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WCAD 4-47: Bottle It Up & Sell It
4.7k Plays23 days ago
Austin and Amit try to make sense of Argentina's comeback semifinal win over England.
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Transcript
Argentina's Resilience and Comeback Ability
00:00:01
Speaker
We said a lot of things when we were previewing Argentina, England ahead of this World Cup semifinal. But I think the one thing that I keep coming back to admit that we said is when it comes to Argentina at this tournament, we said it on the preview for this game.
00:00:16
Speaker
We said it on the preview for all their other games. We said it on the preview for Argentina before this show. When you have this team down, you had better kill them off because they're coming back. And what we meant by that was if you're up one goal, you should be up two goals. If you're up two goals, you should be up three goals. If you're up three goals, just for the safety of it, you might as well be up four goals. And today Thomas Tuchel in England learned that lesson. And oh boy, they learned it in the hardest of ways.
00:00:43
Speaker
Really, really brutal defeat for England. All time loss, truly, to to be up one that late in a World Cup center final and to lose the way they did. And you just...
00:00:54
Speaker
you know, we talk about game state so much in this podcast and I think Tugel is too aggressive in playing to game state and just totally turtling his team here. And that is the the story of the game.
00:01:08
Speaker
And he leaves his team totally, totally exposed to the Argentina comeback because England 11 for 11 were better than Argentina and play ah great game to get up one. Like the,
00:01:20
Speaker
60 minutes to get that goal is everything he could have dreamed of. But the changes that he does leaves an 11 on the field that is not better than what Argentina are offering. And as you said, they just
Tactical Missteps by Tuchel and England
00:01:31
Speaker
keep coming at you. And when Argentina rev up the the chase, there's nothing like it, right?
00:01:36
Speaker
There's too many smart players, too many talented players. And... you you know you You could have six of the best defenders in the world. If it's six defenders, you're not getting out to stop the ball. And at the end of the day, it was just some magic too. like they'll be talking about We'll be talking about this one, thinking about this one for years, decades. ah As we said in the preview, like when England and Argentina get together, special things happen. Yeah.
00:02:03
Speaker
i'm just I'm just in awe that you know we kept joking, you can't kill these guys. But like this, I thought, was a bridge too far. And it was the old, I'd like to see how they wriggle their way out of this one.
00:02:14
Speaker
Consider it wriggled. And Thomas Tuchel just, you did not choke them out. You've got to choke them out. And you think about Spain and France and Spain who just don't do this. They don't play with their food. It's not that they play with their food, but they didn't kill them. And so it's ah it's a bad team to do that too.
00:02:32
Speaker
Look, if you're not going to kill off Argentina, you certainly can't hand them the knife and say, come at us. Right. Like, right. That's what it felt like happened in this game where England, as you said, they played the first hour like they want. They're up a goal. They're in the position they want to be in They have Argentina kind of staggered.
Argentina's Pressure and Game Management
00:02:50
Speaker
And Argentina start to apply pressure. And instead of reacting to that pressure, England just invite more of it. And they arm Argentina with exactly what this team needed to not only get back in this game, but win it. And they didn't even have to go to extra time for it.
00:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's almost the worst part of it because you can understand bunkering and I get it. We're going to talk about we're talking about this game. But the changes are so bad because there's once the goal is scored, there's only one direction the game is heading. and It's that Argentina are much more likely to score.
00:03:24
Speaker
You just can't unbalance yourself that much, especially in 120 minutes in knockout football. Like... You can play as reactive and defensive as that for maybe five to ten minutes, truly at the highest level.
00:03:37
Speaker
Unless like you're playing a team that's that much worse than you. If a team is within your error bar, like you just can't defend with that many guys back against... but ah ah for for more than 10 minutes.
00:03:49
Speaker
And they played it like it was Mexico, who's an error bar outside of of England, right? Mexico get all these crosses that can't cross and England have enough athletes ah to to deny the cross.
00:04:01
Speaker
Well, better crossers and harder
Messi's Influence and Tactical Adaptations
00:04:04
Speaker
to deny the cross because it's better players who are getting open. Talk about the last cross, the hardest guy to stop. is maybe one of his, Lionel Messi's greatest last magic tricks of all time on that goal too.
00:04:16
Speaker
And so it's just a complete like misreading of the situation from Tuchel. And I feel really, really bad for England and their players. you know who don't They're not blameless. They also were on the field for it, but they just kind of lose their agency in a way to Argentina who just continually, like the vibes monsters, you you just allowed them to vibes monster you.
00:04:41
Speaker
This is the World Cup After Dark podcast. He is a bit Malik. I am Austin Miller. Those faint horns blowing in the distance are very happy Argentine supporters who are about to have a great Wednesday night party here in Buenos Aires. Don't know what it's going be like when you show up to work tomorrow morning. Don't think anybody cares because they've beaten their bitter rivals, England, in a World Cup semifinal.
00:05:00
Speaker
We said it a bit when we previewed this this game in particular. When these two teams meet at the World Cup, historic things happen. And look, I'm going to have to go down to to the newsstand tomorrow morning and pick up my copy of Olay to figure out what Del Siglo this one was, what term we're going for, what exactly we're using it.
00:05:17
Speaker
But this was another momentous occasion And you could feel it from the start of this game, right? You turn on the TV, you put the volume on and you can feel it in the stadium. And I think the national anthems for this game were as charged as they have been for any game at this World Cup, right?
00:05:35
Speaker
And you can just feel the tension. And I think you could see it. in the eyes of the Argentine players, as the anthem is playing, as the England anthem is booed out by the Argentine supporters, that they are up for this, that they can feel the occasion, and that they are going to make sure that this is, for lack of a better term, a battle, right? And I think that's what we get in this game.
00:05:58
Speaker
Argentina's you know game plan for the first whatever of this game is to just kick the crap out of England at every turn and turn into CONMEBOL street fight and to not allow England any rhythm to set up their structure. You know Tuchel is trying to do his control, suffocate the game.
00:06:16
Speaker
And Argentina are like, you can't suffocate us if we're a kicking live animal at every turn. And it was just really good in terms of Contesting every blade of grass and not being scared by the England press. Like, we're just going to we're going to play through it when you do.
00:06:31
Speaker
And when, you know, there's going to be lots of fouls and we're goingnna both ways and just turning it into a street fight. And that was really smart from Argentina because the more...
00:06:42
Speaker
moments of the game where England aren't at full throttle is a win for you, right? At some point, you need to score in this game if you're Argentina. And that was my main quibble, right? Like, we said it's a knife fight. but You can't really score with knives. We joke about the knife later, like handing it to them, but...
00:06:58
Speaker
In the arms race of soccer, right? Knives aren't enough to score, but it was enough to keep England just very uncomfortable and taking jabs left and right. And so that was very, very smart from Argentina. And honestly, the the best thing for them is England going up.
00:07:13
Speaker
Truly in this game is like the best thing for them because it totally undid this weird cage match and gave them the driver's seat. And there's a long way to to get from point A to to point B. But that's generally the the theme of the game is like England are trying to do their bits and Argentina are just resisting at every turn. And you can feel like it's a moment's game. Where's the moment coming from? Which player is going to come up with something? And in a moment's game, Argentina will take a moment's game.
00:07:41
Speaker
And I think Argentina did well to contest the midfield, right? That was my big concern. I said it on this podcast. I said it when I was on Sirius XMFC previewing this game. I said it everywhere I could. I said it to my wife before
Midfield Battles and Strategic Decisions
00:07:53
Speaker
we went to bed last night. I said, my biggest concern for Argentina in this game is the midfield, right? I was worried that England were going to be able to overrun Argentina in the midfield. So what I think Argentina did to counter that, like you said, is they just contested it at every single turn. They did not give England easy midfield possession. They did not give them easy ball progression. And so this game for basically the entirety of the first half is just played in a 30 yard box where there's eight guys for each side in one ball. And they're just absolutely contesting it. And I think that worked for Argentina.
00:08:26
Speaker
So what's the change that Argentina make coming into this game? Right. We had said it was probably time for Rodrigo De Paul to go and he goes in the starting lineup for Argentina. So it is a big call from Lino Scaloni.
00:08:37
Speaker
He takes out Rodrigo De Paul and he brings on Giuliano Simeone, who is a player who has not seen a lot of time for Argentina in this tournament so far, but it it gives them something that they didn't have. which was a pacey leggy wing presence. And don't think Simeone is particularly good in this game. I don't think he has a lot of quality on the ball, but I think he runs and I think he can test. And I think he allows Argentina to be numerically equal with England in the spaces that matter in the middle of this pitch. And think this is a pretty good change from Scaloni. And I think this coupled with pretty good performances from Paredes, from McAllister and from Fernandez, particularly the first 45 minutes, allow Argentina to equally contest the midfield to make it basically trench warfare, right? You are trying to move the ball forward five yards. You're And then the other team is moving the ball forward five yards and then somebody kicks somebody and we go and we start it all over again. And I think that was the game state that Argentina wanted to start this game.
00:09:36
Speaker
And I think it worked for them. And I think what England have and what England approach this game with is not enough to kind of unsettle that state of the game. And we just kind of get a first half possession based stalemate in the midfield.
00:09:50
Speaker
ah A hundred percent. The Simeone change is massive. His running is massive. And I think at the, these high level, the back ends of the game, like things start and end with midfield superiority, right? That's the whole math and breakdown. Really. If you want to break down the France, Spain game, you can go to the midfield triangles and see what happens. And so getting five on five in there is massive. And also both fullbacks coming up into that middle third for both teams. So, as you said, it's really like eight guys in a car crash in the box. Um,
00:10:19
Speaker
And there's the worry that, yes, the when the ball shakes loose from this crash, it could end up at the wrong player's foot. But for the first half, the whole point is never let the ball get loose from the car crash. Just keep it in the pinball. Just lock it in and be at every step and don't get turned. And there's...
00:10:40
Speaker
precious few moments on either team where where where it's getting loose. And so the truth of it is, right, like Messi's trying to to get get in here to get superiority and Kane is dropping deep to try to get superiority. And it's kind of a question of who can unlock some verticality in this game.
00:11:00
Speaker
And Alvarez is on an island versus like Spence and Gordon are really overloading Molina. That's where England think they can get something. But I think Simeone and Molina do enough to to to hold up for Argentina.
00:11:16
Speaker
There's a couple of Jed Spence take-ons, right? He was dangerous. He was everything that his athleticism shows that he can be, right? He takes on Argentina players. He beats a couple, but there's always one more Argentina guy, it feels like, where he beats one, the second guy comes up. beats one and two, it's the third guy who comes over. And that kind of limits the first half. And and we go to halftime, right?
00:11:37
Speaker
And you look at the XG, it's 0.05 to 0.03. That's the half that Argentina wanted to play. The best chance of the half is probably theirs. And it's an Enzo Fernandez shot from distance that just kind of goes over the top corner. That's not a great chance anyway, but that's kind of the first half in summary. There's a couple of yellow cards that feel like they could be moments, right? Both Argentine center backs get booked. Elliot Anderson brings down Messi.
00:12:00
Speaker
It is just very contested. It is very lively and it is very fiery, right? I mean, like these teams are both dug into this game and Argentina have gotten the game to where they wanted it to be. And they've chosen to basically use physicality.
00:12:15
Speaker
They've chosen to use leaving the extra foot in to try and neutralizing. It's a good play. And you knew Argentina had that play and was willing to go to that play. And I think it was very smart to to unsettle England. Look, England know it's coming. It's not like England are shaken by this or like out of the game. They're just having to manage the game and not overexert the game and play it at that pace.
00:12:39
Speaker
And they are also willing to do it back, right? Like this is two sided foots getting left in and fireyness in that like Argentina, maybe do it better because there's certainly a lot more experienced with it. But England aren't afraid to play that game either in this first half. And so what you get is contact. You get guys going down. You get guys making the most of contact.
00:12:58
Speaker
England play the game on Argentina's terms, but I don't think it's necessarily an unfamiliar game for them anyway. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. And also the the change changes we get for England, right, is Morgan Rogers yeah comes in for Modueke because Modueke had just kind of not had a great tournament.
00:13:13
Speaker
And I don't think Rogers has a great first half, right? Because now you kind of have two runners on both wings. So there's never a guy you can... go to as a hub to go one-on-one. It's kind of just a verticality game for England, a field position game, as you're saying, like very like, take your five yards, get your five yards. like And it's a little bit frustrating in that sense for England, but the Rodgers change just gives England that looming threat in case the ball breaks loose. He's a very good transition player and hunting his shot in space, hunting his final ball in space. And so the front
00:13:49
Speaker
three ah behind Kane, Bellingham, Gordon, and Rogers are really who you're just hoping are going to win one-on-one in a foot race, not on the ball. And so like,
00:14:02
Speaker
it's It's there for England and Argentina don't really have like a foot race to win. It's more of just hoping that like the ball pops to Messi Alvarez. And so like this is where at halftime Tuchel doesn't really change anything. He's like we're just we're just hanging around in this game until something good happens.
00:14:20
Speaker
We're just going to wait until the ball bounces and we win one of those foot races, right? It's like you said, we're playing pinball in the midfield. And at some point the ball is going to scoop over the edge of the pinball machine and it's going to be loose and and all hell is going to break loose. Other changes we see from England, right? John stones comes in to central defense here. We get this James and Spence is the two fullbacks Spence on the left James on the right.
00:14:43
Speaker
So we go into halftime and we're just kind of asking, all right, what or who is going to change the dynamic of the game? And to start things out, the answer is really nothing. To open up the second half, there's two big saves from Jordan Pickford, who comes up with a lot of big saves in this game. There's kind of a nothing long ball from Argentina that gets held up.
00:15:01
Speaker
Alvarez is able to get Jed Spence dancing, and Pickford goes down well to save him near post as Alvarez tried to sneak one near post. And then on a recycle, he makes another save again near post. And then after the second Argentine center back gets a yellow card, that's Kuti Romero, after Lissandro Martinez got booked in the first half,
00:15:17
Speaker
The game changes, um and it changes on England finally taking one of those bounces, right? It's a long ball from Kane that gets cut out by Nicholas Tagliafico, but he doesn't cut it out enough. And it ends up with Morgan Rodgers, and it's a great ball from Rodgers, and it's a great ghosting far post run from Gordon past Molina and a great finish. And these were those two pacey wingers that you talked about. Didn't see a lot of the ball in the first half, but when they see it in this moment, they take advantage of it. This is really well worked by England.
00:15:47
Speaker
This is a very Premier League goal and like a Premier League game, like a bunch of, you know, 22 athletes on the field. We're playing kickball in one moment. You don't clear it enough. It's not like it was some great incisive pass, but our guys on it, he gets across in and then Gordon beats a foot race to the back post and gets across Molina. Really, really good run from Gordon and a solid underrated finish, I think.
00:16:11
Speaker
And honestly, here, you got to give credit to Kane for playing the ball. It's not like he he makes the right pass, but it was his second one. And I was kind of joking, like it's a coffin corner punt for field position. You're just putting the ball in a dangerous area and saying, clear it.
00:16:26
Speaker
And if you don't, like we're there, you know, like and so that actually works really well. And. in And this is this is how Tuchel wins with athletes. This is exactly this goal is the the blueprint for Tuchel in England.
Scaloni's Management and Argentina's Victory
00:16:41
Speaker
And you're like, okay, we got an athleticism advantage. Yeah, we we we went, we slogged through the knife fight, but we kind of just got our moment. And for 30, you're up one. There are 30 minutes left here for Thomas Tuchel.
00:16:53
Speaker
And there's still time before Argentina or you can make subs. And what happens? England just sit back, right? And they let Argentina take the initiative. And I feel like in this moment, think this goal, and you said it really well, the best thing that could have happened Argentina in this game was going down a goal because it gave them the license to play, right? They're not holding on to this nil-nil. We talked about it when we previewed this game. We felt like penalties probably edged Argentina and that wouldn't be a poor result for them.
00:17:25
Speaker
And so without that to hold on to, it's like, all right, we got to go now. It's time to play. Like, we got to leave the knives away. We got to maybe contest the midfield a bit less. But England then just allow Argentina to kind of take this game over.
00:17:40
Speaker
And immediately after going down, it's just kind of the start of an Argentina onslaught that never really ends. So the first thing that happens is it's a long ball played by Alvarez for Simeone. He gets behind the England defense, and there is a tremendous track back cutout by Jed Spence.
00:17:58
Speaker
This is all of the athleticism, all of the speed by Spence on display. This looked like it was going to one-on-one chance for Simeone. The one thing with Simeone, though, is he probably should shoot a little bit earlier, right?
00:18:10
Speaker
But it is like 10 yards of ground that Spence makes up. It's a truly incredible um recovery from him. He has a great game. I mean, spence Spence athleticism is exactly part of the larger theme of what's working for England because you can live with a little space, right? If you don't back up, you can recover ground. Like, who's going to hurt you for Argentina on this front line?
00:18:32
Speaker
Alvarez is going to hurt you and Messi is going to hurt you. But Simeone... wasn't going to hurt you with the ball. um But to Argentina's credit, like even before Tuchel kind of makes the changes, they're just going for it. like they just don't they They never take their foot off the gas. And it's like we joke that like they have this never-say-die mentality, but they don't really like they don't really have the fear of losing. This is the one thing with them. And I guess...
00:18:56
Speaker
We've talked around it and we've talked about it a million times, but because of 2022, like, yeah, they, they don't fear losing because, okay, we, we already have one. And so like so much of top level soccer is a fear of losing and game stating and like trying to sit and protect.
00:19:15
Speaker
And in a way when you just don't have that and you're willing to invite some risk at any point, Argentina could get counterattacked here. right And they're just like, well, we we have to. It's the same thing about France yesterday.
00:19:30
Speaker
And what's shocking is that Tuchel... I'm not going to i'm not go say go to my grave, but I believe that Thomas Tuchel is an elite manager at the top level of the club game. Guy's won a Champions League, has a very good resume.
00:19:43
Speaker
He's like... i expect better from him in his understanding of game state. like he he just... he shouldn't He shouldn't see this play or the header that comes in this stretch and feel like he can survive 30 minutes doing what he does.
00:20:03
Speaker
And that's where I think this gets so interesting is, right, we know how this finishes, right? We know what happens. We know that Argentina come back and win 2-1. And Tuchel post-match seemed to place a lot of like value. And his decision was made a lot by the Argentine response. He sees how Argentina respond to going down 1-0. And he says, we're in trouble.
00:20:25
Speaker
I got to get all my defenders on and we just got to see this out. We've got a one goal lead. We just got to see this out. And I think that's credit to Argentina for really flipping that switch really quickly and realizing like when you get an advantageous game state, you need to capitalize. You need to use the whole state. Yeah. You got to use all 30 minutes for sure. For sure.
00:20:46
Speaker
we have half an hour. We need to use this entire half an hour because sometimes it takes the entire half an hour before you put one in the back of the net. And so they do that. They start that here. They bring on Nico Gonzalez quickly, who comes in for Paredes, which kind of shifts everything and gives them another wide player, right? This is as close as Argentina can get to playing with wingers. They've got Simeone on one side, they've got Gonzalez on the other side, and they've got fullbacks behind them. This is as wide as Argentina can walk.
00:21:10
Speaker
And what this does for Argentina's shape is England are so, so narrow. And with these guys on the field, the wingbacks have to come all the way out to them. But what that opens is this big, I'm calling it a half space. It's a big space in between...
00:21:28
Speaker
The fullback, the center back, and the the mids. Because it's a 5-4-1. Sometimes it looks like a 6-3-1. And there's just too much space in this, like I'm calling the secondary crossing zone.
00:21:42
Speaker
like You know the the edge of the box and the touchline. That's where you want to get your most crosses from. But behind that on the field is where it's really hard to close all the way out there when you're bunkered.
00:21:53
Speaker
This is the exact spots Mexico was getting crossed from. You you know, you can visualize in your head where I'm seeing this. But because England are in this weird spot, and because there's width on both sides, this is different than the Egypt game for Argentina, that they can actually access these middle semi-half spaces a lot better.
00:22:14
Speaker
And they also understand the geometry and crossing angles much better. Honestly, you know who did a really good job of defending Argentina was Switzerland. Switzerland did a really good job of stopping these angles with 10 men because they they like kind of understood the messy assignment, but they didn't have to worry about width on two sides. So I think, again, chalk another one up for Scaloni.
00:22:38
Speaker
It's so funny. I'm not sure he's a great manager, but he gets it right. And he looks so good in hindsight. And the other thing we always have said about Argentina is they're great problem solvers. they just They always exhaust it to the right level of you're never out until you've tried every answer that fits. like Hypothetically, any situation, there is something you can try. right And that's where I'm just like...
00:23:03
Speaker
Tuchel supposed to be a good problem solver, and he tried a solution that's like in the textbook, but not for the game he was playing. And is also like just kind of basic. Like this is what mediocre teams do to try and see out a game. Right. And you're England. You have all this talent. You have all these players. You are better than Argentina are. And you've showed it in this game, but you're giving up the initiative. Yeah.
00:23:26
Speaker
And so, yes, you might live with some chances, but if you keep a fifth midfielder on and you don't take off Gordon for a center back, OK, maybe you take off Gordon for legs.
00:23:39
Speaker
Where's where's Bukayasaka? You could even use. Use Noni Madueke, right? You can use Eze. These guys play at Arsenal. They know how to press. And if you just get in the midfield, you'll keep the ball. That, to me, is the biggest thing is you can use possession as a defensive tool. right England never did. Their only defensive tool was numbers and defense. But that's not enough. like This is why field tilt matters, right? You had to play some of these 30 minutes to um
00:24:10
Speaker
in the middle third. And it's just 30 minutes in the final third. And honestly, just in my head, I'm like, this is how Switzerland scored in Argentina, right? The same thing. Talk about the error bars.
00:24:22
Speaker
like Pay attention to that. if If Switzerland can walk into box touches against you, they'll get something. there there's There's too much parity between these teams for you to sit in your box for 30 minutes against anyone. I said that at the start. I'll say it again. It's it's baffling.
00:24:39
Speaker
And what Argentina do so well here, once England get to this kind of super defensive game state, is there's somebody that can cross at every single position, right? So you've got, off of you can put the ball in from the wing, you can put the ball in from the secondary spot, you can play the ball vertically, centrally, you can play it from the other wing, you can play it from the other secondary spot. And so they can just keep recycling balls in and they're like, eventually we're to have success with one of these. And so the change that that Argentina makes to get there, right? We talked about Gonzalez.
00:25:08
Speaker
and then they're going to bring on, they're going to make a triple change at the hydration break. So right before the hydration break, it's another good save from Pickford, where he goes low to save a header from Gonzalez after an inch-perfect cross from Messi.
00:25:19
Speaker
Argentina bring on Rodrigo Paul, they bring on Nicolas Otamendi, and they bring on Gonzalo Montiel. So what does this give them? DePaul gives them a secondary crossing space ball player because now you've seen how this game is going to go.
00:25:32
Speaker
England are going to play defensive. I don't care that DePaul doesn't have legs because he can play the ball and we're going to be able to play the ball. So he's going to come in and play the ball. Otamendi comes on for Lissandra Martinez. Again, I'm not worried about Otamendi getting cooked for pace back the other way because England aren't even trying to do that. Should they have tried to do that? Yes, they should have. I've seen Nicholas Otamendi play this year. He doesn't have pace, but he's also another big vertical threat. Then if it gets really late, you toss him up there and you put him on into another body. And then Montiel for Molina is just you're changing out the right back. Montiel might just be slightly more attacking and can play that cross. So these are three more changes, Amit, that play right into the game state for Argentina. And the change that comes from England is Anthony Gordon off, Kansa on, and all of a sudden your outlets, they're gone.
00:26:18
Speaker
Right, right. It's five at the back, right? It's Stones, Gehi, Kansa. Then you've got James at the right back for now, and you've got Spence at the left back for now.
00:26:31
Speaker
And you've lost Gordon's running on the width, and Gordon's such a fit player. I just don't understand. If you're going to take off someone, take off Rodgers. Or, as good as he's been, and as important as you want him, why did you bring Ollie Watkins to this tournament?
00:26:46
Speaker
Why did you bring Ollie Watkins if you were never going to use him and just rely on Kane as your outlet? Like, I know you want him for pens, but you're not getting any, you're not getting past the end of this game. If it's this one way traffic and Ollie Watkins is just faster and willing to run Kane. Like, is a good presser for his speed, for what he is.
00:27:08
Speaker
But if you see Otamendi on the field, you're absolutely thinking, kick the ball long and have someone that can go run. There's no one on the England front three. It's Bellingham, Rodgers, and Kane, who have all been running and have been carrying a super heavy minutes load all tournament.
00:27:24
Speaker
Get some subs in that are willing to buy you even a minute of space. There's no holdup at any point. And the thing here is, okay, if you were making, the changes that you're making are ultra defensive. You're not playing for the possibility of extra time here. You are playing to take one nil and take it home with you. 90 minutes, this is going to finish one nil or we're going to somehow counter and make it two nil. We're not thinking about extra time.
00:27:47
Speaker
If you're not thinking about extra time, then you're exactly right. Get somebody on that can run at the top, that can press Argentina, that can take out the spaces. Kane is not that. And he's just kind of there. And it just allows Argentina to just consistently walk into dangerous spots. He's we've said this about him.
00:28:04
Speaker
ah I love Kane. He's honestly one of my favorite players. He's a cone in the your defensive shape, and England have always accommodated for him with great running behind him. But especially when you're bunkering, like you're just walking into the final third.
00:28:17
Speaker
Watkins at least makes you pass twice. At least makes you like run, and then maybe on a long ball, you buy a foul. And i just... You're very, very right. like Once you've decided you're going you're going for to win it in 90, why does Kane matter? like you because Because if you're truly decided that i want defending is the only thing I care about, why don't you care about defending at 11 positions?
00:28:43
Speaker
One of those players is a better defender at the striker position than the other. Even Ivan Toney is a better, more physical striker defender. I mean, I'm not, I don't think he's like a great work rate player. I'm not even saying Ivan Toney, but compared to Kane, we all know how much Kane jogs when he's running a press.
00:29:00
Speaker
And it's like, were you hoping that he could play a long ball to free a counter? Yeah, but you don't have the ball. You're not passing through the middle. You need someone to go run and get it when you kick it long. Who you playing the long ball to? You took Anthony Gordon off. Right. Who are you supposedly running on this theoretical long ball?
00:29:16
Speaker
Also, right we again, we know how this game ends. Rashford is is around. right He comes in in the 90 plus three once Argentina have scored twice. You could have used Rashford. Rashford can run. like He can kick it longer. I don't think he's like Gordon, but he can run. It's like...
00:29:32
Speaker
You were like half into this strategy on your back line, but not half in on your front line. it just like, that's why it's so one-sided because if you're going to defend with five, the four in front have to make it hard as possible.
00:29:49
Speaker
And so much of it is like, it's not Mexico. Like it's not Mexico just whipping balls in to like Oberlin Pineda and Santi Jimenez. It's a level, it's a level up.
00:30:02
Speaker
And from this point, from this change on it's just one way for Argentina. And in watching this game live, right? Like with the emotion of everything and with the tension of everything, you're like, oh, you just keep looking at the clock. you're like, oh, is there enough time? Is there enough time? Looking back at this game, having now watched it, and again, hindsight is probably 20-20 here. But like...
00:30:24
Speaker
but like it was always going to go in, right? If you invite this pressure for this long and amount of time, it was going to take something relatively spectacular in order for this not to end in Argentina scoring at least one. And they score their one early enough that they just go on and get two.
00:30:39
Speaker
So here's the thing with like inevitability in sports. Like there is none, right? But the way you can judge it is by how hard it is to survive each minute. And in like the 74th and 5th minutes, Pickford is like...
00:30:53
Speaker
making like down to his knees, making saves in the ball. There's too many box touches. And so like you're redlining like it's the 90th minute. So that's exactly what you're saying. Like it's just going to happen at this point. Like it's, blow it's the huffing and puffing and blowing the house down that you can feel it creaking. Like it's, you know, on a, ah ah like a house isn't on the right foundation kind of thing. Right. And so,
00:31:23
Speaker
this is where I'm saying like, you can only do this for 10 minutes. Like really you just, the the math of it is eventually the box touches add up and it just takes like magic to, to survive. Like,
00:31:35
Speaker
The XG. Well, it's bringing the XG here. Finally, it ends up at 0.6 for England to 1.5 for Argentina. That's not two, but like that's 1.5, and a lot of that is coming post-goal.
00:31:49
Speaker
Right. Would we say the XG number was at halftime? It was 0.0 something? So you basically like allow them to do that in 30 minutes plus stoppage time. And so... like If you just play a more even footed, trying to get your foot in, trying to keep the ball game state, like they're not going to get 1.5 xG.
00:32:13
Speaker
They might get one, but you could get a little bit more. And that's just so one-sided. And another kind of argument to be made here is you don't lose at 1-1, right? 1-1 does not end this game.
00:32:26
Speaker
And so even if you play this kind of level and, oh, look, we've accidentally given them a big chance and it's 1-1, you just go again and you run the game state back that you were playing and you might have another half an hour to do it.
00:32:37
Speaker
And so it just, none of it feels right. And Argentina is to their credit, right? I think we can rag on England a lot. And I think Thomas Ducal deserves a lot of criticism. I think the English players deserve a lot of criticism here. Argentina also deserve a lot of credit for kind of sensing that this tension is in the water, that this blood is there and just absolutely pouncing. And so, as you said,
00:32:58
Speaker
they just start to assault the box. And so Pickford makes a save on a header from McAllister. There's a save on on a shot from distance from Enzo Fernandez. And then the changes come in this game, right? As we're kind of just getting towards the 80th minute or so, right? The other changes come here. And for Argentina,
00:33:17
Speaker
It's an attacking change, right? It's their last change, the 81st minute. They bring on Lautaro Martinez. They take off Nicolas Tagliafico. That makes Nico Gonzalez basically left, right? He's not left back. He's not left wing. He's just left. He's just going to do everything on the left side. And you bring on another attacking player. And now you can go 1v1 against all those England defenders across. And what are the England changes here, Amit?
00:33:37
Speaker
It's Nico O'Reilly for Declan Rice, which is going to push Reese James then centrally and bring Spence over to the other side. And it's big or excuse me, it's big Dan Byrne for Reese James. So James comes off, but it's O'Reilly for Rice and big Dan Byrne for Reese James. And this is just we're going to hold out for these last 15 or so minutes.
00:33:56
Speaker
And it's... I get it, right? You've got your big center backs in the box. 1v1, like Stones a to win a header. I like Byrne to win a header, right? I like Kansa to win a header.
00:34:10
Speaker
But it when... You're only defenders in the box, right? Argentina's not scared of getting seven guys in the box. And then you have to be inch perfect. There's no like ah missing runners in the box.
00:34:26
Speaker
And Rice here is a bummer because Rhys James is not a central midfielder. And again, you go all the way back to Tuchel, not having a central or midfielder here to like keep the legs.
00:34:38
Speaker
Could he use Kobe Maynard this entire tournament? Why'd you bring him? Where's Morgan Gibbs white? Where's Adam Warren? Any of these players could have helped you hold the ground in the midfield that like 10 yards in front of your box that you just gave up for free.
00:34:52
Speaker
um And Dan Byrne, like I don't, I don't have a problem with, with Dan Byrne as the sub, if that's what you're going to do, but it's kind of everything else around the back five. That's just, it that you could have put,
00:35:04
Speaker
three, seven, five dudes in the box as your back three, they would have lost the header because you had nothing to stop the ball getting in the box. This change, it almost makes it like a back six, right? Because James comes off.
00:35:17
Speaker
So James comes off for burn rise comes off for Riley. You've got burn O'Reilly stones, Gay, he consa Spence. That's basically six. no i was i Yeah. I was wrong about the, the James and the midfield thing. It's just six in the back. And right.
00:35:33
Speaker
ah, man, this is 2026. You can't play six in the back. doesn't work. against You can play six in the back when you're up two, I guess, but not against the unkillable team. And so how do Argentina do it? Right. How what's actually draw up how they come back in this game to win it to one. So the first goal is just.
00:35:54
Speaker
Brilliant, brilliant stuff. And it's taking advantage of it of that kind of half space in between these back six guys and the other four guys who are kind of nebulously forward. And so it's a corner for Argentina and they choose to take it short.
00:36:08
Speaker
So Messi takes it short to Rodrigo De Paul. Messi does well to get back on side for a moment watching this game live. I didn't think he got back on side and I was petrified that this goal was going to get chopped off by the VAR lines. It doesn't.
00:36:20
Speaker
DePaul plays it back to Messi and then Messi just plays it to Enzo Fernandez who already admit at points of this game has shown you he has a shot from distance and it can be dangerous. He has let England know that they have to close down this space and they simply do not. He just walks into a shot and look,
00:36:38
Speaker
Is it the best shot ever? no but at this point in the game, there's no bad shots for Argentina. And this is too much space to give this type of guy from this type of spot. And he just beats Pickford and it's one one.
00:36:50
Speaker
You said it perfectly. You can't give up this shot to a known shooter from distance. This reminds me a lot of the Morocco goal to take the lead against Canada yeah that situation.
00:37:02
Speaker
you When you defend a corner and you put everyone on the box, you've given up that space right in front of the goal. And we talk about this in every game, right? Talk about how Spain walks into their winner versus Belgium.
00:37:14
Speaker
It's Koubarsi in this spot. This is a very, very valuable spot to get shots from late in games because there's a rebound, because there's traffic. And especially on the set piece, they're just scrambled.
00:37:24
Speaker
Pickford is... out of position on this shot. If he's standing where he should be, i think he saves it. It's still a good shot. like It's not that it's ah it's a bad shot. and Pickford doesn't do badly once it's hit. it's but It's the stuff before. But this is really, really frustrating lack of contesting a valuable area. like you just you can't give You can't give him this chance. and It's not even that he'd shown you this. like It's Enzo Fernandez. You know he can do this. Anyone on the Argentine field outside of maybe a center back can score from this spot.
00:38:00
Speaker
You've got a Mark 11 guy. It's not England look like they're playing with nine and Argentina. Like they see the situation in the box. They get a corner. It's not their best. It's not in their best interest. to so fit here Yeah, like they know Dan Burns there. They know John Stones is there. That's not going to. And so they've seen this space. They've seen this space open up throughout the game. And here they take advantage of it.
00:38:22
Speaker
And so now this game is 1-1 Amit. And this should theoretically be back to a level game state, right? But oh, look, who do England have on the field? Who do Argentina have on the field?
00:38:33
Speaker
This is only going to continue developing one way until Tuchel can do something to change it. And he's got two subs in his pocket and he doesn't use them. He decides that this game state is how we want it. We're fine with the guys we've got.
00:38:46
Speaker
Let's just get it to extra your time and handle with it there. And if admit, we've learned one thing from watching this Argentina team. You don't just get it to extra time against these guys. You don't just see it out. You need to be reactive. You need to be proactive.
00:38:58
Speaker
And he's not. And it costs him because Argentina, after they get this game level, they just keep coming. And so John Stones is forced to basically call timeout after heading the ball because that's how pinned in England are.
00:39:10
Speaker
And even with that warning sign, no change from Tuchel, no adjustments from England. The board goes up, it's plus nine, and Argentina just keep coming at them. And the second goal is a product of that. And so it's Alexis McAllister, once again, i getting into that dangerous shooting space that we talked about.
00:39:28
Speaker
And his shot goes off the post, and that might have just been the break that Argentina needed because it doesn't go wide and out of play. It doesn't get saved by Pickford for a corner. It doesn't get saved and collected by Pickford.
00:39:38
Speaker
It goes off the post and it just creates this semi-scramble situation in Argentina, capitalize on it. And so Jed Spence comes out after it's off the post and he's kind of one-on-one with Messi and he dives in to try and win it. He gets a foot to it, but he doesn't get enough to it. And then he comes up gimpy because he kind of tweaked something in this play.
00:39:58
Speaker
Neal O'Reilly has come over too and is trying to cover and there's two guys there. but it's Lionel Messi. And he's already got one assist in this game, but it was an easy assist. He just put it off the Enzo Fernandez. He scored. He ups the difficulty level here. And he says, I'm going to get my second assist. And you know how I'm going to do it.
00:40:12
Speaker
You think I'm all left foot. You think I'm all left foot. Here comes an inch perfect right footed cross. And what a cross this is from Messi. Dan Byrne is drawn in by a near post run from Julian Alvarez.
00:40:24
Speaker
and John Stones is located centrally. Kansa is located at the far post. He's kind of looking over his shoulder to figure out where Nico Gonzalez is. And Lautaro Martinez, who has come on, who has been the substitute for Argentina, just gets himself into the perfect spot. And it is as good of a cross as Messi can make. It just slides over the top of John Stones' head onto the head of Martinez. Empty net. Boom. 2-1.
00:40:48
Speaker
two one It felt inevitable. It looks inevitable. Doesn't make it any less impressive. Absolute bedlam in Atlanta on this goal. And truly like, this is why, you know, this is why the World Cup is is just incredible. Like this, this is why the World Cup is incredible. This scene is incredible.
00:41:07
Speaker
And Messi, man, yeah these great players, they show you something for 90 minutes. It's not like Messi's never used his right foot before, right? It's almost how he sneaks in the the Switzerland goal in the 90th minute too, right? Yeah. But it's just mentally, just when you're not expecting it, there's two guys on the show to Messi. And it's not even that they like he's wide open on this cross. It's just enough space for him to hit it. And yes, I think the marking here on Lautaro is not tight to him.
00:41:37
Speaker
But if you're John Stones, you're like... How much of a window is there of a ball to get over my head and still be headable for a guy behind me, right? If it's getting over my head, it's probably it's probably all the way over my head to the other sideline.
00:41:54
Speaker
And it's just, ah it' like we say, inch perfect. It's an inch perfect ball for Messi. It's ridiculous how how good this ball for Messi is. And this is like it's this is bouncy too, right?
00:42:05
Speaker
If McAllister puts this an inch to the right and it's not off the post, it's another corner kick. like It hitting the post is helpful to keep the scramble going. And that's like twice on these recycled long balls of defending your box, you get to the initial action,
00:42:22
Speaker
then you've got to stay it locked in. In 90 minutes, your brain is hard to to track. And Spence also has been excellent, excellent on all game. This is just when he picks up something on this play too, like you said. And so and know we've ragged on Tuchel.
00:42:38
Speaker
And I think Tuchel is going to get ragged on forever. And I know we've talked about like Argentina's magic, but at the same time, like you still have to just put your hands up and say like soccer is a sport of mysterious forces and plays and magic. Like, I don't know if Argentina can do this perfect of a pass on the dang training ground. Right. Like, and to pull it out here at one, one in the nine minute of a world cup semifinal, like,
00:43:07
Speaker
Oh, boy. I'm just like... I'm going to be bussing for months thinking about... I mean, like obviously, there's a whole thing on Sunday to do, but like... That's why we... like I'm just in awe. I'm just in awe of what we saw. And obviously, like for England, like this is a horror movie.
00:43:24
Speaker
like This is the absolute horror movie of Messi getting this ball to... to just the, uh, no one England sleeping. Well, Oh my gosh. You can see, you can see the reaction of the English players to this, just like immediate, like heads on hands, just falling over and messy. Like messy was solid in this game, but this was, this was a chore, right? We said it going in. He hasn't seen Elliot Anderson and Declan rice in this tournament.
00:43:48
Speaker
And those guys, I think played messy pretty well. Heads up, like straight up. I just just kept throwing three bodies at him all game. And it was effective. It was effective. They made him work for it. But then just one scramble situation, right? One situation where the ball comes off the post and it's free. And in England, like you said, they're in good position here, but they need to be in great position. And they're not in great position. And a great player makes them pay for it. And like...
00:44:16
Speaker
This cross is just so good. Like you just can't help, but just marvel at the perfection. That is this cross. It's right on the head of what like, well, tower couldn't have missed this. Like you talk about the chances that let's hire is wasted. He couldn't have missed this one. That's how good the cross was truly. And the fact that it's just a homing missile to his head from where messy hits his cross on his weak foot. Again, running out of things to say about this guy. He just finds new ways to do it. And yeah,
00:44:43
Speaker
While I said, while I said, like, this play is incredible magic and, like, it's... would Go back to the inevitable thing, though. There's still, like, seven more minutes of stoppage time. And so that's the thing where, like, yes, I just said, sorry to rag on Tuchel, like, this play is amazing. But also, like...
00:44:59
Speaker
this play happens because of the way England are set up for this goal. And so it's just this circle of like, I, you know, we did, there's just some things we don't know about soccer. Like we know a lot about soccer. We've learned more than ever. We have more numbers than ever. We have XG, we have field tilt, we've got formations. we even, we even think we understand vibes here in this world cup after dark podcast. Like was this inevitable? Yeah.
00:45:24
Speaker
Was this 2-1 90th plus three minute game inevitable? If you roll this thing out a hundred times and you go back to the 85th minute or whatever, does Argentina still win more than 50 of them?
00:45:41
Speaker
ah we yeah know i don't know I don't know. But it feels like what I saw what was ah what what I was going to see. But also, what did i see? It also circles back to the point we made on the preview show on Monday, right? One of these teams has, you know, 50 years of World Cup disappointment where every single generation has felt the weight of the World Cup and it has just crushed them. And one of these teams with this particular generation, like you said, they are not scared of losing because they've already won.
00:46:10
Speaker
And everything after this is bonus. Everything after this is icing on top of the cake. And it just feels like those two things mattered here.
00:46:21
Speaker
It just feels like it mattered. England just decided to play this in the worst possible way against the worst possible team in the worst possible moment. And so is it inevitable? I don't know if it's in inevitable. But it's certainly more likely.
00:46:36
Speaker
you invite the... The tail outcomes. You invite your luck, right? You earn your luck. And so I think you and I love like these kinds of discussions because soccer and particularly international soccer, like invites them in a way that just you don't get in other sports. Right.
00:46:53
Speaker
Like the vibes, the mentality, the weight of history. I'm going thinking about this game for the rest of my life and what happened to these last 10 minutes.
00:47:04
Speaker
You just, you can't like having watched what you just watched for the last 90 minutes. You can't tell me that that stuff doesn't matter. You just can't. Like, you can't tell me watching the Argentine players sing the national anthem, how much it meant. You can't tell me that that didn't play a role here. And I know hindsight is 20-20. I know it's easy to say that having seen how this game ended, but that plays a role in how this game ended.
00:47:26
Speaker
Yeah, and while we're here, I'm just going to pile one on France. You can fight back, fellas. Sorry. Don't be down at the end of the game. they weren't that You know, they were down two, but like...
00:47:39
Speaker
You can do things when you're down one, can't you? Oh my gosh. um So there's there's still game to play here, right? After the 2-1 goes in for Argentina. England, now it's panic times. Oh, you remember those two changes that we didn't make at 1-1? Well, let's make them now down 2-1 and let's bring on Ivan Tony for for giggles. My special odds. Oh, it's it's Marcus Rashford. Remember him? He's still here. He's coming on.
00:48:01
Speaker
And look, England are never really going to have a great response to this, I don't think. They definitely don't have a great response. They just rip a lot of long balls that Argentina, to their credit, do a really good job of handling. And like again, this is just how this thing works.
00:48:15
Speaker
Otameni is the perfect player. for this You don't have to worry about getting cooked for pace when it's just all long balls. And he's in instead of Lissandro Martinez and he and Kuti Romero and Taglia. Like all these guys handle these long balls really well.
00:48:29
Speaker
And Argentina see out this game without any sort of great danger. Right. And honestly, the pattern was the free man was Kansa because Artichino weren't crossing him because it's a center back and a right back spot. And then he looks like Mexico crossing the ball, right? Drawing negative comparisons to Jesus Gallardo.
00:48:46
Speaker
Or it was Pickford hitting long balls to Dan Byrne. And so like they were missing a guy. Was Saka available? Was he not available? I don't know. Where's Eze, right? Like ah the ball doesn't even get to Tony. Like it's...
00:49:04
Speaker
It's a cascading effect of weird substitutions is definitely the story of this game. Very, very odd. It was amusing to see Dan Byrne as a striker. Like it almost works, but Argentina's credit defended the second ball really well.
00:49:19
Speaker
And like, look, you're England. This is the Premier League. This is the best league in the world. This is the Super League. You're in a World Cup semifinal and the best you're coming up like what you are, you're going to battle with Dan Byrne Stryker. That's what you're bringing to the battle here. You're always going to lose that against these guys.
00:49:37
Speaker
Perhaps. They needed another winger. They need another winger. And I like, I would have brought on Modueke. I like, instead of, maybe not Rashford, but instead of Tony, like if you're going to have burn in the box, like you don't like the extra body is just not helping You needed someone to cross and credit to Argentina. They also at least fought the cross a little bit too in the last few minutes in a way better than England fought the cross.
00:50:02
Speaker
And I think there's also just like that sucker punch factor of like almost once the first goal goes in, ah that feeling of dread creeping in like by the time the second has come, it's already, it's been too late for five minutes.
00:50:19
Speaker
And that I think is more credit to Argentina for getting to one, one, right? Like I said in the England, like one, one doesn't lose you the game. One, one also doesn't win you the game for Argentina. And so they get to one, one and they see how the cards, like they see where the pieces are at on the chessboard.
00:50:35
Speaker
And they're like, yeah, why wouldn't we go? Like, yes, of course you you don't want to be leaving Jude Bellingham making a late run back the other way. You don't want Harry Kane to Harry Kane you. But why not go for this at this point? Why not press this advantage while we have it?
00:50:48
Speaker
And they deserve a ton of credit for approaching it with that mentality. That is a World Cup winners mentality. You go back to Egypt 2-2 against Argentina and it was like Paredes making that inch perfect save. And you're like, if Egypt could do that at 2-2...
00:51:03
Speaker
Like, what were you doing here? How did you play this worse than Egypt? You get the same fate. So it's not really fair to say better worse. Like, that game was crazy in its own right. But, like, think about Egypt's counter in that game versus what argentine or what England did here up up one, right? So, like, to be fair, Egypt went up two and it wasn't enough to your opening point. You better go up three. But, like...
00:51:28
Speaker
Oh, man. were yeah what what is What is true with this Argentina team? We're getting to up to some limits of my of my my borders on reality.
00:51:39
Speaker
i think I think at this point, instead of trying to quantify it, we just have to sit back and enjoy it. Oh, 100%. Like I get that we're in the quantifying business. Like that's what we're about here. That's what we like to do. And that's, I think, kind of what people are listening for us to do But at some point, I think you just have to take the notebook and say, and just throw it out, right? The World Cup After Dark textbook, like maybe it's like World Cup After Dark textbook in parentheses does not apply to Argentina. So it's 2022, 2026.
00:52:09
Speaker
Yeah, our whole our whole textbook is have have the vibes is generally a page of the textbook. We can't explain how that works. And it's so, so funny that Messi, who is like the numbers darling of football, is also getting this turn in his career right now at this like late stage. Because so, so many times the last dance, the farewell tour is marked by like that feeling of like,
00:52:38
Speaker
ah He's just not quite where he was and it's hurting his team. And even though he's not quite where he was, like the storybook ending is there. We're in minute 53. Like we're in some rare, rare, rare narrative and legacy territory that is on the table for this guy that what he's enabled.
00:52:59
Speaker
like how often do you get to do the last dance and then you get another last like 2022 that was supposed to be the end of the story right and it was supposed to be this brilliant end of the story and then this guy just kind of keeps going and you're like all right why not and now you're 90 minutes away from just Somehow doing it again, and and we'll preview the final and we'll tackle all that. I think Spain are favorites. I think Spain have to be favorites. I think Spain, based on the fact that 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 is the same to Spain, is going to work in their favor against Argentina.
00:53:32
Speaker
If ever there is a team that can just say, all right all your vibes and mentality are cute, we're just not going to let you have the ball, it's probably this Spain. But man, Argentina are right there, and and getting right there, I think, is credit enough and has made this tournament enough of a success.
00:53:47
Speaker
It is. And as much as Spain you know don't want the Vize to be real, it's extra forces at play. And the crowd, the crowd, you have to say for Argentina, home field advantage is so real for them, especially in Atlanta.
00:54:01
Speaker
We'll see the New York. I mean, i imagine the Argentina just support and vibes will be better than Spain's, but it's not going to be like... overwhelming There's always kind of a a neutral feel to finals in a sense. like It's hard to overwhelmingly do that in one way. right There's a lot of tickets that have been out for this game for months. But yeah, the the home support has definitely like really, really mattered and lifting them over the line. like Again, I go back to that moment, the goal of the Lautaro-Martinez goal. Yeah.
00:54:33
Speaker
You could just bottle it up. And if you don't like that, like even don't show an England fan. But if you don't like that, like what are you doing here? ah Speaking of things being bottled up, but is there a discount on the Thomas Tuchel mentality bottle at this point?
00:54:50
Speaker
Oh, I think so. I think it's at the bottom of the barrel. Coming soon to a ah loss near you, right? that The Thomas Tuchel mentality stuff on the discount shelf.
00:55:02
Speaker
Yeah, so is so is Thomas Tuchel. He's going to be available on the discount shelf as a manager real soon after this one. ah
00:55:12
Speaker
deccklin suit Declan Rice suitcase also coming home empty yet again. it's like it's so It's so horrible to pile on. like Gosh, England, they can't escape their destiny.
00:55:25
Speaker
i Yeah, and it's gonna take something generational, right? Like it's going to take what Argentina had in 2022, like that's how you change this sort of thing is you go on a run like that,
00:55:36
Speaker
just hard to see where it comes from. We'll break down England after the tournament. And then I will get back together and in in the calm, cold light of day. We'll break down all these teams and we'll come back to where everything went wrong. We'll react to whatever change England makes. We'll figure out who the new manager is going to be because believe me, there's going to be a new manager. And we'll attack all of that. We'll attack Argentina, Spain on the the final preview.
00:55:56
Speaker
This was a fun game. This was a great game. This was why we do this show. This was why after this game ends, the first thing we want to do is fire up and press the record button and just get our thoughts out. So we hope that you, the listener enjoyed this.
00:56:08
Speaker
We hope that you check out our preview show ahead of the final. We hope that you have enjoyed all of our World Cup stuff. Obviously, if you want more from us, you know where to find us. You can also find us at patreon.com slash WCAD if you want to support us. Anything else from you amid any more giggles or guffaws you got from me before we wrap this up?
00:56:27
Speaker
No, we promised centrally level stuff and we got century level stuff. And ah look, we we know the moment when we see it. It's World Cup after dark. And we got we got a true, true delight for soccer fans everywhere.
00:56:41
Speaker
We'll be back to preview Argentina, Spain, probably either tomorrow or Friday. We'll figure that out. Be sure to be looking at that. We will not be talking about France and England in the third place game. How fun that one going to be on Saturday in Miami? I'm it.
00:56:53
Speaker
Just a pout off. That's that's tough. don't Don't want to see that. Hope we see some Kobe Mainu and Ivan Toney in that one for England. i Get those guys on the field, Tommy. See see what they can do. That's going to be such a hilarious, it's hilarious spectacle. I mean, on Sunday, it's the World Cup final, and Emmett and I will be back to recap it all when it goes final.
00:57:11
Speaker
Enjoy the days off. Enjoy the buildup to Sunday's final. We'll be back with the preview before then. Thank you, as always, for listening, and we'll chat to you guys soon.