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WCAD 4-36: Cape Verde Win 0 Games, All the Hearts
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Austin and Amit react to a thrilling Round of 32 clash between Argentina and Cape Verde, marvel at the failure of Australia's penalty strategy against Egypt, and applaud Colombia for a workmanlike 1-0 win over Ghana.
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Transcript
Cape Verde's World Cup Journey
00:00:00
Speaker
Every World Cup gives us stories and it gives us lots of good stories. And yesterday, one of, I think, the best stories of the World Cup came to a close.
00:00:12
Speaker
But what a close it was, Amit Malik. Cape Verde pushing defending champions Argentina to the brink before a 3-2 loss. What more is there to say about this team?
00:00:25
Speaker
It's a fitting end. and Maybe they could have pulled out the shot completely, but they threw every punch they had in that game. And a team we've loved for a long time on this podcast, back from CAF qualifying. It was good to see them have their moment. It was really close to being more, but I think it'll go down as one of the classic quintessential World Cup game. ah You know, I don't think this is a unique take or anything, but to me it felt like a March Madness, like a fifteen two seed. And every little bounce keeps going your way. You need a little luck and the momentum and the underdog. And wait, these guys can play. and But then, you know, the the two seed kind of just has that little extra quality they can pull on and in a few moments.
00:01:03
Speaker
But ah it had that fever dream feel of it, of a March Madness game is kind of the the vibe of, you know, every little underdog swing is hanging on. So... Legendary game, legendary run for from Cape Verde and certainly some heroes that we'll remember. Some names that will be some dudes you could talk about with your friends for years, years thinking about this Cape Verde team.
00:01:23
Speaker
It helped the the whole fever dream feel that it was hot. It was humid. Every player was just completely drenched in sweat. it was a full stadium that was very tense at points. It was a quintessential World Cup knockout round game in, frankly, a World Cup knockout round that so far has given us a lot of those.
World Cup Round of 32 Analysis
00:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, the the round of 32 has been a general success. I think we'll see the knock-on effects of it as we go. It's it's it too hard to say now, I think. I mean, you have some inklings. Generally, I think, what do we end up getting?
00:01:57
Speaker
Germany-Paraguay is a big, big upset. And then, generally, Chalk, right? you know Yeah, Paraguay, the only third-place team that went through. Yeah. And i think that's fine in terms of results, but in terms of engaging games outside of Switzerland, Algeria, France, right? We, you know, get almost ah ah every game is within one, right? It's ah it's right down to the wire.
00:02:24
Speaker
Yeah. And the only other group winner that that went out was the Netherlands, but they went out obviously to Morocco, which didn't feel like much of an upset, right? Yeah, I forgot about Spain-Austria. That was pretty one-sided too. But um yeah, overall, I think the the level of the Round 32 showed something we'll talk about more in in a while after the World Cup is over. But this compression between teams like...
00:02:47
Speaker
Three through everyone else, right? And so there's a lot more talent in international football. I think, you know, we've done we've talked about this for a while, about but Cape Verde are such a good poster child for like this effect of what the diaspora, what the pool, what the the scouting, what the managing, what investment can look like if you do it right. And then the beauty of knockout soccer, that you roll a ball out there for 120 minutes and you you know live and die for every blade of grass and you can make things happen. And Paraguay, to an extent, too, exemplified that. So really fun. I mean, this is what the World Cup is all about. Like we said it before this round started. These three weeks are what we live for because we turn into margins time. We turn in the roller coaster.
00:03:29
Speaker
And, you know, if you're not enjoying this ride, like, yeah, you you're not listening to this podcast. You don't like soccer. Yeah. You're on the wrong ride if you're not enjoying this. That's for sure. And it's spot out a bunch of really, really intriguing round of 16 ties. We'll preview those on an episode that's going to drop after this episode drops. so So be sure to be on the lookout for that. And I'll just do the programming notes at the start
Argentina's Struggles and Successes
00:03:50
Speaker
this time. We'll switch it up. If you're looking for previews of today's games, which are Canada, Morocco, and France Parway,
00:03:56
Speaker
We have those over on our Patreon feed, so be sure to check that out. Patreon.com slash WCAD. Become a subscriber. You can get access to that and other subscriber-only content. This, of course, is the World Cup After Dark podcast. My name is Austin Miller. He, on the other end, is Amit Malik. We're going to look at Friday's action that closed out the round of 32 today. And we have to start in hot, sweaty, muggy Miami. Amit, Argentina 3.
00:04:21
Speaker
Cape Verde 2 in extra time. You said it in the intro. This game felt like a fever dream, but it also felt like the world champions being pushed to the brink.
00:04:33
Speaker
And I don't know if this is more warning signs or if this is just simply a survival job or some combination of the two. This certainly wasn't the best Argentina have looked. but they just do get it over the line against a very game, very up for it Cape Bird side that leaves this tournament having not won a single game, but having won every heart.
00:04:56
Speaker
Great way to put it, honestly, about Cape Verde. Yeah, I think let's start with the XG. Let's just get it out of the way. And then let's talk about the game. right It ends up being like 2.3 for Argentina to 0.5 for Cape Verde. So like on the whole, like dominated the game over 120 minutes. Mostly did what they wanted to do.
00:05:17
Speaker
but it's a very not story of dominance, right? It's kind of a story of Messi's brilliance. Check. We see that for Argentina all the time. And then not quite enough to put it away until they until they do sometimes because of a little bit of center back quality. well We'll talk about how that manifests.
00:05:38
Speaker
So to me, I think the weaknesses in Argentina got exposed, not in necessarily in repeatable ways, But in ways that we knew were there and that this squad is a little bit unbalanced at points in this game that Cape Verde are able to take care of or able to take advantage of because they're just physical and conditioned enough and technical off at 11 spots in the field.
00:06:02
Speaker
Again, you play this game out a bunch of times. like I don't think Cape Verde wins in many of them, but I do think they are making it difficult for Argentina in almost every one of them. They just had enough legs in them, and the conditions here were part of that fertile ground. um to Argentina just being very labored and slogged on the night. So...
00:06:22
Speaker
where are the issues with this team overall? I think it's like Messi is too vocal of a guy and somehow we've ended up back there again. Yeah, we somehow reverted to the Messi dependencia after they played so well in 2022 getting away from Messi. It's almost like they've circled back around to, oh, we really need this guy to be good and be great. And he was in moments here in in in most of the moments that mattered. But it's Argentina could use some help again.
00:06:49
Speaker
Yeah, and so over 120 minutes, like it's hard for him to exert his influence as much as he wants. He has to drop deeper. He he runs less, and yeah, he's still valuable on set pieces for sure, but it's like, where are the other guys supposed to help here? And we'll talk about Lino Scaloni and the wingers, and then we'll talk about the passes on the field, and then...
00:07:14
Speaker
I mean, just from a squad construction wise, like I think the best player you're asking to help Messi late in games is Julian Alvarez. yeah and He's deployed in a position that makes it tough for Argentina to get that help.
00:07:27
Speaker
And i just I just think they're lacking a bit of creativity on the ball outside of Messi. And generally, the guy's good enough to do that. But if you're an opposing team, withstand some blows. He can't he'd drive the engine for for two hours. And so there are periods of this game, not that Cape Verde are more threatening than Argentina, but where they're just kind of fine in open play. And that is not something we expected from teams against Argentina.
00:07:55
Speaker
And a lot of it is credit to Cape Verde who played a great game, who showed that they were clearly more fit than Argentina was. I think that's a big takeaway here. And I think that's a big thing that Argentina will have highlighted that, okay, yes, they're probably not going to play in conditions that are as difficult as this going forward.
00:08:12
Speaker
Round of 16 is in Miami. Then they'll go to, then they would, or in Atlanta, i should say, then they would theoretically go to Kansas city for a quarterfinal. then It's back to Atlanta and then a final at MetLife. But the, Certainly the the the fitness of Argentina, I think, was a concern coming into this tournament. There were a lot of guys who you weren't sure if they were going to 100%. think there's a lot of guys coming out of this game who you're like, oh I don't think they're 100%. And what lineup they put out in the round of 16 will be very interesting.
00:08:35
Speaker
And then it's the width, right? I think Argentina struggled to create width. And so they're doing everything vertically. And that asks questions of a defense. But I think Cape Verde adjusted to it pretty well. And they took away a lot of the spaces.
00:08:49
Speaker
And so the goals for Argentina come from set pieces, which again, that's always going to be a fallback for any good team at this tournament. It always will be. But yeah, I think there's concerns for Argentina, but I also think they deserve credit for getting this over the line because this was, this wasn't like some luck. It was a lucky smash and grab effort for Cape Verde.
00:09:08
Speaker
But that's also credit to them for being able to pull that off. So I just think it was a really interesting game. Let's get into it. am admit Argentina saw a lot of the ball early here. I think some interesting lineup decisions from Bubista, the Cape Bird manager. I think he got it spot on. He he leaves Jamiro Montero and Dailon Lee Romento on the bench, puts Nuno Da Costa at the nine. I think he understands for the first hour of this game, we're probably not going to see a lot of the ball. So I'm going to keep my best ball playing players on the bench to then be able to come at this later.
00:09:36
Speaker
And for the first 45 minutes in particular, it's very Argentina forward. They're not super incisive with it. They have a lot of the ball. They're not able to create a lot of chances. There's a couple of of saves from from Bozena.
00:09:50
Speaker
He saves a a tame, messy free kick. They swarm Messi really well until they don't. And it's the moment of brilliance and it's a Really, really good pass from Lissandro Martinez over the top.
00:10:01
Speaker
And it is as good of ah of a control as you'll see. This is a ball that is launched from like 40 plus yards. And Messi just cushions it with his left foot, brings it down, takes a touch, and boom, it's in the back of the net. And that is why this guy has been so good for so long and is still so good.
00:10:19
Speaker
It's really hard to defend him when he goes vertical because he doesn't do that. Everything he does, he camps wide and he cuts in and he has the ball on his feet. But he's shown at times, many, many times, he's got that off-ball threat. And like his ability to take the ball out of the air means he can be your nine in space on the vertical side. And Alessandro Martinez, really, really good passer, distributor. I think that is...
00:10:42
Speaker
in a team where maybe the outside backs, you don't feel as good progressing through, you know that both Romero and Martinez, particularly Martinez, can see this ball. And to your point, was very different than the way Spain approached Cape Verde. And so they're just, it's a different matchup for them. They're having to constantly check the space behind them and, and manage that, um you know, that 10 to 20 yards ah of grass. Yeah.
00:11:08
Speaker
And generally it's good. But ah and it's like in this one, where when this ball is launched, like how much space is there? there's like ah there's like There's like a box's worth. And it's very, very hard for this play to work unless the guy on the receiving end can control in a phone booth. And i mean, he just keeps inventing new ways. Not inventing, but he keeps coming up with new ways to to unlock defenses. And it's obviously it's amazing, right, that he does this. Is it a perhaps a sign of Argentina's like...
00:11:39
Speaker
less creative in the traditional way you think about a top team's like ability um than because they have to go so direct here. But it also works. like It's a high IQ play from from everyone around. this is Argentina are great problem solvers. We've always said that. like yeah Legitimately, like obviously the rest of this game gets bonkers, but up to this point, it's like, yep, you know they had a tough half, but they found an angle that Cape Verde wasn't exactly thinking.
00:12:06
Speaker
And we talk about half spaces a lot with star. This is a half space, right? This is a ball that is perfectly put into a half space. I don't even think Dina, the Cape bird center. I don't even think he plays this poorly. Like he's odd. Like it's just like, you tip your cap. The ball is so good. The control is so good. The finish is so good. All three of those pieces had to work in the way they did for for this to end up in the back of the net. So Argentina take that one, no lead to halftime and coming out of halftime a minute. I think Argentina take their foot off the gas a little bit. I think I think it's somewhat natural for that to happen. But I think they recognize these conditions are difficult. We're not super comfortable with it. We're not enjoying this. We're not.
00:12:43
Speaker
And so they kind of stop pressing in the midfield. Their midfield stops stepping up to Cape Verde. Players, Kuti Romero, who the center back, who I thought stepped into some really good challenges in the first half. They become almost a bit passive and they decide to let Cape Verde have the ball.
00:12:59
Speaker
And Dior Duarte forces Debo Martinez into a sharp save from distance. And Capeford just kind of stay dangerous and they just take advantage of a lull in this game. Ryan Mendes finds space on the side, slides a pass to Diori Duarte after Mendes beats the fullback and Duarte from a tough angle beats Debu Martinez. And on this play in particular, i minute there's there's just too much space for from Molina and Lissandra Martinez in defense. Martinez, the ball goes through his legs on the goal.
00:13:28
Speaker
This is a tough angle finish, but this is a really good pounce from this Capeford team. Yeah, just being opportunistic. I think you you nailed it. This comes back to the midfield battle where Macaus or DePaul and Enzo are not quite getting into every challenge as much as they want and slowly ceding territory. And this play, I think, is just being a ah step slow on every play because you're not expecting Cape Verde to hurt you in that spot. And yes, it's not a position, a shot that's going to look really high on the charts, but like the screening ability there is what makes it dangerous. And yeah, like i don't want to blame Debu.
00:14:05
Speaker
It's not a lot he can do when it goes through the legs at that close. Like he just can't see it. You see he misses it by an inch on his leg. And that's where Lissandra Martinez, I think, has to close out a little bit earlier, read the play faster because like where else is the danger here on this play? But it just kind of like...
00:14:23
Speaker
unwound in slow motion and I think sometimes like you don't think Cape Verde is going to take the shots in the spots they do they're very good at it yeah they're like these surprise angled shots they've got so many weird ones yeah and you're like okay all right cool like I don't know it works for them right and it works in this situation I think Argentina respond fairly well to to this equalizer right um Messi receives a great pass from Waltaro Mozzini makes a save Bozini is going to make a lot of saves from this point until the end of the 90 for sure.
00:14:55
Speaker
The first changes for Argentina, I think, are pretty predictable, right? LaTarra Martinez comes off, Luan Alvarez on, Thiago Almada off, Nico Gonzalez on. but Gonzalez comes on with the intention of of being a bit wide, and Alvarez comes on to to change the equation in the nine.
00:15:11
Speaker
But you talked previously about the position that Alvarez is playing, that I think we saw a bit of the difficulties of that in this game. Yeah, so he's on the front line, but like he has to come deep to get the ball. But he can't necessarily go wide where the space is if Cape Verde are just going to plug it up and be super narrow. And he needs to come and dribble at a defense and make things happen. But Argentina's setup didn't drag the Cape Verde outside backs enough so that Alvarez had room to operate. And so it was kind of just a thing of like...
00:15:43
Speaker
Argentina camping like 50, 40 yards from goal and just pinging balls to the outside backs to try to get cutbacks on or knockdowns on, which is a weird way to play. Again, super high IQ players. like This plan works for them, but like would you be better off just putting Alvarez on the wing? like He needs to take a guy on or using a winger here. And so at some point, right we get Paredes, and i feel like he's a ah wide guy too in this setup. And I'm just like...
00:16:12
Speaker
there's got to be a winger here that we we could use. There's a handful, right? And it just felt like they were missing that. And Messi too now with Alvarez, like he they're in the same spaces. And that's always been the thing of why they can't necessarily...
00:16:26
Speaker
be at their best on the field at the same time. And so Messi's now coming back to be the passer because no one else back there wants to be a wigger. And it works in spurts, but I feel like because of the setup they have, Cape Verde's legs are not being tested. And maybe this is the legs for Argentina, like to constantly work the ball up and feel like then you don't want to track back. They were really leaving like six guys on the 40-yard line and not really trying to risk too many more than that.
00:16:56
Speaker
I think you see here one of the big changes for Argentina in comparison to 2022 is the absence of Angel Di Maria, right?
Challenges in Argentina's Strategy
00:17:05
Speaker
Di Maria was that wide threat that stretched defenses out.
00:17:10
Speaker
And so without a player that is at that level playing wide, you haven't quite seen the trust from Scaloni and anybody else in that sort of role. There are a lot of calls for Simeone to come on in this game. He obviously doesn't come on in this game. But I think with all of that, I think that's a loss for Argentina. And that's certainly something that they're going to want to try and find a solution for. And maybe there is no solution for it for Argentina. But that's certainly something that we'll see going forward. And I think now we have circled. Right before the hydration break, then Bubista goes to his bench and his first changes are, again, very predictable. brings on Montego. He brings on Liebermento. He's bringing on his ball playing players looking to maybe exploit some space back behind Argentina. And they've got fresh legs. They didn't have to chase the ball for an hour.
00:17:55
Speaker
And at this point, they're level, right? And that, I think, is is the dream situation for Bubista. And this kind of starts as a sequence here, Amit, of... There's kind of this nervous buzz in the crowd. Argentina start recovering possession well, but they're not really creating a bunch. And their best chances here are messy free kicks, but they're all just in their own way, not quite ideal.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, like not quite in his favorite zone, like 20 to 25 yards out there. A little too far left, a little too far right, a little too far back. And I think it's like Argentina not wanting to to get all the way up the field and get caught out by the Cape Verde legs and players on the field that Babista manages the timing of this really well.
00:18:59
Speaker
Look, sometimes you you don't get away with it. You're left and you're like down two you're like, it's too late. But you've got the goal, like the equalizer. And there's like a lot of belief here. and Argentina feels like they have to create chances at walking pace and they don't like, and it's too hard to do that. So they their yeah best moments are when they can get that foul. Like not letting them get anything. I don't know what exactly happened on this play. But it's like, i like trade-off you'll take if you're Cape Verde. Don't feel like they're going to hurt you from that part. live with that. But Vizinha's been good, right? There's one like sneaky quick little quick moment, right?
00:19:36
Speaker
And Bozena, who's kind of adjusting his wall, has to react quickly, but he does get over and he paws it away. But those are the kind of chances that Argentina are kind of trying to take advantage of here. but We come out of the water break and then they just kind of slowly but surely were the machine up a bit.
00:19:52
Speaker
but But as you said, Amit, Argentina have to be really careful here because if they commit too many guys, Cape Verde are breaking back the other way and that's danger. And with this game now level, a goal for Cape Verde is absolute panic stations with time running out for Argentina. So they have to kind of walk this balance in this thin line.
00:20:09
Speaker
They play a couple of nice low bowls across that that get cleared away. Pico Lopez and Pina with with a couple of clearances from Gonzalez. There's one with Enzo Fernandez working far post. ah Argentina have to make a couple more changes. They bring on Leandro Paredes for Rodrigo De Paul.
00:20:26
Speaker
Facundo Medina goes down and Nico Gonzalez is not feeling great. Plus, Endo Fernandez is cramping. You could tell that the heat and the humidity is getting to Argentina at this point. They have to bring Tagliafico on for Medina. That spends their last substitution window. um Pico makes a clearance ah on an Alexis McAllister header that that goes off his arm, but but it's clear it's not a penalty. And we get into added time and Messi omit slides kind of into this more provider role than finisher. There's moments where Kuti Rame Romero is hanging out as as the nine, and Messi gets another free kick chance, but again, it's just not in quite the right spot. He goes low around the wall. It gets deflected, and Bozzini gets over to block away. This was probably the best free kick look they got,
00:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think so. It was a good save for Mazzina, who, as you said, between when we mentioned in the 90, was just kind of everywhere. And yeah, it felt like Argentina did this timing of the subs right, but the injuries here ended up like leaving this little... like i mean, it was a pseudo freeze point. I'm not pseudo. It was a freeze point in a way, but the subs made it even more frozen. And then you you could tell like this is the beauty of knuckle tucker with that goal buys you for Cape Verde. It is just this ah like this caution from Argentina in kind of leaving guys back. And because of the the humidity, the legs, like this is so real.
00:21:50
Speaker
they don't want to make that 60-yard track run back. They're just trying to keep the ball and and protect that head start. So it's it's kind of like dread, not dread, tension, like filling the air because you know like they just have to pick their moments and it does feel like out we're headed towards extra time and maybe penalties is looming.
00:22:11
Speaker
And Cape Verde had their teeth stuck in. Like they deserve so much credit for, they just kept coming in this game and and we'll get to what happens in extra time. That's just a theme here that the heat and the humidity affected Argentina more than it did Cape Verde. That's just a flat out fact based on watching this game and how their legs go. So this game gets to extra time. Thanks to some nice saves from Bozina. And we'd start extra time in Argentina. I'm it kind of right from the get go. They get relief.
00:22:38
Speaker
they They win a corner. Messi takes the corner. It's a flick on from Alexis McAllister. It just gets over the head of Sidney Lopez Cabral. And there's so much time here for Lissandro Martinez, who got the assist on the first goal.
00:22:51
Speaker
He has time to bring this down, collect himself, pick out a spot and just rocketed in and and leave Romento on this play. I think he's just a beat away from closing down Martinez. But this is what is the fallback for every big team in this tournament? It's set pieces. And that's a place where you can find the differences. And even in a weird way, it's not a header from Martinez. He's five nine but he's clearly one of the most technical center backs in the world, right? He's shown that for Argentina. He's shown that at Manchester United. He shows that on the pass early in this game. This is like a striker's finish. He has a no window to fit this in the goal, but he does. It's a really smart finish. And this one was interesting, right? Like...
00:23:28
Speaker
Why didn't we... Is this not offsides here? On the play, on the tussle, on on on the far post, but on the recovery out to Martinez? like I think it's Taglifico who's involved in this play. i I'm not saying that... So we saw the graphic and he's not he's he's in an onside position. Before the tussle. yeah so So if...
00:23:48
Speaker
he would have been in an off offside position. This would have been offside because Tagli Fiegel comes in and kind of contests the McAllister flick on like the flick on. And then there's, there's kind of a tussle and then it falls to, to, to Martinez here, but they, they showed the graphic. There's a foot that's hanging back from Capeford player that, that, plays Tagli Fico on. So that's why we didn't look at this, but yeah, margins, right? That's one of the things that you're looking at. You're just like, Oh man, that was pretty darn close. and And there was some fear on the Argentine broadcast. I was watching here that he was offside. Oh, we got to look at that. We got to look at that.
00:24:17
Speaker
It looked at it and it was onside. So then more changes from ob beast. And now with this team down, And at this point in minute, he just recycles his whole attack, right? He he brings on Semedo. He brings on Tavares for Pina and Duarte. So at this point, he has four relatively fresh legs in attack. And I think that is, again, just really well managed from this side. He's also brought on Helio Varena.
00:24:38
Speaker
He's also brought on Willy Semedo. Those guys came on at the end of regular time. And again, it's kind of this moment out of nothing where the game seems to kind of be settled at 2-1, right? It feels like Argentina are...
00:24:52
Speaker
in control without dominating the ball and what can happen when you're only a goal up in a knockout round game or a world cup qualifier emit goals can come out of nowhere and this i think so far is my pick for goal of the tournament it's sydney lopez cabral who dusts alexis mcallister and from the tightest of tight angles at the edge of the box just picks out the top quarter what a strike this was It's the finish. It's the insane, insane finish of his life. And credit to Lopez Cabral. Guy can strike this ball, right? He's he's feeling it.
00:25:26
Speaker
um and mean, you shouldn't score from here. You don't really see this shot because it's like more a crossing area than a shot area. But it's not impossible, right? And the goalie's quite not expecting it. And it's maybe only like a a few yards out than what Noosa did against Ivory Coast.
00:25:40
Speaker
But the pure spin on this ball, and we've said the ball striking is something you can have if you can get that side spin on it. I mean... I don't know. Like this is this is an insane all time goal. Like this one will be framed for world cup history, magic moment.
00:25:57
Speaker
So McAllister can't be getting beat in this spot. like I think that's the first point. But getting beat there doesn't generally end with the ball directly in your back of the net on the next touch. And and that's what happens here. ah The collective like yelps and gasps and oh my goodness is hurt around the world on this goal must have been absolutely insane because this was just kind of out of nowhere. you Like you said, you're just not expecting this to come from that.
00:26:23
Speaker
It's that's what makes it such a good moment. It's like an all time, like not not even a he check, but like a prayer a heave almost, but a confidence check like that he could make that and down one.
00:26:34
Speaker
And this is the point of like why you just got to be of two to be bounce proof like this doesn't go in all the time. But it's also both a reflection of Cape Verde's like inability to never say or abilities to never say die.
00:26:49
Speaker
Argentina make their last change coming out of this. It's the other fullback. Gonzalo Montiel comes on for now. Well, Alina, Messi gets a look from his office right before the first half of extra time ends. Mozzina gets down to make the save.
00:27:02
Speaker
And second half extra time, Argentina just, Kind of got to keep getting things going. They got to slides into to stop a run from Nico Gonzalez. But in that play, while stopping that run, he puts it out for a corner.
00:27:19
Speaker
And in that again, amit it's set pieces, set pieces, set pieces, messy corner, towering head from Cucci Romero. It's perfectly placed. And it actually goes off the arm of Dini and into the back of the net.
00:27:31
Speaker
This is the under four timeout in the 15-2 game where the better team they had been under it all game. They've been sweating all game and it's really getting dicey. And at some point you just have the best athletes on the court, on the field, right? And this is why it's...
00:27:49
Speaker
I'm putting in air quotes evil from the perspective of like a neutral, like that. Yeah. You can play your heart out, but like you can't really like the, why set pieces are so valuable is you can't really stop that. Like Cody Romero is just a really good header of the ball and messy.
00:28:05
Speaker
I mean, there's a reason why he has to stay in the field for 120 minutes for Argentina. They need this delivery from him. They need this spin on him. And One thing we had said like before the tournament is like there's a shout that Romero and Martinez can be an elite center back pairing. And rome ah Romero can have that set piece threat. And had a tough year at Tottenham. And I think when he's at this level, he's closer back to being elite center back level. And part of that is his value he provides ah in the box. And so...
00:28:36
Speaker
I mean, but what a get-out-of-jail-free card for Scaloni. And credit to him. like This is a tool he has in his box. and I think Argentina should be good at this when you are the older, slower team in heat, right? You've got to rely on your marginal stuff like this.
00:28:52
Speaker
So this is just like a This is a World Cup champion pulling out an old knockout trick. We've seen this move a lot in knockout tournaments. It's like annoying for the neutral that it comes against Cape Verde for sure, but I just think you've got to give Argentina credit for getting basically soccer punched twice in this game and having a really, really hard day and having this in their back pocket. Yeah.
00:29:19
Speaker
How many times did it feel like the bounces for Argentina that went well in 22 in this game, two massive, massive ah big bounces in terms of shots that shouldn't go in, go in. And to withstand it is, I mean, it's that's where, despite the XG at the start, to me, you come to survival job is this goal, the way this goal works and the way Argentina find attack in this tournament without necessarily having the best balance on the field.
00:29:47
Speaker
Argentina have been really good in penalty shootouts. I don't think they wanted this game to go to penalty. I don't think you want to be falling back to that magic this fast. And that's 100% a credit to Scaloni and the team for just keep pushing and not settling, even when it was hard and extra time. So you just turn set pieces into bigger opportunities. And that is a very...
00:30:07
Speaker
conma ball conca calf thing to do that can feel like yeah a kind of an annoying way to manage the heat but it's a very effective way to manage the game it's turning it outside of the game state where you're down one to a a game state that you're game state like a mini game that you're on top on and so it's smart stuff it's smart stuff and beast like the beast that can't outfox that right yeah Yeah, and Babista did great, and in Cape Verde did great in this tournament, what they did. And they still come up with a couple of chances down the stretch of this game. The the Argentine midfield is just cooked, right? Alexis McAllister, Enzo Fernandez, these guys have nothing left. Montiel, who had come on as a substitute, commits a foul in a very dangerous spot. And it's i mean it's in the exact spot, but on the other side of the pitch where Lopez Cabral just buried it in the first half of extra time. This time it's from a dead ball and he stands over it and he stands over it with all the confidence in the world. And he forces DB Martinez into a really strong handed save here.
00:31:09
Speaker
He does. I mean, DB tough game, right? He does enough in this game in this last five minutes. I think he, he, earns his keep for Argentina for sure.
00:31:21
Speaker
Then the ensuing set piece kind of played some head tennis and Capeford get a ball over the top and and Gilson makes a run onto it. And Martinez does really well here admit to come off his line and just kind of see the ball out, force it out, but without making sufficient contact for this to be a penalty. So many goalkeepers would commit a penalty in this situation. That is the the game-winning math point for Argentina is that he doesn't just clatter into the feet and makes the save by like making his body really big without overcommitting.
00:31:53
Speaker
I thought this was it. like The way this ball falls to Gilson, like or gil ah yeah you just... yeah Oh my gosh, it looks like he's just going to poke it in. he The ball gets off his foot. It wasn't like a clean come out from ah Martinez. It's a save, right? this I think this ends up somewhere in the in in the numbers.
00:32:13
Speaker
It's yeah. And these are the two plays that Cape bird, they went for one more haymaker, right? They had, they thought they might, there might be one more punch here in our Argentina do well to, to block it off. They get caught defending with seven, which they should not happen in this situation, but they're able to see it out at the end.
00:32:30
Speaker
And the final whistle goes in Argentina survived this three, two. I think that is really the, the verb to use here. Um, yeah I think it's hard ah to to find the balance between giving Cape Verde all the credit that that they definitely deserve for this game and asking the right questions about Argentina and trying to figure out what the answers to those questions will be.
00:32:52
Speaker
But this was just a really, really good World Cup game. It was. And survive, and you want to talk about March Madness, like except for the Frances of the world, it's survive in advance. No one's going to be like feeling good about anything. And yeah, France has Paraguay the next round, so that's why it also feels like that.
00:33:11
Speaker
Pretty much every game is just a bloodbath. You're going to come out like limping and scratched and bloody and... you know, push to your brink, even by necessarily a team you weren't expecting to.
00:33:24
Speaker
Congrats, you got to get off the mat and do it again. And the only thing that feels good for Argentina is that everyone else has to, and they've done it before and they know how to do it. Is that going to, you know, put them in a great spot necessarily as a tournament goes? I don't know, but like they have, they have winnable matchups. I don't think they're going to like look at the other team across the field until it would be a France final and truly feel overwhelmed. And so I think you just have to like,
00:33:50
Speaker
win tight games. And so like, yeah, you, you take Scaloni, you take messy, you show that you've gotten multiple different ways to do it. I think our, our Argentina is problem solving. We mentioned that before is their best thing here.
00:34:03
Speaker
They solve this one and I'll back them to keep solving problems. Like at some point, will it, will it overwhelm them? Yeah. I don't think any of the teams in this half of the bracket, you can definitively say that, right? It's just going to be toss-ups. Like, yeah, we're here to analyze it, but like, it's going to be that kind that kind of stuff.
00:34:23
Speaker
And Argentina are on a wild run of winning all of those toss-ups. And maybe that's where this all goes wrong at some point. This also could perhaps be a little Saudi Arabia moment for Argentina, but obviously without the debilitating 2-1 loss. I don't know that the team necessarily needed a wake-up call, but I think this certainly speaks to just how difficult all this is going to be.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah, and maybe I should have said this on my last point, but I'll say that like they don't have that gear that Saudi Arabia woke up in them. They don't like have like an extra worrying to get to. They're a little bit older and slower in games like they have to rely on their intelligence and messy reading space and messy finding moments.
00:35:02
Speaker
I think this team down one is going to be not feeling so good late in games. They haven't necessarily been there, but at tied neutral game state, like the very conservative and,
00:35:14
Speaker
The outside backs is the the big thing. The width is the big thing. Let's see how that looks in a game against a team that can push it. I mean, KVard pushed it, but didn't quite create enough to really make the math tough. so Yeah, it was a great World Cup game and and the defending champions march on and they will play amid an Egypt side that get through on penalties against Australia.
00:35:38
Speaker
This game was a very testy round of 32 matchup between two teams that I think are fairly even, but also aren't incredible. Right. And I think you kind of saw that out in this game. And it's a game that is obviously conditioned by an early goal. And the early goal here falls Egypt's way And it's our guy, Emma Macher, on a recycled set piece who is kept on by a late step up from from Luca Harrington, gets on the end of a great ball, and he just finishes. This is a really nice play to open the scoring. Recycled set piece. And at the back post, Australia just kind of lost him because the first set piece is all the way in the corner. And it's really hard to to pay attention to that. Yeah.
00:36:20
Speaker
You probably, Australia would would say we should not get beaten on this at all, right? The whole thing is a protector box, but it was a really good cross here, that in-swinger from that weird spot. like ah that I love that crossing zone. It's such a dangerous ball where you can get that shape on the back post and not miss it and have it in the right spot. Yeah.
00:36:41
Speaker
Egypt, they need to have headers on their team. They're not like a great like physical team in the box, but their guys are very smart headers of the ball. And so they actually have just enough to get attack. But it's like if they had like a bruiser on their front line somewhere, like you'd feel so much better about it. But in this area where the the outside back doesn't mark you, yeah, Osher, and we saw Zico has done this too. like Very good targets, very smart headers of the ball.
00:37:09
Speaker
Australia don't panic. I think going down a goal, they realize there's still, you know, nearly 80 minutes to go in this game. And so their response amid is set pieces and long throws. They're putting a bit of pressure here, but they're not selling out. And every set piece in this game, including the one that our Australia are going to score on later, it's just carnage. They're just bigger. They're just stronger. And they're just looking to create chaos and just be battering rams in the box.
00:37:35
Speaker
This is an old school football game. Australia, an old school team. It's old school managing for Tony Pakovic. It's like we've got zero quality in the field, but we have maybe eight or nine better athletes. And so we just turn it into like a grappling match, basically, and and just get the ball in the box. And I think it speaks to both teams level that it's at the end of the day, kind of effective, right? Like it's, it speaks to Australia's like athleticism. They don't like, this is like, this is like really like high school soccer is what I meant to say. Like, this is what a high school soccer game looks like.
00:38:18
Speaker
High school soccer coaches dream of winning games with the players they have. And it's like back in like the 2000s, if you weren't at like today's, you know, very silky stuff. I've watched high school soccer over the
Australia vs Egypt: A Physical Showdown
00:38:30
Speaker
years. It was just 20 guys out there. And the guy that the team that had better athletes, their coach thought he could win by doing stuff like this. It was absolutely horrendous, like championship football, 90s British football. Just like get the ball in the box, knock it down, grapple, win headers. You don't need any tactics, right? Like just you're bigger than that guy in the box, throw him aside, win the header and like don't make any mistakes. And like Egypt he kind of had to deal with it. It was not fun.
00:38:57
Speaker
It was not fun. ah A big moment in this game is Jordan Boston, the Australian fullback going out at halftime. He has to be replaced by Kai Charon. That's a big loss for them. Egypt should have been tuno up coming out of the locker room. Marmush gets a great chance and he misses wide. It's hard of it to overstate how good of a chance this was and how you just have to be clinical on it.
00:39:17
Speaker
This is the chance that you're expecting to the guy you're expecting it to fall to. Yeah, this changes the whole game. This is the one thing Egypt, like, you get this. This whole game feels so much better. And that's why we always say on this dang show, man, finish your chances. Go up two. Go up two.
00:39:31
Speaker
Every, like, to the point we started in the round of 32, anyone hanging around, except for Ghana, can hurt you. We'll get there. We'll get there. But... um Anyone hanging around could hurt you.
00:39:45
Speaker
um It's the set pieces that end up being what gets Australia level in this match in the 55th minute. It's a delivery from Aiden O'Neill. Nobody from Australia ends up getting a touch on this, but just the collective pressure of it all.
00:39:57
Speaker
ah forces Muhammad Hani, who who just comes back from getting sideswiped a bit earlier. Not sure how he's still in the game, but he is rises up and he puts it in the back of his own net. And it's just the collective pressure of the set pieces from Australia. I think on this one that that ends up with them getting their equalizer.
00:40:15
Speaker
collective pressure is a good way to do it. There's a lot of bodies in that box and you good deliveries and something good happens. And again, to like the high school thing, like the entire thing is Harry Suter. We built the plane out of Harry Suter's like physical threat in the box. And like, this to me is such a world cup thing. Cause you might watch these four games for Australia and you might go,
00:40:35
Speaker
we got to get this guy. Like he, he belongs in the premier league, right? Like this is a top, top level defender. And it's like, sometimes at international soccer, you you can, you can toss out like all the pageantry at the window and turn into this like old school, you know, caveman kickball stuff. and Tony Popovic is just to really, really like throwback derogatory manager in that sense but it's very effective um it's very effective um suitor on every set piece the first thing you do is watch the egypt guys try to go over and get bodies on him and they can't stop him either way and right there you just have an advantage every time that you can't really account for and he's he's like the guy on this one that like i know it's not his goal but basically just give this goal to him Yeah, he's the one who creates all of that built-up collective pressure that ends up with the ball and in the back of the net. This game gets to a pretty freezing point moment. There's a couple of of changes. It opens up for a little bit in the last five minutes. Egypt get a good look from a corner right before the end ah of regular time. It's a header from Rabia that gets palmed over by by Patrick Beach, the the Australian goalkeeper, for now. And then a late block from Suter on Haissam Hassan, which gets this game to extra time.
00:41:54
Speaker
And in extra time, Egypt, I think, kind of tart start tightening the screws as this goes on. I'll show you bring on Maville that they'd already brought on Tourรฉ. They'd taken off here on Kunda. Egypt forced ah a couple more blocks. Salah has a really great weaving run that gets blocked off.
00:42:10
Speaker
Not a great game here from Osal. There were some questions about his fitness coming in. He plays all 120 minutes in it, but he didn't look 100%. No, he was not quite at his full dynamic self in getting across as defender, getting on the ball, cutting in feeling like he can eliminate guys.
00:42:29
Speaker
And when he's not that player, he's so much more one-dimensional. You know, on the Sadio Mane to Leroy Sanรฉ scale of old wingers, he was more Sanรฉ than Mane, and that's a bad place to be. And so you just see the limitations for Egypt, right? They're counting on him to be elite, and they're counting on Marmouche to finish plays.
00:42:47
Speaker
Ramos gets his chance, doesn't score it. Salah's not elite. And then you find yourself staring at Australia and feeling like you're just in a deadlock with them. And like unfortunately for Egypt, that's kind of the level, right? like They're not elite at that level. They could totally take the game to New Zealand, but when the physicality gets up a level, they're in trouble. And so I think...
00:43:12
Speaker
there's something about Egypt, the way they've played historically. And this generation is kind of a new generation, but in the solid generation, Egypt have always been happy to play for pens. Like that was their calling card in Afcons for a long time. And so like, I do think as a fallback, as a plan B, when Sal is not on, it's familiar to them. I'm not going to say it's good for them, but where I cycle to is, is Australia actually better than we like gave them credit for? Like, are they in physical?
00:43:40
Speaker
Yeah. It, I mean, like, I i don't think Tony Popovic gets a lot of credit here because what he did is like keep Australia pigeonholed into this like really repressive old school style. But if you were him and you were trying to get the most out of this cycle and say, I don't care about the next 20 years of Australia football, I'm setting back like this is how you manage the game.
00:44:03
Speaker
And that's the conversation that I think is happening in Australia. I've looked at some of the the reaction from this game and from this elimination and and we'll get exactly to how it happens here in a second. But yeah, this is, I think what the conversation is, is yeah. Okay. Maybe this was the best for us on that particular day, but we've got to evolve. We've got to be better. We should have the players to be better than that. And so far they've, they've, they've yet to, to,
00:44:26
Speaker
to find that. And I think that's been, that's been, been big for them. The legs start to go at the end of this game. There's a set piece chance for, for Australia where rather than putting the ball in the box, ah our mobile tries to go for goal here. it's like, come on, dude, you spent the whole game, putting all those big uglies forward, whip it in there and see what happens.
00:44:44
Speaker
And then the defining moment of this game, of it comes right after that 119th minute. where Patrick Beach, who has been the Australia goalkeeper this whole tournament and who has played very well, he's a young 22-year-old goalkeeper at Melbourne City, he's going to get pulled for penalties for Matty Ryan, who if you remember your Australian footballing history, you think back to four years ago when they played a World Cup playoff against Peru, it was Matty Ryan who got pulled for the bearded legend Andrew Redmayne,
00:45:17
Speaker
And I don't know that this made much sense. No, it makes zero sense. I mean, we're going to talk about the shootout.
00:45:28
Speaker
You can't get out of your head the image of Matty Ryan in the goal being small. Guy's a small goalkeeper. And I don't understand how the small goalkeeper is your penalty specialist. Like, it's just a math problem before anything else.
00:45:42
Speaker
Small guy not cover post as well. Like... Sorry. Sorry. Okay. That is the the first part of it. Like objectively, unless like, I don't know, can I get the training footage of Maddie Ryan over a hundred ah penalty kicks being like significantly better than Patrick Beach?
00:46:02
Speaker
I don't think that exists. I don't think it exists. let' Let's say this is goalkeeping evaluating extremely, extremely hard. How like how how do you evaluate goalkeepers? Do you think who's a better goalkeeper? Matt Ryan or Patrick Beach?
00:46:14
Speaker
Do you know? Does anyone know? could Give me. gift you but But you've made your choice because Patrick Beach has started every game. Yes, yes. You think one of these goalkeepers is better. Who makes a great save on this game in the 170th minute? Who's in rhythm, right? Who is like playing well?
00:46:32
Speaker
So it's just like Tony Popovic sets Australia football back. And this one is even worse. This is clearly a vibes narrative call. Like how else can you interpret this? But it's a vibes narrative call that's executed really poorly. Because if you if you go if you go read what Australia are saying after the game, nobody knew that Matty Ryan was coming in. This wasn't something that like was communicated There are situations where you've got a goalkeeping specialist that you bring on where it's abundantly clear from the start of the game.
00:47:06
Speaker
We're going to try and keep a substitution in our back pocket so that if it goes to penalties, we can bring this guy on because he's our penalty specialist. And I think There is an element of that that can work. That wasn't what was at play here. This was Tony Popovic just saying, oh, yeah, I was going to do this. And the whole team saying, we didn't know you were going to do this. And Batty Ryan saying, he tells me at halftime of extra time that like, hey, yeah, if it goes to penalties and and I've got a sub left, you're coming on.
00:47:31
Speaker
and That just doesn't seem like it's well managed and they kind of get what they deserve here. this is horrible, horrible, horrible managing. Like, I'm sorry to Tony Popovic. You brought in... Goalkeeping evaluating is hard, but you brought in a clearly worse goalkeeper for no reason. And, like, fundamentally, not a penalty specialist. A penalty, like, worse-a-list. Like, you brought in the worst goalkeeper for penalties. Like, I can't overstate how bad that is. And, like, the only thing I could think of is he's like... ah I did this in 2022 and that guy didn't get his moment. And now like he's earned his moment. And like, first of all, why are we doing this penalty specialist thing? Like it just is that, is there some math on this? Like this can't be good. Why are you playing? You've trusted a guy to make the saves. Why is he worse at penalties? Like is a goalkeeper better than another goalkeeper not at penalties? I think perhaps,
00:48:26
Speaker
How many times is the error bars between those two things in a single team like actually significant enough? I can tell you it looks significantly worse. like That, to me, is the thing. If you think you could evaluate goalkeepers, that's one thing.
00:48:38
Speaker
You're wrong in this one. That's thing number two. It's horrible. And if it's so abundantly clear, everybody should know and be on the same page going in. Right. And that, to me, shows you that he's just he's on his own...
00:48:50
Speaker
Lulu box. Again, I think there are situations where it makes sense, but those are clearly committed, communicated to the entirety of the team going into it. And look, Matty Ryan, I admit, you might not be big.
00:49:01
Speaker
You might not be able to save a lot of penalties. He might not take up a lot of space, but the guy's got water bottles. He's got like four water bottles. and He's going over to the goalie. He's got all the notes you could want.
00:49:13
Speaker
The notes, the notes. I mean, i wait If he's such a specialist, why is it like, why isn't everyone ready for it? So clearly there's something here that just does does not add up. Meanwhile, Egypt in the little break between extra time and penalties are watching a Real Madrid shootout of Mbappe scoring on Matt Ryan. They probably didn't have any video of beach, did they?
00:49:35
Speaker
I don't know, but they pull out the laptop and you can see it. It's killing Mbappe scoring a penalty on Matty Ryan in the sp in in La Liga this year. i Go to the shootout and it just kind of feels weird for Australia and it just starts poorly. And big Harry Suter, who again, as you said, has been the thing that this team has been built around. He steps up and and look, he's not going for finesse. I mean, you don't put this guy up there and ask him to go for finesse.
00:49:59
Speaker
Skies it over the bar and that really sets the tone. another crippling, crippling mistake from Popovic. Like, I know he's your, perhaps your talismanic player, which says a lot about you, that your talismanic player is your oaf center back. We did this bit earlier on another podcast.
00:50:13
Speaker
You can have an oaf take a penalty kick, but if he's going to take one, he can't telegraph, then he's going to hit it hard. We did this whole bit. Don't need to do it again. You can't have center backs, like, come in and just smash it. It's just so much more likely to miss than not. Like...
00:50:28
Speaker
Center backs just get up there and hit it down the middle because no one would see it coming. Like if everyone in the stadium thinks you're going to smash it high and then you do like, why was that guy first? You have other players like don't give a player who's like more likely to do an ohaf thing that the first chance that also confounding. I'm sorry. center back cannot be your first penalty kick taker unless he's very clearly your your most technical player. He's their most physical player.
00:50:54
Speaker
And the best penalty they took comes from Jackson Irvine, who's their second penalty taker, right? Like maybe you should let that guy go first. ah Saber, who for Egypt had come on, lost in the whole Matty Ryan thing is that Egypt bring on Saber for Atia right before time expires in order to take a penalty. He's their first penalty taker. It's his first touch all game. Ryan guesses the right way. Sober scores anyway.
00:51:16
Speaker
And that's how this shootout goes. Irvine calmly scores for Australia. Robbie and X sends Ryan the wrong way, rolls it in. Ryan's also moving early here. He just looks lost. that short run up from our bill. Sober goes the wrong way. So he scores, but this was a poor penalty.
00:51:32
Speaker
And then I think this is the moment of the shootout. I met with this thing kind of poised. Egypt leading by one, a chance to really put the pressure on Australia up steps. Muhammad Salah. Maddie Ryan's trying to do these mind game things here and Salah just has none of it. He panankas the penalty while Maddie Ryan's just floundering, looking for a save. And then the camera catches just this wry smile from Salah and Ryan's direction. Like, yeah, man, I know what this is all about.
00:52:02
Speaker
This is very, very unfortunate for Matt Ride. He gets absolutely destroyed. And this is where... Yeah, he had the he had the water bottles. He had the answer to the test. But it's kind of like the... You got to execute it. Even if you think... Let's say even if you knew exactly where the Egypt penalty kick takers were to go. And in his head, that's what he thinks, right? I've been studying. I got the answers on my water bottle. I know which direction to go.
00:52:24
Speaker
He goes so early on all of them. And that's, I think, Sala's moment being like, okay... You got the answers, buddy. Like, you think you know where I'm going. And I just write down the middle. And it's like, it's a humiliation thing. And like...
00:52:40
Speaker
but you know you you play fifa at any point in your life you're trying to chip a guy on a penalty kick to make him feel bad and like it's just kind of like a you know little brother moment like you came in and you all you did was dive early and like it was very clearly that you're diving early and so like you were not a penalty kick specialist and in fact you just made it worse and so that little smile from mo salah is just like you can't come back from that you cannot come back from that Then poor 18-year-old defender Lucas Harrington steps up for Australia. He never looks confident, and he never looks confident with reason. He rocks the bar after Schauber. I'd also guessed the right way.
00:53:17
Speaker
And it's Hassam to seal it for for Egypt. Ryan again tries the mind games and again gets sent the wrong way. Hassam scores. This was a penalty kick shootout beatdown, I think, from Egypt. And like you said, I mean, this is a team that has gone through a lot of penalty shootouts over the years. It's going to take a lot to get them off their game once it gets to the spot.
00:53:37
Speaker
Yeah, we say penalty shootouts are a coin flip in generally the long run. They're coin flip. This one did not feel like a coin flip. This felt like a team that was bad at shootouts versus a team that was good at shootouts. And i mean, I don't want to like dunk on people, but like Ryan was comically like comically bad here. And that to an extent reflects back on Popovic. He guesses right once, right out of five.
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah. and And he still doesn't save it because the penalty is so good. And it's on the first was that on his water bottles. Like, come on. Like, what are we doing? Leave Patrick Beach in. He's got more range.
00:54:08
Speaker
yeah I don't understand. I think even on the one he guesses right, like Ryan guesses early and he's not far enough over to get there. I'm not saying Beach saves that, but saying he saves it at this point. I'm just piling on. like This was so frustrating.
00:54:23
Speaker
Egypt through to the round of 16. They will play Argentina. We'll preview that later today on our other episode. Last game of the night amid Colombia 1-0 winners over Ghana. This game had a lot that happened early, but not a lot late. So let's get into the early stuff. Both teams make a substitution in the first 10 minutes. John Cordoba goes down for Colombia. He's replaced by Luis Suarez. Looks like it's a groin. That would be a big, big loss for Colombia going forward. And Ghana have to take off Sanea, and they have to bring on Alidou Seydou after Sanea tried to stop with Luis Diaz, who stopped on a dime. And right after all this happens, Colombia strike for what is the only goal of the game. And it's Suarez, the substitute, who beats a defender to byline, crosses to the far post. And where Alidou Seydou should be,
00:55:09
Speaker
He's not. John Arias is. He is wide open and he scores one nil. All of the other defenders track a run made centrally. And Caleb Urenke, who I thought has been really good this tournament, is covering nobody.
00:55:22
Speaker
This is the Ghana of old breaking out of the Carlos Cairo system and completely leaving a far post runner unmarked. It's the one thing that can't happen. And it's a good cross for sure.
00:55:34
Speaker
But I think there's something here to write like the line and the space being off when you lose your first choice right back. Right. Because I think we said, how does Carlos Kuros build this magical block in like five or ten days or it's maybe a month? I think he just has his first choice guys like on the string, like you go here, you go here, you go here.
00:55:52
Speaker
And then when it's not the guy who's and used to being on the string, he's, he's out of position and the entire 11 man defense at a high level doesn't work when one guy's off, off the the space. Right.
00:56:03
Speaker
and I mean, it's it's really, really, really bad marking. It's unfortunate. like i This is the issue with playing the Caros way. And somehow this never happened against England for 90 minutes. And it happens here against Colombia.
00:56:20
Speaker
And really, really good finish, I thought. So for Marius. And it was calm. It was composed. This is all Colombia needed. I feel like they didn't really have to work hard for this chance. They just lumped the ball in the box and it turned out a guy was wide open.
00:56:35
Speaker
And this conditions the rest of the game. Ghana, I think are are tentative to commit a bunch of numbers forward. And maybe they should have earlier because when they tried to do it late, Columbia just snuffed everything out. They went a couple of corners. They're generally poorly taken. They're not great service. Columbia are really good at defending them. Ghana are really trying to force things to Inaki Williams. they not having a lot of success. Their goalkeeper, Ziggy, who had come back in the lineup here, is forced to make a bunch of saves. He denies Mahika after Munoz crossed right before halftime.
00:57:03
Speaker
Columbia take off. Hamas Rodriguez at halftime to bring on Richard Rios. ah This was an interesting change. Do you think there's an element here, maybe, Amit, to Columbia trying to preserve Hamas' legs?
00:57:15
Speaker
100% there's an element. And also in this game up one, right? You don't need him to unlock. You just need more more running and trying to to stretch Ghana if they come at you. And also defensive work rate. So I think the whole approach to Hamas has not been something I'm i'm quibbling with for Columbia.
00:57:34
Speaker
i think it works fine. Columbia with some more chances in the second half, they forced a couple more saves from Ziggy. There's a, there's a curler from Puerto Diaz nearly makes it to nil, but he's just offside Diaz again, forces a save from Ziggy.
00:57:47
Speaker
And at this point you're starting to think, are Columbia going to learn one? No here. Are they going to learn the dangers of that? Unfortunately, I'm in his three weeks or four weeks or month, whatever with the, the Ghanaian national team, Carlos Carlos chose to open his defensive book and not his set piece book. And so the only chances going to really get here are from dead balls and they take some really bad set pieces. There's a hit from Jordan. I you to absolutely nobody. There's this convoluted given go that ends up recycling for a long ball turnover. That friend of the show, John Arnold, who was working in Miami at the Argentina game said he looked up at the TV and realized that this might've been the worst set piece routine of the entire tournament.
00:58:27
Speaker
That's what God are kind of working with down the stretch here. And they're just not able to to create anything. They they bring on Fatou on the wing for Inaki. They take Cebu off as well.
00:58:37
Speaker
There's a final roll of the dice. that They put Nuama up top with with Prince Adu in the middle. And this is just Colombia erasing any sort of space. There is no late push here from Ghana. Colombia pressed the ball in the midfield. And for the kind of last 10 minutes of this game, they just don't allow Ghana to even get into the opposing half. This is really, really good on how to see out a game.
00:58:58
Speaker
Textbook stuff when you are the the much better team. And yeah, they didn't get to the XG ends up being two to point two for Columbia. And so I think it speaks to just a pretty one sided game. Carlos Keros is teams not built to play from behind. That's like the the story of this one. They need to. be in the neutral game state longer. And they just never create anything. Like you said, Columbia midfield was excellent and they just kept running forward and they didn't like necessarily take high value shots. It was more value, a volume game just to take shots from distance. But the reason why they do that is they never expose themselves. There was never any space. Once they're at one Columbia were way too savvy to give God to anything. They pressed them out of the game. They won every duel on the back line. And
00:59:39
Speaker
You just look at the Ghana team and outside of Semenyo and Inaki Williams and Inaki Williams comes off. There's no one who's drawing a plus in a matchup. And so like, yeah, you're down one, the threat's there. But even like, even a team like Cape Verde, who...
00:59:55
Speaker
I don't know, like at the end of the day, who's better between Ghana and Cape Verde, like can make something happen, even if it's a lower proposition, like the difference between 0.5 XG and legs versus what Ghana do here, like 0.2 and nothing like is it it matters. And so, yeah, there was just no buttons. There were not, there was nothing here for Ghana. There was nothing here for Karos and,
01:00:19
Speaker
they're a limited team and you speak to, it speaks to Columbia.
Colombia's Victory Over Ghana
01:00:23
Speaker
Like these guys are game state monsters. And so we used to, you know, say that about a lot of teams from from South America, but Columbia particular, this game showed to me that like they should have killed it a hundred percent, but like, you know, they, they, they played well against Portugal too. And that was a zero zero game. Like just a really, really impressive backline performance that I think has that um ah shown me a lot more than I expected over the course of this tournament.
01:00:49
Speaker
If you're not going to kill it off one nil with a second goal, you kill it off this way and just don't give any chances. You don't give God of the opportunity to even make you look silly. And when their set piece delivery and routines are as poor as they were in this game, there's just no way that they're ever going to be really be able to trouble you. And Robinson Sanchez, I thought was also really good as kind of the semi last line of defense who has never really caught in a last line of defense situation, just destroying everything. And the midfield here was so, so good for Columbia well-deserved their advancement in this game. So they are the last team to advance to the round of 16. And that means that we are done with this part of today's show, or at least this show. We'll have another show out in just a little bit. If you are listening to this, right. As it comes out with our round of 16 preview,
01:01:37
Speaker
And we've got games today as well. We've got Morocco, Canada and France Pargwai to kick off the round of 16. Amit and I will recap those games on Sunday night as well as the Sunday games.
01:01:48
Speaker
Lots and lots of World Cup After Dark content. And as mentioned at the start of the show, got a preview of Morocco, Canada and France Pargwai out on our Patreon feed. So plenty more to come from us. Plenty more to come from this World Cup. A very happy 4th of July to all of our American listeners. May it be full of the football.
01:02:07
Speaker
Hope you enjoyed today's games. Hope you come back and check in with us when it is all said and done for this weekend. That's all for us for now. Thanks for listening as always, and we will chat soon.