that is somewhat on a comparable level.
1:05:23
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, Germany beating Carousel 7-1.
1:05:27
SPEAKER_00: We'd expect that.
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: So I'm interested to see if England come out strong.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_00: Croatia's not a team you can mess around with.
1:05:32
SPEAKER_00: Croatia's a strong team.
1:05:34
SPEAKER_00: So it's not going to be an easy one, but I I think that first game in a group is always important.
1:05:40
SPEAKER_00: You want to get off on the right foot.
1:05:42
SPEAKER_00: So I'll definitely have my eyes on that one.
1:05:44
SPEAKER_00: And then of course, Sean, US, Australia, Friday, 3 p.m.
1:05:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm excited to see how how our boys come out after last week's.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_00: What give me give me your thoughts?
1:05:59
SPEAKER_00: What do you think, Sean?
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first of all, we talked about watching a game potentially at the end of the workday.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: I think you could go ahead and put this Friday afternoon, 3 p.m., as the least productive closing stretch to any Friday work week of all time.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_01: There is going to be absolutely nothing done in workplaces across this country as it should be.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: Bosses, if you're not giving your employees a couple hours off on a summer Friday to go watch our country play the Aussies, I don't know what you're doing.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't want to work for you.
1:06:29
SPEAKER_01: I'll say that.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_01: I am so pumped for this one, Brandon, because of what we saw last Friday.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to keep the vibes high.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_01: I'm all in.
1:06:37
SPEAKER_01: I think we see a tougher test.
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: I think Australia will be more up for it than Paraguay was on that night.
1:06:43
SPEAKER_01: But I don't think it's going to go any differently for the United States.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: I think we win comfortably.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_01: I will say I think I feel more confident about our back line against this Australian attack.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they offer as much as Paraguay could.
1:06:57
SPEAKER_01: I hope those aren't famous last words, but I feel pretty good about our ability to hold the majority of the ball, create chances consistently, press and counter press, even though Aussies are not going to try to play through our press.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_01: They will be hoofing it long at a lot of points this game, trying to rely on some size.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_01: I really feel confident.
1:07:17
SPEAKER_01: I hope that we just get that same 11.
1:07:20
SPEAKER_01: I hope Pula 6 is 100% good to go.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_01: I hope we see the boys exactly how we saw them last Friday, and we jump on them early.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_01: Just home crowd backs them in Seattle.
1:07:31
SPEAKER_01: Everybody just from minute one, we see the same type of performance.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_01: I hope, I hope you're sharing my positivity, but I don't know what you think yet.
1:07:40
SPEAKER_00: I I do, Sean, and I think you put it perfectly.
1:07:44
SPEAKER_00: That early start, and and I harped on it last week, and I and I'll harp on it again, and I'll probably harp on it again against Turkey.
1:07:51
SPEAKER_00: I think if you can get that early start and get that first goal, see the ball go in the net one time, it really changes the way the the the manner of the game.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_00: So I agree with you.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_00: I think if I I am confident, and maybe it's a little bit of drinking the Kool-Aid from Friday night.
1:08:07
SPEAKER_00: We still are we still are living and enjoying.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: And hey, maybe this is our year and this is our chance to enjoy that a little bit.
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: The pessimistic US men's national team fan.
1:08:18
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's maybe it's dying a little bit.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_00: We're we're tortured fans on this podcast, on this in this podcast network, but maybe it's our time to celebrate a little bit, have a little, have a little bit of a party.
1:08:29
SPEAKER_00: So I'm I'm I'm dancing with you.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm here for it.
1:08:34
SPEAKER_00: I think the US take care of business.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_00: I think 2-0, I think, is a fair shot because I think Australia will sit, they'll play tight, they'll be compact.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_00: But I'm gonna go 2-0 US.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you I'll give you goals.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: I'll give I'll go Balogun again with one.
1:08:50
SPEAKER_00: And I I I like Malik Tillman.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_00: I'll take Malik Tillman with the other one.
1:08:54
SPEAKER_01: I love I love both those shouts.
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: Again, I let you go first pick in these scoopers.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_00: I had I I was excited.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_00: I was excited, Sean.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: That's fair, that's fair.
1:09:03
SPEAKER_01: And last time we were both right around it.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_01: You said 3-0, I said 3-1 because you took 3-0.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_01: We were both gonna say it.
1:09:09
SPEAKER_01: And it ended up being 4-1.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_01: But I am gonna go, I'm keeping a clean sheet with the United States as well.
1:09:16
SPEAKER_01: I'll just go one more goal.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_01: I think I was leaning towards 2-0 as well because I think the Aussies will be tougher to play against.
1:09:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:09:22
SPEAKER_01: And they'll want to play less football as well.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_01: Maybe some dark arts.
1:09:26
SPEAKER_01: Who would say?
1:09:27
SPEAKER_01: But but I'll go 3-0.
1:09:30
SPEAKER_01: I love the Balogun shout.
1:09:31
SPEAKER_01: Be hard pressed to see if we score three goals if he doesn't get one of them.
1:09:35
SPEAKER_01: I'll also go with I'm gonna keep pick him every time.
1:09:37
SPEAKER_01: I told you guys this last time.
1:09:38
SPEAKER_01: My magic man, Weston McKenny.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_01: And I will say Serginho Dest.
1:09:44
SPEAKER_01: He keeps popping up in that box in good positions.
1:09:47
SPEAKER_01: Serge, we need you to get on the end of one now.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_01: Let's put one in net.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_01: Part of me is just saying this because I'm not sure if Pulisik will play.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_01: If he plays, I will give him one of those goals.
1:09:56
SPEAKER_01: But if not, I'll give it to Sergino.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_00: No, I like that prediction.
1:10:01
SPEAKER_00: I I like that thought, Sean.
1:10:03
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry, I I had to go first.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_00: I was just excited and I I wanted to get it on paper first.
1:10:07
SPEAKER_00: So by all means, you host you hosted today.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_00: You're more than welcome to go first.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_00: U.S.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: Turkey, I got you.
1:10:13
SPEAKER_00: The third game.
1:10:14
SPEAKER_00: You'll you'll be leading off the predictions.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: But Sean, you got anything else before we before we finish up tonight?
1:10:20
SPEAKER_01: No, just a continuing to watch ball.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing better than some ball watching all summer.
1:10:28
SPEAKER_01: This is you're gonna find me watching the World Cup, and I think it's such a special thing.
1:10:32
SPEAKER_01: We get it once every four years, we get it once every 32 years on our own soil.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_01: So just really couldn't be more excited for how the tournament started, especially for the Americans, and I couldn't be more excited for the rest of it.
1:10:44
SPEAKER_01: So I had a pleasure discussing it all with you as always.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_00: Sean, it's been great.
1:10:50
SPEAKER_00: I feel the same sentiments as you do.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_00: It's been great.
1:10:54
SPEAKER_00: It's been a great, really only about a week, a little over a week, since we've gotten going.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_00: It's it's been incredible.
1:11:01
SPEAKER_00: And we still have first first games to play.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_00: We still got so much to come.
1:11:06
SPEAKER_00: Listeners, thank you as always for listening.
1:11:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, subscribe, as Sean likes to say, tell a friend to tell a friend.
1:11:12
SPEAKER_00: We're picking up Steam.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_00: We we want to hear your feedback.
1:11:15
SPEAKER_00: We we'd love to communicate and chat with you guys because you guys make this what it is.
1:11:20
SPEAKER_00: So as always, thank you, listeners, and take care.
1:11:25
SPEAKER_00: And free Andrick.