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Kickoff: Flo Balogun is BACK?! | USMNT-Belgium World Cup Matchday Arrives in Seattle!
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It's World Cup matchday in Seattle, and we're laying down one last preview ahead of Monday's Round of 16 showdown vs. Belgium, which might just be the biggest match in modern US Soccer history. We'll react to the massive news that Folarin Balogun will be available for the match following FIFA's ruling on the controversial red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina, then dive into why reactions from around the world have suddenly made the USMNT one of the tournament's most polarizing teams. Later on, we'll react to some of the other most notable results from the knockout stage so far, including Lionel Messi and Argentina getting pushed to the brink by Cape Verde, Erling Haaland and Norway taking down mighty Brazil and more.
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Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused live morning show. Join Ari Liljenwall and Niko Moreno live on YouTube every Monday, at 8am Pacific to kickoff your week with the inside scoop on the Seattle Sounders and Major League Soccer. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Pulso Sports' Niko Moreno. Grab a coffee as we talk about the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
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Partnerships and Promotions
00:00:00
Speaker
As you know, we are big fans of supporting small business, and we have partnered with Seattle coffee roaster QED Coffee to bring a full spectrum of coffees to our listeners. Matt, the owner, is a diehard Sounders fan and inaugural season ticket holder who can often be overheard talking about the latest match while he works behind the bar.
00:00:19
Speaker
From light roasted single origin offerings all the way to your classic diner blend, QED has the best coffee for the best fans in MLS. Thankfully, you don't have to live in Seattle to get great coffee.
00:00:30
Speaker
QED's high quality coffee subscription service offers our favorite blends right to your door. at lobbing scorchers.com slash coffee first time subscribers can get 25 off your order and additionally qed is offering lobbing scorcher supporters 25 off site-wide with code ls74 what are you waiting for visit one of their three locations in mount baker west seattle and three tree point or go to lobbing scorchers.com slash coffee and use code ls74 at checkout I want you to think about what's actually happening here for a second.
USMNT World Cup Match Significance
00:01:04
Speaker
The World Cup in Seattle with Christian Roldan? Yes, the same Christian Roldan once referred to by Mauricio Pochettino himself as the perfect player. Christian Roldan is an example of if you want to build your perfect player. Well, now you can get the perfect kit for the perfect player. The official U.S. soccer store has jerseys, scarves, and all the gear. It's a full circle moment for Seattle soccer fans, and you need to be dressed properly for the return of our GOAT. Go to lobingscorchers.com slash USA and use code SCORCHERS for 10% off most items.
00:01:39
Speaker
This episode of Lobbing Scorchers was previously recorded and streamed live on YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers. If you want to listen or catch these episodes live, see the video, and see all the rest of our content, go to YouTube.com slash at Lobbing Scorchers or LobbingScorchers.com slash YouTube.
00:02:01
Speaker
Well, sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be a real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well, it's gonna be a scorcher.
00:02:23
Speaker
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff presented by QED Coffee. I'm Ari, that's Nico, and folks, we have got a big show for you here this morning. It is USMNT Match Day here in Seattle in just a few hours' time. The United States, the USA, the Yanks will play arguably.
00:02:43
Speaker
Is it the biggest match in modern program history? Probably as they take on Belgium in the World Cup round of 16 at Seattle Stadium with a place in the quarterfinals on the line. And this morning we're going to be reacting.
FIFA Decisions and Controversies
00:02:56
Speaker
to yesterday's massive news that fuller and balligan is free the suspension has been overturned by the fifa oligarchs we're going to be discussing what exactly that means for the us mnt's chances unpacking the increasingly let's call it spicy and polarizing reaction from around the world and lay down one final preview before seattle hosts another unforgettable world cup night nico thanks for tapping in as always man uh A lot to talk about here this morning as we approach game time for the USMNT. How are you feeling? Are you feeling the World Cup match day, Buzz?
00:03:31
Speaker
Absolutely, man. First of all, hello to all of the Lobby Scorch audience. Happy to be on. And man, I mean, if you're not feeling it with everything that happened, I mean, it might have been the most...
00:03:43
Speaker
interesting and explosive without the fireworks, July 4th weekend that we've ever had, right? I mean, it started with the U.S. international team getting here. The...
00:03:56
Speaker
bomb that that that was dropped on on the fifth in terms of balligan and and why he will play and we'll talk about that here in a little bit uh and then now the game you know it's game time so if you're not feeling it now then you know go check your pulse because you might be a zombie because you you i mean or you don't like the sport but man me i'm feeling it i I'm very curious at how everything's going to play out. ah I honestly have a little bit of anxiety almost of of this game, and the magnitude, what he might mean. i mean, man, I'm really feeling it today. I know I don't play the sport. I'm not out there putting on a jersey like Christian Roldan is, man. But hey, ah my my my pulse is rising. Yeah, no, you and I have, ah we've both covered a lot of big games. You know, we've been to MLS Cups. We've been to CONCACAF Champions Cup Finals.
00:04:46
Speaker
ah We've done the whole nine yards with MLS and CONCACAF. But this whole tournament has been a different level. But this game, this game is a different level. And like you said, this whole decision to ah ah overturn, suspend the suspension,
00:04:59
Speaker
of fuller and balligan it just threw diesel fuel on the fire man now we've got this whole dramatic outlook we've got a villain arc for the usmnt which we're going to talk about it's one of those days where i'm glad i have a podcast or in a youtube show because i got a lot to say about this balligan stuff so i can't wait to get into it so let's get into it uh right now as always if you're watching on youtube please like the video sub to the channel if you have not we're on the road to 4k and i do have to let you all know that lobbing scorchers kickoff is in fact Let's get into it and let's start.
00:05:30
Speaker
the best seattle-based roaster coffee shop and coffee subscription service you can visit them in person at one of the three seattle locations or online and use code ls seventy four for twenty five percent off anything across the site but ah go to go ahead and go to loingscors dot com slash coffee get your subscription today ah support a local business and support the show but ah all right nikco enough housekeeping let's get into it and let's start with the news about Fuller and Balogun, who obviously was sent off on video review in the U S is two zero win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the round of 32.
00:06:07
Speaker
I think most people were under the assumption that this was not going to happen. This that was not going to get overturned and that the U.S. was going to have to play without Balogun for this game. But as of yesterday, like you said, FIFA drops a huge bombshell. Fuller and Balogun is no longer suspended. I think Belgium is appealing this morning. But as of what I know, Fuller and Balogun is no longer suspended. They suspended the suspension. Okay. FIFA did not actually technically overturn the red card itself. That's an important detail. They have suspended the suspension. It's we got suspension inception. You got suspension inside of the suspension inside of the suspension. Balogun still technically has this red card on his record, but FIFA's dislin disciplinary committee invoked all Article 27 of the FIFA disciplinary code. Shout out to Article 27, baby. They should be renaming that one to Article 1776. Am I right? For the USA to place the automatic one game ban on a one year probationary area period. So Balogun is on probation, but this will allow him to play against Belgium. If he commits a similar offense within the next year, the suspension will be reactivated. That's part of it. But obviously, needless to say, this was a controversial development because World Cup red cards are generally considered automatic one match suspensions. So ah Belgium, I think it's safe to say their coach and their federation are not happy about this. They're less than pleased is how I would describe their demeanor. But a lot of neutral fans as well are arguing that FIFA has created an exception here kind of out of thin air because the original call was viewed as harsh and because of the magnitude of this match and also the player in question. Balogun is one of the breakout stars of the tournament for one of the host nations.
00:07:48
Speaker
ah So FIFA's public reasoning is essentially that Article 27 gives the disciplinary committee discretion to suspend enforcement of a sanction in exceptional exceptional circumstances, which clearly they have determined that these are indeed exceptional circumstances. Yeah.
00:08:04
Speaker
Nico, with that context laid out right there, like I said, I have a lot to say. i have a lot to say about this. i I can't wait to get into it, but I'll give you the floor first. What was your initial reaction when you heard this news? And what's your take on the FIFA oligarchs whole contention with this? And also, you know, the reaction that we've seen, which has been decidedly negative, like the whole rest of the world kind of hates us right now, which You know, it's kind of sick on one level, but it's also in unexpected development. what What are your initial thoughts?
00:08:42
Speaker
Initially, I thought it was fake news or that it was an A.I. picture. And, you know, like I i was out flew out of town for the whole weekend. I was in Lake Chelan and I tried not to.
00:08:57
Speaker
get on my phone and and try not to other than watching the games, of course, over the weekend. i wasn't trying to be on social media. I wasn't trying to you know read the news. But my oldest son told me about it. And i was like, don't listen to that. I mean, it's it's it's a lie. i mean, it's it's it's not true. It's not going to happen. Like, no, look, that it's this outlet and this outlet that spread it out. So I start to look into it. And it felt surreal. And I kind of got a little bit of FOMO where I'm like, oh, my God, this is all happening. And I'm totally away from everything. I've not been able to go to the training sessions, anything like that.
00:09:32
Speaker
And as I begin to, as you do with an onion, peel layers off of this news, I don't kind of started to cry a little just like you would with with the news, with with with an onion, because I that so many mixed feelings. It was kind of weird. it was It was so odd because you had, and I'm sure we're going to talk about this, and you're probably going to talk about this as well. You had all the reports.
00:10:00
Speaker
You had the reason of Article 27, which, although not very clear and gave you the...
00:10:13
Speaker
almost the the idea that it's just FIFA's wild card, that they could do whatever they want with and and and they could use this vague verbiage to just change an appeal of a red card.
00:10:28
Speaker
A lot like the tuck rule in the NFL, something that nobody ever knew about it until it happened and this kind of came about. And then you had all of the, how do I phrase this adequately? All of the,
00:10:41
Speaker
government officials and this other layer of is the United States government pressuring to get this done? So it wasn't until later that night that I started to put it all together and figure out that I'm not going to be able to solve the case. And I just got to take all the day information as it comes to me. So what i concluded is that As much as I believe that Balligan's red card was BS and that he did not deserve to miss out on this game, I do frown upon and I don't like the potential that if this U.S. best national team does win today, there'll be this asterisk next to it.
00:11:31
Speaker
Do people really care? Maybe not. It's all about just wins a lot of times, but I dislike it, especially when... this the geopolitical situation of the country doesn't quite help. And it's not even about being hated around the world. It's almost as if this team that has been so proud of what they've accomplished, they've been so good on the field. They've been able to endure so much criticism. They've been able to endure ah the pressure of playing at home with this golden generation. Now they're going to have this, oh, well,
00:12:09
Speaker
They needed help to beat Belgium because without Balogun, they wouldn't have. And and that that bothers me. It rubs me the wrong way because I don't feel like that's the case. But any time that a a rule comes out of nowhere like this and provides fuel to those that believe there is some sort of advantage,
00:12:34
Speaker
as a hosting nation or, or in any sport really that because they are this team and they have all this power behind it, they get away with whatever they want.
VAR and Its Impact on Matches
00:12:45
Speaker
With Real Madrid, we talk about it you know to the end of time. we we We've had that same sort of situation with Club America and Mexico. There's all these same situations where specific teams have this narrative of, oh, yes, of course, they won because they always get the help. And I just don't feel like it's fair to this team. So that's the only thing that really bothers me. But as much as...
00:13:13
Speaker
I feel like Balogun deserves to play this game. Two wrongs don't make a right. So so I'm just really conflicted into where that decision was wrong.
00:13:23
Speaker
The way this is being handled is kind of wrong because I don't really know. i don't have any clarity necessarily of how it happened. You have the president tweeting things. You have pressure from the government, which, by the way, is against FIFA rules and and and regulations. yeah So there's just so much to it that that.
00:13:42
Speaker
it's hard to really be focused on what it really means, which is that the U.S. s national team will have their best 11 out there against Belgium. So, yeah, that's kind of all of it in a nutshell.
00:13:55
Speaker
Yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean about the conflicting emotions. And I think what it is ultimately is a discussion about like between the optics and what the actual outcome was. And I guess that's where I'll start with my takeaways. I guess first, ah my initial reaction when I saw the news, like you said, I thought it was fake. I was clicking on the the link to the athletic story and I was like, this is a real athletic story with their reporters bylines on it. This seems real. And even then I was like, some i in my head, I was like, someone set up a fake athletic website like and made it look real and put their reporters bylines on it because there's no way like everything that we had heard and talked about with this was that it wasn't there was no appeal process and that even if we thought the call was garbage there was kind of nothing to be done we did a whole podcast where we debated who to start between haji right and ricardo pepe like that's where my mindset was at with it so when it actually happened, I was pretty shocked. I did not know article 27 existed. Shout out to article 27, but I did not know that that was a thing.
00:15:01
Speaker
ah And FIFA actually pulling out this obscure disciplinary pro provision was, i guess, not surprising when it's, when it sets in and you were like, okay, it's FIFA. This is kind of how they do that. But when I first saw it, I was like, there's just, there's no way that they actually did this, but it turns out that they did.
00:15:20
Speaker
ah and On one level, okay, I'll just start with like the the core of my argument about this because I feel like a lot of the online discussion has lost the plot and people are arguing about things that are actually not at issue in a lot of these cases. That's true. And and and I'll start with... with two things I think can be true. The optics are bad, terrible. Like there's no question about that. I think any USMNT fan would be kidding themselves to deny that, like with everything that you just laid out. But the optics can both be bad and the sporting outcome can still be correct. Like I will i will say that. And so I think there's a discussion to be had there. ah And I think the biggest thing that people need to understand with this is...
00:16:05
Speaker
The issue with this whole discussion is actually not related to whether Balogun's challenge was technically a red card or not. We can all have our opinions on that. I think it's a bullshit red card. A lot of people agree with that. A lot of people think that it was a valid red card and they're entitled to that opinion. ah You're going to you're going to have conflicting viewpoints on that, but that's not what this is about. And we need to be able to get past and set aside what our opinions are on the call itself to actually like like productively discuss this. OK, the issue is not whether it was a red card or not.
00:16:37
Speaker
The issue is that VAR is absolutely not supposed to be intervening on those kinds of plays. They are not. They are trained not to do that. They are told not to do that repeatedly. I've been complaining about this in MLS all season, and everyone who watches our shows that cover the Sounders knows that, but they are repeatedly intervening. over and over and over again, intervening on these plays and reversing these calls when they are not supposed to do it, man. And they can't get it through their heads on when they're supposed to intervene on in these situations and when they're not. And this play in particular is a picture perfect example of a, of a situation where they are absolutely not supposed to intervene to begin with. And that is not debatable. Okay. And that's what you have to understand first and foremost, uh,
00:17:22
Speaker
Regarding what's at issue with this discussion in the first place. It's not about the call. All right. It's about the fact that VAR intervened when they were not supposed to. The entire point of VAR is to correct clear and obvious errors. And what keeps happening in MLS internationally and everywhere around the world. Talk to EPL fans. They'll tell they'll tell you the same thing is that VAR drifts into this thing where it it becomes Let's look at this again and see if we actually like a different decision than the one that we came to, even though it's a subjective 50-50 call. That's not what VAR is. That's not what it was sold as. That's not what it's supposed to do. And you cannot have situations. You cannot have it. It's unacceptable to have situations where they are intervening in those situations when they're not supposed to. And you are having players sent off retroactively and getting suspended for the next next game when you were ah when you weren't supposed to intervene to begin with. You can't have it. It's a huge problem with VAR. They haven't been able to fix it. They need to fix it or the people who talk about how VAR is ruining the game and are going to be right. OK, so that is that's point number one. And in my opinion, reasonable people can look at this play in question and think that Balogun deserved a red card.
00:18:30
Speaker
Reasonable people can look at it and think that he deserved a yellow. That's kind of where I come down. I think it was a yellow card play and it should have been called a yellow on the field, but it wasn't. And reasonable reasonable people can also believe that if the ref did not call a card on the play, which he didn't, then it should have been left as no card. All three of those positions have a valid point in backing to them. The moment that there are multiple reasonable outcomes like that,
00:18:56
Speaker
That is exactly the situation where VAR should be staying out of it. it's's Those are situations where it has to be staying out of it, okay? Like, you can't have VAR intervening on these calls in these situations. You can't have it. It's unacceptable. So all of that is true despite the optics, I think. And again, I've complained about this in MLS all season. They need to fix how it is applied in the situations where it's intervened. And when you have these situations where VAR is becoming becoming a retroactive second referee, that's a huge problem. Another point on this play in particular, the the slow motion aspect that violated protocol. VAR officials are often use slow motion review for subjective decisions. But the reason that they're told to not show them those slow motion and screen grab stills is because slow motion can, it can exaggerate force, intent and recklessness.
00:19:54
Speaker
OK, that is why they tell them not to show them those things that they showed on the play. It has value for identifying contact. But so like there is a utility for it. But when a borderline challenge is primarily evaluated through slow motion, it pushes refs towards harsher judgments. And that's why they tell them not to do that. And they did that in that situation, which violated protocol. All right. So that's what we're talking about here. We're not talking about the actual call itself. And that's not what FIFA is actually citing with Article 27. What they're saying is that this should not have gone to VAR to begin with.
00:20:27
Speaker
Those calls can't go to VAR to begin with. And the VAR got that wrong. I saw some pundits say, how do you think the VAR feels right now? His credibility got undermined. I don't give a shit how the VAR, he got the call wrong. He messed it up. He bungled the protocol. He should feel bad. Like if it takes,
00:20:45
Speaker
humiliating a VAR official to get the point across to these guys that they can't be intervening in those situations, then maybe that's what we have to do, man. I don't know. But like, I've been talking about how this stuff needs to stop long before this Balogin call. And it's actually just such like a picture perfect tailor-made example of the entire issue with VAR. So...
00:21:06
Speaker
that I don't know. Maybe if people disagree with what I'm saying with that, like you you're welcome to
FIFA's Reputation and Influence
00:21:11
Speaker
your own opinion. But to me, it's been pretty clear cut the the whole time that that was a horrendously bungled call, not because of the merits of whether or not it was a red card, but because of whether or not VAR should have sent that to the monitor in the first place, which they in indisputably should not have. There's no that that part is not debatable. So.
00:21:30
Speaker
If you're like on Twitter cooking up screen grabs and like slowing it down to zero zero zero point four to three frames per second. Right. When Balogans studs make contact with his ankle, you're not cooking.
00:21:42
Speaker
OK, that is completely irrelevant to the to the discussion. So I just wish people would understand that. ah But now, Nico, all that being said, the optics. are awful. You got the host nation for one, you got the star striker who is, ah someone who it definitely seems like is getting preferential treatment in this situation. It's the biggest U S soccer game in decades. You have the reports that you mentioned that the president is calling infantino, which that is a violation of protocol. the Infantino getting involved to begin with, that is tough optically. And then FIFA finding this obscure Article 27 statute provision or whatever, that also looks really bad and really shady. So definitely not going to sit here and deny that. But that's where I think where it comes in, what you're talking about with like feeling torn on it. Because I feel pretty strongly that the actual outcome of this is just. And that this... And that and I hope that it sets that people are like, what kind of precedent does this set? I hope it sets the precedent that when VAR officials bungle these calls like this, that you can go back and change it and lift the suspensions when they were intervening in situations where they were not supposed to intervene because it is equally harmful to the integrity of the competition to be having players. And in this case, a star player getting suspended on a VAR call. That's not supposed to happen to begin with based on how the the protocol and the process is supposed to work. They bungled the process on this call so
00:23:07
Speaker
Badly. And like, I don't think there's any question about that. So I think the bottom line is, you know, if this happened to for Brazil, Argentina or France, like would I be sitting here and talking about how shady it is and how poor the optics are? Yeah, I definitely would. And i admit that. But bad optics does not equal wrong outcome necessarily.
00:23:29
Speaker
And optics can be bad and the sporting result can still be correct. So to me, the debate becomes, did FIFA ultimately reach the sporting outcome? I think there's a strong argument that they did. And another thing I'll say, too, is like a little bit of the outrage regarding FIFA corruption feels a little performative to me. I mean, we're really acting shocked that FIFA would operate. and this is like maybe this is some people's first rodeo. But FIFA, this is when we talk about PR and optics and how things look, they don't operate under that. They don't care about that. They they roll how they roll. It's FIFA's world. We all just live in it, man. like This is the type of stuff they do all the time. The idea that it's like somehow unique to the United States or that they've never done stuff like this before that's shady optically, I find that like a little laughable and disingenuous. But ah politics, discretion, controversy, that's all part of the package when it comes to FIFA, baby. That's how they roll. The outrage...
00:24:27
Speaker
it It's like FIFA suddenly changed over the weekend. FIFA has always done what it wants, does not care about optics. And really, I think it's a sign that we made it as a footballing nation, Nico. All right. Welcome to big boy football. Everyone talks about ah how they wanted American soccer to be relevant to matter. Congratulations. We now matter enough that people think that FIFA is rigging the world cup for us. So I guess on one level, maybe we've made it, but, uh,
00:24:53
Speaker
That's I know I just want i just went on a rant there, but I feel pickin it have this So that's my that's my initial initial take on it is I just wish that more of the discourse in the discussion would be pertaining to what's actually at issue here, which is not the call itself.
00:25:10
Speaker
But the VAR intervention in the first place, which they are getting wrong, not just in the World Cup, but like. time and time again over and over and it's exhausting to watch and it may it it makes the people who crash out about how unwatchable the games are have good points when they when they do shit like this man so uh again torn torn between how bad optically it is and how passionately i feel that the actual just outcome was genuinely served at the end of the day so anyway what do you think what do you think of that nico Well, first of all, i ah second everything that you said.
00:25:45
Speaker
i would like to clarify that we have to separate this group of guys. They have no say in any of this, right? So people that are appalled at Pochettino hasn't said anything in regards to this is fair or not fair, or when they've asked players with within the team ah that no one has gone out of their way to say anything other than, look, I was shocked. I thought it was fake at first. And, you know, we we heard from the news and we were trying to figure out what was going on.
00:26:28
Speaker
they have no say over this. they They are just riding along the wave. And if their teammate and obviously Pogetino's guy is available for this game, then he's got to use them and he is going to do what he needs to do to get,
00:26:47
Speaker
to the next round. And and that's okay. The other stuff is where we're, we should be having this conversation. So we, we need to separate the team and allow them to just play this game and and keep them completely away from the controversy.
00:27:06
Speaker
The thing that I end up consistently thinking is that FIFA is the only player person or entity to be blamed on this whole thing.
00:27:21
Speaker
It would have been so much easier a day after the Bosnia-Herzegovina game, say, look, we looked at things, this should have not happened, or if before this was leaked or reported, if FIFA would have put out a statement clarifying everything, i don't think you and I would be sitting here as shocked and as conflicted as we are right now. Because as of last night, right before I went to sleep,
00:27:54
Speaker
Belgium still had not gotten a statement from FIFA clarifying any of it. And they are sitting there, leave you know, wondering what it is that's that's happening. You have UEFA talking about disbelief. And look, that's also the problem.
00:28:12
Speaker
A lot of irony and almost hypocrisy coming from UEFA that they're they trying to feel like they are the the moral compass of anything because they've been involved in a lot of murky stuff, sometimes to their advantage. So I'm not so worried about that. But it is FIFA's job to make sure that all of this gets clarified. and I'm hoping they do that sooner rather than later and and and maybe just not be silent and allow this to happen and leave it at article 27 that they pulled out of their wallet to to really explain the whole the whole thing, right? Because again, yes, optics are bad, but me, I personally don't like any team, regardless of the sport, to be above...
Belgium's Reaction and Strategy
00:29:02
Speaker
the norm and and the regulations, if this had been appealed normally, if this, to to everything that you said, a minute ago, if you had to use all those arguments to overturn this, that would have been fine. But look, there hasn't been a thing I was reading somewhere that there hasn't been a red card that didn't result in a within a tournament in a suspension in in a World Cup since 1962. And in the reason of it is because it it it is a very different situation. And other than the fact that it was a bad call, VAR was used,
00:29:39
Speaker
inadequately or not to the letter of the law. It was very easy to go ahead and just put that out there. But the silent allows all of this speculation and Donald Trump's not helping the case by trying to basically pat himself on the back and and saying I did this, I called Infantino or whatever it may be. he's also so he's He's actually messing things up. So I still don't know, to be quite honest, quite frank, what's going to happen.
00:30:12
Speaker
When the whistle is blown, I really don't. I don't know if there is going to be some sort of other decision made. of right now, this is the information that we have. But I'm just curious on how this is all going to play out and and what FIFA is going to end up saying to clear the air.
00:30:33
Speaker
Yeah, let's talk about ah Belgium's reaction to this, because ah like you mentioned, they have they have an appeal going in right now. And they immediately their federation came out with a statement that was basically talking about how this is an outrage and unprecedented and yada, yada. we're going to They said something to the effect of, like, we're going to pull out every mechanism to address this. Rudy Garcia, their coach at his press conference, said, I didn't realize that it was April Fool's Day. yeah came out with, like, a scathing rebuke of this decision. And I will say this, okay. ah
00:31:09
Speaker
They have every right to be annoyed. Like I do not begrudge them that at all. They prepared all all weekly or all entire time leading up to this game as if they were not going to be playing against Balogun. So they have a right to be pressed about that. And if and I was in their position, I would be annoyed, too. But I do think the extent of how much they're committed to the outrage is a little interesting.
00:31:31
Speaker
I think there's, there's a, it's worth kind of diving into that and why we think that they are reacting that way. ah Because yeah, it is, it is annoying from their perspective. It's, it's probably, they probably feel they very aggrieved deservedly. They probably think that this is unfair, ah but there's part of me that's looking at it and like, okay, yeah, I can understand being annoyed, perhaps very annoyed about this. Yeah.
00:31:57
Speaker
But you're also you are the Belgium national team. You are a perennial top 10 national team in the world. At some point, even with Balogun or not, the expectation should be that the Belgium should beat the United States today by all rights. Like I know we all have been talking about how they're weakened compared to past generations. And I think that that's kind of bared itself out throughout the tournament so far. But again, they are the Belgium national team. Balogun matters a lot. But I think we we should keep this in perspective a little bit. He is a very good player. He changes the matchup. He has been a breakout star in this tournament.
00:32:30
Speaker
It's Fuller and Baligan. All right. He is the eighth best striker in league o where he plays for one of the teams. That's not PSG. He had 14 goals in league play last year. This is not Lionel Messi crossed with Mbappe. If you injected him with Pele's DNA that you're dropping in, there is Fuller and Baligan. So,
00:32:53
Speaker
Belgium, it feels like to me that they are trying to set up a bit of a narrative here ah that, you know, if we lose, it was because they got a player back that they weren't supposed to have back. And this is unfair. And they they want their they they're setting up that asterisk narrative to be able to see say that and use it as an excuse in case they lose. That's the only reason you react like that.
00:33:17
Speaker
The only reason you react like that is to set up that narrative and also if you're scared of the player and of the team that you're about to play, why else would you be saying all this stuff? You know? So I think that it is interesting that they are, are acting like this, but like I just, the just the way that their coach talked about it and the way their federation talked about it.
00:33:43
Speaker
i I wouldn't want my my coach to be saying that stuff. I really wouldn't. I think that's implanting the wrong mindset in your team psychologically when you start making excuses before the game is even played. Like I i would want the, ah i'll I'll lay down what I would want my coach to say in this type of situation because like there's different schools of thought on it, but man, like I'm kind of of the, ah of the Mike McDonald school of thought on this. Okay. If they, if they asked, if they asked, my coach that question what I would want him to say is ah oh Fuller and Balogun is actually playing now guess what we do not care who's in the opposing lineup we are the Belgium national team we are one of the best teams in the world play Fuller and Balogun play Ricardo Pepe Article 27? Article 27. How about Article 27 of my ass? Okay. How about Article 27 of my ass? get Call the president. Call in Fantino.
00:34:37
Speaker
Get them to call the Norwegian Federation and switch Erlings-Hollings citizenship and start him in this game. We don't give a shit. We're Belgium. Tell us what stadium we're playing at. Tell them what time tell us what time the match kicks off.
00:34:48
Speaker
We'll see you there. We'll be there. We'll see what you got. That's the more the mindset and mentality that I would want my coach to be expressing more than, oh, they got this really good player back. Wow, that's really going change the match to work against us, and this is already unfair. I don't know.
00:35:02
Speaker
I don't know. don't know. I'm just saying. What do you think? and To each his own, but, you know, I do put myself in that situation, and if it was Columbia, I would be having a whole – head gasket blown type of rant right now. And if I'm the coach of a team, i just want to be in the same playing field. And if my opposition is getting,
00:35:33
Speaker
an advantage over me, i have to show some sort of anger. So I, I, I'm the opposite. I feel like if I'm a player, I want my coach to step up for me and say, this is fucking bullshit. This guy should be off the field, yada, yada, this, that, and the other. So that, that part, I understand completely that. I mean, it first of all, it's also part of,
00:35:54
Speaker
your usual mental warfare with everything. You're also trying to keep your job if you're Rudy Garcia, because look, this is, he's had a bad rough tournament.
00:36:07
Speaker
taking off Doku and De Bruyne at the end of the game against Senegal, that took a lot of stones. If that flips on him, he would have been gone. And I still think that if he loses to this USMNT team, he'll be gone. So he has to be able to fight for his job.
USMNT's Global Standing and Expectations
00:36:22
Speaker
So it's a human emotion to just feel that way. However, not to get away from the real problem or not to get away from what this this is really about.
00:36:33
Speaker
there needs to be less involvement from people that have nothing to do with US Federation, ah FIFA, CONCACAF, or UEFA, right? All of these outsiders and all of this noise about, you know, politicians and politics and sports, that's supposed to be separate. And that's why you have all those clauses and and rules and regulations about you you can't have that involvement in it. And that's my issue with it. So,
00:37:03
Speaker
Whether the coach is upset or Marisol Pochettino doing it very well in this, all the guys, I think Chris Richards talked and a couple of other guys talked and they were like, look, man, whatever happens, we're just going to play. and And, you know, if if he plays, i'm I'm happy that he plays. that They're taking the the right approach to it. But at the end of the day, it is going to be about – the optics a little bit. And that's where I feel like it's, it's unfair. And again, maybe this team doesn't care that if they beat this Belgian team three, one, as as I think that they will, and this is just hanging over them.
00:37:43
Speaker
I don't know. I don't know if anybody cares, but, but, but I do, I just, I feel like these guys don't deserve it. They they should be given that credit for just being the better team on the field. Yeah, if i if I had to nutshell my whole perspective on it, I would just say yeah the optics are awful, comically bad. Honestly, this the whole process, the article 27, it's weird. FIFA remains FIFA. FIFA is always going to FIFA. ah But, i you know, I do think that anyone who's acting like there's not a legitimate argument that they arrived at the right sporting outcome, the purely right sporting outcome. That's true. You're kidding yourself. And you're also you're everyone who's arguing that is talking about something entirely different than what's going on. Like I like I said in my big rant, they're talking about the red card call and not the VAR protocol, which is that those are two separate things that we need to be able to distinguish in our minds in order to like correctly assess this. And people are just not talking about the the right thing in that way.
00:38:42
Speaker
ah But, you know, again, the fact that the USA is now at the center of a raging FIFA corruption controversy, may it might actually be evidence that American soccer has finally actually arrived in the global conversation. But what do you think of the whole it feels like there is a villain arc?
00:38:58
Speaker
now for this team. This team went from being considered a kind of surprise emerging team on the global stage that was, i think, playing a lot better than expectations going into the tournament, for sure, and sort of earning respect. But now it's a team that...
00:39:17
Speaker
pretty much everyone else in the world feels like got gifted preferenceent preferential treatment ah as a host nation and the president making a phone call, which that part of it to me feels like a guy taking credit for something that might have been the outcome anyway. I think he loves saying, oh, I made the phone call to do it. But like it's they probably they With the VAR protocol, Article 27 rationale, they could have come to that exact same conclusion without whatever. So I don't know how much that actually influenced it, but it looks bad for sure is the point. And people are correct to point out how bad it looks. And it's kind of fueled this sort of... i don't know if... Is it overstating it to say this team is becoming like a ah villain in in many people's eyes? Or do you think that's something that maybe they can...
00:40:08
Speaker
lean into everyone's against us type of vibe? like no I think it will. And again, I still don't know if Lauren Balligan is going to be walking into that pitch tonight. I really don't know. like i i understand that that is everyone's expectation and that's what's going on right now. But if he does and this U.S. national team win or they're going to be looked at poorly and as the villains. And if they do win, just like England was already talking about, well, should we be appealing for our red card to be rescinded? Because there there was a similar situation in the Mexico. not Not similar because it's obviously more intentional, but he has every right to just joke around with the premise of, hey, look, if Mulligan's not going to play, then maybe we need to have that similar treatment. So you are going to become a team that everybody is targeting and everybody, you're in everybody's mouth.
USMNT vs Belgium Game Strategies
00:41:04
Speaker
You're the the one that everybody's going to be shooting for and talking about.
00:41:10
Speaker
But my concern to your point is this one. And maybe I'm overthinking it. The one thing about Belgium that hasn't quite worked that I continue to see every single game since I started watching them in the group stage is that they were not a great collective, that there was a lot of individual play in the Senegal game, and and I've said this ah in a couple of shows, Romelu Lukaku stops a fight between Trazard and Tillemans in the second break, in the second hydration, in the hydration break of the second half.
00:41:53
Speaker
And he pulls these two guys apart and he's like, get it together, da-da-da-da-da. Jeremy Doku gets pulled off. He looks upset. um De Bruyne was not happy coming off either.
00:42:05
Speaker
it seemed like there was some tension between Rudy Garcia and some of the guys. So does this cement the team? Does this unify them? Because now they feel like they're being jaded and and now they have like a common goal to prove that if that's what's going to happen, that they're going to be the better team.
00:42:23
Speaker
I'm slightly concerned about it because that that mental aspect is what I think Belgium hasn't had. They haven't looked very cohesive. They haven't, they look very disjointed and as a group, I'm talking to some of the Belgium ah media members here too.
00:42:37
Speaker
They were real tough on, on Doku calling him that he's been shit all, all, ah all tournament. And because he has had family things, which is completely understandable. They haven't liked what Rudy Garcia has done. So they, they have issues of their own that I think has weighed that team down.
00:42:53
Speaker
Does this cement that group? Man, I hope, I certainly hope not ah for this use of national teams. Yeah. Yeah, let's let's ah talk about the actual game itself a little bit. I think we we did enough on the Balogun discourse. We had to go in on that, and we're 40 minutes into the show. so we can talk about the game itself a little bit. I'm curious where your head's at, because I've sort of been talking about how I've been torn between ah really Like I've watched a lot of Belgium this tournament. I've been to both of their games in Seattle. and I watched their other group stage game. i watch I watched all their games. All right. And I do feel like I've been fighting this urge to be like, I feel like this team doesn't look that good and that they look beatable. But I also have been really been trying to be mindful if I'm coping and rationalizing and I'm setting myself up for them to come out and look like a top 10, top five team in the world again and just blow the U.S. off the field.
00:43:51
Speaker
And like how likely is that outcome? But I think, you know, I think where I come down on it is that like and hearing you say that about your interactions with the Belgian media, that kind of confirms what I feel like I've been seeing, which is a team that's been getting by in these games. but not dominating and not overwhelming anyone in these games. I mean, I was at the Senegal game and Senegal was beating them like a drum for like the first 80 minutes of that game game. And then they self-destructed after the 85th minute and credit to Belgium for making the comeback, but they were hanging on for dear life and flying by the seat of their pants in that game. There's just no doubt about it. So how likely is it that the U S with the crowd behind them can create a game state like Senegal did, where they're kind of pretty much on top of this Belgian team, the entire game.
00:44:36
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. Belgium's going to come out. they're going to be They're going to be pissed off about this whole Balogun situation. Like you said, they're going to be motivated. And they the other thing about this team that I am really, really trying not to overlook is they ah they got their top-end talent is still elite, and it's got a lot of big-game experience. Like,
00:44:57
Speaker
When I look at when I look at how KDB's played in this tournament, it's not like he's been lighting the world on fire, but he's still KDB. He can come out with a goal or a great play or a line breaking pass or any a dime to set up a goal at any time in any given game. And you never know when it's going to happen. For however much they've struggled in this ah in this tournament, Lukaku has looked excellent, like mostly coming off the bench, but he actually started their last game and scored a goal as well. And he kind of looks as automatic, if not more automatic than Balogun right now in front of goal, frankly. So Lukaku has been in good form. He's dangerous. He definitely scares me. Someone was, ah we had a commenter on one of our last videos who was getting, he was like, you guys are talking about Belgium and you're not bringing up Trossard? Like, okay, yeah, yes, they they have a lot of very good players. I don't think I need to go down the list to explain that to anybody. They have Trossard, they have KDB, they have Lukaku, they have Doku. These are all match-winning players that can hurt you at any given moment in any given game. And...
00:45:59
Speaker
That remains the case, even with the form and the struggles that Belgium has had in this tournament so far. So I don't know. I'm kind of torn on that as well. I'm trying to like measure my assessment of them while also acknowledging that they have not been particularly good in this tournament. I mean, they just really have not.
00:46:17
Speaker
They've been a disappointment to me, and they have been underwhelming, and they have been more out of games this so far than in games. I mean, they've been just rowing against the current, right? From the very beginning against Egypt to this game against Senegal, where, as you mentioned, Senegal themselves, I think...
00:46:38
Speaker
They had a lot of disbelief and they dropped far too deep. And there were mistakes made. I mean, as much as I... do credit Belgium for having the courage to make things happen. Cause you are, you have to force mistakes for mistakes to happen.
00:46:58
Speaker
Both goals are a mistake. Once on a, on a bad turnover. The second second one oh bat is, is Dia who is obviously taking over for Mendy who left because of a um knee injury that probably took him out of the the whole tournament. Um,
00:47:15
Speaker
against Norway, he he had to get the call, and he had an awful, awful, terrible mistake that results in the equalizer for Belgium. They steal the momentum. Senegal tries to get it back, but they really can't. And then a PK. A PK on a VAR call is what ultimately decides that game of Belgium, the super team, against Senegal, right?
00:47:42
Speaker
This is an unpopular take, or I've heard some that like it, some that don't. I was more concerned to face Senegal in this round of the the stage of the World Cup than I was of Belgium.
00:47:58
Speaker
Because of the physicality, because of their press, because of their speed, because, again, they really... controlled the majority of this game, maybe not in possession, but in terms of their game and the way they want to approach it. I mean, their XG was like 3.8 to Belgium's like 1.5 or something along those lines because they just created more chances. So going into this game, i continue to feel that...
00:48:27
Speaker
If hopefully this whole controversy doesn't cement that team and make them drum at the right beat altogether, because I think that would take them to a whole other level. Their biggest issue is that individually they have a lot of talent and that makes them dangerous because it could click at any single moment, just like it did against Senegal.
00:48:49
Speaker
But their lack of collective play made me feel pretty good about this. And I think that this US national team is better in transition defense. And I think that the rest of defense is better than Senegal's was. And I think that they will be able to, if not stop, at least contain Trezard who has been, I think the most consistent player for Belgium so far in this tournament.
00:49:19
Speaker
And as long as Jeremy Doku continues to have duds and you're able to get him off his game, be very physical. I noticed that about Doku that you got to get a shoulder on him. You cannot allow him to just gravitate to where he wants to get into his own spaces. You got to brace him with at least two players to keep him contained. i thought Senegal put a good blueprint on how to take Jeremy Doku out of the game. And that put that team into some issues. And I do think that your start ends up being a big player for this team. Because once you took the Breuner off, Trezard was kind of the guy that got into that inside channel playing those inside pockets. And then you like the you allowed the the ride back to push higher and you started creating a lot of overloads.
00:50:00
Speaker
But in this game against the USP national team, regardless of Romelu Lukaku being mainly a spark plug player, because that's what he has been, I think that they're a lot more predictable when he's on the field, but he has the savviness, the physicality, the experience to dominate a game, just like you saw him there in this game against Senegal. But this three-man back line,
00:50:27
Speaker
benefits off of his lack of pace. And a lot of what Romelu Lukaku was trying to do there at the end of the game without, you know, maybe the the mistake that happened and some of the things that he did was that he he was having to pivot and that's not his game. they They were trying to get the wingers to have a little bit more of the game. They were trying to open up some spaces. So I do think that there is a lot of misunderstanding of what Rudy Garcia wants to do with his squad and and the way they want to play. So in terms of system concepts and what we've seen out of this tournament, I think that the U.S. International Team is the better side.
00:51:03
Speaker
So that's why I feel confident. I think that... They match up well. The U.S. national team matches up well to not just counter what Belgium does well, but to expose a lot of what we saw that they cannot do right. And that's why Balgan ends up being such an important player because...
00:51:25
Speaker
Ismail Assar, the Crystal Palace forward, he was a problem all game long because of his speed, his physicality, the way he was coming in and out, the way he was keeping those center backs busy, the the the spaces he was getting into, getting behind the back line of Belgium. And I think that Balgan can do a lot of those things. So with what I've seen from this team so far,
00:51:53
Speaker
As long as Tillman continues to play as great as he has been, McKenzie making those hard runs into open space, attacking space without the ball, I really think that Belgium is going to have a lot of issues with the attack of Mauricio Pochettino's crew. And that's why I, so far, and without this controversy, this was prior, this whole thing, I thought that the U.S. national team was going to win this game 3-1. And I'm going to sit tall on that.
00:52:21
Speaker
All right. You got the 3-1. Yeah, as far as Doku goes, I kind of don't know if it's a good or a bad thing that he hasn't been in good form. Because on one hand, it's like, yeah, I think Senegal did a great job neutralizing him. And, ah you know, I thought Egypt i did a great job on Doku as well. But a player that's that talented in that dynamic, you know...
00:52:42
Speaker
If they're not playing well, it feels like they're due for one, maybe, you know? So that's what I'm kind of just trying to stay measured on is it's like these guys, like as much as they have been struggling as a team, this top end talent that they have is it's It's better than the USMNTs. I think they should be the favorites in this game based on that, even with the fact that the USMNT has been ripping it up and in a great form and they have not been ripping it up and have not been in great form. It's like they are they are still Belgium. But again, I think the i think the way that though they're reacting to the Balogun thing is pretty telling. like I wouldn't expect Rudy Garcia or their federation to... ah
00:53:24
Speaker
to go as far as I did in my little speech earlier. I would not, i would not expect them to use the phrase article 27 of my ass ah necessarily, but like the fact that they're so outraged and aggrieved about this. I think that I genuinely think that that tells you that they are sweating this matchup more, definitely more. You think they would be that they would give, they would give a shit who was starting for us at striker in 2014 when we had Chris Wondolowski and the gang out there. Like, no, they would, it would not be a thing. I mean, it's a sign of how far the U.S. player pool has come and how good Balogun is on one hand, I guess, that they're so pissed off about
Home Advantage and Fan Support
00:54:03
Speaker
this. But I think it ah it's telling to me about that their mindset is that we feel like if this guy plays, that means that oh it's like, oh, no, like we we actually have a way bigger chance of losing now. so i look i I disagree. I just think that
00:54:22
Speaker
You know how they say don't give the opposition locker room material? Like Rudy Garcia is using this because he he's going to go. He's everything that he said to me. He's going back to his players and saying, see what I'm doing? I'm out just taking my neck out for you.
00:54:37
Speaker
They want to cheat you guys out of this World Cup. They want to get you guys out because it's the Yanks and we're in their house and all of these things. he He's using that material to get this team going. And that's a little scary. That is a wrinkle that I was not prepared for.
00:54:54
Speaker
And that can make this game a lot closer. And I'm curious, like you said, I mean, there are all these question marks and and potential scenarios where if Doug who plays like he's been playing at his best for Man City, that's a problem. If if you get... um The Kitsilare to finally have a decent game because he's been a dud all tournament long. That's the guy that I was watching, looking because he's been killing Serie And that that's a guy that I thought he was going to be one of the breakout players for Belgium that hasn't. If he has a big game because now he's so motivated with his whole thing, that's going to be a problem. So whatever it is.
00:55:34
Speaker
I think that Mauricio Pochettino needs to be telling these guys, this other team is going to come out blazing hot. So you have to play at your very best. You got to keep them...
00:55:45
Speaker
You got to keep them down. And that that's something that I said right after the game ah against Belgium, where they asked me, you know, what is it that makes this Belgium team special? And it's the fact that they're never out of any game. And and so you need to put them down early and keep them there. You you cannot take your foot off the gas or your foot off their neck. You have to be able to keep them down. And so it's going to be important for this US West National team to have a very quick start. You've seen how easy...
00:56:15
Speaker
how much easier the games have been for this team when they start with the lead early, when they're controlling the game early and they're able to modify and they're able to game and they're able to do all these things. So that's going to be key, key against Belgium. It's a great point. Something that this team has been really good at ah in this tournament is starting fast and scoring early. And ah it's they're optimizing this home field advantage that they have for this tournament in That way they've been getting the crowd behind them. They've been getting the crowd going they've been getting on top of these teams They've been getting leads ah Going ahead within the first 10 15 minutes of a lot of these games and once once you do that That's when you put the road team with their backs against the wall and you get them real in and they have to throw their game plan out and they have to chase the game and it does feel like one of those situations where the longer it stays 0-0
00:57:12
Speaker
the longer it benefits Belgium, which is usually the case when it comes to a road team. But it's also not how we're used to thinking of a matchup between Belgium and the United States. It just it just isn't. We're used to thinking of them being the ones who are going to be the protagonists ah regardless of where the game is at because their talent is usually so much better than what the U.S. is bringing to the table. I see this as a situation where the lineups are, ah I think, talent-wise...
00:57:41
Speaker
skewed towards Belgium, but only only slightly, only by a little, like probably a fifty five forty five amount on top-end talent. And then I think what we have seen in this tournament is that the home field advantage factor is actually huge. And this crowd tonight... is going to be absolutely insane. There's been a lot of jokes and memes going around about how Belgium's about to get the the primetime in Seattle experience where we all know when there's a primetime game at the at the stadium, ah weird stuff tends to happen. And, you know, when you're the visiting team coming into that building,
00:58:18
Speaker
you got to be ready for that in a way that you might not have to be in every venue throughout the country or that you could be playing at in this tournament. Like this is going to be going off. So like the U S has to leverage that and optimize that in much the same way that they have been throughout the tournament. And if they can do that and they can get on top of this team and get that early goal, then, uh,
00:58:43
Speaker
That's just a massive scale tilter. And we saw what Belgium did against Senegal. like they came back They were down 2-0 in the 86th minute, and they came back and won the game you know with the help of a questionable plan with penalty. But they did come back and tie it and they did win the game. And so it's not like you can score first on them, and it's not like it's game over. You can be up to zero on them and it's not like it's game over at all. So while being mindful of that, it also, it's, it's going to be crucial to not let this, they're going to try and do what they can to take the sting out of the game and take the crowd out of the game to whatever extent that they're able to. And I think a lot of what this result is going to come down to is how much the U S is able to counteract Belgium's attempts to do that. and ah you know get out in transition, put on a show for the crowd, get the fans going, and get the fans into it. Just generate chances like you have been all tournament.
00:59:37
Speaker
And if you just do that and play... to 89 or to 90% of your potential with the knowledge that shit's going to happen, mistakes are going to happen. You might concede a goal. I think you, you have at least a great chance to win the game, which is, you know, as the USMNT who has been playing super well in this tournament, but has not been historically good.
01:00:00
Speaker
That's all you can ask for is is a chance on home soil at this stadium in front of a crowd like this to put on a show and get what could be the biggest win in the history of the country in the history of the program. So no pressure guys, but, uh, legacies on the line and, uh, you gotta go out there and win this game. So we'll see if they can do it. Nico, any more thoughts on that? I had, okay, here, I had a thought exercise for us and you, you, touched on it quite a bit while you were talking about your prediction and the keys to the game and stuff. But if you had to boil it down, let's give one reason for optimism and one reason for pessimism or concern for the USMNT going into this game. If you had to boil down the one thing that you think the US has going for it that could ah power them to victory in this game, how would you how would you size that up?
01:00:48
Speaker
ah I would say... um speed and offensive fluidity i think that this belgium team has a lot of difficulty defending and the overloads that jenad robinson creates is gonna pin back a guy like jeremy doku is gonna wear him out um i feel like This Belgium team had a lot of difficulties trying to keep up
Game Predictions and Tactical Readiness
01:01:20
Speaker
with Senegal. And although maybe not as direct, this team can be very quick in transition. So I think that the speed and the offensive movements and fluidity, the exchanges, the the the overloads, the movement that is so clear ah from those pivots.
01:01:38
Speaker
is going to create a lot of difficulties for Belgium. So so that's my main point of feeling positive about the USMT. And you said one negative? Yeah, one reason for concern or something that could undermine a victorious result for the Yanks.
01:01:54
Speaker
Yeah, my biggest concern is this whole situation. I have a true believer that the teams can be pushed into being unified and being cemented. And and it's almost like you put them against this corner and then they come back harder than ever. And that was, to me, the big downfall for this Belgium team was the lack of unity and the lack of collectiveness. So this whole situation and their new mindset, potentially, it's what really both is what really makes me concerned about this game tonight is not knowing if this whole thing with Balgan is going to really put this team into a whole other level and get all of this special talented players where they are clearly individually more talented than this US national team into a whole other level.
01:02:45
Speaker
Yeah, I think the reasons for optimism are honestly pretty simple. I mean, we just talked about a lot of them, but you you have this game at home where you have been excellent at optimizing your home field advantage throughout the tournament. And that's, I think, had a much bigger effect on these games than I thought or expected.
01:03:03
Speaker
And ah you've also you've been playing well in attack and scoring goals all tournament as well behind that kind of hosting advantage. So now that the FIFA oligarchs have gifted you Balogun back, I don't see any. I would be pretty surprised if ah if the team goes out there tonight and just lays an egg in attack and. isn't generating chances at all and doesn't have their their chances for match-winning moments in this game. I think those moments, they're going to be there. They're going to present themselves. And then it's just going to be about if they can if the U.S. can capitalize on them, which you never know. It's soccer. Anything can happen. I certainly feel...
01:03:39
Speaker
I feel exponentially better about our chances of capitalizing on those opportunities with Balogun in there than not in there. i don't I think the drop-off between him and the backup strikers, Ricardo Pepe and Haji Wright, that was going to be a ah serious issue in this game. like I was not all that confident that even if the XG was cooking in this game, that the backup strikers would be able to carry the load. With Balogun, we already know that he can carry the load. So all of that taken into account, there's there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to go out there, generate some chances, and score at least a couple goals or get get enough chances to give you a great chance to win this game. My concern, I'm less concerned about the Belgium being motivated about the Balogun drama situation. I think that impacts...
01:04:29
Speaker
The impact of bulletin board stuff like that, it's definitely a thing. It can be a thing. And I think that you there's definitely instances you could point to where teams have rallied behind moments like that in a World Cup knockout round match, though, like I think if you need bulletin board material or.
01:04:44
Speaker
Bulletin board material is what's giving you the the juice to get up for a game like this. That might be a sign that there's bigger things that you're in trouble for because like you you shouldn't need like external factors to get motivation for a game like this. not That's not to say that ah like this is such like a crazy situation. Like it's so out there and it's like the, the, well, but the allegations of like favoritism. And I think what you said is exactly right. Like Rudy Garcia is going to be in there telling his players, like they are trying to take this from you. They're effectively trying to rig it against you. They're rigging it in favor of your opponent because they're hosting. They're the darling team. This guy's the darling player. They consider you guys side character. um I have no doubt that he's saying all of that.
01:05:32
Speaker
I just don't know. Come kick off. How much is that goingnna affect anything? I don't know. But I do think that if I had a reason to be concerned from the U.S. perspective, for me, it's still about it's still about the defense and just specifically the matchup of our back line going against these elite players, like even an an older KDB or an older Lukaku. Lukaku is still doing it.
01:05:56
Speaker
Tim Ream, are you going to be up for going against one of the biggest, most physical, tough-to-deal-with strikers that you're going to have to play in this tournament? Whether or not the answer to that question is yes, that could be the difference between this team going home and this team moving on.
01:06:13
Speaker
The defense has been playing great in this tournament, but it is a USMNT backline, and we all know what that means. A USMNT backline loves to get bammed on. It's one of their been one of their greatest passions historically is getting bammed on in highly inopportune moments. We saw it in the turkey game. Now, that was the ah that was the backup back line.
01:06:32
Speaker
These are going to be the starters. Chris Richards has been goddamn blessing to the nation. He is the most important american that is he's the most important American asset that we have right now, and he must be protected at all costs. But the fact that he is going to be out there, it does give me a sense of calm and security that you I'm not used to getting from a USMNT center back.
01:06:53
Speaker
ah You know, I'm not... the biggest team, Tim Reed guy of all time, but I got to give it to him. He and Chris Richards have been locking it down pretty much every time that they've been out there. It's just, I I'm so programmed to go into every USMNT match being like, when's the back line going to get bammed on. And when you got Katie B Lukaku, Trossard for our Trossard fan out there, although all these, all these guys name, any guy that you want, they've got a lot of top end talent. So i do I am wary of that, even even with the struggles that Belgium have had. I think you just you can't overlook that. You can't overlook that Doku has been absolutely balling for Manchester City. You can't overlook that KDB is one of the greatest playmaking attackers of all time and that Lukaku is one of the best No. 9s of this generation. He's certainly one of the best international-level No. 9s, and he does not...
01:07:46
Speaker
look like he's really come off that so far in this world cup so that would be what my concern would be but uh i definitely it is interesting going into this game feeling like the u.s is they're definitely not the favorite but this game to me feels like closer to a 50 50 toss-up than yeah so that's no it is i That's what it should be. I mean, you're the hosting nation. You're the better the team in better form. ah You have all of your pieces now, or essentially. so yeah, I think that it's definitely a 50-50. I mean, or close closer
01:08:25
Speaker
to it when There was a potential ball going to be in there. i was like, oh, man, it's maybe like a 40-60 potentially in terms of just the overall odds. But right now, man I mean, it's it's as close as it can it can really get. And in terms of the back line, I mean, I think Alex Freeman for me has been probably your... ah most physical and electric defender on that side, which thankfully for the U.S. Velazquez team is going to be on Doku's side. So, you know, what he can do and being able to dominate and and bully that that that that side is going to be very important. um So, yeah, it's going to be definitely one of those games that, especially now,
01:09:08
Speaker
It might be a back and forth. It might be another 3-2 type of game for this Belgium team if they're in all sinks and running with everything that they have. And I hope Pochettino is ready to face a team that's going to come out blazing hot. And he's able to modify and and get the team going. Because if there's anything that does worry me is that this team hasn't necessarily...
01:09:36
Speaker
had to come back from adversity. The one that the one game that you did have, you were you rotated everybody against Turquia. But aside from that, you haven't really had to get back into a game. And when those situations happen, who who do you trust? Who do you trust off the bench? Who do you trust to come in? Is there a system that works to get back from like a one zero deficit early on? So those things...
01:10:02
Speaker
I hope don't happen because that those are maybe the situations that because you've played a very specific type of team, very pragmatic, you're absolutely the favorite coming into the game. Nobody is questioning that you're the favorite. Now you're in a position where either it's almost 50-50 or you're the underdog. So you're going to have to take that game completely different.
01:10:24
Speaker
Thank God for Alex Freeman. Thank God for Chris Richards. that's the ah That's the last thing I got to say. Nico, we are entering the home stretch of the show here this morning. Just a few minutes left to go.
01:10:35
Speaker
ah So let's just do some quick hitter stuff from around the World Cup and then we can get out of here and enjoy the rest of this USMNT match day. If you're watching on YouTube, please go ahead and like the video. I don't know how many likes we're at right now, but it's not enough.
01:10:49
Speaker
ah Toss us a like. Toss us a subscription. Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, the whole nine. We've been going hard at this World Cup coverage, and we're going to keep going. We're going to cover this game today. We're going to cover the rest of the tournament, regardless of what happens with the USMNT. But thank you all for tuning in here this morning. ah All right. Yeah, Nico, there was ah there's been a lot to talk about with the rest of this tournament outside of the old USMNT. I mean, you had Argentina barely surviving Capo Verde,
01:11:17
Speaker
which ah That was one of the games of the tournament, if not the game of the
World Cup Highlights and Surprises
01:11:23
Speaker
tournament. ah But then you had Norway, shocking Brazil, an Erling Haaland masterclass. God, that second goal he scored yesterday, that was probably the coldest goal celebration I have ever seen. Imagine smashing home a game winner against Brazil in a World Cup, and your celebration is to just stand there and walk around and barely even acknowledge it. you No expressions. No expression, just swagging around like, yeah, i just did that. I'm the man. I'm Erling Haaland. What did you expect? Did you think that the Brazilian national team was going to intimidate me? I'm six foot five. I run like a gris gazelle and I have the best finishing of any number nine in the world. Like no one's going to stop me to the point where I feel kind of stupid. I.
01:12:05
Speaker
was not high on Norway at all going into this tournament. They struck me as a team that had Erling Holland. And then, you know, they obviously have a handful of other guys that play for big clubs and are are pretty good, but they just felt like a kind of Hollander bust situation for me. But clearly that was, I should have looked into that a little more because ah they are playing well as a team. And then they also, i think that game just shows like when you have a match winner, know,
01:12:31
Speaker
like that, that can make all the difference in the world. Brazil gets gifted a penalty at the end of that game that they shouldn't have. And it didn't even matter because you have a guy who can bam on them twice, no problem and not even celebrate it. So like, honestly with Holland in this messy and Bop a type form, Norway looks like a team that could genuinely ah make a run, but then you also had a Morocco humbling the Canadians three zero. And then that Mexico, England game, we should probably talk about that a little bit later. because that was just fantastic. I mean, I i seldom feel bad for El Tree, for the Mexico national team, but they were putting it in. They were trying to get that win for their home crowd at the Azteca. But like, dude, fair play to England for going down a man and then defending for their absolute lives at altitude at the atthe Azteca to score another goal and then hold that lead.
01:13:25
Speaker
That's one of the... Most difficult tasks. I think you can ask of any team in the world. I don't care who it is, even a team that's as good and considered elite like England going into that building and doing what they did, going down a man and still taking a result. That's gotta be, you know, you know, I'm not British, but that's gotta be one of the best performances their national team has ever had. Nico, any of these ah caught your eye or did I miss anything?
01:13:52
Speaker
No, all of them. Look, first of all,
01:13:55
Speaker
Cabo Verde goes home champions. I mean, they yeah the way they made Argentina suffer, the performance they put together, they go home just... Absolute legends. And that was the most compelling game that I saw that weekend. and And it was phenomenal in the way that they were able to, with their own limitations, but their own system, be able to really take it to this Argentina team. That whether or not they were underestimating this team, that there was fear.
01:14:26
Speaker
There was fear that this game was going to go to PKs. And in PKs is a coin flip for absolutely any ah ah of the teams. So that was a big one. um With Brazil, Norway, this is more an indictment on Brazil being a a poor version of itself that was Vini dependent, that ah had no real game winners. I thought that Cunha was all right. I thought that Casimiro looked out of sorts, right?
01:14:58
Speaker
Oh my God. ah Kendrick, Kendrick, they keep trying to force him as this kid that's going to take over the world. And man, he had a one-on-one on goal and he, he just could not put it away. And it's insane. It's a perfect pass from Vinny, by the way, like phenomenal pass, everything you want. He had the, the pace, he had the location. You're able to just run into the ball and you don't put that away. I mean, absolutely bizarre, but,
01:15:26
Speaker
Although i i did have Norway as one of the those dark horses, as I think most of us did. I don't know if this is more of just Brazil. you would always was just waiting for when they were going to get out. I didn't know if it was in the first round or the second. Japan put them through the ringer. And then in this one, they're just unable to really get it back. From the very beginning, Norway was on top of them. Too much speed, too much power.
01:15:50
Speaker
i do I'm with you on the fact that maybe they are a little too one-dimensional, and they do depend a lot of Haaland themselves, but they were just a better side. And this Brazilian team just didn't have the courage to get back into the game. Carlo Ancelotti was a man on just stilts that the the whole time. he He knew this game was not going his way. He didn't have the depth to make it make changes that were going to come in and be spark plugs. So Brazil...
01:16:19
Speaker
I think it was themselves that did themselves a disservice. and they they don't And I didn't have them in the Final Four. So I saw that coming out. But the Mexico-England game, man, it it it was beyond heartbreaking for this team because I was a little bit upset on – how Aguirre, Javier Aguirre, the Mexico coach, decided to try to get back into that game by pulling off some of his best pieces, by staying married to guys that he's been playing the whole time, by going with three strikers out of nowhere, it didn't help. There was no services into the box. So they they played a hell of a game. They played a hell of a game the entire time. they were able to create opportunities. They pushed this England team back.
01:17:15
Speaker
They're able to get a timely goal right before the half that I thought just switched the momentum incredibly. They played so great. they They forced a red card that was extremely valid.
01:17:28
Speaker
England, like you said, being very smart. They parked the bus, they play compact, they dropped their lines. Mexico continues to push up, but I do think that Javier Aguirre could have affected that game better. He puts in Chiquito Jimenez. That had been a dud old.
01:17:46
Speaker
tournament long. Memote, he needs services in. And you take out Julian Quiñones, who is by far your most prolific player. Yeah, what the hell? Why pull him off? He's so good. So good.
01:18:00
Speaker
And you end up having nobody on the left side. You're pushing everything outright with Pio Alborado trying to get crosses in. Gallardo was gassed. He couldn't even put... a decent ball into the box. I mean, the changes by Javier Aguirre were a disservice to what the team did the entire game, but...
01:18:20
Speaker
They go home proud. I got to give it to the Mexico fans that Azteca was electric. El Angel in the celebrations and everything that they did Ciudad de F. It was absolutely phenomenal. So, hey, I tip my hat to to the entire fan base and what Mexico was able to do. And you're right. England, you know, you got to know how to suffer through games. They definitely did that. Now they move on and they're going to be a problem moving forward.
01:18:48
Speaker
Two things on what you were talking about there. ah When I watch Brazil and Vinny Jr., I like almost feel bad for Jr. It's like, dude, you're too good for for this trash team. like it's it's such It's such like watching one guy who's just on this one level and then everyone else is just not. And you can tell from his body language, he's like, bro. Yeah.
01:19:12
Speaker
I can't, I can't with this. So shouts to Vinny jr. Though top five player in the world still, but that was a tough look for Brazil. And then if my pick, if I had to pick one player from this tournament, if I could just transport them to Seattle and make them a ah Seattle sounder who could realistically, like, obviously if I could get Erling Holland or Mbappe, that would be like the first choices, but I'm, of guys that I could actually like see it one day happening. Quinones might be it, man. Like, holy shit, that guy is good. And I'm with you. When they took him off, I was like, whoa, why are you doing that? Like, is he just like super gassed? He's your best chance by far of scoring. Like, that was insane to me. So, yeah, yeah the L-Tree kind of bungled it on on that one. But I also, man, they were...
01:20:03
Speaker
they were playing their asses off. So you cannot, you definitely can't. It was not for lack of effort that they're going home, but that was, it was heartbreaking for them, man, because they had that England team down a man and pushing. They had that England team hell for a lot of that game and kind of optimizing the Azteca. Yeah.
01:20:20
Speaker
in the way that we're talking about the U S has been doing with their home field advantage and just to fall just short like that. It was tough, but ah all right, Nico, let's wrap it up. But we do have our first super chat of the stream right at the end. Shout out to Magno for coming in with the four 99. We appreciate the support. Let's,
01:20:35
Speaker
let's hit this one before we get out of here. He says, do you think this World Cup run sways Noah Kai Banks decision towards the U.S.? Seen him commenting on U.S. s players' IG posts. I did see that as well, that he's ah commenting on their IGs, and it seems like he's boys with some of the guys. Hopefully, man, I don't – I can't – I'm not going to pretend to know all that much about him beyond that I know he's a bot guy and I know he's considered very highly rated and highly touted and talented. and all that. ah But I do think like seeing stuff like that, it's ah you're probably going to be seeing more and more guys maybe that have the eligibility that weren't thinking of it before that. Look at what this team is doing and how much fun it looks like they're having right now. I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Noah Kai banks and other up and coming prospects who are deciding who they're going to play for This is going to help like recruitment in, in that way. So I'm Nico. You got any Noah Kai banks insight before we get out of here?
01:21:31
Speaker
He's one of our bot guys. so No, i I think that's right. And, ah you know, the the people that were just of the thought process that if he wasn't in this World Cup now, is because he didn't want to and he should never be called back out. If this World Cup taught you anything, is that recruitment through getting team getting players that have dual national ships and citizenships in different places is is a huge problem.
01:22:00
Speaker
turning point for national team, then, know, don't know what you've been looking at. So absolutely, this team's going continue talent and the way they've played, the way they've performed, how far they get into this World Cup is, as always, going to be the biggest recruitment factor as it is in college or anything where you have to go compete with people for talented players. Absolutely.
01:22:26
Speaker
All right, folks, I got to get out of here on that. But thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of Lobbing Scorchers Kickoff. A very special episode with it being USMNT Match Day in Seattle. A historic day, a historic occasion. And with absolute diesel fuel poured on the fire with this Fuller and Balogun news, it's going to be intense. It's going to be heated. It's going to be dramatic. It's going to be historic.
01:22:50
Speaker
I'm going to heading down there in not that long. So looking forward to seeing everybody. Hopefully everyone who's going to the game itself or in the surrounding area has a great time. Appreciate you all tuning in. Appreciate all the support. Love y'all.
01:23:04
Speaker
See you on the other side. Peace.