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WCAD 4-44: Hey Jude (x2)
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Austin and Amit recap a banner day of World Cup Quarterfinal action, starting with England's 2-1 win over Norway, keyed by another impressive showing from Jude Bellingham. Then it's on to Argentina-Switzerland, with the defending champions benefiting from another big call.
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Transcript
World Cup's Climactic Day
00:00:01
Speaker
I said on last night's show that today was going to be the last time with multiple World Cup games for another four years. And here at the World Cup After Dark podcast, we like to take it all in when we can.
Quarterfinal Highlights and Controversies
00:00:15
Speaker
i mean, if we're going out on a double World Cup day, we're going out with a bang. We got an extra hour of football. We did. Thank you to the two quarterfinals. We didn't get a penalty shootout, but honestly, for the better. We had a little bit of everything today, right? We had we had a red card. We had some controversy. had some great goals. We had some some battles of attrition.
00:00:37
Speaker
And at the end of the day, the four the four top seeds are all through.
Final Late-Night Podcast Reflection
00:00:41
Speaker
And... I mean, we're going to enjoy that, but we still have to break it all down. And I'm also just sad. This is the last after dark World Cup after dark, right? We're not going to be at this hour again.
00:00:52
Speaker
We are not. My sleep schedule is probably thankful for that. i imagine yours is as well. but but But we do have to send it out right. It's called World Cup after dark for a reason. It feels right that it's dark outside.
Semifinalists Discussed: England & Argentina
00:01:03
Speaker
That's correct. And we will get a little weird with these two games because these games got a little weird for us. So only fitting. He's Amit Malik. I am Austin Miller. We're going to break down England and Argentina advancing to the World Cup semifinals where they will join France and Spain.
Unexpected Drama in Semifinals
00:01:19
Speaker
As Amit said, the four top-seeded teams going into this World Cup are the four semifinalists.
00:01:26
Speaker
Though, Amit, while France and Spain's victories were largely kind of expected, right? I think those games pretty much followed the script that we expected.
00:01:37
Speaker
The games that we got today, I think, threw a lot more questions at us and gave us a bit more of the drama that maybe we were expecting from these quarterfinals. Agreed.
Challenges for Argentina and England
00:01:48
Speaker
it was Maybe we were thinking about it on our quarterfinals preview that Norway was the best team out of the... Or or Morocco, but Norway was dangerous, England was gettable, and similar thing with with Argentina and Switzerland.
00:02:01
Speaker
um And so... Look, I think it's very concerning for Argentina. Every little step that they've had to exert to get here through through three knockout
England vs. Norway: Tactical Analysis
00:02:11
Speaker
matches. And England, similarly, just like can never play a normal game under Thomas Tuchel. And so when you threw those two things in the mix, it's almost to be expected what we got today. Switzerland and Norway.
00:02:23
Speaker
You know, really, really good efforts, by the way, to like it's not that ah Belgium and ah who we saw France beat. I'm already blanking on it's by preaching it. It's Morocco. greatest bush Morocco at this point played poorly. they They played hard, too. But I thought, you know, two really good efforts today from teams that you knew were underdogs and got just about everything they could from their game plans.
00:02:47
Speaker
Let's start with England and Norway. I think that is a good place for us to start. We'll start chronologically. We'll start with what I think was the, I don't know, more dramatic of the, it's hard to say which of these two quarterfinals was more dramatic, but but let's start at the start of the day. of it With the lineups, Norway choose to start Sorloff, but they change Sheldrup on the wing in favor of Noosa.
00:03:08
Speaker
England's right back answer for this game is Kansa. That means John Stones rumbles in at center back. And we'll get Naniwa Dweke coming in back on the right wing. It seems pretty clear that Bakayo Saka not fit to start.
00:03:22
Speaker
And amid in the first half an hour of the England-Norway game, the XG is 0.06 in favor of England and 0.00 in favor of Norway. It's a Thomas Tuchel fever dream.
00:03:35
Speaker
It's exactly the kind of game he dreams up to make sure Holland can't do anything if there's no shots, right? The whole name of the game is deny him service. And so England are very committed to that.
00:03:46
Speaker
They're very methodical at getting in their block. And in the outlet on the block, the free man is very often Noni Moduike, and he doesn't have a great game. So it's a pretty stale game with no chances.
00:03:57
Speaker
And, um yeah, I mean, we talked about this whole right back situation on the preview pod, and we both thought that maybe you should keep Kansa and try something else. But I don't think between who Tuchel has, between Spence, between James and whatever he's got there, is that he had a real right back option. So he had to put a center back and he he goes with Kansa. And i thought I thought that Stones was rustier in center. like Yeah. Yeah.
00:04:25
Speaker
But to be fair, I think Kansa is a bit better athlete. So you you have to play him there anyway. So I thought the real thing for Norway was trying to get Sheldar up on Kansa and seeing if he could get that ball to Holland, right?
00:04:38
Speaker
And Berg and Odegaard are working hard to free themselves on the ball. But generally, I thought Rice and Anderson did a really good job in this game of working defensively. And then it just kind of was not very fun for 30 minutes, right? Like...
Critical Game Moments
00:04:52
Speaker
We said Norway would be stupid to try what they did against Brazil, against England, namely because England has a midfield. And that was on Rice and Anderson and Jude Bellingham's defensive work. I think the right back decision here for England, a lot of it has to do that. i'm pretty sure Tuchel's working with man's restrictions here, right? Because we'll get to this later in the game. but I think we see Jed Spence come in and I think he was really good for England, but he only played a half hour of this game.
00:05:17
Speaker
That might've been what Thomas Tuchel could play him in this game. And so because of that, I think he kind of ends up having to cobble together a game in defense. And then as we'll see in a minute, Declan Rice goes off at halftime. He was pretty clearly not 100%.
00:05:33
Speaker
And so it kind of feels like Tuchel's just cobbling things together until he gets to kind of an ideal lineup in extra time. And i think that plays a big role in how this game really develops.
00:05:46
Speaker
Yeah, the fullbacks are everything for England, and it's their entire team shape is better when they have two real fullbacks. And exactly you said, they just never do until minute like 85. And so England's entire shape is muddled. The tracking is muddled, and you have to give credit to Norway for being good enough on the ball to make England feel uncomfortable.
00:06:08
Speaker
um And this is where you kind of get into to Norway's strategy a little bit, like... and We'll talk about Sorloth specifically. Like, what do you do with these these four sets of wingers, right?
00:06:21
Speaker
Bob, Noosa, Sheldrop, Sorloth. Like... we we know we talked about the preview. I'm not sure there's a right answer, but like I don't obviously they don't go through like you just weren't getting things from Sorloth, but you kind of can't play Noosa like or Bob. Like, why can't you play Bob 90 minutes? He just doesn't like yeah are we missing something here or Sorloth necessary to free the space for Bob? But like it was a frustrating one, right? Yeah, Sorloth definitely felt square peg ground hole, really for the whole tournament for Norway here. When you're not running at overmatched defenses, which they really only get to do against Iraq, right? Other than that, Sorloth and Holland, it just didn't quite work as as maybe you would expect. And it it never felt like Sorloth was able to find his footing or really have an impact, particularly once the level of opposition went up in this tournament.
00:07:18
Speaker
It's good way to put it. And Nico O'Reilly is a really good athlete at center back. And so then you're even losing a little bit of that outlet ability that he gives you, even if he doesn't give you anything else. And so it just felt like it was super one-sided in this game and trying to get to shelter up on the left-hand side. And, you know, England kind of trying to get the ball to Modueke. And...
00:07:42
Speaker
Similar thing, like, these guys are hamstrung by things we don't necessarily know. Like, it was very clear the whole time Maduika was on the field that he – we said this. Watch him all year at Arsenal. He'll shake his guy. And then he does – whatever he does next is really frustrating. And look, Maduika's had good moments for Arsenal, but this has just been a a tough stretch for him. And England are like – Much more easier to defend when you're not worried about the service on the side. And what hurts from Rueda is the guy behind him is Kansa. So like there's no overlap to free up anything. He's just going one on two and having a bad time.
00:08:15
Speaker
So after the first half hour of this game, Norway make a bit of an adjustment and they choose to be a bit forward for a stretch, right? They kind of respond to England's playing them in a stalemate and they finally press. And the first thing that happens is John Stones makes a very rusty play at center back.
00:08:32
Speaker
But Erling Haaland is a step late reacting and and Pickford's able to come off his line and claim. And that is kind of the first in a sequence of a couple of good chances for Norway here. So Haaland gets a header off of a cross from Ryerson, who who was their starting left back in this game. That's saved. And then after kind of sitting back and after throwing these first couple of jabs, Norway really come in with the haymaker. And it starts in the midfield where Berg picks Kane. And Kane goes down easy here. He's looking for a foul and it's a call that he doesn't get.
00:09:01
Speaker
Ball comes to Odegaard. Odegaard goes left to Sheldrup and Sheldrup in space with Holland lurking. Cross come shot, I think is the best way to describe this goal. It's off the post and in does Sheldrup mean this? And does Jordan Pickford know that this shot is on target because he kind of dinosaur arms at it and he doesn't stretch out. This is a weird goal that I think Sheldrup would probably tell you that he meant, but I don't know if he did.
00:09:28
Speaker
Upon first viewing the way he strikes the ball so hard and gets the spin on, it feels like a shot. but The more and more you watch, like he's not really shooting. He's just trying to, from his body position, get enough power on the ball.
00:09:43
Speaker
And it just turns out to be hit towards the corner and Pickford's not expecting it. I mean, generally, the whole point of Sheldrup is to get the ball to Holland. And so he's trying to get the ball in and in a spot where Holland can get it.
00:09:55
Speaker
I don't know. Does it matter? And to the point of like, this is the the funny thing for Tuchel. Like we say like England have been pushed, but like it's these weird bounces that they have to overcome. Like this is not like on the maps, on the numbers like this doesn't show up as anything. Yeah. But ah do you want more from Jordan Pickford on this one? Oh, 100%. I mean, Pickford will have a game, like we said, at the Azteca where he's like, you know, really, really excellent. And then he'll also have a game where it's like, why why is the one of the best teams in the world starting a short-armed goalkeeper? Like, do we have to do that? which Why
Impact of Substitutions on England
00:10:28
Speaker
does he always look like he's flailing? Yeah.
00:10:31
Speaker
I don't know. Like, I think Pickford is good in my head. I'm pretty sure Pickford is good, but all the time I'm like, what if we just played a guy that looked like a goalkeeper? Like, I think we'd avoid some of this stuff. And so again, goalkeeper evaluation, very, very, very hard art to do.
00:10:47
Speaker
After they go up a goal, Norway have a couple of chances to double their lead. And the first one is Sorloth, the player that we just talked a bit about. He chests down a long ball and kind of half volleys over the bar. This was a good chance. And then they start breaking with intention as England kind of try to start ramping it up.
00:11:04
Speaker
And I think the best chance that Norway get and one that maybe they will be thinking about for quite some time is a Sorloth-Holland where Sorloth just doesn't get it right. I mean, he's got Holland running to his left. He's got stones kind of backing up and defending and Sorloff just takes too long on the ball and eventually cuts inside and he tries to shoot and it gets blocked.
00:11:28
Speaker
This is the type of situation where you have Erling Holland, full head of steam. The ball has to get to him one way or the other in this situation. It does, but John Stones knows that. And so I think the actual way this plays goes is that Stones is sitting on the angle to Holland the whole time. He's basically positioned his body in between and said, you can keep going until like yard in.
00:11:55
Speaker
12 yard 14 and then I'll close you. But until then I'm just taking away this pass and making you, I know where you want to go. I know you want to go to Holland and it's a very good, like, uh, they call this the Draymond basketball, the one on two, like you're just baiting, you're baiting. You have to make him eliminate you. And until he eliminates you, you, you know, you're still like taking away both.
00:12:19
Speaker
And so Yes, he should get it to Holland, but Stones is sitting on the pass on the ground. And this is where a player like Sorloth is the wrong player for the situation. Because on TV, right, you see it. If you freeze frame it at any point for five seconds, you see Holland, you see space, you see Stones, and you see space. So it looks very obvious.
00:12:41
Speaker
What you need is some sort of chipped pass. You need to, like, scoop it over him. Except that takes touch and, like... Sorloth is not a finesse guy. He's literally the physical definition of square peg, round hole. You're just here so you you know you're slamming it in there. And so...
00:12:59
Speaker
What he really needs to do is dribble hard to his spot, 12 yards in the box. And if Stones doesn't take him, shoot the ball. He's got the whole left side of the goal to beat Pickford here. What he does is his whole head is, I've got to get it to Holland. But he's sitting, he's sitting, he's sitting. Okay, okay, I'm going to shoot.
00:13:18
Speaker
I'm going to shoot. And Stones is like, no, you're not. And he just sits on it. And then... Sorloth ends up like losing the ball. like This is really, really good from Stones. He knows exactly what Sorloth is trying to do. and You can't be so rigid in what you're thinking. and This is the difference between a winger and a striker. like ah you We watched Sorloth at Atletico Madrid.
00:13:40
Speaker
He's just a hammer. He's a really good hammer for Simeone because Simeone plays like the 2-on-0 math better than anyone else. I think if you, he probably, even if he does this again, he he somehow gets a better look here. He just kind of like misses the, he he gets lost on the play. And so if the ball doesn't get to Holland, and I
England's Endurance and Victory
00:13:59
Speaker
think this is generally what you're saying, you have to take a shot and you have to take a good shot and you have to take a better shot than what he ends up getting in this situation.
00:14:06
Speaker
And this ends up looming large amid, because pretty quickly after this kind of right on halftime after Anthony Gordon and with wake you had had a pretty poor half on the wing. And right before this play, Gordon makes a mess on the touchline. Gordon does really, really well to take on. And then he finds a late run from Jude Bellingham. And so there's a lot of things to break down on this goal. Firstly, there's an initial win from Elliot Anderson in the midfield off of a goal kick that may or may not have hit a sky cam table. We'll put a sky cam cable. Excuse me. We'll put a pin in that. We'll come back to that in a second. What happens? Anderson wins. Initially Jordan takes ah Gordon. I should say takes on very well.
00:14:49
Speaker
And he has spot. split second moment where he can make this pass to Jude Bellingham, who's making that late midfield run that he's made so often in this tournament. And he makes it at exactly the right moment. Jude beats Hagam to the ball, gets his shot off. There's like five or six Norwegian defenders in the picture in the play here, Amit. And they're broken down by two English attackers. It's great play by Gordon.
00:15:12
Speaker
And it's once again, great play by Jude Bellingham. This is the Tuchel math, right? The two on four, two on five, six, whatever you're you're counting them as. And this ball is the one you can get in transition. It's the early cut across. And we've seen everyone plays this. Jordy Alba plays this ball. Gordon knows this ball. And you see it in the other game, too. Like Argentina are looking for this ball all all the time. And it's really, really smart across that that face of the box.
00:15:40
Speaker
What Jude does here is as soon as he receives the ball, he knows he's got a ahead of steam and the whole Norway defense is against his current. Right. And so he knows, like, I can get to my spot. I want to shoot and no one can get to my spot when I can. This is what the best players do on all these types of goals. Right. And Papa can do this in space. Even Kane does this on the dear Congo goal.
00:16:04
Speaker
They know where you're not getting to. And this is where the the lack of foot speed on the Norway backline finally gets, you know, exposed in a moment. And it's a really good finish from Jude. And the only thing you can say here, there's a help defender after Hegem. I think it's a Berg, um the center defensive mid for Norway. And he never shows, right? Because he's he's too late out of the play from switching directions on Gordon. And...
00:16:30
Speaker
it's It's one of those goals that's really, really satisfying mentally to watch because you can just see Gordon and Bellingham or a step faster than Norway the entire time. And it's such good combination. And like you said, this is the math for Thomas Tuchel. He's saying, I've got to go two on four and eventually my guys are going to get it right. And they really do on this one. For you, did this ball touch the Skycam cable? There's one angle from Fox in the U.S. that shows from like behind that looks kind of interesting.
00:16:59
Speaker
FIFA have come out and said that their heartbeat monitor in the ball didn't register a touch. We went
Referee Decisions and Controversies
00:17:05
Speaker
into the science or not science or pseudoscience of that earlier in this tournament. We don't need to rehash that.
00:17:10
Speaker
If the ball obviously touched a cable, it should have been blown dead and we should retake the goal kick. But it does look kind of iffy, although to Norway's credit, they made a protest pretty quickly and didn't feel like it was even looked at by the VAR.
00:17:25
Speaker
Yeah, they did a good job of purchasing it I don't know. I don't know. i kind of just, I was at halftime when they looked at this because they don't talk about this live. The American broadcast talks about it halftime.
00:17:35
Speaker
And the way they were talking about it and the way it looked, I'm like, oh yeah, i I buy it. And I feel like Norway has a case here, right? Like, and they go talk, it should go be, it should be looked at. Obviously once it's not looked at, there's nothing you can do.
00:17:48
Speaker
Like I, I don't know. I don't feel pretty. i don't feel great about this one. Like it does feel like it did hit it and it probably shouldn't be a goal. But also what happens after the ball is like very, very satisfying on the cool factor and it's very bad defense from Norway. Like, i don't know. I,
00:18:09
Speaker
I probably I probably on the summation of it would not have liked to have seen this call, guess, is is it where I stand. I don't like to I don't like to admit it, but I don't like to ref chat it up too much. But like it if it's wrong, it's wrong. Right. Like by the rules, if it hit it and it looks like it hit it, you can't it shouldn't count. Right, but it's just that's so hard with angles. What's so hard with this this ref discourse, and just wait until the Argentina ref discourse, is like when do we apply the rules by the law, and when do we just kind of slide along on the vibes? And in this one, in my head, I feel very much in my heart like, ah, that was cool. Let England have it. I've got a lot of England stock. I like Harry Kane. like I'm not rooting, rooting for them, right? They're not a
00:18:57
Speaker
you know my team but like that was cool like let it go and then later i'm like that's against what i wanted to see so like but by the law if it hits something like the cable it should not be a goal so like can't have it both ways right so and you will get ethical takes here from us whether we're right or wrong we'll be consistent But obviously if it does hit the cable and it's a free midfield win for england England, like that is playing a significant role in this goal, despite the fact that Norway have five guys back and should have defended it
England's Mental Strength
00:19:28
Speaker
better anyway. Look, I don't think there's anything definitive that you and I can say as to whether it did or not, but if it did, it should have been called. And if it didn't, it shouldn't have. And it wasn't. And that's how this ends. So we'll I think leave it at that. And that's probably the most that you'll get from the world cup after dark on that subject.
00:19:44
Speaker
ah England very nearly get a second before halftime. ah Harry Kane with a delicious chipped finish, but he was just a hair offside after a little one-two between Jude and Kane. Norway barely got their offside trap right here, but they did get their offside trap right.
00:20:01
Speaker
We go to halftime, a minute and this is the moment where I think things really change for England because firstly, they bring on Bukaya Saka for Mardwake. That felt like an obvious sub. Obviously, Saka wasn't cleared to go 90 or 120 minutes, and that's probably why you see Meduake start. But I think the second change is maybe the more significant one. They bring on Eze for Rice, and it's pretty clear here, Amit, that Declan Rice is not 100%.
00:20:25
Speaker
I know he was dealing with some stomach issues, has has been the reports. There's been a lot kind of swirling around Declan Rice. But this change in particular cascades basically the entirety of the second half for England, and the struggles that they're going to have here,
00:20:40
Speaker
come by the fact that they have to bring on Eze for Rice, and then the eventual after effects downstream of that really put them behind the eight ball for 45 minutes here. Right. Tuchel's defending with a double pivot of two really, really good holding midfielders. We cannot emphasize enough.
00:20:58
Speaker
Declan Rice runs the pivot for Arsenal, who just put up the best defensive season of all time in Europe, right? Came within a hair of a double. And you just took him out. And now your Elliot Anderson is good. June moves back. And as he moves to the 10...
00:21:14
Speaker
as he's a fine 10, like he does fine for Arsenal, he's more of a luxury player. Jude runs his heart out in this game, but there's just that positional stability that Rice gives you. And he always makes the right read, the right shuffle. He's always good at timing those tackles.
00:21:31
Speaker
And it's totally opening up.
Argentina's Journey to Victory
00:21:35
Speaker
Odegaard for sure, but Berg for is 100% the beneficiary of this. And now Norway feel like they can get a 2-1-1, an overload in that central spot, and just pass through the press a little bit. And so I think Solbaken smells blood in the water when he sees Rice. And so the way the second half starts is really, really bright for them, and it changes the entire game. It's this change, not the other change.
00:22:00
Speaker
The other thing is... the game opened up after the goal too, right? We had kind of said this game needs the goal. Totally Norway after going up one, absolutely could have been caught for two on the cane chip or more. And it just felt like England all the time in this tournament, when they escaped the Tuchel weird zone, they are much, much more dangerous, but they also could ship a goal, right? Because they also in the up one, or when Norway's up one, they shipped the Sorloth Holland two on one. So yeah,
00:22:32
Speaker
I think so Bakken like has this whole thing right to a T just like gets a bounce here wrong and then a bounce there wrong. And then he, I think he gives a really good message to his team at halftime.
00:22:43
Speaker
Like we had said, he he surprised Brazil by playing really, really positive manager and being like, don't do, do not be scared of England in the second half. I know it's one, one, I know they're the better team in the ball, but like let's hurt these guys. This is the second time he's done it and it had good effect. Yeah. And it shows pretty quick here for Norway because as this second half kind of starts to develop, they get a string of three corners and the third one is the charm or it looks like it's going to be a charm here. So it's it's absolute pinball in the box and it's Hegem who ends up putting it in the back of the net.
00:23:18
Speaker
But before the the corner was taken, it's Erling Holland on Elliot Anderson. And it's eventually going to be ruled to be a foul before the ball is in place. So now we get to retake the quarter and it's Holland on Anderson. And this is the type of play that we've seen so much in this world cup. It's the type of play we've seen so much in club football.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it's Holland basically bodying Anderson up before the ball is in play. And then as he starts to make his run, he makes contact and he probably extends both arms and it's probably a push. It is also almost assuredly a meal by Elliot Anderson. Like he makes the most of this contact, but it does eventually counter effect lead to door and putting the ball in the back of the net.
00:23:59
Speaker
The referee, Clement Tarpon goes over to the VAR monitor, looks at it and calls the foul. But because it was before the corner had been taken, Norway get to retake the corner. I think, look, we're doing ref discourse again.
00:24:10
Speaker
i think I'm okay with this one, but it is pretty soft from LA to Anderson here. It is, but he has to go down or else the two handed shoves are allowed. Right. And this is what's been happening in England. The way they've been calling it is that you can get away with assault on the box. And so you got to stop the two handed shove.
00:24:27
Speaker
I'm with you. Generally, it's a weird one, but like if you extend both arms, you got to give it. And Look, I think it was in Norway's best incentive to create chaos in the box. Did a good job on the broadcast talking about it.
00:24:40
Speaker
They were just shuffling different guys in different spots and just constantly getting good delivery too. England were looking really, really scared on the set pieces of the loose ball. It felt like everyone was an adventure to survive.
00:24:53
Speaker
Pickford in particular, right? Doesn't command his area super well on ah on some of these set pieces. And it does feel like Norway have something here, which is set piecing the set pieces, right? Because this has been what we expected and what we thought we might see a lot from England.
00:25:07
Speaker
Norway do it with great effect in this game. I think it's fair to be said. At the hour mark, Norway make a change on their fullback. Ryerson's day is done. Arsnes comes on. And then right before the the second half hydration break, they change their wings out. So Bob and Noosa come on for Sheldrup and Sorloff. I thought Sheldrup was good in this game. He obviously scored the goal.
00:25:27
Speaker
We already talked a lot about Sorloff. And in this moment, England are also forced into a change. And they bring on Rhys James, who can be a fullback, but they bring him on for Anthony Gordon, And so James then goes into the midfield with Anderson and this sets up amid Norway's best moment of the second half. And they really, from the hydration break, really until Tuchel kind of pivots and puts on Jed Spence right before the end of the 90, Norway had England pinned in here and Bob and Sheldon, Bob and Nusa, I should say the two wingers just take turns going at the England fullbacks.
00:26:03
Speaker
Well said. This was really, really scary, Fringland. It felt like Norway were going to get one. They totally had them scrambled. And again, it's so hard to know the minutes, but it feels like Tuchel looks really bad here, right? He's out of midfielders, right? He's got Kobe Maynou. He doesn't trust him at all.
00:26:22
Speaker
So then why'd you bring him? Jordan Henderson broke his hand celebrating the which like for this game, though, what was it was still on the bench with a full cast on his arm? Oh, yeah. Jordan Henderson's coming in on this one.
00:26:34
Speaker
Right. And so, like, why do we bring him? You're looking at a player like Adam Warren. You'll get a player like Morgan Gibbs White. And it's like, no, instead, it's a quarterfinal. We're tied against Norway, who has Erling Holland and our player playing Rhys James at center defensive mid. And like that is squarely on Tuchel. It just is.
00:26:52
Speaker
And because we're doing that, we're playing Kansa out of position at right. And so like all of these things are interconnected. Yeah, you've opened up your fullbacks to get attacked. And I think this was, look, what happens after, Norway don't don't score in this stretch. England get control back of the game. I think in general, in the the extra time, they are the better team. This was a war of attrition. This was the the time for Solbach and Norway to get the goal. And they come really close.
00:27:21
Speaker
you know, Noosa is having a lot of joy on Kansa. Bob is having a lot of joy on Nico Riley. And they're just shifting and jinking and every time looking dangerous, getting corner kicks, getting guys up.
00:27:34
Speaker
And it just looks like it truly does not look like England are not going to survive this. And I don't know if it's luck or just like Tuchel being like, we just needed to survive a little bit, right? And it's This is the what you regret the most, I think, for Norway. And talk about Holland. like The one thing England did well in this game is they said, we're not going to let him beat us, right? they they they gave They gave up a lot of crosses. they gave up They got beat a lot of times inside, but they always had two or three guys on him. He gets like one header, maybe in the first half, that he's pretty tame at Pickford. Outside of that, it was really, really detailed defending. And so...
00:28:13
Speaker
I thought Noosa might have been able to curl one. I think there's a few times where Bob gets a ball on the ground. Like Berg gets a shot. Odegaard is balling out. Like Norway's playing really well, but it it's so close. Their best chance is probably from another corner. Where where Jordan Pickford really really flaps at it and Arsas plays the ball, kind of bounces it back in and air. The the big center back gets a header that goes off the bar. That's probably their best actual look. But but yeah, like you said, Bob, Neuse, Odegaard, these guys are really giving England trouble. And so finally the minutes restriction kind of opens up for Tuchel. And in the 86th minute, he's able to bring Jed Spence on. And at this point, Consa is pretty clearly on fumes. I thought it was going to be Consa who went off, but he brings on Spence for Nico O'Reilly and puts him at left back.
00:28:59
Speaker
And then three minutes later, Roger comes on, Rogers comes on for Consa. And that allows re James to shift back to right back. And then you finally get the formation, I think, that England are looking for.
00:29:13
Speaker
And it's also coupled with the fact that Marcus Pedersen comes on for Moller-Wolf for Norway. And it kind of feels like these are the shifts. And then you see Hagam go down right before the end of the 90 minutes, right? And Norway are out of windows. This kind of feels like the shift to where...
00:29:29
Speaker
England are just kind of riding it out and their depth comes in and kind of comes to their rescue to wrestle this game back from where Norway had it. that is That is what happens. They wrestle it back.
00:29:42
Speaker
This is knockout soccer. This is deep in a tournament, war of attrition. It's 90 degrees. It's really muggy in Miami. We're going to go see guy 15, guy 16, guy 17. Can you keep up with us? Are you as fit as us?
00:29:56
Speaker
um And the answer was like, England are the deeper team here. Like we we said it. Yeah. Solbacher throws his punch. He doesn't land it. And I think he's just left with the worst players and the more tired players. he He makes all these subs. He's never changes his midfield three. And those guys have just been running the game of their life. And I mean, i think you can circle one thing in this game, right?
00:30:20
Speaker
moeller wolf comes out petterson osness on the other side um versus real fullbacks like spence and james and once it's set in that configuration you know someone we in one of the chats we're in it feels like we we get to extra time right we're going extra time and it's like feels like norway have been on top here it feels like they're more likely to score and it was like they were but now this is just where Tuchel wanted to get to, right? He's rope-a-doped you a little bit in the heat. And it's like, look, it's not that either of these teams were inherently built. One was more built from the heat than the other, right? Like two Northern European teams, but like England just a little bit deeper, just a little bit more fitter. And another thing you can say here is like,
00:31:06
Speaker
Guy who was affected by the heat was Erling Haaland. And guy who was able to stay on the field for 120 minutes didn't didn't do all the work, but just hung around for his team was Harry Kane. This is not me saying that Harry Kane is more fit or better than Haaland. It's just a remark on their game styles, right? And...
00:31:26
Speaker
Holland needed help in this game. And that was the one thing, again, can't say it enough. England was going to let him beat him. He had nothing left. We were like, does he have any, is he saving one run, one burst? Like we see that sometimes. No, he was, he was just taken out by the heat. And like,
00:31:41
Speaker
it's a, it's almost a shame that that's what decided such a high level quarterfinal. But at the same time, like that's why it's a high level quarterfinal. Sometimes you get to a week golf on the eighth hole and the wind's blowing 30, 30 miles an hour. Like you got to turn the difficulty off. Yeah. You're dropping a weak golf reference. I love it. Wow. We're digging deeper to the event, like bank of references.
00:32:04
Speaker
It felt like England just had one or two more guys that could affect this game. And Norway kind of ran out like Bob and news are two guys you can bring off your bench. They can affect this game.
00:32:15
Speaker
Outside of that, I don't know if there was a guy for Norway that was going to be able to affect this game positively. And so we go to extra time and immediately in extra time, England get their break. and it starts with a corner and it just all comes from this corner. So it's a far post header from Kane that's not on target, but possession recycles for another far post chance that comes to nothing.
00:32:36
Speaker
But then again, they keep possession and as a finds Rogers and Rogers, Norway are kind of pinned back at this point. It's a step and a shot. And we've seen this so often in this tournament be effective.
00:32:48
Speaker
And it's effective here again in Nyland, who's been so good for Norway at this tournament, who's going to be so good yet it in extra time to keep this a one goal game. He tries to catch it, but it's just this dipping, swerving ball and he coughs up a rebound. And there's only one man who's going to get on the end of this rebound minute. And it's not H.Kane.
00:33:06
Speaker
It's Jude Bellingham who has run all game and who keeps running and who beats Leo Ostegaard, the backup center back who just came into this game and should have fresh legs, but falls asleep on this chance.
00:33:19
Speaker
This is so, so good from Bellingham. And I think Rogers deserves credit here for taking the shot and making it a difficult save for Nile. was a really good hit from Rogers had a lot of dip on it. He's a very good ball striker. Actually, it's one of his good things at Aston Villa is his shots from distance.
00:33:35
Speaker
And this is a very Mikel Marino goal from Jude Bellingham, right? The box crashers ah first on the rebound, just mentally sharp. And that's where you're saying, this is what you brought Ostegaard in to do, right? Like he can't be caught here, but it's just that processing speed that this guy has. And we say about Jude, right? What, what's makes him special. He does a little bit of everything.
00:33:59
Speaker
Some games he's dribbling you like Zidane. Some games he's, you know, getting on crosses headers, like he's Fellaini. Some games he's doing the Lampard box crasher, or he's doing this Mikel Marino thing.
00:34:12
Speaker
And it's, You know, the guy, the guy's a big game player. And I like, hey, you know, you don't want to pull that out all the time. But a certain guy, you you watch it with your own eyes and you're like, he just is so locked in for 120 minutes. England are out of ideas. Sometimes England are slow and tired. And this is like a very English thing.
00:34:34
Speaker
When Steven Gerrard scores this 3-3 tying goal against West Ham, the FA Cup final, the commentators go, when you need someone to stand up and be counted, that's your guy. And like, that is Jude Bellingham. He's just the English midfielder you built in a lab to like live up to your platitudes of English midfielders. And here he is again. And like, go ahead, platitude it up. The guy has just simply saved this team time and time again. It's his show.
00:34:58
Speaker
And this is exactly what England needed
Argentina's Challenges and Strategy Critique
00:35:00
Speaker
at this moment because then they're able to get to a much more comfortable game state. And Norway from this point on are never really able to pin England back in like they had them pinned in at 1-1 for a large part of that second half. But just the changes that are made, the fresh legs that come on, the added depth,
00:35:16
Speaker
really keep Nor from getting back to that game state. And there's a penalty shout for England that Jed Spence creates, but but then gets taken off the board. But even with that consideration, I think Jed Spence was huge for England. And he just kept the wings from being able to do anything for Norway.
00:35:34
Speaker
Let's put a pin in that little thing for later in the show, the Jed Spence one put up. Yes, ah he has a great game defensively. And what he does is Bob was having so much success one on one dribbling. And what Spence does is just sticks to him. he He closes out the receiving so that Bob can never receive hand to ah feet to goal like with space to get his jinx off.
00:35:57
Speaker
Jets Benz had a tough game against DR Congo, right? So Pengo was giving him fits. Well, he's a very good athletic fallback and maybe he had a bad game. He was out of position on the left side. I think he looks much more comfortable with his closeout angle and dribbling on his left foot like we see and he almost earns a penalty. So um really, really good game from him. Tuchel needed needed these 30 minutes from him.
00:36:21
Speaker
And at this point, we're asking the question of Holland. All right. Is he rope-a-doping or is he completely done? Right? Because he's just kind of doing the thing where he's walking around. He's not accelerating. You're like, is he just saving it up for one or two big runs?
00:36:34
Speaker
And the answer that question comes at halftime of extra time, Amit, when Norway are bring bring on Jorgen Strang Larsson and they take Erling Holland off. That clearly answers the question. He's not rope-a-doping. He's literally just completely done and gassed. And this, again, I think speaks to the changes that Stahlbeck and his force to make where he just doesn't have the guys off the bench that are going to impact this game.
00:36:55
Speaker
i think Sean Larson is a perfectly fine player. But man, this is a World Cup quarterfinal. These are 15 minutes for the next four years. You really don't want to be taking Holland off unless he can't give you anything. And I even feel like a very limited Holland just being a physical presence in the box still might have been worth something to Norway down the stretch here.
00:37:17
Speaker
I agree, right? You just need a second striker. The ball might bounce to him. He might save you. But if you're Staubach and you're doing the math, you're like, if I leave him and Strand Loshinov, I have one less guy. And who do I pull? Because I don't have another midfielder and I need to be able to get the ball in the box. And England have legs the other way.
00:37:38
Speaker
Rodgers, Eze, Saka have not played the full 120. So I'm just worried about those guys. Um... But does anyone think this is the right move? Maybe it's just maybe it's just Stalbach and Holland, like based on the numbers. Like we don't have the heart rate monitor up like guy might have simply had nothing to give. But it's a tough one. It's 100% tough one. Just even just like vibes wise, like he he felt so defeated, like he'd done everything and there was nothing left. And I think that at the end of the day, right, I just go war of attrition. Norway did not have a fourth midfielder in this game.
00:38:14
Speaker
And here, I think you have to sacrifice a midfield and you have to keep hauling on. Like, I get it. I understand that he's dead. I know that he's not going to run. I know that, but I need that guy in the box. Like, how am I planning on scoring without that? And if you have to give up midfield possession, you have to give up midfield possession. You have to make a couple of last-ditch chances. You have to make a couple of last-ditch chances. This is a World Cup quarterfinal. Like, i I understand the conditions are hard. i understand you work you just got to fight through it. You just do. And I think this was...
00:38:41
Speaker
Again, like like you said, neither you or I have the heart rate monitor. We don't know exactly what the data was telling you at this point. you just that You just hate to have to do this in this situation. And I think Norway just are never really able to to get a bunch here.
00:38:55
Speaker
ah The last change for Thomas Tuchel is naturally, of course, big Dan Byrne on for Jude Bellingham. And he just says, we're just going to erase everything. And that's what Dan Byrne does in the last 10 minutes of this game. To his credit, um there's maybe one chance for Norway here, or it's a corner that bounces to Bob in a really good spot.
00:39:12
Speaker
And instead of kind of leaning forward and striking through it, of me he just kind of leans back and he just skies it and never really gets close to the target. It was that kind of day, right? At this point for Norway and Bob, good player, Noosa, good player.
00:39:28
Speaker
Imagine if they were like five or 10% better for Norway, they'd really, really be in business. Like these guys are good players, but Bob is the rotational depth piece and Noosa is still at Leipzig. And so...
00:39:39
Speaker
you just feeling that whole kind of regret all up and down the board for Norway. It's not just one guy. Like everyone had their, had their chances to, to impact the game. And there's the, the center back injury. Like, I don't think that, that Matt, like that's ah irrelevant. The Austin guard being here. And I think that's also maybe some of the things conditioning what Stolbach is thinking with that fifth sub. So Tommy Tuchel, man, he just, he just, you he just drags you out. He drags you out to the 120th minute and you're left like grasping straws. Yeah.
00:40:08
Speaker
And then he puts on his best Jesse Marsh impersonation post-match. ah That was a crazy press conference. Go look that up if you haven't seen it. It's specifically like in the mixed zone, like right when he's walking off with English media. and They're asking him about like what was wrong in that game. and He goes, oh, the level was horrible. We weren't sharp. We have so much to improve on. and He goes, well what about the mentality that you guys keep doing? this He goes, no no, no, no, no. It's not the mentality. We have the mentality.
00:40:37
Speaker
Put the mentality in a bottle and sell it. and I'm like... Okay, Jose Mourinho, you just won a quarterfinal. But Tuchel is so, so ornery. And it is so, so funny he's leading this England team. And like we go back to the start of the show. like Do you feel good about England? Is England good? Are England the second best team or the third best team in the world? i don't know.
00:41:00
Speaker
But it's worked, right? It's working. This is the difference between him and Southgate. You don't have to like You you don't have to like him. you don't have to like the games on the field. you just You take what you get. They keep getting the results. And look, the the reason why they're doing this, I think a lot of it, and this is something that you and I are probably going to talk a lot about when we preview these semifinals.
00:41:19
Speaker
It's Harry Kane and it's Jude Bellingham. You look at the goal scores for England in this tournament outside of one goal for Marcus Rashford for 4-2 against Croatia. It's Harry Kane and it's Jude Bellingham. And this team in particular, I think, was built around the unique talent of those two guys and doing everything you can to support those two guys and to choke everything else off as much as possible back the other way outside of those two guys.
00:41:44
Speaker
And look, the choking everything else off part hasn't been great in this tournament. I think England have probably given up way more actual goals from low xg chances than they would have expected but i think they do deserve some mentality monster credit for just kind of always coming up off the mat and bouncing back and getting one more goal in the opposition agreed and that's what makes you just said mentality monster credit so fascinating for who awaits them in the semi-final It is Argentina, Amit, who walk out 3-1 winners over Switzerland after extra time.
00:42:19
Speaker
No changes in the Argentine 11, which I think you and I were a little bit surprised of. The four-man midfield that's actually a no-man midfield or something along those lines with the wingers, that's all starting here for Argentina. The Swiss bring on so for Jashari. They are struggling for attacking talent, and I think you see that in this game.
00:42:38
Speaker
ah This game is conditioned by an early goal. Argentina score in the first 10 minutes. Messi makes a really nice pass to Alexis McAllister, whose shot is deflected out for a corner. And that starts the sequence. First corner, near post, flick header from Alexis McAllister, deflected out by Mbolo.
00:42:54
Speaker
Go to the other side, second corner. It is this outswinging, perfect left-footed ball from Messi. Near post, header Alexis McAllister nestles it in the back of the net. And this admit felt like a set piece that Argentina had picked out in scouting. They knew that this was going to be there because you see the way that the bench celebrates this. You see the way McAllister and Messi celebrate this.
00:43:15
Speaker
This was the set piece that they wanted to take from this situation. They took it. They got it. They scored it. One nil. Going to be an easy night for the Argentines. it It felt that way. And obviously the whole thing with Switzerland, right? There's there's no Manzabi heading in. You're looking at who's dangerous. It's so it's reader on the right, Dan and Dwayne on the left, Bill and Bolo off top.
00:43:37
Speaker
And it just felt like they were drawing dead, right? Like generally we'll talk about the Argentine midfield here, but Argentina were basically walking the Swiss block back and just finding messy and and getting corners, set pieces, shots, crosses from it.
00:43:51
Speaker
And then, yeah, this ball, that this left-footed ball he hits, no one's hitting this ball on this side the way necessarily he is. It's really, really hard to do. It's such a bullet trajectory. And it's funny, like we said, McAllister, DePaul, one's got to go. Well...
00:44:07
Speaker
They're smart set piece players. Like McAllister is a wily guy. You know, you think back to his Liverpool tenure, not think back, you think about it. he He gets these weird kinds of goals. Like he's a weird box threat player. He's a very savvy player in the box.
00:44:22
Speaker
To your point of like they work this, I bet you he's like actually like a plus threat in training. Like so is, ah you wouldn't expect that to be a matchup, right? Why did they think that this was a plus for them? But of course it is because it's messy putting the ball right over So's head.
00:44:37
Speaker
And I think it's interesting because it's another case of Argentina who are playing without a traditional strike or a traditional aerial threat, getting aerial contributions from maybe not unexpected places, but places where other teams aren't like counting on aerial contributions. So they get center back goals. And this is a set piece goal from a midfielder that you're not expecting to be this aerial threat. But as you said, has shown it. And I think Argentina to take advantage of it really well.
00:45:04
Speaker
They take a one no lead and then admit they don't really see the ball for the next hour of this game. They struggle to hold possession. They're shipping the ball long and not being very effective with it.
00:45:16
Speaker
And Switzerland have a lot of the ball, but they're not able to create a lot of chances because there's just not that final third threat. But they're seeing way more possession than you would have expected.
00:45:29
Speaker
Yeah, Shaka and Froehler are good players on the ball, and they can you know play tidy combinations. They just needed someone in front of them to help them out. And so Jabril So keeps dropping deeper and deeper to help them, and they're trying to get the ball to Dan and Doy on the left, right? The Nottingham four-swingers, the one guy you're thinking might give you some dynamism.
00:45:52
Speaker
And what's frustrating for Argentina to your point is that outside of Paredes, like every Argentine guy was getting passed through or walked by or like just not stopping the progression. And it's like...
00:46:07
Speaker
At a certain point, right like your shape has has to be more than a shape. right You've got to constrict middle, press out, press backwards. You've got to close and force the ball in directions you don't want it to go. And it kept being like...
00:46:23
Speaker
the ball is just in dangerous spots. It's 40 yards from goal and they're getting that pass to 20 yards from goal over and over and over again. And if it was anyone else, it would have looked more dangerous. And Switzerland are just kind of hanging around with the ball. And...
00:46:39
Speaker
It's funny that sometimes defensive possession, even when you're down one, is how you like hang around in a game like this. like That's what Schalke and Froiler do. And it's weird, but it works for Murat Yakin because Scaloni and Argentina in their head are like...
00:46:56
Speaker
We're fine. The XG Argentina puts up to like the 90th is like less than Switzerland's. It's game stated because they're up one, because they're not interested. They're not interested in chasing the ball. They don't think think they don't have to. They're thinking we're saving our legs, right? England won 120. Let's get through this with as little as possible. These guys can't hurt us.
00:47:17
Speaker
And even when you're Argentina, right? Like... You can't just yield touches 20 yards from goal to anyone. and And it felt like they should have been able to hold on to the ball. They should have been able to make passes and they just don't choose to play through their midfield. Like they just are are setting the ball long and all of these midfielders on the pitch. But as you said, other than Paredes, none of them are really doing anything. in this game. And then you've also got Messi and Alvarez who like, they're not applying a super hard pressing work rate. And so they're just kind of incapable of winning the ball back and they're just conceding possession to switch. And they're conceding, even if it's not chances to s switch, then you just give a team the ball enough and they're eventually going to hurt you. And so in the first half, the best chance is Mbolo running in behind who nearly gets it off. But Martinez is really well to come off his line and and slides into win with his feet. And then in the second half, Switzerland again, just kind of, you have the ball enough, eventually chances will come, even if you are limited in the final third. So there's a huge save for Martinez in the 65th minute off of a cross from Ricardo Rodriguez. It's a quick flip header from Endoy. Then there's another save off of Xhaka from distance.
00:48:28
Speaker
And then it's kind of third time and in Switzerland find their success here. And all it is, in it it's just really ah a one-two with Dan Endoy and Ricardo Rodriguez. And it's a tight angle shot from Endoy.
00:48:40
Speaker
but he places it really well and he sneaks it under Martinez's left leg. And even if Switzerland hadn't been overly dangerous in the final third, it it feels like this equalizer is deserved for how much of the ball they saw.
00:48:53
Speaker
It is 100% deserved. And it's really bad indicting of Argentina that Ricardo Rodriguez is able to get this high up the field to play a one, two, like this is where Pedro Poro picks a spot with Laminia Mall. And like Ricardo Rodriguez is a good player, but oh, right. That's messy side. And it's like someone else has to help to cover that. And in 2022, he's that's Rodrigo DePaul, right? He just says that whole side of the field, I'll cover it. And so like, it's just that 10% of slippage. This is a really good one too. And what had kind of been going just before this was the pattern of cross, cross, cutback. And the one thing that works her for Dan and Doi is everyone in the building thinks cutback, cutback, cutback. Oh, I'm going to shoot. And
00:49:39
Speaker
I still think Debu should save it right under his legs, but credit to Dan and Doi, like he just kind of stumbled into one. And like, again, i think he's a good player, right? He's a premier league player. He is kind of lacking that end product, but to exactly your point, like you give a guy that spot in the box enough times, like he's going to do something with it. And so a hundred percent, it felt deserved for Switzerland. Like Argentina got exactly what they were asking for.
00:50:04
Speaker
And so at this point, you're kind of wondering where this game is going to go from here. And then it's conditioned by one of, I think, the weirdest VAR moments we've seen in this tournament. And this is callback to the second day of World Cup action where we saw Miguel Almaron get booked for a play very similar here. So what happens is Paredes looks to go in on a challenge on Mbolo. It's kind of innocuous in the midfield.
00:50:30
Speaker
And Mbolo goes down and Paredes is shown a ah yellow card. And VAR comes in and says, no, this is a case of mistaken identity. This is actually flop by Breland Bolo and shouldn't be a yellow card on Paredes.
00:50:44
Speaker
And in fact, it should actually be a yellow card on Breland Bolo. And guess what? Breland Bolo was already booked in this game when he chopped down Paredes in the midfield. So it goes from being a yellow card on Paredes to being a second yellow card in Bolo, which is a red and Swiss go down to 10 men.
00:51:02
Speaker
And this is a game changer because yes, Switzerland had some of the ball, but they were never going to be able to see the ball with 10 men. They also lose one of their best attacking threats. And like, this is, I think technically a correct call on it, but I think you and I are both in agreement with that this is not what we want to see from this type of situation.
00:51:23
Speaker
No, it ruins the whole entire game, and it just fuels this whole discourse of this Argentina is getting on the calls. That's actually not what we've been doing on this podcast.
00:51:33
Speaker
Go listen to us talk about the Egypt thing. like Egypt should have seen out that lead. This one is really, really tricky, and let's start here. like Does Jed Spence get a yellow for his flop on his penalty kick in the England game? I said let's put a pin in that. Does he? He does not, no And so the reason why is because he doesn't give a yellow to who committed that foul, which was a worse flop.
00:51:58
Speaker
Jed Spence's, he's going for a pen because a pen is more valuable. So how is one of those, oh, it's just not a pen, the game's still what it is, to now the whole game is ruined.
00:52:09
Speaker
And this is because there's no flexibility in the process, that once he gives Paredes the yellow, he has to give a yellow to Mbolo when he goes and looks at what he looks at.
00:52:20
Speaker
Like on the balance of it, right, Mbolo's first yellow is a yellow. By the letter of the law, this is a yellow. So like if it happens to anyone else or if he didn't have that yellow, nothing – no one is crying like conspiracy, conspiracy, conspiracy. It just works out this way.
00:52:35
Speaker
But to the the consequence of this being game ruining just doesn't sit well with anyone. It doesn't sit well with anyone. Well, and so like, let's say for example here, and I understand this is a very difficult play to officiate live and I get wanting to help officials in this case, if the ref sees this correctly, right? So if he sees Paredes doesn't make contact and Bolo goes down. nothing He does. that He tells him Bolo to get up, right? It's just a simple one motion with the arm. You tell him Bolo to get up and keep playing and play on, right? Siga, Siga is how we would say it in Spanish. But because you're just put into this like procedural hole where you're just locked up procedurally, where like you said, there's a yellow given to Paredes. And so that means, well, we have to take the yellow off Paredes because that wasn't a yellow. And so then we have to give the yellow. And again, this is where we need to trust officials to manage the game where a ref... would you would This would never be a second yellow card. It's so rare to get a second yellow card for a dive, particularly in a situation where a guy's not diving for a penalty. Like you said, this is a completely innocuous. He's looking for contact. Like, yes, he's trying to get the contact from Fred. But guys are looking for contact, and guys are looking for contact all the time to buy a foul. Yeah. he thinks there's going to be contact, he anticipates it, and he goes down. Again, this happens so many times in a game, and the general response to it is not, oh, that's a yellow card for a dive. It's get up, keep playing, right? And so we just put these officials in this procedural lockup where they're forced to make a certain call, and like my brain immediately goes to this. They go to the monitor, and Ebola's got a yellow. He's off. That's it. like There's no other solution here. And it just, it totally conditions the game, obviously. And this is obviously, um this is beneficial for Argentina. There's no way around it.
00:54:23
Speaker
I don't think it's the result of some grand conspiracy. It's just the procedures getting in the way of common sense and ruining what was kind of going to be a pretty good back and forth spectacle.
00:54:34
Speaker
It was, right? That's what someone wrote in this. And so... Yeah, the procedure part of this is really tough, right? Because the whole point of this law and why you put this in is to disincentivize flopping, to disincentivize simulation.
00:54:49
Speaker
The issue is it's applied twice in this tournament. It's not like guys aren't going down for contact. On the Norway goal, Harry Kane is doing the same type of thing to like take contact, right? Everyone's doing it. And so...
00:55:03
Speaker
it's this, it's this idea that you solve, you think you're solving a problem, right. From the FIFA point of view, but you haven't thought about the eventualities of like the edge cases of like where something like this could go. And then you get into the actual game and the ref is so his hands are tied. and I think this is just bad bad processing from top to bottom all around. And something you know we we deal with in like being in international sports is like ah having good frameworks to deal with this kind of thing and empowering referees as exactly as you said to manage the game. right he should He should almost be able to like say basically like, this is nothing like it's a nothing, right?
00:55:48
Speaker
Right. But you just can't because yeah written it's written one way and then you have to follow it. And look, ah you can't just ignore this because you ignore this, you don't get any more games in this World Cup and or any World Cup. and And next thing you know, you've got Lichtenstein Luxembourg on your schedule and that's the next game you get. Right. so like,
00:56:05
Speaker
You can't, I think, blame the official for the call that's made. It's just it's it's it's written this way and and it's so difficult. And so then this, as we said, it conditions the game going forward. And Argentina are really able to pin in Switzerland down the stretch here, right? So it's a super late hydration break because of that.
00:56:23
Speaker
Argentina, as they kind of always do, change out their fullbacks. Nico Gonzalez comes on for Tagliafico. Montiel comes on for Molina. They also get Latar Martinez on. Rodrigo DePaul goes off. There's a vertical run from Lionel Messi, right? I mean, he makes one of those vertical runs that he so often kind of tries to mix in, gets the ball to his foot, and but but Colwell comes off and swothers his chip. The flag goes up on this play, but I think it looked really close. i think this would have been a goal. It would have been really, really tight.
00:56:46
Speaker
And Switzerland just kind of have to wave the white flag, right? And so they take off pretty they take off three attackers and a minute they put one back on. So Mduni comes on, but they take off all the rest of their attacking players and they bring on Widmer and Muhyam.
00:57:00
Speaker
And this is just Mirakine saying, all right, I'm looking at my watch. We're shutting up shop. We're going to try to play for penalties. I don't think there was really another card for him to play at this point. No, he's thinking 30 minutes of extra time plus 12 minutes of regular time plus stoppage time. I need to survive a half down 10. And that's like not some impossible proposition. And you look at the way this goes, they get awfully, awfully close because...
00:57:26
Speaker
He's just put a bunch of bodies centrally. It's like a 5-4, whatever blob you want to call it, 5-5, 5-4, whatever. And he's – Argentina have no width and the angles are all wrong. And it's really, really labored for Argentina outside of that Messi chance ah to get the right – entries into the box and Lautaro feels stranded. And it increasingly looks like it's got to be a shot from distance, particularly from Lionel Messi.
00:57:58
Speaker
And so one of the shots from distance that he takes a mid is Switzerland naturally spend pretty much the rest of this game camped on Lionel Messi's left foot. and So he's like, he's like, ah, guess what? I got a right foot too. And he gets very, very close with his right foot.
00:58:12
Speaker
Yeah, the 92nd minute. We almost joked right when the red card happens. We go, oh, chalk it up. 90 plus two messy. We can go home. And this is the exact chance he'd been leveraging that secret weapon once, right? He knows everyone's sitting on it. He got the fake. He got the right.
00:58:26
Speaker
It's maybe a foot wide of Kobol's post. And man, it looked like coming off, that was it, right? Yeah. It felt like outside of Messi's on ball creativity, Argentina were just kind of passing that thing around until it got to him again. it was like your turn. Please, please do it. You know what i mean? So um it was it was an interesting, weird game. Like, did you in the did you at any point feel like it was going to pens? Like, where was your mental mental meter on it?
00:58:54
Speaker
Yeah, like I think I thought at one 105 108 mentally in my head. I was there. Yeah, pretty much. I'm right in the same spot kind of as extra time goes on. And so so Argentina get one more chance before it goes to extra time right there. There's this kind of scissor volley from Lissandra Martinez that is saved really well by Gregor Colville.
00:59:16
Speaker
Because he's he's screened, right? And the guy who's screening him, i forget exactly who it is, is off so is on sides. And so he's planted left. This is an underratedly great save from Kobol who does not get his – he gets his due. We're giving him his due. Like what was excellent today as you need anyone to be in the 10 men.
00:59:36
Speaker
But then this goes to extra time and Argentina just looked very labored, like you said. And there's just all these bodies behind. Again, Switzerland have pretty much decided we're not super interested in doing anything going forward. We're not going to be very effective even if we try. And if we try, we're just going to open ourselves up. And so basically, Zeki on duty, you get to run around up top and try and just cause havoc. And everybody else is just going to sit back.
00:59:59
Speaker
And like you said, the angles are just amazing. off for Argentina because, and again, we've we've brought up this point a lot and we're going keep, there's no wide play. Nothing is wide. And even when Messi goes wide, everything is shifting back in because he's wide on the right with a left foot. And so that just naturally is going to make him come back in and and try and play these balls. And they also don't have natural aerial threats, right? And so they're not just in a one, one game. They're not just going to lump Kuti Romero and Lissandro Martinez into the box, trying to chase it, right? This isn't full on desperation time, but without that kind of ability to just
01:00:35
Speaker
Box attack, you're just kind of looking at it thinking, all right, what are they going to do They bring on Tiago Almada for Enzo Fernandez, who wasn't very he who wasn't particularly good. And I think Almada added some good things, right? He forces an early save from Kobol in extra time. He fires just wide off the outside of the post.
01:00:51
Speaker
But there's just nothing all that dangerous. And so finally in the 110th minute with 10 minutes to go Scaloni brings on the closest thing to a traditional nine that he has in this team. And it's Jose Juan well Lopez, Flacco Lopez, the Palmetas player.
01:01:04
Speaker
And this is a guy that is not like a super effective world-class nine, but he is a nine, right? And it kind of just gives Argentina just that enough to change it. And just as you're kind of thinking, oh man, I hope they've been practicing their penalties. I hope they watch the film on the Switzerland penalties because we might be going to that it breaks for argentina and it starts i think with leonel messi kind of using up his last bit of juice here where he kind of gets past three swiss defenders and gets into his office and gets off a left-footed shot it's not a great left-footed shot but it's enough of a left-footed shot to force a save from koble and then after the save the play is kept alive first by nico gonzalez
01:01:45
Speaker
He gets the ball of Flacco Lopez and Lopez is like, you can tell he's not super comfortable playing with the ball at his feet, but he does it enough with it. Right. And he kind of draws a defender in and he just kind of gets it to Juliana Auburn and says, all right, you take it.
01:01:57
Speaker
And Juliana Auburn just says, all right, I'll take it. It takes one touch and just absolutely rips a top right corner curler with his right foot. This is probably the shot from distance that Argentina we're going to need amit to break this game open. And it's Julio and Alvarez, a player who has been kind of quiet all World Cup, who comes up with it.
01:02:16
Speaker
We've been waiting, right? We've been waiting for Alvarez to kind of make his mark on this team. You go back to our preview podcast, like our group preview, and we were like, i think Alvarez the best player on this team. He's been a superstar at the Atletico Madrid. Atletico Madrid is designed around his unique abilities to hunt shots. We kept on saying, right, the best look for Argentina involves Martinez and Alvarez. They need to get him in the space because he'll exist in this deeper pocket.
01:02:43
Speaker
But this exact right-footed curler and people that watch Athletico know, right? This is what he does. And maybe they don't all look as good as this one, right? The spin on this one, the outside spin, talk about getting it wide of the post. Poor Cobble had been excellent all game. He's got no chance on this one.
01:03:01
Speaker
And... Something about having shots from distance in international soccer just matters late in games where everyone's out of ideas. You don't have tactics. You don't necessarily have the system. You don't have a guy to bring in guy 12 through 18 is also designed for the system of your club football, right? Where build a squad to play identity. You've got 26 guys, you got 26 dudes. And so like late in games,
01:03:28
Speaker
I think it's a little bit more of a tactics free zone than perhaps it is in club soccer. And what you get is the other team's legs go and they just give you these pockets, 20, 25 yards from goal.
01:03:41
Speaker
And if you got someone that can hit it, man, it is worth its weight in gold. And we were, I said it a few minutes ago, I thought it was going to be messy, right? That's kind of his, his whole bit at these tournaments, but we had been, we had been waiting and,
01:03:54
Speaker
we both know We both knew Alvarez had this in him. What a time for him to get it, right? And I think like mentally is the thing about Alvarez is he is a heat check guy. He takes these shots all the time because he thinks he can score them. And sometimes it's really frustrating, but like sometimes you're really happy he had that confidence.
01:04:11
Speaker
And this was the moment where you needed it because things were just looking that labor. And I think the initial shot from Messi is important here because it just kind of starts this sequence that just gets Switzerland on their back foot a little bit, that just kind of manipulates the defense into scrambling a touch. And because they're chasing after the save and it's Gonzalez that comes up with it, it just feels like that Extra space maybe opens up that half space that we talk so much about on this podcast.
01:04:39
Speaker
I think that's what opens up here for Alvarez. And I think it all kind of starts with that initial play. And that's what what opens up this type of space. and And look, like you said, it's just... This is the moment when you needed this goal from this guy.
01:04:52
Speaker
he came up with it and and was able to bring it in for Argentina and they keep this run going. The stretch run here is super fascinating because Argentina have made all of their changes. And now you look at the team and it's like, oh yeah, we have three strikers and Messi and a bunch of non-leggy guys. And we're now going to try to see this out for like six minutes against this toothless Swiss attack. It's a very fascinating five minutes down the stretch of this game.
01:05:17
Speaker
Switzerland get like a few like odd numbers in the box, like some crosses. They were like maybe a ball away from a really dangerous header um stinks. They didn't have a ball, but that was part of it. So um it was a very, very silly game. Argentina's midfield just completely non-existent.
01:05:33
Speaker
But when you have all these attackers on, it's going to make you very lethal on the counter. And that's how they actually end up seeing this game off. And that's probably their best weapon to see this off. And it's Lautaro Martinez who scores in the 120 plus one. Argentina just break the other way. It's kind of a three on one situation. It almost looks like Tiago Armada is trying to get the ball to Messi here.
01:05:53
Speaker
Right. He's really trying to get it to Messi. But it ends up falling to Martinez and he puts it in the back of the night for 3-1. And this was probably their best defense down the stretch of this game was probably just go score another goal. Because they were doing things like Flacco Lopez was trying to track back on the right wing. and Like, that's just not going to be a very repeatable strategy.
01:06:11
Speaker
No, it wasn't. And... Argentina did it, right? They did the job. but Like, again, let's go back to the well. Like, what do you think of Scaloni in this game? Like, what do you think of his choices? What's up with Giuliano Simeone? Like, what's up with the wingers?
01:06:29
Speaker
What's up with his midfield attachment? Does he get this right? Or is he just bailed out by his other superstar player with a superpower? I think this is probably Argentina's worst performance of the tournament. Like, I think the Cape Verde game is explainable from the fact that, hey, like Cape Verde came out with two kind of goals out of nothing. It was hot. It was muggy. Your legs weren't all there. All right.
01:06:52
Speaker
I don't think Argentina were particularly poor in that game. I think it was just tough. Egypt, they probably got outplayed in the midfield, but I thought they adjusted. craed up They revved up and adjusted. Okay. And created chances on the stretch. I didn't think they were very good for 70 minutes of this game, but to their credit, they got a set piece goal that looked like it was a set piece design goal, right? It wasn't, they just fell into a set piece goal. I think they worked for that.
01:07:18
Speaker
But from that, like the first 70 minutes of this game, you are allowing a very limited Switzerland team, way too much time on the ball, and it ends up costing you, right? And that's how this game gets to 1-1, and then you are very fortuitously bailed out by a red card that changes the course of this game.
01:07:35
Speaker
i don't I don't understand why Argentina are playing all of these midfielders that are generally not effective. Like, if you're going to play all these midfielders, you have to have a midfield. And that doesn't feel like that's right. We got all these guys on and we still have it. So we're sacrificing wing play for a midfield, but we also don't have a midfield.
01:07:54
Speaker
And like, I didn't think Enzo Fernandez was good in this game. I think Rodrigo DePaul is right on the edge of it. McAllister deserves credit for for his aerial work, obviously on the goal, but he also wasn't contributing a ton of these four guys. I think Leandro Paredes is really the only one that's like making strong, positive contributions in this game.
01:08:11
Speaker
um And when you couple that with what you have in messy and who that Alvarez up top, it just makes for a weirdly unbalanced team, I think. And very unbalanced. And they're not able to control possession and they're not able to control the ball. And then again, this is coming against like Führer and Chaka. And so like, these are perfect. This is a perfectly fine international team. This is not a high level world cup contender of a team, right? Yeah.
01:08:39
Speaker
And so you watch this and you're like, June Bellingham's probably going to eat these guys for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day between now and Wednesday. And you kind of are going to need Argentina to adjust because if they don't, they're just going to try to go to this pixie dust. Well, again, and I don't know that that's going to work against Tommy Tuchel's England.
01:09:00
Speaker
I mean, there's your preview sneak peek, right? We could just bottle that up and run that back for our preview progress. And we will. um I mean, I'm glad you you know you express it so eloquently. It's so interesting for this team. It's so interesting how that how they respond. Because the truth of it is, they basically got to this game without having to beat anyone of substance, right?
01:09:21
Speaker
And think they did it the most difficult way possible. Yes, every day. yeah It was just really, really hard on themselves. So ah very, very fascinating, right? This game could have been Argentina-Portugal if Portugal win their group and get here, and then we really have known a lot more.
01:09:36
Speaker
I just don't know what that jump is, right? is like Are they ready? Is their quality of the ball ready? like Or are they just going to get outclassed? And I don't know. I don't think they're going to get run off the pitch, but it's going to be ah it's going to be a fascinating level so They keep doing it, though. keeps being entertaining. And the other thing we just haven't said is, you know, home field advantage, right? You say Pixie Dusk. You said Pixie Dusk. But clearly, of all the teams left, like we said this last time, it was a rockin' night in Arrowhead, their home base through the World Cup. And that magic definitely, like, I don't know if it boosted them, but it was part of the vibes for just... They felt like they were just, like...
01:10:17
Speaker
especially after the red car, like Switzerland, we're never really getting back into it. Like Julian Alvarez, not that he's egged on, but he's just, he's in his home. He's in his home flow. Yeah. I think that's a very interesting point. And I think that's going to be really interesting because I think the second best supported team left is obviously England. And so I think Atlanta in that semifinal is going to be ah a super fascinating atmosphere and it's going to really, really fun. And look, Argentina and England haven't played each other. They don't traditionally play each other outside of major tournaments, right? There's a lot of history between those two countries. This will be the first time that Lionel Messi has played England. So
Upcoming Matches and Podcast Preview
01:10:49
Speaker
like, yeah, there's going to plenty of storyline. There's going lot for you and I to, ah to break down to that preview podcast. Uh, I think we've earned a day off. Do you think we've earned a day off a bit?
01:10:59
Speaker
Yes. right We're taking a day off. So we're going to take Sunday off. We're going to get our thoughts together for the preview podcast. We'll have that preview podcast out for you on Monday ahead of Tuesday and Wednesday, 70 finals. Look, it's been a great run through the quarterfinals. We're down to four teams at the world cup. There will be plenty of preview.
01:11:17
Speaker
content here at the world cup after dark enjoy your sunday get ready for tuesday and as we said we'll have that preview podcast out for you on monday you can find us apple podcast spotify wherever you get your stuff and if you want to support us directly to make all these late nights worth it they're worth it anyway we're loving this guys don't get us wrong we love what we're doing here you can do so at patreon.com slash wc ad for three dollars a month Mitt and I will be back on Monday with our semifinal preview.
01:11:45
Speaker
Only three games that matter left at this world cup. There's actually four. If you consider the fourth third place game, a game we're through 100 games with four more to go, but what a four they will be. That's all from us. We will talk to you guys soon and see you then.