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WCAD 4-20: Ronaldo Takes Over (Derogatory)
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Austin and Amit add their opinions to the growing Cristiano Ronaldo discourse after his lackluster performance in Portugal's 1-1 draw with DR Congo. Then, the guys look at an impressive England win over Croatia, plus a good showing from Colombia against Uzbekistan, and a Carlos Queiroz performance for the ages from Ghana. Plus, could Queiroz and Gustavo Alfaro star in a Prestige re-make?
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Transcript
World Cup Excitement Begins
00:00:01
Speaker
As big fans of data points, I got to say, at the World Cup After Dark podcast, we love having all 48 teams in action and seeing them at least once at this World Cup. I mean, it feels like, all right, we can start checking our priors. We can start figuring out how we feel about all these teams. We can start seeing if we were right, seeing if we were wrong, seeing if our first impression is then going to be our second impression. We're at that time. hi We are at that time. And what also is lovely about this World Cup is some of our priors are four, eight.
00:00:30
Speaker
twelve 12, 16 years old with some of these players we get to discuss. And guess what? Some of those things haven't changed. It's so good.
Final Day of Group Stage Matches
00:00:39
Speaker
It's so good. all right. On today's show, we're going to break down the final day of first round group stage matches. We're going to Portugal. We're going to talk England. We had a great after dark matchup between Ghana and Panama. And then we closed it out with a fun affair in Mexico City between Uzbekistan and Colombia. But a bit there's only one place that this can start. And it is with...
What's Wrong with Ronaldo?
00:01:00
Speaker
The result that I think is is eating up all of the headlines after this day of action, it is Portugal 1, DR Congo 1, and everything that we were worried about with Portugal came into effect in the final 80 minutes of this match.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, and the place to start with Portugal is very much, very clearly, Cristiano Ronaldo. And he is their talisman. He is their striker. He is one of the greatest players in the world and in in the career sense. He currently is not one of the greatest players in the world. And the way he is talked about and discussed by a lot of the media...
00:01:38
Speaker
some of the broadcast television is he still is at that level and Portugal play him at the 10 or at the nine. And he does truly, he does nothing. He did nothing today. He has done nothing for a long time for Portugal. It's what, what's the stat you got for me? 10 games without a goal in a major tournament. Like,
00:01:56
Speaker
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting be a different result. We just saw Portugal flame out at the Euro, like pretty poorly with the stacked team. This team is is more stacked, has high expectations.
00:02:08
Speaker
And that leads me to the the take that everyone's putting out that I think is the most logical place to go is that this performance was so bad. It's an excuse for Bobby Martinez to bench Ronaldo going forward. Because I think the the the biggest tagler from this game is you saw what happens. It's like you're playing 10 on 11.
00:02:26
Speaker
It's like they're playing with one hand tied behind their back and or or maybe one hand lifted up in the air calling for a cross while sitting on the shoulder of the last defender. Because that's what all the the stats you alluded to it, just just to make it abundantly clear here. Five straight World Cup matches without a goal, 10 consecutive games in major competitions without a goal. And he hasn't scored a non-penalty goal in a major competition since June of 2021, which was the pandemic. Pandemic delayed Euro. That's over five years ago. And Portugal have scored just one goal in their past four matches in major competitions. And that was this one. It's funny admit because Ronaldo is going to suck up all the air. But the first 10 minutes of this game, Portugal were really good. I thought Diaracongo found themselves sat back too much and Portugal took advantage of it. And the ideal scenario for Ronaldo at this stage appears to be that the defense just focuses in on him, keys in on him, and somebody else gets to make a play. And that's what happened on the first goal for Portugal. Ronaldo is just kind of camping and two Congo defenders go with him. And John Nevis makes a perfect late run and a great header to put them a goal up. And it kind of felt like, all right, they're figuring some of this out. And then the rest of the game was just none of that.
00:03:37
Speaker
It was very difficult after the goal, but to your point, it was very much that other guys were able to get in the box and find headers. Portugal wanted to cross a lot. They were overloading a lot. Their fullbacks were getting super high, super wide. Nuno Mendes on the left, Joel Cancelo on the right. It was really good from Portugal, and you saw their midfield star trio, Betinha, Neves, Bruno Fernandes,
00:04:01
Speaker
really like have the game where they wanted it to. And that's where the whole Ronaldo thing is frustrating because even if he's at this level, if he just moved a little more, I feel like he could help these guys out. What's what's striking is the complete lack of movement in the box, just standing there waiting for the ball to get to him. He almost makes no runs. He has no defensive work rate and everyone else around him is working so hard. But like you look at,
00:04:29
Speaker
Messi is his eternal foil. The movement he's putting on to like grease the Argentina attack himself. And then you look at Ronaldo, who is the ultimate ultimate bottleneck.
00:04:41
Speaker
And it was interesting because they score this first goal and Portugal kind of then just take this deep breath and like, all right, we're fine. And it first kind of felt like they just putzed around for the rest of the first half, right? They didn't really do anything. They didn't allow Congo to do anything. But they did what they really couldn't afford to do in this match was was allow Congo to hang around and get a foothold. ah the The DR Congo counter starts finding some opportunities. And then before you know it, right on halftime, when Portugal have had been completely comfortable in this half and haven't really broken a sweat after the goal,
00:05:15
Speaker
Dierre Kongo finds success. And Motosami hits a deflected shot. they They end up getting a corner off of it. And on the second corner, they play a short corner. And the Portugal defense just completely mucks it up. They're playing four on six in the box.
00:05:30
Speaker
And they have a goal lead. And it doesn't matter because Yohan Wiese doesn't miss a wide open header. And you know who's the big reason why they're playing four on six in the box? I mean, it's Cristiano Ronaldo who finds himself marking...
00:05:43
Speaker
Absolutely no one. He's just stagnant standing at the edge of the box with no one around him. And you're allowing a team that's down a goal to overload you on a recycled short set piece that just cannot happen.
00:05:57
Speaker
Absolutely not. And you know, dear Congo's game plan was going to be in this game was sit back, defend, be solid, and then look to counter, look on set pieces.
00:06:07
Speaker
Thought Buckhambu and Wiso were really good on the counter here. When it's a set piece against dear Congo, like you've got to be man to man, or if you're zonal, you've got to at least have the guys there.
00:06:18
Speaker
Portugal had like four guys at the near post and no one or two guys back for like four guys for dear Congo at the back post. That's just bad math. and if Wiesel doesn't get the ball, there's two guys behind him that are going to head in But you especially, especially should not let you on Wiesel have free headers that close. Like that is the one, that the top guy on on the sheet, right? The scouting report. So I thought here, Araujo was good for for Portugal, generally in defense. But you look at the rest of that back line, I know Nuno Mendes is actually very good, but like Vega, Mendes, Cancelo, I think you're a little slight, like physically in the box. Vitinha Neves, amazing ballplayers, a little slight in the box. And there is is a height issue for Portugal defending their box. I think there's a vulnerability in the box on set pieces. Yeah.
00:07:07
Speaker
i you know i i think they did fine, but giving up this goal from this close, like that is a weakness that other teams can pick on. um This was really frustrating. And also, um to talk about Ronaldo here, like you have to he he has to do something. right He just was use useless defensively, too.
00:07:26
Speaker
So i'm I'm with you. This was a really weird goal. I thought Bakumbu and Wisa's movement to to earn this counter and are to earn this corner on the counter was was really, really good, something you and I talked about. We haven't seen them at this level together in two plus years. That was, I think, our worry coming into the tournament for DR Congo. We didn't really buy the Dark Horse stock as much. They kind of had one gear. or Those are the words we said.
00:07:52
Speaker
This was a little bit better, I think, than we were expecting. And they also, one more note is they played five in the back today, which they didn't normally do. i think that maybe hurt them, their communication on the goal, trying to track a guy like Neves. But they really frustrated Portugal centrally. And that was good, made Bruno Fernandes a lot less effective and forced all these overloads. And I know we're talking about the DR Congo goal, but I thought...
00:08:17
Speaker
Pedro Neto, Bernardo Silva were pretty ineffective in that first half stretch where Portugal really should have went for two right after going one. I think, as you said, that would to me was there were a lot of mistakes from Portugal in this match, but that to me was was the biggest one.
00:08:32
Speaker
And then in the second half, it didn't feel like there were the necessary adjustments from Portugal and DR Congo played to their game plan, which they wanted. And so much of this game felt like Portugal was trying to win one on one battles with DR Congo midfielders and defenders. That's just not something you're going to do a lot against this team. And you should know that going into the game.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah, and again, that's where Neto and Silva were pretty mid one-on-one. think some of the subs helped, right? I know wasn't... fully effective, but Francisco Canisal comes on right around halftime. thought he was much more direct, which helped Portugal. Rafael Leal comes out for the last 20 minutes. The game's won one He's much more direct. and it was like, okay, you you need this against DR Congo. You need to do something. You need to move. It was much more like we're in the shell, we're passing it around. they didn't even want to cross to Ronaldo because he was 1-2 and not doing anything.
00:09:27
Speaker
I think this was an excellent game, though, however, for portugal or for Congo's wingbacks. Aaron Juan Basaka, Masuaku really shut down Portugal's like fancy wingers and overloads. I think maybe Portugal was thinking they were going to walk into into more chances, right?
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. And it felt like, again, it's just, you keep circling back to the Ronaldo thing. I know it's kind of beating an old horse at this point, but it's just so ineffective what he's doing. He's just camping on the shoulder of the last defender and just waiting for a cross to come. And then it never really comes. And then finally in this game, he does get two chances, right? This game kind of tumbles on towards the end and Portugal start to try and apply the pressure. DR Congo have chances back the Other way, if they would have been a little bit more effective on the counter, I think there were three points for Derek Hong in this match. But finally, Ronaldo gets a couple chances and he snaps at him. He doesn't put him in the back of the net.
00:10:19
Speaker
There's even one where it feels like he kind of steals the chance from going through to a second player that maybe would have had a better opportunity. Even when the few times the ball got to him, he wasn't effective. and it's just like, what is this guy doing? What's the idea?
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, I thought Terry Henry did a really good job on the Fox show. If you're listening to this podcast, you probably have seen the clip where he identifies that the striker should be making his runs centrally and freeing this pass up for Bruno Fernandes, who is not, it's not a tap in, but a much better shot. Ronaldo fakes the run. He's like, actually, I want this shot, except it's him going backwards and then trying to shoot off his back foot. And the shot looked like what happens when you do that? It was pretty weak and,
00:11:03
Speaker
ye just He doesn't even have like the burst to get free in the box, or that was his his burst right there. I mean, listen, it's easy for us, it's easy for everyone to to come online after 1-1 disappointing draw to Congo and dunk on Cristiano Ronaldo.
00:11:20
Speaker
But like it is very, very clearly, the analysis of this Portugal team, what the number 1, 2, 3 buttons you should press to fix it are. And as long as they don't press them, they're going to be in the same situation. It's so interesting because Roberto Martinez postgame, right? The postgame quote, it makes no sense to get the best score best goal score in world football out in a game that you need goals, he said.
00:11:44
Speaker
Best goal score in world football? Yeah, like five years ago. He's not that at this point. And so, again, there's this one sentiment that maybe this was so bad that there's no other choice for Martinez, but to pull him, he's talking like a guy postgame who's not thinking that way. And that's very worrisome.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, it's just... We joke about Roberto Martinez a lot on the show. We have for a long time. And I think at his best, he gets really pretty attacking patterns out of his teams, right? Belgium, Golden Generation, Portugal, great squad here.
00:12:15
Speaker
There's this you know other side of the coin that I don't even think is underrated. I think it's very clear at this point that he is a coddler of his players and has seen now at two stops, very, very high profile, like egos unable to be controlled.
00:12:32
Speaker
He could not solve the Belgium issues between Courtois, Lukaku, De Bruyne. And here he is. And I feel like his job is to be the shield for the Ronaldo circus. And that Ronaldo is larger than this Portugal team demanding to play, demanding to get chances to add to his records.
00:12:51
Speaker
Who is going to stand up and tell this guy, look, man, it's the World Cup. Like, we We can't do this anymore. We have evidence. like I get it, right? In 2022, 2024, you're thinking there's still something there, right? it's It's past that at this point. It's so very obvious.
00:13:09
Speaker
if he If he doesn't do it, this team is going to get out of this group, not in first, have to play... France in a round of 16, like good, good luck. That's what's looking at you. i mean, you sleep against the other two teams in this group, Columbia, Uzbekistan, you could be in in real, real trouble.
00:13:27
Speaker
And so like, I'm just hoping that we all saw it and we all can't like be deceived anymore. But I have very little faith in the track record of Roberto Martinez to be the guy that makes the hard decision. He's like trying to keep Ronaldo and everyone happy. If you're anyone else in this Portugal squad, what do you think about today?
00:13:46
Speaker
Yeah, and that's the thing. You need someone to step up because there's a huge opportunity for this team. This team is good. There are young players who are very good, who can be very dangerous. We talked, this might be the best midfield in the tournament. And they're just being hamstrung by the fact that they're getting no forward attacking runs that to complement the style of play that they should be playing and should be playing to be effective. i think the worst thing that could happen for Portugal here, Amit, they play Uzbekistan next. The worst thing that Portugal could do is for Ronaldo to come out and beat Uzbekistan, which is like on the cards, right? That's very likely that Ronaldo can be effective against a team like that. And then you just, oh, everything's fine. Look, he's back. And then you're playing him against Colombia in a big game that matters. Then you're trusting, you're thinking that you can play him in big games. And that's just not where he's at at this point in his career. And he hasn't been for quite some time.
00:14:33
Speaker
That would be dangerous. Honestly, that'd be a worst case scenario. The other thing in this too is that Gonzalo Ramos comes on for 10 minutes here. And Ramos, I think one of the things that's frustrating about this team is if he was like 10% better, it would be even more obvious. He's not. And so that's where Martinez can like say somewhat credibly, I need Ronaldo to to be on the field. He's the best goal scorer. And Maybe there's some in-training... Look, Ronaldo in ah in a training exercise is still banging him in right and short-sighted when he can strike the ball.
00:15:10
Speaker
But in space, it's just a different game. And Ramos' movement is much better. It's really annoying that Martinez didn't let Ramos run for 10 minutes. It's 1-1. He subs off a midfielder to to get two strikers on. And it didn't necessarily look better down the the stretch for Portugal when... Again, this game could have been taken. It was actually, I think, DRC on the counter in the last 10 minutes was much more threatening. I thought their subs, you know Noah Siddiqui, Charles Pickle, like actually gave them some more legs. I i know i think Portugal subs were fine elsewhere, but this was...
00:15:45
Speaker
both DRC being a bit better than we expected, you know, having more fight than we expected, but also Portugal, I think really limping. And look, we gave Spain some grace, I think in the first game, I think you have to give some, some grace to Portugal that like first game, we got to see where Naldo's at. It's the whole show. We don't know exactly how this looks, but it's harder to do that when they just, the Euro, they crash out. Spain won the Euro, right?
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, the the proof of concept is there for Spain to give them that that bit of grace. One final thought for me on this game. and There's some sentiment going around that this is a truly shocking, stunning result. I don't think it's that. I think DR Congo are a good team. And I think we knew that coming into this tournament.
00:16:25
Speaker
I think that this is what they do, right? They play physical. They're super solid defensively. They are tough to break down and they don't lose one-on-one matchups. They pushed Senegal in African qualifying. Senegal might be the best team in Africa.
00:16:37
Speaker
They're the team that eliminated Nigeria. They're the team that made Jamaica look silly in the World Cup playoff. And I think the biggest difference today was they got performances from Yon Wiesa and from Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Cedric Bakamu looked dangerous. I think if those three kind of higher level players show that kind of level going forward, this team can jump up a bit beyond just being really difficult to break down. This was as good as Wan-Bissaka and Wiesa have played in how long?
00:17:07
Speaker
Yeah, over a year. Better than the AFCON. Better than they had at their club seasons. Both of them had bad club seasons. I thought that was the biggest thing as you identified for them. And it's like, look, Wan-Bissaka, Premier League player. Wisa, Premier League player. Mbemba is really good. Tuanzebe is a Premier League player. Bakumbu's at that level too. Like...
00:17:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's some people that maybe missed it. But even if you just didn't know the team and you just looked at their results, as you said, dumping Nigeria, taking Senegal to a 2-0 lead with 30 minutes to go, this is a good team. And so I'm very happy for Dio Congo. I think let's see if they can repeat this against Colombia, who, as we're going talk about at the end of the show, put down a pretty good marker. So they're going to have to do it again.
00:17:53
Speaker
But look, this is a team you do not want to see in a knockout game. I think that's very clear. Yeah, you definitely don't.
England's Triumph Over Croatia
00:18:00
Speaker
Our next game of the day, admit England, what, hey four, two winners against Croatia. I had this pegged as the one-oist of one-oist to ever be one-o'd. And this game just kind of got off the rails and went crazy.
00:18:15
Speaker
What on earth happened? Yeah. Croatia have the Jedi mind trick in them. You know, we were took to this team. They're old. They're slow. How are they going to do anything against England? England are going to suffocate them.
00:18:27
Speaker
And look, England start well. They get their penalty. You know, who's who's the man for the job? We'll talk about that in a second. But Croatia just found two of the really awesome awesomely worked goals and great, great finishes.
00:18:39
Speaker
And I think as we get into this game... England's defense was an issue, but putting up four is such a good sign for Tuchel being able to get a lot out of this team, even when things go wrong. right This was a punch. You wanted to see England respond to adversity. Well, they did pretty well.
00:18:58
Speaker
Yeah, they did. And they showed that they have a level that they can get to if they are challenged. And we hadn't really seen them challenged, right? In in qualifying, they were not scored on. They were not touched at any point in qualifying. So for them to have actually gotten challenged this game and responded the way that they did, I think, yeah, that this is probably the second best performance that we saw, maybe tied for second best with Argentina behind France. ah So this game starts with H.K.
00:19:21
Speaker
h dot canne parentheses P, right? And it's a weird play by Luka Modric in which he's trying to just like do this spinning no look clearance and he doesn't realize that there's an Englandist hacker behind him and he just kicks him. It's like that's a very clear penalty. And then Harry Kane for the second straight World Cup has a penalty mistake.
00:19:41
Speaker
But Lavakovich is just slightly off his line. And this feels very unfair Lavakovich because Kane does the stutter pause penalty. Well, like the if Kane can do that, then the goalie shouldn't have to keep his line, especially if he's not like charging it down. So Harry Kane gets a second attempt at the penalty. And look, he was not going miss this penalty twice.
00:20:00
Speaker
No, he was not. i agree with you. I think it's, it was like, ah he's off by like, what an inch, a centimeter he is, but like, it is really tough on the goalkeepers there. And Lavakovich, I thought was excellent today. And you could tell is a good penalty shot stopper as well. Like he, he, he kind of had Kane's number on the first one. It's tough to do it twice.
00:20:20
Speaker
as good of a goalie performance going see in a guy who gave up four goals in a game, right? yeah From Lavacovic. Croatia were kind of all over the place in this game. um And then they just kind of come out and take advantage of what I thought was really uncharacteristic midfield and backline sloppiness or casualness from England. It's a giveaway from England. Suchich on the wing has a decent look, but instead he chooses to to leave it for Baterina, who tells Jordan Pickford, hey, pick that out and just like rips a shot in the back of the net. Is it the ball?
00:20:53
Speaker
I mean, I'm telling you, not I'm telling you, we're all saying the spin that you can get. I mean, the ball striking from distance. I don't know if it's anecdotal. Like maybe we'll, we'll get someone to, to give us some stats on outside the box goals compared to past world cups, but these guys are hitting it. And that is a crazy finish for Botterina. It's so satisfying when we all love the behind the shot angle where you can really see the spin and movement. Yeah.
00:21:17
Speaker
Look, Pickford gets a hand on it, but this thing is whizzing away from him, and it's a late read how he fits it in that window between defenders. um This wasn't even the best shot, as you said, Croatia could have gotten on the play, but it worked, right? this was This changes everything, right? This is not a high XG shot for England. I think England were defending very...
00:21:37
Speaker
o lazily comfortably at the same time they're like all right we're up one we're gonna get eight guys back nine guys back uh really deep but then they're like actually you still have to defend when you do that you can't just have the guys back i think england thought they were gonna kind of just see the rest of the game out comfortably this was very good from croishia ah croatia again like the jedi mind trick of like you can't kill us like surprise we can score beggar Yeah, they're going that multiple times this game. all right. So we got the H.K. penalty. So what's next in the H.K. experience? It's the set piece goal. And this is just like England having this in their bag makes them very dangerous at this tournament because it's a corner. Declan Rice, absolutely perfect delivery. It's the the meat wall of screens, right? Just leaving Harry Kane in plenty of space. It's a bullet header. It's two one If they can do this just on command in this tournament, they're going to be a really tough team to beat.
00:22:34
Speaker
We've talked about set pieces so much, and we talked about that Declan Rice at Arsenal was one of the reasons why they were so good at set pieces. His delivery, his ability to put the ball on a spot in the box is really dangerous. And then you add in a routine like this. i mean, yeah, it's kind of a moving screen. It's like a basketball play. Yeah. They put two guys in front of him, he he flares out. You can't get a bot on him. And then what's even you know more sumptuous is he heads the ball through like the moving doors of the screens on the header. Really satisfying angle there.
00:23:08
Speaker
i mean, yeah. ah Should we be surprised that Thomas Tuchel's team like sat in a lead, looked kind of like, eh, we didn't really know what we're doing, and then had the nicest setped set piece routine you've ever seen?
00:23:19
Speaker
No, we shouldn't. And then should we be surprised that Croatia responded to that with yet another goal before halftime? This was also just an insane play from Croatia. It's Parasic with ah this like spinning knockdown header for Moussa right into his path. What on earth happened here?
00:23:38
Speaker
Yeah, so we've seen a lot of great goals at this World Cup, right? We saw Kylian Mbappe do a 35-yard shot. We saw Messi do Messi. and We've seen some ball striking, right? We saw the first goal ball striking. and We saw even Ali Olwan yesterday.
00:23:52
Speaker
This is like the cleverest play I've seen at this World Cup. Yeah. And Parasic what? He's a 37, 38-year-old wingback. He gets ahead of the England defense. And instead of trying to shoot, he spins backwards, looks for his runner, and just stands up a header in the air. Like, have you ever seen anything like that? No, it's completely out of nowhere. And it's just like, it's just the wily old veteran Croatia goal that you've kind of come to expect with these guys, where it's just like, how do they keep doing this?
00:24:27
Speaker
it's ah It's a high IQ play. Perisic has just seen the space. He knows the space, where where that's going to be. And I think at this point now, we have to give a lot of credit to Peter Musa, who we were talking about for Croatia. like How do we feel about this front line? There's some older guys that we don't really trust. Peter Musa's at FC Dallas. Yeah, he's good in MLS, but is the other level?
00:24:45
Speaker
Man, the guy's put in some zeros at the end of his price tag after this performance today. We'll see if he can keep it up. thought his movement was excellent. you You could tell he's a smart mover in the box, very athletic.
00:24:58
Speaker
Croatia need that. And, you know, we're talking about movement and strikers, I think is one of the themes of this World Cup. in The first game we talked about, this was just really nice. And Moose is young, Parasic is old, but that chemistry looks like they've been playing together for such a long time. Like,
00:25:15
Speaker
ah I love all the ball striking. This to me is like some of the best little connection, like up there with the New Zealand, like target yeah guy using his his header. It was a really satisfying goal.
00:25:26
Speaker
So Thomas Tugel gets his guys in the locker room and I think he kind of lights a fire under them, right? It's 2-2 and England just come out in the second half. and they're just all over And Elliot Anderson picks out a really good pass.
00:25:38
Speaker
Jude Bellingham runs behind the Croatian defense. He's got a tight angle. It just doesn't matter. He goes off the post and in. England's second half performance starting with this goal and continuing on was really, really impressive.
00:25:50
Speaker
This is why England could be an elite contender, could be up there. I mean, not with France, but like right there. And I think what he said at halftime is like, guys, we we can't just pass the ball to pass the ball, right? He's very much um believes in his system of moving the ball. And I thought that the midfielders checking in With speed and urgency, that's Rice and Anderson, and then their ability to free, it was really damaging for Croatia to press as high as they did.
00:26:19
Speaker
Croatia, I think, at halftime was like, guys, we got them We're 2-2. They're a little rattled. Let's bring up our intensity. Let's really press them. And Croatia... looked like treaded by what happened when Anderson and Rice were like, okay, you actually can't press us. We're too good. The pass from Anderson, a blind one time through ball over the top to runners.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah. If, if they want to play like this, you cannot press the singling team. and, and, I thought Bellingham was a guy we've always circled for England is that X factor guy. Can he like seize the moments and, you know, do what he did at at the last year? Oh, like find a moment. Well, this is him as most electric, like can just do everything. The running, the speed, the shot really good here.
00:27:01
Speaker
And Kane also, we talked about him dropping deep, right. And picking out passes. Now this team can get verticality from its own half in a way that is really, really scary. And then you have to back off them. And that's where you expect to see these one-zero walking pace type games.
00:27:20
Speaker
England in space really showed their their soccer IQ, I thought, in the second half. And then they bring Bukaya Saka off the bench, right? Who's a player that I think has a big role to be played for England in this tournament. They bring Marcus Rashford off the bench.
00:27:34
Speaker
They go on a chance creation spree where they force Lovacovic into just like three, four, five. so You're just losing track of how many saves Lovacovic is making. And all of a sudden you look up, it's like, this game is still 3-2, right? Like you kind of kill off Croatia at some point. Is there going to be a chance for Croatia to find a way back into this game? And the answer was a resounding no, because it's yet another fantastic play for England to seal this with a 4-2.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yeah, Saka came on and he's recovering from his injury, but I thought you could see how much scarier they are when he he's on. So incisive at cutting in on the left in the space. Mundo Ico was fine in this game. Gordon was fine in this game, but Rashford and Saka are more direct, more lethal. Rashford just camping out on the right. Knows all the attention is over there. Saka is really, really good work to find him. And it's a good finish from Rashford, too. I think your your best England lineup is going to look with these two look like it's got these two guys in it. um
00:28:33
Speaker
I mean, that was scary. and Not as scary as what France did, but like when those two guys are humming, yes, England lethal in transition. And you just saw for Croatia, right? Like great first half, two amazing, we're calling it mind trick goals, did not have the legs to chase England for another 45 once England got into gear. And I think that is kind of the level we expect from Croatia. Can give you a game, can outfox you, can really be really smart tackling and even run a little bit more than we thought. But to keep up with the big boys for 90 minutes, that's tough.
00:29:04
Speaker
And I thought Luka Modric didn't have a great game for Croatia. He ends up getting taken it off pretty early in this game. And he's a really key player that they need to have to to kind of pull this off. England of the big favorite big teams got the toughest test, right? Like they're the team that we've seen be challenged the most, I think. And I think they're also the team that we saw respond best to it.
00:29:24
Speaker
There's no reason why they shouldn't be in the top three or four favorites of this tournament. I don't think we've changed our opinion on that. And I think we've maybe even been, ah I at least was surprised by how diverse the English attack was here and what they were able to do and how they did it. I think it bodes well for them going forward.
00:29:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think both of us thought Tuchel might be very safe and conservative. And I think he actually pressed the opposite button at halftime, as we talked about. And look, one of the issues for this team is you leave Trent Alexander or Arnold at home, right? And then Saka is hurt. You're missing um ball progression in a really important way. And he's like, well, I'll use my two really good long ball center midfielders. I'll use Harry Kane's secret ability.
00:30:10
Speaker
That was, I think, a really but good button for him to press. The only other thing I'll say is that, you know, defensively, I think they just need to not be so lazy at sitting back. And I thought John Stones was an interesting choice to start when he's so rusty. i thought he was the weak link, like Kansa, James O'Reilly.
00:30:27
Speaker
Fine. Yeah, they give up the goal. Rhys James is staring at Peter Musa, but Gay, he is there, right? Dan Byrne is there too. So, you know, I think maybe it's a game one. You were trying to see where Stones is at. I wouldn't necessarily do that again.
00:30:41
Speaker
And you'll probably see some rotation from England in the last two games in this group stage, right? Ghana and Panama, you you would back England to probably win and win fairly easily in those games. Could be a Harry Kane stacking up the golden boot total, right? But I think you'll probably see the majority of this English squad get in at some point in those games. But this was a good test for them and they responded really, really well.
00:31:02
Speaker
All right, our late night game a bit at a very, very yellow Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, a 3-1 win for Colombia against
Colombia's Victory Over Uzbekistan
00:31:10
Speaker
Uzbekistan. It took a while for this game to to take off. The first half hour, we were 0.05 against in the XG Lots of fouls, lots of midfield niggle plays that are getting whistled. Anthony Taylor, the referee, didn't saw a lot of contact that he didn't like and just kept blowing his whistle. And then finally, it just explodes. And Luis Diaz is the man who comes up with the first real chance, makes a nice run. His shot goes off the inside of the post and out. He's dangerous. And I think Uzbekistan know it, right? He's the best player on the pitch. And Uzbekistan are running two, three guys at him for the majority of this match, particularly in the first half. They're just barely stopping him.
00:31:49
Speaker
Until they aren't. When Diaz plays an absolutely perfect ball to a perfectly timed run from Daniel mu Munoz and a ridiculous one-footed stab finish from Munoz. That's how you unlock an organized block, which I think Uzbekistan were in the first half of this game.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, they brought exactly the solidity we expected them to bring using five in the back, something they also didn't do. I think it's in right now if you need the defense. And I thought Kusinov, you know, was in the type of spot with Karamov on his right to deal with Diaz. And Uruguay, or Uzbekistan, understood the assignment really well. And they needed to. Diaz is...
00:32:28
Speaker
at a really, really high level right now was just dangerous all game. And they worked really well to defend him. This is where I thought Columbia's right side of James Rodriguez was struggling to influence the game in the way he wanted to. i still...
00:32:43
Speaker
Again, as we've kind of said, it's a little bit gravy for this team. So i don't think they they need to get off of that. But really good solidity from from the block, really tough contesting. And this looked like a common ball game at altitude, right? It was really mucky, really grimy. And I think Uzbekistan were up for that. It's just that to play that game at altitude for 90 minutes isn't quite what Uzbekistan has ever done before. And Colombia, as things loosened up, right,
00:33:12
Speaker
the legs won out over, over an Uzbekist team that slowly, slowly was just having to cover so much ground off the ball. And the first goal here is just insanity, right? like It's a like perfect pass. Yeah. It's a perfect pass. The run is literally perfectly timed, right? Like one step sooner and he's off one step later and he doesn't get to it. And it's a really, really good finish for Munoz.
00:33:36
Speaker
Really clever. I mean, the stab chip, like really inventive. That's awesome. And I think Munoz is an X factor for for ah Columbia. i don't think so. We know he is.
00:33:47
Speaker
But it's tough when your X factor is your your right wing back, right? Like, how do you get that in? But Columbia are a high IQ player and he has such a license to bomb forward down that right side. And I think, you know, Columbia are a little unbalanced in spots, right? That's why the the left side can can really stay back behind Diaz.
00:34:07
Speaker
Munez is basically going to be like a box crashing winger, I think, when Columbia needs him to be. And to see the chemistry on that run, like it was so, so satisfying, the timing on that. Look, Uzbekistan are a high level block. That's what it takes.
00:34:22
Speaker
But that's what Diaz has in his bag. And I think that's also what's... him leveling up his game like he didn't necessarily have that pass. Like he's a finisher dribbler type guy for him to pick that out. It was also impressive.
00:34:34
Speaker
So then Columbia kind of like teams before them go up a goal and they just kind of sit back a little bit and don't press the initiative. And look, that can get you got an international football in this day and age. And that's what happens here on the hour mark, kind of out of nothing. It was biggest at our level. Kamadov who came off and on as a halftime substitute is on, makes an onside run. And then there's just like a comical series of events that end up with this ball getting in the back of net. Right. So, so Kamadov just barely keeps the ball in play and he does so by just whipping this like looping cross to the other side of the box for Shumaradov.
00:35:10
Speaker
And Shomoranov's shot is then handled poorly by the Colombian goalkeeper Vargas. And Vargas' is shot parry goes off the post and it falls right to Fizuleyev, who touches it home and there's nobody within acres of him because everybody kind of shut off when Shomoranov got the shot opportunity. This is a really weird goal.
00:35:29
Speaker
Yeah, Colombia, everyone in the building is expecting Vargas to make the save at the near post. And it was trickier than it looks, right? Like it was a weird bounce. He does block it. he If he blocks it a few inches to the left, it's wide of the post, right? But the fact that he blocks it at the post is a really weird, wicked bounce. And credit to Faisuliev for not being asleep. i mean, I don't know. I i think that's pretty poor goalkeeping, but I can understand that like it was...
00:35:55
Speaker
It's also unlucky. It's both, yes. But also, if the pair doesn't go off the post, just goes straight in the back of the net. So maybe it's not that unlucky. But this moment, then, imit it wakes up Colombia, right? They're like, oh, all right.
00:36:08
Speaker
And the legs for Uzbekistan start to go. And from this point on, Colombia are pretty much dominant in this game. that Uzbekistan being level blasts all of five minutes of because they get this situation where they have a throw in. And they throw it in basically to Colombia. Well, they throw it into a player who's then one on three and Colombia then turn that into a four on two situation.
00:36:31
Speaker
And Luis Diaz is is not going to miss from this situation. Colombia have space and runners for pretty much the first, maybe the only time in this game. And they take advantage of it. And Diaz goes low, awful use of Pops hand, probably should have done better and into the back of the net.
00:36:45
Speaker
ah Yeah, this was the type of mistake that you just cannot make, especially right after you've just equalized. Like you were saying too to to me before with the show, like Uzbekistan just needed to get to the fourth quarter break, right? And that just that few minutes of focus loss. And that's what's so disappointing is they had defended in this you know really mucky block for so long.
00:37:07
Speaker
No transition for Columbia. And to give it to them off of a throw-in where you're letting the ball run across you, it's really hard. And I think a theme for some of these worst teams trying to punch above their weight is that, yeah, you you know...
00:37:21
Speaker
Your instructions are to not give away the ball, not do anything silly, right? Take care of it, hit it long rather than trying to play out of the press. But in just these moments, the speed of the better team pressing you in a spot of the field where you're not expecting to be pressed is hard mentally to deal with, right? You do this throw in 100 times, he's like, ah, man, there are guys on me. I should kick it. But he thinks he has time. He doesn't see it. It's a lack of communication from his teammates around him. And it's Columbia swarming, right, to to press and win in transition.
00:37:52
Speaker
That's smart teams knowing when to do it. I'm thinking a lot of the Erling Haaland second goal against the Rock here. Big mistake. And, you know, we can say... Super similar situation right after they'd equalized, right? Like, it's very similar in that these teams can get back in the game. But once you get back in the game, you have to then stay in the game. And and look, those are usually the moments where the team that you're playing then ups their level and kind of bumps up beyond that, right?
00:38:17
Speaker
Totally. And so, you know, credit to Lerma who you're in the midfield here, who I thought was was very good for Columbia. And then again, we have to say it like Diaz is now at the point where you get the turnover. He is the danger. guy You're expecting him to score. You're expecting him to be dangerous. And he was. And it was kind of that sense of dread. As soon as the turnover happens, like we were saying with France and Senegal, I think that is a real credit to this Columbia team and Diaz's level where they're at. And yeah, you know, the finish could have been saved, but Diaz was really looming over everything all night.
00:38:51
Speaker
He was so, so good. And and as we've pointed out many times, he's the yeah a key part of this Columbia team. Muspects had had some chances later on in this game that kind of had Columbia almost on the ropes, but never really able to do anything super dangerous until Columbia seal it with just another ridiculous individual effort.
00:39:13
Speaker
I mean, this from Cucho Hernandez on the right side of the wing. You think he might be dribbling to the corner flag. He gets knocked to the ground, rolls over on his back, gets up, gives a shivvy, shakes the defender. He's like, that wasn't enough. Let me just ping a perfect 30-yard cross to the back post for Yamantim Kampaz. Wow, that was awesome.
00:39:34
Speaker
it was so good it was so good he's on the ground and he rolls and he still makes the play it's it's ridiculously good this was good from colombia i think there were some moments where they probably should have stayed focused and and been a bit better but i think they can be content with this i think they can look at what happened in the other game in this group and say we can challenge to win this group and all the benefits that will come with that i thought it was bagistan were okay here right they were organized they had a pretty tough draw in that they were trying to be organized. They were trying to be solid and they were also trying to do it in Mexico City at really tough atmosphere and also at altitude, which is something that Uzbekistan have never dealt with and is something that is pretty familiar for the majority of this Columbia team. It's a tough hand to be dealt.
00:40:19
Speaker
It is. I thought Fabio Canovaro got the most out of his team today. Like the goal is opportunistic, lucky, both of those things. But I think you if you play this game a bunch of times, you'd be surprised at how solid Uzbekistan were able to be, especially what we've seen, the jump in level from Asia to this. And I think you talk thinking about all the other South American teams. Yes, Argentina played very well. But I thought Colombia's intensity and basically home field altitude advantage, as you just said, really tough, a tough deck against ah Uzbekistan.
00:40:55
Speaker
Look, Colombia, you know, they they love that atmosphere. Like they were, they were really up for it. And I think another lesson that we're seeing from the England game from this game is, and all the games is you really don't want to sit when you get up one, you have to go for two. And we say that that's like the theme of calf. It's the theme of every, of everywhere universal theme, but really in this tournament, when the sample size is so small, no one is sitting like they're going to come, try to tie it up as fast as they can. And once Columbia
00:41:26
Speaker
like flip that switch when when you said that the bear is waking up after the equalizer man they were so much better so same thing with England like just keep that intensity if you can and yes the altitude is part of it Columbia's conditioning was excellent the subs were good here yes I think once James comes off they were a little bit more dynamic and that's fine this was just a very good Columbia performance And the the thing that I think Uzbekistan can take a little bit of heart from is Columbia had to make really good moments to score, right? Okay, yes, the second goal was a mistake. It was a giveaway. That's always going to hurt you. But the first and the third goals here from Columbia are just really high-level plays. And look, a talented team is not going to do that to you. Columbia-DR Congo next Amit. That's going to be really interesting because it's kind of a very similar game theme for Columbia, except that DR Congo are significantly more physical than Uzbekistan are.
00:42:17
Speaker
They maybe are not super techie on the ball going back the other way, but they're going to challenge Columbia on set pieces in a way that Uzbekistan certainly can't. think that's a really, really interesting matchup.
00:42:29
Speaker
It is. i thought Sean Marudov was player we both really like. like we We really expect a lot out of him, and he had a tough day trying to go by himself against Columbia's very imposing center backs. Davidson, Chanchez, Lukumi had very good games. Well, that is a really interesting game to see if Wisa and Bakumbu can can pressure those guys. And given what we saw from both teams, I think it'll be really, really good back and forth. Yes, it'll be grimy, but there will be moments where Dierkongu can...
00:42:58
Speaker
put Columbia under a lot of pressure in a way that Uzbekistan couldn't really do in open play. What they were able to do against the Portuguese wingers is also going to be really big for what they're goingnna need to need to try and do against Luis Diaz. For Uzbekistan, they're going to need to bring this same sort of organization against Portugal, right? Like the plan is to, I think, probably try and frustrate Portugal for as long as possible and let that tension sort of set in and see if you can't capitalize on that and turn it into something. It's going to be a hard ask, but i think Uzbekistan acquitted themselves while here and they're going to have another chance to do it.
00:43:28
Speaker
Yeah, perfectly. we we You can kind of imagine how that game is going to go. And it really hinges on exactly what magic Portugal has to unlock the low block. I mean, it'd be really fun. As soon as you get past 15 minutes, everyone is going to feel the the sweat, the tension on everything looming over the Portugal vibes.
00:43:48
Speaker
It's going be fun. It's going to fun. We'll see how those goes those games obviously happen next week. all right, a
Ghana's Narrow Win Against Panama
00:43:53
Speaker
bit. The last game that we have to break down is a one nil late win for Ghana over Panama. This will not go down as the best game of the World Cup. It will probably go down as one of the worst games of the World Cup, at least on talent, technicalists and just general enjoyability. But there was a great finish. And look,
00:44:11
Speaker
think We can't really doubt Carlos Karras because this dude comes out of the rent the manager box and he just turns a Ghana team to be pretty organized. Like, okay, yeah, this isn't a Pete Carlos Karras-Iran level of organization. But this Ghana team from pretty much the outset of this game are doing Carlos Kerosi things, and they might not be doing them as well as you can do them, but it looks like the solid organizational blocks that you would expect. And they do that successfully against the Panama team that really wasn't at the races finishing wise in this game.
00:44:46
Speaker
And then at the end of the game, they get got. This was Karros' exact, perfect, dreamed-up textbook game model, right? And you're looking at this back line. We've said, who's going to win between Kana's defensive talent and Karros' solidity? solidity It was Karros Karros, right? You immediately see these back four defending tight, narrow, the four in front of them tight and narrow. And this is where Panama were really missing Coco Karrosquia, The best player for them was Murillo on the right side as the wingback, and he was getting lots of crosses, and that was it. It was like, yes, Panama, I think, had a lot of the ball, had it in good spots, but and were getting the ball into the box a lot. So all of those are like, you know, you're checking the boxes of how you want to build an attack, and from there...
00:45:36
Speaker
Karras was like, great, you can have 80% of the way, but these 20 yards of grass, we are defending really well. And I think it was a great you know box defense game for Mensa, Apoku, Ajati, Sanaya. They really, I thought, frustrated Panama. And on the the flip side of the coin, as you said,
00:45:54
Speaker
Panama's front line was just not up for the moments of how many times the ball bounced to them. And what we saw was a poor touch, a poor shot, like just not quite combining.
00:46:07
Speaker
If I were Panama fan, I'd be really, really frustrated because you kind of saw it happening for 90 minutes in real time. Like who had the ball, who had the impetus, who had everything? And it just never happened. Coco Carrasquillo was a huge miss for Panama. He's like their player who would be crucial to unlocking this sort of situation, right? Like he's the guy who can make a difference for that. And he just wasn't able to be there. And yeah, this was so frustrating to watch from a Panamanian perspective because this is the Carlos Carlos Ganex. They have one shot in the first half and it's Semenyo literally like fluffing the ball very, very wide. They just didn't really need to do anything. And you're just like, oh, we should get them. Oh, we should get them. Oh, no, they got us.
00:46:48
Speaker
that's the caros math we talked about right he's waiting to get two on two three on three in the first half it never happened so he and cause was like fine if the if the numbers don't look right we just sit tight and iu was really really bad in this game and i feel like he was just i don't mean this derogatory like he was just a body for caros to have at the top at of his formation to just run like they offer nothing going forward until what the last 10, 15 minutes where they started running more because Panama had to get up and up.
00:47:23
Speaker
Yeah. So Jordan, I you goes 87 minutes and in the year 2026. Like, yeah, that should not be a thing that's happening, but it it speaks to to the options that Ghana are kind of working with here. That's maybe part of why this Carol's thing is working because it's it's a way that they can play and find some success. And I was kind of waiting for this game to get tactics free. And it kind of Didn't really get there until the very, very end. I thought it was going to get there a lot earlier. Another interesting subplot in this game is the Ghana starting goalkeeper, Lawrence Adizigi, had to go out injured at halftime. And so Ghana bring on Benjamin Asare, who is playing domestically in Ghana at Acra Hearts of Oak. And you see that, and I admit, my first thought was like, uh-oh.
00:48:04
Speaker
This could go poorly. But to his credit, Asari was really good. He made some saves. He had presence in the box. Like he was not a negative here in a situation where, again, given the context, you might think oh that could be a negative. So it wasn't. But as this game wound down, it just kind of felt like the one thing that these teams cannot do is draw, right? The situation is England and Croatia in this group are probably going to be difficult situations to get anything more than a point for both of these teams. So if they have any chance of getting out of the group you have to win this game a draw here and they are probably done and this group is sending two teams to the round of 32 and more likely than not it's england and croatia and so it just felt like that's where we were going that's where we were going until all of a sudden we weren't because carlos caros pulls the rabbit out of the hat that gustavo alfaro put in the hat and then got the dead bird out on the first night right so caleb your enki is the key to this play i
00:48:58
Speaker
He keys the play starting and then Semenyo keeps it going. He finds the substitute, Bredis Thomas Asante sprinting down the left and Jose Cordova, the Panamanian center back, comes over trying to cover, makes a sliding tackle and he misses. he Doesn't get the ball, doesn't get the man.
00:49:14
Speaker
Thomas Asante is free, sends the cross. Semenya doesn't get to it, but Ureke is there. And even though he tries his hardest to miss this, like he is desperately not trying to score, like he's trying to score, but he really shouldn't have scored. But he's just in so good of a position that it doesn't matter. He's able to roof for it in the net with his high finish and kind of win this game. One, nothing.
00:49:35
Speaker
there's a few things here to unpack from this crazy bonkers end of the game. First is that the XG on that was 0.97. He really tried his hardest. if He couldn't have, he couldn't have done it. He was looking for the 0.03, right? He just was, he was, um, and downstream of that, the final XG was 1.3 to 0.7. But if you take away, basically one got a head to 0.3, like nothing to 0.7 all game. And I think that speaks to,
00:50:00
Speaker
Panama like huffing and puffing and not even getting a goal of XG, which says a lot about them. Fajardo came on as a sub, was bad. Ismael Diaz was bad. Those are their two best attackers. Waterman was poor. So that is the math equation where I think Karros knows...
00:50:16
Speaker
This game, someone has to go for it. And I am just going to outlast you. I'm going to rope-a-dope you. I'm going to be the last guy standing. i'm going to take your legs. It was very much game theory S from the old man in the hat. And then now, my last point, is you've unlocked a new alternate reality for me of the prestige, where Alfaro and Caros are dueling, trying to outdo magic tricks of, you want to see a ah magic win? Me win with the stupidest goal you've ever seen? and Alfaro is probably sitting there fuming. He's like, I need to dream up a new showstopper after what I just saw.
00:50:51
Speaker
love the thought of Carlos Carroll. Gustavo Alfaro is the worst edition of the prestige possible. really It's just terrible. Oh, that's good. That's a good bit. And the panel actually get a chance here at the end of this game to a bit like this thing just keeps going on. You wonder how many minutes they're going to playing. They throw Orlando Mascara forward because, again, they realize we don't get anything for this game. We are definitely cooked. And he gets a head on to a corner. Ismael Diaz gets a head on it, too, but it goes straight to Asare. And then there's some afters. Look, this is Carlos Carlos. I mean, doubt this guy at your own risk. This dude just pops up in situations like, yeah, I can organize that. I'll see what I can do.
00:51:30
Speaker
Do I feel good about them getting out of this group given they still have England and Croatia to play? I don't, but I wouldn't put it past this team scraping a point out of those games or at least being solid enough to keep the goal differential down. And they being so late in the alphabet are going to have a lot of the information they need on the third match day when they play Croatia.
00:51:50
Speaker
It's still going to be dicey because of the goal difference and because this is what it took to get 1-0 against Panama. But look, Keros is probably sitting there going, guys, we can make it tough on Croatia as tough as possible and try to limit England to to two or less. And maybe maybe you try to lull Tuchel into 1-0 by not scoring in that game. Genius, right? See if you can play it that way.
00:52:15
Speaker
Look, it's going to be dicey. But as you just said, they're on the last day. We'll know. We'll have an idea. it's um this is the the beauty of World Cup after dark is like this one zero is everything. And you saw Keros after the game go over to the fans and they're just cheering for him. And it's like, there's no connection here, but it's universal is that what he just did meant so much to him and also for Ghana as a team, as their fans, as a federation. And so, you know, how could you not enjoy the silliness of that a little bit?
00:52:46
Speaker
Yeah, and I think you can see Kairos knows what he's doing. right In that moment, like he's like, all right, what we're going to need to do in these other two games is endear ourselves. like This system is a very grating system to play. like It's not enjoyable to watch. It's not enjoyable to to do.
00:53:02
Speaker
But when it gets the result, then it's all worth it. Kairos goes and he's he's a pretty good salesman. Right. And so, yeah, you see the seller. He's all in on the celebration. He's all in with the crowd. And yeah, I think he's got Gideon fans believing that they could get out of this. Like, is this something that's repeatable or long-term? Like, no, this isn't making Ghana better program long-term. but this is a way that they can maybe do something at the 2026 World Cup. Like, do you buy this team in around a 32 matchup against a big team? Probably not. Like, we're going to see what it looks like against England.
00:53:35
Speaker
I don't think the level of organization is there for it to be frustrating, but I do think you could talk me into England, like you said, just not really taking that super seriously and one or two nilling that game. And that could be enough for Ghana to go into a game against Croatia that might Might be a bit more gettable to have an opportunity is a big miss chance for Panama. Right. and And frankly, like you said, the level just wasn't there from really any of the attacking players. Garascio is a huge miss. We already touched on that. But this was a game that they absolutely had to have. This was their best chance to get a first World Cup win. It's not going to get any easier. Maybe there's some joy to be had against Croatia. But if they keep getting attacking performances like this, it's it's really hard to see.
00:54:14
Speaker
It's tough. You feel for the team. You feel for Thomas Christensen, who after the match was basically just like, that stunk. like I don't know what to tell you. like he you know did they did They tacked as much as they could, and they just didn't have the quality. Yeah, it's not a lot really to to add. like You said like it's a bummer. This was their moment, and they just fell short. and Now you're staring at two much, much harder challenges. Let's see. Maybe there's something there against Croatia. Maybe you're legier than them, but...
00:54:42
Speaker
It's just a gut punch, right? 96 minutes after everything. like Imagine how that feels for this team. It's Carlos Karras doing what he does. All right, so we've seen all 48 teams admit it's time to get round two of the group stage started.
Looking Forward to Upcoming Matches
00:54:55
Speaker
We got four games on the slate for Thursday.
00:54:59
Speaker
Czechia and South Africa and Atlanta, Bosnia and Switzerland and Los Angeles. And then two of the three host stations are in action. Canada play Qatar and Vancouver and it's Mexico and South Korea to finish it off. What's one thing that catches your eye from the slate?
00:55:14
Speaker
I think Mexico, South Korea is great energy to teams that really, you know, shined on the opening day. I think their fan bases are both really great. and I think it's going to be in Guadalajara and I think Mexico is going to have a great crowd. But I think Mexico kind of finds the Korea team endearing. And so it's going to be tough to try to put that away. i think that's a really high level game compared to what we have here.
00:55:36
Speaker
Um, you know i think South Korea showed their quality on the ball in a way that's going to challenge Mexico. There should be goals in that game. There should be quality in that game. The other games, I'm not sure the amount of football that's going to be played. I think Bosnia-Switzerland is the next highest level, I'm putting in air quotes, game. But Switzerland are trying to do little, and Bosnia are also trying to do little. So maybe that will go somewhere weirdly. Look, I think...
00:56:03
Speaker
Canada have a lot of pressure, right, to to just rebound after the draw and clean up. I think that's where my mind goes here. I think there's a lot of pressure on Canada in this game. I think they get a bit of a mulligan by that Switzerland-Katar draw, right? It kind of feels like, right, everything's all even. And the best team in this group had their easiest game and only got a point from it, right? Best and easiest, obviously, obviously in air quotes there. And so this is a big opportunity for Canada against a Qatar team that we know how limited they are. We know how little they can offer.
00:56:35
Speaker
Canada should take advantage of this, right? This is a game that you need to see it from Canada. And whether it's promised David, whether it's Jonathan David kind of turning around his performance from the first game, whether it's Schaffelberger or Brie Cannon or whether... whether it's Ali Ahmed, like whoever it is, Canada need it.
00:56:52
Speaker
They need it in this game. Let's see it. I haven't really been keeping up with Alphonso Davies. I don't know if he's going to be an option in this game, but it's the type of game where Canada need it and they need it for the proof of concept and just the general vibes of everything. They need a good, positive World Cup performance.
00:57:08
Speaker
We saw the cathartic energy for Mexico's goals at home, and we saw the very, very you know ah shocking 4-1 triumph for USA at SoFi against Paraguay. Canada need that. And until that goal goes, it's going to feel a little tense. So I'm with you there. a lot of pressure. And look, Czechia, South Africa is like the World Cup game in a lab. World Cup after dark game in a lab.
00:57:32
Speaker
It's probably going to be very stupid, right? It's probably going to be South Africa with so much of the ball and check in with all of the goals. It's the exact level that South Africa can think we can try the stuff that got us burned in game one against Mexico. And it's also the exact level of check of being like, you've walked right into our bear trap. Oh, look, it's Thomas Suchek on a set piece. Oh, look, it's a long throw. It's just Czech doing their bits, right? It's going to fun. it's It's a good day. Look, it's not the most attractive day, but those are sometimes some of the best World Cup days. And look, it's a World Cup day. That's better than any other kind of day in my book. all right, that's it from and I for tonight. We will be back recapping Thursday's action on Friday morning, so be sure to look out for that show then.
00:58:16
Speaker
And then we will have plenty of action throughout the weekend and plenty of recaps to come as well. One
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00:58:21
Speaker
final thing from us. if you like what we do if you want to support us you can use so at patreon.com slash wc80 three dollars a month subscriber only content you can also subscribe to the podcast rate review comment all the good stuff on apple podcasts and on spotify a bit and i are going enjoy another day of world cup action and we'll be back to break it down for you after it's all done thanks for listening and goodbye