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WCAD 4-46: Goals Change Games, Don't Give Them Away for Free
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Amit and Austin recap Spain's impressive 2-0 Semifinal win over France.
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Transcript
Semifinal Preview: France vs Spain
00:00:01
Speaker
So we do a whole semifinal preview show and we, we talk about all the possibilities for France. but We talk about how it's the highest rated ELO game ever. We talk about how it's probably team two versus team one at this tournament.
00:00:13
Speaker
Talk about how we're excited to see the levers that France get. We talk about the fact that Ivan Bartone is the referee. We talk about everything on this preview show. We cover everything.
Luca Digne's Critical Mistake
00:00:22
Speaker
I mean, where was Luca Dignes just clears out Laminya mall on a nothing ball for a game changing penalty. 20 minutes in, we didn't talk about that.
00:00:31
Speaker
No, you can't see everything, right? And that's, I think, the point of soccer is it it was still 60-40. Sometimes in your head, you think someone's better, you think someone's worse.
00:00:42
Speaker
When two teams are this good, the things that decide it are increasingly silly, like exactly what you're saying.
France's Offensive Struggles
00:00:50
Speaker
And it was that was enough to totally change everything in this game and totally unsettle this game. And I think...
00:01:00
Speaker
Narratively, it's a very easy game for us to parse. of what happens. Like it's very clear, but the way that it was so uninteresting tells us so much about these teams that we didn't know waiting years, this whole tournament to find out. And so that's, I think a lot of stuff we're going to, going to hit on. We covered as much as we could before and we have, it's really rich, but yeah, I think on the whole, a disappointing game, but it's very explainable and disappointing in a way that Spain should be thrilled with.
00:01:35
Speaker
And they are thrilled with it because they are World Cup finalists. And France, the team that looked unbeatable, the team that looked unstoppable, failed to find the back of the net. And they really, for the majority of this game, failed to hit the target against Spain. This is the World Cup After Dark Podcast.
Impact of Game State on Match Dynamics
00:01:48
Speaker
My name is Austin Miller. He is Amit Malik. Amit, we're going to get into everything. We're go to break everything down.
00:01:53
Speaker
We're going to try to provide the answers or we're going to give the answers to all those questions we asked on the preview show. but I think the best place to start here is we are big believers on this show that goals change games, right?
00:02:07
Speaker
Game state is so important in football. You playing from ahead or behind or even completely changes how you play. So if we buy into this thought that goals change games, you absolutely cannot under any circumstance in a World Cup semifinal be giving them away for free.
00:02:26
Speaker
That's kind of what it felt like France did.
Tactical Failures: France vs Spain
00:02:29
Speaker
It is. It's Luka Dean just taking a blind kick on a ball in the air and not seeing Lamin-Yamal has snuck in behind him.
00:02:38
Speaker
And it's a weird, weird mistake. Like, I don't, like, know what Luka Dean is doing. I don't think he, like, is trying to make a mistake, but he just is unaware of his surroundings. And also sometimes we talk about these super, super high-level games and it's star players and it's like...
00:02:58
Speaker
you know, these games are decided by awesome, brilliant moments. But sometimes when it's 22 pieces on the field are really, really high level is one player, the weak link player, the the deciding factor.
00:03:13
Speaker
And it wasn't in the way we thought it wasn't Laminya mall takes on Luca Dean over and over and rinses him. But it was in a moment of Laminya mall kind of outsmarting him in a way, an unexpected way.
Spain's Strategic Game Management
00:03:27
Speaker
And It's a really, really just frustrating way for France to get got, especially because all of Duchamp's game plan, as we're going to talk about in this game, is predicated on game state.
00:03:40
Speaker
It's all predicated on we'll keep it nil-nil. We'll look to be dangerous on the counter. France wanted to play a defend and counter game. Like that was pretty clear pretty quickly on here that that was the game state they were looking to play in.
00:03:53
Speaker
And once you go down a goal, you don't get to play that. And we omit spent weeks in this tournament, months maybe in this tournament, all the way back in May. You remember the very first preview podcast we recorded? It was the France group. And what was one of the questions we had for France? We had these theoretical, idealistic, hypothetical levers that Didier Deschamps We broke down the four and six. We talked about four and six over and over and over in this tournament.
00:04:20
Speaker
And we always couched it in. Look, France probably have another gear. We just haven't seen it. France probably have another gear. We just haven't seen it. I mean, France needed another gear today. And they didn't have it.
00:04:32
Speaker
They didn't. It's befuddling. I mean, wait and some of this is on Dechamp. Some of this is on the construction of the team and the players he has.
00:04:44
Speaker
And it's one thing for him to do the four
Deschamps' Tactical Adjustments?
00:04:47
Speaker
and six, as you're talking about. But the issue in this game was getting through the Spain counterpress and not having enough bodies capable of playing through it in the back six.
00:05:01
Speaker
And all Deschamps does in this game is change like for like instead of ever untilting his team to get more progression in one area, to take away some of his threat in another.
00:05:15
Speaker
And even when chasing the game to just in general tilt threat over defense, two ways that that we I just described. And... In the big, big tournament, you have to be willing to unbalance your team to chase results. And that's like rule number one of game state. You take risks and you have to live it. And this was a manager who in this cycle and for all the whole cycle for three cycles has never been really fighting through hard game states.
00:05:48
Speaker
And it showed today, I think, right? We'd never saw France have to play from behind. We never really saw them under pressure. The most pressure they felt in this tournament was from the parked of all parked buses by Paraguay in a game that always felt inevitable. And I think the most telling thing here is, right? France played 70 plus minutes of this game down a goal, right? So 70 plus minutes of this game in a game state where they need to score.
Spain's Consistent Playstyle
00:06:15
Speaker
and they create 0.3 XG in that game, that is just simply not enough. It isn't. And part of this, like ah ah the half of everything, you could just ah couch every statement we say about France with credit to Spain, like really, truly credit to Spain. The Spain counter press.
00:06:33
Speaker
Again, this is just us answering the questions. How good was it? Well, it it was excellent, right? Totally smothered the France back six. France were in trouble. The saliva injury here in the first half also is playing into France ah not having quite enough quality on the ball to get through it.
00:06:51
Speaker
But he didn't he didn't have the answers to to adjust to that down one. And Spain being up one – it's funny because Spain like don't necessarily change the way they played, right? Right. big Being up one. They just keep their foot on the gas. Yeah.
00:07:09
Speaker
That can be an Achilles heel for for Spain. It could be an Achilles heel for Spanish teams like Barca and club football. But here was absolutely the right thing to do. They had France very uncomfortable. So why back off? They never backed off and just allowed France to walk into chances that you see so many teams do up one. And that is a credit to Spain.
00:07:31
Speaker
France simply couldn't get the ball off Spain,
Spain's Dominant Possession and Pressing
00:07:34
Speaker
right? Like the overarching general theme of this game is after France give the lead away, there's just no, France just can't recuperate possession just consistently. Like there are some times when they do it. And so that just leaves France without the ball. And so there's no better team, no better team, international football playing with the ball than Spain are.
00:07:54
Speaker
And France's press, while it might be good enough to unsettle a lot of international teams, We found out today, Amit, at least on this particular day, it's not good enough to unsettle Spain, right? France threw their guys into what should have been pressing situations.
00:08:09
Speaker
They run these athletic fast guys at you, and there are defenses that will crumble into a puddle and play the ball away and and create turnovers. Spain are not that, i don't think Spain are ever going to be that.
00:08:19
Speaker
And so if you can't win the ball back from the midfield and you can't press it away for them, You're just kind of out of options and Spain are just going to eventually break you down for a second, which they did here. And when Spain don't concede pressure, when they don't allow the game state, like Spain aren't playing, holding on to something here, right? So many teams, they have a result and they're just trying to get it over the line.
00:08:43
Speaker
Spain, like you say, they don't do that. They don't change the way that they play, whether they're up or down one or tied. And they were just so, so good today. And man for man, guy for guy. Did France have the more talented players on the pitch? Probably. But I think every single Spain player contributed here. And I think they all contributed in really, really good ways.
00:09:02
Speaker
It's a great way to put it. and the The weak links that we were expecting for Spain, relatively weak links. Poro, right back, has the goal, but great game. I think defensively on Barcala, who starts, Koubarsi, great game, and his quality on the ball was more valuable than than any other, his potential weakness in athleticism.
00:09:24
Speaker
um Even Koukerea, who's not necessarily weak link, has been great for them. What a great game for him. And so... Even Baena,
Rodri's Impact on Game Control
00:09:32
Speaker
who is a bit of ah a black hole offensively as an outlet, his running was good enough in this game. So I like the way you said it. It's 11 great performances from Spain that really matter here. And this is where you get to the four and six thing for DeShop. Like we we we talk about it, we talk around it, but what he really needed in this game was an extra body who could press in the midfield. And between Barcala,
00:10:02
Speaker
Alise and Debele, he wasn't getting enough. And basically, Spain's back five versus France's four on the press was a win.
00:10:13
Speaker
And you're gonna point to You're going to point to a guy who orchestrates everything, pulls off his masterpiece. You always feel like you're a step to him, but he's a step faster. He's a hair faster up top in the brain.
00:10:27
Speaker
It was Rodri 10 minutes in. Rodri leaves his stamp on this game. You you know, the counter press is everywhere. Was he going to be overwhelmed athletically by France on the press in transition?
00:10:40
Speaker
No. And, Don't know if this player was there all year for Manchester City, but he was there today. And I think that is, ah it's not just individual brilliance, but it's a reflective of Spain's composure being a prevailing factor on the day. And again, like it didn't have to be this way. There are avenues for France where this game is different. But once they're down one on the mistake, you've just given all these players their exact wheelhouse to operate.
00:11:11
Speaker
And Rodri is so, so good at that. And this Rodri in particular, and that was one of the big questions we asked about Spain coming in is what could they get from this guy? The fact that over the past couple of games, and in particular in this one, he has looked as world-class as we know he can be. It just allows, it opens so many doors for Spain and allows them to do so many things. So let's get into this game kind of bit by bit here, Amit.
00:11:34
Speaker
We didn't get any surprises in the lineups, right? Chumany comes back for France in replacement of Kone. Fabian Ruiz stays for Spain. Baiana stays for Spain, right? We kind of got status quo in the starting 11s, and that leads to an opening 20 minutes that kind of develops like we expected it.
00:11:52
Speaker
Spain have the ball. France looking to defend and counter. And then the game obviously gets changed on the penalty, right? So so this is Luka Dinier, and it's a pass across from Kukure. He just reverses pitch, and Dinier just thinks he has time that he doesn't have. And you said it.
00:12:09
Speaker
He just is like... You just have to be aware of your surroundings. Like there's no other way around it. You have to look in your rear view mirror, right? It's almost like he's opening a car door and there's a cyclist coming. It's like, you got to look before you open your door and he does it. And this is really good from you all because this is a nothing ball. This is a nothing ball.
00:12:25
Speaker
And your ball just chases it down and forces DNA into a bad spot and it creates the penalty. And so I want to talk first about the play itself and then about the penalty they taken, but on the play itself, it's just really good from Luminium all who maybe wasn't,
00:12:39
Speaker
his world-beating top-tier best in this game, but he consistently asked questions, and what he was today was better than Luka Diné, and that's what Spain needed. A hundred percent. And some of these great, great, great players, their baseline is good enough. And it's the things they do when their fastball isn't necessarily on, right? He keeps, I like the way you said, he keeps asking questions. He's willing to keep dribbling on Luca Dean. And the other thing he did to things he did today, if maybe his take on end line wasn't working, he cut in really well. He, slid that pass across Rabiot or whoever's in that spot really well. And he pressed really well. And he's a really good presser at Barcelona. And sometimes like it's all the other parts of your game that make you a superstar player that have to show up when you, when when when you don't have it. And,
00:13:32
Speaker
I don't know. i feel like if you're Luca Dean, we said this before, like you just, you have to know Laminia Mall is your mark. Like you have to know that guy could close you down at any time. Like, did you just think you have and a day a day and a half in your own box?
00:13:46
Speaker
Which team do you have that against? Not this one. And you just, there's so many different ways to take care of this, not doing what he did. And then once he does it, and once we get to the penalty, right, this has been a world cup of questionable penalties during the run of play, right? I take penalties in the shootout differently, right? Because you're getting to guys that are not your best penalty takers and you are asking different things of guy four, guy six, guy seven, right?
00:14:13
Speaker
That's a different equation than this is your number one penalty taker. that has It has to be in the back of the net. It has to be a make. You cannot be missing penalties in situations like this. When goals change games, when goals are so important to games and Mikel your thought ball, perfect, perfect penalty just steps up,
00:14:30
Speaker
All of his other penalties, he's gone one way. He chooses to go the other way. And I think Mindgun maybe tries to play the game of he's going to go against the grain against tendency. Mindgun guesses right, but the penalty is so good for Moyer Thobol. It's up. It's into the side net.
00:14:44
Speaker
This is the penalty that you need your penalty taker to take in a World Cup semifinal to absolutely spin a game on its head and give you the game state that you're looking for. Well said. Perfectly said. It was nails from Ojer Thawball. And yeah, I mean, it's funny. This guy wasn't always like a striker in his career, but we always say like, don't be sentimental on your penalty kicks.
00:15:10
Speaker
Give it to your best penalty kick takers. And I'm sure Spain's got a bunch, but ah this was this was lights out. Had to have it. And right in the side netting. That's what we like to see. Unsavable. Unsavable. So...
00:15:24
Speaker
there was You could see as soon as this goal happens, like even the the camera pans to Dechamp, and he's he's not looking comfortable. like Before the penalty, right the way the opening game went, like France very much was just kind of waiting for Mbappe in transition, and there was a very high line from from Spain. Yeah.
00:15:47
Speaker
But there wasn't really there wasn't really an answer to to progress through. And so I know the pen changes it, but I'm just speaking to the point that it didn't look like France was doing anything other than waiting.
00:16:01
Speaker
And Spain are playing the game that they wanted to play before the penalty. And now with the penalty, you're playing the game you want to play and you're playing it with a goal in your back pocket. And it just never really felt like there's a response from France, right? And Spain are the team that kind of come close here in the rest of the first half. So they they press mine on the counter press for Spain, which is something we have praised from them all tournament long.
00:16:24
Speaker
nearly gives them a two nil here, right? There's a chance for Fabian Ruiz, who I thought was really good in the midfield again, who goes just wide after you just get that classic Spanish interplay in the box, right? So they press mind gun into a turnover. It comes into the midfield and the ball just goes. And and I think it's, it's although, I think Rod reason, but I don't remember exactly who's involved here. I think you all might be involved as well, but it's just tick, tick, tick Boom. And then Ruiz is there and he just puts it wide.
00:16:50
Speaker
That was a great chance for a second.
Handling Mbappe: Spain's Defensive Strategy
00:16:52
Speaker
But France's best chances in this game, Amit, really come from Kylian Mbappe making a center back splitting run. But to Spain's credit, they knew that that's where France were going to be dangerous. And Unai Simone, I don't know if he was still under the Rudy Garcia curse from the Belgium quarterfinal.
00:17:11
Speaker
But he comes off his line and on multiple occasions in this game, with one exception, which we'll get to in the second half, he comes off his line well, he comes off it committed, and he wins the ball away from Mbappe. Unai Simone's sweeper keeping in this sweeping, keeping. What is it? Sweeper keepering? No, it's a moon's stuff in the back. was sweeper keepering so might be Sweeper keepering. Sweeper keepering was excellent. And honestly, when you play a super high line, that is one of your counters to the team saying, oh, all that space will hit it in.
00:17:43
Speaker
Well, the goalie just has 40 yards to clean up by himself, but a good goalie can do it. And to Luis Delefante's credit, we said on the preview podcast, it seems like Raya is a better goalkeeper than Unai Simón. still don't think he is.
00:17:58
Speaker
Raya doesn't do this at Arsenal, and Unai Simón does. And he's got credit he's got experience doing this. And... It takes a lot of stones to do this against Mbappe, whose, I think, speed is like something that's very, very hard to ah understand unless you're you're used to playing it right.
00:18:21
Speaker
So the margins for guessing this, right, guessing or like timing it right, are so, so small. um I think it's a really, really key like ah piece in the whole Spanish equation, truly in their game plan, is that Simone could do this. Because...
00:18:36
Speaker
when France's only basically best plan of offense, of attack, was this play, it feels like you've you've neutralized it. And you've got to try something else. And it didn't really feel like it. And look, maybe if you do four of these instead of two, Mbappe wins one. But it felt like the few times he was loose, like Simone was right there. And i think mentally for France, too, seeing that, like, they were...
00:19:05
Speaker
that They were a little bit out of answers outside of that play. And there's sometimes when Mbappe doesn't time the run right and he's offside, right? And that's some of the game that you're playing. He lives. Yeah, you live with that. and But I think that a lot of this also is due to the fact that Spain were prepared for this, right? Like I think the Elefante probably goes to Simone at some point in the build up to this game and says, look, you know where our line is going to be in this game.
00:19:29
Speaker
We're going need you to do this. And like, you might get it wrong once it might happen. But I think that this was like, I don't think this is just Simone kind of vibing or vamping or like going off script here. I think this was the game plan for Spain. Yeah.
00:19:42
Speaker
It's funny because against Belgium, against Rudy Garcia's play, there that was probably more vibing and vamping. Exactly. And we kind of go, ah he he could get a little bit lost out there. But honestly, it's like, well, at least he's been doing it. It's not like you asked him to do something he wasn't comfortable doing. And there is a moment in the second half where he does get it a little bit wrong against Dwayne. But, you know, the other thing is the rest of the players know what to do.
00:20:08
Speaker
The goalie gets beat. Go run to the goal and just stand there. So like there all there's all these little wrinkles to the to the strategy that that you can pull off. But it speaks a lot to to Simone and De La Fuente having that in their card and Dechamp not really having an answer. And now we think about also in the first half and, well...
00:20:28
Speaker
France are chasing this game. I think Barcola is a really good player, but he was not necessarily beating Poro the way you want. And I just think Dwayne is a marginally better presser. That might just be made up in my head, but he's a little bit more of a slow, slow, fast take on guy versus Barcola. And I just don't think there was ever enough pressure on Pedro Poro as Spain or are defending the lead. um
00:21:00
Speaker
I don't, and I'm not, it's it's, it's, it's kind of hindsight to say that Dua would have been better, but I just, I feel in my heart that that might have helped them press a little bit better in this game. And the other thing for this French attacking four is Ousmane Nbele, who was really good in this tournament, was not very good today. He wasn't good in the first half. He wasn't good in the second half. He didn't give them a lot.
00:21:19
Speaker
And so all of a sudden, right, Olisse hasn't been a goal-scoring threat, and you can't win the ball to get him on the
France's Pressing Challenges
00:21:25
Speaker
ball. And then Barkle is not pressing, and Nbele is not firing. All that's left is Zimbabwe making these runs in behind. Yeah.
00:21:32
Speaker
Exactly. you've just you You go player by player and you've kind of erased them off the chessboard, right? Rodri, great game centrally. Look, Baena, you can say things about him, but his work rate was awesome coming back and Cucurea held up.
00:21:49
Speaker
can't Can't say enough things about Kukuriya, a player I still do not like. and It's just a personal preference. Excellent, excellent tournament. And he's always been fast, but his one-on-one defending was good. And then this is where you look at Koundé and Luka Dean, both good fullbacks, are part of the progression problem. Because...
00:22:11
Speaker
i like i don't I really think Jules Koundé is a good player. like He's at Barcelona, but he doesn't like to overlap so much and is a creative passer. And Luka Dean is fine. He's dealing with Jamal, but to unlock Dembele, Alise, and Barcola in better positions, the progression wasn't there for the other the the back six guys to help them. And so just felt like for so much of this game, they were on an island and never getting the ball and having to chase the ball. And What do you think? About minute 35, 40, France start feeling really dejected of not being able to catch up to the the Spanish buildup.
00:22:50
Speaker
I think you see it. Like, I think you see France's pressers say, um man, we put this amount of effort into our press earlier in this tournament. It worked for us. And like, people are like, oh, they can press a little bit. And you're right.
00:23:01
Speaker
The fullbacks aren't, the fullbacks don't get forward for France. They've never gotten forward. And so when the fullbacks don't get forward and the midfielders are being taken out of the game, right? You're asking Olisse and Nabele and Barco to come all the way back to get the ball. And there's just not a lot of progression that you can do from this setup. And the game state is favoring Spain. And we get to halftime minute.
00:23:20
Speaker
And France have put up a whopping 0.04 XG. That's ridiculously low. It's insane. it's It's truly insane. Imagine saying that at any point in this tournament that France would have a half like that.
00:23:33
Speaker
And it's it's the press. It's the counter press. It's the ball and just not having the ball. And... ah it's a bit It's a bit shocking. And so if you're a manager, right, I'm not saying you have to use it. It's not even about XG. Let's say you're Didier Duchamp and you watch that half.
00:23:51
Speaker
What adjustment do you need to make to to to fix what happened? You have to get the ball back. You have to find a way to get the ball and you have to way to find ah find a way to get the ball to your people up front, right? Your best players. And what's interesting for France is they're forced to use a substitute in the first half on Saliba, who comes off and they have to bring on Maxine Lacroix. And that hurts them because Lacroix, I think, is less capable at playing against the Spanish counter press.
00:24:16
Speaker
And then at halftime, I think Deschamps kind of gets cold feet. I think his best player the first half is probably Advin Rabiot. He's the only... Yeah, he wins the ball and he's the only guy that's like playing through the press on his quality, like one on two and just kind of slicing and dicing a little bit. But he gets conca-capped in the first half and picks up an early yellow card, which hasn't been a yellow card really at any other point in this tournament. But you put a conca-capped ref in this situation, it's a yellow card. And I think the champ gets cold feet. I think he gets scared. He thinks there might be another yellow card coming for Rabiot.
00:24:49
Speaker
And so he takes him off at halftime and he brings on Manu Kone. And now you've taken off who was your best ball winner. You've burned another substitute. And so through 45 minutes, you've made two changes, but admit you haven't actually changed anything.
00:25:05
Speaker
You have it. You needed ball playing and ball winning in the midfield, or you need an extra ball winner in terms of personnel. And in your back six, you need extra progression. Look at the players.
00:25:16
Speaker
Koundé, Upamakano, Lacroix, Dean, Chomeny, and now Kone. I don't think that's enough players to build out against a six-on-six press, right? And so you're looking at your bench and you're going, can I get Zaire Emery in here? Like Warren Zaire Emery PSG, who's a very solid center midfielder for Barkala, and I know I have to go three, but I need the numbers back. I'm losing six on seven back there. I'm losing six on seven back there.
00:25:49
Speaker
Or is it even i need one of those four to be a player like Cherky or just one of those four to come back and like help me progress the ball because Kone good player. i don't think he eliminates defenders or beats a press. So many needs help.
00:26:06
Speaker
And Robbie was also one of the only guys that dealt with. So I think you needed the two of them plus an extra midfielder. And we've kind of talked around this in circles, 30 minutes, but this is the key point where for 15 minutes after the break,
00:26:18
Speaker
France are stuck with no options in that basically a six on six, six on seven where they're front four out of the game. And if it's not that six on six at that point, it's the four on four the other way where their pressure isn't at a level high enough to make Spain uncomfortable. And so they have really athletic guys. They have guys with legs, but it's something we've talked about. They're not a high level pressing team. They're a level pressing team, right? They can put mediocre They can put good teams in trouble with their press. They can't put a great team in trouble with their press. And so if they're not winning in the midfield and backline six on six, they need those four guys to simply press, which is not something that can do. And so all of a sudden you're not winning at any of these positions on the pitch and those front four, they're just starting to pull long faces.
00:27:06
Speaker
Because they're putting in the effort. They're making the runs that earlier in this tournament got them something. And they're getting absolutely nothing because Spain are composed on the ball. And Spain just string together three passes and off they go again.
00:27:20
Speaker
And again, this is where you just say credit to Spain, like a team performance of cohesion and pressing and system working. And there is a level, again, we've said where you can beat this, but you need to have almost the the the the ability and confidence for 11 ballplayers, right? And then you can't go down. so I think that the first 10 minutes out of halftime like is really shocking in that one of the teams the team that was down one did not look like they were able to to to game state the magic state of where you're just chasing the game. They looked much more dangerous of going down two.
00:27:57
Speaker
And eventually, Spanier, the one walking their fullbacks into more dangerous positions. Yeah. And so Deshaun makes the change. It's Douay for Barclay, which again is just kind of another like for like change. But again, as you said, was a change that maybe makes sense from a pressing aspect. But right after Douay comes on, Spain find their moment. And what was the one thing we said about Spain?
00:28:19
Speaker
France are so dangerous that you don't want to be trying to see this game out. One, you better go get a second. And that's what Spain do here. And how do they do it? They do it by making runs that other teams just don't make. And so it's Pedro Poro, the fullback, who comes all the way up into attacking position. And sometimes these attacking fullbacks admit, they'll play this ball central and then they'll retreat. or they'll play this ball central and then they'll go make something resembling an overlapping run wide.
00:28:46
Speaker
That's not what Poro does here. He plays the ball central to Donnie Omo and he just keeps going. And when he keeps going, somebody has to track him. And it probably was Dwayne who just came on who should have tracked him.
00:28:57
Speaker
But nobody does. And so what Danny Omo does is he makes a really great hold-up play and he plays it back. And all of a sudden, Pedro Porro is one-on-one with Mindgun. And to his credit, what's another? Pull out the World Cup After Dark textbook. Take your chances, right? Pedro Porro takes his chance. It's 2-0.
00:29:13
Speaker
This is so brilliant. And this is also so, so Spain. It's so Spain. It just is the a team that does this, and very few other teams does this, because mentally, if you're due way or if you're any left winger, when do you have to track back 30 yards backwards centrally to track your your right back that you're guarding? and the answer is almost never. Like, even to your point, sometimes the guy goes wide, and then you can hand him off or you can run wide.
00:29:43
Speaker
But this is a striker's run. Because in the Spanish system, anyone can be the striker. This is a Mikel Marino run, right? And it's... really, really hard to track because you just don't expect it.
00:29:56
Speaker
And we've seen Pedro Poro get in the box, right? There was the Cucureo de Poro header earlier in the tournament. And it's not that Spain are the only teams that fullbacks get this high, but there may be one of the only teams where the fullbacks can be strikers. And one thing we'll say, I'll say, is that I said, maybe this is a Marcos Llorente game. Maybe you need to be defensive and careful.
00:30:19
Speaker
No, Pedro Poro is like so evident of the Luis de la Fuente Spain system. He starts Jesus Navas in 2024 when they beat Spain in the Euro. And this time it's a super, super attacking fullback who makes it all worth it. And yeah, for sure it's on due a little bit, but I just think like,
00:30:38
Speaker
the France switch off is because you're against every other team. They're not defending 11 on 11. It's just six on five or four, even six on six, they're winning.
00:30:50
Speaker
But Spain, because everyone can get involved, you have to defend all 11 guys in the field and all spaces on the field. And it's just very, very uncomfortable to do for most teams. And how stagnant joy was when this run is made, right? There's one angle of the replay where you see Pearl go and do is just like, he's planted there. He's not even moving. And it's like, do something. What are you doing? And there's like three French guys that should be coming over and covering this.
00:31:14
Speaker
I don't know if maybe they expect somebody to be able to take care. It's a great play from Danny Omo. I think the holdup play from Danny Omo deserves a lot of credit here as well. Yeah. but You just have to track this run. You just can't let this happen.
00:31:26
Speaker
The touch Romolo is perfect here because there's a defender draped on his back. And also this is where is this a unspoken difference between Saliba and LaCroix, like just in the defense and the communication of a back line. And we don't know, but these are the kinds of like little five to 10% slip ups that you just like can't account for.
00:31:48
Speaker
So Spain go two up, and again, we still don't really see a reaction from France. It's nearly a third for Spain where Yamal is just offside on his run. This was, we said Yamal maybe wasn't at his high-quality best. This was his high-quality best, right? So he goes past Dean, and then he just jukes to his left, and rips a curler, but he's just offside on the initial run. Kuguraya stabs to make a good block on an Mbappe shot, one of the few dangerous chances France get.
00:32:15
Speaker
But we get to the hydration break a minute, and this game is 2-0. In France, it still feels like haven't you gotten their engine going. They haven't gotten a foot into this game to actually try and box assault and pressure Spain.
00:32:27
Speaker
And so at this point, Deschamps only has one more window to make changes because he had to spend one in the first half, and he spent one on Due. So he makes his final two changes, and it's Cherky for Olisse, like for like, and it's Teo Hernandez for Luca Dine, and like for like and doesn't really change anything.
00:32:48
Speaker
Tara Hernandez is just ah maybe a slightly worse or at best the same level of left back. And yeah, Luka Dean was a problem, but it's a problem you have to live with. Yeah, you're going to have to live with Yamal one-on-one. Lamine Yamal one-on-one. And instead, you've just...
00:33:03
Speaker
Again, this is where we go back to there's never an unbalancing. At some point, you have to live with not enough defense in one position, right? You need to have maybe a second striker on the field, right? Where is Jean-Philippe Mateta? And maybe, you you know, obviously losing Saliba as a sub hurt, but you needed to, like, get maybe three defenders on and live with, you know, a three...
00:33:29
Speaker
5-2 or something like that something more offensive clearly it's like just not it was never enough and we go back to Deshaun never doing this but I think also inherently like he just we kept saying he has levers but he's just not that kind of guy he's a very much he's a very generally conservative manager and he likes to win with less and he probably in his head is like, if I pull the changes too early, I'm going down three.
00:33:57
Speaker
And so he's just waiting and waiting. And I know it's a world cup semifinal. Maybe that's not going to world cup semifinal. Like you gotta be, you gotta to be willing to lose the win. Yeah. Yeah. And so,
00:34:11
Speaker
there's a lot in hindsight. It looks very poor. What the shop did. yeah And even not really his fault. Like this, his team like got down one and two and his team was never built to play that way. At the end of the day, we kept going. He has the gear and it turns out they were a front running neutral gear team. Like that was their whole thing is built on speed over the top. But when you're down, like that just disappears. So It was a gamble. It was a gamble this whole tournament that he almost was going to have to win without ever switching the look.
00:34:45
Speaker
But like, man, you're by all accounts, one of, if not the most talented teams in this tournament. You've got to have more in your hand. Like, okay, you got dealt a bad hand, right? I get it. You gave away a goal to open this game that you weren't planning on giving away and that you really should have never given away.
00:35:01
Speaker
That happens. That's knockout round football. That's the World Cup, right? If you can't bounce back from something like that, if you can't adjust, you can't get over that. I guess you're not fit to be World Cup champions.
00:35:13
Speaker
Also, in 2018, they win with like his worst edition of this cycle, right? The rest of the field just can't keep up with Mbappe's talent. And in 2022, right? Like...
00:35:26
Speaker
i guess they responded well in that game, didn't they? Argentina kind of smacked them. like He does make the changes there, but it's just so so rare for them. There is something about Spain being, I think you said in their preview podcast, like genetically engineered to frustrate this team. like It's just a really, really tough matchup. It's like the worst team you could be down against.
00:35:46
Speaker
And in seven matchups between the Shams and Spain, he only won twice. Right. so I think Spain are ideally the worst matchup for them, but I think it's fitting here. France have made five changes before Spain have made one.
00:35:58
Speaker
mean, right. And I think that speaks to Luis de la Fuente knew what guys he wanted to play. And to his credit, it might not have been his most talented 11, but he got something from every single guy in this 11. And I think you've Spain deserve a ton of credit for the way that they approach this game, for the mentality that they played with this game.
00:36:16
Speaker
ah We said it on the preview podcast. Laminio Mall was open about it. Plenty of guys are over. They weren't scared of France. They didn't play like they were scared of France. And they earned what they got in this game because of it. that's another part of it. Like the mentality part for sure to have the confidence to play through the the French press and shape and not be scared of Mbappe and knowing you have Unai Simone back there. And all of these little things add up in that perhaps Spain is just built to be the antidote to France and at international in international soccer, the level of cohesion where France's stuff just works against everyone else is really, really rare. And I think that's,
00:36:57
Speaker
again, why this is just different than club football, like the way you kind of add up all the talent on the field and you think about every player and you know which team might be better, but there is something here that just is a little bit different. And,
00:37:12
Speaker
And again, super reductive, right? This game is easy to explain narratively. You can't go down and you can't have the worst player on the field make your mistake. Like it wasn't the way we thought it was, but it changes everything.
00:37:26
Speaker
I think if this game goes, you play this game a lot of times. I'm not sure it's Spain 2-0, like more than 10 of them, but we saw how it looked. I don't know. Is that dumb? Is that just me just who like which casting like, no, I think it's a fair point that right. Obviously goals change games and you can't give them away for free, but also France looked like the team that was more likely to give one away in this game. Right. And so,
00:37:57
Speaker
maybe it's not a Luka Dena penalty, but there's maybe be something that happens at some point in this game to where you eventually get to this game state. And I also don't know that France were going to capitalize very much on no, no, right? It didn't feel like, ah, they could have just kept it no little. Eventually they were gonna score. Cause I, we didn't really see that. Right. Like, so I don't know. I think,
00:38:18
Speaker
I think that's, look, it's fair to say that you didn't expect it to happen this way and it happening so early definitely conditions the game. i think Spain approached this really well and they got the reward because of There is one moment here, Amit, where France almost get back in it. 81st minute, right?
00:38:32
Speaker
Unai Simon, this is the one we were alluding to earlier where he comes off his line and he maybe doesn't get it right. The ball bounces to do a Simone is retreating and do it just kind of takes too long over. it This is one where you've just got to pick your head up and get it off target because the goalkeeper is out of the box.
00:38:48
Speaker
And he settles on this for so long that Simone is able to get back in the box and eventually block off and even save this chance from do a, this could have been the impulse that France needed to maybe crash for 10 minutes down a goal.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yes, it would have really helped. And Dua, I think, has to, as soon as he gets this ball, think about picking his head up and just curling, right? You can't wait. You can't go on the ground. So that they kind of he kind of gets that wrong. it's ah It's a tough one. It's a lot harder than it looks. Spain's defenders are running to the the goal line. So, like, I don't know. you Maybe you have to beat another guy and then keep going on the dribble. But...
00:39:23
Speaker
There was a sense before the Spanish second goal that as bad as France had played, they just needed to survive to some version of a tactics free zone of 10 minutes, of five minutes. So even here, right?
00:39:38
Speaker
Five minutes to down one. Like, yes, if you're Spain, you're still trying. yeah to score you're just the other team's coming at you with full strength and it was just that exact arm's length that Spain needed again that's what I'm saying like even if you could play this game 100 times there are plenty of scenarios where Spain goes up one like there are a lot of scenarios but to go up two and then never get the the French response like they threaded the needle perfectly like De La Fonda could not have dreamed up a better game for his team right And they never get pinned back in this game. And because they're up two, they don't feel like they need to at the end, right? They're not just desperately hanging on, trying to see something else. So like all all the credit in the world, the Spain here, I think they were so good on this day and and they were the better side and they are unquestionably based on what we've seen deserving of their spot in the world cup line.
00:40:28
Speaker
They are like really, truly heading into the tournament. Didn't think so. And really, really impressed by, by the hell they've done it. One minor, minor factor this is not an excuse that maybe showed up today.
00:40:41
Speaker
Spain's been playing all their knockout games indoors. France has been huffing and puffing outside. Now France have just managed the heat so well. Like I don't, in my head, I don't find that a valid excuse.
00:40:52
Speaker
But there's maybe a sense of like the tank for France was not ready for what Spain had in this game. And again, if the game state is different, I don't think France need the full tank. But to to get the ball off Spain, you needed your guys to run like Red Bull Mad Men. And they just didn't have they couldn't do it. Like you said, they were dejected.
00:41:16
Speaker
My counterpoint to that is you had Sweden, Paraguay, and Morocco. yeah if your tank's not full after that, that's on you for not managing your tank well enough. I don't think the tank wasn't full, but it was just something of Spain's tank was full. I don't know. completely Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:41:35
Speaker
Yeah, i don't think that really like I don't think that really matters. But I'm just, you know, certainly the conditions overall this whole tournament have mattered somewhat. And I don't think France was at a disadvantage today. So...
00:41:47
Speaker
This was such a good World Cup semifinal. All of the buildup was great. You and I both enjoyed it. got anything else on this game before we wrap? No, no. I think the the first thing we said is that sometimes 60-40 is the 40 has got a lot of ways to 40%. Like, and you know, maybe it was 50-50 even. And there's a lot of ways, a lot more ways to 50%. Like soccer is such, such a fine margin sport. So credit to Spain for like taking that margin and just like full on strangle.
00:42:20
Speaker
They strangle, they strangle you. Yeah. And I think the point that you made earlier in the show and one that you also made to me off air that I think is really good is good games sometimes get decided by stars.
00:42:31
Speaker
Great games get decided by weak links, right? And it felt like that was this game today where France maybe had the star power, but the weak links decided the game and and that's what turned the the entire tide for Spain and allowed them to take advantage. So that's it for us on today's edition of the World Cup After Dark.
00:42:47
Speaker
Tomorrow, Amit, it's Argentina, England. I can tell you the streets here in Buenos Aires are buzzing. I mean, man, I think we'll get fireworks. I think no matter where it goes, it can be disappointing, right? And there's no way it can be disappointing. I am confident that we will get a better atmosphere. Like the big European teams haven't really brought their atmosphere to this tournament. It felt very dead inside Jerry world today for this game. It will not be dead inside Atlanta tomorrow with the Argentina supporters and the English supporters who have probably been among the best of the big European supporters.
00:43:19
Speaker
So we're both really looking forward to it. And we will be back tomorrow to recap that game. If you're looking for a preview of Argentina, England, you can find that on our semifinal preview show, which we put out on Monday.
00:43:30
Speaker
That and all of our other World Cup stuff is wherever you get your podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. And if you want to support us directly, you can do so at patreon.com slash WCAD, where $3 a month gets you access to subscriber-only content. All right, Amit and I will be back tomorrow.
00:43:46
Speaker
Enjoy the game and talk to you then.