Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
WCAD 3-22: Semifinal Madness Takes Over
79 Plays11 months ago
Austin and Amit break down a thrilling set of semifinals at the Copa América and Euro. Why Deschamps got it wrong, how Southgate keeps getting it right, and just what all went on in Charlotte between Colombia and Uruguay.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Semifinals Excitement
00:00:01
Speaker
There's no need for a fancy intro on this edition of the World Cup After Dark podcast admit, because we got really, really good semifinals. I think three of the four semifinals we got from these two major tournaments, absolutely fantastic. Really great games, and it's fun to get this deep in the tournament and have it be at that level. And it really was. The players are the best players kind of in international football. The managers are maxing their chances, the tension, the atmospheres. This is what we do this podcast for, is to get the best international games on this stage.
Managerial Tactics: Successes and Failures
00:00:33
Speaker
And we I think we were pretty delighted with very good games. Three at least, yes, as you said.
00:00:38
Speaker
Don't lie to the people a bit. There are some managers who are not maximizing their chances. There are some managers with their own games. There's not chances. I think that's the theme of today's podcast is at this level as and you know it's easy for the two of us to approach this from the manager perspective because that's a thing you can control. There are 22 players on the field. Like, yes we're not high-level footballers. Like, the other day, I did a radio hit on Sirius XMFC, and I got like this like question, man, and I was on with Danny Higginbottom. And he was like, you want me to take this one? like Yeah, you take this one. Like, you're the guy who played, like, I literally you don't know any of this. So, like, you and I can relate to, like, tactics and, like, the chess match on it. But, like, I can't relate what it's like to be and on the pitch and in play. So, I think that's that's kind of what leads to that, yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker
Yeah, a hundred percent, but that's where we can
Semifinals Recap & Patreon Preview
00:01:26
Speaker
approach it. And the theme is like some managers are really maximizing every little ounce of what they can control and others are ah leaving meat on the bone. I think is the best way to do it. And that is going to come, I think in in the three really close matches, it came down to those kinds of margins. And that's what ah we find very fascinating at this stage of the tournament. This is the World Cup after our podcast. My name is Austin Miller. He is a Midmel quick programming note for you today. We're going to recap the four semi-finals that we saw in these two major tournaments. This weekend, our Patreon subscribers will have access to our final preview for both the Euro and the Go America. So rather than, than pumping out a 75 minute show today, we'll give you a good 30, 45 minutes on the semi-finals, then a good half an hour on the finals. So again, patreon dot.com slash WCAD, $3 a month.
00:02:13
Speaker
get you access to exclusive shows like that one that's coming out this weekend. Let's jump right into these semi-finals a minute. Let's start with the Euro. Let's start with the first game we got.
Spain vs France: Tactical Analysis
00:02:22
Speaker
Spain take down France 2-1. This game was super fascinating because The first 15 minutes were exactly the grim smile of death that Didier de Champs wanted. Didn't have to do anything. His very, very good player took advantage of Spain's not very good right back, stood up a ball, far posed, call him a one-e header, it's one-nil France, and you kind of think to yourself, uh-oh, this is exactly what France wanted. They don't have to commend anybody going forward.
00:02:51
Speaker
But, admit, Spain responded. And I think that's where we need to jump into this. The France goal, it all made sense, right? Jesus Nava starts it right back for Spain. That was always going to be an issue. Space for the France wingers they agreed across. Cole Mwani puts it in the back of the net. Okay. That all kind of fits in with the script here. But the response that Spain had, from that point, absolute banger from Lomino, you want to talk about star players doing star things. He might not be a star yet, but he's very clearly going to be. That goal was insane. And then a guy that we're going to probably end up talking a lot about here, Danny Olmo steps up for the second Spain goal. And then we'll get into what happens after that. But this first half was kind of bonkers and in a way that France didn't really want.
00:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, Spain took it to them. Even going down a goal, they did not panic. They didn't let Deschamps or France get it into full-on 1-0 suffer ball. They just went full-on attacking. They flooded numbers forward. The midfield was running. And I think that's where you saw kind of the goals came from is obviously, as you said, let me and Yamal like You can't really account for that, but that's some space. He he can do that. you know he watch it You watch him cut in when in the back lines there, he takes that space in front of them. And when you could shoot like that, we've seen him score that goal in game one of this tournament. like He has that in his bag. That's an option for them. I think this was just really ah classic Spain. They just went for the attacking. They flooded numbers. They started Jesus Navas. I think both of us thought, I think anyone thought that was a silly move against Mbappe.
00:04:29
Speaker
quite literally gave up a goal, but outside of him, the rest of their team just, I think their midfield overran France. Like that's where it kind of comes down to in this first half when it was very action packed. And a lot of that is on Deschamps bringing, uh, Rabio back into the lineup, which I think both of us were maybe didn't like that move because he's just a bit slow. and So this was this was a very defensive start. And again, the game script went exactly as they wanted. Those guys, and ah they want to score first. They want to get up 1-0. And then they want to kind of just make the game really yucky. And they got that, but they couldn't
France's Strategic Missteps
00:05:05
Speaker
make it stick. And it kind of came down to the midfield. You're exactly right in that France had all these defensive midfield type players on, but they couldn't quite corral Spain. And again,
00:05:15
Speaker
You said it, the Jamal goal, that's not something that is going to happen every single day, but he's a player that if you give him that type of space, can make that happen in certain situations. And then how about Danny Olmo, who was fantastic on the goal. And like, that's just not what you would expect to have happened, but he just flicked and tricked and swift it and then put it in the back of the net. Yeah, that's the best way to describe that. Like little, like just two seconds of Nirvana from him, like, yeah, he's changed everything for them. And we, we had highlighted that last game and we had seen that from him. And we've talked about how his ability to, um, actually go forward and make runs that the stuff he does at Leipzig is so helpful here. That's what this goal was, right? He, it's a deep run through the middle and then he takes it down. And yeah, like you said, I mean,
00:06:04
Speaker
this has kind of been super like lucky for Spain that instead of Pedro they've gotten him but hasn't he changed he's ah he's changed their entire fortunes in two games he has and and you know I've talked about it a lot this tournament that's been the difference for Spain here is They can still do the pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass. But they can mix it up just enough. And they have elite level talent like Yamal, who can make superstar plays. That's step one. And they have a player like Omo. They have a player like Marado, who can make runs in behind that can threaten opposing defenses in ways that the passing sequences don't.
00:06:41
Speaker
Yeah, and you have to credit Fabian Ruiz too, who also, you see him make runs from the midfield to to get on the headers for Yamal at the back post. And so when you have two wingers that can run, a striker that can run, two midfielders that can run, This isn't your like, yes, you said the pass pass pain. It's a much more. um leave But it's the mix of that and they can still, yeah like it's they're not playing route one direct running behind lumpet long. Like they can mix in the possession, but then after they've strung together eight or nine passes, boom, there's that running behind and and it just makes it so different.
00:07:14
Speaker
All right, so let's so we talked about the first half. We go into halftime, Spain's up 2-1, and we've seen from a lot of managers, we've seen from managers as we'll get to here in a little bit on the show, managers are taking advantage of halftime to switch up their tactics. They don't have to burn a substitution window. They can make changes and create a different style of play. Didier Deschamps did not do that for France. He started all those defensive players. They come out of halftime down 2-1 and the exact same 11 is on the field. And it just kind of felt like Deschamps was doing 2018 things. And like, dude, it's 2024. We're six years down the line. You have to adapt and be a little bit different. You have five changes. Like you have to fundamentally change how you're going to play. And to me, it never really felt like France did that.
00:08:04
Speaker
you're spot on and we we you know we talked about this we agree from from my point of view and just you know you know we love the analytics both of us and you know i you know love bring them up in a context that makes sense we say this all the time you want to play the better game state for your team for longer so when you're down one you need to be more aggressive especially in these knockout matches where everything is so compressed and with the sub windows 2 it's a failure not to make halftime changes when you're down especially ah in a group stage okay you want to let your guys play but change the game and it was very clear that Rabio wasn't working and we both texted each other get Griezmann on at halftime like I think that's a pretty obvious move even if you want to like leave everything else in
00:08:52
Speaker
Look what Komen does. he he's He's willing to get Vout on at halftime. talk We're going to talk about Bilsa. He's going to make changes at halftime. Even Garrett Southgate has been rather conservative with his subs, isn't as conservative, especially as the tournament has gone on compared to Deschamps. And that's where, like you said, he's literally stuck in 2018. We know the sub windows changed post COVID with five subs, but you have to to adapt like exactly what you said. I mean, this is his decision making. And then the way France played, let's talk about in this half, where was the urgency? Yeah, there was never really felt like France flipped the switch in, we got to score and we got to do whatever it takes to score. It always felt like they stuck to their initial game plan, which like, you're down a goal. You can't do that. And the thing was, it wasn't just that the champ took so long to make his changes. He made the changes you knew he was going to make.
00:09:48
Speaker
So he waited 15 extra minutes and he brings on Kama Venga, Griezmann and Barolo. Like those are three logical changes to make, but like you could have done that earlier to give yourself more time. And then he waits until the 80th minute and he brings on Olivier Giroud. And now you're like, oh, he's made four changes. What's he going to do for the fifth change? And he just doesn't make a fifth change, which... like You have to have somebody on the bench that can at least for the last five minutes do mixer time. And they just never did that. And so this whole second half was France hoping for superstar players to do superstar things. And they almost did. Kylian Mbappe had a chance or two. But like you're down a goal. You're playing a high level opposition. You have to do more than that. And it just never felt like they did.
00:10:32
Speaker
A hundred percent. You need a plan B, which at this level, the number one plan B is, is have a mixer ball and maybe it's a second striker. Maybe it's more crosses. You've got to find a way to pin them in. And so there's a few things here is one, Spain kept Williams and Jamal on, which definitely. I think Deschamps was scared. He didn't want to like sell out too much. And Spain had that long ball threat and it was very good. And I think the other things just to Deschamps mentality is like, and this team's mentality is they don't, like you said, they count on Mbappe and Dembele to like do things one on one. And that's kind of their offense. They didn't have a lot of ideas outside of that. And they're not used to getting to their plan B they're built to win games one zero. And then you look at a team like the Netherlands or Germany.
00:11:21
Speaker
I think kind of the two most pragmatic attacking teams, look, look, Germany lost an extra time to Spain because they had too many attacking players in the field. But they're happy they took it to extra time, aren't they? Right. Like you can't lose an extra time unless you get it to extra your time. Yeah. And what are you saving the sub for? is You have to sell out. And I just, this wasn't selling out. I mean, I, okay. You say Jerusalem, he's got 10 minutes of running. You still got to get that body on faster, right? You got to count on your center backs to say, okay, we know they're going to threaten behind, but we've got to live with that. We need chances that you, like you said, what, how many chances do they create? One, they had like one and Bob, he cut it on his right and you thought he was going to do any skied over. But even then that shot was from 18 yards. They didn't really like force France or Spain.
00:12:09
Speaker
to like crazy defend their box. They're not really the team that lumps it forward. They just run at you, dribble at you, and then try to get the shot off of one dribble. And I think the thing that kind of stuck out to me the most here was like, I don't know. and And this might just be my South American bias coming through, but like, it just never felt like France wanted it. Like, and and like, we said that before about them. yeah It felt eerily similar to the start of the 2022 world cup final, where it was just like the team on the other side of the pitch wants it more than you. And
00:12:44
Speaker
Okay, you don't necessarily have to want it more than Poland to beat it in the group stage, but when you're playing another high-level team, like, if you don't match the intensity, if you don't match the willpower and the know-how, like, I don't know, you're gonna fall short. and It felt like it was here through France. Yeah. I think this is what we really like love to talk about is we love the analytics. We love the subs, but at the same time, like vibes are so so real in international football. Watch any South American match like you say, and it's very clear that you have to match the intensity at all times. Um, I think this has been an issue for France. I think obviously they want to win. I think a lot of it is that they often and perhaps still are the most talented team in the world, but they're not enabled to play that way. And I don't think.
00:13:30
Speaker
they are like always running at high gear when you have a player like Mbappe and the way they play is also like very, we want the other team to make a mistake, then we'll punish it. They never really take the game to teams. And that's that's the product of the way Deschamps wants them to play. And it's easy to say like, oh, you want a manager to challenge them. Like Deschamps has won a World Cup, made a final, but I can't help but agree. Like they just, the urgency wasn't there in this half. And you know, maybe hindsight is, ah is all different, but they were up one in this game. Like so that's how you built your team to play. Like you get them. So they didn't even get that. And that's what happens. Sometimes you you go up one in a game and finally we've been waiting for two, three tournaments. The other team produces two
00:14:22
Speaker
bangers out of there. And then you've got to find an answer. But that's at this level at the semi finals in major tournaments. Like the other team is talented enough to do something. And that's where like, I love these tournaments for how deep we get into them. Spain, Germany was such a great game. This was such a great game. And like, the quality made the difference on those margins. That Yamal goal like is not a mistake. He's so so good. Yeah. and And that's the thing is like we talk about this a lot in this show. Everybody at some point is going to have to go for a goal. It's very rare that you get through a tournament where you're not in a situation like, oh, dude, the pressure's on. We got to score. And so you have to always be able to adjust to that. And I just never felt like France were able to do that here.
00:15:04
Speaker
We'll talk about Spain in a minute on on our show this weekend about the final. Let's talk quick about France' big picture. Dachamp is going to stay on as manager from what I see. Going into the 2026 World Cup, I feel like our feelings are pretty much the same here. They go in as one of the favorites because they have the most talent. They have done relatively well playing this style. ah But it does feel like there's another level that maybe they could get to that I don't think they will under Dachamp. Yeah, you'd hope maybe this is the wake up call. um I mean, 2022 could have been a wake up call. It's so hard from their perspective to see the results when you put them on a sheet of paper and say this isn't success at the international level. But at the same time, I think that you need the mentality of
00:15:52
Speaker
we're not you You just don't get to be the best team in the world every year. Ask anyone. You get three, four Windows Macs where, as we put them in this tier at the start of the tournament, we have the most talent to be a disappointment if we if we didn't win. When you're in that tier, you need to you need to play like you're the best team. And they just don't. And that's where and we said, I hope he learns. I don't know. like Do you think that they'll do anything different? Because even if playing this way that we get so frustrated by, you'll probably still see him in a semifinalist right the quarterfinal right like
00:16:26
Speaker
right and that's a ding link but like that just doesn't happen that often enough to make you change, right? Like, you don't play, it's not, again, this is, it always comes back to the same thing. International football doesn't give you a ah six months from now, you'll do this again, you'll play another elite team and you can, like, it's gonna be two years before we see France in a game that matters this much, again. And, like, yeah two years is a long time, right? So, yeah, it's... Yeah, so they got them they gotta to think about their habits. We'll see. I mean, talent pool wise, like, should be fine, i you know?
00:16:57
Speaker
that maybe you're not counting on Kante, maybe you're not counting on Griezmann, Ravio, but everyone else is, you know, kind of slated to Andrew, but everyone else is kind of slated to be the best team in. I mean, are ah who who's going to be the betting favorites in 2026? We don't need to have that full conversation, but they're going to be one or two, I think. 100%. 100% and they'll have to make it count. All right, let's shift to the other Euro
England vs Netherlands: Key Moments
00:17:22
Speaker
semifinal here. I'm at England two, Netherlands one. Carousel gate gets away with it again. He's elite players did elite things. ah And this was a super fascinating game because they traded early goals.
00:17:36
Speaker
Harry Kane scored a soft penalty as he's wanted to do. The Netherlands scored first. England bounced back. England kind of got outplayed in the second half and then... ah moment of brilliance from nowhere from Ollie Watkins off the bench of all people. Tight angle, run straight, shoot, score. And you know how you make the best Plan B team in the tournament not be the best Plan B team in the tournament? You give them three minutes to do full-on, full-out Plan B, and that's what happened in the Netherlands here. They brought Wout Weghorst on at halftime, which I think was a good move.
00:18:07
Speaker
They played an attacking style, but it's always going to be different when the game is 1-1 and when you're down 2-1, right? Like, they're always going to keep something in reserve because they don't want to just sell out needlessly. And England scored at the exact right time that there was just nothing left for the Netherlands to do but watch the clock run out. This was tension, drama, and this was Gareth Southgate getting away with being Gareth Southgate again. Yeah. Gotta be impressed with England and also frustrated that Southgate hasn't like been exposed but maybe he's vindicated. They've gone down a goal in three knockout rounds in a row and advanced three times. They're either super lucky, super impressive, Southgate's right. This is why we say it coming into any England game. Why are we analyzing this? But this was fascinating. And at the same time, it just feels like
00:19:05
Speaker
Every time they've gone down, they find something. And this one was the soft penalty, but like from there, they didn't panic. They just, they got to give the team, the players credit and Southgate credit mentality wise for just, just on that sentence. They, they trailed in three knockout rounds and advanced out of three and the way they took so-called penalties. And this one, yeah, I mean, that I'm not sure like how they did it in the second half. I think it was, they were prepared for about that course ball and they knew the plan B was coming and they're like, okay, we're, they kind of were really defensive and Netherlands took it to them, but Netherlands plan was to hit it off him and they were ready for the second ball. And that meant they dropped their second line back very far. And I just think they, they made a bet. Like, look, we know you're going to mix or ball it. And we know like we're going to be under a little stress, but we just,
00:20:02
Speaker
They rarely give up high XG chances. They'll do whatever in their power to take that away from you. And they got one, a a half chance for Watkins. You talk about a sub that worked. What a courageous sub to sub off Harry Kane. i maybe it's It's really hard to take off Harry Kane and he's done it in two straight matches and it's worked because when they're playing as far back as England are, they have to be able to put even token pressure on the opposing center backs. And Kane's legs, he's is older now, they're just gone. Like he can't run for 90 minutes. Maybe he's hurt too at this point in the tournament, but yeah, keep going. And so because of that, like if Kane is out there just kind of lumbering around, not providing any pressure, you just get pinned deeper and deeper back because the center backs get to pick their passes from closer and closer. So he makes the change. He puts Ollie Watkins on to try and prevent that. And it comes up spades because
00:20:55
Speaker
Ollie Watkins runs straight and shoots and it goes in the back of the net. And like, I don't think the Netherlands really did anything wrong here. Like, you and I going into this game, we said, hey, I think the Netherlands are, don't want this to go to penalties. I think they should try to not have this go to penalties. And I think they played the right style in the second half. And I think they kind of banked on, all right, if we don't get this done, we're going to have 30 more minutes. And then the 30 more minutes, we're gone because of winning one score. Yeah, and that goes back to the the subs thing. they yeah They had subs in the tank and I think at a certain point they were trying to avoid penalties and try to win the game in the second half. But as you started with
00:21:35
Speaker
This worked out so well for England in retrospect, but also in the moment that it was 1-1. They couldn't sell all the way out. And Komen was definitely keeping some of his best subs, not at best, but like the subs he had. I think for fresh legs and extra time. And that's where just the Watkins goal was right. A faster striker with more legs running the channel against the those defenders that had been on for a while. It's so crazy when again, like it all works out. And then you see the the pattern show up manifest self, but like, what if Weghorse heads one ball into the path of the striker and they score and then it's a different game. Like, I like credit to Southgate for that his his math equation has worked again. yeah so And at the end of the day, Coman's just bet was what, ah and two minutes off. Like he almost gets this to where he wants it to go, I think.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, so we'll get into this on on the show. We'll do this weekend, but the care of Southgate narrative is absolutely fascinating because like you kind of have to start to appreciate this, but you can't because like he's doing terrible football and it's miserable, but the results are as good as England have ever had as consistent of a run as England have had in modern history. But also, he ain't won nothing yet. Like, he's had these incredible results. He's gotten really far these major tournaments, but he hasn't gotten done. The stakes on Sunday are absolutely massive for Gary Southgate. We'll talk about that on the show that we're going to do for the Patreon subscribers this weekend. um Netherlands, they are the best second tier team in Europe. They're going to come into the 2026 World Cup as a team that you feel pretty strongly about making the quarterfinals and probably not more than that. Maybe they make a semifinals. Like, they are exactly what we thought they were.
00:23:22
Speaker
Exactly. And they're good enough to make to win these things. They've never won the major tournament. If it breaks just right, you can talk yourself into it. But it never does. They could make a final. I think it's most likely they make a quarterfinal and lose. And you just see like they're good, but at the the highest levels, the margins of the semifinal, they They played a better game. Like they controlled the game against England in the second half, but they didn't score. They didn't have enough quality. And perhaps they also, the bench was not as many difference makers. They kept Shavi Shimon's in. They were looking at their backup attackers and they're like, well, we don't want them yet. We want them as legs, not as game changers versus England had the game changers. And yeah, when you're that second tier contender, they they always punch above their weight. We say that so well. They're super sweaty. They do everything right, but they didn't,
00:24:13
Speaker
just have enough to crack. again, what we have to keep congratulating England for, and even regardless of Southgate, a very tough team to score on when they're defending. Oh, of course. No, I mean, the entire Southgate style is created to, we're going to beat you with 0.6 XG to 0.2 XG, right? And yeah like, it's really hard to create chances. And that is kind of the the crux of the issue for the Netherlands is the elitist of the elite are always just going to be that one step too far for them. And they just need things to go right to get it done.
00:24:44
Speaker
Yes, and also the back to everything that ties it in. It's easier from the chase with veg horse and sell out than the one one. And so I credit Coleman for getting him on at halftime. That was smart. I aggressive and maybe we, maybe they should have sold out, but you have to be very careful the other way. Right. And that's the thing. Like I think they played this fine. And I think had this game gone into extra time and we get to one Oh five one 10, then they kind of. twist the knob. Yeah, crank it up. I know. But like, if the Netherlands sell out and England smacks them 2-1-1 on a counter in the 84th minute, you're like, dude, what are you doing? It was 1-1. I know. You're so naive. So it was a really thin line that they had to try to walk. And I think they did OK, but they didn't create enough. Yeah. The goal kind of came out of nothing, but it's the margins of the subs and everything we've been talking about. This was very fun. And it just worked out exactly the way Southgate needed it to work out. Just cooking it up. He's cooking it up, man. Three times in a row. Just cooking it up.
Argentina vs Canada: Dominance Displayed
00:25:39
Speaker
Alright, let's shift moods to Copa America. it Argentina 2-0 winners over Canada. We were pretty spot on with what we thought was gonna happen in this game. ah Canada did some things. They didn't finish their things when they did them. Argentina are simply the better side and they had to work for it a little bit but eventually they got through the Canadian lines and they got into space and they created chances and they made it count. ah Canada play a high line and Sometimes you need speed to get behind that and Hulan Alvarez with the speed got behind it one-on-one with Crepo didn't miss 1-0 Argentina then open up the second half create more space Lionel Messi a perfect position redirect shot in 2-0. That's pretty much the game. That's what this comes down to is Argentina are simply better than Canada and if Canada aren't ridiculously clinical with the chances they create this game is always gonna give them problems
00:26:36
Speaker
Yeah, this one went exactly like we thought it would. And it's crazy how much it was similar to the first game too. i Canada are great for what they are. And I think we were going to give them a lot of credit and they just, you come up against a tough team. They can play that pass from anywhere on the field, enough guys to figure out all the space you give them. And every team gives you space. And I think what Canada do differently that you've said is they choose to make a different set of the field compact and they leave that space you know behind sometimes sometimes they defend deep but they just they are just too good i don't know what to say and then like you said they're going to have a few chances they got to be ruthless and they weren't there's there are gay there's scenarios when canada plays in argentina or a team like that where they can score first where they can make this game hard but um they
00:27:27
Speaker
in more scenarios it looks like this and it's not a shock that like this game was played twice and it was very similar both times because that's how Argentina win this game is by just absorbing the pressure getting that space, being ruthless. I mean, the pass was great and Alvarez was great. like That's the difference between him and Jonathan David at this point. And it's also the difference between him and everybody that Canada played on all the other teams in this tournament. Chile don't have the players to do that. Peru don't have the players to do that. Venezuela didn't have the players to do that. And so when Canada go up against a team that doesn't have the speed to get in behind and doesn't have the precision on a pass to connect with that speed,
00:28:07
Speaker
They can find success because they can really frustrate you. And then if they're a bit more clinical and they take the chances that they create, they can really be in business. But it it that equation just falls short because Argentina, like you said, they're just too good. And I don't think Canada need to try to do anything different here. They just have to get the right set of events for this game to go their way. And it didn't happen twice. Yeah, I think in in ah in a complementary way, this is the limitations of Marsh's soccer. um It's very good for beating teams below your level, very good for for a good strategy for teams against your level, and even teams just above your level to frustrate them and like make it ah your terms. But there's just a line where once you get above it,
00:28:49
Speaker
It's it's a little too risky and you still have to play it I think they had the you know, you have to be fearless when you play this style, right? And like there are recipes this like there are ways that this game goes to can't like yeah, it's tough It's hard, but I don't think in playing a different style is gonna give them a better chance against Argentina It's just this is hard um Let's talk about Canada big picture in a second anything on Argentina here Like we're gonna talk about them on the next show going into the final against Columbia. This was better I thought they were more awake for this game. They didn't let Canada dictate too much. I thought Canada dictated a little bit to start this game. Then I think Argentina kind of found their rhythm. And then once you get a goal up, once you get two goals up, the game just is a whole lot easier to play. Yeah, I think agreed 100% and Argentina at this point are just the most connected, incisive team in outside of Europe. And what they're doing is on par with those, the best attacking teams.
00:29:46
Speaker
they They have not played well all tournament, but they have in this game, at least we're clinical enough. I mean, that goal, like we, it almost was too easy that we don't want to give them credit for playing so well, but like, that's the thing you give them a moment. They're too good to yeah hurt you. And, and then they finished it, you know, deflection. Sure. But this is what they are. Like, this is a very, very good team at this format. At some point, like they're going to get bounces against them, but like, Okay, they got a penalty shootout against Ecuador like it that was and that was like ah an A plus punch thrown at them and then they wanted penalties so like it just takes so much to beat this Argentina team and they can they can beat you doing so little and they're also not like super conservative either like they do attack strength with the ball. I think you just
00:30:38
Speaker
they they They kind of got a player to do everything. Yeah, there are very, there's, you look at the starting 11 and they're just not a lot of points that you're like, I don't feel super great about that. Like Jesus Navas isn't coming into this Argentina side at any point. You know, like there's not an equivalent of that. And so They have options off the bench. They can hurt you with fresh legs. And like there may not be the elite, you know, Ballon d'Or golden ball winning talent here. Obviously Lionel Messi was that and is a different state of his career now, but they're just so solid front to back, top to bottom. and They're just really hard to break down.
00:31:14
Speaker
So yeah, we'll see. All right, let's talk about Canada a bit very quickly here. This is a really good first showing for Jesse Marsh. The signs are good. My thing here on Canada is I think there are two fundamental issues that are not going to get fixed and they're going to have to figure out. The first is that the players are fine. They have a bunch of like, yeah, the guy's a good little player. The issue is that like, there's a limit for those guys. And so outside of Alphonso Davies and maybe Jonathan David, although he didn't show it in this tournament, there's just not the elite level talent that can let them go step for step, blow for blow, match for match with the highest level teams.
00:31:48
Speaker
That's their they number one fundamental issue. But number two fundamental issue is just the best teams, the elite teams are always gonna figure out how to beat their style. They're always gonna be able to find the combination of pass, run, shot, the three stages that you need to to make this unravel. The elite teams are always gonna figure that out. That said, and with both of those things understood, Canada being at the same level as the mushy middle of Carnival is a pretty good spot for them to be in. Like I'd say those things to point out why Canada aren't gonna go on a big run at the World Cup. But if they play like this in 2026, if they take advantage of a draw that will probably favor them as a host being a pot one team, round of 32, round of 16 is absolutely a possibility for Canada. And I think that would be very, very good result for them.
00:32:37
Speaker
a hundred percent. I think you, you nailed it on well. And like you said, it could break well for them to to make the round of 16. That's, that's gotta be like, I think their best outcome and maybe, maybe, maybe you get super lucky and can sneak into a quarter pounds. That's like the the tail end, good tail ends of the curve. But, um, Yeah, I think spot on. I agree with everything you said, and that's a compliment to be where they are right now. And they still got a little chance of development for maybe Laren, especially Buchanan, and maybe David also could get there too. Yeah, that's one thing. Tejon Buchanan was a big loss for Canada. When he went down injured, that was a type of attacking player who could be a threat that they lost and that they probably really could have used it at some point, certainly in this tournament. I think that's something we can't understate. Yeah.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, but um well done to them. And i what you said also that can be overstated is being a pot one team in 26 is going to give them ah yeah a helpful chance as well. um It's interesting, and and this is a different show for a different time, but juxtaposing them against where their other hosts, the US s and Mexico are. The US are without a manager, they're going to start a managerial search. Mexico are trying to find an identity, figure out who the best players are. Canada kind of had a head start on that because they, unlike those two teams, actually got to use this Copa America for good rather than for getting the bad out, right? Like the US and Mexico had to use this tournament to write the ship and and fix things and and get people out.
00:34:00
Speaker
Canada was able to use this as the as the first stepping stone, so I think that's really interesting. All right, let's close out the show with this a minute.
Columbia vs Uruguay: Copa America Showdown
00:34:06
Speaker
Columbia won Udu Wainil. This was good. This was great. This was exactly what we wanted. Tactics, fire, flare, fights, everything. This was the game that you and I wanted to see here. There might not have been the high-level quality that we saw in other matches, but man, fire the the atmosphere, the crowd. This was so much fun. Yeah, this was two South American heavyweights, but desperate heavyweights, not your aid. Plus Argentina and Brazil's just throwing it all at each other in like a, we we've got every trick in our book and we're going to try every trick in our book to beat you. And, um, we're going to talk about this game, but my, my overall take is that in a game like this, you better score first and team that scored first held on even with 10 men. And it's super interesting how that happened, but like,
00:35:00
Speaker
this was, this was really high intensity, high level. um And I know like, yes, Columbia and Uruguay aren't Spain and France, but this was a very high level international semi-final with all the extra goodies too. Like yeah that's what made this a supercharged game. So let's let's talk about this here. You said it. Columbia scored first. And in a game like this, when you can play from 1-0, it's such an advantage. And they were able to make that count. It was what we've talked about so much with Columbia. Set piece, dead ball situation, corner kick.
00:35:32
Speaker
He gets perfect back post delivery. Big Jeff Larimer, he's big, he gets up, puts it in the back of the net, 1-0 Columbia. And then that's when this game got even more interesting because quickly thereafter, Daniel Munoz, who's had a really good turn at it right back for Columbia, gets sent off. He threw an elbow. ah You can debate whether the elbow was worthy of a red card or a yellow card. The issue for Munoz is he already had a yellow card. So whatever conclusion you come to, he's off. And it's also not going to play in the final, which is going to be a big loss for them. That and it happened right before halftime. And that what was that's what was so fun about this is Marcelo Bielsa had halftime to figure out, OK, what do we do? How do we adjust? The same for Ernesto Lorenzo, the Colombian manager. He had halved and figured, OK, how can we try and salvage this?
00:36:20
Speaker
So we come out of halftime but and it's four changes. Three for Uruguay, one for Colombia with the, or two changes for Uruguay with one that they had already made in the first half that they they were forced into. And I think the tactics were probably right on both sides. Colombia had to get it right back on. They bring on Santiago Arteus. He is a perfectly adequate right back. Like, yeah, sure he's a guy there. Yeah. He's a guy like he can play the position. He's not terrible. He's also not going to contribute. at least He's a, he's a, he's a right back. They weren't putting someone, not a right back. Right. but Which helps. Yeah. Uruguay then counter that with Giorgi and De Rosque that they were missing a midfield passer against 10. You're going to want that. And they bring on Christian only data to give them another attacking player.
00:37:02
Speaker
And then this just kind of kept building and building and building as this second half went on. You saw more changes from Colombia. Arebe and Castaño come on at 60. Jamez Rodriguez comes off for Colombia. That's a big choice that Lorenzo makes that ends up working out for them. Luis Suarez, the guy I said was going to do something, had a chance and he put it off the post.
00:37:24
Speaker
I said it, I said he was going to do it and he didn't. i I'm with you. i I thought he was going to score. We were like, Darwin Nunez had how many chances this game and Suarez on his very first one almost did it. I mean, what a fascinating second half. I think Bielsa shows how aggressive you should be chasing a game and they came inches away and Columbia kind of leaned full on into what we're doing this this way, we're going to win one zero. um And to be fair, also, once they're down to 10 penalties is an okay result, right, you can give up one to after a certain amount of time.
00:38:03
Speaker
Um, this is so interesting in that, like, I think Pilsa did all the right things. I think Columbia were a little conservative, but they, they, they picked their, you know, they made their beds and they laid in them and it just, it came down to like, what, what did Uruguay have? A bunch of solid chances, yeah i never missed a few shots, but not like, what was there an A plus chance? I don't think there was. And and that was. Biggest issue here for Uruguay is they never quite got Colombia scrambling for long enough. Like they got them into a defensive posture, but they could just never like recycle the ball, keep the pressure up. And so Colombia kept clearing and credit to to Luis Diaz here.
00:38:46
Speaker
who had a really tough role to play. You're down to 10 men. You just watched the only other offensive player in the squad get taken out. What's your job? You get to go run one on two and just try and muck up and hang on to the ball and do things and win throw-ins. And he played that role really well in the second half. And that made it difficult for Uruguay to just keep recycling chances and sending it back in and and mixing it up. And it just always it felt like Uruguay was one step short of really, really making this tight down the stretch. Yeah, i this is the the limitations of Uruguay who are a great team and are maxing what they're doing, but they just chasing a goal is tough for them because they're like... They're not clinical enough. They're not clinical enough and that some of that's on Nunez, some of that's on their other forwards. Suarez isn't reliable enough and he certainly was close to being clinical enough.
00:39:37
Speaker
They didn't really have a second full-on mixer ball striker. I think Oliveira is a four-word attacking player, but not like... He was out wide here. Arasquete was good, but this is a team built for, like, the Ugarte's and Valverde, and he he was suspended in this game, but the guy who got set off last game... Arrujo. Not... Arrujo. Oh, Nandes, yeah, of course. Nandes. But even Arrujo, too, this is a team of physical, like, warriors and ball winners, and then they, you know, kind of... let Nunez get going in space and then they, you know, can cross to him and police street can help there too. But when they're down one and the other team is just lined up in the box, it's little less of that. We've got an intricate combination and then also not enough like a pattern of recycling, as you said, to keep the pressure on. So it's two things. They couldn't really break them down. They couldn't really mix her and they were just left with
00:40:34
Speaker
not that many chances. They still could have scored one of those, but they weren't a like a great team at chasing the game. And that's credit to Columbia for how physically solid are they? like well yeah and so They're so good at this. Columbia went 5-3-1 in this game. And the three in the midfield were all three defensive guys, right? Like they bring on Yeremina and they don't take a center back off. It's just like, all right, another body back there. Like, go go go take care of things. oh and it And look, like Columbia kind of got let off the hook here a little bit because Mateo Saribe had two insane chances to make this 2-0. It just did not score them. ah But to their credit, they never really gave Uruguay anything great. And Uruguay just aren't a super good team at scoring good chances, right? Like they needed a consistent run of of good to great chances and they never got it here. It felt like Uruguay needed a really good 10 minutes and never got it.
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah, we kept saying they're going to tighten the screws. They're going to turn up the pressure for 10 minutes. And like you said, it never happened. And that's something that happens in Bielsa Ball, where he can create a bunch of chances by volume, but maybe not by quality. And then if his players are good, but not great at finishing them, they could just get snake bitten. We saw that at Leeds. We've seen that at other points in his career. And that's what the big question was in a knockout tournament. How do they do that? And down one, I think, They can do more, but against a team like Columbia in a game as fired up as this, like the second Columbia were up one, they knew exactly how they wanted the game to go. And that just made it so hard for this Uruguay team to get a quality look or even the stretch of dominance, like you said.
00:42:15
Speaker
It was pretty funny down the stretch of this game. One thing you can obviously tell how much this means to to Columbia. This is a massive, absolutely massive result for them. It's only a third time they're going to play in the Code of America final. The crowd was incredible, all the Columbian fans. Columbia are pretty fortunate this didn't get to penalties. I have no idea who is going to take five penalties for Columbia had this gotten there. Let's close this out a minute and talk about Oda Y. ah This is a missed opportunity, obviously. Felt like they never really got going in that second half. Like I said, they needed 10 minutes. They're going to go into 2026 as a really hard team to play that if you let them score first is really dangerous and everything's going to have to break right if they're going to make a big run. Like they are Netherlands, but with less top end talent and kind of a bigger swing of how things could go, maybe.
00:43:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's really interesting to see, think about what they can do in 2026. A lot depends on the draw. You could talk me into a semifinal, but it seems like another type of team that going to have a tough round of 16 match, maybe they'll make the quarterfinal. they can win any game. Like they've got themselves a chance. But as as we kind of alluded to before the knockout rounds in this tournament, it's hard for them to string together two or three knockout wins with this style. Um, but you know, Bill said, I think has it's been an overwhelming success mentality wise and feeling wise, but this is a good reminder that like,
00:43:42
Speaker
Yeah, all of it is still tied up in a little bit of game state that like they still are not elite talent wise. They're not at the level of Argentina. They're not going to be at the levels of, you know, your top five, even Netherlands in Europe. So that puts them in a tricky spot where if you, if you're going to count to eight, they could be left out, right? It's so so much of it depends on match ups. It'll be fascinating in 26 to see ah what they can do and how, what their path is. I think that, I think this is a super matchup team. Like it really depends on who they get. Yep. For sure. And they can make life difficult for anybody. They've shown that right? Like any team you give them, they can make their life difficult, but if they don't get the first goal, it can, it can get a little difficult for them. And and that's what we saw here.
00:44:25
Speaker
All right, that's it for us on today's episode of the World Cup After Dark. We will be back this weekend with a Patreon-only show previewing the final, and we'll be back next week to wrap up these two finals. It's been a really fun tournament, and I know that Amit and I are both very, very excited for what's to come. Again, if you'd like to support us monetarily, you can do so. Patreon dot.com slash WCAD, $3 a month, access to exclusive shows like this weekend's final preview, World Cup qualifying spreadsheet, and tons of other good stuff. So be sure to check that out, and we'll talk to you guys soon.