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WCAD 4-23: Eloy Room's Got a Trapdoor
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Austin & Amit recap a great Germany-Ivory Coast clash then a wild Curaçao-Ecuador draw that leaves the South American side in an uncomfortable spot. The show then closes with a look at a pair of big wins for Netherlands and Japan. Plus, Hervé Renard's white shirt is the highlight of Tunisia's World Cup.
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Transcript
Germany vs Ivory Coast: Game of the World Cup?
00:00:01
Speaker
A very common question about the World Cup is you get to various points and it's all right. What's been the best game of the World Cup so far? And you just kind of keep changing your answer, I feel like. But I think, Amit, what we saw yesterday between Germany and Ivory Coast might have been the best game of the World Cup so far. And it's going take some beating.
00:00:20
Speaker
I agree, Austin. It was very fun. Two teams we really like. They put on a great display. It was very high level. It felt to me like a round of 32, round of 16 level game. You know, there were tactical changes. There was a comeback. We've seen two comebacks to fully win, right?
00:00:38
Speaker
This game... um And the Korea game against Czechia at the start of the tournament. So, you know, when you could get that full comeback, it feels really memorable. And then I think just the the level on display, right?
Ivory Coast's Tactical Brilliance
00:00:49
Speaker
Like Ivory Coast have very much shown that they are um at the level of some of these big teams. This felt like two top, you know, 10 to 15 teams in the world, like going at it, throwing punches at each other. That was awesome.
00:01:03
Speaker
And I think it's it's interesting because the level that you mentioned was absolutely there with this game. And it felt like a knockout round game, but without the super duper tension, slow, low event football that sometimes a knockout round game can give you, which I think also made it that much more interesting.
00:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, the best part was that last kind of 10 minutes or so where both teams wanted to go get a winner. And sometimes in knockout games, you'll see that petering out towards extra time or one team is more incentivized to go towards penalty kicks.
00:01:35
Speaker
Not in this game. I think both teams wanted it and the subs were aggressive and both teams had chances in the last 10 minutes. I think that's also a hallmark of ah a really good game. World Cup After Dark podcast. I'm it Malik on the other end of the line. My name is Austin Miller. We will be breaking down Saturday's action on this good Sunday morning show. A very happy Father's Day tos all the fathers out there listening to the World Cup. I hope you enjoyed your Father's Day starting with Tunisia, Japan. Hopefully it'll get a little bit better as the day goes on and as you're looking towards it. But let's go into that Germany-Ivory Coast game. I think that's a good place to start. We kind of already did the intro to this game, if you will. But the big...
00:02:13
Speaker
Level takeaway for me here is Ivory Coast were up for it. Ivory Coast were as good as Germany were. This wasn't a survival job. I didn't feel like, but they didn't get it over the line and they might come to somewhat regret that. I don't know. I i come away from this game still feeling confident in Ivory Coast, but you have to also respect what Germany did in the second half.
00:02:35
Speaker
I agree. I think Ivory Coast, as we said, showed that they're very close to Germany on level, right? Like they match them player for player, a lot of spots on the field. I think Emerson Fie is a big, big story coming out of this game.
00:02:51
Speaker
Honestly, it shouldn't be coming out of this game. he had done well at Alcon. We've talked about Ivory Coast before. But here, I think you saw his chops against a high-level European team, against a manager like Julian Nagelsmann, you know, doing all of his bells and whistles and fancy, you know, formations that, hey, if you have a very drilled spine,
00:03:11
Speaker
and you can work transition with your midfielders and wingers in a very smart way, you could do damage against a team like that. like What's the antidote to you know really aggressive, pressing, fluid, technical players is be very direct and athletic on the counter, but know how to access it in the right ways. That's what I thought
Key Players and Tactical Adjustments
00:03:31
Speaker
Ivory Coast... ah did really well in this game. Obviously, I think the wingers are the stars. I think Jan Diamanda has already kind of, you know, grabbed the attention. But i think this game was such good proof of what he does well and how the team is built around his and that the front line skill set.
00:03:51
Speaker
And it was a perfect matchup for Jan Diomande, too, because on the other end, you have Joshua Kimmich playing right back for Germany. And for 90 minutes of this game, Joshua Kimmich was basically in hell.
00:04:02
Speaker
He was in trouble. And I think this is one thing we'd highlighted from Germany from the start, right? Great team. Towards the top of the world on talent. Missing fullbacks has a striker problem.
00:04:13
Speaker
um They answered the second one, as we're going to talk about, but... This is why Nagelsmann is playing this weird 3-4-3. He doesn't really have pure fullback. So Joshua Kimmich is converted from a center midfielder to a right back to now a right center back, which is, I think, passing and physically it's okay. But for pace, like, he's just not going to hold up against Diamande. And then also he's a guy that likes to get forward and kind of get into the midfield.
00:04:38
Speaker
very quickly realized he can't do that. He's got to stay back and try to, you know, protect the space. And even then, Diamande is so direct, just dribbling at him over and over again. i thought that was a big, big problem for Knucklesman to solve and in the first half of this game.
00:04:54
Speaker
And you mentioned the fullback issue. We maybe didn't get the answer, but the nine issue we did because Dennis Undav is the guy who's going to win this game for Germany. We'll get into how he did it in a minute. This feels like I don't want to say it's a turning point in Germany's World Cup campaign, but after what Undav has done in the first two games, after what he's shown in the friendlies, I think it's very hard for Nagelsmann to justify not having Undav on the pitch to start these games when these games matter.
00:05:18
Speaker
I agree. And look, the German system is meant to generate a ton of chances, high value chances. That's what they do best. And their weakness, I think, the two World Cups before this, when they get dumped out in the group stage, kind of when it's not quite firing like it is in the first, you know, 60 minutes of this game is, OK, we don't really have a pure striker that we'd like to play in the system, because I think Nagelsmann in his mind wants a more pressing athletic mobile striker.
00:05:48
Speaker
Someone that looks like Kai Havertz. Kai Havertz is very athletic, but he is not a pure striker. He's kind of that hybrid. Look at Dennis Undov. Guy does not look like a very athletic, mobile striker. he is a much more like throwback, back-to-goal.
00:06:04
Speaker
you know old school number nine ball to feet but I think on what you see with him is his intelligence in the box um his you know ability to just create space and get a shot off in a window without necessarily being super athletic but that is like the perfect jigsaw piece for the system and you know, what's the theme of this World Cup? We've been saying day after day on World Cup After Dark, play your real nines.
00:06:29
Speaker
Kai Havertz is a good player, but he's not a pure nine. And when you add a pure nine to the system, I mean, those 30 minutes Germany did were electric. It's as good as they've looked in this tournament and it got them the three points here. So so the Ivory Coast goal after these teams had gone back and forth to start this game, Germany had a goal wiped off after a foul on on the Ivory Coast keeper Fofana. If Diamande, who, as we said, had Joshua Kimmich in jail for most of this game, he didn't win every one-on-one battle with Joshua Kimmich, but he won enough of them to to make it very notable. He finds space down the wing, plays a low ball across. Manuel Neuer makes the initial save on Ahmad Diallo's chance, but it's Frank Cassier who does really, really well with the stab at the ball as it flashes in front of him, and he puts it in the back of the net. I think this finish from Cassier is fairly underrated because...
00:07:14
Speaker
So often you'll see these kind of bouncing ball plays in the box where a guy will stab at it and it's really hard to get right. And Kessie gets this perfectly right to put it in the back the net quick enough to take advantage of the opportunity that presents itself. I think this goal looks a lot easier than it actually is.
00:07:30
Speaker
And just ask Ahmad, who butff flubbed the finish a second before Kessier on how hard it is to score from six yards out when the ball is under your feet. So it was actually a very good stab. I mean, look, Kessier is also like a great, not story, like a great piece of this team. They're relying on him. He's box to box plus. He's defending in his own box, doing really good stuff. You know, he kind of makes a mistake on the the first Germany goal, but he's also getting into the other box and finishing plays.
00:07:59
Speaker
You know, I really thought and we talked about this at the AFCON in in January. I was like, I don't want to see a player like him go to Saudi Arabia and necessarily like lose his level. But turns out he is still elite and doing everything. This was a great goal. And I thought his driving with the ball and the entire midfield from Ivory Coast and their ability to handle the German press and play with physicality both was really impressive. Yeah. Christolai, another midfield player for Ivory Coast, who in this game was really good making those forward surging runs. And in the second half, Ivory Coast kind of dominate the first 10, 15 minutes of the second half. And they create some chances. And again, all right, we've already touched on play your nines. What's the second rule of this World Cup? of man, if you're one goal up, you better be two goals up. And it felt like Ivory Coast had some chances to do that here. I don't know that there was necessarily any one chance in particular that they'll regret. We'll get on to the chance that they will regret later on in this game when it's 1-1. But they had the initiative in the start of the second half before Nagelsmann had gotten to his big changes, right? He has to take off Schlatterbeck at halftime. That could be a big loss for Germany.
Germany's Comeback Strategy
00:09:05
Speaker
Brings on Rudiger. But this first 15 minutes was the opportunity where i think Ivory Coast needed to take advantage of it.
00:09:10
Speaker
Diamante's legs were still fresh enough to make these runs. You you had Bonnie, you had Diallo all on the pitch. Kessier and Oli are making these forward surging runs. They're winning these midfield battles, right? Where Germany are trying to press and put them in difficult situations. and they're just playing out of it, playing through it, playing out of it. And because of that, they're getting these opportunities forward.
00:09:30
Speaker
Don't find that second goal. It was almost surprising these 15 minutes. I think you were thinking Germany was going to come out of halftime a bit more renewed. And it was like, wait a second. We we are in the ascendancy. Yeah, they just needed to find a little bit more. And Diamande and Diallo were trying.
00:09:47
Speaker
it It was odd. I think the midfield battle here between Pavlovich and Emeka on one side and then, like you said, Christouahi Kassier was really good. It was back and forth at times. I thought both sides acquitted themselves well. I think for Germany,
00:10:03
Speaker
What hurt them in the first half in this game is yes, they had superiority. Yes. Musiala, Wurtz, Havertz all doing their things. Leroy Sané was just a little bit off the pace. I thought he was a really odd inclusion. He hasn't been good this year Galatasaray. He is slow. He is not a prime winger. And I You look at the rest of this Germany team, they're missing Serge Gnabry, right? Like they don't really have that elite winger. Sané was kind of the black hole in the lineup, like it would get to him and they were just kind of fizzling out.
00:10:32
Speaker
I thought Anton Brown on the left side was actually really good, but credit to Ivory Coast, yes, we give the midfielders credit, but I think both outside backs were part of the reason supporting Diallo and Diamande into the really this period of control and that forces Nagelsmann to make changes. Even at halftime, I thought Schlatterbeck was a bit slow to keep up with the Ivory Coast front line. So it was crazy to see Germany having to react to kind of getting punched in the face by Ivory Coast.
00:11:01
Speaker
And they did because Singo and Kahn on the two fullbacks also had a lot of joy in this game and And single was really, really great. He goes off injured at a point in the second half, which is going to be a big loss for every coast. If he can't come back and contribute, it looked fairly serious. It was a pretty tough play.
00:11:15
Speaker
It looked like he did a muscle in, but single was so, so good in this game and just the overlap that he can provide with the allo. And just again, another body that they can put forward and put you in trouble. So you mentioned it. Nagelsmann has to make the change. And he does on the hour mark. Sané, Musiala, and Pavlovik come out. Amiri, Lively, and Undov come in.
00:11:32
Speaker
All three of the subs are pretty good. But it's Denis Undov, who's obviously the headliner. And the first goal is just a great individual play from Undov. Right. So the ball comes in in the midfield. He holds it up, finds Amiri on the wing with a pass. And Amiri is bursting forward. And it's Undav who, after making the holdup play, just turns and makes a run. He makes a central nine run. This is like textbook number three thing that a number nine does in a game is make this run. He does it. Amiri plays the cross. Luke is on the end of it. It's Dennis Undav. This is why you play your nines.
00:12:03
Speaker
It was really smart. And one of the things about holding it up and then making the run is that you're the trailer and the defense has lost you. And this is on, you know, I said, Kessie was a bit at fault here. Like, and don't blame him. He has to make a 20-yard run back and he's been running back and forth all game. And Undov just has that burst to see...
00:12:22
Speaker
the space before it even happens. it's It's really smart. It's a really great goal. And yeah, Amiri was good here too. I think a one player that maybe I was sleeping on on the preview, I know our friend of the the show, Isaac Busnell, is like, this guy's been cooking at Mines this year in the Bundesliga. I mean, he was a smart attacker. He wasn't perfect in this game, but you could just see on these subs, like the chemistry with some of these guys, like...
00:12:45
Speaker
When you have a nine, you can be more direct and play this type of cross knowing that your guy's going to get onto it. I know Kai Havers is a good header, but like they weren't necessarily playing these direct balls in the first half. It was more like Wurtz is dribbling, Sané's dribbling. We're trying to get this perfect little sequence.
00:13:01
Speaker
Just put the ball in the box with the big guy. And it's huge. There's also a front post run, right? So there's a front post run and that kind of freezes the defense because you don't know exactly where this ball is going. And that allows Wundav to, as you said, make kind of the second trailing run and and find the space. and And again, it's a really good ball from Amiri. And it's 1-1 at this point.
00:13:22
Speaker
And then I think Ivory Coast start making their changes after the the second half drinks break. they They need to bring the legs on, right? You could see Diamande was slowly tiring. You could see Diallo was tiring. We mentioned the single injury. If he's out long term, that's a big blow. And then the chances for both sides still come when this game is 1-1. The soccer is really good.
00:13:41
Speaker
And Ivory Coast have a really, really good chance, right? It's the substitutes combining Nicola Pepe, who kind of continues on from where the other wingers were in this game. He was quick. He was direct. He's pacey.
00:13:52
Speaker
Gets into space on kind of a semi-counter situation. Plays a great ball across. as a first run that attracts the defense. And Simona Dinger is on the far post and I mean he needs to take this the first time, and he does not.
00:14:05
Speaker
This is like just the level of this game, right? Lots of good players getting good positions. Pepe was great. Adinger is a good player too, right? You expect a player of his caliber to be ready for this ball, right? He is unmarked on the left side. He's in the center of the box. This is perfectly worked.
00:14:24
Speaker
You don't have to shoot it first time, but if you're not going to shoot it first time, your first touch better be setting you up on whatever foot you want. And he just is like caught between shooting first time or the touch. He didn't make up his mind. And I like... ah Look, I'm sure he feels like... if you I'm sure he's worked on this a million times in training. It's just like a... It's a mental error. It's not even like technically a ding or is of this level, right? You just...
00:14:49
Speaker
You don't have to score, but you have to get a touch and have to get a good shot. You have to ask a question for Manny Neuer. And if you do those three things, you're probably going to score, right? And this is, you know, for the statistics nerds out here, this doesn't get on the XG because he doesn't even get a shot off. Come on. You make an Ivory Coast look worse.
00:15:06
Speaker
I mean... I was going to say – no, I'm going to say like Ivory Coast subs this is are of the level two, right? Yeah. They can bring – they have depth to player 14, player 15. I think some of these teams in this range, that's going to hurt them in the knockout rounds. I thought they – I wouldn't look into and be like, oh, the subs came on and Germany's depth was better. Like Ivory Coast's depth got them a chance to win the game. Now maybe you do say – Simon Odinger was the the one just off the pace, the most critical moment, and the Germany subs were much more ruthless in in the moments. That's a more fair reading. I mean, it's okay that it happened in game two, but like you can feel the regret on this play.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yeah, surely of it. It's a big European team on the other side. It's a 1-1 game. You have a chance to potentially win it. You don't regret those sort of things in the World Cup, right? But yes, actually, you do regret those things in the World Cup because it's 90 plus 4.
00:16:01
Speaker
Time is running out and it's Denis Undavu strikes again. Mecha, who is kind of in and out of this game at points, plays a really great through ball. undob has perfectly positioned himself in behind the defense and he lashes it in the corner and this is just another one of those plays in it where the through ball should be to an offside player right like undob shouldn't be able to be this far behind the center backs without being offside but he is onside because it's conan the left back who just doesn't step up and he's not occupying space he's not like tracking a runner he's just not stepping up in a situation when he should and that allows Undav to basically get a free half step or step behind the defense and look that's all the space that this guy's need because the ball comes right to him he turns he fires he scores ouch is I think my reaction here
00:16:51
Speaker
you You defended really well for, you know, 89, 90 minutes. Yes, you got beat on a quality header for and piece of play from Amir and Undov. This one is a mental error. And yet I think the center back is, it's a tough one, right? Because you don't want Undov to have the turn. But exactly as you described, right? He's leaving him off the back shoulder because he's like, that guy isn't,
00:17:14
Speaker
accessible when he's behind me because I'm on the line. And this is on Conan who had been great all game too. Like, look, this is the level against a ah good European team with smart players. Like if you play that ball. If, it if, because it if it is on sides, you get a good shot. And also I love the way you said it. Like Undov is so ruthless here.
00:17:35
Speaker
It's on his foot. and the the center back is half a yard off of him, that is too much for a player of his caliber. Like this is a pure number nines finish, one touch turn goal. And like how many strikers at this tournament are doing this kind of finish?
00:17:54
Speaker
Like it is an elite strikers finish. I like Harry Kane is like doing this. This is a very Bundesliga type finish. Undov is very, very good. He put up 17 goals in this season. he is a ruthless box striker.
00:18:09
Speaker
i mean, in a sense, this was very much like hearkening to the Germans, like 90 minutes of
Reflections and Group Implications
00:18:15
Speaker
soccer. Everyone runs around and the Germans win, right? Like they just kind of got away with it and they were just ruthless and evil in those big moments.
00:18:23
Speaker
um Like what a bummer for Ivory Coast. What a bummer for Ivy Coast, but I think the overall takeaway is still positivity. Like, I think they proved that they can play at this level. And I think this also kind of gives them, all right, what's the extra 5% that we need to actually go on and win these games when it happens in a knockout round? Had Ivory Coast won this game, they would have won the group. That is not the case. and Instead, it's Germany who wins the group having won this game with the game to spare. Ivory Coast would have been through, assuredly, with a point. Instead, they now have to go play Curacao in the LA room, who we'll get to in a second, needing a result. They should be fine. I think they looked really good against a legit team. the The single injury is a blow. The attackers are still really nice. They just need that extra 5% of ruthlessness. For Germany i admit...
00:19:07
Speaker
They maybe weren't convincing to start this game, but I think they found their best lineup, or at least I think they found their key attacking player to kind of sew all of this together. Undov, as we said earlier, he's got to start in any big game. Nagelsmann surely can't be that committed to his tactical style to leave off, who is very clearly his best finisher.
00:19:27
Speaker
He has to, right? I'm with you 100%. And I think also, like let's see some minutes with Undov playing with Musiala and Wurz, right? Those two guys are so creative and good. What if they have a finisher with them? You could still find a way to use Kai Havertz when you want to, but like let's get Leroy Sanay off the field. I think that is is very clear. um Look, I think Germany's...
00:19:49
Speaker
system set up with three slow center backs is going to be a problem. But at the highest level, if you could score two, three goals with all these attackers on the field, you're going to have a chance. Germany's going to be a fun team in the knockouts if Undov is up top and all these guys behind him are creating a bunch of chances. Like,
00:20:08
Speaker
This game was so good for both of these teams to play it at this point and understand. yeah I'm with you. What's the 5% for Ivory Coast, but also for Germany to go? We can't get away with playing an unbalanced lineup and then being bad at the balance. If you're going to be an attacking team, get a guy who's going to score all the chances you create. I mean, it it seems easy in hindsight, but like I feel like Nagelsmann's been handed like a very clear answer to the test.
00:20:35
Speaker
And it's super interesting because this is probably clashing a Germany-France round of 16 match. Like that's all signs are pointing to that. There's this big yellow line that's just driving everything towards that.
00:20:49
Speaker
And look, France have the type of attacking wingers, obviously, that Ivory Coast have that can put that Germany back line in trouble. And so it's going to be paramount that Germany score. They're not going to win that game, keeping a clean sheet you would expect. Right. And so those are the types of situations going to have to handle. This was just a really good high level of game. it was an enjoyable 90 minute watch. at ah Yeah.
00:21:10
Speaker
Two thumbs up for me. I would 10 out of 10 would watch again. The other game in this group, go ahead a bit to just to close it off. No, the only thing is that, you know, Ivory Coast, yes, it's a bummer not to be first. But as you said, Germany, France looms. Ivory Coast's path isn't horrible. They're going to have two games. i Well, one at a time. They're going to have games I think they can handle in the knockout rounds, provided they take care of Curacao.
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah, so if Ivory Coast do take care of Curacao and finish runner-up, they'll get a runner-up, which is going to be a high-level game because it's the runner-up from the France group, which means it's probably Norway or Senegal. So look, that's a difficult game. That's harder than the round of 32 game would have been had they won the group.
00:21:46
Speaker
But France are shipped on the other side of the brackets. They don't have to worry about them. And then they're looking at like the winner of the Brazil group and the runner-up of the Japan group. That quadrant is going to be death. Like you just look that's where that four quadrant is going. And you're looking at a quadrant that's like US Bosnia. Like it's like, OK, yeah, there's some there's some unfairness in how this draw played out. That quadrant is going to be fascinating. But yes, to get away from France is probably the best that could have happened for every coast. I think they're going to be in any game that they play. And and that's that's really interesting.
Curacao's Historic Achievement
00:22:18
Speaker
As I was saying, the other game in this group of it was also very entertaining.
00:22:21
Speaker
Maybe not 10 out of 10 would watch again, but like a very good 8 out of 10 enjoyed that. A nil-nil draw between Ecuador and Curacao. It was the Italy Room Show, a World Cup record tying 15 saves. Some of them obviously more difficult than others.
00:22:38
Speaker
It's a historic point for Curacao. They celebrated it as they should. Ecuador emit coming into this tournament. We liked the defensive solidity. We questioned whether they could get the goals through two games, zero goals scored. And this was just all of those difficulties on display.
00:22:57
Speaker
I agree. It's frustrating, right? You look at this game, they create over two XG. And again, it's I want to start there because they were unlucky, right? you You say you take the chances you got, you should have scored.
00:23:10
Speaker
But also in a one game thing, you you go and look at these saves that LA Room makes. You look at the shots Ecuador takes. The very first one from Anor Valencia is the best one. And from there, it's just kind of an array of...
00:23:25
Speaker
slightly offbeat headers, shots from the edge of the box, you know, not really any quality shots. Yes, they get there, but... Ecuador don't like being in charge of a game. They just don't. And that's a great thing to do when you're in a knockout against a team better than you. But they're in trouble right now because of this game of not getting there. And I think, you know, there's ah there's a lot of places to go. But I think first place to start is enter Valencia. Well, if you listen to our preview broadcast, we go... yeah you know, he's not quite the big name pedigree anymore. He's kind of fallen off, but he has, I think I said, he's got that ruthless air about him. He's got that big game player.
00:24:06
Speaker
And that was a charitable reading of, he's not an elite striker anymore. And this was, I think his faults like laid bare ah in a big moment. Like it's, it's not just the finishing, right? The finishing is what shows up, but so much more is the body positioning before the ability to get the good shot off to get it where you want because i think you look at these shots they're not good shots you and i were saying i would just shoot it away from the goalkeeper yeah like i would do that to to you know make eli room look worse but there's something to enter valencia just lacking that burst of openness to make the finishes easier outside of the first one i think Yeah, so I think it's interesting. In the first hour, I think the first valenia chance Valencia chance, which I want to talk about in a second, was really the best chance. And I didn't think Ily Ruhm did a ton. in the like He made a bunch of saves, but they were shots that Ecuador were poor on, and they just kicked it right at him, right? I think in the second...
00:25:04
Speaker
in the In the final kind of half hour of this game, yes, there are some really good saves from Eli Rue and there are some how did that not go in questions from Ecuador where I don't think they did anything that wrong. But yes, in the first hour that Ruthless wasn't there and it starts literally i in the first 90 seconds of this game. Ener Valencia gets in behind. He's one on one and he misses and it's saved by Rue and you're like, ah, Man, well, that's quite a start. They're going to keep getting those chances. Surely that's going to I literally wrote it down in my notes. was like, this will be fun to look back on. What is Ecuador 4-0? I'll be like, oh, it could have been even worse.
00:25:35
Speaker
No, this was actually probably one of their top three chances. The entire game happens in the first 90 seconds. You are the ruthless striker veteran. Just got to put it in the back of the net.
00:25:47
Speaker
You have to, and this is on his right foot. He's going for the curl. like It's just a bit not a bad. it's a It's a slightly not good enough finish. yeah So from there, Ecuador didn't give up two breakaways the first eight minutes to Curacao, right? And it just speaks to they were uncomfortable in this game. They did not like this game. They just did not feel like this was the game that they wanted to be playing because they didn't. This isn't their style. This isn't what makes them successful.
00:26:14
Speaker
And I think you saw that, right? As we said, the first half looks for Ecuador, every single one of them was hit right at room. I didn't think any of the saves were super high quality. But as this game goes on, they start just getting closer and closer in Right. so they make a halftime switch. They bring on Kevin Rodriguez for Jordi Alcibar. Jordi Alcibar was fine, but frankly, he was not necessary. They didn't need a midfield. They didn't need another midfield player in this game. They needed another attacking forward player. That's why they bring on Rodriguez, put some verticality, gives him another body and attack. And at the hour mark, I think, is the sequence of the game, right? So Ili Ruhm makes his best save of the night so far. It's a header from Gonzalo Plata. It's a great save. And that then transitions directly into this incredible individual player from Jardino Bakuna, who was great. The starting attackers for Curacao in this game, Bakuna, Jurgen Locadia, the other Bakuna, Comanencia, they gave them something going forward. No, they weren't super... ruthless no it wasn't like they were taking advantage of every counter-attack but they occupied space and they asked questions of ecuador and on this sequence they get two legitimate looks one from bakuna one from comencia and there's big saves from hernan galindez here for ecuador this could have been even worse for ecuador
00:27:25
Speaker
This was like a fever dream, like you were saying, to save some room. And the Bakunia, if you haven't seen it, the cook on the baseline to to free this shot up is is filthy. I'm with you. I mean, they did enough here. Like, enough is the is is a silly way to put it. But like...
00:27:40
Speaker
you could so They should have scored in the sequence, right? It's almost like you could have been one to oh up. And like you said, Ecuador could have been in real trouble. I mean, this was like the the purest, I think, moment of chaos so far. Cape Verde didn't have anything like this against Spain. like This was real, real danger.
00:27:56
Speaker
And then we come out of the second half hydration break and it just kind of turns into the Eli Room show where Ecuador adjust peppering chances from all over the place. There's a bunch of them, right? So there's an Ener Valencia header. Kevin Rodriguez gets one. William Pacho gets one. Pedro Encapié has a really good set piece look like. Dude, you're the Arsenal set piece guy. Put it on target that he puts over the crossbar. There's a couple of other saves into this. As I said, a World Cup record tying 15 saves. Shout out to the U.S.'s Tim Howard, who has that record alongside room. And you just see it a bit. Curacao get pinned further and further back in this game.
00:28:30
Speaker
Bakuna, Locadia, Bakuna again with the other one, right? Like the legs just aren't there to be dangerous on the counter. And so eventually Dick Advocat, like he very clearly doesn't want to sub anybody off because his 11 best players are on the pitch in this game.
00:28:44
Speaker
And you look at the bench and it's like, ah, yeah, it's not this finished this game with an attack of gerald margarita gervain costanier who's playing in malaysia and kenji gore and it was funny you think to yourself you're like ah man you're gonna look khania's as good as it is for curacao and then costanier comes in you're like yeah you're gonna look khania's as good as it is what a 10-minute cameo from costanier to see this game out Just like not running around, but for like the three times what he is, and he's just barreling into challenges. They lost all attacking threat towards sort towards the end of this game. Not much is for sure.
00:29:20
Speaker
Yeah, and I don't blame Dick Advocat for doing this. Like, let's protect the lead historic result. Like, let's just try to to hang on, hang on for dear life. And yes, we had said Ecuador maybe wasn't creating chances as much as you'd like for a team in control of the game. But after, you know, 50, 60 minutes, it just turns into, you know, assault the box, get it in there, get a bunch of guys up. Like you said, I think there were some great headers just missed.
00:29:46
Speaker
look, Curacao put as much traffic into the box as they could to make it hard. The ball still at Ecuador's feet for a handful of half chances. And this is where you get a little lucky and you, you tip your hat to Eloy room who at a certain point, we've seen this in big games before. It's the psychological factor of your first 10, 15 shots. Don't go in. and You start pressing a little bit. It's both bad luck and bad vibes. And,
00:30:14
Speaker
To me, I think even though they're completely different teams, right? Ecuador and Turkey have kind of fallen into this like spot of, yeah, we put up all the XG, but we didn't score. like Is that just a one-off bad thing or are there flaws in our attack and structure? And I think Ecuador... like I thought Plata was fine. He he has a chance to in this game. But you look at this front three of Plata and and and you know Valencia and you had some some stuff from Angulo. You get a stupid yarn on like the quality wasn't there for creation. It was kind of just a bunch of big bodies in the box to play pinball with.
00:30:54
Speaker
And that's what Ecuador does so well when they aren't being asked to dictate a game. And I just keep coming back to the point that they did not enjoy this. And that like is just, this is the game state that has always made them uncomfortable and the attacking problems. Look, that's what we saw towards the end of carnival qualifying as well. They limped over the line with a bunch of nil-nil results because they were solid defensively. And because they were playing high level teams that you're able to look it off and say, all right, nil-nil isn't a bad result here.
00:31:22
Speaker
Nil-nil is a bad result here. Objectively bad. This is a Curacao team that shipped seven to Germany the other day, right? Like this is just objectively a bad result. And it puts Ecuador in it in a really difficult spot because they're sitting on one point. Their only hope of getting out of this group is to go and beat Germany on the last day. Okay, it's going to be a rotated Germany. You would expect they're already through.
00:31:42
Speaker
And you almost think that that game maybe like it doesn't favor Ecuador more than a game against Curacao because Curacao aren't that bad in Germany or that good, but they'll get to play a game that is much more familiar and much more comfortable. I'm not writing them off a hundred percent yet, but they have chosen the very, very hard bet.
00:32:01
Speaker
I'm intrigued to see what the odds say. I'm sure we could look it up, but how do you, what is that game? Cause like Nagelsmann, i I know he doesn't care about the result, but like he doesn't, he's not going to put out a team that's just going to fold over. Like, I don't think Germany have that in them, even if it's a fully 100% rotate. I don't think it'd be 100% rotated, but if it's an 80% rotated team, like they're going to come ask questions of Ecuador. Is that,
00:32:26
Speaker
actually helping ecuador like because then they can go counter when if germany plays a three four three that's super attacking or would it actually be even worse if you know nagel's been puts out like a bunch of guys that are just there to to play out the motions and then ecuador have to do something against that and then we see more of this look i think generally you'd back ecuador to to do it because of they're actually playing for something and Germany isn't. um But these games are weird, right? Sometimes the team with nothing to play for skunk someone out of the World Cup. You think of Korea, right? Like doing that the last time. So listen, I also think Germany exactly the type of team that might just relish doing it because they can. like These are professionals. So...
00:33:14
Speaker
It's the hard way. I think that's the best way to put it. Like, i don't feel good about Ecuador. They've really put themselves in a bind. And this was just the opportunity that you have to take advantage of, right? like This is one of the weakest teams in the World Cup. And I thought Curacao were great. They were great value in this game. I thought they did just enough going back the other way to limit some of the pressure. Either your room was obviously incredible. This is a historic result for Curacao.
00:33:37
Speaker
I think there's a game theory case to be made that they should have been trying to go do a bit more in this game. If you're thinking about like the pie in the sky objective of getting out of this group. But look, it's a point at the World Cup at your first World Cup. You are the smallest nation to have ever made the World Cup. It is completely defensible to simply play for that point. And if that's the only thing you take from this World Cup, that's a pretty good thing to take.
00:33:59
Speaker
I agree completely. it's It's a big one for the players. And look, if you're Dick Advocat, you understand why you did it. He gets that now on his you know resume for the rest of his life. Like, got to feel good. Yeah.
00:34:11
Speaker
So the situation of this group, as we said, Germany have won the group. They'll play a third place team the round of 32. It's looking like that's either going to come from Group C or D. So Scotland, Paraguay, Australia, all kind of in that mix.
00:34:22
Speaker
Ivory Coast need just a point against Curacao to secure second. Curacao and Ecuador both go into their final games needing to win or they're out. And if that doesn't happen, right, if neither of those teams win, this is probably a group where the third place team isn't going through, barring something really stupid happening elsewhere and somebody getting out with two points. So there's a lot of pressure on those sides. Can Curacao give a game to Ivory Coast?
00:34:45
Speaker
100% they can give a game to Ivory Coast. They just gave a game to Ecuador. Like, yeah, I think Ivory Coast have more attackers, but like, let's see. And at this point, I just have to remember what John Arnold said when we talked about this group being three good teams and one bad team you expect all to get through. But maybe the doormat is a trap door. And that's what we finally saw from Curacao. So like, that's why sometimes even the way this group works turns out to be the one that's most likely for a big team to miss. Like,
00:35:14
Speaker
Let's see if Ecuador could do, but like this would be a big, big, big surprise. Is there Eloy room trapdoor pun comparison somewhere? If we found it, it'll be in the title of this podcast. So just simply look there.
Netherlands' Dominant Victory
00:35:26
Speaker
All right. The other group that we saw here, Amit, was Netherlands, a 5-1 win over Sweden. Japan, a 4-0 win over Tunisia.
00:35:35
Speaker
ah Let's start with the five one win for the Netherlands over Sweden. The Swedish defense lasted five minutes. And yeah, this is kind of how this game went. Yeah, I mean, the personnel is tough. Graham Potter's trying his best. But like Lindelof, Lagerbelke, Hien, Goodmanson has to come on too, like, or comes off. Like, it's just another level. And the midfield is also a little bit weak, right? Like, and when you can't stop the Netherlands from running at you in transition, you're in trouble.
00:36:06
Speaker
the the The theory was they can do enough the other way, right? If their attackers put the Netherlands defenders under the pressure, we see it on the goal. The issue is you need the ball to do that enough.
00:36:18
Speaker
And i thought it was really, really like... best case scenario for the way Ronald Koeman's team wants to look. They were fluid and they get like eight guys in the box and it's tough to defend. And then you like play these balls across the back line, you transition and Cody Gakbo looked like a world beater again. That is speaking to the Netherlands system and also speaking to how bad Sweden's defense was.
00:36:45
Speaker
Yeah, you want to talk about the first three goals of this game? i mean We can literally make the exact same point for all three goals because they are basically the same thing. We're just flipping sides, right? It is a nine attacking player making a run. Nobody stops him. Low ball across finish. Brian Roby for the first two. Sweden come back and find something in the second in the second half of the first half, right? The second quarter of this game.
00:37:07
Speaker
Couldn't find a goal. They go into halftime down two. And within the first 90 seconds of the second half, they're down three. It's Samerville, who's the halftime sub. He sets up the side and it's Mullen who makes the play to allow Gakpo to make the unpost far post the unmarked far post run in the first two minutes. These three goals are exactly the same.
00:37:25
Speaker
And like, yeah, if that's all you know about Sweden, that's all you know about Sweden. Pretty much. And again, I think the Netherlands attack is built well to to overload. This a big game for Denzel Dufres. This is a big game for Brian Broby, who I think has to start. I don't know if Memphis was even in the discussion long term, but like play a real number nines. I know Memphis is a nine, but like Broby was really good here. And it's very old fashioned. Just like get your nine, get your off ball wingers at the back post and hit it across. But like
00:37:56
Speaker
How come other teams don't get this pattern as much as the Netherlands do? You have to be willing to overload the box with runners and then they defend with less. But it worked, right? Sweden was just kind of like chasing shadows in the box. Really, really good game from an attacking patterns perspective. Like these types of goals, I'm going to say it again, like they look like training ground types of goals the way you draw them up.
00:38:18
Speaker
And I think Somerville, who was maybe Netherlands best attacking player in the first game against Japan, starts this game on the bench, which I think was fairly surprising. I don't think that's what we expected from Kuma. Comes out at halftime and just fits seamlessly. And the attacking movement, the attacking threat to the Netherlands has them looking very, very dangerous. The fourth goal here was actually a bit different than the first three. It's a giveaway from Isak in the Swedish midfield.
00:38:41
Speaker
the The Dutch are able to counter and it's coti Cody Gakpo on the left side. Ping, boom, boom, four nil. Gakpo, really good in this game. You mentioned Broby, really good in this game. Somerville, really good. Mollen, really good. Those attacking players playing like this.
00:38:56
Speaker
I don't know that there's many other questions that the Netherlands needs to answer other than the defense, which we'll get to in a second. Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, six, seven quality guys like this will work against a good team. The real the real thing for Netherlands is if they're not up by two, like just playing this way, expose them to going down by one or two. If you know a team like Sweden who had chances, I thought, you know, in the first half to get this to two one right before halftime, like can you get them into a high variance game where they're just on the wrong side of it?
00:39:28
Speaker
Well, we saw it them playing with a lead. They haven't been super great. Do it like they gave up a lead twice to Japan. They gave Sweden chances, but the Swedish defense was simply so bad that the Netherlands were just able to keep scoring. Sweden's goal differential is is starting to look kind of ugly. And so they do decide that they they get one back.
00:39:45
Speaker
eyes This is how good this Swedish attack can be when they try. It's a brilliant through ball from Alexander Isak, a great finish from Ilanga. ah Virgil van Dijk, where your legs at, buddy? Yeah, this is the one issue with Van Dijk and Van Hecke in playing such a high line. Alanga destroys them for pace 40 yards from goal, and it looks like you probably shouldn't be that way. But I think Koeman is probably just like, look, that happened once.
00:40:08
Speaker
If a team can do that to me three times, then I'll back off. You almost pencil that in, right? I mean, it it's not a good thing. like I don't think you should just accept that Virgil van Dijk can get beaten that easily. He's supposed to be great defender, but I don't think Koeman particularly cares. That's maybe the one concern I see.
00:40:23
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, he just points to the fact that we scored five, they scored one. Like, that works for us. The most circuitous path possible to three points and a zero goal differential for Sweden amid a pair of 5-1 results. Did you have that on your bingo card?
00:40:37
Speaker
Not for Graham Potter, right? I had Graham Potter finishing at zero goal difference through two games, but not like this. Everything we thought we knew about the Swedish defense is true. It's just a train wreck. It's just difficult. I don't envision it getting much better against Japan, but maybe their attack can have a bit more joy. And for the Netherlands, like...
00:40:55
Speaker
I think the attack is really good. i think I have questions about the defense. I think I will get the answers that I need when they play a very, very high level team, which may not come until the round of 16 or the quarterfinals or a semifinal, right? In that biggest game, I think my questions about the defense are still valid.
00:41:11
Speaker
I'm with you. And here's an interesting question for you. who do you think is better? Netherlands or Germany? Mm. Netherlands attack looks better, right? Germany maybe have a bit more solidity style. of but I think Netherlands. I think Netherlands is where my answer is at this far.
00:41:26
Speaker
I'm with you. And it's kind of the thing we were interested about before the tournament, right? And i think Germany is the higher profile team, right? And i just look I like the way Netherlands have played. And maybe their patterns just look a bit more repeatable than than what Germany's laboring to. Let's see. the the you know Even though Netherlands tied Japan, like I feel better about their attack than Germany's being fully clinical.
00:41:49
Speaker
The other game in this group, it was the late night prestige addition for Renard a bit, and the wand was a dummy. It didn't happen. Turns out the manager wasn't the only issue with the DG squad.
00:42:00
Speaker
Well, the highlight of this game was him walking through the tunnel and seeing his his perfect white button up dress shirt. No credential. All the other managers wearing credentials. He doesn't have one. You know who he is.
Japan's Attacking Showcase
00:42:10
Speaker
He's a Bernard. And from there, it was pretty summarily routine Japanese just wood chipper of Tunisia.
00:42:19
Speaker
I mean, should we have expected anything else? like I really don't want to be like too mean to Tunisia, truly, but like this project is just stale four years after the fact, right? like there's nothing like i don't think the manager was goingnna fix anything. it just was really it's It was really poor.
00:42:37
Speaker
And it wasn't all that successful to begin with, right? Their World Cup history is putrid recently because they get to this level and they're just so gapped. This backline just really struggled with the horizontal and vertical combinations that Japan could throw at them. And they just kind of made everything that they wanted work in this game. The first goal is kind of a microcosm of it all. It's it's a backheel in traffic home from Kamada and Tunisia are just wide open, right? Like you're supposedly theoretically playing a defensive style.
00:43:05
Speaker
And yet at the end of it, you're just consistently wide open. Something's not working here. It doesn't connect in my mind of of what's actually happening. Yeah, some of it's on the personnel of the back line, right kick, Talby not being quite at the level. And then also I think the midfield, like Slomane, Kadira, Shaqiri, like they can't get up and down. And that's the the trouble. You either have to be fully bunkered. And I think when you're trying to do anything, then you're open. And kind of Japan, like it's a tough group in that all three of Sweden, Netherlands and Japan thrive on transitions. I think if you play a team that's a little bit more methodical, you can muck it. But like...
00:43:45
Speaker
anytime those teams have space, they're just exposing the lack of pace in the Tunisian line. And Japan's, you know, fluidity and numbers flooding the box or the midfield and and the way they just like get up up so quickly and overload the half spaces. I mean, it's a lot to do with. And I think there is there is something to Japan's attack, just, you know, being a borderline top 10 level in the world. And that's hard for Tunisia to stop.
00:44:12
Speaker
Ueda was really, really good up top for Japan in this game. Just kind of the thing that's linking all of this together. And then they just, all of those big field players seem to have a role to play, right? Nakamura, Tanaka, Sano, Ito and Kamada maybe weren't incredible, but they each got a goal in this game. And then Ueda, it just really felt like he was the thing that was just meshing all this together.
00:44:32
Speaker
Yeah, he's not like a big bruiser number nine, but he is a real number nine and he knows how to make those runs. And the same thing we're saying all the time. If you've got a guy who's a finisher, it's going to work when you generate all these chances. So I thought, as you said, he was excellent. But Ritsu Dwan was also really good. Like Japan just have a stable of guys that they can all get forward.
00:44:52
Speaker
And yeah, Daichi Kamada is an interesting player like Ritsu. He did not have a great season at Crystal Palace, I thought, because he has to play centrally and he's a bit too frail. He's more of an attacking 10, but he's not quite purely creative. In this setup, they found a way, and look, it might be because it's Tunisia, to get like six guys up. And when it's Kamada, like who is your...
00:45:14
Speaker
maybe your sixth or seventh guy back getting in. it's an over It's too many numbers to deal with. So it's a really attractive style here. Like Moriarty has done a really good job of getting these guys to kind of play, I think, a version of what Nagelsmann is doing with Germany.
00:45:29
Speaker
All these midfielders, 3-4-3, and now you have your striker Nueda. I thought his second goal or the second goal, the finish from the right side of the box, was also just really well taken, really well hit ball.
00:45:42
Speaker
I mean, it's all coming together, right? It is. It is. and And that's what has drawn us to Japan so much. and and that's why we enjoy them so much. Any chance we get Tunisia setting a World Cup record with with three managers in three matches?
00:45:55
Speaker
I saw some of these bits online. it would be really, really funny. You could chuck anyone in at this point. See, you know, how how far can we test the new manager bounce? It's kind of a dead rubber, right? Like, let's see what we could get. Who would be the funniest guy they could call off?
00:46:09
Speaker
I don't know, man, but like, have it just be like, all right, I tried. I'm going to go take my white shirt somewhere else and and see what I can do. I'd also be okay with allowing Tunisia to just call up 26 new guys for this game so they can just try and figure out exactly if the problem is their managers are bad or their players are bad. It's everything.
00:46:25
Speaker
Yeah, and look, we don't want to pile on too much, but this is, again, a team that just... It's a tough group for them. I do think they're around the bottom five, but it's went poorly. And the whole Bernard thing was fun, but to expect in four days for him to switch the style, and it's just ah it's a tough...
00:46:44
Speaker
ah Go back to the tough group. You play Sweden. You needed that game, and it's so bad. Now it's do or die against Japan with four days. who who What manager could have done anything, truly? like Yeah, what are you what are you trying to back in that game? You're just never going to get anything out of it. um Sorry, right the situation in this group, Tunisia are officially eliminated with their... Zero points minus eight goal differential. Still have the game to play.
00:47:06
Speaker
It's against the Netherlands and it's a Netherlands team that's going to need to play in that game. ah Yikes. So Netherlands to pay and top this group on four points. They each have currently a plus four goal differential. Obviously, they drew between themselves. Sweden in third on three points. This is a pretty interesting final day mix to figure out who's going to finish where.
00:47:25
Speaker
I don't know that there's, this is kind of the exact conversation we had with Brazil and Morocco because these teams spot out in the exact same spot in the bracket. I don't think there's necessarily a marginal difference between finishing first and second in this group, but it does make for interesting final day calculations because Netherlands are probably going try to score as many goals as possible to secure first. Japan are probably going to be motivated to keep coming at Sweden. And Sweden admit they need to protect their goal differential because they're on three points. If they lose against Japan and if they lose by a lot of goals, things could get tricky.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're going to see Netherlands and Japan try to run it up. It's just that the team playing Tunisia is going to have an easier case of it, right? like Are we sure about that? Netherlands scored five against both of them.
00:48:11
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know. um It's weird. can you Can you give me some path ah path stuff for the first and second place teams out of F? Absolutely. I can. Exactly. Like I said, it's kind of the same thing that we saw from where the Brazil Morocco team is, right? So the runner up plays the winner of the Brazil Morocco group and the winner plays the runner up of the Brazil Morocco group. Just direct. Yeah. Yeah. I think you would rather win the group because of the fact that, okay, you have to play the runner up, but the round of 16 game is much more accessible. The round of 16 game for the group winner is the group A group B runner up game, right? Which is like a Switzerland, South Korea special.
00:48:50
Speaker
Whereas the runner up is playing that winner of the Brazil group. And then they're in that quadrant we mentioned earlier, where you're also probably looking at Ivory Coast and then one of Norway or Senegal, that quadrant of death.
00:49:01
Speaker
So I think there is motivation to win this group. I think the group winner has an easier path long term. And then we'll see what happens with the third place team where that goes out. Again, most likely it's Sweden, but there's a situation here where Sweden beats Japan and then Japan are are falling into third place.
00:49:17
Speaker
And that third place team could kind of bounce around anywhere dependent on all the other groups. There's no one spot for that third place team. It's kind of a swing third place team, if you will. So they could be in a lot of different spots, but the most likely is around 32 matchup with France, which not feeling great about that either.
00:49:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think Japan just has to try to win this game. I don't know if they're necessarily worried about the goal difference. um Look, if you can, you can. But Sweden, I think, are generally coming in, playing like, try to try to be as defensive as we can. Try to limit it to one. Maybe we we get a point, too, in that and we feel solid. Yeah.
00:49:53
Speaker
Japan, I think the the first on the menu is not to lose and put yourself in the third place bracket. Like it's it's just going to be a bit conservative from both teams, even if even if Japan could finish top of the group. Like I'm saying, like, are you really going to be able to scoreboard watch and catch Netherlands?
00:50:10
Speaker
Maybe. i don't know. We'll see. Like the Sweden defense is that bad. And it's another game theory situation for Sweden, right? Where you're looking at Okay, could should we play safe to get through in third, knowing that getting through in third is probably death in the round of 32? I don't know. We'll see how they handle that.
00:50:24
Speaker
right. It's another fun day of World Cup action. It's another full day. These games, emit that the last time we saw these two groups in action, we got a four-draw set. I don't think that's what we're going to get today, but let's see. It's Spain against Saudi Arabia to start it all out. Belgium, Iran, Uruguay, Cape Verde in the middle. And then we close out with the Chris Wood Show as New Zealand take on Egypt.
00:50:44
Speaker
I'm very excited to see where you're going here for your one your one thing today. I want to see Uruguay, Cape Verde. I really had said Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia was one of the games i was looking forward to the most at the start of this tournament. I think Cape Verde showed that, you know, yeah, I was a bit lucky, but they hung with Spain.
00:51:02
Speaker
Look, Uruguay is on the precipice of Bielsa implosion. Cape Verde's got a little bit of house money. i think they could think they can hang in that game. i think that's really good. um I just don't see Uruguay being able to blow anyone out of the water, right? It just was kind of a little bit you know, labored to get their chances.
00:51:21
Speaker
I think this could be really, really fun. I'm not sure Cape Verde is going win. I wouldn't necessarily go that far, but I think this is a sweaty, fun, grimy game. Look, I think the next game on on the list is probably Belgium-Iran. I think Iran can hang.
00:51:34
Speaker
um i think they showed that against New Zealand. It was ah a weird game, but there's a lot of pressure on them to get a point off of Belgium. But something about Uruguay Cape Verde just like really speaks to me.
00:51:44
Speaker
It's interesting for Cape Verde because they're kind of playing with house money in two senses, right? They can play for a draw here. And if they draw and are on two points, most likely they can then play for another draw against Saudi Arabia and they could get through on the three points, zero goal differential strategy, or they can go for the win here, which could be possibility. But even if they lose, they still have the opportunity to probably just beat Saudi Arabia on the last day and go through.
00:52:07
Speaker
so a lot of different paths for them. Look, I'm curious to see Spain. Like I think it might last 10 minutes. Yeah. But it could be 10 very sweaty. like Until Spain actually put the ball in the back of the net, this World Cup is going to be very, very sweaty for them. um like Yeah, I don't think Saudi Arabia can pose the threat that Cape Verde can.
00:52:24
Speaker
But until I see it from Spain, I'm going to be slightly worried about it from Spain. then the nightcap, this is just fun. Like, I think New Zealand-Egypt could be the kind of open midfield-less game that we saw from New Zealand against Iran. I think New Zealand are prone to playing that sort of game, especially when they're not completely leveled out of a game.
00:52:41
Speaker
think there could be some opportunity for for for my man Ashur and Salah and all those guys from Egypt to come. a sneaky, really good game. It might be the most interesting tactical game of the night. I mean, Chris Wood just makes like interesting games with with his unique talent. um Look, New Zealand impressed too. So it's a sneaky good day. It's a sneaky good day, right?
00:53:03
Speaker
I think something's going to deliver, right? Something's definitely going to deliver. All right, that's it from us on this edition of the World Cup After Dark Podcast. You can find us at patreon.com slash WCAD if you want to support us. You can also obviously find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, everywhere you get your stuff. Amit and I will be back recapping today's action tomorrow morning, so be sure to check that out. We're going to enjoy a little bit of an early sleep tonight. Good early bedtime. The World Cup After Dark boys need it. But we got a great day of action coming forward, and we hope that you guys enjoy it. That's it from us. We'll chat tomorrow.