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WCAD 4-19: On a day of stars, Messi shines brightest
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Austin and Amit go over a truly entertaining day of World Cup action, starting with the brilliance of Messi in Argentina's 3-0 win over Algeria. Then, they talk about favorites France showing why they should be considered the team to beat, Erling Haaland's Norway proving to be too much for Iraq, and an After Dark special edition of Energy Drink Soccer between Austria and Jordan. Plus, Amit's up before his alarm goes off!
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Transcript
World Cup Stars Shine
00:00:00
Speaker
It was billed as a day of stars at the World Cup. Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Hallens, Marco Arnavich. All right, fine. That was just on this podcast. But the big name stars were on display at the World Cup yesterday.
00:00:17
Speaker
I admit Malik, they did not disappoint. they delivered great goals from all three of the big ones, even from Marco Arnautovic, a really great energy with the stars in the crowd. And even on the broadcast, you can feel that. And i think the world cup is just such a, a big vehicle for these guys who we all know, and they have a global profile is I think three of the best goal scoring players in the world.
00:00:41
Speaker
And then even on this stage, like it's just a different light and you can see the the emotion and the reaction and, I mean, it's so cool. Like, I mean, it was, it was really awesome to see them take over the games in the way they did. And I think all of those teams are are counting on those guys, even messy who we're going to want to talk about.
00:01:01
Speaker
he is, I said it, he's one of the best goal scorers in the world. Like he still is. And that is, I think where we start is the the craziest thing about all of this. And it's so interesting because like at its core, it was a pretty normal day at the World Cup, right? Like all four favorites won. They won pretty impressively. They were never really tested, but that just is not what the storyline was at all. It wasn't about those four teams getting those results of those manners. It was about the the three major stars that we had and the way that they
Lionel Messi: Timeless Talent
00:01:30
Speaker
did it. it's The World Cup After Dark podcast. I'm Austin Miller.
00:01:33
Speaker
He, as mentioned, is Amit Malik. Look, this is the third World Cup that we've done this show, Amit. And we're just going to do this episode of this show again because we've done this episode every time.
00:01:46
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, Lionel Messi. like We could get into the tactics of it for Argentina. We could get into the mistakes of Luka Zidane of Algeria. But at its heart, this was just the Lionel Messi show. And it doesn't matter that he's going to turn 39 in this World Cup. It doesn't matter that he's playing at Inter-Miami at this point.
00:02:05
Speaker
You just sit back and you just enjoy it. It's the year 2026. And this dude is still finding space in the midfield to just cook other defenders and just make them look silly. Yeah, it's truly remarkable. I mean, he's the greatest player of all time. You could you know compare across eras, sure, but definitely, I think, very clearly the best player of of this generation. He's outlasted a bunch of generations. I just think it's a sublime moment like to do that in Arrowhead in the World Cup opener. He's never had a World Cup hat trick, which is like crazy considering everything he's done and everything. He's kind of conquered football. You want to talk about it like that?
00:02:41
Speaker
i just I just was in awe of him being the guy finishing it for Argentina. Look, we know he's not carrying Argentina like he he has in the past. It's not even what he had to do four years ago.
00:02:53
Speaker
But for him to so like emphatically be the most electrifying player on the pitch. I think we could we could settle there in 2026 is just mind boggling. um And the crowd was amazing. Like it's not, you know, I'm, you know, like to be but the X's and O's guys and talk about the tactics, you know, a lot.
00:03:12
Speaker
But this one, I i just like just marveling at what we got to see. I don't feel that all the time. But it's like, you know, some of these late career moments from from the GOATs and other sports, they give you these gems. And, you know, hopefully, I think we'll see some bigger stakes for Argentina and there'll still be more of that.
Argentina's Strategy and Challenges
00:03:30
Speaker
But like you have to just enjoy the the vintage performances when we get them. Think of your favorite athletes in other years sport. It's that greatness that keeps on giving, even if it's not the peak, there's like the genius is still on display.
00:03:43
Speaker
It was so, so good. And you just like, like you said, you just marvel at this guy and you're just thankful that you're like alive in the air to witness it. Like it's that type of performance. It's it's really what it is.
00:03:56
Speaker
I mean, it's got to wake up. It's in the morning time. It was ready ready to be up before a normal podcast. That's good. Hey, we we're getting an early start. um Look, i this game was so interesting because I thought Algeria actually offered a little bit to Argentina. The start here, two offside calls to the first 10 minutes that really conditioned the game. Messi could have had one in the first five minutes. He's slightly offside.
00:04:21
Speaker
Algeria show why they are dangerous. They have a goal chopped off for offside where I think the Argentina defense was kind of planted in a poor position. It felt like at the start of this game and for the first large portion of this game, this game was going to be played on Argentina's right and on Algeria's left because on Argentina's right, you had Lionel Messi, Rodrigo DePaul, and Gonzalo Montiel.
00:04:43
Speaker
Lionel Messi, for all that he is, Not a great defensive tracker back. I think he did more of it in this game than we've probably seen since the last World Cup. But Rodrigo De Paul, the legs, definitely not where they were three and a half years ago.
00:04:56
Speaker
Gonzalo Montiel didn't have a great night at right back. And I think that's where Algeria's most dangerous attacking players were. ait noi masa chaibbi It was an interesting way that this game just kind of tilted to that side of the pitch early on.
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's on Ryan and Nori, a guy we've talked about a lot on this podcast, is one of the best attacking fullbacks the world, not necessarily defensively. And it was that game of like, well, if our fullback goes, we feel good with the ball. But then when you get the ball, our fullback is chasing and we don't want to chase the guy in the other direction. And I thought, you know, on both offsides goals,
France's Dominance and Tactical Prowess
00:05:30
Speaker
that's what happened. Right.
00:05:31
Speaker
Chaibe is like totally exposed to space that Montiel leaves. But, you know, offsides, you know, was fine. It worked out. Yeah, but they were planted, right? Like the offside goal, like DePaul and Montiel are just statues on this play. And it's like, o but bad sign. It wasn't a good look. And I think on the whole of Argentina's shape, you could see the press was at a very good level. The coordination was there. You know, the the chemistry is there in their shape. And I think they definitely were more physical than Algeria, faster to the ball than Algeria.
00:06:05
Speaker
But the legs aren't quite there to do that at the same intensity that they did it four years ago. And that's where Algeria with the ball, I thought, acquitted themselves well. And that's kind of what we were expecting from this team. No Riyad Mahrez in the starting lineup was ah not necessarily a shock. I think just kind of speaking to the the young legs in this team. But Mazza and Ait Noria are the two stars, right? And I thought they played really, really well. Um...
00:06:31
Speaker
This was really good showing. But the thing for Algeria was, yeah, can they get the ball enough? And I thought Argentina in the first half, like, bullied them a little bit.
00:06:42
Speaker
And so I made fun of Vario De Paul on the offside goal because it looked like a statue. And you're kind of like oo what's this guy doing in the lineup? And then in the 17th minute, he's like, oh, yeah, this is what I'm doing in the lineup. He drops deep.
00:06:53
Speaker
picks up a pass and just picks up his head and look, it's Lionel Messi in space. And that's a pass that Riverdue of the Paul picks once a week, right? So he finds Messi and then Messi's just charging forward and it's only going to end one way. if he's If he finds that space between the midfield and the defense so well from distance, we can talk about whether it was the ball. We can talk about whether it was the goalkeeper puts it into the back of the net. It was very vintage Messi on this play.
00:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, he's just kind of lurking in that half space in front of the center backs between the center backs and midfielders. And I think DePaul has leveled up his progressive passing in his time in Miami because he's gotten a lot of reps just playing with Messi. Messi improves the passing of everyone around him, even though he himself is the best passer. because they learn to find these half spaces and think on his wavelength. And it looks awesome. Listen, Algeria was like three or four guys that got beaten by this pass. It's not that they were necessarily out of position. The the lane was open for a half second. But DePaul is a very, very smart player to see this line breaking past centrally. And as soon as...
00:08:01
Speaker
it It gets through, you know you know you're in trouble. And yeah, I think on the shot here, yeah, I think Luka Zidane probably should... He gets two hands to it. It's hit really well for Messi. Look, Messi is a great ball striker. We're talking about the ball at this tournament. It's definitely got a lot of movement on it. It's got a lot of late movement. I think it's been hard for goalkeepers to pick up.
00:08:20
Speaker
But if you can get two hands to a ball, like behind the ball, not just like tip tipping it, I think you got to little bit better, right? Yeah, look, this is the World Cup, right? Like that's the save that you're expecting. Like it's not a save that you're expecting your goalkeeper to make, but it's one that you need to have in this moment against this team. And Lucas Adan was a question mark for us for Algeria coming into this tournament. He did not answer any of those questions here.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, very clearly on the preview podcast, we said this is a big, big weakness for Algeria in their dark horse portfolio. And he played poorly at AFCON. He's the reason they got dumped out of the AFCON ah in their knockout loss. I think Ivory Coast got a big mistake from him. Well, here it is again. And at that time, the guy who was supposed to be the kind of starter was Alexis Gwendouz. And...
00:09:06
Speaker
I think he's a better player. i mean, it's not like I'm watching these guys week in, week out. I can't like say that for sure, but I'm pretty confident Alexis Gwendouz is better than Luka Zidane. And I, I don't know, like if this is a name thing, if Petkovic really trusts him and it's like,
00:09:22
Speaker
OK, he was a starter and you have to be really careful with goalkeepers like chemistry and harmony. But I think like it's almost malpractice to have seen what we saw at a high level from Zidane the last time in 2026. This was six months ago in January and then roll him out again against Messi and friends and think that it was going to be better.
00:09:43
Speaker
and think it's a miss for Petkovic. Like maybe he's looking for some sort of distribution element in that, but look, you need a shot stopper, right? Like in this game particular, you're looking for somebody to keep the ball out of the back of the net. And it was a questionable decision. We'll get to the second goal in a minute where I think he's even more at fault on the second goal. Argentina are so interesting
Norway vs Iraq: Haaland's Impact
00:10:00
Speaker
tactically admit because they're They're playing in spaces and styles and passes that you just don't really see any other team play. Like we talked about this with New Zealand the other night. They're just playing a way that it's very not super replicable for other teams. And so what you have is Messi and Chiago Amada, who was the other kind of winger attacking player in this game. They dropped so deep to get the ball.
00:10:24
Speaker
And they get the ball and then they just start these give and go runs so repetitively. And it's so tough to stop because they're so good at it. i think that was really on display in the middle part of this match. You saw those guys kind of floating into space to receive and then they get it. They make one touch and then they're going and they're looking to play those kind of one touch intricate passing moves. And it's just not a style that you see from very many teams.
00:10:49
Speaker
Especially at the international level, it's really hard to have your wingers do that. Generally, your wingers are going to start high and and get the ball high. Or if they're dropping really deep to get it, they need to to carry it themselves. Right. Or and maybe the midfield runners like go over the top.
00:11:07
Speaker
But it's these one twos. And I think this is a hallmark of a lot of messy teams in his career is that they just want constant movement and they want, you know, the the whole point is you start the one two and then the defense is scrambling. And when you have a guy like Messi and a bunch of other players around him that can drop those through balls at all different angles and launch angles, you're running backwards and Argentina get you running backwards more than just about anyone. Like, look, I think Spain or Perhaps a better set of technicians and we'll talk about France in just ah a few minutes, but messy teams have made make you defend movement and runs more than anyone else. And that has always been the case. And I think.
00:11:48
Speaker
you know Credit to Tiago Amada. I think you know even a few years ago, we weren't sure he was going to fill up this role. He was really good. Listen, Lataro Martinez is also really good because he, um unlike Alvarez, we see later in this game,
Austria's Chaotic Victory Over Jordan
00:12:00
Speaker
knows how to wait the timing just to get across the defender when the when the wingers go. And look, I think we we talked about what what a great play from Enrigo DePaul. Alexis McAllister was also part of this as well.
00:12:13
Speaker
Enzo Fernandez is part of this well. This is a good team of ballplayers. So i think Argentina on on the ball acquitted themselves very well today in terms of their contender status.
00:12:25
Speaker
Getting to the second half, you mentioned Lautaro Martinez. He started this game. It was Julian Alvarez who came in. On the second goal for Argentina, it's Dibu Martinez, their goalkeeper, who was good in this game, didn't have any concerns about the finger. That had been a big story here in Argentina. How's Dibu's finger? He looked fine making the saves that he was forced to make in this game. He drops a long-distance dime in the build-up here, and eventually it's Alexis McAllister who shoots from distance, and it's Lucas Adan again who makes the save, but very poorly, and he just spills it right into the path of Lionel Messi, and it's too ill This is just this one ah is definitely on Zidane. And look, again, the ball is hard to to stop, but you watch goalkeepers train practice. You know, they work on their parry on shot from distance, right? Part of the game is blocking it out of play and out of dangerous areas. Look, if you have to block it right there.
00:13:15
Speaker
i mean, this wasn't that late screen. Like this is just again, like really the second case of pretty poor goalkeeping. You just need to make a save, right? You need a shot stopper in this situation. um And then the third goal from Messi, it's his first World Cup hat trick. It ties him with Miroslav Klose for the most goals in the World Cup history. You just have to sit back and enjoy it.
00:13:36
Speaker
Yeah. And this is like the classic Messi goal where he's just hang the balls on the left and it gets cut back early than you expect across the face of like the top of the box.
00:13:47
Speaker
And it's messy 25 yards from goal. And as the ball is being played and we've seen this goal maybe 100 times, we've seen it like maybe more than 100 times. As the ball's being played, you're like, wait a second. That's messy. Oh, no, he's open. Oh, no, he's taking a touch. Oh, it's too late. It is too late when he gets that ball. A friend of the podcast who was on the podcast, Isaac Bushnell, was like, as soon as he got the ball, I knew it was over. And i think we all did. like we've We've seen this pattern. And look this is one where I i think it...
00:14:17
Speaker
to me, this shows like how good he is. Like professional defenders aren't like dumb. Like they've also seen this pattern. Like we hear a podcasters, they watch tape. Like, it's not like they get in there. Like guys,
Upcoming Matches and Anticipation
00:14:30
Speaker
make sure you, you find him at the top of the box. Like,
00:14:33
Speaker
everyone knows what messy could do. These are professional defenders. This is the world cup. And he still finds the space and he's still thinking a half speed, ah a half second ahead of everyone. That to me has always been the messy hallmark. And,
00:14:49
Speaker
even at this stage, limited athletically, like I don't think there's anyone better at reading the space than him like ever. And that to to me, this goal was just his classic, very classic goal.
00:15:01
Speaker
he He fits in the, this he fits in the finish too. Like he's done this finish a bunch of times. It's not easy. It's a window. It's Lionel Messi. You mentioned it earlier. I think this was a good performance from Argentina. We questioned maybe where the level would be. They didn't suffer from what some other contenders have suffered from with kind of slower starts. They were at the level early. They played in this game. Algeria are a good team, right? We mentioned it. they They asked some questions of Argentina and I think they answered those.
00:15:27
Speaker
We don't have the answer for what it's going to look like for Argentina when they play a high, high level team. But I think the early signs here are good. But we do have a couple of those things that we're kind of putting a pin in and saying, all right, let's see what happens when that level goes up. I think the midfield is kind of one of those for me. I think there are maybe some more legier players that weren't in the lineup here that would maybe get used in a higher level game and in different situations. But overall, I think Argentina can be content with this.
00:15:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was a B plus, A minus performance. The scoreline looks great. The vibes are great. I think that is a big thing for this team. yeah like As long as the vibes feel good and you see the coverage talking about this, like they won.
00:16:07
Speaker
There is some sort of freedom, joy they're playing with. That is that is like a good thing for them, dangerous. That pressure was so hard for them 2022, in 2018 when it didn't quite work.
00:16:19
Speaker
All of that is great. I think, to your point, like, Almada was good here. I think the best lineup for Argentina probably involves Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez, if you can get them both on the field. Maybe not. I thought Julian Alvarez was little rusty in his limited cameo, but again, it was a weird state.
00:16:35
Speaker
But you're getting good minutes from Almada. I think in the... As the tournament develops, right you might want some of the Allegri midfielder in there somewhere. You might want Nico Paz in there somewhere. you know I don't think DePaul McAllister at the highest level is going to work.
00:16:51
Speaker
But if it's good enough to 3-0 Algeria, like that's a pretty good baseline. So I think this is it's kind of where we're at on Argentina. This is a very good level. We've always said that about them. You don't really have to worry about the level. It's going to take...
00:17:06
Speaker
As you say a lot, you're really going to have to beat this team. And I think that again. Yeah, I thought Medina was good at left back. Gonzalo Montiel, I thought was probably the weakest part of this team. He got pulled at halftime for Noel Molina. I don't know if that was an injury related. i don't know if that was performance related. Molina was fine in the second half. And then, yeah, I think Nico Paz, who we saw for 10 minutes here, he was the messy replacement. He's a player that I think has a very big role to play for this team in the biggest moments. All right, the other star that we saw today was, of course, Kylian Mbappe. It was France-Senegal, a rematch of a very famous World Cup opener in 2002. Amit, this was a really good game, and it was also a very Francie game because they just kind of slowly cranked into this game. You spent the first half wondering, all right, when are France going to do something? Are they going to do something? It was very Didier Deschamps in that matter.
00:18:00
Speaker
But as France are wont to do, that talent eventually showed. Yeah, this was a very clear tale of two halves. And I agree. The first half was so Dechampo. was like, they're all these good guys in the field. What are they doing? They're not doing anything. And, you know, Ryan Turkey isn't in the starting lineup. It's a front four of Mbappe at striker.
00:18:21
Speaker
Behind him is Dembele in the 10. On the right is Alise. On the left is Due. And you're like, okay, sure, there's no Turkey. But this is still the... the ge filthiest front four you could put out. And Adrian Rabiot gets to start in midfield. They were like, how is this guy still in the lineup? He's the weak link for France.
00:18:38
Speaker
And France kind of just passed the ball around. They didn't overload. They just asked their winners to create 1v1. And their press was kind of paper thin. Senegal looked really, really up for it. And you're thinking, you know as we had said in the preview, it's a hot day at MetLife Stadium.
00:18:53
Speaker
It's 12 p.m. kick in In muggy New Jersey, Senegal got him right where they want him. They even had a chance or two. Nico Jackson's getting in. Senegal looked good.
00:19:05
Speaker
And then it's just embarrassing how easy it is for them to flip the switch in the second half. It was so good. The second half, the first half asked all of the questions that we've asked. And I think like we're this late into this to Sean France cycle. Like we don't need to do the discourse. Like the discourse is done. This is what France are going to do. Like there's no way around it. There's no point in begging them to do more. There's no point in trying to like, you're not going to pressure them into doing anything. This is how they're going to play. And there are opportunities to get them.
00:19:37
Speaker
Amit Senegal had those opportunities in the first half. They had two chances. They didn't take either of them. So the first one, Nico Jackson gets in behind, puts a shot that goes off the post and then off goalkeeper Mike Meingan's foot and somehow out. It spills out instead of spilling in. That felt like a big moment. And then the second is Saar gets free in front of goalies wide open. It's the type of chance that if you feel like all he can do is finish it. And he just blasted over the bar.
00:20:03
Speaker
Those are the chances that when you get them in this game at this level, you just have to take. And that was one of our big concerns with Senegal. Yeah, they played the game they wanted to play. Like Mane combines on the left. I thought Ahadjadouf on the left like had a really good game to free him. And then they're getting chances in semi-transition for Nico Jackson.
00:20:24
Speaker
And he just kind of wasn't up for it today. And Saru is also their next best goal scorer. That was a big, big miss from six yards out. like Looks bad on the XG. He's got to use his left foot there.
00:20:35
Speaker
And I do think like Senegal, who played this game again, might have... got had a goal lead in many of those instances. Listen, even if Senegal had the goal lead, I don't know what happens because when France revved it up, it was a different story. But Senegal acquitted themselves much better than they had looked in their friendlies. They were very up for this. They were generating chances.
00:20:58
Speaker
This is why theyre they are a 12 to 16 team and not a top 10 team is like... The number of chances they created for Jackson and Saar were not enough for their finishing on the day. And that was that was a worrying concern because once France got it going, like, oh boy, basically, Elise is like, I can take over this game. He was on the right wing and then he just went wherever he wanted. And I think to your point, like, I'm not even sure Deshaun told him to. I think he's just like, we could do whatever we want. really smart attackers. And the Elise takeover is crazy in how he made Senegal chase shadows after looking really, really resolute for the first half.
00:21:37
Speaker
Yeah. and in the second half, it's that it's at least a kind of gets more of a foothold in France start to do it. And every Senegal turnover is then just turning into immediate death back the other way. And you've got those attackers just running at you into space and doing things. And so the first big moment of this second half is an Mbappe Mane play where there's a penalty, no penalty discussion.
00:21:59
Speaker
And Mane comes in, he makes a sliding challenge. There's contacts, But the contact is deemed to be Mbappe leaving his foot in to initiate the contact. In another scenario, this would have been a really controversial moment with what then ends up happening in the half hour after it. It kind of falls through the cracks.
00:22:17
Speaker
It was a very interesting play. I personally agreed with the call, but i I'm getting the sense that that wasn't a very popular opinion. I don't know on this one. you watch some replays. It looks like he gets the ball. You watch some and then like his trailing leg is very much clattered into live. I thought it was fine. And then you show a replay five different ways.
00:22:41
Speaker
I don't know. I was fine with this one not being called. If it was called also like we've seen penalties, the standard of them is so hard to officiate what contact is okay. And what isn't generally, I will say though, Sadio Mane should not go to ground to try to tackle Mbappe from behind. You're just asking for a penalty. Like in that sense, that was dumb by him. And if it was given, I wouldn't have, I would have been like, yeah, don't do that. That was, you're not going to tackle Mbappe from behind your Sadio Mane. Like whatever it was, it was fine with the no call.
00:23:09
Speaker
And then, as I said, it kind of just fades into not being an issue because Alise plays a pass, one pass that beats four defenders. Yeah, a minute before this or few minutes before this, he had gotten centrally shaken loose and he's doing this thing that honestly Messi does or a great quarterback does where he like beats two or three defenders by putting it on like across his body to a space where the defender isn't. and when you have a receiver, a wide receiver, or ah a striker whose movement and anticipation is so good, you can start to bend space and time for defenses in ways that's crazy. So at least they does that centrally. Then a minute later, he goes over on the right.
00:23:51
Speaker
He fakes fainting right. so now he's gone left. Now he's gone right. So they're like, oh my gosh, what do we do with this guy? They back up. They're like, okay, stand in front of us by 10 yards. And Elise is like, that's cool. Watch this. And then he just...
00:24:03
Speaker
Drops a sick dime pass for Senegal defenders from 30 yards out into like the right corner of the box. And this is Mbappe, I think, at his best, right? He makes this finish look easy. It's not. He starts on the center of the box. He runs the right. And then he shapes his body to get enough power to finish on his right foot with like a blind half hip shot. Right. This is France like at their most, most dangerous. How do you stop this play? like Truly, how do you stop this?
00:24:34
Speaker
Oh, Elise is game-changingly good for France. Like just really changes the equation, I think for this team, because what have we said about Didier Deschamps for 10 years?
00:24:46
Speaker
His goal is to beat you by putting the fewest numbers of players forward as possible. And what does a player who can hit a pass to beat four guys give you? It gives you the ability to put even fewer guys forward because if that guy's combining with Mbappe, good luck.
00:25:03
Speaker
Yeah, truly. That's the the math. When you start getting, you know, four or five guys beaten by two guys, like then you can do the whole Dechamp equation. So this was really scary for France to see them kind of hit that gear in the first half without having to commit really any of their back six to going forward.
00:25:22
Speaker
um And yes, I think Alise is the story of the game. He took over um for sure. He was electric, but I think Mbappe is, attacking work rate compared to the first half. The first half, he was kind of just standing there and it was like, ah, there's Kylian Mbappe, hoping the ball comes to him for his goals. And the second half, he's like, oh no, when this guy like is odd, like he is the the best player, probably, maybe in the world. He was just giving Senegal fits. And when you have two guys on that wavelength, as we're saying, it's really, really hard to defend.
00:25:53
Speaker
After the goal, Senegal open up a little bit. France make a change. They bring on Bradley Barkalow for Dembele. Dembele left a bit to be desired in the midfield in this game. Yeah, I think this one's on Dechamp. He's not really a 10. Pressing-wise, it's fine, but he got a bit lost. And I get it, right? Douay is a good take-on, shifty little player on the left, but I think Debele is better on the front line. He was a bit hidden here. And then when Senegal low-blocked, Debele wasn't able to get on the ball. Your best 10 is Ryan Cherky.
00:26:20
Speaker
That being said, it all was fine in the second half when the other players went on. I do think Dechamp will have to ticker with that a little bit, but he... He was kind of did rolled out an ineffective front four and it still works. So maybe he doesn't, he can just keep getting away with it. That's what we say to jump all the time.
00:26:37
Speaker
You remember earlier when I said that it felt like every Senegal turnover was immediate death the other way. Then that's what happens here on the second goal. The ball eventually finds a Rabio and it's Bradley Barkley making the run really good ball for Rabio 30 yard through ball right through the channel and Barkley just with a high class chip finish to make it to them.
00:26:56
Speaker
This is just France at their most ruthless. What a great finish. I think Rabia was good in this game. We're definitely questioning whether or not he would fit into the lineup. But look, you need you have runners. You need guys that can play the ball. And he can play the ball. And he saw the pass. And this was a tough day for Senegal center backs because they defended really well. But to chase...
00:27:18
Speaker
Barcala to Dwayne and Bappe Alisse for 90 minutes when they're when they're going. you You can't give any space to the top teams, but I think France is the team you could give you can't give any space to. like This was one turnover, boom, death, like you said.
00:27:36
Speaker
Again, i'm I'm in awe of France getting to that level in this game. and Senegal is a good team, and this was quite ruthless. It was really good from France. Senegal get a late foothold in this game. I think a really interesting player for the progression of this tournament. 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye. He's at PSG. He's already made 12 caps for Senegal. He's already scored four times. And um if you go out to to MetLife Stadium this morning, Amit, I think Taylor Hernandez's ankles are still sitting in the box where they were completely broken on this play. He just falls over. This was so good from Mbaye.
00:28:09
Speaker
It was, it was excellent. A great shifty one, two fakes left goes right. Yeah. Teo Hernandez is, is one potential potential weak spot for France. I don't know if that's going to hold up, but, and by made him look really, really bad.
00:28:22
Speaker
There was moments for Senegal. This was just like, what if this had happened in like the 58th minute? He wasn't on that, but like you could see that Senegal have attacking quality and perhaps an X factor in a guy like it by ah It's just so funny, though, because you're like, oh, it's, you know, two one Senegal like are in this game. And then France did like a thing that happens when you're the big brother in a video game. Yeah, France, like, yeah, they big brothered up, right? Then there's this moment where that they let all right. Senegal gets the goal. You're kind of doing bits for a little bit like, oh, it's two one. all right. Look, all right. We're just going to put this back and it's killing Mbappe crowding his day with a second goal where you're just left in awe.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yeah, just gets the ball 30 yards from goal and he uncorks one to the top corner. ah Elite ball striking. And maybe like we're going to say that a lot. Maybe this ball is really easy to strike for the top guys. They've been working with it a lot. But this is, to me, the best struck like 35 yards, still accelerating as it gets into the top corner. And once Mbappe is feeling himself down,
00:29:27
Speaker
that is also a problem because I think sometimes at Real Madrid this year, he cuts the figure of like laboring too much to, to get his goals. And it's a little pouty, right? Like and he gets a little pouty, but then when he's like, that was a heat check, that was a hundred percent a heat check. And I don't like game one heat checks from killing it. Like that is super scary.
00:29:47
Speaker
It's very much the, the Steph Curry back there, the way you've made a little run. I'm just pulling from 35 feet. It's going in and from three and you're just going to be left in all what I can do. We haven't seen England. We haven't seen Portugal. We'll do that today. The the the final kind of two big teams to debut.
00:30:03
Speaker
I don't think there's any reason why France shouldn't be the favorites of this tournament at this point. This was extremely scary for the rest of the field against an extremely game Senegal team.
00:30:15
Speaker
Truly like Senegal are good. And this is level is, was a, you know, a B performance. Yeah. We'll give them an, an A for the second half quality. And at the end of the day in the world's cup where it's not the club game, talent is King and France have the more of it than anyone like, yeah, we saw at the Euro Spain could get them in a good game. And I, there are still weaknesses in this team, but I think out of all Dechamp teams, this one, the math works the most.
00:30:44
Speaker
that And in that in a tournament where every team is trying to get to that math, Spain didn't exactly show themselves well. It was game one. We will see with England and Portugal, two teams that I think could could pressure them. think we saw with Argentina, right? There they' there are some some flaws.
00:31:02
Speaker
How are you going to score on France like two or three times in a game? That's the other thing. You got to get lucky a little bit. And if you don't score two or three times, they are going to score two or three times based on the evidence that we saw in this. And if Kylian Mbappe is at a high level in this tournament, if they're getting from at least what they are expecting to get from him, scary for the rest of the field. Scary for the rest of the field Norway, Iraq was the game that followed this. It was the other game in this group. This scoreline, I think, is a bit unfair to what we saw in this game.
00:31:33
Speaker
Erling Haaland, very good for Norway. Norway were very strong attacking. Iraq, I think, offered a lot more going forward than we would have expected them in this game. But there's a pretty clear gap in the levels between these two teams. And I think that was what was on display for the majority of this game, even if Iraq probably had a bit more joy than we would have expected.
00:31:54
Speaker
Iraq equalized in the first half. I think they went toe-to-toe with Norway in the first half. They acquitted themselves well. As you're saying at the attack, I thought they did a really good job of flooding the box with runners ah to help Ayman Hussein not have to go one-on-two, one-on-three. They were getting three-on-threes, four-on-fours in the back post and really lumping it in there. And it worked. They equalized to Erling Haaland's opener.
00:32:19
Speaker
And I feel like part of the golf and quality is at goalkeeper. And that was a, just ah an Achilles heel for a rock in this game, even. And then in the, i mean, we're about to talk about the goals when they're down to one, there's still like 10 minutes left. The first half action, they totally assault the box from Norway and and don't get one on like four or five chances. Yeah.
00:32:42
Speaker
this could have been a different game for rock for one is definitely unfair, but also like it's soccer. It's not quite like other sports where you can play a good game and get a good result. Like the quality moments get you. That's sometimes how the talent gaps express themselves.
00:32:57
Speaker
And the quality was evident on the other side because Erling Haaland making his World Cup debut wanted to make it known that he was making his World Cup debut. So Iraq kind of go toe to toe with Norway for the first part of this game. We go to the water pause and Iraq immediately get got coming out of it. Nusa gets down the left. He gets an overlapping run from Miller Wolf and it's Erling Haaland at the far post. There's defenders all around him. It doesn't matter. It's a nice stabbing finish on a low cross.
00:33:21
Speaker
That's what this guy is in the lineup to do. Obviously, it's very reductive. But player nines, he's the nine to play and he's making the type of run that is just so difficult for other defenses to handle.
00:33:34
Speaker
Yeah. When he gets on his horse, you can't keep up with him. Like you just can't, he's fast and strong. So even if you're on him, like he can shake you off. And I think that's where you saw the intelligence on the ball for Mueller Wolf to put it in a spot where only his guy can go get it.
00:33:50
Speaker
It's in front of everyone. It's all the way across. It's really satisfying to watch a nine like Erlen Holland get to make the run to the back post. When he plays for Manchester city, he is oftentimes playing a super low block and Guardiola has to do all sorts of weird tiki-taki type things.
00:34:07
Speaker
This is old school, you know, runners, runners, cross, find him. And you can tell he likes playing this style for how much it allows him to tap into his strengths. a Iraq, though, had a foothold back in this game, and they didn't really back down after the goal. And it's our guy, Ivan Hussein, who gets the equalizer here. Ali Jassim with really nice work down the left. It's a good pass for for the midfield Al-Amarie, and it's a nice cross. And it's Ivan Hussein who's beating both Norway center backs in the air and heading it. It's a guy that you have to mark. Like, that's the scouting report. That's what this guy does. He's a big physical presence in the box, and he made it count.
00:34:42
Speaker
Really, really strong header. And i was happy to see him hold up at the level. I thought he and a Iraq asked a lot of questions of Norway backline. Like Hussein is a more physical to them. He bullied them. It was a great finish.
00:34:58
Speaker
But you do all that work, you get all back. And the one thing you can't do, Amit, is gift wrap goal to a team like Norway in this game. And unfortunately, that's exactly what a Iraq did. So Zaid Tassin makes a weak back pass to Jalal Hassan, the goalkeeper.
00:35:14
Speaker
And Hassan just kind of freezes and doesn't charge this ball and just try to get it out of harm's way, whatever means necessary. So he doesn't attack the ball and he waits on it and he kicks it. But it's early Holland who's running it down and he kicks it right off early Holland in. Oh, you just cannot do this in this game.
00:35:36
Speaker
It's tough. I mean, it's a big mistake. It's a catastrophic mistake from Hassan. Truly, like Iraq were in this game four minutes after getting a really important equalizer. Look, i e the only thing I can say, and I think there is something to this, is that the speed of a guy like Haaland closing you down on the press, it's not like anything. It's hard to replicate that at match speed. It's hard to replicate that for a Iraq. The strikers in Asia are not doing that. um And I, you know, ah one of the things I think about is I forget who said this, but a goalkeeper back in the day was like Wayne Rooney speed closing you down is something that like is shocking for goalkeepers, especially the ones that are not trained on their feet, like to, to play against a ah mega brute, like Holland at you at that speed is terrifying.
00:36:23
Speaker
That being said, you've got to just do anything else but that, but I understand in the moment, like just kind of having a brain freeze and You don't expect the press to get that far. It's like a one man press. But early Holland is a very smart player like he he kind of Jedi mind tricks Hassan into the mistake.
00:36:43
Speaker
You can't just sit and wait, though. You have to be on the attack in this situation. Like you can't just wait for the ball to come to you and watch that space rapidly get closed down. You just need to go to the ball and get it out of the way. and Yeah, it's it's a catastrophic mistake.
00:36:56
Speaker
And ah it's unfortunately a tough day for Zola Hassan. You mentioned it, right? So he makes the mental error on the second goal. And then it's a Norway set piece special for 3-1 into the second half. Erling Haaland is just like drawing all the attention on this. And he's just bullying his way into space.
00:37:12
Speaker
And while that's happening, it's an unmarked Ostergaard who just makes a front post run and leaps higher than any Iraqi defender can get. And he heads in at the front post. I don't think there's a ton maybe that Hazan could have done here, but this is just good set piece play from Norway. And that's something we've expected from them. And we're going to see from them.
00:37:29
Speaker
Their center backs are good. Ostegaard is good. I think the World Cup is officiating contact on corner kicks pretty well. not Teams aren't doing as much of the quote unquote meat wall.
00:37:41
Speaker
This term that ah Michael Caley has done in terms of how set pieces are like getting as many bodies into the six as possible. Teams aren't doing that. Norway are, though. And so that's why Hassan is trapped.
00:37:52
Speaker
There's like six bodies between him and the six. Normally, you want your goalkeeper to command the six. He should be able to go grab this ball high and everyone is happy. He can't get there.
00:38:04
Speaker
And that's part of what Holland is good at is like talk about meat wall. The guy is ah is a lot to get through. like There are other bodies, too. So like Yes, you don't want to grab the goalkeeper. You don't have to. If you have a bunch of guys, you can put this ball in this spot.
00:38:20
Speaker
This is the type of routine that teams like Iraq are going to struggle to defend. like I think Norway could do that exact play five times and Hassan's not getting to that ball and Ostegard is getting to that header.
00:38:34
Speaker
this is This is what you can do when you're very good at set pieces. It's an Ayman Hussein own goal for the fourth goal here for Norway. This was good for Norway. like Like, I think we started this segment a bit impressed by what we saw from Iraq. And I think that's fair. But this was also Norway largely carrying over what we saw from qualifying, which is if an opposition can't match their level, Norway don't give you any chance in a game.
00:38:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:02
Speaker
grapple with the rock had to defend their box and as i said that kind of ten minutes post holland's second goal into like stoppage time in the first half they they had to answer a lot of questions they escaped a few times But you you you' the more you commit, then you're then when you're living in transition against this front three, you're in trouble. And I thought Noosa had a really, really good game. He he kind of makes the the hockey assist on the first goal. But when he's running, he's dangerous. And Odegaard was quiet, but I think he's got the set piece delivery for the third two. So like...
00:39:34
Speaker
this is the blueprint for Norway. It's a good one. Like, you know, Iraq asked the question and Norway's like, great, you got a goal, you played well. And in the end, we still forward one. You like, i think, yes, it was just unfair in a bit to Iraq, but Norway's quality is is impressive.
00:39:53
Speaker
Norway, Senegal, really good game on match day too, because Senegal are up against it now, right? We've talked about so long for this team. Those first two games are going to be difficult. They're probably need to try to keep their goal differential down at a minimum, right? Because I don't know that I trust this Senegal team to go and smash three past Iraq on the last day. If that's what they have to do to get through, it's a really good game on the second match day. And I think France, Norway is shaping up to be...
00:40:19
Speaker
if it's a game where both of these teams are going for it, is a really, really good matchup as well. Norway are going to have to try to punch France in the face and live with what happens the other way. Let's see how Norway holds up. I think they've earned themselves a little bit of house money. Like, yes, it'd be great to beat France and get a good spot in the bracket, but like you lose, you're fine, you know, for, for where your expectations are. That's dangerous. I think there was so much buzz about Norway and the dark horse term. And i was like, are you a dark horse? If you have the best strike in the world, I don't think so. But like, uh,
00:40:52
Speaker
Look, they showed like when they have the best trick the world, they could beat anyone. So I think Norway are fair money for all the the hype they're going to get. And to just the point, like we said, like Erling Haaland in America, World Cup, like the the mega superstar and the mega supermarket, like, boy, it looks good. It felt good. Early returns. Very, very positive. Last game of the day, a bit in After Dark special. It was a late, late night between Austria and Jordan. And Ralf Ragnik's Austria boys, they had had taken down the energy drinks before this one. This was full display of what Austria can be.
00:41:29
Speaker
and I think I mean that in both a positive and a negative manner because they brute forced their way to a three one win here. But there were moments where they were put off by Jordan, I think, in this game. And there were moments where it's pretty clear that Austria are lacking a really high-level finishing st striker or midfield player to put all of this chaos into the back of the net. They get the three points. They win fairly comfortably in the end.
00:41:59
Speaker
But yeah, it was an interesting game. What was fun for Austria was seeing just how much they were going to play Ragnik Red Bull soccer. And yes, we had talked about it. We know they've done that.
00:42:12
Speaker
But against a team like Jordan, who is objectively worse than you, like you might play slightly differently with the ball. You might be doing more creative passing things.
00:42:22
Speaker
Austria were not. They were like, it doesn't matter who's out there. We're just going to play bumper cars, pinball, kick it long, hope it bounces to us. And i think it was a bit jarring. Because the game was super, super chaotic. And if you're Austria, you almost shouldn't live with that much uncertainty for Jordan. Jordan gets a goal in this game to tie the game.
00:42:46
Speaker
Look, it ends up working in the end, but... There's a lack of control that this Austria team has that is a bit alarming. That being said, there is also a brute force aspect to Austria that no one plays with because no one plays this crazy international soccer. When we said about reason why we're super excited about them, part of it just watching like the madness of this style at an international level. This was was very after dark energy. And to your point, right?
00:43:12
Speaker
We said the striker was an issue for Austria. It was today. I'll talk about the players. And then a big injury blow for them is Christoph Baumgartner, who's out, and that was going to be their 10. And I think they were counting on him to get a lot of shots, quality shots in the box, finished plays. Without him, it was the bit short of quality in the final third outside of Marcel Sabitzer's passing.
00:43:35
Speaker
Sasa Kologic got the start of the nine for Austria. Then it's Conrad Leimer at the 10. And those kind of decisions really just showed what game this was going to be. It was going to be brute force energy drink soccer from Austria, where they are just crashing into chaotic situations and trusting that the chaos will eventually lead to them putting the ball in the back of the net. think initially in this game, Jordan were put off by the speed and look, that's just a speed and an energy and a style that Jordan are never going to see. And I think it took them a while.
00:44:04
Speaker
to get a foothold in this game, to realize kind of what was going on. Austria are playing full on pinball. There's no progression. They're not trying to do any of that. Jordan are trying to come back the other way against David Alba and the Austria backline. Sabitzer looked good. Everybody else, maybe be a bit less sharp. Sasakalic looked awkward. Just everything that he did in this game was awkward.
00:44:26
Speaker
but it's Austria getting the first goal. Jordan are pinned back. Sabitzer finds Romano Schmidt in half space and he just curls it into the top corner. That's the type of shot and the type of finish that we've gotten a lot in this World Cup.
00:44:38
Speaker
Everybody should be taking notes. Take shots from distance, work on that curler in the half space. I mean, especially with this ball, right? If you can strike this ball, I think the players, it's a player, it's a shooter friendly spin on this ball, right? I think very clearly through, you know, five, six days, that is something we could say.
00:44:56
Speaker
Listen, that, mattered at the 2010 World Cup. I don't know for the first people to say this. I'm sure everyone's talking about the ball, but like shoot from distance if you if you could work on it. And Ronald Schmidt, like not a guy you're expecting to to do that. He's like the fourth or fifth best player in this Austria attack. But I mean, he looked like a world world beater on this goal.
00:45:16
Speaker
But Jordan finally kind of figured this out a little bit. I think they got to a point where they realized, OK, they're just going to run at us. But when they have the ball, they're not doing anything. they're not really reliably creating chances. The Jordan front three, I thought, was really good, right? yeah The kind of triangle that they formed with Altamari, who we mentioned, and then Ali Ola, who had a really good game. And Al-Fakuri, the three of them kind of jump on the Austria midfield and create some changes. Ragnik pulls Kaladzic at halftime, brings on another World Cup after dark legend, Marko Arnautovic.
00:45:46
Speaker
Put a pin in that, we'll come back to him. But Jordan settling well. they They pick on Posh, they pick on Alaba, and eventually they get a super direct counter. And it's Ali Olwan, who's running at the Austria backline and realizes, i have space to cut onto my right foot and shoot. And he does that and he puts it into the side netting for 1-1. It was a deserved equalizer.
00:46:04
Speaker
Yeah, Jordan really settled in well. And the reason the way it works is Austria is trying to get like five on five or six on six on Jordan's back line and just hit it there and like not progress it there. And then when Jordan has the ball, it's the the the boxes, right? Two, two, two in front of four. And they're pressing with six. And Jordan was like, well, we could just hit it over those guys. And then they have to turn and run.
00:46:30
Speaker
And it was really, really direct. And it made, again, to this point of why did Austria have to play this way against a Jordan? It made Austria look a bit silly and a bit slow. And especially when, yes, to play the energy drink style, you need fast defenders.
00:46:43
Speaker
Well, Posh and Alaba and Lineheart were like chasing shadows of the Jordan front three. This was very deserved for Ali Olwan, who I think had a very good game Jordan, like, I think their front three is better than a lot of people thought. I don't know if that's going to get them anywhere, but like even missing ah one of their best players too, like they impressed.
00:47:05
Speaker
And so Ragnick reacts, right? Tommy Daliba, we're out of spots to put him in. he's He's been a midfielder. He got too slow for that. yeah He turned a fullback. He got too slow for that. And now he's just too slow to even be a center back. And so Ragnick brings on Kevin Donso and that kind of changes the calculus of this game for the last half hour.
00:47:25
Speaker
I do think we might be seeing not so much of David Alaba for Austria going forward in terms of like high leverage situations. Because once Danso came in Jordan's space on the counter was a lot less. They also hear Schlager comes off, Chukwemecka, the kind of really intriguing England...
00:47:45
Speaker
international who switched to Ragnarok's project at Dortmund, comes in at the 10. And <unk> he's not as good as Baumgartner, but he looks like a 10. He does 10 things. That was at least better. And they move Leimer back to left back. So now instead of Alaba and Moene, you have Leimer and Danso. And then the Austria back line was much more convincing. And from there, Jordan's counters kind of dried up. And once the counters kind of dried up, it didn't look like the super chaotic game for 60 minutes. It was much easier for Austria to field tilt one way, battering ram, brute force, just ball into Jordan box as much as possible. And I don't think Donson was like a great player at Tandem Hotspur, but he's a very competent physical center back in a way that all about this stager's career simply showed in 60 minutes is not at the level to track Jordan.
00:48:35
Speaker
And we knew that the legs were going to be an issue in this game, right? Jordan have every single good player that they have is on the pitch to start this game and running and trying and playing. And then an hour into this game, Austria just hand these three guys three energy drinks to chug before they come on. And there's just a gap of legs. And there just is. And you knew that it was going to be that. I think Austria do a good job of of making that count because it's just brute force for Austria. So they got one corner that gets called off that goes in the back of the net from Mark Arnavich. It's a dubious handball. Minutes after that, we get a bar hydration break combo.
00:49:10
Speaker
It's another corner and it's just a bad bounce ah off the Asana or Arab's head. And look, this is Austria just being blunt and saying we are going to put the ball into dangerous spaces enough and we are more physical than you. And eventually it's going to bounce into awkward positions and we're going to be able to capitalize. That's what happened here.
00:49:28
Speaker
It really is brute force in the box. I think this is like the purest Red Bull Rangnick soccer you can get unless the guy invented Red Bull. A lot of teams do German pressing ideas, but like this is the purest like just spam it in to tall guys. And like credit to Arnautovic, at least the deliveries are good here from Sabitzer and company. like it's it's It's a very odd way to see...
00:49:58
Speaker
this being used at this level. I'm just, that's why I'm very surprised, but it worked, right? Jordan were just, just kind of capitulated after enough times asking.
00:50:09
Speaker
Arnautovic gets his reward at the end of this game. He gets a late penalty. It just felt like Austria had enough to just choke the game off. And once they had the lead and once Jordan didn't have the legs, Austria are able to not put themselves into so many dangerous situations. And by this point, look, Jordan have to make attacking subs because Altamari and Al-Fakuri simply don't have anything left. And so then you're left with Ali Olwan and Jordan's second string attackers.
00:50:33
Speaker
And let's be frank, that's probably never going to trouble Austria. especially when they are sitting with six guys back instead of four guys back. And even maybe it's eight guys back. And then, yeah, Jordan, Jordan's best chances were in space. And again, the story of this game is once kind of Ragnick figure that out and dialed his team back just a little bit and got the game state where he wanted to.
00:50:56
Speaker
This was a pretty textbook process. Ragnarok game, even if Austria are not quite at the level he wants. Like I thought he managed this little challenge. Well, like Jordan asked the questions and he's like, ah, I need to, to fix it. And he did.
00:51:10
Speaker
So what's he going to do against Argentina? Because that's the next game coming up for Austria. And it's a super interesting thought because if you're going to run chaotically at this Argentina team, there might not be a better team in the world to just decisively pick passes through your chaotic midfield.
00:51:27
Speaker
but also Ralph Ragnarok is not going dial it back, right? Like this is their style of play. This is what they're going to He's probably walked his way into a better 11. Like i can't imagine all of us starting in that game. I think you're probably going see Don. So Arnautovic felt like the most effective number nine, a free bet.
00:51:43
Speaker
Mark Arnautovic against Kuti Romero in that game. Somebody's getting a yellow card. Probably both of them are getting a yellow card at some point in that game. It's a super interesting tactical question that they're going to ask, but those legs might work for segments against the Argentina midfield.
00:51:58
Speaker
looking at it, you're like, Ken Seibold and Schlager run through DePaul and McAllister? answer might be yes. But once they run through, then you lose the ball. then There's no one there. And I think the front three versus the Austria back four, I thought...
00:52:13
Speaker
you know, yes, Danso looked good, but Posh was, he is like a replacement level Bundesliga right back. He's kind of a tweener. I thought he was, particularly if Ali Oluon was giving him questions, Tiago Almada could give him questions. I thought Moene was fine, but like, okay, now you have to guard a little Messi, like instead of Altamari, like, so he might need to be a little careful, but let's see. I think He wouldn't be Ragnarok if he didn't think he could punch Argentina the other way and see if he can, you know, get Romero and Martinez into having to head the ball away against taller players. Like, it's a fascinating game. We'll we'll see how it ends up.
00:52:52
Speaker
Jordan, I thought were better maybe than what we expected from them coming into this game. That attacking three did some things. We'll see if they can do some things against Algeria. The second goal they conceded is something that looms large in an event that Jordan does get something. There's also still an Argentina match to come. But I thought this was a pretty good performance for a team that we thought might be among the bottom side of the World Cup.
00:53:11
Speaker
Yeah, I think they can give Algeria a game. And if they beat Algeria, who knows, right? They, you know, look at the goals. Maybe they're a third place team that gets through. We, you know, we haven't talked about it too much. I think it's way too early to to have a look. We haven't even finished the first round across all the groups, but I think Jordan are are definitely good enough to to do something else. I don't know. I was pretty skeptical of that heading in.
00:53:33
Speaker
And maybe it's because of the Austria game state, but I thought that front three was pretty good. So Algeria definitely, you know, you know, Ali Olwan versus Lucas Don, like sign me up. Let's see what happens.
00:53:46
Speaker
You mentioned it, Amit. We're getting our final day of first round matches in the group stage. That means everybody is going to have debuted by the end of it. It's a packed afternoon session. We've got Cristiano Ronaldo who said stars? You talk about stars. I'm a star. Look at me. Look, I'm a star. So we're going to get to see whatever that turns into today against a game physical DR Congo side. If Tommy Tuchel's England making their World Cup debut against the the perennial Dark Horses Croatia, a very intriguing Ghana Panama match. And then we're closing it out with what will be a very, very yellow Azteca as Columbia take on debutants in Uzbekistan.
00:54:25
Speaker
What's one thing you're looking forward from these games? I mean, Cristiano Ronaldo trying to keep up with Messi and Bappe in Holland is theater as always, as generally the case is with the Bobby Martinez team. And I think Congo is pretty good.
00:54:37
Speaker
ah But look, I think if you enjoyed some of that drama, austria jordan energy if you enjoy world cup after dark just put some tape over the clock tell yourself it's midnight and throw on gotta panama and see what happens gotta with carlos caros a very weird team panama thinks they can better i think that is a very very fun wacky sicko game listen there's a lot of quality on display elsewhere so if you want to see the stars go see the stars like it'll be great but gotta panama could be delightful
00:55:10
Speaker
You're burying the lead here. It's Tommy Tuchel's England against Croatia, right? We're seeing this team making their debut. I think Ronaldo against the Congo defense is going to be fascinating because those are physical guys that can probably match in there. But it's England, it's Croatia, it's it's Thomas Tuchel who looked... Oh, they're exciting games yesterday. Guess what? I've got in my back pocket. It's how to win one nil against literally anybody. And Dora, Croatia, Argentina. Don't care. We're winning one nil. ah Harry Kane at the World Cup. Always great.
00:55:39
Speaker
This is going to be a fun game because it's going to feel very European. And I think that might not be a bad thing. yeah Yes, in terms of embracing the European knee of it. like i I think that you're 100% spot on of the way this is going to go. and Perhaps the the fun part will be like how silly will Harry Kane's goal be? Can you pick the minute at which it happens? Would you like to take 78, 82? Where where is Harry happening?
00:56:10
Speaker
76 parentheses P. One nil England today. It's Thomas Tuchel. It's what we're good for. I think this is a really fun day of action. And particularly those two afternoon games are going to be really, really good. All right. That's another day in the books from the World of Cup After Dark. We will be back to recap today's games at the end of today. So that's right.
00:56:27
Speaker
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00:56:44
Speaker
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00:56:58
Speaker
That's it for us today. Enjoy the games and we'll be back tonight with more. So good to have the World Cup. So good to finally get all of these teams on the pitch. Thank you for listening as always and see you soon.