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WCAD 4-43: Spain Strangle Belgium
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It's another Quarterfinal recap on the World Cup After Dark, this time Austin and Amit look at Spain's 2-1 win over Belgium.
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Transcript
Introduction and Approach
00:00:01
Speaker
You know, on the World Cup After Dark podcast, we generally don't like to be reductive about things, right? We try to look at everything from all angles. We try to give both sides their due. We try to go deep in on the games and give you the perspective that we think you as a listener deserves.
Belgium vs. Spain: Substitutes and Challenges
00:00:19
Speaker
But look, let's be honest. Today, one team... Off the bench is bringing off Nico Williams, Baron Torres, Pedri, Mikel Moreno, the eventual game winner.
00:00:29
Speaker
And the other is bringing on the corpse of Axel Witzel, a very battered Romelu Lukaku who can't get a touch. Something called Joaquin Seiz and also their backup goalkeeper. mean, there's never really a chance for Belgium in this game, is there?
00:00:44
Speaker
No, not really. You just wrap up the pod now less than a minute. Take a day off here. We'll come after dark. No, look, I, a you're spot on about it. And everyone watching the game will feel the same way. Belgium, I think it's honestly like complimentary did the best they could to to hang around as long as they could with the players. They had the situation they had.
00:01:06
Speaker
um and they fought really hard. And even in a great like fighting effort, they lose Courtois in this game to an injury, right? And that also shows up. To your point, it's the subs off the bench.
Spain's Strategic Performance
00:01:17
Speaker
And this kind of feels so similar to the Portugal game for Spain, right? We said on the preview podcast, they're just going to choke you out over 90 minutes. And that's kind of exactly what happens again, even with a Belgium goal to make it 1-1, to make Spain sweat and not get up 2 at any point. So...
00:01:35
Speaker
You know, they had to work, right? had to work. But, you know, it just did. It felt inevitable in a certain sense that one of these sequences was just going to come off. And it's the second straight game that it really feels like this for Spain, right? These are late winners that don't come with the drama of a late winner because you felt like the whole time Spain just had an extra half an hour hanging out in their back pocket that they could have used if they needed to. And now they didn't have to use it two games in a row, which is probably a positive for them.
00:02:04
Speaker
But it never really felt like this was going to end any other way, even when Belgium equalized for one one. Yeah, it's a tough one for Belgium. i I think Rudy Garcia, we were kind of talking about, like, how does he do things in this game? How does he gotten things work for Belgium? What was on his sheet against Senegal? And he's got one button he presses. The opposing goalkeeper makes a mistake. And he he tries in this game, but...
00:02:30
Speaker
there was no hold-up play. There was no link-up play. like They were just maybe an athlete or two short for their technical guys to really threaten Spain. And I don't think Spain are as inevitable against France. And we're not going to spoil too much of that preview podcast. We want to give that its full due.
00:02:48
Speaker
But you could see Kubarsi just physically you know maybe was dealing with Deketelare. You could see Doku had a mismatch on guys with the ball. But two isn't enough, right? When Spain defend with 11. I think Spain's counterpress again was fantastic in this game. And so Belgium are just pinned in more and more as the game goes on. And they don't have anything that they can bring off their bench to go back to the initial point to change things, right? There's there's nothing to make things better for them.
00:03:19
Speaker
World Cup after our podcast, Austin Miller, Amit Malik here with you. going break down the Spain-Belgium game. Should maybe be a quick one today, but I say that before every single one, and then it's not a quick one. So you're along for the ride. You'll be here for as long as we're here for.
Belgium's Lineup Issues
00:03:32
Speaker
um This game, Amit, Belgium, they have guys in the lineup, right? Kevin De Bruyne comes back.
00:03:39
Speaker
Uh, Yuri Telemans is supposed to be in defensive midfield. Uh, Trossard obviously there. Doku comes back. they They choose to go with De Ketelari up top. And then Telemans goes down injured in warmup. And that means that Vonneken comes in.
00:03:51
Speaker
And it also means that Telemans, who has probably been one of, if not Belgium's most effective ball player this tournament, doesn't see a single minute in this game because of clearly what he picked up in pregame.
00:04:02
Speaker
And that just means that Belgium are going a guy further down pretty much everywhere. It's just not a good recipe. Vonneken's at the 10 and De Bruyne is at the pivot.
00:04:14
Speaker
And... It's just tough. Like De Bruyne, I thought, was good on the ball in this game, leads to the goal. But defensively, it's just paper mache. Like Raskin, i thought, has really put on good tape this whole tournament, right? Was really good against the United States. Maybe was kind of lost against Senegal. But here against Spain, second game in a row, I think is the one guy who's really standing out, is trying to run super hard for Belgium.
00:04:39
Speaker
But it's not enough, right? And so this kind of cascading effect just means that yeah Already, Rudy Garcia is in a tough spot without Onana. And he's like trying to chase Spain and saying, we're going to just live with whatever happens to try to be dangerous.
00:04:54
Speaker
And with this change, I think the whole equation is even worse. And generally, any resistance to spain's block or Spain's passing is pretty futile. And the only thing is that, yeah, Belgium are dangerous when they get the ball, right? Like De Bruyne is good enough. Raskin is good enough. Doku is good enough. But now you're missing Tielemans for sure.
00:05:17
Speaker
Like Vonneken is a solid player. He's at Bruges. He's not useless, but he's just kind of like lost in this game, especially because he's in the Rodri pocket and... That's where you pull because sometimes good players go go to die because he just doesn't see the ball at all. And I think like i don't think it I don't think it makes that much of a difference for Belgium. But in the scenarios where they do more in this game, Tielemans is a big character. And so that just that just really hurt their progression.
00:05:45
Speaker
And for Spain on their end, they start without Pedro. They put Fabian Ruiz in. There were some points early on in this game, kind of in the first half hour where where it felt like Jeremy Doku is winning one-on-one with Pedro Porro. I think he he holds up well in that matchup, but they're simply really no help for him. He wins one-on-one and then it's kind of like, like what next?
00:06:07
Speaker
Right. De Bruyne is working really hard to get free so he can play a ball to Doku. And then Doku will beat a guy, maybe a second guy. And that's where you need Tillemans for the outlet or to go all the way to the other side, right? For Trossard, there's no Salamakras, there's no Luka Bakun. Trossard's good, but he's not getting free off Kukurea, right? And so then like your only option is De Ketelare. And Generally an open play. he He's not quite open.
00:06:37
Speaker
And look, Spain maybe knew they were going to get beat one on one by Doka, but they just kept sending bodies. And at that point, like that's their whole defensive strategies. They just swarm.
Spain's Tactical Goal
00:06:46
Speaker
You beat him. The next guy runs at you. And so it just felt like the next outlet, the next sequence, the pass for Belgium was never on.
00:06:56
Speaker
And so Spain then have a lot of the ball. Like we know Spain are accustomed to doing like we know Spain are good at doing. And you just kind of feel like eventually this is going to come off and and they're working their passing movements. They're playing their flicks over the top. Let me and Jamal is going one-on-one at the Kuiper. He's going one-on-one at Doku tracking back. We'll get to Jamal. I think more in a second, if he was more effective in this game, I think the scoreline balloons here because the guys that Belgium had to defend him were probably not at the level.
00:07:24
Speaker
but they they're largely able to to hold their own. But half an hour in, ammit it's one passing move, and Spanier are in the back of the net. So Doku doesn't track a run from Pedro Poro.
00:07:34
Speaker
This is probably the best play Yamal makes all game. So Poro and Yamal play a little give and go, and DeCuyper is kind of focused in on Poro, right? So he's stepping up to the right back, or he's stepping up to...
00:07:47
Speaker
to Yamal, I should say. And so then Poro is making the run and that's where Doku needs to be. And he's just a step late. The ball gets to Poro and then Belgium are in trouble because the ball comes across to Danny Omo. Omo takes a quick snapshot.
00:08:00
Speaker
It's saved by Courtois, but it's saved right to Fabian Ruiz, who has done a really good job to make kind of the late second run to just be more traffic in the box. And he pounds it into the back of the net off the rebound.
00:08:10
Speaker
And there's nobody really here for Belgium tracking the run from Fabian Ruiz. And this is just kind of a cascading set of individual errors that lead to the Spanish goal. Pretty much. And look, Yamal was okay. He was doing a good job on De Kuyper. And so Belgium are saying, we're going to need help. We're going to show Doku as the help as much as possible to make it two on one. one And Spain are reluctant to get Poro up because Doku Poro is is a mismatch the other way. So Poro is kind of, you know,
00:08:42
Speaker
Picking his spots. Well, this one, he he he finally gets Yamal a little bit inside for the overlap. And as you described, right, Doku just isn't quite aware of having to track that run. And the truth is, yeah, 2-1-1 works, but 2-1-2 doesn't work, right? It's got to be 2-1-3 if you're in Belger's perspective. You've got to slide an extra guy over. And look, that's the issue with defending Spain. You could say that for any triangle on the field. You've got to slide an extra guy over. Because even when you do write Danny Omo finds the extra half spot in the next space. Next thing you know, you need 13 or 14 guys and you can't play with that many. Right. And this is exactly what we talk about when we say Spain, you know, when they have 11 guys in the ball, make you defend every bit blade of grass because that just little two man game produces a good shot. I think Danny Omo here, credit to him. Good job just getting the shot on first time in the right spot. Is it a great finish? No, but how many you guys just missed this? You know, you don't get, you don't get any extra points. You just get your solid with B for keeping the ball movement. And Fabian Ruiz, yes. Very good job. And,
00:09:48
Speaker
We'll talk about the Marino goal at the end, but it's kind of funny. Both Spain goals are similar, like rebounds to a box crashing midfielder. yeah And it's very Spain today, right? Like they weren't at their best. They're not pulling off their like most silky stuff. There's no fullback to fullback. It's not Yamal. It's not all your thought ball.
00:10:06
Speaker
But it's Spain's version of brute force in that you've missed the seventh guy in ah in the attack who you weren't thinking about. You just got pinned super deep in. And Fabian Ruiz, good player, right? So and this is kind of how De La Fuente draws up how he wants to attack Belgium.
00:10:23
Speaker
And you just have to always be aware of where these guys are at and where they're coming. Because again, it's a good shot from Omo. Would you like Courtois to keep this and not give up a rebound? Sure you would, but also you're in pretty good position to deal with the rebound, but nobody reacts for Belgium. Nobody takes the first step and it's Fabian Ruiz who takes the first step and he's the one who puts the ball in the back of the net.
00:10:46
Speaker
You just want your box defenders, I think, to be a bit more aware in this situation and be able to get a foot in and cut off this type of angle. Yeah, it's where you're missing a guy like Onana, right? And this is when your box defender is Raskin and De Bruyne and Raskin's caught up in the triangle of ball on the other side. and and then also you're looking at Mekele and Ngoy who aren't quite, you know, reading the the box as fast as they should be. It's a tough play, right? Like...
00:11:14
Speaker
Again, I don't think Olmo gets any points, but like when a guy's that open, it's hard to save that shot out of danger. yeah Like it's a bit too late when when it gets to him in the first place. And when he gets that much power on it, right? Because he reacts quickly and and puts it first time. couple of chances for Spain to make this 2-0. Doku drug down Yamal for a dangerous free kick that forced a tough save from Courtois and Ruiz nearly pounced on another rebound on this one.
00:11:39
Speaker
This one was probably even worse for Belgium because the wall didn't move. right? You've all takes the free kick and the wall just kind of turns around. It's like, oh he saved it. Oh crap. It's going to the, it's coming to Ruiz and reason nearly gets the rebound there. Then I think maybe the the best defensive play for Belgium in the first half of it is a Michael Oliver taking down Danny Ovo on a short quarter routine.
00:11:58
Speaker
That was pretty comical. ah the The best help Belgium got, like you said. Yeah. Unfortunately, Michael Oliver is the referee and not a Belgian defender. They could have maybe used him in the midfield, though. You think Rudy Garcia had that in his page, like page 11? Like, I'm going to get the ref to play midfield for 12, 12 on 11. That's what we're talking about.
00:12:16
Speaker
Uh, you also got another shot after that, after this was maybe one of his better individual plays of the day, right? Where he beats the Kuiper and Doku on the same play, gets a near post shot that goes wide. And you're thinking at this point, all right, it's pretty inevitable here that Spain is going to get a second.
00:12:32
Speaker
But out of kind of nowhere with their first sustained run of play, Belgium equalized a mid. And it's kind of, they get an overload themselves. And Trossard plays the ball wide.
00:12:44
Speaker
Castan, who's who's at this point playing with a bloody nose after he he took a knock early. His first cross is blocked, but the play eventually recycles to him. He gets a second cross in. And it's De Canelare who wins one-on-one with Pau Koubarci in the air. And he just kind of, Tim Reams him. It's the same thing he did in the round of 16 against the U.S.
00:13:03
Speaker
a good header from De Quetelare. And we had said, right, can you get a one-on-one matchup on Kubarsi, who is a great, great electric center back prospect, but he's 18. He's at Barca. He's not quite the physical, like imposing center
Belgium's Moment of Teamwork
00:13:17
Speaker
back mold. He's much more of like the Spanish on the ball, progressor, a good reader of the game coming into his body mold. And so look, De Quetelare, think coming into the tournament, we had circled him as as a good player.
00:13:33
Speaker
We didn't think he could necessarily be winning one-on-one jump balls kind of guy, right? Seen some jokes like, this guy should have been a hooper, right? Let's get him into basketball. He looks like he could have been ah the starting three at BYU in March Madness. And so, look, DeCatelare didn't exactly think was coming, but I think he's a – we did say this before this game, like – The tape's out. Guy's a good athlete. He's legitimately a good athlete for his size. So that's a mismatch one-on-one. And the issue is you can't let this one-on-one happen. And the key sequence here on this little recycle is the De Bruyne one-touch to Castagne back on the recycle where Spain are just caught out of position. Look, at the end of the day, this is like a point...
00:14:12
Speaker
one five header chance. It's not like Belgium were doing something crazy, but generally when you're the underdog and you're just scrapping and clawing for scraps, like you'll take a one-on-one for Deketelare versus Kubarsi. And it's a it's ah it's a good header. So like...
00:14:29
Speaker
This to me is De Bruyne trick and the De Quetelari-like trick. like There were a few little footholds for Belgium, right? It gets them this goal. It gets them 1-1.
00:14:40
Speaker
The issue is after this goal, you and I and everyone are saying, well, do Spain have to change anything? And the answer is no, you just kind of keep doing what you're doing and and just make sure you don't get beat on the counter. These were the type of plays and matchups that Belgium needed to find more in this game. Because if you look at the 11 players on the pitch, right? Like Spain are probably winning 10 of 11 here, right?
00:15:03
Speaker
And so what can you have? If we can get Dick Calari one-on-one with Kovarski, that's a matchup that we feel okay in and they get it in this sequence and it works. But what happens is as this game kind of spins on from here, and particularly the second half,
00:15:16
Speaker
Belgium just run out of anything resembling legs or outlet. And so you're trying to think, well, can we do the same thing once we get Romelu Lukaku on, who is a bigger, better number nine? And the answer is they really can't because they can never hold the ball long enough to set this type of position up. And Spain, I think, are pretty adamant that, OK, we don't want Lukaku against Kovarci. We want Lukaku against Laporte, the other Spanish center back who is a much bigger physical presence. And so if they can only put one guy in the box, which is all Belgium can really afford to do, or one guy to win these knockdown long ball headers, we can afford to shift it to kind of tilt it so that it's Laporte against Lukaku. And Spain generally do a pretty good job of winning those down the stretch of this game.
00:16:00
Speaker
Yeah, obviously Lukaku and Belgium are trying to get on Koubarsi, but when you're so locked in, like they can kind of just send Laporte over there and Koubarsi can kind of hang out. And if you move, they just kind of move, like you're saying, a little bit of cat and mouse. And this is where you start to see why Garcia did Romelu, Lukaku, and Doku as the subs against the United States and why he might have wanted it in this game, right? Because...
00:16:27
Speaker
And Doku is the outlet, but by minute 60, he's had to do so much work tracking back on Lamine Yamal and Poro. And then it's like, as you said exactly, yes, Big Ram is on. Yes, he's a threat 1v1, but there's no guys to hold up or connect it. And you're looking at...
00:16:46
Speaker
de bruyne he's he's not he's not holding it up like he even for him to play his great passes he needs to settle turn forward and play it and even in that it takes too much time against the spade counter press like they're just suffocating and so then you're like okay um axel witzel we thought that was a bit of human victory cigarettes. the united states No, turns out we're out of bodies. And like, that's the last midfielder we have for like discount holdup play. And it's like, okay, well he can't really move. And then you're like, well, what else is there? Raskin has been running his tail off. Like he can't do anything. And Trossard's not winning one V one versus Kukurea, who again,
00:17:30
Speaker
I know I've called him annoying in the past. He's not my favorite player, but you just have to say what a great tournament by Cucurea. Two-way work rate. Like, look what Trossard did ah to the United States, right? To Freeman and Dest. Look at what he does in this game. Nothing. Cucurea, good wingback. For sure, good wingback. And then you just, again, then you've literally crossed out the entire Belgium attack, right? So...
00:17:51
Speaker
missing Thielamans for sure in this game by the time Salamakers comes on it's super super late and so really I think the only chance here is if Doku's legs are fresh but if Doku comes on as the sub like are you getting nothing in 60 minutes and then you maybe you don't get even the Catelari goal so it's a lose-lose for Belgium in that sense And I feel like so Belgium, they they make that triple change at the hour mark. And you're like, oh, Rob Lukaku. That makes sense. And you're like, all right, Joaquin says don't have him in my bag. But he's I guess a left back to a replace the Kuiper. OK, I get it.
00:18:28
Speaker
And then you're like Axel Witzel. And then you just do the math of like, well, Telemans is out. He can't play. And so you're just one body deeper than you expected to be in this game. And so this change was supposed to be Vonneken probably for De Bruyne. Yes, that's what it is. And so then it's like, well, we can't do that because they're already both playing. And it's like, all right, I guess it's Axel Witzel.
00:18:49
Speaker
And that is just too far gone at this point. And then Belgium get forced into another change where they have to bring off Thibaut Courtois, who gets injured right at the second half hydration break. They have to bring on Senna Lamins, which is going to be a big moment later in this game. But I think then that also burns another one of their changes where maybe... You look at a guy like Dodi Luka Bakio and you think he can at least bring us legs and maybe be an outlet.
00:19:15
Speaker
And so you're stuck at this point with a very spent Jeremy Doku left, Romelu Lukaku without serve essential, and De Canelare right. That's just not how you're going to be able to sustain possession against Spain, particularly when the guys behind are...
00:19:31
Speaker
a runner in Raskin who has ran, ran, ran and can't do much else. Axel Witzel, who cannot run and Kevin De Bruyne, who's not fast enough to hold the ball, turn and play it at this point.
00:19:42
Speaker
There's just no recipe to hang on the ball here. And Spain are fully aware of it and taking advantage. It just allows them to lock you in. And I do think that's actually a really good point, right? With the Lamins for Courtois sub, that's a fifth guy that almost certainly would have been Luka Bakio. And that Bonikin was also supposed to be someone, but he's he's forced to start. So look, it's ah it's bad luck for sure for Rudy Garcia. Again, like how much is it changing?
00:20:09
Speaker
Probably not much, but... it's just cut off all the escape valves for for Rudy Garcia and Belgium in this game. And so like, yes, it's one, one, but for basically post, especially when Courtois comes out, right.
00:20:24
Speaker
For it's what the set six 68th, 70th minute, we get this hydration bake break. It's just 20 minutes ah of Belgium being locked in. And at this point, right. i don't know if we've said it,
00:20:36
Speaker
or we're saying it now, Rodri is just locked Belgium in the entire game. Guy is back to free safety, single pivot, just cleans out every Belgium, the sniff at a long ball, and then just settles the entire shape.
00:20:50
Speaker
The ball comes to him and Belgium are like, oh, we're going to get it. And it's like, no, he's just played the safest pass and you're a step slow. You can never get the ball off this guy. And is he back to his fully firing Ballon d'Or self from 2024?
00:21:04
Speaker
I don't know, but it looks pretty good so far for what I've seen. And when you can have one guy fulfill that role, that just means everybody else outside of your two center backs, because again, Kukure and Poro are also getting forward. Everybody else is focused on pinning Belgium in. And so when you can basically, for all intents and purposes, right, have three guys back here. So you've got two center backs who are dealing with the long ball of Lukaku, and then everything else is getting swept up by Rodri.
00:21:30
Speaker
That math means you have seven guys that can play to pin Belgium in. And so Belgium, they have to keep all of their guys back to just be one for one to match that, to play seven on seven.
00:21:41
Speaker
And it's just, it's it's inevitable at that point. And it just feels like it is because of what Roger allows Spain to do.
Rodri's Control and Influence
00:21:48
Speaker
Rodri Math, right? De La Fuente Math. We've talked about DeSean Math, Tuchel Math, and that's why when he's at his best, he's one of the best players in the world. So this was a ah great Rodri game. You described it really, really well. And that's the other thing, too, is Ruiz starts and at some point, Padre comes on. And then you're even in more trouble because he's a more incisive passer. And the other thing I thought Padre does well is
00:22:12
Speaker
He's spraying the ball to Lamine every time he gets it. Patriot's just finding that outlet and says holds up one-on-one, but he's having to do so much work. And so she like holding up one like it's like 50, 50 target. And he, to his credit, I think same page he didn't get beat this he doesn't get beat. He doesn't get cooked.
00:22:31
Speaker
but it's, it's a battle and it's a battle every single time. And you just feel like if this game had gone on for another half an hour, Yamal is probably going to eventually win one of those if, if they need him to.
00:22:43
Speaker
Probably. And so look, you mean Yamal is not a hundred percent firing. We'll talk about that as it relates to France. I mean, if you've been listening to this podcast, all tournament from before the tournament, you know, that's a reason why we've kind of priced Spain a little bit below France.
00:22:59
Speaker
Um, I think there's moments in there where you can see it, right? He gets over the top. He takes his first touchdown. It's in his shin, right? He rinses Doku into Kuiper and then he shoots it just kind of tamely. He beats Sace once or twice, but it's not quite the final ball. But what I like at least is that he's he's feeling that he can...
00:23:18
Speaker
try a high volume. And I at least would rather see that than him not trying anything. Look, even other subs for Spain are working here. We do get, you know, with Nico Williams on the left and he's taking on his guy. And then it feels like they're just coming in at you from all sides. And the, the walls are slowly, slowly shrinking in. It just has that feeling.
00:23:39
Speaker
One of the big plays from Roger here was when this game was one, one Belgium finally get the ball in the Spain half. And I think who nice Simone kind of panicked because he hadn't seen the ball. They're all game. And so this ball come to De Bruyne or kind of just right outside the box. And all of sudden, I see Moe comes charging off his line to try and cut this down.
00:23:58
Speaker
And De Bruyne is like, that's an open net. I'm going to cross it into Lukaku and he's going to finish into an open net. And Roger does a very good job to stab out, to cut off this cross with Simone way off his line.
00:24:09
Speaker
This is Rudy Garcia playing his card. i mean, this is the button he's got. Goalkeeper error. Goalkeeper error. Goalkeeper error. He got Udaisimo to go on a walk. And of course, of course, it's Rodri, the guy who does the block. Like, I like Rodri as a player, but that's annoying. Like, if I still wasn't a fan, I'd like, why is it that guy? um Yeah, De Bruyne's eyes are probably so big when he thinks this is our chance to to steal something here. So, ah yeah, great Rodri game.
00:24:36
Speaker
um Look, when we were, were're so go ahead. Yeah, so I was just going to say, then this kind of transitions into the moment where it's 1-1, 85th minute, and you're like, okay, I feel pretty confident that that Spain will
Mikel Marino's Impact
00:24:49
Speaker
eventually get there. I watched the game against Portugal. You know what happened in the game against Portugal? They put on Nicolau Marino as a late-charging midfield. like That is Spain's answer to a big number nine that you're just going to love the ball into.
00:25:01
Speaker
And that's what they do here again. They bring on Marino, the 86th minute for Danny Omo and literally admit two minutes later, it's Mikel Marino putting the ball in the back of the net. And fortunately for Santa Lamins, the Belgium backup goalkeeper, he's the one who is caught out on this one because eventually you lose all of your good players and you're not going to get away with it. So Pau Cuvarsi, Spain have slowly but surely kind of pinned Belgium in to where now it's at the point where you're just kind of walking into shots from distance. If you want them, you can take two steps with the ball and you've got a pretty good angle from a pretty good distance. And that's what happens here. Koubarcy gets the ball and he's like, I can take two steps and shoot.
00:25:39
Speaker
He takes two steps and shoot. It is relatively a tame shot, but Lamins makes a meal out of the rebound and guess who's crashing in into stuff home. The rebound Nico Williams is there, but of course it's Mikel Moreno who puts it in the back of the net two minutes after coming off the bench.
00:25:53
Speaker
This is the change that De La Fuente always is going to have in his back pocket. And I think this is part of what can make Spain so dangerous. There's a lot of things here, and it's generally... You generally don't love when your center back steps up to take a shot. You're like, why would you do that? You're wasting a chance. But certain center backs can do it, and certain shot locations are just pretty good. When you look at where Kubarsi ends up taking this, it's like 20 yards away. That's not like a speculative 30-yard, like, let it fly type thing. And we had said to each other before this, it feels like Spain are about to walk into a shot. So often it's Rodri, the guy who this falls to. I think it's fitting that it's Kibarza here. And then, of course, Marino, like, you know, you listen to anyone talk about it. Like, the guy's basically just a nose for goal in a midfielder's body. And he's not even a midfielder anymore. He's kind of just a...
00:26:46
Speaker
pure box crashing 10 forward like as soon as the broadcast ends on the american broadcast john obi michael is like he reminds me a lot of frank frank lampard and i'm like that's a really interesting comp because he's just got that nose for goal and especially in this spain setup like he just knows where to be it's the rebound it's the run to split the center backs against portugal like it's an ultimate trump card and I think Mikel Arteta has even coaxed this out of him at Arsenal too in this past year. Like he's just a really useful player to come on when the entire team you're playing is tired after chasing all of your thaw ball to going this way and that way. And Farron Taro is going this way and that way. And denny omo and then it's like,
00:27:32
Speaker
your legs are jelly on that back line, right? That you see this rebound and you know, you have to stop it, but this guy just is there before you're even there. And so something we talk about with all these elite goal scorers is they have a quote unquote nose for goal. It's a skill.
00:27:47
Speaker
And it's a weird thing that Spain's backup midfielder has this skill, but he does. And so i you know, it could be the type of thing that saves Spain's entire tournament hopes, especially as we look forward. So yeah,
00:28:01
Speaker
Two games, two like Marino winners that don't even feel that dramatic because they feel inevitable. And I think that is a compliment to Spain. Like this is their model. This is Luis de la Fuente. Like he's he's got to get to his buttons in a way that Dechamp hasn't had to to go to his buttons, but everyone else has had to go to their buttons, right? Tuchel, even Scaloni for Argentina. Well, we know what they are and they're very, very good for Spain. Like they're very, very reliable. They work all the time. It must be nice to have a bench that kills you. And so listen, at the end of these tournaments, right? 11 to 18 matters. And that I think is maybe the Spain calling card is they're the deepest team of all players in the world. And he just gives you another angle and another way of attack where everything can be so horizontal to get such a vertical player on just helps, you know, pull the mesh of a defense, right? Yeah. They don't cross ah in the air for 80 minutes and then they start hitting the ball in the air. And you're like, Oh, like we have to, we talked about a lot, the way you adjust mentally to a pattern you haven't been doing for a long time, then you've got to do it. So
00:29:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah it's a really good change up. And honestly, at this point, like I just have to say, like Belgium, like really, truly a congrats for like working as hard as they did. I know I started the podcast with that, with the players that they had. know the U.S. is one thing like U.S. may be not up for that game. But like, I think when I see the starting lineup for Belgium in this game, I smell three zero. I just smell like an uncompetitive effort from Belgium.
00:29:39
Speaker
Roskins, N'Goy, Mekele, Castagne, De Kuyper, Seiz, like, worked really, really hard, honestly. And they, oh, I don't want to say they almost did it because it never really felt almost did No, never thought they were going to score. But as you said, it's a commendable effort here. And down the stretch after the 2-1 from Spain, the best thing they get is they nearly get Unai Simone to make another mistake, right? But Laporte does well to to cut the cross off ah in front of Lukaku. Yeah.
00:30:06
Speaker
There's just not really enough time. and that's what these late winners do for Spain. You don't have any time to go to a plan B and pin Spain in for 10 minutes because there's only five minutes left when they score. And that's where you've got to give credit to de La Fuente, like an expert game manager constrictor. Like he just squeezes when he knows the legs are good. And there are there will be a game, whether it's this World Cup or in the future, where like Spain are going to have to go to extra time and reset it. But his team just like works you into these uncomfortable positions. It's like a game of Twister trying to stop these guys. So and i think he's really good at it. Yeah, I think it's pretty smart from De La Fuente. So Marino comes on in the 85th minute against Portugal in the 86th minute here.
00:30:47
Speaker
He doesn't pivot to that change too soon. And so like you don't have Spain playing this where then, oh, they score the 75th minute and all of a sudden, OK, now the game flow switches back and now you're defending for 15 and he doesn't. panic right it's not like oh god there's only 20 minutes left we got to get this guy it's like no we're fine we put him on with 10 minutes to go right 85th you got five plus another five and then if we have to go extra time we'll go extra time and i think that's pretty composed from spain and i think that deserves a lot of credit I agree. It's weird, right? Because it's almost counterintuitive to the type of maxim that an analytics guy would say, like, do your best thing more often, right? Like, play your moat play your highest gear and just do the the score. But it's part of not exposing yourself to risk, which is the game of international soccer more than it necessarily is of other soccer. And so I agree with you spot on It's really smart the way it's worked. Like, it's really hard to game plan for two. Like, you know, Mikel Marino is coming for five minutes. But like, I think it also is ah a thing that Spain can do and maybe only France can do and that you can flip a switch at minute 85 and say, we can skip the third gear. We can just go to gear number four yeah because we've been We've been pushing you in gear one and two and you're in trouble.
Semifinal Anticipation: Spain vs. France
00:32:05
Speaker
And like, then when we flick it on, we know we're going to get super high XG in these five minutes. And that might be enough to win the game at some point. Right. Like the part of my brain is like, you might regret that, but twice it's worked against two very good top 10 teams the world. Right. And like, I think that's where the next conversation comes is what does it happen when this team on the other side isn't, you know, Belgium or Portugal, but it's France. Right. And I think that's going to be one of many things that you and I are going to unpack when we, when we preview this game, when we look ahead to the semifinals, it just feels right that we're getting Spain, France at this tournament, right? It feels like,
00:32:41
Speaker
Spain might be the team to take France out of their comfort zone. Spain might be the team that can take the ball away from France and also a Spanish defense that has looked nearly unbeatable, right? They've only given up the one goal here.
00:32:53
Speaker
France are obviously attacked that can ask questions of that. So without going too far into it, without spoiling any of our preview show, we can simply say that that's just going to be such a good game and we're both really looking forward to it.
00:33:05
Speaker
It's a game everyone's looking forward to. And it's a rematch of the Euro semifinal in which Spain won. And before the tournament, Laminya Mall says, France, I'm not scared of France. Like we're like we we're the upper hand in this rivalry until they beat us. So like that's a good mentality to have. And it just shows, well, he didn't need to say it. Spain, like don't think they're underdogs in any sense. It's two Titans at a high level. It's everything you want in a World Cup semifinal.
00:33:31
Speaker
That's coming on Tuesday. Amit and I will preview that game sometime this weekend or maybe Monday. We'll see. We haven't gotten that far ahead of the schedule because, Amit, we've got a doubleheader tomorrow. England and Norway, Argentina and Switzerland.
00:33:44
Speaker
Our full preview of both of those games can be found on our feed on the quarterfinal preview podcast. I know you and I are both really looking forward to both of these tomorrow too, particularly England-Norweg. Two great, great games. And I think England and Norway in a quarterfinals that feels somewhat lopsided, definitely the least lopsided because of the man himself, Erling Haaland. And look, England's ah got some injury things going on. We we talked about preview pod at right back.
00:34:10
Speaker
Since we've discussed, it looks like Mark Gahey might be dealing with some hamstring injuries. um Declan Rice might be having some injuries that he might be able to play through. You know, you can go find that online, but just...
00:34:22
Speaker
It's it's it's a really sweaty game for England. So i and I know you picked Norway just in kind of a, you know, not like we're holding each other to anything crazy, but it just speaks that this is an open game. So for sure, we're super excited for that one. When ah when you say it's a really sweaty game for England, you're not just referring to the on the pitch action because this is also going to be a Saturday night in Miami. So it is, in fact, going to be a very, very sweaty game. A bit. And I will be back tomorrow night to recap that. And also Argentina, Switzerland.
00:34:49
Speaker
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Support and Upcoming Content
00:35:00
Speaker
this show. And we've been doing it a lot this World Cup, and we have certainly been enjoying it. And we hope that you, listener, have been enjoying it as well. All right, we'll be back tomorrow.
00:35:09
Speaker
Enjoy the last World Cup doubleheader until 2030. That's a sad thing to say, but we're going to go out with a bang and we're going to enjoy it both. We'll be back tomorrow. Enjoy the games. Talk to you soon.