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WCAD 4-18: Return of the (a)Mit
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Amit makes his triumphant return to the show as the guys break down a thrilling day that was headlined by Cabo Verde's historic 0-0 draw with Spain. From there, it's a look at Egypt's impressive performance in a 1-1 draw with Belgium, an after Dark Special between Iran & New Zealand and an underwhelming performance from Uruguay against Saudi Arabia. Plus, Rudi Garcia's last-minute hat solution.
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Return
00:00:00
Speaker
I promise you that this is the only World Cup recap show that you are going to listen to today that is going to name drop one Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. But very Cornelius Fudge voice at the end of Order of the Phoenix.
00:00:15
Speaker
He's back. That's right, folks. The Mitt Malik on the other end of the line. How you doing, bud? Missed you. Missed you. Missed the podcast. the Big shout out to all the the guests who have come on and really elevated the podcast on a great job. Man, the World Cup is so fun. I mean, how could you not just be thrilled to be back? um What a delight. I'm a little frazzled. We're to start there. I mean, the first minute of the podcast, long, long trip back from Asia. But you know what? there's There's nothing I've been looking forward to most than just sitting on the couch, watching soccer all day, you know, trying to to to handle work and all that. And I'm very, very excited that even with four draws, like we are buzzing still.
00:00:57
Speaker
We are buzzing. What a great day of World Cup action for you to come back to. This is the World Cup After
World Cup Expansion Debate
00:01:02
Speaker
Dark podcast. He is Amit Malik. My name is Austin Miller. And as Amit said, a big, big thank you to all of our guest hosts who stepped in at the start of this tournament.
00:01:11
Speaker
Isaac Bushnell, John Arnold, Jack Collins, Parker Johnson. We greatly, greatly appreciate what you guys did for the show. But I got to say, I'm so happy to have you back a bit. And for you to come back with a day like this, like you said, this is the World Cup. And to just sit on your couch and watch spaining, watch three more draws that were all very intriguing in their own way. It's just the best tournament in the world.
00:01:36
Speaker
Yeah. And today this has been trickling in the, the debate's never going to end like 32 versus 48, you know, expansion, expansion, expansion, constant theme. We talked about that before, but today I think you really saw so many people going like, wow, this is really great for the Cape Verde's of the world. And It is. It is. That's the point. like That's why we're here. um And so I do think um overall, and this has again been talked about on the the four podcasts before this here in this space, is that the quality of soccer in all these matches have been good. Look, you spoon feed us more World Cup. We're going to lap it up.
00:02:11
Speaker
And it's interesting because, right, we're doing the whole discourse because we have UEFA president Alexander Seferin, who came out in an interview with the Slovenian newspaper saying, i don't know about this whole World Cup expansion, quote, a huge number of matches that are completely uninteresting. Alexander, my dude, you got turn on the TV and just watch the football. We've had a couple of blowouts, but...
00:02:31
Speaker
Today was great, and it featured Cape Verde and Iran and New Zealand and Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Like, this is what the World Cup is all about, and the soccer is just good. It just is. There's no way around it.
00:02:44
Speaker
The level has been really good. I think almost all of the underdogs, yeah, a few, um have have acquitted themselves really,
Adaptations in Team Play Styles
00:02:50
Speaker
really well. And the games are really entertaining. I think on the first day, and and I know, again, I'm late to the party here, so I'm spilling some thoughts, is that it was worried that was going to be too low of Enti and too much five guys versus five guys. And it has really, I think, opened up in that...
00:03:06
Speaker
Just the teams are really leaning into the styles they have to play. And because there's more teams, there are a lot of teams that can't defend, which has been really fun for the soccer. And I think another thing that that you see at the World Cup in particular is you get the best versions of these teams, right? all right. Taking aside what Tunisia did the other night, which cost their manager of their job. So maybe we'll see the best version of Tunisia later on in this tournament. Yeah. you see these teams kind of at their prime optimal peak, putting their go-to game plan and making it count as much as possible? It's it's it's just so good. do Do you have any other big picture takes that that you want to get out here before we dive into into what we saw in today's action?
00:03:45
Speaker
I think one that we're going to talk about today is that so far it's been a World Cup for player strikers. Like the teams that are getting contributions from real number nines doing real number nine things has been really helpful against the types of defenses we're seeing. Like a lot, like it's really hard to undo a low block with all these pretty passes. You have to be at a very, very high level. But...
00:04:08
Speaker
being Having a guy who can physically ask a defensive question, whether that's on a header or with movement in the box, has been the biggest jump ah biggest thing that jumps out between teams that have and teams that don't. that We're to talk about some teams today, I think, in the in some of the past matches. We can also highlight them when
Spain vs Cape Verde Analysis
00:04:26
Speaker
that happens. And then the other thing I think that has been touched on all the other podcasts is the hydration breaks. And not to overdo the point, it's been done everywhere. But from an X's and O's or even on the field standpoint, the managers are getting basically two free timeouts. Like that just doesn't happen in soccer. And my analogy for this is FIFA, right? When you play FIFA, you get 30 second pause breaks and you need them if you want to make like ah changes tactically in the second half or whatever. And in real life, like you think like, oh, a manager, how does a manager implement a tactical change in a 45 minute window without a break how does he do it he had you that's why you see the guy pointing his fingers at the players and he's like three three four four three three or he whispers one thing to one guy and he goes and runs and tell someone and play telephone yeah telephone it gets lost somewhere and so i think these very very distinct breaks are leading to much better in-game adjustments and much like it in also in the sense of the timeout in other sports that you can stop momentum or
00:05:29
Speaker
you know, try to yeah in good or bad. If you're the team that hasn't stopped, you're unhappy. If you're the team that's down, you can kind of reset a bit. And then of course the, the last downstream effect that, you know, i'm sure has been talked about is physically for the players, they can press longer. You resurge a bit more. And I do think you're seeing, uh, in those periods right before,
00:05:49
Speaker
the Things get a little ragged and teams push because they know a break's coming. And in the right minutes right after, you know, there's a little bit of renewed energy and focus. So it is very, very jarring. I think it's lifelong soccer fans like to to experience the game in this way. It is so, so different than anything I'm used to. It is making a big difference on the field.
00:06:09
Speaker
It's a fundamental change, right? it yeah absolutely is. that There's no way around it. it's It's extended time that we've simply never had in this sport that just makes things completely different. Before we we get into today's action, I do want to let the listeners know Amit did come into the show riding on a black horse. He's taking his dark horses all the way. It's a good start, my man. It's a good start.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah, that plus the Australia-Turkey result. I saw a tweet from a soccer analytics guy Michael Caley. I'm a big fan of his stuff. And he says, easiest pass to the quarterfinals in all the simulations right now belongs the United States. on That's also including the the Belgium result, which we're going to talk about. So um hope everyone likes those stocks that we had. lot of our takes have been good, right?
00:06:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a bit worried because we've kind of hit everything out of the park. I'm worried that we were too ready for the first round of matches. Five weeks, we might have used up all of our all of our quote unquote ball knowledge and we're going to get just downhill from here. We've been good though. We've been good. And I think it's a good segue into talking about today's action because the first game we're going to talk about is the first kickoff that we had a surprising nil mill draw between Spain and Cabo Verde. Our first chance to get a look at Spain, our first chance to get a look at one of the prime top contenders of this tournament. I think it's fair to say. And I think we come away fairly underwhelmed with what we saw. There's no way around it. Look, Cape Verde are a strong African team.
00:07:37
Speaker
but they have their limitations. I think we saw that on display in this game. Spain also, I mean, might have the limitations of the first nil nil draw of this tournament. But don't worry, we didn't come away unentertained from this game.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, nil-nil draw. Let's start with the expected goals in an in in a jumping-off point. 2.1 for Spain, 0.2 for Cape Verde. So, like, you could read this game the way you want to. You could say, oh Spain created a ton of chances. Ball didn't go goal. Like, it was an unlucky day. Like, they really... they it It happens. And, like, Cape Verde...
00:08:13
Speaker
offered nothing going forward right like they took a few pot shots they had a few counters in the last 10 minutes of the game but didn't get a lot out of it you could read it that way i don't blame you i think long term you remember some world cup winners lose their first game in a kind of weird fluky performance like argentina versus sada arabia so i do think you just have to caveat all of that with the underlying numbers are fine for spain and like weird first games happen and As we talk about Spain, they were missing two of their best players in the starting lineup. Lamine Jamal, Nico Williams, and it kind of changed the way they played. So like you cannot overread into one game. That being said, there's not that many games and all the concerns we had about Spain, which now we're going to get into, kind of showed their head one way or the other in this game.
00:09:00
Speaker
Everything that you had pointed out as a potential concern felt like it was on display in this game for Spain. They didn't really do anything in the first 35 minutes, right? lot of sideways passing, a lot of looking to be incisive, play the perfect pass. It was a very familiar Spain performance of trying to pass the ball into the back of the net.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, and this is โ I think a lot of it has to come to Luis de la Fuente, who, again, won the Euro with Spain. And what we said on him โ about him on the preview pod, I think is the the read on him, is he kind of trusts his guys. He doesn't give them a ton of instructions. He just rolls them out there and say says, figure it out. Listen, that works when Lamin-Yemal is one of the guys and it's all humming and the goals are flying.
00:09:46
Speaker
But today it felt a little stale and he was riding with some guys that I think could have been replaced with better players for the roles in the squad. Right. We're going to talk. going to talk about Mark Kukurea left back, who was basically the focal point of the offense. And what he does is he he gets super, super high up the field and receives the ball in dangerous spots and then just kind of cuts it back or passes sideways.
00:10:12
Speaker
But. He like was both good and both an indictment of that their most creative threat was Mark Cucurea, which is annoying. um And then I think the lack of a striker issue was somewhere between Ferran Torres and Mikel O'Urthabal, who didn't touch the ball in the first half. ah It all got a bit muddled, right? The balance felt off. It was, to your point, too passy.
00:10:39
Speaker
and And I think that the Oyo Throbos stat is fantastic here, right? For the first time since 1966, which is obviously the Opta era of data tracking in World Cups, no touches the first 30 minutes for Oyo Throbos. That is your nine. That is the guy you are trying to get the ball to to put it in the back of the net. Spain is playing offensively in this period. It's not like they were not on the ball. They were on the ball. They were trying to score and they could not get their nine a single touch.
00:11:07
Speaker
Yeah, and that's the thing with the false nine versus nine. Like, Oriar Thalbel is kind of a false nine, but he wasn't dropping in to combine. Like, it was Torres and Pedro on the right. And I think the balance was off here. They started Gavi on the left wing instead of, again, Nico Williams is out. And Nico Williams and Lamin-Yemal are direct players that try to face the goal and go out the goal and make something happen.
00:11:30
Speaker
Gavi is an off-ball winger, and Ferran Torres is a striker hybrid, but because he was off centrally, I thought he was really ineffective in this game. And what ends up happening is some of the best chances fall to him, and he just misses. That, to me, isn't a De La Fuente problem. That's a bad finishing problem.
00:11:48
Speaker
But I think a lot of people are very quick to jump and say, ha, ha, ha, that's Ferran Torres. That's what he does. And I like i think Ferran Torres is fine, but he doesn't quite have that belief that he's going to score the chances.
00:12:01
Speaker
And I think it was interesting here as well. It felt like Spain's best moments in this match came from what I think is maybe their strongest point outside of the uber talented Lemine Yvald, Nico Williams, perhaps combination. When they were able to counter press and that didn't happen often in this game, they were really effective. The very few times that Cabo Verde had the ball and was trying to do something with it, Spain counter pressed them and pretty much immediately forced a turnover, turned that into a chance and created opportunities that I think maybe gives you a bit of optimism looking forward because eventually Spain are going to play teams that are going to try to play. And if that counterpress is that effective, I'm feeling good about that.
00:12:42
Speaker
I agree. That is the biggest sense of optimism. It was very, very elite today. And I think there's, you have to give credit to De La Fuente in the same way you can criticize him. They got the ball back within like six seconds, like prime Guardiola. It was very, very sharp. What's funny is that I think if you play that kind of counter-pressing even against Cape Verde again, like you would get more than 2XG. You would get goals. like They didn't play well today and still put up 2XG, I think, on the strength of just like their box assault. um And that, to me, is credit on Rodri, who we haven't talked about yet, was, I think, overall fine. But everyone in front of him was really aggressive at getting the ball. And so I feel that will travel for Spain through the rest of the tournament.
00:13:28
Speaker
So this game is nil-nil deep into the second half. You mentioned it. Let me know all. nica Williams didn't start. And so De La Fuente kind of sensing that this is a moment where he needs something from his team. Look, it's something that you and I talked about in December. Finishing second is a dangerous spot in this group because it could be Argentina awaiting you in the round of 32. And so De La Fuente probably against what he wanted to do. He breaks the glass, right? It's an emergency. He brings on Lamine Yamal, who we were told might not play in the first two games of this World Cup. Instead, he's coming on in a substitute appearance here. He eventually also brings on Nico Williams.
00:14:02
Speaker
It changed things a bit. There were moments, I think, when Yamal showed. why he's so dangerous. He also looked kind of rusty and he is a very forward aggressive player. And it's interesting because them bringing Yamal in actually meant that more balls went to Kukurea because Cape Verde obviously really keyed in on Yamal and they were running guys at him. They had two guys trying to deny the pass even to him. And so what happened? The ball eventually just cycled over the left wing and oh look, it's Mark Kukurea on the ball again looking to do something.
00:14:34
Speaker
I thought Cape Verde were really, really organized in this game. I think they deserve a lot of credit for making it difficult for Spain. We'll touch on Bozenia, their 40-year-old goalkeeper in a minute. But it felt like De La Fuente broke the glass a minute. I don't know if it was a full-on five-alarm fire emergency. I don't know if he needed to do it, but i don't think he got what he wanted from doing that.
00:14:55
Speaker
That's kind of the best way to put it. I think he did it to see what the gear was like for Yamal and the team. The gear was better, right? It was it was better. But he wasn't, as you said, fully as sharp. And I think what was worrying was their ability to to play off of the gravity that he had because he immediately had two or three defenders on him. And so I think the rest of the team needs to kind of...
00:15:21
Speaker
figure that out I don't know how much, again, is on Kukurea. Some of the best passages were him getting behind the left side of Cape Verde's defender where there was space. like I don't think Kukurea is bad tactically. I think tactically, he's very intelligent. So that worked.
00:15:37
Speaker
But... they weren't kind of leveraging that half space off of him in the way they need to. And I thought the sub for Donnie Olmo was too late from De La Fuente. And I think they really could have used him earlier. Um, I think Fabian Ruiz was pretty ineffective in this game where you needed a more creative midfielder. Again, he was, he was fine and he counter pressed well. Um, uh,
00:15:58
Speaker
I actually think that the move was good for De La Fuente to do it, but I agree with you. He didn't really get what he wanted out of it. I don't know. Like, do you feel better that when Yamal and Williams are healthy, like they are going to,
00:16:13
Speaker
be at the level they need to be? Or was it too small a sample size? Like I'm still like feeling the jury's out. Yeah. And I think like, yes, if these guys are a hundred percent, I think Spain have another level they can get to, but look, man.
00:16:25
Speaker
Yeah. This tournament is five weeks long, but they're turning around and playing again in a couple of days. And I don't like what, how long is it going to take for those guys to be at the level that they need to be effective? And if this goes south or sideways and there's around a 32 matchup with Argentina waiting, you're going to need those guys maybe sooner than you think.
00:16:42
Speaker
Yeah, and again, I think a lot of this comes to where the chances fell to and what you make of the striker position. Ferran Torres had two or three like really, really good high XG chances. yeah Kind of bricked them. Yeah, you can make fun of him, as we said, but I think you'd take those chances again. I think actually think a good player. I think this team is at its best when Torres is central. I know Ouer Thawball got a lot of hype and it worked in the Euros. I think this team is more dynamic with Torres centrally, and then you can use Ouer Thawball as a 10 or as a super sub as to to mix for Torres. You need more dynamism on the wings, and you need more nine things from the nine. and then you go back to the one weakness, there's not really a great nine solution outside of those two players. Are you calling on a player like Borja Iglesias?
00:17:28
Speaker
I don't think that's the level. I don't think De La Foynta trusts a player like that. like He clearly doesn't, because this was the situation where you would call that in, right? like This was the game that asked for it. Yeah, and so then your next question is, what are the buttons you press otherwise and it's like well I think Mikel Marino is an interesting box crasher we've seen Mikel Arteta use that move we saw it work in the Euro 2024 final so he does have some things I think also Spain didn't quite like throw everything everything in the box I think even the last five minutes there was like what two or three like
00:18:03
Speaker
breakaways for Cape Verde that almost were really interesting. um But i I also thought, you know, Cape Verde didn't foul. Limited set pieces really, really well. i don't think Spain are an obvious set piece plus team. I thought today at the center back position, Kubarsi was was fine. um They didn't really...
00:18:25
Speaker
have a lot to do in terms of breaking the field. They didn't have a lot of pressure, but like they need even more offense from the back six guys. If the front six guys are going to like kind of be there, or I mean, be there. I mean, like just kind of stand there and do as much so they could use even more. And I think there are better players on the bench specifically at left fullback, like get Grimaldo in there, give him a chance, you know, also a great, you know, dead ball specialist. Like I just thought it was a bit stale.
00:18:52
Speaker
And I think some of that you have to give credit to Cape bird because they were very organized. They were very disciplined. It's what we've seen from them in cap qualifying. It's what got them to the world cup was playing this style with these sorts of players. But beast of the manager set this team up well and look until they were broken down, they weren't going to come out of their shape. And it turned out they were never broken down in this game.
00:19:11
Speaker
And look, i mean, what a story of Ozenia is, right? He's a 40 year old journeyman goalkeeper. He's been playing for Cape bird for forever. comes in on the biggest possible stage, a World Cup debut, and this team holds a tournament favorite to a nil-nil draw. like This is the stuff storybooks are made of. It's such a cool, cool result for them. One final thought for me on Spain. I will be worried if they do something similar against Saudi Arabia because I think that's a completely different challenge and there's not the organizational fortitude in Saudi Arabia that I think you'll see from Cape Verde. For Cape Verde, look, a massive point here. And now they are one win away from probably getting out of this group. And that was their goal coming into this tournament. We kind of picked them as maybe being a bit of a higher level than you would expect from pop four. And I think they put that on display here.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, I think we kind of staked a claim that they're better than Saudi Arabia. I think that is not necessarily clear from today, but they acquitted themselves very well, as you said. um As you said, too, like the solidity was really on display. They didn't really offer a ton going forward. I actually thought if they were 10% more incisive, they might have gotten a better chance somewhere this game. Sure, might have been left more open to Spain coming back the other way. I think you've got to give a ton of credit to Babista for just, you know, getting this team defensively organized and to kind of circle, this is what got them through qualifying, right? foil against a team like Cameroon, we saw in that game, Cape Verde Cameroon. It's not necessarily the personnel you would think play this style, but they do it really well. So um let's see what it looks like when they need to do something going forward. They had one mission today. And that was one sided. It worked. It was also lucky. But I think you also maybe are ah feeling a little unlucky that Saudi Arabia got a point, right? Imagine if Saudi Arabia lost. I think they would be feeling so, so happy. It does feel like even though they got this like momentum, historic landscape win.
00:21:07
Speaker
the board hasn't really changed. Yeah. It's an interesting point. I think it's interesting, but they probably got through their scariest game in air quotes, goal differential wise unscathed. I think that's a positive as well. And the stat that you mentioned there, I meant that I think you just have to, to, to highlight and bold and everything. They played a hundred plus minutes in this game and they committed one foul. In a game where you are playing defensively-minded, locked-down, organized football, to commit one foul in 100 minutes is absolutely ridiculous.
00:21:36
Speaker
Round of applause for Cape Verde in this performance. ah The second game of the day, Amit, was a 1-1 draw between Belgium and Egypt.
Belgium vs Egypt Match Overview
00:21:43
Speaker
Look, it wasn't a 4-1 opening night thumping, but a good start here for my dark horses. I'm pleased with what I saw from Egypt.
00:21:51
Speaker
They acquitted themselves very, very well. And kind of everything you had identified about them was that the All-Ali level was as good as it's been. the The key was the third player, Imam Ashur, who we have really enjoyed watching at AFCON in the friendlies lead up to this, really complimented Salah and Marmush.
00:22:12
Speaker
And the dynamism was there vertically to pick on a slow back line, which is what we saw from Belgium. I thought this game kind of went exactly as we thought it would. And perhaps Egypt might regret not being more clinical when they were up one zero for what, 30 to minutes of this game,
00:22:33
Speaker
Yeah. So let's get into this. We'll get to Belgium in a second, but I'm not sure. He's our guy, right? Belgium, I thought gave him way too much space in the first 20 minutes of this game. And eventually he finds a pocket right in front of the Belgian backline behind their midfield. And he fired past Courtois. It's a bit of a distant shot, but look, you just, the Belgian defenders have to be more aware of you have to close down that space.
00:22:56
Speaker
This was on Thomas Meunier, who was marking Ashur and was so far backed off of him because he's worried about the vertical threat. And that's way too much space, 20 yards from goal to turn and fire. You have to at least contest somewhere in there. But really, what was more concerning was the pass from Salah.
00:23:11
Speaker
It was a 30-yard box entry, basically, essentially on the ground. It cannot be that easy for Salah to find Ashur on the ground. And I think that was the Belgium midfield, specifically Jory Tielemann, specifically Kevin De Bruyne,
00:23:26
Speaker
doku involved in there somewhere onana involved in there somewhere being pretty disorganized like watch a ton of teams play today that pass is not open in that game any of the time well maybe some if we if we go as we go later in the night and we'll get more and more open but yes And I think you know the larger shape of this game was actually Egypt having the ball and Belgium like kind of sitting off and saying, OK, try to beat us with your verticality. And Egypt not really being able to find Salah in space where they wanted to because he was centrally. And Marmouche, you could tell they were trying to pick on the back line. But the more this went up and the more it opened with Belgium's attack and Doku doing their thing on the ball, the
00:24:10
Speaker
there was room for Egypt against like to, to just kind of stretch that Belgium back line. I think as we talk about Egypt and Belgium, the the biggest weakness on display here was the the pace of the Belgium defenders with Egypt eventually worked. And once this goal very well taken was scored, Egypt had the exact game state they were looking for. Belgium had to leave two on two, three on three. And it was very, very dangerous.
00:24:37
Speaker
And the response from Belgium wasn't that impressive, right? I think of the two European teams that played today, i am much more concerned. Look, I was more concerned about Belgium obviously coming into this tournament, much more concerned about Belgium going forward because they kind of just looked like a washed second tier European team particularly from the start here, right? So Rudy Garcia makes the decision to start Dick Hedalar up top.
00:24:59
Speaker
I don't think he really gives them anything. Kevin De Bruyne is not getting on the end of things. You mentioned Thomas Munier. He was a ghost. I mean that in a derogatory sense in this game. Doku was in Mohamed Hani's bag for most of this game on the wing. It just felt like the Belgium attack never really got going. And even on the few occasions they did, their decision-making in the box was horrendous.
00:25:23
Speaker
Yeah, there's a few parts here. and And what you said is the biggest one is that Belgium still created things against Egypt when they had time to work the ball. They got a lot of cutbacks towards the top of the box. It fell to De Bruyne a few times. It fell to Catullaria few times. They were poor quality.
00:25:40
Speaker
That's on the players. But I think Garcia got it a bit overthought and a bit wrong, right? We had kind of talked about Dick Catelare as a 10 super sub because you have to play De Bruyne, Trossard, and Doku like you did. And as a box crashing 10. As a striker, he was way out of his depth. I didn't think he made the runs. And then I think also Trossard, a bit slow. Like he's a good player. He's like the ball needs to get to him.
00:26:07
Speaker
Okay, De Bruyne, a bit slow. The ball needs to get to him. Tielemans, a bit slow. The ball needs to get to him. Three great players on the ball, but I think you needed one or two more players to do more dirty work, whether that was running or progressing. It was all on Doku. And then without an outlet, again, player your nines, everyone. like as And as we see in this game, player nines, like, De Ketelar wasn't an option. So it really like Doku tried to work with...
00:26:36
Speaker
nothing around him and he still like you know made chances De Bruyne still had his moments but I thought Rudy Garcia got this one a bit wrong now he he figures it out again by the end but like that was a bit alarming for Belgium to feel so out of ideas on the ball I thought it was interesting coming out of halftime. i think Egypt kind of went into the dressing room and said, hey, that back line is really slow. And I think they were more willing to counter in the second half because they realized that they didn't have to be so afraid of this Belgium attack as it was constructed to start this game. Look, they got a couple of second half chances, right? De Bruyne has a free kick that that hit the outside of the post. And then Belgium go and and they make their changes. But their first two changes, they bring on De Koeppe and Ruskin. They're not really changing anything. they're just putting other They're just changing the players who are playing certain roles because of yellow cards. And then finally, a bit we get to the moment where, look, we said it on the preview podcast. We made the point.
00:27:31
Speaker
It always circles back around the big Ron Lukaku for Belgium. He comes on replaces the kind LRA and we are saying to each other, all right, how many chances is he going to need before he scores to start the chance counter? Literally in the first 30 seconds, he makes an incisive nine run down the center of the pitch, draws two Egyptian defenders. A ball comes in.
00:27:53
Speaker
Lukaku doesn't even get a touch on it, but it's put into the back of the net by an Egyptian defender. Play your nines. It's so funny. He didn't even touch it without scoring, but it just shows you that it's the timing and the runs. Like, yes, if you're not a real striker, you can make the runs a real striker, but there's something kind of inherent about the sniffing of the goal that Lukaku did.
00:28:15
Speaker
and I know he doesn't touch it, but it that goal was all on his... presence in the box and having a target to cut back to thinking you could play it on the ground or over the top. And was, it was really nice. So, so funny that Belgium still need big ROM. He like and instant impact.
00:28:33
Speaker
Yeah, so it's Mohamed Hani who's the center back who's coming back here who ends up getting the touch on it. But you're exactly right. The two defenders are converging on Lukaku because they realize we have to deny this guy the ball. Like we can't give him the free run where he's getting on the end of this cross. Maybe he'll put it over the crossbar, you can't count that that's going to happen. And so they have to make a play on it and it ends up in the back of their net. And from there, then we kind of got the rest of the wrong Lukaku experience, right? Which he got into position a couple of times and couldn't put in the back of the net.
00:29:01
Speaker
Egypt had some chances to maybe win this game late. They couldn't put it in the back of the net. I feel like there's kind of some missed opportunities here for Egypt in this game. This could have been three points with a bit more of clinical finishing.
00:29:13
Speaker
Yeah, the subs came on. Mohamed Salah came off. um And that was interesting for for Egypt. I think they still had quality going forward, but they just a little bit sharp off the goal. um So I think they're going to regret that a little bit. I think also with Belgium, as we kind of round out, ah talk about this game generally, Zainabas was missing. And so the back line, right, was Brandon Mechelay, Nathan and Goy. And Goy only had four caps. Mekle is slow and Goy also was slow.
00:29:43
Speaker
um That was a big, big concern. And I think when Egypt got that kind of back line, they should have done more. And also, let's talk about Mohamed Salah. Like, I think Egypt, great proof of concept game, except he was a little bit invisible outside of the assist, right? It felt like if he was also sharper before he got subbed off, they might have had more, right?
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. But that being said, I think this is a good result for Egypt, right? Like you're taking a point against a big European team. I think that's good. It was also interesting because of like just kind of where De Bruyne and Doko were. They got pulled off for the last 10 minutes of this game. And so Belgium is attacking the end of this game with Hans Vakinen and Matthias Fernandes Pardo trying to find Romelu Lukaku. And it's like, feel like you should probably leave your guys in there to try and chase this and get a goal. Like winning this game would pretty would have been pretty big for them.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, that one was interesting. Again, Rudy Garcia, I think, trying to get different looks. I would have liked to have seen Dodi Ludabacchio. We didn't get him, and I think that Dainism would have been a big spark. um I think we also we didn't see Axel Witzel, which is probably fine. But then you kind of look at this bench, and outside of that, I mean, their their best super sub might be Matias Fernandez-Parto. Like...
00:30:57
Speaker
This team, I'm with you feeling a lot more questions. You mentioned Rudy Garcia and looks. So naturally, you know where I have to go next. What did you think of the generic Adidas ball cap? Our man was rocking today.
00:31:09
Speaker
It's just a comical look. He looked like a kid getting dressed for school. I saw that. He looked like he had put on his outfit. He was ready for the big day. And he was like, oh my gosh, it's really hot out here. I need a hat so i don't burn or get my head sweaty. And then the guy was like, you didn't tell me you needed a hat. Equipment guy was like that. This is all I have. It's like an unbranded Adidas like generic ball cap. He looked so childish. Yeah.
00:31:32
Speaker
That's good. That's what we love about the World Cup. What we also love about the World Cup, I mean, this podcast is called the World Cup After Dark.
Iran vs New Zealand Thrilling Draw
00:31:38
Speaker
So it's fitting that we go to the After Dark game, which was a 2-2 draw between Iran and New Zealand.
00:31:44
Speaker
Everything's swirling off the field with Iran. We've got a ceasefire. They're flying in from Mexico to play. They're only showing up a day before the game. It was really fun to put that all aside and just enjoy what they gave us in this game because what they gave us was...
00:32:01
Speaker
I don't really know how to describe it. It was just from start to finish a back and forth game where these two teams are just chucking punches at each other, feeling like they can find the back of the net. This was a really fun way to end this World Cup day.
00:32:16
Speaker
I think you nailed it in that these two teams realized that they didn't really have a way to choke the game off. They had to go score. And New Zealand, even though I think on talent overall is definitely worse than Iran, had a focal point, the best player on the field in their striker, Chris Wood. And we talked about it. And he, his gravity changed the entire game. And it was two teams using the gravity of their strikers, Iran on one side and Mehdi Taremi, really try to create things. It was back and forth. The midfields very quickly were non-existent.
00:32:52
Speaker
It was really, really fun. They just had to keep going at each other, going at each other. And adding to that was the context. I think Iran had...
00:33:03
Speaker
a lot of nerves and energy and, ah you know, tension. Sure. They also played loose. Like it was, it this game was just, you could feel that it existed in some sort of never before seen zone. Like New Zealand with a perfect foil for the Iran opener. Imagine if it was like Belgium, you know how that game looks. Imagine if it's Egypt, it's a little bit cagier, but Iran, New Zealand, it was like,
00:33:30
Speaker
Anyone, anyone, Eddie can do to something. Anything could happen. That made it super fun. And I think the context also of the two best teams, this group just played a one, one draw earlier, right? There's three points on the line here that if either of these teams had gotten those three points, you're sitting atop the group after the first match day and you're probably one point away from making the round of 32. So Iran started this game really well. I thought what they did in the first five to seven minutes was really good. And then New Zealand did their Chris Wood bit, right? Which they just knock it long to him. And he holds it up not once, but twice in the same play finds Elijah just finishes into the roof of the net.
00:34:04
Speaker
And then from there, it took seven minutes. like Like we see some games where eventually we get to this midfield list point, the tactics free zone, however you want to refer to it in the last kind of 10 or 15 minutes, New Zealand scoring the opener first in this game just kind of took us there directly. And we never really went back from it. And it was just delightful.
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah, New Zealand are kind of built with like six guys back, four guys forward. And Ron was like, cool, we'll do they'll do the same thing. i do think ah on the Chris Wood thing, like you can't really prepare for it unless you have a guy like Chris Wood in training. What are you doing? You're stacking two guys on top of each other and walking around there like chicken pie out there? Like, no.
00:34:46
Speaker
It took Iran a long time to figure out how to deal with him and also to the point that they used him twice in the same play. like New Zealand are like, we know he is our cheat code, spam, spam, spam. and Iran were like, this is how do we deal with this? The rest of New Zealand's guys aren't that good, but they know how to work off of him.
00:35:04
Speaker
It was super interesting with Wood too, because Iran approached it differently at different points of the Like at some point they've got three guys on him they're trying to deny him service. And at some point they're just completely backing off and they're trying to like get into not hold the play up, but like to hold the play up and possess it because they're like, we don't think you can actually do anything with your feet. And so it was really interesting that the multiple approaches that they took. So after Iran take the lead, Iran or after New Zealand take the lead, I should say, it felt like Iran's midfield defensive spacing was just off in this game. And that's something that we're not used to seeing from them because usually they're really well drilled in that part of the pitch and they deny space and everything. And as you said, New Zealand's midfield is is a concept. It's basically those are the guys that you kick the ball over to get it to Chris Wood, right? Like that's what they're trying to do in the midfield. um And then Iran score a classic goal of theirs in the in kind of the midpoint of this first half. They're just so good at at interplay in tight spaces. it is where they feast. It is what Mehdi Tarami is so good at. It's the partnership that he had with with Osmond for so long. Obviously, Osmond not here, but that's where this goal comes from. Right. So Robin Rezaeen, who I thought was probably Iran's best player on the day, starts the play and then he keeps running. It gets to Simon Godos, who is also really good. Godos pokes it in the box and it's Shahir Mogahanalu who holds it up and then he gets it off to Rezaeen, who's making a run, who angles it in. This is just a classic example of how Iran can function when there's not a lot of space in a game.
00:36:29
Speaker
Yeah, the little flick for Makanoglu was amazing here to unlock it. And their interate they're ah they're running off of each other. like It happened so fast. New Zealand are not a great defensive team, but they were just that you blinked and the ball was in the net. It was really, really nice.
00:36:43
Speaker
So, Amit, did you have ah between Spain and New Zealand that it would be New Zealand playing the better examples of Tiki Taka today? Because that's what happened again on the second goal. I mean, New Zealand were pretty silky. And ah one thing on them, like this is the same team that lost to Haiti. To your earlier point, you're getting the optimized version. Like when has New Zealand ever pulled this level of soccer off? Like truly, maybe they've seen it in training, right? But like the the the quality of the goals for what is New Zealand ranked? Like 68? Like in the Yeah, in the 80s to pull off against Iran, who I think admittedly are not as defensively as good as the 20th in the world. But a record of a defensive good team is mind boggling to me. This goal is so nice.
00:37:31
Speaker
It's Chris Wood and Elijah Justice, the same combination as the first goal. And they're not playing Tiki Taka. They're playing Tiki Haka. Oh, I like that one. So walk me through this goal. What did you see?
00:37:43
Speaker
Yeah, they just driving forward and Wood, he has the chest, the head, the way to knock it off. And Iran, you could see their left side of the defense had gotten lost somewhere. And that's where the runners for New Zealand disorganize you and just just has way too much space on the right to get off of Wood. And that's where like you could tell Iran was struggling with Wood all game. But what was worse is that when they collapsed,
00:38:11
Speaker
the the runners were free. And that was the story of all of it. And just that New Zealand knew the way the runner would collapse. It was really great work from Just. I thought he was obviously, you know, the two goals, their best player, but out of all the front players on New Zealand's line, like he knew he had like the, the synergy with wood more than anyone else. And it just felt like,
00:38:32
Speaker
New Zealand, to to my point of like, where had they seen this in training? New Zealand had done this pattern a million times and Iran had not seen this pattern. And so like just that processing speed, it's it's very hard to replicate how direct a guy like Wood can be. um And just, you know, great run. He's fast too. Like that that was part of it. Like he starts 20 yards behind the ball and then, you know, makes it all up. Good shot, good goal. Like really really impressive from New Zealand.
00:39:01
Speaker
It's such a unique way of playing too, because we've seen teams who they'll press this button if they're down chasing a goal in the last 10 or 15 minutes. There are not very many teams whose plan A in a game is the long knock holdup striker, right? It's just not something you really see in this day and age. And so it is a little weird to try and adjust to. And you're right. Elijah just was really good in this game and and he got it. He got it. He was worth it with with the two goals. The second goal for Iran though, also really, really good Right. So, so, so on Godos in the last thing that he does in this match, just paying this absolutely perfect cross field ball for as a, he had the goal earlier and now he gets an assist who then picks up that pinged ball and just whoops an absolutely perfect cross in for a heavy header in off the post. This was so good. This is exactly what I'm saying. When I said in the previous show, Iran can play, we've seen it in Asian qualifying. They have guys who can hit balls and it was right on display for this one.
00:39:56
Speaker
Two perfect, perfect passes. And credit to Godos, as you said, I think and and an amazing shift today. He you know came off and he was gassed, but left it all out there. And, Ron, we were asking, where's the quality when you take off Osmoun?
00:40:11
Speaker
Well, it's Godos, it's Rezaeen. Both goals, you see it both times. the The first ball is amazing, but the cross is... picture perfect from 35 yards out. Right. And to your point, when a team is backed off, you need to have delivery from what I call the secondary crossing zones, like 30, 45 yards out. And the reason why you can get those, because the T they can't close you down all the way out there. You you have that area for a reason.
00:40:36
Speaker
And it's just on a dime to the head of Moeby. I mean, what a, what a beautiful, beautiful ball. Final minutes of this game, both teams had a couple of chances. They kept going for it. I think they realized that the three points are important. Nobody found the back of the net. One other note for me here. I was very appreciative that New Zealand stopped to their oceanic roots and they had a couple of oceanic tribute plays in this game. So pretty saying I didn't think was very good in the midfield. He had a couple of very, very poorly hit balls.
00:41:01
Speaker
And Tim Payne also had right back at a couple of times where he like tried to play crosses. It was like, oh yeah, you've been watching the new Caledonia tape, my man. Yeah, New Zealand's players had very clear instructions to cross early and often, but some of them were really bad.
00:41:17
Speaker
So what's the overall takeaway makeup of this group now? We've got four teams on one point. Is it kind of all even? Is this a missed opportunity for Iran and New Zealand? The two best teams in this group draw the game amongst each other. Kind of feels like everybody has it in their bag to keep taking points off each other with maybe New Zealand still probably the worst place team of the four.
00:41:41
Speaker
I think so. I agree with that assessment. I think New Zealand probably regrets the result the most today. They had two leads that they let slip up against the team they were trying to beat.
00:41:54
Speaker
and don't think they can hold on to leads against anyone. So that that to me is a big regret. That being said, you know New Zealand can talk themselves into doing this game plan again against the two other teams in this group. So I think I'm kind of with you. Everyone feels fine. They're going to all back themselves to get points. This group is messy. It's really, really messy.
00:42:11
Speaker
Um, I think even though Iran came back twice, like this was not their, their best performance. I think they're going to need to their defensive level. If this is how you defend Chris Wood and company, very worried about Omar Marmouche, very worried about Jeremy Doku. Um, but, uh, Belgium's defense, I think was also a big question. So,
00:42:34
Speaker
I expect a lot more goals in this group. I expect a lot more fun. um There's pressure, I think, now on all these teams to find the new level. I think in this first day, yes, I think Egypt and New Zealand have regrets, but like they also got a result against a team better than them.
00:42:51
Speaker
Right. And it feels like everybody barring this group ending four four, four, four, which we can't completely discount. Everybody pockets a point and you say, all right, we have two games. If we win one of them, chances are we're going to be advancing in this group. This could be set up for a pretty wonky final day. And look, it's the overgroup of opportunity. We've talked about it from the start. The path for this group is wide, wide open. Who's going to be who's going to be the team to take advantage of it? Our fourth and final game to break down amit a 1-1 draw between Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Uruguay look like the end of a Marcelo Bielsa cycle team. They just do. It's just not quite working. The pieces aren't all there. The pieces that are there aren't optimally performing. There are pieces that aren't there that you think could play a role if they were there. ah Saudi Arabia, I didn't think were good in this game, but Giorgio's Donis has gotten them to play.
00:43:41
Speaker
There are moments of competency. They still just give the ball away at random times that are generally an opportune for what they're looking to do, but they had an opportunistic moment where they played really well for three minutes and turned it into a goal. And they got a great game for Muhammad Al-Aweiss in goal.
00:43:58
Speaker
And they've Take a point from this game. This is much more a missed opportunity for Uruguay than I think it is a big result for Saudi Arabia. Yeah, given the way this group is and given Spain dropped a point, Uruguay could be in the driver's seat to really change the whole complexion of the knockout stage. They still can, but they they now have to go through Spain, which they always had to do.
00:44:19
Speaker
um I think Saudi Arabia, I know they didn't play. I agree with you. and didn't play great in this game. they were the worst team. But i as you said, i think you have to give a lot of credit to Georgia Donas. They hadn't looked this good in a while. I think if you roll out Saudi Arabia at at any point in the last two years against Uruguay, it's going to be a lot worse than what it was today. They still, as you said, made lots of mistakes, but the solidity and organization and ideas of numbers forward, it was not just the one-man Aldousari show, was a lot better than I expected. They had to...
00:44:52
Speaker
I think they realize, don't us realize, like, we have to ask as many questions as we can of Uruguay. And that holding on is going to be very, very hard. And they perhaps escape by the skin of their teeth. they They've got to be happy with it. Yes, Bielsa's team kind of is exactly what we thought it would be.
00:45:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think so so. So the Saudi Arabia goal, it's really the first real opportunity of this game. It comes right around the 40 minute mark of the first half, right at the 37th minute. Al-Amri got a chance off a quarter. Muslera makes a big save. And that just kind of starts off really the only stretch of the game where Saudi are in the ascendancy and are dominant in possession.
00:45:29
Speaker
They get a couple more chances and eventually they get another set piece. It's a first header from Kano that's saved well by Muslera, but it's Al-Amri who's getting into a good position, pouts another rebound and scoring. Not a whole lot Muslera could have done on this. you just hate that the rebound goes right to the center back who's lurking right there to put it in the back of the net. This was Saudi Arabia being opportunistic in its attack.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's why you keep attacking on set pieces. I blame the Uruguay defenders for kind of sleeping on all Omri. Like you have to track in the box. This was a weird goalkeeping game. Like I do think Muslera is a little bit at fault, but it was so close range and so fast. Like, I don't i don't know. and It happens. um We did circle, though, like the Uruguay goalkeeping position being a bit weird.
00:46:11
Speaker
getting into this. And that kind of was borne out by the fact that Musler is the guy who's starting in this game. Speaking of goalkeepers, I talked about Muhammad Al-Wais for Saudi Arabia. He was great in this game. He made a ton of saves. He was really good. Uruguay came out of halftime and started to buzz a bit more, right? i think Federico Vinias started to to win some headers and do some things. Ugarte hit the post from distance at one point. And you can kind of see Saudi Arabia starting to just get in further and further back. The time-wasting machine starts to work. all all oh all Al Weiss, sorry, at like three different times hurt his groin calf area, just as like continually calling for treatment, trying to just put this off and delay it. And Uruguay Huff and Puff, that they bring on Kenobio for Darwin Nunez at halftime. That's interesting because it
00:46:57
Speaker
Feels like this is a game where Darwin Nunez would have been useful. Maybe there's something up there. If he's picked up a knock, that could be problematic for Uruguay. But they finally huff and puff and blow the house down. It's a header from Benias that goes right to Alweiss. He doesn't handle it well. It's the one play of the game that he didn't do well on. And he spills it right to Maxi Arrujo. And Arrujo is all out of position. And Arrujo finishes for the 1-1 goal.
00:47:19
Speaker
It's a big goal for Uruguay. I wasn't generally impressed by what they did in this game. But they were able to take advantage of opportunity and stay alive. Yeah, I think we had again circled Darwin Nunez is a big question mark for this team and a half of data so far. And the answer is kind of invisible. The midfielders were getting a lot of shots, but I mean, he's got cornrows, so he's not completely invisible. he yeah He's all right. very visible on the broadcast. And I think Canobio also didn't do much, but what he did was occupy the center backs a bit better. And Vinyas was able to crash. I mean, he was the nominal 10, but he was basically the second striker. And I thought physically he had a good day against the center backs and Nunez.
00:48:02
Speaker
even though he is fast, he's strong, he is tall, was just kind of lost. And Canobio is more of like a camp central and you can hit it to him. um i think the Uruguay midfielders liked that more in the second half when Sutter was really pinged, just like launch the in the box, launch the ball in the box, launch a ball in the box, take shots from distance.
00:48:23
Speaker
But the the work around the team, you know, from from the wingers was... So, so. And I think Valverde was okay at hitting shots, but everyone else was was kind of speculative. Yeah, I think Uruguay were very blunt in this game. They weren't particularly dynamic. And I think that's just kind of been the problem that Uruguay have had under Bielsen kind of as this cycle has worn down and kind of wound on.
00:48:46
Speaker
I think they just don't have enough to be dynamic in game. Look on another day, they come away with three points in this game, right? They had chances at the end. Uh, De La Cruz had a chance to, to win it as a safer always. Um, Valverde had a chance that all, all always saved. There's a day where they win this game, but they wouldn't have done it impressively. It was Ugarte who was dangerous a lot of the time crossing, but they could have been more. And then I think you weren't getting enough from Betancourt, who was just kind of there ah the whole time. And the the balance was was a bit weird in the midfield.
00:49:20
Speaker
so that leaves us in this group a minute with the exact same situation as the other group. Everybody's on one point. the The state of play hasn't really changed other than the fact that, okay, Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia now probably know that winning that last match will be enough. They've saved their goal differential from being terrible and would get to four points, obviously, by winning that game. And Spain-Uruguay is probably still a game to decide the group.
00:49:44
Speaker
But I think I saw enough from Cape Verde today to suggest that they could provide problems for Uruguay. i don't think I saw enough from Saudi Arabia to suggest that they could provide problems for Spain, but who knows? It just feels like Spain is due, right? Like you put up two XG, you don't get one Saudi Arabia. You're looking at them like, yeah, I'm not buying that. They're magically going to have another defensive miracle the same way Cape Verde did.
00:50:10
Speaker
I don't know Cape Verde or Guaya. I want to see it. I'm i'm with you. Like, I feel, like I feel somewhat belief. Um, they could, they really, really could get through. right. could, but I, we need to see something more in attack from them. And obviously this wasn't the game to do it. Like you said, like, again, they weren't going to change their approach until they had to, and they never had to. So this group is both of these groups are are really finely poised. I think it's go to be a super interesting match day too. a bit It's been so good to have you back. but Let's wrap this thing up. We've got four more games coming tomorrow.
00:50:41
Speaker
Kicks off with France, Senegal. We've got Iraq and Norway. And then the Argentina group kicks off with Argentina, Algeria. And then, oh boy, we're going real after dark. It's some energy drink soccer, Austria, Jordan to close out the day. What's one thing you're looking forward to in these games?
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's Senegal trying to muck up France and see where that's at. I think the European teams have generally been a bit slow and the African teams have been pretty tough. And Senegal have not impressed in friendlies, but we've said it's friendlies. It's hard to be a mucking team and get the gear up. Really, really excited to see. I think there could be some, let's check in on the Killian and bop a deal and see what that looks like that's you know box office but listen uh you know i got a little uh i can't quit algeria i'm really excited to see just you know what that looks like i think there'll be a lot of good silky ball playing on display in that game um i'm really excited for that one and it could have some really uh fun energy
00:51:37
Speaker
Yeah, and it's super interesting because South American teams have had a really poor start to this World Cup, right? Paraguay got blitzed. Ecuador lost. Uruguay drew disappointingly. Brazil drew disappointingly. I think Argentina's antennas have to be up because Algeria can play. And we know that. And we've seen African teams make, as you said, a pretty solid start to this World Cup.
00:51:55
Speaker
So let's see. Can Argentina hit that gear right from the start? Again, a gear that we haven't seen from them in a very long time because they haven't played anybody for a very long time. I think that's a religious game. and And yeah, like you said, look, France, Senegal.
00:52:07
Speaker
Oh, that's so good. and the the the concept The concept is there for Senegal, right? We just saw Ivory Coast do this to France in a friendly. It's right there, right in front of them. It's going to be really good.
00:52:17
Speaker
We also get early Holland at the World Cup against what could be a pretty weak Iraqi defense. We've only had two pullouts. That might make it three. And then, yeah, getting the energy during soccer in the late night. It's another great day of World Cup action. And Amit and I will be back to recap it when all is said and done.
00:52:34
Speaker
It's been great to have him at back World Cup After Dark, back and better than ever, as it should be. If you like what we do and want to support us, you can do so at patreon.com slash WCAD. Three bucks a month gets you subscriber only content. You can also subscribe to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all that you will find us at.
00:52:52
Speaker
All that's left for me to say is a big thank you to the listeners. And we will see you guys soon. Take care.