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WCAD 4-38: England Survive the Azteca
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The guys recap a tremendous start to the Round of 16, from England and Mexico's event-filled contest at the Azteca to Erling Haaland sinking Brazil, plus a look at Morocco getting past Canada and an abbreviated post-tournament eulogy for Paraguay after they fell 1-0 to France. Plus, a look at how the controversial overturning of Folarin Balogun's suspension changes tomorrow night's USA-Belgium clash.
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Transcript
Excitement in World Cup Matches
00:00:01
Speaker
I feel like we've said this a lot so far, this World Cup, but allow me to just say it again. This World Cup is delivering. And on a Sunday night at the Azteca with the kickoff delayed by an hour, Mexico, England, i mean, we expected fireworks.
00:00:18
Speaker
I don't know that we expected everything that we got. How fun was that? That's everything you want from a World Cup classic. And we had said before the game, this is the type of game that we talked about for generations.
00:00:31
Speaker
And it was kind of just a bit, right? And then it turns out that you you put the ah the altitude, Mexico, England, everything on the line, all these psyches, all this history, all this drama. And I think we said...
00:00:44
Speaker
Things are going to go. And it was more it was more than we could have expected, right? And I think both of us and anyone is just kind of in this like that really good state of just a haze you're in after watching something crazy. And a World Cup haze is just such a delightful feeling. So yeah, ah not not unfortunately, very fortunately, the World Cup just has the goods, man. It just does.
00:01:06
Speaker
ah we said things were going to go, things most assuredly went, right? I think that's the number
Breaking Down the Mexico vs. England Match
00:01:12
Speaker
one takeaway from that. This is the World Cup After Dark podcast. He's Amit Malik. I am Austin Miller. On tonight's show, we're going break down, obviously, Mexico, England. We've got Brazil-Norway breakdown for you. We've got a Saturday breakdown for you because we didn't record last night, so we'll get France-Paraguay. We'll get Morocco-Canada.
00:01:30
Speaker
But mean there's only one place for us to start. It is at the Azteca.
Highlights and Strategies: Mexico vs. England
00:01:35
Speaker
And you and I kind of thought that this might be a game where Mexico would take the initiative, where England might be put on the back foot.
00:01:45
Speaker
I don't think we expected all of that to happen with also five goals and a red card and just a game that you never knew what was coming around the corner. It was in that Twilight Zone where like you just didn't know what was going to happen at any point. And I think the early goals totally, totally changed the game.
00:02:02
Speaker
And a lot of this is nonsensical. A lot of this is just football events happened. And we're going to try to talk about it. But also at the same time, like I think every little piece of both teams adds up here. like Every guy makes his contribution.
00:02:19
Speaker
And the big theme of this game was player for player, England are better at 11 across the field in Mexico. But do can they squeeze every other thing outside of that fact into their advantage? And they kind of did, right? Like they take it to England. They create 2XG in this game. They put England under all that pressure.
00:02:40
Speaker
But at the same time, right, I feel like you and I and anyone watching that game feels like they didn't do enough. they like They had them where they wanted them. is that fair? like Could we start there?
00:02:51
Speaker
Yeah. So I think they had them where they wanted them. They dominated for the majority of this match and they still gave up three goals. Like, yeah, that that just wasn't the recipe here. The recipe wasn't dominate the game, get England to go down a man and yet somehow still concede three times, including twice at a like 90 second span in the first half.
00:03:14
Speaker
No, that that wasn't the recipe. And so they needed to score when they were ahead on the ball. And this game, like every game at the World Cup, is a game state game. And that's part of the reason why the XG is higher for Mexico, because they spend so much of this game chasing down two goals, down one goal for the majority of it. And that was a big, big theme of the game, is that twice England goes up two and it feels like the game is kind of dead. Maybe not the second time, because there's all that time left. But...
00:03:42
Speaker
Mexico was right there. And then the the second theme kind of is Mexico's lack of attacking ideas. If you had to circle one culprit for this game, Javier Aguirre is kind of a don't beat yourself kind of manager. He's a high floor manager and his team played really good football. If you look at that 30 minutes against Ecuador, but All that kind of interplay and movement requires field. When a team bunkers, you have to have more creative ideas and players doing unexpected things. It was very direct when they're chasing this game. And that, to me, is what I'm saying.
00:04:19
Speaker
That wasn't enough for Mexico, right? Yeah, I'm with you. the the The bigger culprit is giving up three, especially on two types of goals that you shouldn't be giving up to England, right? But...
00:04:29
Speaker
The other thing I'll say as we get into this game is that this is where the talent gaps come in, right? We had said that Mexico defense had never seen the movement, timing, and skill level of players like Bukaya Saka, like Harry Kane, like Jude Bellingham.
00:04:46
Speaker
And it was not pretty for England. The the legs were definitely affected. But the Mexico defense made mistakes that they just their whole bit is not making mistakes. And then those goals are the mistakes. And this is the level of the round of 16 of that game for Mexico. And man, it was just like a perfect foil for each other, for both teams in that way.
00:05:08
Speaker
Mexico didn't make their first half an hour count in the way that they did against Ecuador. That didn't set the game state in their favor. They had two kind of unforgivable mistakes to go two goals down and then they're just chasing the game. And even when they get the game into the chasey state that they want at the end, like you said, that's where the ideas really hurt them and they just kind of end up whipping crosses to nowhere against a bunch of big burly English guys in the box who kind of eat that stuff with their English breakfast. So let's get into this. You like that English breakfast one? do. Yeah. Good. um Mexico run out the same 11. So that was one of the questions we had asked about them. You know, no guilt out there. Yeah.
00:05:50
Speaker
Gilberto Mora starts in this game for Mexico, right? England counter with Kwanzaa at right back. And I think there's some injury concerns for Spence, although we end up seeing in this game. But but it's Kwanzaa in and it's Gordon Saka on the wings. Gordon's a player that we're going to be talking a lot about this game. I think he was a key, key member of this English side.
00:06:11
Speaker
His running, his work rate was perfect for the Azteca. other thing you have to say, England are very, very fit. Like, yes, they they were suffering. they were Their legs were dead. But a team with worse fitness is more dead. And certain players on the field, Gordon, Bellingham in particular, especially Gordon's fitness, he kept making runs. And his verticality was important. I think Tuchel gets this right, right? were talking about what do you do on either wing? And both Gordon and Saka are the right players for this type of game.
00:06:42
Speaker
He kind of knows that Aguirre, we said, what's he going to do? Well, he's he's going to go at you. And so you need to be able to run to track back and you need be able to run at your defender over and over again. And I thought Gordon on Sanchez was a big mismatch for England.
00:06:55
Speaker
Rashford doesn't see the field in this game. And I think after the first game for frank England, we were like, well, where's Rashford? Gordon is ineffective against a low block. We need Rashford's quality.
00:07:07
Speaker
Anthony Gordon's a really good player. So I think Tuchel got exactly what he needed out of him at the Azteca tonight. And Saka kind of floated in and out, but he's critical on the opening goal for frank England, right? And that's kind of why you put him in the lineup is to make that sort of play. So the first bit of this game, really the first half hour plus of this game, Mexico are counter pressing really well. They're contesting the midfield. They are winning one-on-one challenges in the midfield when England are trying to get by them and they are passing through the English press.
00:07:38
Speaker
It's kind of what we saw from Mexico against Ecuador. It's kind of a repeat of that. But this time they don't get the goal, maybe crucially. Right. And Ecuador made some mistakes and England, to be fair, they were getting pass through, but they kept everyone back. They kept six guys back.
00:07:55
Speaker
Anderson and Rice were happy to drop. And and I think the back four did a good job of defending their box in open play. And like, yes, they Dier Congo stole the the edge early on a goal on on a low extra chance. As long as England didn't kind of do that, shoot themselves in the foot, they were going to be OK with this defensive block and Mexico having the ball just for that threat of the counter.
00:08:19
Speaker
Mexico's real chance in this was a diving header for Jimenez. It's a really good save from Jordan Pickford. And Pickford, I mean, it's taken us eight minutes to say his name, but came up time and time again. And you were thinking, right, could that be a weakness for England in this game?
00:08:34
Speaker
Pickford is kind of a variance player because you watch this game. You didn't see anything else. You go, that guy is one of the best goalkeepers in the tournament. Right. So he was fantastic. And this diving save, too, is so, so hard. Right. He is a instant to get his hand to this or it's going inside the near post. Really good. Raleigh Meadows is <unk> good at this game, too. He he he left it all on the table. Yeah. Yeah, it's a strong hand for Pickford, and it has to be because if it's not, this is going off his hand and off the post. So this game is nil-nil. Mexico are in a really good spot. They're just starting to pin England in deep. The legs look heavy for England, but then right as you feel like they're getting really pinned in here,
00:09:13
Speaker
England just pull it off perfectly and they mosey up the right on the counter. It's started by a Pickford long ball, quick outlet to Rice. Rice plays it to Sokka. Sokka walks in one-on-one and he's one-on-one against Gajardo.
00:09:26
Speaker
He beats him, plays a perfect ball. Kane makes the near post run, draws all the attention. It's Jude Bellingham at the back post, wide open, unmarked, header, bang, one-nil England. That's how they drew it off It's a ruthless counterattack. And this is where we talk about what is Aguirre supposed to do here? I don't think you blame him, but when you play this way, you're opening England up to be a counterattacking team and they never get to be the counterattacking team. And generally when you have a team like Jude and Saka, like you don't want to give those guys space. This is what it looks like. They have 70 yards of a runway they're
00:10:04
Speaker
Sokka's really good on this goal, right? He's left-footed. You always think he's cutting left, but he just pitter-patters walks. He's not sped up. And look, if I'm Gallardo, I'm terrified. i'm you know My pants are not having a good time. like I don't know what to do. And so you you think you got to stop him cutting in your right. He goes the other way and he gets his right-footed cross off. You can't stop it.
00:10:26
Speaker
And then... I mean, yeah, you should mark Jude, but even if you are marking him, how do you stop that header, right? And you're worried about Kane, and it's like, right, when you have three guys, like, and all of them demand double team level gravity, someone gets open, and like...
00:10:42
Speaker
This is just the nightmare start for Aguirre and kind of the worry you're thinking of, of what happens when you take to England, you don't get anything. Now, the only thing you can say is that, okay, yeah, England are going to get some of the counter. We're just going to hammer them the other way on volume and it's going to be a goals game. Aguirre is not wrong in that sense, but you absolutely cannot do what happens next.
00:11:04
Speaker
Right. So this is, I think, where you see the movement and the quality of the box for England absolutely playing a role like they're getting two runners. They're making divergent runs. You're you're drawn to one. You're leaving the other open. It's so hard. It's so hard to mark. Right. Teams aren't doing that at that level. Like it's very hard.
00:11:20
Speaker
So the first goal goes and you're thinking, oh, that's not great for Mexico, but right, just fire the engine back up, keep going. Maybe they were going to get a counter goal eventually. The second goal is pretty much inexcusable because right after this, basically immediately after Mexico tried to play it through the press and what had worked for the first 37 minutes of this game stops working. They get stripped 40 yards from goal.
00:11:41
Speaker
England go four on three. They're super opportunistic. They're clinical and they just shred. And who is it again? It's Jude Bellingham carrying into the heart of the defense, releases Kane wide right. Kane squares it a across and guess who it is. It's Jude Bellingham again who continues his run and he just taps it in for 2-0. And this is exactly what, like you said, the 1-0 was a nightmare start. This is the double nightmare start.
00:12:05
Speaker
And this is like the other thing is you're trying to be brave. You're trying to play through the press. You're trying to eliminate defenders. You're telling your guys, be confident on the ball. confident on the ball. But England, look, they weren't going to press you all game, but in a moment, a selective moment, right? They just jump you on the ball. I don't i forget exactly who this is. I think it might have been Lyra. Maybe it was Alvarado, but just just dawdling, right? And you can't dawdle on the ball in your own third like that. And then as soon as it happens...
00:12:34
Speaker
It's like, what, four on three? You know England's got a loose man. And credit to Jude, this is his super, super duper star game. And then what's his thing? He can do a little bit of everything, right? He can run. can dribble. He can shoot. He can defend. He can cover ground. And he just...
00:12:52
Speaker
is tireless on top of it. and It's like you build an English center midfielder in a lab, right? he's just He does everything. He starts this play. He finishes this play. And the other credit you have to give is to Kane here too, right? How many guys are you thinking he almost this is the similar spot to where he uncorks that one against DR Congo?
00:13:11
Speaker
think he's shooting, squares it right across. Exactly like the first goal, like... The England brains just know they do these attacking patterns so many times. It's over wendy when you're in space and you're like, you can't give them space twice in five minutes. And i mean, this was a exactly how Tuchel draws up his game plan for how to attack this game, right?
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah. And Jude Bellingham was so good here in this segment of the game. And also at the end of the game, right? When England are down to 10 men and you look at the formation and you're like, Oh, Jude Bellingham is the eight. And he's also the 10. He's just going to play two roles here in this 10 man situation. And he can do that because he's that good.
00:13:50
Speaker
And he just unlocks so much for what Tuchel wants to do. Tuchel likes having a player like that, that can do everything for him to your point. And it's the Tuchel math. We were saying like, can he get away with two, three? And like, yeah, Sokka and Gordon have a great game, but it's funny. I think there's a point where you almost go, Tuchel's doing a higher level version of Aguirre.
00:14:13
Speaker
Don't beat ourselves. Let our star players create. And he's got the better team, the better stars. And yeah, his like finally, who who made the mistakes in this one? It was Mexico. So this is weird though, right? When you think they're down too, it keeps, the game keeps doing this whole, the twists and turns. Yeah, so on a normal night, this could have been it, right? Mexico kind of collapsed. They give up two goals in 90 seconds, and and that's all she wrote.
00:14:37
Speaker
But as you and i veterans of many a long night in CONCACAF, whether it be in World Cup qualifying, whether it be in the Gold Cup or here in the World Cup, it's not over. Of course it's not over. And so Mexico, to their credit,
00:14:51
Speaker
find a response, and and it's absolutely the response they needed. It's a set-piece response out after a foul is given away. Alvarado swings at a really good ball into the center of the box from the left, into the mass of bodies. Kansa kindly just kind of just blindly pokes it backwards, and nobody is there but a wide open Julian Quinones. He's kind of rooted to his spot, but he has a really good finish here. He puts his foot through it.
00:15:17
Speaker
Great underspin on the ball, steals a goal, puts it in the top of the net and gets Mexico back within one. It was just, this is where Aguirre is like, this is why the box assault works. All you're hoping is that one of these crosses bounces to one of your attackers. This is exactly what happens on this play.
00:15:34
Speaker
And credit to Quinones. I think it's an underratedly tough finish. to He's almost going to miss this ball because he's already planted his feet. And then Mexico just keep coming because at the ends of that half, right after 45 minutes, England have no legs to protect the midfield. And it's just a box assault. And There's what, three, four chances here that that Mexico almost get 2-2 on?
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's two in particular, right? that There's a ball that falls to Raul Jimenez, and they both fall to Jimenez, in fact. There's a ball that falls him in the box, and he just fizzes a scorcher wide. We're like, ooh, that was close. And then it's another save on a header. This time it's it's a diving header that he almost kind of loops in, but Pickford makes a really good tip save.
00:16:18
Speaker
And then Jude shows up again here too, right? There's a corner that goes over everyone. It comes to Cesar Montes. He brings it down and he's just winding up to shoot from three yards out. And Jude tracks back like 10 yards to stick his foot through it, sends it out for a corner. And that's where you're just like, oh, we're watching...
00:16:36
Speaker
At this point, this is like Mexico's third chance of five minutes. Jude has done everything he's done. And you're like, you're realizing you're watching one of those historical games that everyone talks about right here. And England needs this halftime whistle whistle desperately. They get it. And even though it's two one it feels like, OK, there's no way England can hold on if they have to defend their box like this for more than five minutes at a time.
00:17:01
Speaker
It was really necessary that Mexico got back within one because it just revived everything. It got the spirit back the way that they played the way really that they pinned England in. I think had you thinking, all right, we got a game in the second half. We're to see.
00:17:16
Speaker
And I thought to their credit, England came out really well in the second half here because I think they realized this is a moment of the game where we're going to have legs. Our legs are going to go whether we go or not. in this moment, so we might as well go. and they do a pretty good job of kind of putting Mexico under pressure to start the second half.
00:17:33
Speaker
ah A very good start. Exactly what you said. Tuchel kind of threads the needle of his team's energy perfectly. ah And they're really going down the left. This is where it's Gordon and Nico O'Reilly's turn to really attack Jorge Sanchez at right back. And they get two really good looks.
00:17:51
Speaker
um They get a cutback across that Kane is maybe a foot off. O'Reilly hits the post and... Exactly as you said, like I think England are realizing one might not be enough, too. like We're going to need that third goal. So this was really good. And you're thinking, OK, maybe England will get the third. And then here, the the twist, twist, twist again.
00:18:11
Speaker
Just with the momentum starts going one way, it immediately flips back the other way because Kwanzaa, who's kind of an improvised right back in this game, comes in on a super late slide on Gachardo.
00:18:22
Speaker
I think he just kind of times this wrong. And I think the field is wet. It's been raining all day. And I think he just kind of overslides, right? He misses the ball, studs up right into the shin of Gachardo. And look, it's not the most blatant foul play that you'll ever see, but it's a red card. It ruined the momentum and England go down to 10. think this is the right call.
00:18:46
Speaker
I think so. I mean, it's very clear on replay studs and into shin. We we said this ah on some other podcasts. When you see that it's a red, like CONCACAF guy is going to give it. That's the thing, especially in CONCACAF and comma ball.
00:18:57
Speaker
It's pretty clear. And, This is what it looks like when a center back plays right back, right? We talked about closeout angle, closeout speed. It's very difficult to close out and not overcommit. You don't want to get beat. And when you're a center back, you you slide in the box a little bit more because you're cutting out balls or like...
00:19:19
Speaker
there's not there's not necessarily room for him to get behind you. It's more of like a last ditch thing. There's no need for you to slide into Gallardo here. And to your point, it's wet. He just misjudges it, right? Like you can't go to ground. You should almost like never on a closeout be sliding. It's a dual like in a dual spot. The slide tackle is for last ditch. The guy like is about to get behind you.
00:19:44
Speaker
This is just a stationary ball. Quants is like, I'm slipping, sliding in. and It's like, don't slip and slide at the Azteca. And you can't do it with the studs up like that. Yeah. yeah like If you're going to do that, you have to keep your feet down. you Maybe you take him out and you get a yellow card, but you can't. You're just asking for it at that point. And so Thomas Tuchel has to adjust. You take soccer off, puts John Stones on. This is the first of eventually like three center backs, defensive players that Tuchel is going to change in this game.
00:20:10
Speaker
And just as you're trying to kind of figure out, okay, where is everybody exactly going to line up here? Like a stone's coming in. yeah Who's going to be at right back? What are we doing at left back? How's all this going to work?
00:20:20
Speaker
England shift the momentum back again because they just play a long ball from Pickford. He just yams it as long as he possibly can. Kane knocks it down to Anthony Gordon, who had a great game.
00:20:32
Speaker
Ron Hell comes off, cleans out Gordon for a penalty. There's some question about whether Kane was offside on the first touch. He wasn't about maybe it came off his arm. It did, but it wasn't deemed to be a foul.
00:20:45
Speaker
And Ron Hell comes out. I don't know what he's doing. I don't know what the center backs are doing. Just when the momentum has put everything in front of Mexico, they have a this mistake in the moment. You just cannot have it.
00:21:00
Speaker
It's like not just the moment you can't have it, like the only moment that England could have it. Because if they don't score in this play, right, it's, you know, down one, 11 on 10. You're just going to rev up the engine. And England's probably not going to have that many legs of the rest of this game.
00:21:18
Speaker
But this just happened enough of when they had legs to start the second half that even with 10, they could go long. And Gordon... I mean, I just think Mexico are going to have nightmares of this guy just covering ground. Like yeah he starts this run 20 yards behind Kane or 10 yards behind Kane reads the flick and they can't track him. Like he's just pure pace beat but was the England story ah of the game and credit to Kane. Like he's not really a knockdown striker, but you know, he's good at a little bit everything. And
00:21:50
Speaker
Very poor from, I think Edson Alvarez is involved here. He comes on at halftime for Montez. And that was one player we had said, you know, circle for pace, like Montez, Vasquez, Alvarez. He's the third guy and he does step slow. And Ron Hell also misreads it. It's like everything gone wrong. And it's just like, why are you...
00:22:11
Speaker
be in this directly. That's the thing from England. and Twice. Two of the three goals. Exactly. Two of the three goals are direct play. and This is kind of the whole worry, fear, nightmare of Mexico playing this approach is you've just introduced the the England angle that they don't normally get to do. They don't normally get to be indirect and effective.
00:22:33
Speaker
This is the quality of England's speed in space. England penalty at the Azteca up a goal. There's only one man to take it, right? I mean, it's H dot Cain and what a penalty this is.
00:22:46
Speaker
I mean, credit to Kane, right? Penalty is very hard. We're seeing it's very hard. And if you're going to put it on one side, you're just going to go, you put in the corner. And that is one of Harry Kane's not superpowers, but underrated things, you know, for a nine. He's just very good at penalties. Like he is legitimately above average on penalties because he could put it in the side netting on command. He's missed a few in his career in big spots too for England, but...
00:23:09
Speaker
This was nails, right? This is in the aura moment for Harry Kane, generally aura-less guy, but you know he's converting some people. Some of our friends are like, oh man, Harry Kane's got some aura. And it's like, the man just was wasting away at Tottenham for years without trophies. He's very good. This was cool. Uh, Ron hell goes the right way and it just doesn't matter because Kane puts it in the side netting. So Mexico respond, make a couple of changes. Santiago Jimenez comes on, Brian Gutierrez comes on.
00:23:36
Speaker
Uh, we finally get a look at this England formation. It's stones at right center back. It's concept out at right back. And it's time for Mexico to just kind of lump balls in and be box assaulting. Right.
00:23:49
Speaker
And this game can't quit itself because just when you think, all right, England are back up to, they're going to be able to see this out. It goes the other way. And Kane, in trying to clear the ball out, kicks up and Gutierrez gets his foot in first. And Kane kicks Gutierrez's foot.
00:24:05
Speaker
It's just a loose ball in the box. it's It's an innocuous play, but it's a penalty. And it's Kane making contact first here. Is this soft? I think it is soft.
00:24:16
Speaker
But Kane goes to play the ball and doesn't play the ball and only plays the man. I think there's only one call you can make here. Same thing when you see the foot kicking the foot and Gutierrez is in a shooting position, it's a foul. It's weird, right? Some of the officiating things are weird, but if you call it live, you're definitely not overturning it, right? Or I don't know if he called it live. He went and looked at it. yeah if you VAR and go look and see the kick, it is what it is. So we say, what should you have done here?
00:24:44
Speaker
is he in a position to hurt you on his next touch? Yeah. Probably not. And so you have to just defend without fouling. It's easier said than done. But this is also OK. It's worked twice for Aguirre. He's lumped the ball in the box and he's gotten a bounce. Basically, now ball bounces off constant. He gets a a contact here. And so he's thinking, oh, I know what to do. Just lump the ball in the box. It works, right?
00:25:07
Speaker
So Raul Jimenez saw Harry Kane's penalty and said, I can one up that and I can take a good penalty myself. And this is why if you're going to stutter, you better be good at it, right? And Jimenez stutters, gets Pickford going the wrong way. And Pickford recovers in time, but Jimenez doesn't panic, right? He doesn't like go super wide of the post.
00:25:27
Speaker
He knows exactly what he's doing. He gets Pickford left. He sends Pickford right. He scores. Great, great pen for Mal Jimenez, who I said earlier, like just left it all on on the field today. Out of Mexico's big guys in the box, he was the most dangerous. He was the most like class player, and he was always threatening lurking. but After this is when it turns into ah one goal lead, like pure sweat time. And I think everyone is thinking there's too much time, right? There's way too much time for England to get away with this.
00:26:01
Speaker
There's way too much time. And the changes that England makes are very defensive changes, obviously, right? So Spence, who was an injury concern coming in, has enough to come in for the end of this game. So he replaces Nico O'Reilly. And then who is on to replace Elliot Anderson, a midfielder?
00:26:17
Speaker
That's Dan Byrne of it. one of the biggest oafs that you can have in center back at Newcastle. Good player, right? He is a good player. He was kind of taken over Harry Maguire and they're both kind of oafy, slabby defenders if you're going to describe them like that.
00:26:32
Speaker
But look, it was clear what happens because Mexico make their changes too. And they got, as you said, Jimenez in and they make another one, right, to um bring on another striker. Guillermo Martinez basically right after this. Yeah, Fidalgo comes on too. Yeah, so it's just bodies in the box. And so, look, teams that have switched to five in the back have gotten punished this tournament.
00:26:54
Speaker
But you still have to like respect the move anyway. You can't not make this move. like You've just got to bring on three guys that are to win their duels. And at the end of the day, like Mexico's three guys versus England's three guys, who won every ball in the box? Basically, for the next 15 minutes is the story of the end of this game.
00:27:14
Speaker
It's England and it's Mexico getting the ball easily into wide areas, but then not really doing anything once they get there. And this is just kind of put the ball into the mess and hope that something comes out of it. And like you kind of alluded to earlier, it worked twice for them earlier in the game, but here there's just that much more traffic.
00:27:35
Speaker
And they just are kind of out of ideas and they don't eliminate defenders. They don't really change angles. They just kind of take turns crossing it from the wing, the wing, or kind of inside on the wing.
00:27:50
Speaker
Basically, yeah, he said it well. And unfortunately, when you're so one-dimensional showing your cross, then England knows where to close you down. How many times was Gordon on Sanchez or Fidalgo's side just saying, I know where you want to go. I know where you want to go. You've got to cross from a distant angle. And Mexico are like...
00:28:08
Speaker
Oh, what do we do? Why don't you put three guys over there and make them defend two on three and then set them up? But like the extra guys in the box, the extra guy was always in the box. And this is just that lack of inspiration. Same thing on the left side. I mean, poor Gallardo involved in everything in this game can't hit a cross to get to hit the broad side of a barn, right? Or whatever you want to say the phrases, his service is poor. And then you start realizing like, oh, no,
00:28:33
Speaker
Mexico have two Liga MX fullbacks who are like good in Liga MX, but like this is England. like They're closing you down. You've got to beat them to make the cross. If you ever watch a Liga MX game, like you could stay there for two minutes and no one might close you down to cross because they play at a different pace. So credit to England here for just making the run over and over and over again. like It was hard for Mexico to get the crosses in. And they do, and they do, but none of them are at the great angle. They get a corner to Edson Alvarez, and they get one cutback on the ground to Raul Jimenez, and neither of those are even great chances.
00:29:13
Speaker
despite putting up 2XG with the penalty in the game, I don't think there's enough in this list last 15-minute stretch for Mexico. And it's extremely, extremely frustrating.
00:29:23
Speaker
And they get one kind of shot from distance from Fidalgo here, right? Yeah. It just kind of gets through everybody and it it troubles Pickford, but not really enough. And England for a lot of this, they're basically playing a five, three cone with the cone being Harry Kane up top. Right. He's kind of like trying to, he's not pressuring anybody. Finally, they bring on Rogers for Kane just to try and put pressure and make it harder for Mexico to just walk into crossing spaces. Right.
00:29:49
Speaker
But they generally walk into crossing spaces for the last, there's 11 minutes of stoppage time here. The last 25 minutes of this game, Mexico can walk into a crossing space, but then they're closed down and they just never get anything good. and i think that's a lot of credit to a England. And i think it's a lot of credit to Tuchel for trusting his guys to see this out.
00:30:07
Speaker
he in a sense, he's vindicated for his center backs, for his athletes, his approach, and it works. And it wasn't pretty, but you have to say like on all the loose balls, right? England stuck their leg out.
00:30:20
Speaker
They, from the ground, they, they cut it out. They cleared it well too. No bad clearances, right? They didn't clear it to Mexico in the edge of the box. And even Stones, right? Who,
00:30:31
Speaker
you know, there's one play where it bounces to him and he just clears it facing his own goal. Like what a foot left of the post. And so like, I think if you maybe play those 25 minutes again, there's probably a few more bounces for Aguirre on the day. But like... kind of used up as two bounces already, right? Yeah. And so the England basically were bounce-proof. It was a bounce-proof 25 minutes. And I don't know, man. How do you... it like This is such a game that we're going to think about analyzing soccer. like
00:31:02
Speaker
Where did the altitude come in? It came in. Where did the numbers come in? we're Did analytics matter in this game? like This was just pure footballing silliness. Yeah, you just throw all of that out there and you just say these two teams are going to go out. They're just going to kind of throw drunken haymakers at each other for 90 minutes. And this is what we got.
00:31:20
Speaker
Look, this is a really good performance for me. Like it just is. This is a difficult atmosphere. i think they handled everything relatively well. They defended when they needed to defend. They were super clinical. They hurt Mexico in the places where they could hurt Mexico.
00:31:36
Speaker
And they just absorbed a lot of pressure in a game where I think they knew they were going to have to absorb a lot of pressure. Perfectly said. And this is what Tuchel does. Tuchel is a good knockout ran round manager. He was down a goal against DR Congo. He has to go into the Azteca.
00:31:54
Speaker
He pushes the right buttons. He's getting the most out of his players. It is ornery. It is ugly. But the guy's extremely pragmatic above all. If you had to use one word to describe Tuchel's approach, it's pragmatic. And so job done. Is England the best team here in the tournament? No.
00:32:09
Speaker
Do England have the best 11? No. It's very clearly France. I think even on attacking quality, Spain, looking real good right compared to what England put out. But England have discipline. They've got structure. They've got athletes in the back. And they've got moments makers.
00:32:25
Speaker
And sometimes you know it doesn't have to be the best 11. It just has to be the best formula. right And so every team's got weaknesses. Even France, right I think we'll see it at some point. english we We say this about Argentina.
00:32:38
Speaker
they have the answers they They have the answers to the questions, whatever they are. England have the answers. It just doesn't feel like they do because historically they always fail. If you took out the historical context, you'd look at a manager that's getting the answers for his team, his very good team, that can solve very, very crazy problems.
00:32:57
Speaker
you know, down one to a really good African block having to get conch capped, but it's still England. So like it's going to be a great game. Next game. But it's Kane and it's Bellingham. And like those two guys are elevating the level of the rest of this. And I think Tuchel has kind of found something like Gordon's a really good runner. who I think compliments those guys pretty well with what they're trying to do.
00:33:20
Speaker
And yeah, the way that they absorb pressure was, was really impressive in this game. and And I think England deserve a lot of credit for that. Awaiting England in the quarterfinals will be Norway who omit eliminated Brazil to one today.
00:33:34
Speaker
Man, this was also a really, really good knockout round game where I think the overarching takeaway here is the best player on the pitch was Erling Haaland and he showed it.
00:33:45
Speaker
And I think Carlo Ancelotti for all of the plaudits that we gave him for his performance against Japan had some less than ideal decisions down the stretch of this one. Less than ideal decisions is a good way to put it. And we're going to talk about it. e This team is in there at 60 minutes. This game is 0-0 at 60 minutes. Brazil has missed a penalty kick.
00:34:07
Speaker
This is a very, very fascinating tactical, big picture tactical game of who does what with the ball. And it was different than what we thought. Norway have it. They go for it Brazil play on the counter. Brazil are more dangerous on the counter, though, like the England thing. Why? You shouldn't generally the better team countering is dangerous.
00:34:24
Speaker
Brazil do just enough on the counter to be up a goal, but they're not up a goal. And then Carlo Ancelotti manages the game for totally unbalancing his side. we will talk about those changes. That's the best way to describe it. And then...
00:34:39
Speaker
in Brazil are too open to stop the Jaws man, the monster man. And e you know he gambled, right? He gambled. He said, my two center backs, this is what I this is what i pay them to do. like i Not pay them, but like this is what they're here to do. is to I need my team to generate chances. They need to hang on in two-on-threes, two-on-fours. They need to shut down Erling Haaland.
00:35:01
Speaker
And unfortunately, Brazil, Carlo Ancelotti, the Gabriel Marquinhos, It came up against a force of nature. like This is a super-duper legend generational... Whatever superlative you want to throw, it's not enough for Erling Haaland. You cannot overstate like what this guy did today, what this guy's been doing for Norway is out of this world.
00:35:23
Speaker
And I think this is a game omit of... changes, right? And I think one side got their changes right in Norway in bringing on Andreas Schellerlup and bringing on Oscar Bob. And one side got their changes wrong in Brazil with the changes that they make down the stretch of this game. So let's talk about the first hour of this game where...
00:35:43
Speaker
Norway kind of surprise us and decide that they want to play with the ball. They show us the danger of wanting to play with the ball because every time they turn it over, Brazil are countering and countering, at least getting into effective spaces with their counter. And in this hour, I think Brazil create two clear cut, really good, has to be a goal chances. Yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
The first one is obviously a penalty, right? Where Mateus Cunha wins a penalty on a sloppy challenge in the box that is made by Ayr after Hegem, the other center back, turns it over, right? So he's trying to find Noosa.
00:36:19
Speaker
Haian wins it away from him. Brazil break. Cunha goes down. It's Ayr who's slow on the challenge. VAR takes a look back after her initially the ref gave ah ah gave a quarter, gives the penalty. And this is the dream start for Brazil, right? You score this penalty. You are now in the positive game state where Norman have to keep coming at you and you can continuously run the counter that has already shown itself to be so effective.
00:36:42
Speaker
But your star player, your talisman, your best player, it's not a great penalty taker. It's not Vinicius Jr.'s strong suit. And so you look down the list of Brazil players and and on their whiteboard at training camp, right? When they when they show up in Rio de Janeiro for their initial training camp, right,
00:37:00
Speaker
Our number one penalty taker is Neymar. Well, Neymar is not on the pitch. Our number two penalty taker is going to be Rafinha. Rafinha is not on the pitch. Our number three penalty taker is going to be Igor Tiago.
00:37:14
Speaker
Well, guess what? Igor Tiago also not on the pitch. And so their number four penalty taker is Bruno Guimarães. And Bruno Guillemarais steps up and he takes the penalty that is is becoming the death of this World Cup. It is saveable.
00:37:28
Speaker
It is not to the opposite side of the goalkeeper. And guess what? It's a save and it's a first of many saves from Ojan Nijlen, the Norwegian goalkeeper. It's a great save from Nyland, right? He gets to his side and he gets it. Let's for a second talk about this this penalty thing.
00:37:44
Speaker
So generally, right, the goalkeeper's right is stronger. But when you go to that side, if the goalkeeper's right-handed, right, it's a stronger side. If you go to that side, though, it's your right foot hitting it into the corner you like. It's like you're pulling a baseball, right? So you can hit it harder. If you're going to the other side, to the shooter's right, the goalkeeper's left, again, if both players are right-footed,
00:38:08
Speaker
You have to open your hips up. You have less power. Unless you're Harry Kane and you're popping this thing in the corner like a dart, you've got to get it up or you've got to roll it and you'veve got to decept you've got to deceive the goalkeeper.
00:38:22
Speaker
The goalkeeper can read your hips. If you don't deceive him that you're thinking he's got to go the other way, he's getting to that ball. And and I don't know. like Is Bruno Guimara a bad penalty taker? like We do a lot of work on this podcast. I don't have the the Bruno Guimara Newcastle stats in the bag. like I don't think he was taking them. I'm pretty sure Voltamata took a lot. right I think Wisa took a lot. I think there are other players in Newcastle.
00:38:47
Speaker
Bruno Guimara is definitely a talisman, and he's definitely a good ball striker. At the end of the day, likey you just got to make the make the dang pen. But it's not a good pen. right I'm with you there. 100% you there. And this is a situation where you really like for your best player to be a good penalty taker. ands you Yes. He's 13 of 19. I do have that stat. That's why I said, I wish I had the Bruno G stat there, but I mean, I'm just like, what about Cunha?
00:39:12
Speaker
What about Ryan? Like I get it's a tallest man, but like I'm generally in favor of the players who are your best attacking players, being your best penalty takers and also in a shootout, taking your your penalties in a shootout.
00:39:24
Speaker
But, uh, I know it's a very mental thing. It's not so simple. It's not like FIFA. It's not like we're playing this game on a spreadsheet. Like Bruno Guimara says I'm the penalty taker, like, okay, man, but it's, some of the analysis gets really dicey on vibes when you come to things like penalties, but like I simply would have scored my penalty had been one zero up on Norway. Yeah.
00:39:45
Speaker
And Brazil have a couple other chances in this first half breaking, right? Then there's a turnover from Noosa that leads with Moeller-Wolf with a really good track back. There's another three-on-three play where Vinicius Jr. makes a cross that just slides over the head of a charging Casemiro.
00:40:00
Speaker
ah Nyland denies it. There's a pass across to Bruno Guimarães that is really well, that is denied really well. I think Brazil did okay creating chances. They didn't finish them. Norway's best chance the first half is a Holland knockdown to Odegaard where Alisson does really well to come off his line to to cut down the angle.
00:40:19
Speaker
Nyland makes a save on Manicius Jr. here. Norway adjusts at halftime. i They take off Sorloff and they take off Nusa. So they change both their wings. And as previously mentioned, they bring on Bob, they bring on Sheldrup.
00:40:31
Speaker
And I think this was Staley Solvac realizing Sorloff is kind of out of it on the right wing. He's not going to give me what I need from that position. And Noosa, who was a player that I personally bigged up on the preview show, was simply not getting it done one-on-one against Danilo. There was always kind of a second guy coming. It just didn't look like it was going to come off there.
00:40:54
Speaker
This is a really, really smart move from Sobacan. And this is admitting that what your plan is isn't working, but understanding you have different tools in how a defense responds. Everyone circles Noosa as a dangerous player, as a one-on-one player. But because of that, Brazil are sending help to him, and you can't get any traction.
00:41:11
Speaker
Now Scheldrup's there, you're not thinking, I need to double this guy off the dribble. And he's much more of a passing wide midfielder. And so what happens is that both Scheldrup and Bob are very technical interchange players. And so Norway can get overloads on this side. And what are they looking for? They're not necessarily looking to beat their guy and shoot. They're just looking for a window.
00:41:34
Speaker
If you don't close, a window if we just get an opportunity to get the ball to Holland, right? The guy. And so Nusa wasn't having that with a double, but you're not doubling Sheldrup, are you? And even if you are, then the the the the overload is great here. And so there are even moments where Bob comes over to the decide whether it's a set piece or somewhere else to really help out. And one thing we did say is, I'd like to see more Bob, less Sorloth. That was easy. Did we have Sheldrup Nusa? No. And that's where Solbach can, you know, good job, right? Good job. This is ah a genius move.
00:42:07
Speaker
And you start to see Brazil, when they make their changes, that is the crux of this game that we're going to talk about, theyre the the weakness is allowing the ball to get to Sheldon and Bob uncontested in wide areas with not enough trackers back to hurt them.
00:42:25
Speaker
And but let's let's let's get to the way this works. Yeah. So Brazil make their first change right before the hour mark. They bring on Hendrick for Mateus Cunha, which, okay, I thought Hendrick was good against Japan. I think this is an acceptable change. And right away, literally with pretty much his first touch of the game, Hendrick gets an absolutely glorious chance. Odegaard turns it over and Vinicius Jr. makes the pass. This pass is absolutely ridiculous. It's with the outside of his foot.
00:42:54
Speaker
He curls it directly into the passive path of Hendrick and Hendrick's first touch is a bit heavy. And then his second touch, he tries to take this kind of chippy shot over the charging Ryland and it just flashes wide. This was another golden chance for Brazil to be a goal up down the stretch of this game.
00:43:14
Speaker
At this point, when this ball is being played, you're thinking Ancelotti's got it right. The brow could do no wrong. um And we were kind of saying like, okay, Norway are going, but because they're so open, you've left the moment for Vinny steals the game by Vinny does a Vinny. And this is Vinny doing the Vinny, right? I mean, he creates basically a, not ah a goal, but like a 0.5 ish type look, like an X threat look that's super high for Endrick. And I mean, he's got to do better, right? It's a hard level to be because he does okay with it.
00:43:47
Speaker
But you're in on goal. You've just got to have a more settled touch and you've got to know where you're going. I don't think the chip finish is the right finish. I think you can get around him if you take a better first touch. You can shoot around him. If you're going to chip, you almost need some air under the ball like to do it. like To get your foot around it, yeah.
00:44:09
Speaker
it's just It's just like the little bit of a margin between Endrick, who's an up-and-coming striker, versus your tried-and-true best number nines. And look, you have to admit, this is a really difficult thing to have happen on what is basically your first touch of the game. like For your most important touch of the game to be your first two, it's a difficult situation to be in, but you're the nine. You're the striker. This is the type of situation you have to be able to thrive, in and you have to be able to pounce on.
00:44:36
Speaker
And so from there, Norway are going to take off Julian Ryerson, who started this game. They'll bring Frederik Rostes. You're starting to think, all right there might be a chance for Nacis Jr. to start winning this matchup, but then Norway kind of start running more bodies on him.
00:44:48
Speaker
And this game looks like it's going to continue on this path of Norway having the ball, Brazil being able to play a fairly decently organized block and then hit and break. They're not yeah necessarily pressing high, but they're moving around enough to contest the passes that the second line of the press can kind of get in. And then the board goes up right before the water break or at the water break for Brazil to make their changes. And on comes Danilo Santos for high end. Okay.
00:45:16
Speaker
It's a midfield runner guy. We're going to contest the midfield. You're going to get a body who can kind of ping around and and play pinball and contest. All right. That makes sense. And then it's Neymar for Gabriel Martinelli in a nil-nil knockout round of 16 game in the year 2026? Are you serious?
00:45:32
Speaker
are you serious Lost the plot. Simply lost the plot. I mean, we saw Neymar in the group stage, and I think you and I both said to each other, i don't know if we even said this on the pod. We said it on the podcast. We said on the pod. He absolutely cannot see time in a real game. He is not a legitimate super sub. He doesn't move enough to to be effective. And so I get what Carlo Ancelotti is thinking, right? I've used my brute force 10. I've used my running 10 in Martinelli.
00:45:59
Speaker
Now I have a striker who needs service and I've got wingers that need service. So who's going to pull the strings for them? It's going to be the best string puller of string pullers. It's Neymar. But he forgot that you need the ball.
00:46:12
Speaker
You need the ball for Neymar needs the ball. Neymar isn't going to go get the ball himself. The ball needs to come to him. And what's Norway been doing? They've been keeping the ball away from you. And you just cannot press at all with Neymar in and against a team that's going to use the ball.
00:46:27
Speaker
And, I mean, I don't know. Like you told me after the game, who is it? Felipe Melo said we should have started Neymar. Yeah. okay you thought Who thought that Neymar should come on? Did anyone? How was that the right decision? Well, and it's so interesting because we're coming off of a game where there was almost a case to be made where Neymar could have I think, played a role down the stretch against Japan because Japan were playing so deep and Brazil had the ball so easily.
00:46:58
Speaker
You could have talked me into the situation where, you know what? I think Neymar can come in and maybe unlock something here This was under no circumstances, the game for Neymar. It just was not. Norway are not sitting in a deep block. Like, yeah, Brazil are opening the game up, but as you said, it's on the counter. This is not a game where Brazil are are walking into a bunch of chances. For example, like what Mexico did in the last 20 minutes against England. That's the type of game where Neymar can come on and be useful.
00:47:25
Speaker
But here, it's and you said this to to me in a text, like, Ancelotti managed this like he's down one zero He needs a goal. And yes, if he doesn't want to avoid...
00:47:37
Speaker
extra If he wants to avoid extra time, he wants to avoid penalties, he should go get a goal in this game. But he completely tilts his team out of defense here, forgetting that you know we said who which team is going to what doesn't want the ball in this game? Which team is going to be the team in transition? Which team is going to have space? You were in the good spot.
00:47:57
Speaker
You were in the good spot, and then you just switched it by putting Neymar on the field. it's It's maddening, maddening stuff from Carlo Ancelotti. And so the front three for Brazil here for the last quarter of this game is Vinicius Jr. really, really good, not particularly interested in defending.
00:48:16
Speaker
Neymar, completely incapable of defending. And Endrik, playing kind of out of position as a right wing, not really able to defend. And so you've just chopped your team in half.
00:48:27
Speaker
And then you look at the backside and it's like Bruno Guimarães can maybe kind of defend. Casemiro can't defend. And so all you've got to contest Norwegian possession here is Danilo Santos running around trying to get into challenges. It just makes no it makes no sense. I don't know what the idea was here. i Read the scoreline. It's nil-nil.
00:48:50
Speaker
He needs more bodies back. Like Norway can play with three and three going forward and even an outside back. So that's six, seven guys you need to to stay back there. And you're not getting that. It's four, your defensives, and then one in Danilo midfield. And it's the sixth is maybe Bruno Gimaraes, who has been huffing and puffing all game.
00:49:12
Speaker
And the other thing is... Carlo Ancelotti had such a weird attachment to Casemiro because he thinks, I need Casemiro to get in the box. Well, you can't set up Casemiro the box. you know He's got to get 30 yards into the box. That takes him quite a bit of time. he's not like Casemiro's slow. He doesn't just appear in the box. He's not just there at all times. You need to set up the box of assault. And you can't set up the box assault if he's chasing the ball. And so...
00:49:40
Speaker
I mean, he just misses all these things. And I get the but Brazilian midfield personnel is tough here, but you absolutely, you can have, even if you have Neymar on, right? And you want, you really committed that I need Neymar to unlock this game.
00:49:54
Speaker
Then you need four other guys around him to do the work. You can have Vinny, you can have Andrew Kripp top, but you probably need a Ryan type player or a Martinelli type player who we burn. And then you need two midfielders. You need Danilo and someone else.
00:50:08
Speaker
It cannot be Casemiro. It cannot be Casemiro and Neymar on the field at the same time. You know who would play Casemiro Neymar on the field at the same time? Like inter Miami on like a hot muggy like Saturday against like New York Red Bulls, like in Harrison. Yeah.
00:50:25
Speaker
You're 10 miles off, Carlo. Wrong stadium. Like, you just can't play Neymar and Casemiro. You have not enough defensive capabilities against a team that has shown you they are brave in trying to use 11 guys on the ball.
00:50:38
Speaker
Friend of the show, Noah Stack, who was in attendance at MetLife today, told us, admit, that watching Neymar change directions resembled a semi-truck making turns. And yeah, that kind feels that way.
00:50:51
Speaker
I mean, like, who saw Neymar and thought he was of the level? no mitchilati apparently, which is just really, really tough. so So that happens for Brazil and the game kind of starts to take this form and you're like,
00:51:06
Speaker
uh-oh, this is not looking good. They've been chopped off, nowhere getting possession, but there's less contest from Brazil. They're not quite opening the answers to counter. And I think Carlo Ancelotti kind of realizes the midfield question.
00:51:19
Speaker
And so he's going to take off a midfielder and he's going to bring on Ederson, who came into this team after Wesley got hurt in a friendly to kind of provide midfield depth. They're thinking, all right, he's going to take off a midfielder. He's going to get Ederson on.
00:51:31
Speaker
But it's Bruno Gamer-Reis and not Casemiro. And in kind of the blob of Ederson coming on and figuring out what position he should be, Norway get the ball and on a long ball to Scheldrup.
00:51:44
Speaker
And there's just kind of Brazilian guys figuring out who should be there. And is it Hendrik? Is it Casemiro? Is it Ederson? And none of them really take charge of closing down Scheldrup.
00:51:56
Speaker
And this allows Andrea Sheldrup to get a ball in the box. And you know who is there in the box. I mean, it is Erling Haaland one-on-one with Gabriel Magalhães. And but the Brazilian defense did a really good job on Erling Haaland for 79 minutes of this game. Took away a lot of his chances.
00:52:15
Speaker
He didn't see a lot. The chances he got were saved. But all he needs is one. And he wins one one-on-one aerial battle with Gabriel Magalhães. And it is a bullet header into the corner of the net.
00:52:25
Speaker
Bing, bang, boom, 1-0 Norway. So many things just gone wrong here for Brazil. Endrick shouldn't be the guy tracking back to start Cheldrop. You start there. And as you said, you know, Ederson is a bit lost. He's the rotation, the closeout guy. He's lost.
00:52:41
Speaker
And then Cheldrop, I mean, Guy was excellent today on his service, on his passing. This is a good cross. Like, it looks like Holland dunks on Gabriel, and he does, because Gabriel can make up the ground against anyone. But he's a step behind Cheldrop. Because the cross is so good. It's Holland's across him. It's too late by the time the ball is played.
00:53:00
Speaker
And Gabriel tries, but unfortunately, like I think Gabriel's maybe the best center back in the world, but advantage to the best striker in the world. This is like unstoppable force meets immovable object. Well, Holland gets him here. And look, these two guys have been tussling all year long. they have They're go not going to be the the first and last battle for them, but...
00:53:22
Speaker
what a header, right? Holland's superpower is his aerial control. He's tall and he is just a mountain of a man that shouldn't be like playing striker in soccer. And you can't guard this. You can't guard this. And,
00:53:36
Speaker
The other thing that now we say in this game is like, this guy's so good, he breaks the XG numbers, right? You have to throw something out the window where it's like, yeah, okay, one header to your tall striker. You shouldn't beat us on that.
00:53:50
Speaker
It doesn't matter one anything. he can't The ball cannot touch his orbit. he so His gravity is so real. The ball's in his orbit. It's a goal at this point. He is so terrifying. Yeah. So now Brazil are chasing the game down a goal.
00:54:05
Speaker
And this is a big moment to shine for Orion Nyland, the Norwegian goalkeeper, who comes up with a couple of really big plays. None bigger than a really weird, looping, deflected potential own goal that he somehow turns around, gets back, and sees out.
00:54:24
Speaker
like kind of bounces it off of someone and it's over his head and he crashed into the post. And i mean, he, he has his part in this too. It takes everything to pull this off. Nyland is absolutely fantastic on this, on this little play.
00:54:38
Speaker
And he's hurt too. Like you could see him wincing. It just took everything out of his Casemiro gets a good chance for Brazil that he flashes wide and you're thinking, all right, maybe bri Brazil are going to get the pressure going. Maybe this is why Neymar is in the game. Maybe it was Carlo Ancelotti somehow foreseeing that he was going to go down a goal and he got the players in.
00:54:55
Speaker
But guess who's on the other side just waiting to kill this off and the Jaws music starts again, right? It's done, done. Dun, dun, dun, dun. And guess who's there? It's Erling Haaland with just a monster strike to end it. It's a long ball to shelter up and it's a one touch rocket from Haaland through the legs of Danilo. Allison can't get there.
00:55:16
Speaker
i don't think there's anybody else in the world that can score this goal or at least score this goal consistently. No, there's a lot of good guys who shoot from outside the box, but they wind up to do so.
00:55:29
Speaker
Holland, like you're just backed off of him because you don't want him to dribble by you. And the closeout is there from Danilo. He's within five yards, and Holland just... gets his leg only like halfway up, like it's a chip shot. And then it's like, Oh, that's not a chip shot. That's a rocket.
00:55:46
Speaker
And so like the guy just keeps pulling out new things like that. He doesn't like to shoot outside the box. He is very much a high XG hunter of shots centrally. And this is just like him kind of showing off the levels in his game. And Yes, through the legs is fortunate or a good, accurate, whatever.
00:56:05
Speaker
But the real accuracy is that this thing is inside the post, like from 20. Like he didn't even look. It was just a freaking heat seeking missile and poor Allison can't do anything. Then you're just sitting there left wondering, like, what did I just watch this guy do?
00:56:18
Speaker
You've watched him just win a round of 16 game for his side, just absolutely snatch it and just say, all right, this is ours now. So, so good. Brazil get a little petulant late. They get a late penalty, ah very, very late penalty where Ostergaard, who has come on to defend this out, throws an elbow on Casemiro in the box. There shouldn't really be enough time for anything else. There's definitely not enough time because it's Neymar who scores the penalty. It's a really good penalty for Neymar. Like, I know it's petulant for Neymar to be jawing with Nyland. I know it's petulant for him to be like...
00:56:48
Speaker
grinning, mugging him after scoring the 2-1 penalty in the 90 plus 8. This is really good from Neymar. This penalty is pure class. It is. It's very funny. And you realize why you said, guy's the best penalty kick taker on the team. you know i don't need to pile on, but the jawing down too is kind of maybe that is Neymar, like in a nutshell. like This Neymar cameo is everything you ever could have hoped for for him. um Yeah, he jawed and he's like, I'm me. I'm Neymar. I'm the guy who scores the penalty kick on you. And Nyland had been awesome all game. And I don't even know. like What do you say about Neymar in Brazil? Yeah. Yeah, there's a whole podcast we could do on it and we probably will do on it, but we're not going to do it on this one because we're already almost an hour in on this show. You almost wish Nyland was just kind of like scoreboard, right? like Yeah, right. That's what i was about to say. Just hit him with that. It's 2-1, bro. um There's still added time on added time on added time here in Brazil. Actually get what like could have been a promising attack and Casemiro just snaps at it. and It's like...
00:57:46
Speaker
You're only going to get one look at this. So be patient and make sure it's a good look. And so there's kind of nobody in the box and he just sends a cross to nowhere that Nyland claims easy. Do I think this was going to end in Brazil coming up with a miracle 2-2 equalizer? No, I don't. But I can guarantee you it it wasn't going to happen like this.
00:58:03
Speaker
Yeah, he just needed to be a little more patient. And in the end, like Brazil just were an unbalanced team. They had flaws and they were really, really good. like they're I think their directness against the ball is what their best final form was.
00:58:21
Speaker
And Norway gets lucky, right? At the end of the day, a game where the penalty kick doesn't go your way is unlucky. Brazil probably, if you play this again through 60 minutes or up a goal at some point.
00:58:32
Speaker
But... World Cup after dark page number one in in the textbook is finish your chances. And if there's ever a player going to you regret it against, it's Holland and Norway are just kind of the team that can win games like this because of a player like this. Like, yeah, they were lucky twice, but they weren't lucky because they've got a superstar there in the world. Right. Right. Exactly. And so.
00:58:56
Speaker
and so I think people talk, you know, a question of soccer is like, how much does individual players matter in an 11 team sport? Like how much is ah it a weak link sport? How much is it your players two through 10 are better through this? And like, there's all these different ways to talk about it. And it's like so much, not like basketball where the best player on the team ah on the field often wins your team, the game. It is so much harder than that.
00:59:21
Speaker
But at the very top level of the game, like these guys can have outsized impacts. And I think just from like a nerd perspective, like you're learning, like this guy's breaking the math on how valuable a single striker can be. And and he has a team around him. For sure, the rest of of Norway is around him. You drop him on another team, it's not the same.
00:59:42
Speaker
Sol Bakken has done a really good job to to get this team... How about Berg, right? Guys at Bodo Glimp. don't even want to call it a breakout because Bodo Glimp have been balling in the Champions League. But like there's more quality in in this Norway team than I think we gave them credit for. I know they were popular their dark horse pick, but even the people who were saying that at like the start of June were not saying that like this would happen. So it's a feel-good. It is a do-good. It's a real-life Holland superstar story. The guy's burnishing his own legend.
01:00:11
Speaker
And Brazil is just kind of like... that They got punked. you ah You know what Erling Holland was doing a couple weeks ago? He was supporting the Carolina Hurricanes at the Stanley Cup final. I mean, big summer for your Caniacs, whether they be the real ones or the Erling Holland ones. This is a shocking result for Brazil, I think. um But in in a way, it's it's not. and And I think that's that's where all of this gets so interesting and and is worth so much more of our time that we'll do at another point, I think.
01:00:40
Speaker
um I think Carlo Ancelotti just got this wrong. I think this game was set up where they wanted it to be set up. And I think if they kind of would have just stuck with the status quo, it might have spun their way eventually. um And even if it didn't, I think they would have been better prepared to handle what Noro was throwing at them. And they just weren't down the stretch. And and that's why they're going out. And I think...
01:01:02
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot of questions for Brazil. It's obviously the end of of the Neymar era and and and probably none too soon. um But yeah, this was not the place for him to be used. And he was in it, I think ended up really costing Brazil and and just the second half changes.
01:01:17
Speaker
really didn't make any sense, which is such a change as to what they were doing a couple days ago against Japan when when it all really did make sense. have plenty more on Brazil when this tournament is all over. We'll have plenty more on Norway when we preview their game against England. Can't wait to see who has the ball in that game because it's going to be absolutely fascinating.
01:01:33
Speaker
ah You want a lightning round the Saturday games here and close out the show with that? I think so. i don't think we're going to spend too much time on either, but they both deserve some talking about for sure. Yeah. So so Morocco, three no winners against Canada. It is objectively a flattering scoreline.
01:01:50
Speaker
How flattering can be up for debate. Jesse Marsh, the Canadian manager, will tell you that his team was better in this game. Better is such a subjective thing in soccer because, no, you lost 3-0. How can you be better? The scoreboard says otherwise.
01:02:05
Speaker
I think there's a case to be made that Canada played a decent game here. um But admit that that World Cup After Dark textbook, which is is coming to a bookstore near you soon.
01:02:16
Speaker
ah Number one page is is take your chances. And when Canada were quote unquote better in this game, they didn't do that. And you flip to the next page and and what's the next page. It's set pieces.
01:02:27
Speaker
and And you know what Canada didn't do at nil nil in this game against Morocco. I mean, They didn't defend a set piece well. And so Morocco get their first goal in this game. Maybe it's against the run of play. I don't know, but it's just a pullback from our traffic key meet. And it's the substitute. No, we at the edge of the box who makes a shot through traffic for one nil.
01:02:47
Speaker
And for all of Canada's better play for all of their chances, for all of their midfield denials, for all of their red bull up, they're down a goal in a way that you shouldn't be down a goal in a world cup round of 16 games.
01:02:59
Speaker
And the set piece was caused by a moment of Defusero getting rinse and transition down the right hand side. And he gives a cheap foul. And that's why this set piece is even available. You can't do this routine on a corner kick. I think there's a bit too much distance from the corner flag to the top of the box. But here it's an easy pass and it's easier to wait that pass from Hakimi to Nahi on the shot. And it's just so perfectly lined up for him.
01:03:24
Speaker
And at the end of the day, right? At the end of the day, he just can't be open. You can't give up free shots from the edge of the box to good players against a team like Morocco. Like there's too much quality of ball striking here. It's a really good curled finish. And yeah, he has to beat you from there, but you were testing every blade of grass. And so I think it's a set piece exploit from Morocco. Like they watch something on tape. They knew this guy would be open. They watch how Canada defend in that, you know, static line.
01:03:53
Speaker
And, know, Again, it's because of where this is. right They have to set a line because you're thinking it's not on the end line. You're at like the six yards off of it.
Morocco's Strategic Gameplay vs. Canada
01:04:03
Speaker
But when everyone's there, you forgot someone. and so you know I don't know if that's exactly on Marsh, the defensive set piece coach or the players like missing it, but you got to give credit to Wabi and Hakimi and Unahi and whoever's involved from Morocco. I think this is a very clear, like we saw this on tape, we hunted this, we got it. And like that is the sign of an elite team who on their day, Morocco were leggy, tired, chasing the game, in a lot of trouble in this game, but they never panicked.
01:04:32
Speaker
And like they just kind of pulled out... like stuff that better teams do than you start expecting. Like this is what a top five, six ish team in the world looks like the way they can win a tough game ah when the other team has ah a rest advantage and is super charged up and is coming at you.
01:04:50
Speaker
Just to be clear, it was Rahimi, the substitute who won the free kick. Rahimi came on for Saibari early in this game. That's go to be a big loss for Morocco. We don't like to see that. And it was Unahi who was really great, but started this game who got the two goals. I got my Unahi and my Rahimi. We're an hour into the show. i got them a little mixed up there in my mind. You'll forgive me. We good listener. Really good game from Unahi.
01:05:13
Speaker
And again, Canada had a lot in this game. They contested the midfield, I thought, really well for the majority of this game. They were kind of all over Morocco at points ah over a Moroccan midfield that we admit had kind of picked out as one of the strengths of this team.
01:05:27
Speaker
But for all of their Red Bull pressing, for all of their pretty stuff, they didn't really create a bunch of chances before or after going down 1-0. No, they the big miss here is Davies wasn't available. And I do think that's a tough condition for Marsh. And I think maybe why he says what he says, because in his head, he's like, we really did our best without Davies, but they're missing that final quality, right? Though even the way they play, the chances they get are brute force chances. And
01:05:58
Speaker
I think Sigour is great in this game. I think the, the wingers, the strikers are good here. The only thing you're almost quibbling was, is if you were gonna kick Morocco's butt in the midfield in this game, should you have your two best finishers at striker? Should Kyle Lahren have started? He comes in with David late, but by that time it's, it's, you know, Morocco already kind of expecting it.
01:06:22
Speaker
I don't know. i don't know. Maybe that's an unfair question, but yeah, Canada never at this point in this entire tournament had their ideal lineup really on the field. And that's like some of its injury lock, some it's not fair. And some of it's just the, the Red Bull way of legs above all else. Right. And so um if you, maybe if you start Laron early, you don't have as good defensive work rate because he's not super fast for striker and pressing Morocco. And so, you know, you're going to think up about those questions, but I mean, Canada acquitted themselves really well, but also in that first, what, half of where they're dominating Morocco, it's only 0.5 XG. It's not like they created a ton of clear-cut chances. They were bullying them, and then they get XG later when they're game state chasing.
01:07:04
Speaker
It's a very Red Bull 0.5 XG too, right? It's just 0.1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.1. And look, to be clear, Canada in this tournament, they get 15 minutes for their best player, right? They play five games and their best player, far and away their best player in Afonso Davies gives them 15 minutes. And I think this was, it was weird that he gave them 15 minutes against South Africa, but then couldn't give them 15 minutes here.
01:07:27
Speaker
Again, there's something brewing between the Canadian Federation and Jesse Marsh and Alphonso Davies. Maybe we'll get more of that. We're also a long way away from Canada playing meaningful games. And so when is the next time we're going to see Alphonso Davies in a Canada shirt?
01:07:42
Speaker
I don't know. Again, those are questions for a later podcast that we'll certainly do. Once Morocco are up a goal a minute, then they kind of are able to to counter this. And then Canada go and they try to play Mixerball, right? They bring on Promise David. They bring on Schaffelberg, Lauren's on there. They've got all of their attacking players, but there's unfortunately for Canada just an objective lack of quality, right? and so they can test the midfield. They can run at these guys. But when you need someone to play a final ball, when you need someone to take a final shot, you're just kind of looking around and that's just not there.
01:08:19
Speaker
It wasn't. And eventually you have to live with, you know, less guys back. And Bombito is so good in this game. And I think a big thing is when it's Rahimi, not Sabari, Canada feels so good about that matchup physically. They were able to get someone over.
01:08:35
Speaker
But as it kind of expanded and there was more guys, Diaz is big for Morocco in the second half. He's been kind of quiet in this game. Richie Laird did a really good job on him. He's kind of been quiet all tournament because it's been the Saibari and Hakimi show. Well, he finally, i think, gets some space here and shows what he can do.
01:08:54
Speaker
And so we see Ibrahim Diaz on the counter kill this off for Morocco goes back the other way, lays it off for O'Nahe it's 2-0. And this is just like, I don't know what page the world come after dark textbook. This is like, this a little further along, right? But this is just, you're up a goal.
01:09:10
Speaker
The team is playing mixture ball. This is how you counter to kill off the game. And they do it twice. Right. And it looks easy for them because they are good. Because Morocco's spacing is good, their technical quality is good, and Canada's so ragged. And that was always the threat for Canada. And I think, like, you know, Marsh has the right to say what he said. I 100% feel where he's coming from.
01:09:32
Speaker
But, like...
01:09:35
Speaker
this is how Morocco win this game. Like, did you, have like, like you can, you could have outplayed them. And like, he's like, we played, we went at them and like, they were defensive and it's like, yeah, they were defensive because this is what happens when you're defensive against a team that has to commit too much.
01:09:50
Speaker
They leave holes. Like, did you want them to just like roll over? Yeah. This was not Morocco's best game by far, but this is like a very top 10 team in the world round of 16 game where you just you don't really have your fastball.
01:10:07
Speaker
Right. You just are kind of taking body blows, taking body blows. And then you're just kind of like, hey, we're better here. And we have this set piece routine that we cooked up because we saw your weakness.
01:10:17
Speaker
And that's going to swing the game for us. And I think Morocco deserve credit for that while also acknowledging that they're going to need to be better going forward and losing Saibari if he is out for an eventual quarterfinal against France.
Paraguay's Defense Against France
01:10:29
Speaker
That's a massive, massive loss for this team.
01:10:32
Speaker
It's going to hurt their chances a lot. But you know the thing you're asking about France is can you keep the ball away from them? Let's see if this Morocco midfield can do it. They had a tough time with their legs in this game. So I didn't love what I saw, the qualities there.
01:10:46
Speaker
They can play on the counter like they did today, but it's a different thing. You're counting against Canada, you're counting against France, right? Those individual defenders in the back line are tough. Look, it's an interesting game. I thought the other thing Morocco did really well in this game that they had to do was Bounou and the center backs defended their box really well.
01:11:01
Speaker
And look, that's some saves, right? There are some saves in the early part of this game where he makes good saves. Yeah. So I think we're in agreement. Like this was ah not Morocco's best performance, but a good win. And and look, at the end of the day for Canada, given everything, it's a success. Like sure it is a success for them to to get to this game, to win a knockout game. Such a convincing. and They had some great moments in the group stage, some great celebrations like.
01:11:24
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, like, they'll be happy with that. The only thing is maybe you should have tried to finish top of your group and avoided this path, but it would have had a harder round 16 game anyway. So credit where credit's due. Um, there's one final thing for this game, which is there's a cut right kind of after Morocco go up one nil where Jesse Mars is just cutting this forlorn figure on a cooler. And I'm just thinking, ah, he learned this from when he took over the lead job and watched their last couple of games and watched Marcelo Bielsa before he got fired at leads before he leaves leads cutting his own forlorn figure on a cooler. So yeah I know where you got that from Jesse. i know where you got that from other game on Saturday. I meant France one Paraguay nil.
01:12:03
Speaker
Gustavo Alfar tried it one more time and the big money one. And they said, we want one more trick, Gustavo. We want to see you do it again. he said, oh man, I can't do it again. How do you expect me to do it again? And so he rolls out what is basically a five, five Oh formation and says, we're going to defend France for 120 minutes and get to penalties.
01:12:24
Speaker
And you know what a minute for an hour of this game, Paraguay very nearly pull it off. They get to 70 minutes and they pull out every trick in the book. And I think it's so funny. like This is why, by the way, we're the World Cup After Dark podcast. We are not like the World Cup of fun and joy and World Cup of we like everything that you like, listeners. like We enjoy what Paraguay do. And I know a lot of people in this game, it kind of turned. They're like, we don't want to see this. You've shackled France. France has been so fun. like This is anti-football. This is...
01:12:57
Speaker
this isn't like this is time wasting this is slimy this is it's like you guys like this is south american soccer like this part of this is what the world cup is about like how did you think paraguay was gonna win this game like right the path to a paraguay in victory was very narrow and it did not include playing like it did it did not include anything that you wanted it to include and like you hear people say like ah They could have been defensive, but they could have done it like Cabo Verde. And the answer is no, they couldn't have because they didn't have the players talented. They're the legs. They're not as effective. They're not as organized as Cabo Verde. They are. And then you get a lot of English media. Like, oh, this is a disgrace to the game.
01:13:38
Speaker
Did you see what Harry Kane did at the Azteca tonight? England were disgraced the game just as much as Parguy were. Get off your high horse. This was their way to do it. And it is an immensely difficult way.
01:13:50
Speaker
I think Parguy did have a lot of credit for the organization that they showed in this game. For a little over an hour, they limited France to long distance pot shots. And it was so good. But the downside of playing this way, at admit, is you have to be particularly against a team that is as talented as France are in a game where you are creating absolutely nothing going back the other way. I mean, nothing back the other way.
01:14:14
Speaker
You have to be perfect. And you know what Paraguay were? They weren't perfect because when France finally pressed their first button, when Deshaun says, all right, I need to change something. And he brings on Douay.
01:14:25
Speaker
And Dewey makes a run and he shuffles and he beats two defenders. Really the first time anybody from France did this all game. And he gets in the box. Diego Gomez leaves a leg in and takes him down.
01:14:36
Speaker
And it's a penalty. And that swings the whole game. And that's where this whole Paraguayan defensive facade comes crashing down, as it probably always was going to come crashing down.
01:14:47
Speaker
But there was no other way for them to do it. But these are the risks of playing it that way. It happens. It's a penalty and maybe that was a good, legitimate, best way for France to do it. Douay's really good, right? He's a different kind of dribbler than Barcola.
01:15:01
Speaker
Barcola's big strides, big pace, and it's explosive. Douay is much more of that low center of gravity, shifty, tippy-tappy, beats his guy. And that changeup for Paraguay is hard and Like you said, they had done such a really good job of doubling every winger.
01:15:17
Speaker
Elise, Dembele, Barkla have no space. And sometimes you just have the magic to to get through the telephone booth. This is a really good piece of play from Dwayne. At the end of the day, like that's the that's basically the difference in this game.
01:15:30
Speaker
And like... i yeah I don't know that Gomez needs to make this challenge because they've defended so well collectively. Dwayne that dangerous from this position? Do you have to leave the leg hanging in and you know that they're going to initiate any sort of contact? And this, it is a penalty, right? there' There's no case for this not to be a penalty. but I don't know that it needed to be a penalty. And then Kylian Mbappe, who has been going back and forth with cost for us all game, who has been kind of getting into it.
01:15:59
Speaker
Pargway, obviously been trying to take a pound of flesh at every opportunity, steps up and takes a high quality penalty where he says, I saw what Orlando Hill did in that shootout against Germany.
01:16:11
Speaker
I'm just going to wait him out and go the other way. And that's what he does. It's a really good penalty. And Mbappe was an interesting figure in this game. He he knew what he was getting from Paraguay. I think the ref was also generally on the whole letting things happen, which was fun fine fine with that.
01:16:29
Speaker
um He knew he was in for a tough day. Like you said, they were giving him the ah you know the Jordan rules, the Mbappe rules. like Let's you know make it as hard as it can. And credit to him, like he he enjoyed it a little bit. He enjoyed that Gustavo Alfaro put on his best suit, his best trick for him, for Mbappe. And like, you know, i don't think anyone's a villain here. Like this is a, this is how soccer works. Mbappe, you know, he he has that, he, he knows the aura he carries so that when he scores this goal, it's over. And he you know, he's been the the guy they all came to see. And even if they kept him off, they tried to keep him off. He still gets his goal. And, know,
01:17:13
Speaker
yeah I'm just impressed with the mental approach from France. And what he said after the game in in French was basically like, sometimes you have to put your hands in the in the poop to do it. And that's what this that's what this was for France. Look, Paraguay, it's a one goal game. like hang the banner Gustavo, but ah not quite. Yeah. And like, and Papa deserves a lot of credit for the mentality here. Like he doesn't fall into it. Like he doesn't react. I think he takes it all pretty well. And I think France as a whole, like, like you said, they understood what they were getting into here. And I don't think there's this sense of superiority for the way that France play versus the way that Paraguay play.
01:17:53
Speaker
And I think that's good. And I think that helped France and look, Could they have been more clinical? Yes, they probably should not have settled for as many shots from distance as they did. But also, eventually, you're going to blow this down. Like if you huff enough, this Paraguayan house is going to fall down eventually. And it does because France are simply way more talented at every single position and they create an awkward situation for a defender and they win a penalty because of it.
01:18:16
Speaker
Yeah, at the end of the day, you need 5, 10, 20% more going forward than what Paraguay had. Because when you didn't, that's why France could kind of approach this with such a, ah like, you know, a little bit of mirth to to the Paraguay's approach, just being like, oh, this is what they're going to try against us.
01:18:34
Speaker
If you're any better, like they're going to be sweating more. They knew they didn't have to take better shots because they're like, we got 120 minutes and they're never going to threaten us. We could just kind of take turns like taking target practice. And if one of them goes in, we'll be fine.
01:18:48
Speaker
This Paraguay team approached this game where their nominal striker is a midfielder in Julio Nciso, whose literal goal is to run around and he does it for an hour. And then you know what they do? They put on another nominal striker midfielder to run around like look, you just have to provide something going forward. And Pargwyer like scrapping and clawing for literally just like an attacking half throw in. They're like we can just get an attacking half throw and maybe we can take a long throw and something will happen. And like, you're just never going to be able to create from that situation. France are just that much better.
01:19:22
Speaker
Correct. Again, i break this term out a a few times. This was a high school soccer game. You're scrapping a claw in for a throw-in. Yeah, I've been at games where I've been on that team, but it's really not fun. And look, France are the the ultimate evil, not evil, but like ultimate big brother game. And they kind of just big brothered Paraguay. It was dismissive, but like the arrogance, I don't like that word. Like it the level was very clear. it was There were no surprises about who was doing what. And the other thing you just have to mention is the heat in this game was 100 degrees. And so that's kind of why France, it's just like another like difficulty slider turned all the way up for them. And they're just like, don't panic. They're like...
01:20:03
Speaker
yeah, we're going to have a bad time slowing through this heat with Paraguay, but like they're the ones suffering. And if we just feel like we're going to eventually get it, it'll be fine. How many more minutes would it have taken for France to maybe have some real slime and panic in them?
01:20:18
Speaker
It has to get to extra time, right? Like Paraguay had to do this for 120 minutes and they got just a little bit over halfway. Like that's basically what they get here. Like, oh, you got halfway there. Like, cool. Paraguay go down a goal. They bring on Gabriel Avalos. They bring on Mauricio. And now they're like playing with something vaguely resembling an attacking player.
01:20:38
Speaker
But this is a team that just does not have quality and what little quality they had was spent in the first 60 minutes just kind of randomly running down French players trying to limit possession.
01:20:48
Speaker
I think that's maybe one thing you could quibble with Alfaro here. We saw Cape Verde do this against Argentina where you actually leave your best attacking players on the bench like your most quality attacking players. And look, Paraguay aren't working with the depth that Cape Verde are working with. And that's a whole different question for South American football, that Paraguay aren't working with the depth that Cape Verde are working with. But basically, like could you have made a case to leave and see where Almiron on the bench here in hopes to bring them in late and have a chance to maybe run and provide quality when you're probably inevitably going to need it?
01:21:21
Speaker
Maybe. And so Paraguay finished the game kind of just running and trying to do things. And look, I thought France were actually pretty lax defensively. Like they gave Paraguay looks that just should not have been looks. And if Paraguay had even 10% more quality, they maybe get a good chance here, but they don't and they don't.
01:21:42
Speaker
And there's a really good double save from Orlando Hill on, on killing Mbappe that he deserves a lot of credit for. And and that keeps this at one nil. I don't know that a lot of teams in this tournament are going to hold France to one goal. So you're right, Amit, hang the banner.
01:21:54
Speaker
But also with a little bit more of quality here, France were not super committed to seeing this out defensively. I don't know if that's just the fever dream that is this game in this Paraguay in this context, or if that's something that we should maybe be concerned about going forward.
01:22:12
Speaker
I think it's more of the former and that they were truly not concerned. And, you know, maybe that hubris will get you, but I don't think they would do that again against a team that actually has that 10 or whatever percent more it is. So look, this is at the end of the day, two games for France, no extra time.
01:22:30
Speaker
you know They've put some miles on their guys, but outside of anyone in the tournament, nothing has shaken them ah shan anyone from feeling like they're the clearly best team. like Even a team 10% worse than France, and I think Paraguay can talk themselves into a lot more in this game. They had to be perfect, and then the one moment they weren't, they got outdone. like that's like they another like Germany or whoever like didn't demand that from Paraguay. right It was a bit sloppier, messier of a game. and so France have earned the right to kind of be in this air of unconcernability because of clearly how the gulf between them was. And one final point on Paraguay for me, and again, our plan at this podcast is after the World Cup is over, we're go to take a little of time and then we're going to try and dig into some of these stories and some of these confederations, some of these teams, because you're just getting content left, right and center and you don't have time to do a 30 minute breakdown on Paraguay as they lead the tournament. One final note for me is
01:23:30
Speaker
This was the way that Paraguay had to play to be successful in this particular moment. This was the way that they set themselves up. This was the manager that they brought. They brought in a manager to play this style.
01:23:41
Speaker
Whether that speaks poorly or highly of Paraguayan football is, I think, pretty clear. It speaks generally poorly, right? This is not the way that you develop talent. This is not the way that you become better. This is not the way that you tear up, if you will, in what is international football. I think that's the bigger question, of the bigger concern. But what Paraguay did at this tournament is fairly admirable. They took a team that was near the bottom of teams talent wise, and they got four points. They got out of their group. They won a game and they got into the round of 16.
01:24:11
Speaker
That's a success for Paraguay. And the way they did it, Maybe wasn't how you would like to see them do it for the betterment of Paraguay and football in the future. That's not what you brought Gustavo Alvaro in to do. You brought him in to get results and he got the results in the way that he knows how and how he
Impact of Balogun on USA vs. Belgium
01:24:26
Speaker
does it.
01:24:26
Speaker
And so, yes, Paraguay are gone. They probably won't be soon forgotten or maybe they will be soon forgotten, but they deserve some credit for the result that they were able to get in this tournament, even if the way they did it was kind of ugly.
01:24:39
Speaker
All right, we've gone on long enough on this show a bit, but there's one more thing that we have to talk about before we close because on Monday, we have another banner day of World Cup action. It's Spain and Portugal, and it's the US and Belgium and some late breaking news. It's not actually late breaking news. It broke a long time ago. We're going to be the last people to react to this news, but we're going to react to it regardless.
01:24:58
Speaker
Florian Baligan's suspension has been suspended. The famous article 27 of FIFA, which basically says FIFA can actually do whatever they want with a punishment, regardless of how the punishment is written.
01:25:11
Speaker
means that Balogun's suspension, provided and that he doesn't commit another red card offense at some time in the next year, will never actually be served, and he is eligible to play for the U.S. I don't think the people need you and I's take on this.
01:25:24
Speaker
Our take is probably similar to a lot of people's take in that doesn't really make sense for this to be done. doesn't seem fair that this is being done. I think the protests and the concern from both Belgium and UEFA are fair, but...
01:25:39
Speaker
assuming that Florian Balogun does actually play for the U.S. on Monday night in Seattle, it's a game changer. It's a massive game changer. And Pochettino said it like he felt they were unlucky against Bosnia. They got their punishment for, i think the one thing we should mention is a foul that didn't seem like it should have been a red card. Now, the only other thing I'll add, again, we all i think we all have the same take, is that...
01:26:04
Speaker
The process decision doesn't matter about like whether or not it was a red cardable offense or not. like Soccer doesn't work like that. Well, and if if if that's the point, then you don't suspend the punishment. You rescind the red card, right? If you're saying that this should not have been a red card, then it should not be a red card and don't suspend the suspension. Admit fault, right. Yeah, 100%. And I think the other thing that, again, the take that other people are saying that we just have to say is transparency in the process, right? We didn't even know there was an administrative hearing. The reporting is out there. I think maybe one thing we can highlight, there's an article in the Wall Street Journal that –
01:26:40
Speaker
The United States president had meetings with Gianni Infantino and requested it. And again, neither of us care to talk about that. like But just the precedent of that being a thing that happens in soccer is not good because imagine what happens when that's not your team. And so i think everyone said that. Great.
01:26:57
Speaker
Flo Balogun on the field. Yeah. It really helps the United States get dynamism on the front line. We did a whole bit on Ricardo Pepe on our preview podcast. And just imagine what you saw Balogun do against the blocks of Paraguay against Australia.
01:27:11
Speaker
His movement, his speed, his ability to drag a center back in the channel. And then specifically look at how Belgium was hurt by Senegal, by striker with movement and speed in Ismail Assar. You put two and two together, Belgium back line in trouble. Yeah.
01:27:23
Speaker
Mateo and Mechelet are going to have a very tough time um guarding him. And the other thing, you know, take you're going to see, take we'll repeat, is it's really tough for them to have been preparing for Ricardo Pepe for a few days. Now they have a day. And look, they're I'm sure Rudy Garcia is a smart guy. He can say what I said. He can say 20 times more detail than what I said. But you're going to have to play a deeper line. And if you do play high line, you're in trouble. And I think...
01:27:48
Speaker
the United States now has a lot more outlets to get through this Belgium team. Yes, when they win the ball, they should win the ball, but now they don't have to worry about Pulisic or McKinney or Dest having to overwork themselves for chances.
01:28:02
Speaker
Get the ball to this guy. Get the ball to this guy and make let him make plays. He absolutely has a physicality advantage here on the Belgium back line. We've seen it. it's got It's got to be. And the and the thing I'll close on, and I'll let you give some thoughts, is that the odds have not changed.
01:28:17
Speaker
This is crazy to me. It was a coin flip. We said yesterday, it was like one 10, one 10 for each. It's like minus one 15 minus one 10. And I know one player cannot like matter that much, but like the model somewhere just see Belgium is like a European pedigree team.
01:28:34
Speaker
The Belgium back line is super, super susceptible to a player like this. Again, Senegal put up 2XG difference on them. Again, like they they were in trouble in the group stage with pace.
01:28:48
Speaker
i just don't I just don't see this being a 50-50 game anymore. It's it's it's favor US. 100% agree. And Balogun, we said, was probably the US's most important player in a game like this. And now they get him back after Belgium had, you know, kind of thrown out the chance of having to deal with it.
01:29:06
Speaker
And look, the way that it happens doesn't... seem to be particularly fair. If you have rules, you should have rules. And if you don't have rules, you should not have rules. But it is what it is. Balagan's probably going to play. As we record this, Balagan's going to play. Again, there's a whole day. And as somebody who's worked in South American soccer for seven years now, I can promise you, a day is a real long time in this whole shindig. maybe by the time you listen this, the story is completely different. But as we record this, as we publish it, Balagan's going to be out there and it changes everything for the U.S.
01:29:35
Speaker
right, that is a very long edition of the World Cup After Dark podcast. But look, there were four rounds of 16 games to get to. We didn't record yesterday. We had to give the listeners what they were coming for. So we hope that you enjoyed today's show. If you did, you can find us, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, everywhere you get your podcasts. If you want to support us, you can do so at patreon.com slash WCAD, where $3 a month gets you access to subscriber-only content. There'll be a couple more so Patreon subscriber-only things as this world cup goes on and then plenty more, obviously after the world cup itself is done bit. And I will be back post us game tomorrow.
01:30:08
Speaker
Hopefully that show won't be as long, but with Spain, Portugal and USA Belgium, mean, I can't make any promises. We might be here for two hours tomorrow night. Listen, if we keep getting fever dreams, like we did at the Azteca, we will, we will go through every little fun thing that happens. We can promise you that if it happens at the World Cup, we will cover it here at the World Cup After Dark. Thank you to our listeners, as always, for listening. Hope that you enjoyed tonight's show.
01:30:32
Speaker
Hope that you enjoyed tomorrow's games and that you check back with us when all is said and done. All that is left for me to say is talk to you soon.