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WCAD 3-40: A Fitting Finale: That's Troy Parrott, Voodoo, and the Art of Knowing
81 Plays29 days ago
Austin & Amit get together for an epic recap of all the final window drama across UEFA, CAF, CONCACAF & Asia as the World Cup and Playoff fields came into focus.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview of the International Window
00:00:01
Speaker
There are so many adjectives that I could try to use to sum up what we just saw in this November international window. World Cup tickets on the line, spots of the intercontinental playoff up for grabs, everything you could ever want from international football.
00:00:16
Speaker
I mean, we got over the last six days. This was a veritable feast of drama, of stakes, of vibes, of voodoo, of everything we could possibly wanted. It was. It had all been building up to this window. and Dare I say it delivered. It had to have delivered. It did. It was incredible.
00:00:36
Speaker
Man, we got everything. This is this is gonna be this is probably one of the my favorite windows we've ever seen. And certainly we've been doing this for a while. And you know no shade to the other ones who are just as fun. And they got us here. But this was this was everything.
00:00:50
Speaker
Yeah, it it delivered, and we knew it was going to deliver. It had to deliver. But it felt like it really delivered, right? Like, we think about the moments that we saw over the past six or so days, and there are multiple things that had that been the only thing that happened, you be like, oh man, what a window.
00:01:05
Speaker
And then we just got that for four straight days. Yeah, like, we could, well, we're not going to count them, but, like, at least five or six just, like, as you said, window-worthy stealing moments. Like, it was that good.
00:01:19
Speaker
It was
Breakdown of the November Window: Key Highlights
00:01:20
Speaker
that good. This is the World Cup After Dark Podcast. My name is Austin Miller. He, on the other end, is a bit Malik. On today's show, we're going to take you through everything, and I mean everything, that we saw in this November window. World Cup tickets were handed out. Our World Cup field is very nearly set. Our Inter-Confederation playoff field is set.
00:01:37
Speaker
Our European playoff field is set. It's going to be a big show. It's going to a long show. Buckle up. Take some time. You're going enjoy this one because I know that we're going enjoy this one. I bet we said it. We saw so many things.
00:01:49
Speaker
what was the What was your favorite thing that you saw this window? I want you to go first, but I'll go first. so I have two, but i'm goingnna I'll start off with one is...
00:02:01
Speaker
one is The penalty shootout between Nigeria and DR Congo for me, for me on Sunday was just so peak calf um in the pouring raid, horrible penalties, allegations of voodoo, great scenes for DR Congo. Really, really fun. And, you know, there were some ball in play moments of actual soccer that were a little better. And, you know, we have certainly we could have multiple answers, but that for me took the cake. I'm a calf lover. I love when Nigeria has to ah get their stuff together and they can't. And that's exactly what that was. It literally came down to, can you hit a penalty not down the middle?
00:02:40
Speaker
They could not. It was incredible. And the best part about that a bit is is that your little summary of the penalty shootout, you left out flying water bottles. yeah You left out the great day for the robot ah laser pointer salesman who just racked up this week. Like just great day to be a laser pointer salesman.
00:03:00
Speaker
they they They did the players a little help by putting it on the one end because I feel like they were in the middle and they kind of got the backs of the guys, but the goalkeepers were in trouble. It was it was everything you'd want from a calf penalty shootout. Remembering the the crazy one from the last World Cup cycle when Egypt got dumped out and this one was somehow just as good.
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's a lot, and we're going to get to all of it on the show. But I think the moment to me that like encapsulated what makes me fall in love with World Cup qualifying is probably the Troy Parrott hat trick for Ireland against Hungary. Because...
00:03:37
Speaker
this wasn't even for a world cup spot right like this was for the continued hope of eventually maybe making the world cup and the reaction to it and the drama of it and the moment just like this this instant in time that is just dripping with stakes happens and he scores and there's just this release and and everything and there's a commentary from from the irish television that's just phenomenal And it's like, all right, now they got to go and do it again in March. and what They didn't even make the World Cup with that. But just the the fact that the World Cup dream didn't die on that particular afternoon was enough. And that's what is so good about World Cup qualifying, because that's what it is at its core, right? At the start of this, it's all of these teams hoping to one day make the World Cup, but also to make that dream last for another window, if that's what it takes.
00:04:26
Speaker
That's the best way to put it. It's just about surviving to the next step, even when it's crazy. And you might not even get through. And the same thing with DR Congo as well. And of course, the other one I was going to mention, which we're going to get into, I can't mention them all, but just pure, pure moment as well. The Scotland, you know, two goals and extra time was so, so good.
00:04:46
Speaker
And they got directly in. So, and we're going talk about it. So we don't need to spoil more, but not spoil. You you know what happened, but that was the, my other favorite moment for sure was just, An incredible long range hit followed by a 50 yard chip into the goal. You couldn't write that one any better.
00:05:02
Speaker
And just the the explosion of the wall of noise, right? When that the that the midfield, it's just like looping. It's in the air. Seems like it's in the air forever. The release of of all of the the weight and everything. It was fantastic. All right.
UEFA Recaps and Key Moments
00:05:14
Speaker
Let's start our recaps in UEFA, where I think that the big storyline here is we had a low...
00:05:20
Speaker
Long, slow burn of drama, and it finally boiled over into this thrilling final matchday crescendo. We already mentioned it, but I think there's two moments that really topped everything at UEFA. And let's start with Troy Parrott, who had the the heater of all heaters, this international window, right?
00:05:35
Speaker
Five goals for Ireland to put them into the European playoffs. We barely even mentioned them on the preview show because they had to beat Portugal and beat Hungary. We said the goal for Ireland was to get to that Hungary match with any sort of hope.
00:05:47
Speaker
Not only did they do that, they won both of these matches. I mean, they started by beating Portugal 2-0. Troy Parrott had both the goals. Uh, It was fun. That game in Dublin was fun because Parrot was great and Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't. And the Irish supporters really loved Cristiano Ronaldo not being great. And then you've got the elbow and the red card and just the petulant Ronaldo. Like, dude, you're 40. Be better than this, right?
00:06:12
Speaker
Just a little taste of what's to come next summer. It's getting to be hate Ronaldo season. He's he's running back for another World Cup and he's to his credit. And whatever you think about him, he's kept the content machine going. Right. And this was this was part of it. Getting sent off in a meaningless for him qualifier, keeping the island dream alive. This was this this was great theater as well, too.
00:06:35
Speaker
And and and let's let's at least give Portugal their due. They followed that up with a 9, yes, 9-1 win over Armenia to book their World Cup spot. So they will be at the World Cup. It will be interesting to see what suspension comes from. an alldo you but A lot of FIFA regulations tweets over the weekend, right? Like, ah violent let's see. like I don't know.
00:06:54
Speaker
I'll believe that Chris Joe and Aldo is going to be suspended for a world cup game when I see it. Right. Like, i don't know. It's worth like tens of million dollars for him to play in the first game. You can't not have him play. Sorry to fairness. Yeah, I feel like that's what's to happen. So Ireland do that. They set up this must-win match against Hungary on the last match day. It's a Sunday morning here in Argentina, Sunday afternoon in Hungary.
00:07:15
Speaker
Ireland have to win. A draw or win is enough for Hungary to go to the playoff. And they went back and forth. Hungary score early. Troy Parrott scores a penalty, a fantastic finish from Varga to make it 2-1 for Hungary.
00:07:27
Speaker
This gets the 80th minute and Ireland are looking lost. They are looking like this is not going to happen for them, but they get a lifeline. Troy Parrott brings down this great floated ball. He finishes. It's 2-2.
00:07:39
Speaker
Game on. And then a minute a moment... that I think is just going to get lost in time here, right? Johnny Kenny looked like he was going to win it for Ireland. He gets to this great tight angle space, fires this perfect shot in, and the Hungry Keeper just flashes out an arm and keeps it out.
00:07:54
Speaker
A cruelly denied winner. And that ummit was going to be the story of this game, was that ah Ireland had the chance and Hungry made the save. But then that wasn't the story of the game because five minutes later, with what looked to be the last kick of the match, goalkeeper Kelleher sends it long, scales, heads it down. And in the words of the great Irish commentator, that's Troy Parrott, right? He just flashes on it, gets a foot out, puts it in the back of the net and just absolute bedlam.
00:08:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:22
Speaker
um on the goal itself right i think you described it well and what perret did well is sometimes you don't have to be christian ronaldo you just have to be a nine that like makes the hard run in the box right this is just pure route one football from Ireland. yeah Get the ball in the box and head the ball down. Perfectly executed. Perfectly executed. But when he heads that ball down, Parrot isn't open, right? He just, he's just getting his nose into the spot and he just pokes it in. It's an ugly goal, but it is like a deserving goal. And that is awesome.
00:08:52
Speaker
And the other part of this is this game was back and forth. You know, one of the things we said in the preview pod is who's better between Ireland and Hungary. Like, yeah you gotta go find it out. And,
00:09:03
Speaker
You know, I think you play this game a lot of times. I think Hungary's an inch better, right? Sobosly, best player on the field. Not really close. But as often is the case when you're the best player a field in a game between two like middling teams, he had to drop deep. He had to do all the hard work to get the ball.
00:09:22
Speaker
Hungary's goals were also insane in this game. Yeah. Like, just just like ah a 25-yard, like, chest-down, half-folly, top bins for Hungary. Wild. But...
00:09:35
Speaker
my my My closing thought on this game, and you you can add some, is that when it comes down to it, right, it just was the fight from Ireland. Like, literally just the fight in the last 10 minutes. They were not beaten. Down a goal, needing to. And it was like they just kind of rode the momentum on the ah you know on the road. Like, incredible stuff to just fight, get the ball in the box, run into the box. If you do that a lot of times when you're down a goal, it doesn't work, right? Right.
00:10:02
Speaker
yeah The other team just just heads it away. The ball doesn't bounce. But like the reason why you just put the ball in the box and get ten people like eight people into the box is because the ball can bounce your way.
00:10:14
Speaker
It's opportunistic. It's gutsy. That's international soccer like at its best. i just full Full credit to Ireland. This was a game. These were two teams. that were The margins were were tiny. And they just like literally willed it in. i don't like I don't have a lot more to add in the soccer sense or the analysis sense of what what that was. Yeah, and like, it was Ireland basically saying, we might not advance, but you're going to beat us, right? Like, like we're going to make you earn it, and we're going to fight and scratch and claw for for every single moment, and and they did, and it's so crazy, man. Like, at its core, it's such a simple game, right? Like, you put the ball in the back of the net, and you win, and then we've gotten to this point where it's evolved into like, alright, we're choking it off, we're making it these low-event games, but
00:11:00
Speaker
the amount of time that a game takes to be played is 90 minutes, right? And it is just generally physically impossible to be so physically fit that for 90 minutes, you can just choke everything off and limit everything. And so what happens is the legs start to go. And for some teams, they go earlier than for other teams.
00:11:19
Speaker
And these last five, 10 minutes of these games, just out of nowhere, just open up and it just becomes a scramble because these guys are just giving it 100% for the entirety of the game. And now they still have to give it 100% to see it over the line. And that's what happened here. That's what happened in so many of these games where it just opens up. The defending team can't control the ball enough to just kill it off.
00:11:38
Speaker
The attacking team just keeps coming in waves. It's not pretty. It's ugly. It's it's root one. It's a goalkeeper launching the ball up and you're hoping that the header down is perfect and that the poke is perfect. And in this case, it was and it was just this great microcosm of I think what modern football is at the end of these games, particularly in the international level where it just happens. Right.
00:11:58
Speaker
it's It's a great point. It's just such a great point. I've thought about this as well. And I think 0-0 modern soccer is as worse as ever to the viewer. But a team trailing one is as best as ever because of what you said, the demands of seeing out a lead, the amount of running in the game. And the the phrase that I've not coined this phrase that we're going to call this is the tactics free zone.
00:12:23
Speaker
That you get into the end of the game. All of this, all of the numbers, your iPads, your heart rates, your your zones, your half spaces, none of that matters in the last 10 minutes. It's get the ball in the box and, you know, let your let someone make a play. And that is, especially in the international game, where there's already less tactics and there's more passion and there's more, like, willing to go the extra mile, right?
00:12:48
Speaker
that's where we've arrived in so many of these games. And this, this ending specifically encapsulates that. So I think it's a really great point. And, You know, it's it's funny is that it takes desperation, right? It takes the last day of qualifying. It takes needing it. And so rarely in soccer is when you're getting that. But that's one of the best parts about international soccer is, yes, we've had to sit through some some windows in all the confederations. But you also get you get these moments more because of the way the the things have to boil to a head. There's no 38-game season.
00:13:22
Speaker
Yeah. blesss you to come up with the magic there yeah and and And it's a point that when we get to doing this next summer for the world cup, we're going to make continually and continually over and over again is everybody at some point is going to have to do something right. And and we were going to rag on the low event saga. We're going to rag on the teams like England who are trying to boil this game down and do as wind while doing as little as possible.
00:13:47
Speaker
Right. But at some point, In the entirety of a major tournament, you're going need a goal and you're going to get into this tactics free zone. and All of that goes out the window and it's just like, all right, what you got?
00:13:58
Speaker
And in this case, Ireland had it in their well-deserving of their spot in the playoff. Let's see what happens in March. This may be the best part of the story. They may go out with a whimper in March, but they'll always have this moment. Another moment, Amit, that we'll always have is Scotland doing it all for a 4-2 win over Denmark to make the World Cup.
Jamaica vs. Curacao: Drama and Consequences
00:14:14
Speaker
The context here, i think, is what makes this even more ridiculous. You and I, in the preview show, we talked about odds are this is going to come down to Scotland and Denmark in Glasgow. Scotland need to win. Denmark can advance with a draw.
00:14:29
Speaker
For that to happen, Scotland need to make sure they take care of business. They go play away against Greece. They need to at least get a point from that game. Scotland did not do that. In fact, they did the complete opposite of that and spotted Greece a 3-0 lead in this first game of the window.
00:14:44
Speaker
Greece were all over Scotland. Scotland battled back, got it to 3-2. It looked like they had a couple chances to get the point. They didn't. That left ammit Scotland at the mercy of a truly, truly terrible Belarus team who had done nothing all qualification. They don't get to play games at home. They're like Russia, but they're not big enough to be Russia to be actually kicked out of this. So they're just kind of hanging around getting smoked.
00:15:08
Speaker
And they go on the road to Denmark. They fall behind 1-0, and out of absolutely nowhere, tiny, irrelevant Belarus take a 2-1 lead on Denmark with just 10 minutes of pure insanity, and then they somehow hang on. Denmark get one for 2-2, but they can't find another. And that sets up this last-day magic. and And everything that we saw in Glasgow in the last day doesn't happen if not for Belarus.
00:15:36
Speaker
It's wild. It's going to be probably forgotten in the and the end of it, but that's... That never happens. Denmark, ah, what are you doing? No, like, look...
00:15:47
Speaker
If World Cup qualification is going to boil down to needing to beat Belarus at home, like, you have to take advantage of that. You just have to. And so that situation sets up what we see in Glasgow. And, man, that that that Scottish national anthem, that thing will get you at any point.
00:16:02
Speaker
But a full stadium with a World Cup spot on the line, ah, man, those bagpipes will really get you. ah Scotland took an early lead here. Scott McTominay, really good, got extremely high for a 1-0 bike kick goal.
00:16:16
Speaker
And then Scotland just got played off the park for the next hour or so of this match. They finally broke down and and gave a cheap penalty for 1-1. Scotland actually got back to 2-1 with a glancing header. But then just as quick, Denmark, who by that point were down to 10 men, they got to 2-2 for Patrick Dorgue. And that sets up the final minutes. And much like we saw with Ireland, a minute it felt like Scotland were just going to continue to keep coming.
00:16:39
Speaker
They were not going to give up. They were not going to quit. They had a man advantage. And what happens is one of those mixer balls gets thrown in. The Danish clearance is not as good as it needs to be. And there's just this magic moment from Kieran Tierney when he just decides to have a hit and he scores and he makes it three, two. And then of course we we get the Kenny McLean halfway line magic chip to make it four, two and just set off the extreme celebrations.
00:17:03
Speaker
And unlike in the case of Ireland, Scotland are going to the world cup. They don't have to worry about a playoff. They're actually going to the world cup. We talked about it a bit already, but this was just brilliant. Just brilliant.
00:17:15
Speaker
This was everything. Just a really impressive, impressive Scottish performance. As you said, the fight to keep going. Same thing as Ireland. biggest part of this game right is the red card right yeah because without the red card you're thinking Denmark as you said after going down one really just really just took it to Ireland got control of the game made ah Scotland defend in their box for like 30 40 50 minutes and it was like oh Scotland cannot do this but then you know out of halftime Scotland just kind of got some legs and
00:17:50
Speaker
The red card changes the game, right? Scotland immediately smell like, oh my gosh, this is our chance. Like we, we have a 10 man Denmark team. They score, right? Really good set piece.
00:18:02
Speaker
and like They just give up a horrible, horrible goal. You know, Denmark's trying to attack with 10. Denmark's desperate, right? So, like, even when you have 10, you're like, listen, if we have one versus two the other way, we don't care. We need to score.
00:18:16
Speaker
They get five guys in the box. Scotland can't clear. Really, really horrible defending. And I'm like, they've just – Scotland's just made a mess of it. But to their credit, right, there and this is something that Ireland didn't even have.
00:18:30
Speaker
when you when you're going full throttle against 10, even if you're not the better team and and the talent was close, there's just always a guy somewhere, somewhere who is going to have time.
00:18:41
Speaker
And maybe that guy is 30 yards from goal and he can hit the great cross. Maybe that guy is Kieran Tierney who decides he's going to have the strike of his life. And like, yes, also the tactics free zone.
00:18:52
Speaker
He scored a 25-yard, like, complete banger. But when you when you're, like, just running on pure adrenaline, that's what Scotland was. yeah They just ran Denmark out of the game in the end. And even if that doesn't go in, like, they're getting two more decent chances in the box just by launching it in there. I feel for Denmark in terms of the red card, like, stung them.
00:19:16
Speaker
the heart get it clear. You have to get it clear. The margins are so yeah small. And yes, you've got to beat. And they got the 10-man goal. Like, they had even. You've got to bail on already. Yeah. they Yes, exactly. Yes. It's like, oh, man, what a goal to beat us. Like, that's so unfortunate. But, like, it's unfortunate because you had a chance to clear it and the clear just gets sliced and you just don't get it out. And that is the type of thing that can happen in that situation.
00:19:41
Speaker
Yeah. a They just, again, you play this game a bunch of times, who knows, right? I think Denmark's a little better, but the fight from Scotland was everything today, the same way it was for Ireland. And we did say before, right? This is, I think that, you know, Scotland has a chance at home. The home energy was a hundred percent a factor. And at the end of the day, right? Like,
00:20:04
Speaker
And I know this is your closing point. Like they Denmark had their chances before this game, right? yeahp you You gave Scotland a window. You knew was going to be a tough task. You just ride the energy, right?
00:20:16
Speaker
First World Cup appearance for Scotland since 1998. Denmark will go to the European playoff. I think they will feel okay about their chances there, ah but they probably should have been able to see this result out. And and look, they definitely should have been able to beat Belarus and Copenhagen. And if that happens, because Scotland had fumbled their chance, none of this would have mattered and Scotland would have needed to win by an obscene amount of goals here. so That's what happened. All right The rest of UEFA admit, let's do a little lightning round to to recap what we saw in the other groups and to kind of finish setting the the World Cup and the playoff field. We talked about a lot of teams that needed, you know, maybe one win to get in or or two impressive performances. Let's lightning round through all of it.
00:20:52
Speaker
In group A, Germany still has it. and This came down to Germany, Slovakia on the last match day. Slovakia needed to win. Germany would have been fine with the draw. They were not content with just a draw. They beat Slovakia 6-0. It was never really close. Slovakia never really got a foot in. My big takeaway here is I'm really not sure how Slovakia beat Germany 2-0 the first time around.
00:21:11
Speaker
I also feel the same way. it makes no sense. ah Julian Nagelsmann had his guys ready to go. This looked like a this looked like a contender. I know it's one game. It was a get-right game. It's funny. It shouldn't have been a get-right game, but it was. Germany looked really, really good. Slovakia looked like cones.
00:21:30
Speaker
but like they they It looked like they were running training exercises for how open they were in on goal. Credit to Germany. I mean, again, yeah. how did that How did this same matchup go 2-0 the other way?
00:21:42
Speaker
Things happened. Germany go to the World Cup, Slovakia and Northern Ireland from this group into the playoff. Northern Ireland took the UEFA Nations League bailout. In Group B, Kosovo, the story here. They were very, very well-deserving of a 2-0 away win against Slovenia on Saturday.
00:21:56
Speaker
I thought Kosovo were good in that game. I liked the finish from Eslany. I think they were never really troubled by by Slovenia. They'll be going to the playoff in pot three. Switzerland qualified easily. They drew Kosovo on the last day. Kosovo would have had to win by... an obscene amount of goals to to turn that around. Sweden take the Nations League bailout. There is a lot of work for Graham Potter ahead of March because Sweden, again, did not look good in this window. But Kosovo, are the story here a bit, they are probably the biggest surprise in all of European qualifying to this point?
00:22:28
Speaker
100%. I didn't see this coming. This was a tough group. Like, these are all decent teams. To just be better than Slovenia is not something I in sweden had on my card. Yeah, and Sweden, right? like They outplayed Sweden over the the entirety of this. So credit to Kosovo. They're going to the to the playoff and in Switzerland, as we said, to the World Cup. Ukraine beat Iceland 2-0 in a game that determined who would go to the playoff. France easily qualified from this group.
00:22:52
Speaker
This was stakes, but without the drama that we saw, right? like This was Iceland in need of a draw and almost getting it there with 0-0, but Ukraine were better. They created a bit more. They were hanging on until the end. And then it just kind of comes down to head tennis in the box. And Zubkov is wide open at the far post and heads it in. And and that's the difference here in Ukraine to add one more late for the 2-0 scoreline.
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, this was a cagey game, not like the five three we saw in the first yeah time these two teams met. I think at the end of the day, you you described it well. Ukraine kind of got subs on, had a little more depth, got more balls in the box, had guys open in the box. This is how, ah you know, European soccer between two close-ish teams goes. But I think Ukraine were clearly, you know, deserving, better. Like, it wasn't that dramatic, but it was a decent game. I think Ukraine were good value.
00:23:42
Speaker
Spain qualify Turkey to the playoffs. Spain beat Georgia 4-0. There's a lot to get to on the show, so we don't need to dive into this. But Spain and Turkey played on the last match day, and it was a 2-2 draw. Spain dominated possession. They didn't kill this game off.
00:23:55
Speaker
I mean, I've seen that game before. it's an Achilles heel. We're going to certainly be having our eyes on Spain's ability to to see out the big results when it comes down to it. But fascinating good data point.
00:24:08
Speaker
I'm very interested to see Turkey in the playoff because I feel like I didn't learn anything about Turkey in this qualifying cycle, right? Oh yeah, they're better than Georgia and Bulgaria and they are significantly worse than Spain. I knew that going into it. So what is their actual level here?
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah, great question. i It's going to be interesting to see who they get. you know I think we know what we're getting from Turkey. They have a lot of attacking talent. They can go after it. They can play against the ball somewhat, but they like using the ball.
00:24:34
Speaker
Very just good team. But the defensive personnel is there and they like an open game style. That's a little dangerous in things like the, the you know, the European playoffs. So it's going to be really fun to see those matchups.
00:24:47
Speaker
Poland go to the playoffs. Netherlands to the World Cup, just as we expected. These two teams played a draw on the first match day. That wasn't enough for for Poland to do anything here. Poland only beat Malta 3-2 on the last match day, which sure, Netherlands blew by Lithuania.
00:25:01
Speaker
We kind of knew what was going to happen to this group from the start. Finland made a little bit of noise at a point, but then faded away. Poland are Poland, and the Netherlands are better than them. Yeah, not too much to add. I do think the Netherlands are ah an interesting team, whether or not they're in that top contender circle.
00:25:18
Speaker
Didn't really get that answer from this qualification cycle, but they are good. We know they're good. Poland are exactly what we think they are. We'll we'll see who they've got ah slated and see if they can back their way into the 48. But um yeah, not not too much to add.
00:25:35
Speaker
Poland are the UEFA playoffiest team that hath ever UEFA playoffiest, right? Like, this is always where they were going to be, and this is where they are. Austria amid hopped and puffed for a 1-1 draw with Bosnia on the last matchday to make the World Cup.
00:25:49
Speaker
Bosnia had come from 1-0 down against Romania on the penultimate matchday. They won 3-1. That secured them at least a spot in the playoff. Romania heading to the playoffs by the via the UEFA Nations League. Failout.
00:26:00
Speaker
Bosnia took the lead in this match with a great a away support section in Austria. Took the lead. Paris Tabakovic slashing home early for Bosnia. Austria had to really work for this. They had a goal taken off the board right off halftime for a fairly questionable foul in the midfield that didn't really have anything to do with the goal. But finally, Michael Gregorich got onto a weird bouncing ball in the box to slam home for 1-1.
00:26:21
Speaker
Bosnia didn't have any counterattack in this game, which would have really helped. Like they needed pace from literally anybody. And that Ingeco at this age is not that. And they didn't really have any response to to needing a goal.
00:26:33
Speaker
They're off to the playoff, but they were close enough to feel like they almost got this done here. Yeah. Bosnia have talent. They can play with the ball, but against the higher end teams, they're there's a, there's a gear they don't have. And I think this was a good, good evidence of where Austria is at, right?
00:26:52
Speaker
Didn't have their best game, kind of had a team in their way that was ready to play, gave up a tough goal, but they can, they have an engine that's always been their strength that got them the result they needed. Wasn't perfect.
00:27:04
Speaker
Intrigued by Bosnia. I think that's a team that can, you know, can win two games in a playoff. Depends on the matchups. Did, as you described perfectly, They have to win playing a very ugly style because they they just don't have the gear. They don't have the... Once you get them running, they are in trouble. Right. Tactics not kind to them because they just can't take advantage of space because it's like, oh, they're in space. And then the closing defender just always catches up.
00:27:32
Speaker
That's what happened. There were multiple counter-attacking opportunities in this game where it's like, oh, no, the guy's back already. and And that bodes well for Austria kind of getting to the game they need to get to at the World Cup. I think that they're going to dominate the game state against a lot of teams.
00:27:48
Speaker
That doesn't necessarily you know mean anything in itself. We'll see how how it works out. I'm intrigued by Bosnia in a playoff. I think they'd be a tough matchup for some of these some of these teams in a final, but we'll see.
00:28:02
Speaker
They're not easy to beat, and I think that's what what can make them and the most dangerous in the playoff. Norway finished off as perfect of a World Cup campaign as I think you could have, probably, it's said. They won every single game. They won the majority of them going away, and they finished with a plus 32 goal differential.
00:28:17
Speaker
That's impressive. Italy off to the playoff. They got smoked in the last match day by Norway. We'll have plenty of time to to talk about Italy. We'll have plenty of time to talk about Norway. This group didn't provide us drama, but I think there's a lot of interesting points as we look forward.
00:28:31
Speaker
Yeah, 100%. I think we're both really intrigued by both of those teams. Norway already getting some buzz as a dark horse Dark Horse World Cup pick. I think we'll have time to to preview them more when it comes closer.
00:28:47
Speaker
Really, as you said, almost perfect campaign. And I think looking into it, right, they play a style that translates well in the international format. you know They don't have to do a lot. They're very solid. They don't have to attack with a lot, and they can still run up goals because of how deadly they are on the counter. It's a good little recipe.
00:29:07
Speaker
um Italy, let's discuss them more in the playoff. It's of one of the most fascinating cases. Everyone's going to be thinking about it. you know It's going to take some more examinations. Erling Haaland scored 16 goals in World Cup qualifying, which is ridiculous. Ridiculous. Belgium smashed Liechtenstein on the final day after they had drawn away to Kazakhstan. Wales crushed North Macedonia. That put Wales into pot two of the playoff draw. Belgium into the World Cup. North Macedonia get the new A5 Nations League bailout, but they have to settle for pot four. Albania also into the playoff after Serbia failed to do pretty much anything against England at Wembley. Albania didn't do a whole lot away against Andorra either, but they won 1-0 and it came down to what Serbia could do against England or it would have set up a last matchday battle.
00:29:50
Speaker
And admit, Serbia just didn't have anything for England, regardless of how interested or not England was. Yeah, kind of just fell flat. I think that's the best way to put it. Neither these teams are very good. At the end of the day, it was...
00:30:02
Speaker
the margins of badness. and you give it It was Albania beating Serbia early on, which like credit to them. It allowed them to kind of hold serve, not the prettiest way the rest of the way, but they did. um Yeah, I think it's kind of a bit of a surprise, right? Minor surprise, but Serbia yeah kind of old and trending bad. And this is what can happen.
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah, Serbia are a very playoff-y team that won't be in the playoff. Albania also a very playoff-y team that will be. Croatia also will go to the World Cup. Czechia will go to the playoff. I gave you the Faroe Islands dream scenario on the preview show, and they took the lead. Faroe Islands took the lead away against Croatia. Unfortunately, it did not last long. They were kind of run off the park. But a great, great World Cup campaign for the Faroe Islands, who did a lot more than we would have expected.
00:30:45
Speaker
We know what Croatia and Czechia are. Let's let's see what what they have going forward. Quick hitter thoughts here on the playoff draw. and I'll run through the pots very fast here for the UEFA playoff draw.
00:30:57
Speaker
This will happen on Thursday morning, so there's a chance that you're listening to this show and it has already happened. We'll have some draw reaction stuff for for our Patreon subscribers later on this week. Italy, Denmark, Turkey, Ukraine in pot one. They will be paired up in the semifinal with pot four, which are the UEFA Nations League teams of Sweden, Romania, Northern Ireland, and North Macedonia. Pot two sees Poland, Wales, Czechia, and Slovakia. They will play pot three, Ireland, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo.
00:31:23
Speaker
This emit feels like to me, you've got one heavy hitter that is stumbling in Italy. You've got one biggish team, like second tier team that probably shouldn't be here in Denmark.
00:31:35
Speaker
And then you've got a whole host of teams that can all talk themselves into winning two matches in March and making the world cup. It's a great way to put it. I think all of the pot two teams, Poland, Wales, Czechia, and Slovakia, maybe not Slovakia. But all those teams can kind of talk themselves into, hey, we can we could beat any of those pot one teams. We can beat any of these pot three teams.
00:31:57
Speaker
So I think that's, you know, it's going to be it's going to be good games. Ireland, you know, I don't think they're great, but I think, you know, can Ireland beat Slovakia? Can Ireland beat Czechia?
00:32:10
Speaker
Yeah, can i only be they can win any of those games. So certainly I think Ireland's a team you don't want to see if you're a pot two team. I think that's a tough matchup. I mean, again, we said we're intrigued by Bosnia. Kosovo's been a great story. Albania is ugly but effective. They're all tough games, but you could win two ugly games. The odds are tough, but you can.
00:32:30
Speaker
And again, i think if you're Italy, you're just hoping you're not seeing Sweden. I think the team that... ah Sweden are the team that have, I think, the most potential danger here, right? Like, I don't know if I'm buying Sweden somehow finding a reaction, but I think I'm definitely not buying Romania and Northern Ireland and North Macedonia being anything more than a difficult, sweaty game that just have to fight your way through.
00:32:52
Speaker
Agreed. I don't think you could pick that pick that up, those upsets against any of the pot one teams and credit to them. That's kind of a deserved pot one game. You get a game. you You should, you just should take care of. I'd be shocked. I'd be shocked. um It's, you know, I, I think the, the pot one verse two finals stylistically is what we're going to be the most intrigued by.
00:33:15
Speaker
And we'll talk about them in a few days, like literally two days or a day or two. So exciting. Again, those will be bracketed off, so it will be a pot one, pot four matchup set with a pot two, pot three matchup, and then there will be a draw to determine who would host an eventual final. So the pot one teams aren't guaranteed to host that final, and that could could play a pretty big role.
00:33:35
Speaker
All right, let's shift across to CAF, where the DR Congo walked out of the Rabat-Morocco Thunderdome, quite literally with the amount of rain we saw, with a spot in the Inter-Confederation playoff.
00:33:46
Speaker
Nigeria eliminated. Those are the big stories here. Let's start in the semifinals, which we saw on Thursday. Nigeria 4-1 winners over Gabon. This was a pretty hilarious Nigeria performance. I think this was a microcosm of what they've been throughout this entire qualification campaign. Right.
00:34:00
Speaker
It's nil nil late on this match. They pounce at a defensive air. They score to go up one nil. It's like, all right, Nigeria, you're going be good. then they're not good because Mario Lamina hit a deflected strike that left Stanley Nawali absolutely rooted. It's 1-1. We go to extra time. And then actually, no, hang on. Sorry. We don't go to extra time because before we go to extra time, Victor Oshiman has a chance to make this game not go to extra time.
00:34:22
Speaker
It's Victor Oshiman one-on-one with the Gabon goalkeeper. It is the situation that if you're in Nigeria, you are signing up for 10 times out of 10. And he just misses.
00:34:33
Speaker
Not even close. What happened? I don't know. I mean, you got to give Harry Kane some credit for the skill he makes look so easy, right? You're one-on-one. You got to do it. He just kind of made his mind up. He was going near post, the ball bouncing tough on the turf. He's running fast.
00:34:52
Speaker
Still, just just score. you He had three different things he could have done in this situation. And again, a hilarious Nigeria performance, as you said. And the only thing I'm going to add here is, on the whole of it,
00:35:05
Speaker
Nigeria might have really regretted these 30 minutes they had to play against Kaboom. Yeah, because then they have to go to extra time. They get an extra 30 minutes in their legs. They actually ran away with it in extra time. They started scoring, and they didn't really stop scoring. Oshman redeemed himself for three one took off the mask, took off the shirt, just took it all off, you know scored. Nigeria get through at the expense of Kaboom.
00:35:26
Speaker
Deserved in the end, I think, for Nigeria. They were better in this game, but the lack of clinicalness cost them 30 minutes in the legs, and as we'll get to, that probably made a difference here. Yeah, Gabon played well.
00:35:37
Speaker
um niger It was an ugly game. It was, again, the field in Morocco was not great. um There was rain. It was ugly. It was physical calf ball, which, to be expected, think at the end of the day, right, Nigeria, who didn't who who did their Nigeria thing. They went up one. They should have seen this out. They also had the Osterman chance.
00:35:56
Speaker
they just they They get in their own way. But to their credit, right? War of attrition, right? Sometimes in when it comes down to do or die games, you will do whatever it takes. And if that takes 120 minutes to sap Gabon's legs, that's what they did. Gabon was caone was walking in the last 30. They couldn't keep up with Nigeria. just once Once they were down one, it was all over. like Credit to Nigeria in a sense, right? So if you feel for Gabon, they probably needed to be a little more opportunistic in the 90, but it wasn't going to happen.
00:36:26
Speaker
And in the other semifinal, DR Congo 1-0 winners over Cameroon. My notes on this game a bit are, it was wet, there were laser pointers, and it was wet. Those are my three notes that I have on DR Congo Cameroon. Chancel Mbemba, the DR Congo captain, far post smash, off a corner, 90 plus one to win it for DR Congo.
00:36:44
Speaker
Huge moment because it saved them 30 minutes in the legs, as we'll get to. This was ugly. Cameroon did what they did so often in this qualification campaign is they just didn't play to their talent level. And we said it going in, DR Kong were not that far off this Cameroon side, and they weren't far off on this day.
00:37:00
Speaker
And they took advantage of their chance at the end. And that's what put them into the final. Another ugly game, as you said. And I think what was hard is this was played 10 minutes after, like 20 minutes after the penalty shootout or not, sorry, of the penalty shootout, extra time first match. And the field was just in horrendous condition. And it was even more wet. And this was, I think that helps dear Congo in this game, right?
00:37:26
Speaker
Dior Congo is a good physical defensive team. Their defense personnel was better than Cameroon's. Cameroon, better midfield, maybe better attacking talent. They could not boss the game.
00:37:39
Speaker
And we've seen that be a struggle for Cameroon in the whole cycle. And at the end of the day, right, it just... It never quite worked for them. And there's a lot of you know issues that they're going to have to solve.
00:37:51
Speaker
But the the the day just helped Dior Kongo, who are just super solid, as you said, pretty close on the 11. And like like Cameroon had some chances. They did. But half bounce here, half bounce there. You score the deciding goal.
00:38:05
Speaker
Credit to Kongo. I think that's – you truly couldn't have drawn it up any better. That's the type of game they needed to win. And that put them into Sunday's final, which again, why this final was played on Sunday when there were two more days of the international window that they could have used that both of these teams could have released for rest. I do not know, but such is the way that it went.
00:38:24
Speaker
Nigeria won, DR Congo won, DR Congo win on penalties. Nigeria it got the dream start here, right? Frank Onyeka scored three minutes in this game and it felt like they're just going to keep that momentum that they built up in the first game of this window. They're just going to keep that up. They're just going to keep going.
00:38:39
Speaker
But as seemingly is always the case with Nigeria, that's just not the what's going to happen because the defense is just too open. And they were too open here. A low ball came across. Defender couldn't clear it. Mishak Elliott pounces on it. It's 1-1.
00:38:51
Speaker
And from that point on, it felt like DR Congo never really let Nigeria back up. after that equalizer and we just saw nigeria players start to go right victor oceanman off at halftime because his legs are gone and just nigeria slowly but surely all of their dangerous attacking talent went off the pitch and without those guys there was no real response and d.r congo just controlled this game didn't give nigeria much created the better chances and probably should have won this before it got to penalties Yeah, this was another war in attrition, the same way that Nigeria kind of had to beat Gabon.
00:39:28
Speaker
Look, it went to penalties, but I think for DR Congo, this was the the the the game they could have hoped for. Yes, they gave up the goal early, but you you could tell by the way the game played, they just needed to wear Nigeria down with their legs, and they did. As you said, the players had to come off, and Nigeria had... has death, but it wasn't the same.
00:39:50
Speaker
the The guys that came in just weren't as effective. There are still five, six guys in the field that, you know, they were dead and, Dear Congo just takes your space away and it kind of turned into a very ugly game. And then almost the, the incentives kind of flipped somewhere in the middle of the second half where it was like, Oh, Nigeria is the one trying to survive to pens and just escape because dear Congo had the legs. And to as you said, dear Congo probably had the better of chances in the last 20, 30 extra time as well, like of this game.
00:40:26
Speaker
But yeah, yeah in in a sense, like dear Congo, I never felt like they were that threatened. Nigeria, Nigeria went for it, right? This was a, this was a high level, ugly game. It was a high level game, but as, as something we've just learned is that dear Congo was a very physical, tough team and they kind of out muscled and outlasted Nigeria here.
00:40:50
Speaker
Now, All of that being said, right, it gets a shootout. we we could be saying We could be saying different things and giving plaudits to Nigeria for escaping if the shootout doesn't go the same way. But on the 120, right, like that's kind of what happened. And that's so much of that is because of the first leg.
00:41:06
Speaker
And then the shootout comes. Nigeria just starts laughing. I just mentioned the shootout. He just starts laughing. Nigeria's first taker steps up and goes down the middle, but high. and And you're just like, all right, that's how this is going to be. And it just was wonky and and wild. Water bottles started appearing out of nowhere. The penalties were not good. The goalkeepers were not good. It goes to to extra penalties. Chancel Mbemba scores the winning penalty.
00:41:31
Speaker
after like it was pretty impressive because a water bottle just comes flying out of the stands and just lands like for free from him and he's just like whatever dude like i'm just on this was a this was a great water bottle it was in his run-up yeah so like like whatever i was thinking in my head this is just completely random aside it's like kind of when you're serving in tennis and you're not playing on a real court and the ball rolls like back into your like you gotta to go pick it up like get it like get it out of the way and he he did not care I was like I guess it must have not been in his exact path like the mental fatigue and chicanery and hoodoo in this shootout was off the charts yeah you ah you know why he wasn't phased I mean
00:42:12
Speaker
let's He wasn't phased because they had the voodoo, apparently. Because that's when all of this comes. After the match, Eric Chell, Nigeria manager, who has really just fallen short of expectations, just kind of blew up. Blew up during the shootout, blew up after the match.
00:42:26
Speaker
And he gives this post-match interview, and he starts talking, and you're like, all right'm I'm excited to see why he just like physically attacked the DR Congo manager as this was all happening. and you're like, I wonder what it could be. And he's just like, they had voodoo going on.
00:42:39
Speaker
Like there's a guy over there with water. He's doing voodoo. And again, I have to plead cultural ignorance here, right? Like I can't speak to the ins and outs of voodoo and what is acceptable and not acceptable.
00:42:49
Speaker
From my personal perspective, if I'm in a penalty shootout with my World Cup dreams on the line, I'm calling on whatever higher power I have to call on to get through. And so if that's a ah guy doing voodoo with water on the side, let him do voodoo with water on the side.
00:43:01
Speaker
And it was just like, Nigeria, yeah really? you didn't? That's why you lost? This was great. This was fantastic. i Yeah, I can't add anything to that. what i or i can I'll try. But if you had seen the Nigeria pens and you were their manager who had got them that far... I don't know. Like, that's maybe the excuse I have to go. Like, I'm in the board meeting with my my my higher ups. They're like, bro, you had a shootout. You had all this. Why did you lose a shootout? Why did the players take such bad pens? Were your guys not ready? Did you not practice pens? And he just goes...
00:43:37
Speaker
my players were possessed. Like they were doing voodoo. there are new on the other heads For Nigeria, we're so bad. And at one point I was like, what were these guys doing? And and again, it's so easy for anyone in the world to say, just hit better pens, right?
00:43:52
Speaker
It's pouring rain. You've played 180, 200 minutes. The fields crap. There's laser pointers. The crowd's crazy, but it just, the pens were horrible.
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah, and so, the again, the penalty round is well worth your time. All of the drama is, God, this was just so good. It just delivered, right? Like, we built it up. We we we put all of this into it, and it was just like, yeah, calf qualifiers going out with a bang as only calf qualifiers can. So this is obviously an abject failure for Nigeria. The World Cup expands from 32 to 48 teams, and they don't make it.
00:44:28
Speaker
But this, to me, doesn't necessarily... It comes down to everything they did wrong in this window, but it also comes down to the fact that they were drawn into a group with South Africa and Bedin, and they didn't win their group.
00:44:39
Speaker
That, to me, is the biggest failure of Nigeria in all of this cycle. And as we put a bow on them, and as Amit, we just kind of salute them away to go play meaningless friendlies against World Cup teams as fill-ins for African teams that they'll eventually face in the group.
00:44:52
Speaker
This, to me, comes down to Nigeria were not consistent enough to win the games that they needed to win. They left it to situations like this. And look, at the end of it, if you leave it to these types of situations, it's really hard to get all those right. And that's what Nigeria needed to do, and that's what they didn't do.
00:45:08
Speaker
I agree. Nigeria really talented. You're going to look at the talent of of the teams in CAF, right? You're not going to have them outside the top eight, nine, whatever the team qualified in. And I think some there's something to it, you know, and we're going to just make some conjecture here. I think there's something to like these, they weren't built to play calf ball.
00:45:29
Speaker
Like calf qualification is not Europe qualification. A lot of these players ah in Nigeria are very good players and they're not playing calf type soccer and the demands and everything I'm not saying it's a talent issue. It clearly isn't a talent issue or not so clearly, but you get out of a group by South Africa and Benin, you go to Thunderdome in Morocco and you can't get it done.
00:45:56
Speaker
It's just something about the level of focus and ah respect for the craziness of calf that it takes to get it done. And listen,
00:46:08
Speaker
Could they have had an easier group like the Tunisias and Algerias and Morocco's the world and been right through and we could be saying, hey, this is a dark horse team for a World Cup run. 100%. But they weren't.
00:46:19
Speaker
South Africa and Benin took some beating. They didn't. They didn't do it. you You nailed that. And I just am trying to explain why. And it's hard. And at the end of the day, it comes down to a they got in their way so many times.
00:46:33
Speaker
They had great attacking talent. They defended. They made silly mistakes. And you just repeit can't do that. So many times. So many times. Look to the teams right around you. Ghana.
00:46:44
Speaker
Ivory Coast. Are you better or worse than them? But why did they get through? even Ghana, who is a horrible defensive team, right? You just had to lock it in and play some big matches when the time called for it.
00:46:57
Speaker
It's, yeah it's the margins are so small, right? Like we can't truly like say more than that. But at the end of the day, like that's what, that's what it comes down to. And on the other hand, for DR Congo, this is a really, really great achievement. This is a great run for them. I think they bounced back really well from what could have been a campaign torpedoing loss against Senegal, right? In October, or September, I guess it was, World Cup qualification right in front of you, Senegal at home, you're 2-0 up, you go on, you lose the match, they bounced back well, they got to this moment, and you said it a minute.
00:47:27
Speaker
They are physical in a way that very few teams on the international level are physical. They are a tough, tough out. They take beating, right? You are not going to walk into a match against DR Congo and walk into chances and beat them. You have to outwork them. You have to out muscle them.
00:47:42
Speaker
Yes, of course, they'll make a mistakes because these are after all calf defenders, but it takes a lot to get by them. They're seated at the intercontinental playoff. They're going to have to win one match to make the world cup.
00:47:52
Speaker
And based on what I've seen, I think you're backing them to do it. I think so. I think they'll be favored to get through. And as you said, just full-on credit to them for what they did.
00:48:04
Speaker
Yohan Wisa wasn't available for these two games, right? And that's where I'm just like, you run out of excuses for Nigeria. Because, like, Dear Congo just just did the thing. And, you know, the CAF playoff for the ICP was a kind of a crapshoot, right? Like, you you you roll this thing out a hundred times, there's decent scenarios where all four teams get through. We had said that on the preview show. It just needed to work this way for DR Congo this time. It did.
00:48:34
Speaker
And to their credit though, they're solid team. As you said, we've said one hundred times going to be fun to see them at world cup. I don't think they're going to be in the bottom handful. They're not a pushover if they get through the ICP. Um, but,
00:48:48
Speaker
just Just credit to them. And something about CAF, something about CAF that we've we've we've learned through ah AFCON, that we've learned through qualifying, being a little better in defense and a little worse up top is actually a little better in CAF than it is the other way around.
00:49:04
Speaker
That's they perhaps just the nature of the beast. those those Those small differences in defense can make exponential differences as far as results are concerned. That's kind of what we saw in in this window.
00:49:16
Speaker
All right, deep breath. We're halfway through. We got through Europe. We got through Africa. It's CONCACAF crazy time, Amit. It's time to sum up everything that we saw last night in a brilliant, blisteringly fun final window from CONCACAF.
00:49:31
Speaker
We got a lot to break down, right? The headlines are this. Panama, Curacao, and Haiti are going to the World Cup. Suriname and Jamaica are settling for the Inter-Confederation playoff. I think the best way for us to look at this is let's start by looking at what happened in the fight for direct qualification, and then let's shift over and kind of merge into the conversation for that last particular Inter-Confederation playoff spot. So let's start with direct kind qualification. Let's start in Group A.
00:49:58
Speaker
But Panama's up and down campaign ends in six impressive points this window in a World Cup spot. They withstood a hostile atmosphere against Guatemala on Thursday. Cecilio Waterman wasn't sure if he was going to be the option that Thomas Christensen took up top. He was the choice that he made, and it was the correct choice. He scores two goals in the first half. Panama take an absolute counterpunch from Guatemala, who scored quick two quick goals to make it 2-2.
00:50:22
Speaker
And they just responded. And Fajardo, with a goal scorer's goal for the winner, This was probably as impressive as Panama have been this entire qualification campaign because they played well.
00:50:34
Speaker
They took a CONCACAF magic counterattack, and then they just kept with it. They stuck with it, and they got the three points that they needed here. This was as good as they had been, and this is probably the performance that they're going to hang up and say, that's why we made the World Cup. 100% on all accounts, and I think it was pretty clear from heading we were like,
00:50:55
Speaker
here's the directions Panama can go. And if they do this, this is what we're going say about them. If they do this, this is what we're going to say about them. And they got it done. And we were going to say, they had this in them. They left it late, but at the end, when it came down to crunch time, they put together their two best performances when they needed them. Really impressive. As you said, even absorbed the crazy, you know, blow from Guatemala. That's an impressive result, right? Guatemala is not a pushover.
00:51:22
Speaker
And then maybe helping them, was on the last day, the crazy last day, they had el Salvador, an easier matchup, And, you know, they needed to win big. They did, right? they yeah At no point in the last day did they look in in trouble. They just were they were super committed. And in the day you go, right, this was a team that believed in themselves.
00:51:42
Speaker
The talent came through. And, you know, we're going to talk about Costa Rica in a second. But to focus on Panama, right, the underlying talent was there. And it it showed, right? They could play their best soccer. And again, not playing your best soccer in the manicuredness of a major tournament, right?
00:51:58
Speaker
Right. Bringing it in the CONCACAF format. That is the one of the themes of world qualifying outside of Europe is can you play your soccer in these crazy conditions? Yes. And it was it was very emphatic.
00:52:12
Speaker
this was This was Panama at their best, as you said. And so on the on on last night, on the last day, they felt that they needed a big win against El Salvador because the permutations were such that there was a shot that this was going to come down to goal differential between them and Suriname. We'll get to Suriname in a bit. But Suriname had smashed El Salvador and had the goal differential advantage. In the end, a a simple win would have been enough for Panama, but they played a bit like they knew they needed a big result. They scored early. They scored right on halftime. And then when everything was all pretty much well settled, they got the goal that just let the fireworks just go off and and set off the celebration.
00:52:45
Speaker
The atmosphere was what it needed to be. The performance was what it needed to be. They are well-deserving of their spot. And in the end, unbeaten and qualifying with three wins and three draws. It wasn't the most impressive qualification campaign, but when it came down to it, they got it done. And you said it.
00:53:00
Speaker
The talent difference that they had that we talked about so often. We talked about it in September. We talked about it in October. We talked about it coming into November. That talent difference they had finally came to the forefront and they just put the pedal down and said, all right, we're we're not done. We're going to do this.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, they just cranked it into that gear that a good team gets into against a worse team. where they lock you in and they they just kind of keep coming at you. It was frustrating in the two windows before when it didn't pay off. And you're like, yeah it's not quite going. But, you know, Christensen and the players stayed true to it. And, you know, as you said, that El Salvador game, they kind of just were perfectly up for it. That first goal was very cathartic. And that they had kind of had El Salvador on the ropes for what, 20, 30 minutes, but it just, you knew it was going to come. And when it did, it's like the, the relief was there. The weight was off their shoulders.
00:53:53
Speaker
This, this was impressive. So Panama will head to the World Cup. They will be in pot three of the World Cup draw. Across in Group C, the story here is Haiti's return to the World Cup. They were far and away the best team in this group, in this window, when it was all on the line, when there were three teams that were all fighting for this World Cup spot.
00:54:13
Speaker
They were the team that won twice. It started on Thursday with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica. Franzi Petro got the goal right on halftime. Costa Rica just can't be getting cut open like they were on that goal. And then they needed a little bit of second-half defensive magic, and they got it. Costa Rica pressured. They created opportunities. They threw guys forward. And Johnny Placide in goal made some big saves. The defense got it done. They had some fire drill defending. The performance against Costa Rica on Thursday was big for Haiti, I mean.
00:54:41
Speaker
It was. I mean, this is probably the defining performance for them to get through this whole thing. It was dicey there, right? Costa Rica wasn't going to go out with just a whimper, but, you know, maybe they're not as good at turning the screw as a Panama and some lucky saves, but you'd rather be lucky and make good saves too.
00:55:02
Speaker
This was, this was everything for Haiti. And what ah What a great performance, right? the you They got the goal in the first half that kind of just helped them.
00:55:14
Speaker
was it ah Was it a good, lucky goal? don't know. It got the buy-in, right? It got the buy-in that they needed to put in that shift in the second half and see that out. And then that set up for Haiti, this final match day, where they knew that if they beat Nicaragua, ask Honduras how hard that can be. If they beat Nicaragua, they were going to be in with a shout. And then the way that the result went developing other match, which we'll get to in a bit,
00:55:37
Speaker
Haiti just got it done here. They scored early. They pressured off, and they were good. And by the end of this event, the only drama in this game was on the Haitian phones as they were watching the end of Costa Rica nil, Honduras nil, to see that they made a World Cup.
00:55:50
Speaker
And look, the... the The moment where, right, on the broadcast, you've got all the Haitian players in a circle. They've got their phones out. They're watching the last couple minutes of this game. They know that they need the result to stay at it is to make the World Cup directly.
00:56:03
Speaker
And it happens. And just the release in that moment was... It was magical. It was special. The the Haitian supporters who had who were able to make it to Curacao for this game, the celebrations there, the celebrations online, all of it was just this huge built-up moment, and it was well-deserved because they went and they took the moment that the other teams of this group didn't do.
00:56:28
Speaker
Yeah, we had always said for Haiti it was doable, but we didn't bet on it. It was doable because they had to play their home games in Curacao. And i I, first one to kind of rag on the atmosphere, I was like, this is hard. There's no home field advantage here. This is stale.
00:56:44
Speaker
and Credit, right? They got some people here for this this last match day. It was special. As you said, the scenes were, you could tell how much it meant to them. There was support on hand. And they played up to the desperation of the home atmosphere.
00:56:56
Speaker
Again, they needed help, right? this They needed help the whole way, right? You play this whole thing, maybe it's not Haiti. But what you said was 100%. They went and took it. Two big performances. And we'd always said, not always, said but from what we knew about Haiti, they could control a game. Could they get the goals?
00:57:14
Speaker
It was going to be dicey. Okay, you had the buy-in game one. This one, they were super up for Nicaragua in a way that Honduras did not have the attacking talent. In a way that Costa Rica was stale.
00:57:25
Speaker
Haiti were like the liveliest of the three teams. They were the most belief of the three teams. They went and took it. Does that always work out? No. Sometimes the bounces don't go your way. Sometimes you run hard and it doesn't work, but it's rewarding. It's fitting. And it's nice. It's nice that it worked out that way that we can sit here and go a hundred percent. They were their most deserving team. Again, it's another one. Like our Haiti better than Costa Rica and Honduras.
00:57:51
Speaker
don't know. Do not care. They were the, they, they brought it in this window and they, they could have been down and out, right? If you were looking at the standings, you had them third and like we had kind of, and going to talk about Honduras in a second. We kind of were skeptical of Honduras getting the goals with the personnel they had and it just dried up.
00:58:13
Speaker
And like so much of this is timing. It's just, they got hot in the last two games and they saw out the results and look like, Nicaragua weren't very good, but other teams struggled. right Again, ask Honduras about Nicaragua, right? And what Haiti did so well in this match is they were added early and they scored early and they made it count. And that just changes the whole complexion of this game because look, Nicaragua are going to fight, right?
00:58:40
Speaker
But when you already have them a goal down, it's like, oh, okay, we're not going to fight that much, right? We're already down. Haiti pounced early and they put the pressure on those teams in the other game and they took advantage of it. And look, you're going to see a ton of this all around and and deservingly so. But the context here is it's spectacular. Haiti have not played a home match since 2021. Their manager, Sebastian Meunier, has never been to Haiti, never set foot in the country. That's the same for some of these players. There are players in the Haitian national team that have never played a game in Haiti. there the The players are getting the support from the Haitian population from social media, right?
00:59:18
Speaker
Because of the situation in the country, that is how the the people in the country are supporting the national team. Our good friend John Arnold of Getting Concapped had a fantastic article for ESPN. on the situation of Haiti, on just how incredible all of this is, all of the players after the match, right? that They go on Instagram live and that's how they connect with, with the supporters back in the, in the homeland of Haiti. It is everything that makes football great. Right. And,
00:59:44
Speaker
and And look, they earned this, right? You look at what the three teams who were in line for qualification of this group did in this window, and you cannot negate the fact that Haiti were the one of the three who took the opportunity, who met the moment and and are in the World Cup and deserving of their spot. And look, I don't know what's going to happen in June when Haiti go to the World Cup and play. Like, I don't know. Haiti might go to the World Cup they might lose three times. But what it means...
01:00:09
Speaker
for the players and for the country to step out onto that pitch next June, wherever it may be against whoever it may be and play in a world cup. It's just so hard to put that into words. It is. And you got to read the story. You got to understand the situation in Haiti and just how hard it is. I just think, I know there are some smaller countries, nations participating.
01:00:31
Speaker
I think this is the most unlikely team we've had so far to make it in the forty eight just for everything that you described, the the the football situation, the players, the talent, like they're good, right? They're good. But like the talent here compared to some of the teams, it's it's magical in a sense for Haiti. And the way it happened, as you described, to take in last window,
01:00:58
Speaker
it's It's such a win for them. And it's a it's a win for CONCACAF in a sense. It's win for football, right? it's a win Yeah, it's a win for football. And we don't say that lightly on this podcast, right? Like, obviously, we're happy when when small teams make it.
01:01:08
Speaker
we have our favorites. We have the teams we kind of like, you know, kind of snidely rude against, but, but truly for Haiti to, to get through CONCAC qualification, playing no home games, right? It just, it doesn't happen like that. This is one of the reasons why we, why we enjoy this. And regardless what happens, the fact that Haiti are in the world cup is going to mean everything to them. Definitely one of the best stories and credit to the players as well, right? This is a big development win for Haiti.
01:01:38
Speaker
They stuck with it. like the Ahead of schedule for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Ahead of schedule for sure. But that's why you that's why you take your chance when you get them. Haiti might miss the next two World Cups. Like, they just could. You have to take your chance when it happens.
01:01:53
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. and And it's just, it's so great. And it's just going to be so fantastic. And and the attention that it's going to bring to to the Haitian players, to to the Haitian cause, to all that, it's it's all absolutely worth it. And with such a good experience,
01:02:05
Speaker
Such a good feel-good moment, right, on on Tuesday night. In Curacao, which is fitting because Curacao also made the World Cup. They got it done in Kingston. They left Jamaica in the Inter-Confederation playoff.
01:02:18
Speaker
with a nil-nil draw. This was set up after Curacao smashed Bermuda 7-nil on Thursday. Side note, Amit, I made a point. I told you Bermuda was gonna get somebody. You know who they got? They got Trinidad and Tobago in a dead rubber on the last day. They got a point, 2-2 draw.
01:02:33
Speaker
Bermuda not going home empty handed. They did not get Curacao. They got beat 7-nil by Curacao. But they did get Trinidad and Tobago. So I called that, I was right. And that was then juxtaposed with this very weird approach from Jamaica.
01:02:47
Speaker
where they play out a draw in Port of Spain against Trinidad and Tobago. They weren't bad in this game, but Steve McClaren rested some players who were at risk of yellow card suspension. He didn't put out his best, best, best choice side.
01:02:58
Speaker
Jamaica took the lead through Ronaldo Cephas in the second half, but they got pegged back late by a goal from Kevin Molino. Trinidad and Tobago had to win that game on Thursday in Port of Spain. They didn't. they They got close, but they didn't.
01:03:09
Speaker
Jamaica needed to win in order to set up a situation where they could have drawn on the last day to get the World Cup. And they didn't. And the thing that was weird about all of this, admit, is Jamaica were very fine with that, at least publicly. Steve McLaren was like, ah, that's okay. We were ready for this. We're set up.
01:03:24
Speaker
And you understand that a bit. Because again, winning a match at home to make the World Cup is a situation that you generally sign up for, but it didn't have to be that way. They could have very easily beaten Trenton and Tobago. And I don't think the approach was that far off, but just the vibes were just weird all around.
01:03:43
Speaker
I agree. I think you want that draw. Obviously, hindsight is 20-20. You want the advantage of playing for the draw on the last day against Curacao. who who Who got it?
01:03:54
Speaker
Who used it? Right? So it's a bummer. This game was frustrating. They certainly outplayed Trinidad and Tobago. They, you know, kind of did their thing. Jamaica struggle to take a game by the scruff and just get their best players in the best positions. Right? They, you know, out of all the the teams in this group, the talent is the best.
01:04:16
Speaker
You look at the talent. We've always said Jamaica's kind of issue is the getting it to gel in the right way. playing a cohesive game and you know, they're built to play, uh, not to the, the aggressors, not the main character with the ball type thing. They kind of want to hit you on the counter.
01:04:37
Speaker
They, they don't really like have a lot of attacking ideas. It's more of a, get the ball forward route one. If that doesn't work cross that cook and cross, they got good wingers.
01:04:48
Speaker
They couldn't work that strategy against Trinidad and Tobago to a win. right they They played well. They they led one but led by one. just frust Just frustrating. There's no other way to put it. That sets up this game against Curacao where Curacao has the draw advantage.
01:05:03
Speaker
And as you said, it they used it. It was a must win for Jamaica and Kingston on Tuesday. And again, they tried in this game. They weren't like completely inept against Curacao. can't fault them for their approach in this game. They went at it at home. They gave Curacao. I thought, you know, they their best punch. They hit the woodwork. They put the ball in the box. Yeah. So, like, the margins are are this, this tight. You can't say that Jamaica didn't try their best at home.
01:05:32
Speaker
but But at the end of the day... They had given up the advantage of a draw with the performance that they put in against Port of Spain, and that ended up costing them. And I also think, Amit, I think Curacao approached this game correctly. They knew that they had the draw in their back pocket, but they did not set out at the start of this game playing for the draw, right?
01:05:48
Speaker
The manager, Dick Avicat, had to return to the Netherlands to to deal with the personal matter. They have an assistant coach that that's taking charge in in Dean Gouray, the former Suriname manager. But it felt like Curacao approached this game correctly because they knew if we sit back and invite Jamaican pressure for 90 minutes, odds are something's going to end up in the back of our net.
01:06:06
Speaker
So they tried to go forward and they didn't find a ton of success going forward, but they looked to control some of the ball. They played the way that I think they needed to play to have this result to fall back on at the end. It was effective. they They got the ball to their kind of dangerous players on the wings and they hit long balls over the top to make Jamaica run backwards and deal with them.
01:06:25
Speaker
Were those long balls mostly speculative? Sure. But they ran hard after them to make Jamaica defend. And as you said, at least for the first half, at least for the first half, Jamaica could not, you know, pin them in.
01:06:37
Speaker
In the second half, yes. Jamaica pinned them in, kind of got, you know, down to, you know, turn the screw time. But in a game where Jamaica needed to get a goal, right? That was good work to force the to force them to run, to to keep them from the the amount of time where they could fully go for it.
01:06:56
Speaker
Yes, Jamaica got there. And there was also a dicey pen shout in here, too, that I think was probably the right call. Yeah, where it looks like it's all gone wrong in stoppage time. Curacao's dogged defending, done wrong. The referee gives the penalty and then VAR calls him over and he looks at it. It's pretty clear. I think that the ball was touched first and and then goes out of play. Any sort of contact from there. It actually ended up being a corner for Jamaica that they didn't take advantage of.
01:07:19
Speaker
This would have been very, very harsh on Curacao if this penalty stands and Jamaica end up scored from it. I think it's the right call in the end, but it's scary moment nonetheless. Yeah, there was that sense of, oh, it's all been undone. And to all we're going to say nice about Curacao and all we're going to say not so nice about Jamaica, who still has the Inter-Confederation playoff, the margins are are this tight, right? Woodwork three times, pen that could have been given without BAR, right? That's that's standing. so it's funny. We can sit here and praise the Curacao Approach. And i I do think they they knew they had the draw. They got the draw.
01:07:53
Speaker
But ah it was, it was ah this was a this was a very, you know, good, not the best played, but a good dramatic game. This is the first World Cup appearance for Curacao. They are the smallest ever nation to make the World Cup, which you will probably hear a lie between now and the World Cup.
01:08:11
Speaker
I mean, everybody's going need their go-to U.S. city to compare the population of Curacao to. So with 160,000 people in Curacao, you're going to hear a lot about Huntsville, Alabama, and Tempe, Arizona in the next six months because those are the U.S. cities that match that population number perfectly.
01:08:26
Speaker
That's what you're going hear about for six months. But credit to Curacao for the buy-in for the project. They've taken full advantage of of the players that they can call in from the Netherlands, the players with Curacao and Roots, of course. But there are also guys here, particularly Ily Roo, the Bakuna brothers, who have been with this project and committed for a long time. There are names that don't get to enjoy the World Cup that have put in the work to get Curacao to the World Cup.
01:08:48
Speaker
And they are well deserving of this. And at the end of the day, yes, the margins were slim, but they beat Jamaica at home and they drew Jamaica away. And in this group, that was what mattered.
01:08:59
Speaker
And look, I don't think Curacao are going to be particularly successful at the World Cup. They're going to be up against a lot of of factors that make it difficult for them. But getting there is well, well learned.
01:09:12
Speaker
Similar things we said about Haiti in terms of visibility for the players and just to be there, what it matters to them. Not the same set of, you know, inherent difficulties for Haiti. But, and the other thing is I said, Haiti was ahead of schedule. I don't think this was ahead of schedule for Curacao. I think this was, this was the cycle to do it.
01:09:30
Speaker
You didn't have the top three teams. You had the spot and we had circled very clearly um at the start of all of this, the team that had Jamaica in their group was going to have kind of a chance when we had said out of the top three in, um you know, con in this set of CONCACA qualifying, who's the most vulnerable?
01:09:50
Speaker
Costa Rica ended up being also vulnerable. But Jamaica, we had said, you know, you can get out of that group. It had been building to this for Kursau. They took the opportunity. As you said, the two big results. This was a complete window too, right? It it was dicey in the final day, but um right on schedule.
01:10:05
Speaker
This project has been building up to this for a long time. Yes, I don't know what they're going to do. I don't think they're a great team in the context of a World Cup, but they absolutely deserved to be on top of Jamaica after six games in a way that even Haiti were a little opportunistic, got some help.
01:10:24
Speaker
Curso didn't get help. They just did the thing. And that is a very, very, you know, compliment to them. And, you know, the tough knock on Jamaica for who's better between the two teams. I know there's slightly more talent Jamaica, but I think Curso played better team soccer over six games.
01:10:41
Speaker
Absolutely. And in the two head-to-head matchups, definitely. And unfortunately, as is so often with the case with Jamaica, this goes poorly and then things just kind of snowball because post-match manager Steve McLaren resigns saying, quote, sometimes the best thing a leader can do is to recognize when a fresh voice, new energy, and a different perspective is required to move this team forward. End quote.
01:11:03
Speaker
Also known as, i don't really want to deal with this federation anymore, much like the manager before me didn't want to deal with this federation anymore. And much like has been so often the case for Jamaica, it feels, Amit, that we're getting the same old story, right? A flashy manager, and look, I know Steve McLaren isn't a flashy manager, but a big name, well-recognized manager comes in doesn't complain openly, tries to get all these big recruits in, doesn't get all them in, get some of them in, falls short and leaves on good terms saying, you know, the future is bright.
01:11:32
Speaker
the The next guy who comes in here is going to be the guy to get this over the line is going to make Jamaica the thing. But it's it's not for me. And we're right back to square one for Jamaica. And now they're going into this playoff with no manager.
01:11:43
Speaker
We have no idea who's going to show up for them on the bench or on the field. And it kind of feels like CONCACAF's peak vibes team in Jamaica, Mitt, is going to go to Mexico for the Interconfederation playoff and say, we're trusting the vibes to take us home.
01:11:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great way to put it. they They're not out of it, right? They certainly could win two games. Certainly if you're Jamaica and you get New Caledonia... right You're going to say, okay, we could win that game, and then you're hoping to see right not DR Congo. i think you great You're hoping for Iraq.
01:12:14
Speaker
You're hoping for Iraq. You think you could beat Iraq. Can you beat DR Congo? You can, and then they'll be underdogs in that game. But it's still there. As you said, though, there's no ah there's nothing to fall back on for them to get that done other than roll out the guys and hope the vibes go way. Right. And it shows up and try to do it once we get there. Yeah.
01:12:35
Speaker
It's, you know, larger conversation. It's certainly frustrating. They're not done. So we're we're not going I'm not going to write them off. McLaren is right. In a sense, like there is promise here.
01:12:46
Speaker
Jamaica have pathways to competitiveness that can rely on Jamaican players, you know, using the pipelines of USL college soccer, MLS academies to get this,
01:12:59
Speaker
national team there, but they haven't used those yet. This team has been built on flashy, you know, big name players that have the eligibility take advantage of those rules.
01:13:11
Speaker
Okay. You want to play that way. You've got to provide them the ecosystem to gel. That has just never been the case in Jamaica. Okay. We've had the names. We've had some great players, right? We've had the McHale Antonios and the Damari Grays, and we've had Andre Blake.
01:13:29
Speaker
And we're getting beat by Curacao. Yeah. And it's like, oh, again, are doing their own eligibility things. Welcome to CONCACAF. At of the day, it's not just about the pool, right? You've got to have organization. You've got to have chemistry. You've got to have a you know a more patented style of soccer that is CONCACAF proof.
01:13:54
Speaker
Again, are the narrow are the margins this this tiny? I'm doing the fingers? Sure, but like... chip Jamaica just were never reliable. That's the most we could say about that. And again, this isn't the first time we've seen this exact cycle, right? Like yeah this is now what three or four straight Jamaican managers who have all left under largely the exact same circumstances who have all been dealt the exact same hand of cards. And that obviously speaks to bigger problems related to the Federation and all that sort of organizational issues that they obviously are going to need to figure out.
01:14:28
Speaker
But again, there's a World Cup playoff coming up in March that you're not going to figure out. You're not going to solve that between November and March. They have to get somebody in that can rally the troops and can go out and try and put in two performances and make the World Cup.
01:14:41
Speaker
Agreed. and And the last thing I'm just going say is the the space is there in CONCACAF to be the fifth, sixth, seventh best team, like the fifth, sixth best team. and we've been We've been doing this dance for years and years and years. And now in a 48-team World Cup, there's a lot of incentive to be that. And this, again, they could still make it, but it's just going to feel like a massive, massive missed opportunity when the one in North America in 2026 and you're not there. it it It will be a big failure if they don't.
01:15:11
Speaker
So that's the most we can say. And they just haven't they haven't seized the opportunity. Haiti and Curacao are there. You are not if you don't get through. That will sting.
01:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, and to have been beat by a team that is basically doing your game plan, but so much better, right? A team in Curacao that is, we have a small player base, we are trying to recruit players from overseas that can buy in and that will do this, and Curacao have just gotten that buy-in in a way that Jamaica never have.
01:15:41
Speaker
And that is why, partially, Curacao are going to the world Cup in Jamaica
Suriname and the Chaotic Path to Qualification
01:15:45
Speaker
aren't. So, but the last thing for us to talk about in Cogicap is the other spot in the Inter-Confederation playoff. We talked about Jamaica. This, in the end, came down to a three-way fight between Suriname, Honduras, and Costa Rica for that spot. And I think...
01:15:57
Speaker
The headline here is that this was an exercise in futility and in knowing or not knowing. So let's start with Suriname, who ended up getting this playoff spot. They looked really good against El Salvador. 4-0 win.
01:16:09
Speaker
A World Cup spot felt legitimately possible. It felt like they can go play a away against Guatemala, win that match. Panama don't score the goals that Panama needs to score, and Suriname would be going to the World Cup.
01:16:21
Speaker
That was not what happened because Suriname backed up their really good performance against El Salvador with far and away their worst performance of the World Cup qualification cycle, where they were blown out of the water by already eliminated Guatemala, who I think we probably need to have an eye on for 2030 because I think there's a good project coming with Guatemala, and I think the pieces are there that it's not it wasn't a flash-in-the-pan run to the World Cup semifinal. It wasn't, oh, we had a couple good performances. i think there's a lot there for Guatemala, but more on that in three years' time.
01:16:49
Speaker
This was a hardaway match. it was a chunky field, and Suriname just never got things going. Things snowballed into the second half, so much so for that, for 25 minutes here, Suriname were out, and they needed a goal to get back in, which they got because of the 93rd minute.
01:17:03
Speaker
Geraldo Becker whips in a dangerous ball. It goes off a defensive head, and it's in. It's the goal that sends Suriname to the Inter-Confederation playoff, I don't think they knew that it was the goal that sent Serdab to the Inter-Confederation to play off.
01:17:14
Speaker
No real celebration, no real chase after the ball. Let's go try and get another one. um Everybody needs a guy, and Serdab's guy wasn't there in this moment. This was such an up-and-down rollercoaster of emotions where you don't even know if the players know what rollercoaster they're on.
01:17:32
Speaker
this is peak cock and calf after dark. This is the great stuff. Suriname definitely did not know. They had been soundly beaten, soundly outplayed, left for dead. They had kind of, you know, all they needed to do was hang on in this game and they kind of, their legs gave out.
01:17:45
Speaker
We'd always said this about Suriname. The depth isn't there. They play an intense style that got them done in. Played a great game against El Salvador. Had this all to do and... I'm echoing your credit to Guatemala. And I think one of the themes we had always said about this group was, who's better?
01:18:00
Speaker
Suriname or Guatemala? Suriname or Guatemala? It's close. I think Guatemala might be a little better. Doesn't matter, right? Suriname got the job done in different ways on a neutral. And, you know, it's not just a one game, but Guatemala impressed us. And they clearly have a little bit more higher end talent than Suriname.
01:18:18
Speaker
Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. Sometimes you're in the zone where the game is over for everyone but you and you don't even know that you're still in it. Maybe that helped them. Maybe the pressure, if they knew they needed a goal, would have like yeah built on them because they certainly collapsed knowing what they knew about this game. And maybe, you know, going into the match, they had said, look, it doesn't matter what the score is you You should still try.
01:18:42
Speaker
And even when they were down two, right, they they did try to keep scoring. They just looked kind of lifeless. I don't know how to like make sense of any of that. Right. From the Suriname perspective. It felt like the moment was too big. Like, yes. And look, they didn't get a favorable draw. They had to play Guatemala, who, as we learned, are significantly better than El Salvador at this point in time. That didn't help them. But it just felt like Suriname understood the weight of the moment. And it was like, whoa, we're Suriname. Like, that's a bit too much here.
01:19:13
Speaker
And that's where the credit goes back to to Panama from the start of this, right? Who took the way to the moment and said, wait a second, we're Panama in a group with Guatemala and Suriname. We're the team to do this. And Suriname,
01:19:24
Speaker
like Honduras, I think just the moment that I said, i don't know how to make sense. this You said it best. The moment was was a little too big for them. But but you know what?
01:19:35
Speaker
They kept going for it and they got a fortunate bounce in the situation where they needed it. They put a good ball in. It deflected off a header. It was three, one. It was completely meaningless. Guatemala were like, ah, there goes a clean sheet.
01:19:47
Speaker
And Sermon were like, oh, we scored. And it was like, no, yeah do you understand the situation here? You are still alive in this because of what just happened. And really what it comes down to for Suriname, who perhaps thought that they didn't they didn't know.
Honduras vs. Costa Rica: Missed Opportunities
01:20:00
Speaker
and what kept them alive is the other game, which is the other game, which now bring you know is worth mentioning. That's kind of bit conversation. Let's talk about Costa Rica-nil, Honduras-nil.
01:20:11
Speaker
So let's start with what happened before this game. If you think back, I know it was a long time ago, a it I know there's been a lot of matches between now and then, but when you and I sat down to record the preview podcast, do you remember the one thing that I told you Honduras couldn't do?
01:20:24
Speaker
What was it?
01:20:27
Speaker
flop in these games have to not score goals, not draw this one. And you know what they did? They flopped in these games and they didn't score goals. They were never really in it against Nicaragua, who again, were really, really bad. They got scored on early. They got scored on late and against Nicaragua in a way match that Honduras really just had to have. They had to have the three points. They didn't show up and they weren't at the races and they got beat by Nicaragua.
01:20:51
Speaker
That then sets up this fascinating final day. where Honduras go away to play Costa Rica and San Jose. Costa Rica know that their only chance of having any hope of advancing, whether it be directly to the World Cup, whether it be to the Intercontinental Federation Playoff, is they have to win.
01:21:07
Speaker
And Honduras are in this weird limbo in-between spot where, all right, we probably can't lose. There's a decent chance that drawing is going to could be enough.
01:21:18
Speaker
And just as this game kind of rolls on, it becomes clear that Honduras are going to need to win because of what Haiti are doing. And then you've got what's happening with Suriname.
01:21:30
Speaker
But then for 25-ish second half minutes, they were still going to the Interconveneration playoff with draw because of what was happening in that Suriname game. And it just kind of went into this twilight zone of Honduras just froze and didn't do anything because they were so scared of losing what little, and again, it was little, what they had.
01:21:50
Speaker
And Costa Rica, well, bless their heart, they tried. But unfortunately for Costa Rica, at this point in time, a minute trying is telling 37-year-old Kendall Waston to go up front and do something.
01:22:01
Speaker
And at this point, that's just not going to be enough.
01:22:05
Speaker
Yeah, there's a both games too, right? kenda wastin Number nine, Kendall Austin was a thing for like 40 minutes over these two games and it didn't work. Yeah, let's start with Honduras. So first of all, yeah, the Nicaragua, you know, debacle, this this was indicting. First of all, should have explain to us the the theme here for Honduras is at no point. Did they have a way to get a goal when they needed a goal? They just did not. And they couldn't get one against Nicaragua, which was bad. And against Costa Rica, there were Costa Rica was, was a lot worse than we thought heading into the cycle, just a beatable team. Honduras, however, are even worse. And the damning sentence that was from the start of this preview pod was they're relying on Romo Kyoto to get it done. Because he was the best player in their 11 at scoring goals. And he had no help. right Honduras, bless their bless their hearts, runs hard, defends hard.
01:23:01
Speaker
They were only going to do this by drawing both games. And like they needed Suriname to not get that last guess goal. The game theory was fascinating. If you really think about it, they should have played for a win. At any point, at any point, a win would have helped them. Unfortunately, they can't win because winning requires scoring a goal We're just going to take that off the table for them. So their next best thing was, can we get through this on a draw? And they almost did if it wasn't for that starting round goal.
01:23:29
Speaker
Clearly, clearly they just, that was their last hope. And when it was time to score, it was too late. Yeah. And the thing that was so interesting about this is Costa Rica knew they also had to score. This game opened up. And Costa Rica opened themselves up and they couldn't do it. Our had chances to run back two on two and they just didn't take advantage of them. They weren't even really close. Like there was a chance that they could have walked into a goal at various points of this match because of how committed Costa Rica were.
01:23:56
Speaker
And it just felt like Honduras were too scared to take advantage of it for the entirety of this game. They were a goal away from going to the world cup. And it just never really felt like it. It felt like what they had was as good as it was going to get. and They needed to hang on to it.
01:24:10
Speaker
Agreed. And you framed how close they were, but they weren't. To me, in my mind, this is such reminiscent of like Peru versus Chile. Yeah. Like Honduras is Peru trying to get it done by scoring as little goals as possible. And Costa Rica is Chile. Old, bad, has nothing, relying on ghosts of World Cup's past.
01:24:33
Speaker
It's just so poor. And, like, at the end of the day, this was fair. A 0-0. They both had egg on their face. Costa Rica tried, had nothing, because Honduras was committed to defending.
01:24:45
Speaker
All Honduras needed was one breakaway. andnd Costa Rica had no one back, and they just... Costa Rica was hoping for a penalty kick. they They had one ball in the box, right, where it kind of sprays and the goalkeeper for Honduras comes out. He gets the ball and the guy's like, oh, if I trip over him, even though he got the ball and really do a tumble, I'll get the pen.
01:25:07
Speaker
And they VAR'd it, you know, it started a brawl. Keylor Navas is down in the Honduras goal because both of both teams knew they were like, well, this is the moment, right? Like, is it an anti-football moment of trying to get VAR? And with VAR, thankfully, right, this wasn't given.
01:25:24
Speaker
And outside of that, there was nothing from either team. Mind-bogglingly, comically inept stuff. Yeah. and You want to say, like oh, they should have tried. They should have I think this is what they had in them.
01:25:40
Speaker
which is just so damning on and on everything. But look, the 3-1 goes in for Suriname, right? And there's still time left in this game. There's still time. You can see the Honduras bench, like they're elevated. They're like trying to wave people forward. And Honduras are just like, oh man, I don't think we have that in us right now. And this was just, I think you said it correctly.
01:25:59
Speaker
This felt like the fair result. I don't think Suriname are better than Honduras or Costa Rica, but I think they did enough in this cycle that of these three teams, I am fine. Personally, most pleased that it's Suriname who are advancing forward. And yeah, they got it wrong. And yeah, their guy who was some dude in a soccer tie with his phone on the sideline didn't get the message in at in time, but they still got it done. And I think they're deserving of it.
01:26:24
Speaker
um This was just bad from Costa Rica, right? Like this whole cycle, they just never really got up for anything that wasn't Nicaragua. And Honduras just never really had anything to get up with.
01:26:36
Speaker
And it was this game was just a microcosm of how poor both of these teams were and also how deserving it was that Haiti went through here because they met the moment. And these teams just didn't because they both of them need a goal, right? Because five minutes when both of these teams like we got to score and what are they doing? They're just brawling in the box trying to win a VAR penalty. Like that's the best recipe they're over at.
01:27:01
Speaker
it just, it really wasn't there for Costa Rica. We had kind of come in saying, oh, they're on the level of Panama. Oh, they're the fifth best team in CONCACAF. And they just, and they just weren't, we learned pretty fast. They could not save it. They brought in Miguel Herrera, like, you know, a very, you know, say what you want about him. I don't think he's a great manager, but like has done the job enough in CONCACAF to the bar.
01:27:25
Speaker
And that's what they were hoping. Like, We look like a the fifth best team in CONCACAF. Here is the manager of a team that could be the fifth best team in the CONCACAF. Here are some players that, like, have the pedigree of the fifth best team in CONCACAF. We are. We promise. Do not look behind the curtain. Whatever you do, do not look behind the curtain. And then you'd watch the games and be like, oh, you're getting out-hustled by, like, Nicaragua. Oh, like, Honduras is, like...
01:27:48
Speaker
daring you to like do anything against them and you can't like Haiti Haiti beat you but with like this scrape of your teeth one o of that you could ever have it just if they truly were just not at the level and like surprise surprise I think we we both thought they did more they just they just really weren't and you know is again we've said before on the Jamaica thing there's an opening to be the the fifth sixth best team in CONCACAF.
Surprises on the Final Day of CONCACAF Qualifiers
01:28:17
Speaker
Can that be Costa Rica in the stretch, you know, based on their overall like ecosystem of football?
01:28:23
Speaker
Yes. Was not the case this cycle. Yeah. And again, i just, I just hearkened back to the point that like Costa Rica is like, Oh, we got to have it. Button was number nine, Kendall lost in like,
01:28:34
Speaker
That's just not enough in this day and age. who is like That bit doesn't work anymore. Yeah. who is at At his peak was a perfectly fine MLS caliber central defender. Is not anymore. Is slow. is And again, it's not even you're not even asking him to be a central defender. You're trying to put him up front to score. It's just not going get it done. So that's how it finishes in CONCACAF. Last night was...
01:28:57
Speaker
just It was just brilliant. It really was. It was a perfect encapsulation to everything. There are storylines popping out of every screen that you've got up. There's just ineptitude on one. There's Curacao on the other. there's It was just great.
01:29:11
Speaker
I loved CONCACAF World Cup qualifying. Again, I don't think any of these teams are really any good, but they sure deliver entertainment, and I think we have to give them credit.
Iraq's Determination and Playoff Spot
01:29:22
Speaker
100%. take out the three best teams in CONCACAF, this is what you get. This is what you get. You get a bunch of bad teams stumbling to the finish, and boy, as you said, they delivered. And a great final day. So I think we're we're pleased with what we got. And this was one for the CONCACAF and international soccer sickos. We loved it.
01:29:42
Speaker
Yeah, like if you're not going to be good, at least give us good stories. And they did in Curacao and Haiti making the World Cup and Suriname going on and and playing on. So let's close the show here a bit by looking at what happened in Asia. Iraq 3-2 on aggregate, getting a very, very late second leg penalty.
01:29:58
Speaker
There was i mean more football in this tie that you than you or I thought we were going get. I think, and and we talked about this pre-show, I think this came down to the fact that neither of these teams, Iraq or the UAE, were good enough to pull off the low event clay ball. Like they just, that was what they wanted to do. They understood that that was the best path to getting it done here, but neither of them were good enough to actually do that.
01:30:23
Speaker
And so that led to games that were a bit more open than we thought. The away team scored first in in both of these legs. i Iraq got a first leg header. UAE got a second leg, just run straight and shoot special after the Iraqi midfield just falls over.
01:30:36
Speaker
um And then from there, the home team responded in both legs. And then a Iraq kind of put the pressure on it and got it done at the end of the second leg. These were two very even teams. They played a very even tie. And what did it come down to? It came to a 90 plus 17 penalty.
01:30:51
Speaker
Feels right. I think so. I think we had pegged that this could have gone two penalties overall after two legs. It maybe could have, right? The margins were a handball in the last minute. I think you nailed it, right?
01:31:04
Speaker
the The way these teams wanted to play was... get a set piece or, you know, the other team slips and falls, you score a goal and then you see out that lead. Both of those things happened in both legs, all right? Iraq scored a set piece in the first game. UAE saw an Iraqi player slip head score to and scored a goal like on a 60-yard run because there was, in a game, there was no space.
01:31:26
Speaker
There was magically space. And after both of those things, dude falling down. Yeah. And after both of those things, the the team sitting on the lead was not good enough to see it out. yeah And I think just at the end of the day, right, Iraq kept coming a little bit more, right?
01:31:44
Speaker
And at the end of the second leg, right Iraq was the one who kind of just just had the momentum at that stage in the tie and was saying, let's put the ball in. Every set piece was like, all right, we're going to walk everyone in the box. We're going to get everyone forward. This was very ugly, methodical soccer. Two just very tightly poised teams.
01:32:04
Speaker
really could have gone either way you give iraq quite iraq credit for being the one that went for it at the end like that's really what it is that kept asking the questions and i think like the key moment in this tie boils down to uae get what is in fact a gift right to to go for it a wreck to simply fall down in the midfield and all of a sudden there's all this space and and kyle lucas runs in and he scores And UAE have, all right, we are ahead.
01:32:31
Speaker
We've got half an hour. We got to see it out. It didn't even last 10 minutes, right? Iraq, they like they they pushed for five. Iraq withstood the push. And then Iraq start matriculating the ball forward and they get two chances in the box and boom, they've already scored and it's one, one. And like, yeah, that's a, that's a great point. We were like, can UAE defend in their box for 30 minutes?
01:32:50
Speaker
Probably not. They didn't last 10. So that's the best way to put it. They look not convincing at all. Yeah, and so then it just starts snowballing and the ball just keeps coming into the box from Iraq. And they they waste these golden chances to win, right? They had a they had the UAE situation where they've got a guy running in, they don't score. But it comes down to, it looks like we're going to extra time. We're probably going go to penalties. And then drama comes. And Iraq get this one last quarter. They whip it in the mixer one more time.
01:33:18
Speaker
And Tahir Nadir, who is the poor guy, He is one of only two players in the UAE lineup who was actually born in the UAE, right? Like he is, you he and Colin Issa are UAE football. Everybody else are Brazilian and Argentine and Tunisian and and Malayan. They're they there are there are all these mercenaries. And this guy actually lives and breathes this country.
01:33:38
Speaker
And it comes off his arm and it's a pretty clear penalty. You have to to give it. And Amir Alamari steps up and just cool as ice, puts it to the back of the net. 90 plus 17 winner and Iraq go to the playoff.
01:33:50
Speaker
I think I'm with you. Iraq had the impetus in the last half hour of this match, and that's probably what made the difference. I think it probably helped that they played the second leg at home. I think over 180 minutes, they asked slightly more questions, and because of that, they got one more answer, which was handball penalty, and they took advantage of it.
01:34:10
Speaker
There's not a lot between these two teams. We knew there wasn't a lot between these two teams. I think this is fair enough that it's Iraq that play off. And I think they are a better story too. I think it's fair. Sure.
Inter-Confederation Playoff Draws: Potential Stories
01:34:21
Speaker
Sure.
01:34:22
Speaker
I agree. I think in the end of the day, like UAE had the lead, had 30 minutes. They were not as good as defending their box when it's this fine of margins. If you can't so so often across any confederation, if you can't clear your lines, if you can't mark a guy in the box, you give up too many set pieces, right? That's going to do you in eventually.
01:34:44
Speaker
It was tight, but I think it was fair. And as you said, also the home support definitely willed Iraq on in the last, you know, 30, 20 minutes of the game. So credit to them.
01:34:54
Speaker
And, you know, they're still not done, right? There's there's more to come. This was also just great scenes to get to the Inter-Confederation Playoffs. Yeah, fantastic celebrations as Iraq keep their their World Cup dream alive. And so we we talked about it with the the European playoff draw, which will also take place tomorrow, Thursday. Same situation for the Inter-Confederation playoff draw. And this is going to be fantastic because in pot one, going directly to the final, we have Diarcago and Iraq. That means that those two teams are going to get one game.
01:35:22
Speaker
If they win it, they make the World Cup. Who they will play is determined by what happens in the semifinals out of pot two, where we have a World Cup after dark. Who's who of who's we got vibes only Jamaica. Who's going to be managing them? Do not ask because we Do not know. We have the El Alto boys, not at El Alto in Bolivia.
01:35:45
Speaker
We have the surviving, but don't even know they're surviving, Suriname. And we have George Gopenefez in New Caledonia, who we have not seen in over a year and whose only action in the last year is a 2-0 friendly win over Gibraltar. We're now going to show up at the World Cup playoff and look to win twice and make win.
01:36:05
Speaker
miraculous trip to the World Cup. It is going to be crazy. It is what this podcast exists for. Those semifinals are going to be Jamaica or Suriname against Bolivia or New Caledonia. Jamaica and Suriname cannot be drawn against each other.
01:36:18
Speaker
That means I think there's a pretty clear answer. If you are Bolivia or New Caledonia, who you want to play, you want to play Suriname. And I think there's a pretty clear answer. If you're Jamaica or Suriname, who you want to play, you want to play New Caledonia.
01:36:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Nailed it. It's going to be fascinating. um And I love the way you read off those. I love the way you read off those teams. Like i smoke i it pick them up, right? They're our boys. We know these guys. Just truly incredible the way they've gotten here. ah Yeah. And then, and then of course you have DR Congo and Iraq sitting for the winners of those.
01:36:54
Speaker
And I think it'll be really fascinating to see who you're looking for. Right. I think you don't want to see Jamaica, right? and out of the two. That's the toughest game.
01:37:05
Speaker
Any of the others you're believing, but like Suriname are much better than their ranking. ah i just, I can't even envision, like my brain is broken by Iraq Suriname. Like what is that game?
01:37:17
Speaker
And we get these these cultural mismatches too, right? Like, again, we talked it on the preview show, we get the or on the on the POTS talk that we did, you get the siloization of international football, and then all of a sudden it's just like, all right, we're taking DR Congo from here, we're taking Bolivia, we're throwing together, or one of them's going go to the World Cup. It's gonna be a fascinating mismatch of styles. I think you'd probably rather see Iraq of those two teams if you're one of the semifinal challenges, and you're exactly right. I think Jamaica are far and away the most dangerous team, even in their nebulous, I don't know what they are form.
01:37:46
Speaker
the The unknown of what Jamaica could be feels a lot scarier than what I think are known propositions in those other three teams. I think Jamaica, Bolivia, and Suriname can all talk themselves into beating Iraq.
01:37:58
Speaker
They could talk themselves being DR Congo, but I think they're much better than a 56 ranking. This is a team that just beat Cameroon and Nigeria. Right. Teams that are like, you know, pretty good powers in in Africa. So I think like that's the team you don't want to see would be favored.
01:38:16
Speaker
And I think DR Congo have the physicality to shut, like, you put the Bolivian, like, ugh. It's not It's going be a physical mismatch. that's the Same thing, even with Jamaica, who is the best out of the semifinalists, they're coming up against DR Congo, and it's certainly like their entire game is based on physical mismatches, and they're not there anymore.
01:38:38
Speaker
And again, we haven't seen New Caledonia in over year. Maybe they're getting monstarred out there. You never know. Maybe they're stealing some talents, running some juices. Well, you don't know what's going to show up in New Caledonia at the Inter-Confederation Playoff. So that's what we have coming in March.
01:38:52
Speaker
Wow. We told you going in that this was going be a big show. It was a big show. We got to just about everything. And we left a whole lot out because there were friendly action. The U.S. beat Uruguay 5-1 last night. That was a thing that happened. And I think it's a legitimate
Wrapping Up and Future Episode Teasers
01:39:04
Speaker
result. Mexico didn't win either of their two friendly matches. There's lot more. But it meant we have to close the show with one more. You want one more?
01:39:10
Speaker
I got one more for you. Two main characters from World Cup qualifying that we have seen a lot. We saw them all throughout Asian qualifying have been Iran and Uzbekistan. And these two teams have just somehow, some way been linked together all throughout this cycle because they have now played incredibly six times in two years, which is just insane for international football.
01:39:31
Speaker
And in those six games, what's the question we always ask? right, who's better? Who's better? They have drawn all six games in 90 minutes. It's been incredible. They played twice in the Asian second round. They played twice the Asian third round.
01:39:43
Speaker
They met in September in the CAFA Nations Cup final, which is the Central Asian Footballing Association. They they played this out this tournament. They met in the final. Uzbekistan won with a goal in the 120th minute in extra time. And then, Amit, Uzbekistan and Iran sign up for the Al Ain International Cup, which is just a glorified, friendly tournament of four teams who are going to the World Cup. Uzbekistan, Egypt, Iran, and Cape Verde.
01:40:04
Speaker
Uzbekistan win their game 2-0 over Egypt. Guess what Iran do? They beat Cape Verde on penalties. So you know who's going to face off in the final of the All-Iran International Cup? It had to be. We haven't had enough of Iran in Uzbekistan.
01:40:16
Speaker
They cross paths in the final. Uzbekistan win 4-3 on penalties after a nil-nil draw. So thankfully for them, they cannot, they literally physically cannot beat in the World Cup group stage because if they could, they would, and we would see them. So who's saying World Cup round of 32 Uzbekistan or Iran might be on the cards based on what we've seen. That's one more for you.
01:40:35
Speaker
What's coming up on the World Cup after dark? Again, if you've made it 100 minutes in this show, you like what we do and you're going to want to hear more of it. And lucky for you, there's going to be more of it. We talked about it a bunch. European playoff, inter-confederation playoff draw comes on Thursday. Amit and I will have a reaction show for our Patreon subscribers later this week.
01:40:53
Speaker
If you are not a Patreon subscriber and you would like to be one, patreon.com slash WCAD for $3 month. you get access to exclusive subscriber only exclusive content like shows, like any written pieces that we do, like the World Cup qualification master spreadsheet. Doesn't have a lot of games on it, but there's going to be stuff coming down the pipe in March that you're going to want to follow. And then at the start of December is the World Cup draw. December 5th in Washington, D.C. Matt and I will be doing a World Cup draw preview where we will look at those pots. We'll pick out teams to watch for what the hosts are looking for, what the big names are looking for, what their are not looking for. And then, of course, we'll have a World Cup draw reaction after that, once that draw is done. African Cup of Nations comes at the end of the year, and then we'll be doing some content related to that. We'll have some shows out, probably maybe a preview show.
01:41:39
Speaker
We'll definitely have some reaction shows. we'll We'll be taking it through to the final. And then, of course, we've got the Interconfederation playoff and the European playoff in March that we will be following. And then before you know it, it's World Cup time. The long, winding road of qualification that we started 40 shows ago with a Commonwealth World Cup preview.
01:41:55
Speaker
is coming to an end. We're almost there. Of the 48 teams, 42 have clinched a spot in the World Cup. Six more spots left on the line in March.
01:42:05
Speaker
For a minute, I am Austin. Thank you, thank you so much to our listeners for the time. I will say, I think this is the best show we've done, so I hope you enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, rate, review, subscribe, click all the buttons you can click, fill in all the stars you can fill in, let the people know, and be sure to spread it around to all your friends. We will see you guys soon for some draw reactions.
01:42:24
Speaker
And hope you enjoyed the football.