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WCAD 3-47: AFCON (finally) Boils Over
137 Plays1 month ago
Austin & Amit analyze all the ridiculousness from the AFCON final.
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Transcript
Introduction and Excitement for AFCON Final
00:00:01
Speaker
So it turns out, AFCON wasn't not dramatic at all. It was just simmering. All this time, weeks, nearly a month, it was just simmering. Ready for its moment, waiting for the big finale.
00:00:13
Speaker
And I admit Malik, the big finale arrived. What an AFCON final. One for the ages. You're just smiling. The second we got on the call to record the podcast, you have not stopped smiling with everything that we get to break down today.
00:00:26
Speaker
This is one of my favorite games of all time. Senegal 1, Morocco
Recap and Breakdown of AFCON Final
00:00:31
Speaker
0. The scoreline does not tell the story. And you, listener, you probably know the story, but you're here because you, too, also love that game.
00:00:39
Speaker
Man, just what a classic. I'm so excited. Yeah, you're right. I can't stop smiling. This was everything I've ever wanted from an AFCON final. I'm Austin Miller. On the other end, that is Amit Malik. This is the World Cup After Dark Podcast. On today's show, we're going to break down everything that we can from that AFCON final that we saw yesterday. Amit told you the scoreline. Senegal 1, Morocco 0.
Game Strategy and Key Moments
00:01:01
Speaker
I think, Amit, that the the best way for for us to probably approach this is to maybe try and break it down into three segments, right? I think we have the before. which we can get into, then I think we have the moments, plural, and then we probably have the after, right? I think that's the best way for us to try to get into this.
00:01:20
Speaker
um The moments will will take up a large part of this podcast because from the 90th minute and on, it was basically just moments. But before we get to that, this was a really good final. The first 90 minutes of this final were really good.
00:01:36
Speaker
Had this game just kind of ended, i think we still would have said, yeah, pretty good final. That was a good AFCON. i enjoyed that. And then it went bonkers off the rails. We'll get ah into that for a second. But it looked like a myth for that the second straight game, Morocco were going to play a very engaging, interesting nil-nil draw that was full of chances but lacking a goal. That's how the first 90 minutes of this match largely went.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, they've kind of shown us twice, as you said, the ability to draw a good game out without also... committing too much to be silly, to silly on their own side to give them too many chances. They're not good enough to to like kill off a game entirely, but they understand that they play defensively. And we kind of spent a lot of time on the preview thinking about how this went. And I think at the end of the day, it kind of settled to how we thought. Senegal had the ball, was trying to break down Morocco's very good middle block, and Morocco was trying to break out the other way. And eventually what happened is both teams had breakaways or had chances. Senegal had the majority the control of the ball, but not of the field and of the attacking third. so it was very, very finely poised. And like the Morocco-Nigeria game,
00:02:49
Speaker
is a fascinating 0-0 because it's very coordinated back and forts and, you know, parries and riposte and that kind of tactical chess match. but also Did you just go fencing on me? Did you just break out the fencing terms? You have to break out the fencing terms for the people.
Key Players and Missed Opportunities
00:03:05
Speaker
But ah it was it was really it was really absorbing. And you saw, i think, every player that we had highlighted was could be a difference maker had their chance, where like at some point, the game put the ball at their feet to do the moment and everyone kind of missed the first big chance was Ilman and Dai who in one moment got behind the Morocco back line and forced an incredible save which honestly looks easier than it really was from Bunu Morocco's goalkeeper in real time and that was kind of the first stretch that
00:03:40
Speaker
Senegal were a little more dangerous. And the thing that also made this game fun that, again, we're hinting to and alluding to by Morocco is that both of these teams needed space in the game to be dangerous. But unlike kind of the big dogs of Europe going on where the objective is to deny space at all times unless you have it, both teams needed it. And they they're not good enough to do that. So it was very, very good soccer.
00:04:07
Speaker
I don't know that it's necessarily they're not good enough to do that, but they both decided they weren't going to do that in this particular occasion, that they didn't want necessarily the low event game. You talked about the Bunu save. There's a lot more that we can talk about with Bunu. He was fantastic. Man of the match performance from him had, you know, things not happen later on that we'll get into. ah My X factor of the game was Ayub Elkabi.
00:04:27
Speaker
but I said, you know maybe he's the type of guy. And admitted he had his chances. He had his chances. And he couldn't put him in the back of the net. He had two of them. He had two. He had a really great cross that just fizzled across his body coming from left to right. i don't think he's left-footed. It came to his left foot. And he just tried to open it up side into the net. And he he missed wide from, what, eight yards out? Yeah. And again, I think...
00:04:54
Speaker
Elkabi, you know, two years after ah and Naziri right as the starter and Elkabi is a good player and he makes the hard runs. And we've we have said, and he scored two bicycle kicks at the same tournament, which maybe is a sign that, you know, your, your system journeyman striker can't use up all of his bullets. Right. We needed him to do just some, some like dirty finishing here. I think a he needed a bundle.
00:05:18
Speaker
He needed a bundle is the best way to put it. And that's frustrating. He had another one too, where the ball comes to him. And I think after his last one, he's thinking, ah, I better make the right play. And he just kind of shuffles it to the left post for a worse angle for a teammate.
00:05:31
Speaker
That's when you put your, just put the the ball on frame hard, right? And so yeah he had his chances, didn't get It was frustrating. Senegal in this game, admit, were without a couple of key players. We talked about Koulibaly, also Krependiata, who had started at right back all tournament for them, did not play. Did we notice those Senegal absences really here? Did it feel like they weren't at their first choice?
00:05:55
Speaker
um Not really. I think their midfield was strong. I do think Koulibaly... while his defending was maybe neutral to better for Senegal, that he wasn't there.
00:06:08
Speaker
Morocco was able to survive a long time in this game before bleeding a chance by asking the Senegal defenders to hit a long ball. And I think Koulibaly, even at his age, and even though it's not necessarily his game, he's never a great distributor. You know, his just tactical sense, he needs he knows where to go. ah Senegal...
00:06:27
Speaker
could not really play through the middle. They were waiting, waiting for those entry passes into the final third. They didn't really come. And it was a very odd game in that sense of how to ah how to ah jump the jump the middle third. And I think Morocco did a good job of targeting the other two Senegal center backs and forcing them into uncomfortable spots on the ball. And Senegal's answer was just be very, very patient.
00:06:51
Speaker
You can wait five minutes if you want before you make the pass. We will get to him a lot more in a minute, but it also felt like in the 90 normal minutes of this game, if you will, in air quotes, Brahim Diaz didn't really have much of an effect on it. He didn't quite find the space and the effectiveness that he had shown throughout the tournament.
00:07:10
Speaker
It took him time to get the ball in transition, but Senegal's entire plan to why they control the game... was out of their own like kind of necessity, but really to deny Morocco from getting their best players involved. And not just Diaz.
00:07:24
Speaker
Again, we had said, can Morocco overload on that right side with Diaz-Akimi, the best one-two punch? Can Mizrahi get into space? And what you saw was, I thought, a really great physical game from Sadio Mane at this age because his work rate was high. Obviously, he's dangerous on the ball, but he was pinned very high on...
00:07:46
Speaker
Hakimi, and Morocco could not really overload because the the threat of Hakimi or Indai, if you commit a fullback forward and you lose the ball, yeah, it's three on three, and you can't have that when a player like Mane and Indai. And we did see the one time Morocco lost the ball, and it was two on two,
Controversial Referee Decisions
00:08:04
Speaker
and Indai was wide open. So this was a really, again, you talk about the chess stuff here, a good game control positional game. Again, it's kind of ah Not the most interesting on-the-ball stuff, but Senegal was really like smart to push Morocco back.
00:08:22
Speaker
Even all of that said, the more it went on, the less either side was able to exert control. And I thought the the final five minutes of the first half and the final 10 minutes of the second half of the 90 was really back-and-forth stuff.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah. All right. You ready to youre ready to get into the fun stuff? Have we done the the the tactics, mind, football, easy stuff, 90 minutes? You ready for fun? Sure.
00:08:45
Speaker
All right. So this game then proceeds to just completely go haywire. Like we would have hoped for, like we'd been waiting for this whole tournament to go haywire. We've got a processed, clean, nice pitch, good stadium, lights, TV cameras, everything working tournament. and then at the very last minute, that simmer that I talked about earlier just exploded into a full boil of absolute carnage and chaos.
00:09:07
Speaker
So it starts in the fifth minute of extra time when Senegal whipped the ball into the Morocco area. Dembasek takes... takes Atraf Hakimi and basically kind of shoves him, takes his attempt off the post into the scramble. Senegal score. The referee, however, has called a foul on sack against Hakimi and crucially had blown his whistle so that there was no ability for VAR to come back and look at the play. Senegal feel hard done by...
00:09:36
Speaker
I think there's a... that This one to me kind of feels 50-50, right? Like, there's there's a push there. Did Hakimi go down easy? Probably. Should he have gone down?
00:09:47
Speaker
I don't know. Like, I don't know. it's It's hard for me to have a ton of anger with the way that this play played out. It's becoming harder and harder to legislate said piece. Yeah. Just normal hand fighting. Because I think...
00:10:02
Speaker
I mean, not to do a whole big thing, but you look at the top level of the game in the Premier League and more and more goals are being scored by set pieces now. The highest the highest percentage and in like 20 years. And the reason why is because teams like Arsenal, teams like Brentford have realized that on a set piece, you can just kind of throw people around. There's a lot of bodies. You can't call them all. So it's in your incentive to just shove people out of the way to create space and make the referee make a call.
00:10:29
Speaker
And what we've seen in the Premier League, I'm not, I can't speak for all the other leagues, is the standard for contact within the box is different, especially for an attacking team. You could essentially commit, I'm putting in air quotes, offensive pass interference, which is what this is, right? The ball's in the air.
00:10:45
Speaker
And while the ball's the air, you're making a non-ball play. That language works for football. American works for football. Soccer. This is a non-ball play. It's a two-handed shove.
00:10:57
Speaker
The arms extend. By that, like, you know, I'm i'm fine to see the the the penalty called or the foul called. My issue is that I would – if you're going to call this, you need to call every hand fighting shove in the box. And the standard is not ah the consistent in this game, in this tournament at all. So, like – a From the just part of it, do I want to see you know a two-handed shove in the big spot of a game decide it?
00:11:28
Speaker
No. so I'm like, okay. But like that's like is just how you referee. The referee should be independent of the narrative, right? You have to call it like it is. as the As the viewer, I'm fine with it. what What the issue is, the same standard is applied next. Right?
00:11:46
Speaker
Right. So then we get to the the penalty issue where things really go off the track. So Morocco come back the other way. They win a corner kick. And in the eighth minute of stoppage time, Hakimi sends it in and Brian Diaz gets tugged back on the shoulder by Alhaji Malik-Duf.
00:12:02
Speaker
And from there, things just go off the charts. So what happens is play con continues on. Hakimi, or ah excuse me, Diaz protests heavily, gets in the in the referee's face, um,
00:12:15
Speaker
Goes after the referee, says, you know, this should be a penalty. John Jack Nella, the referee, kind of looks at it and thinks about it. Then we get the VAR call, goes over, looks at it, signals a penalty, and we just enter the twilight zone of all twilight zones. So let's start with the call itself before we get into the reaction, before we get into Senegal walking off the pitch, before we get into the problems in the stands, before we get into any of that.
00:12:36
Speaker
The call itself it feels soft, right? Like it you don't want that being the call that's deciding a major tournament, deciding a game that had been relatively even back and forth.
00:12:48
Speaker
Agreed 100%. It's the same thing about just like that's just such a a cheap, soft way to end it. What's funny is if you say, well, if that wasn't allowed, how is this allowed? or This shouldn't allowed. But it's actually the opposite. Like if you're being strict about contact in the box, well, then it's a fair adjudication of both because it is if you're reading it this way.
00:13:10
Speaker
defensive pass interference. The ball is in is in the air and what the center back does is he kind of does a swim move to to get Diaz out of the way. Now, differences, right and I think this is you know subjective, objective. Two-handed shove is one thing.
00:13:27
Speaker
This is just kind of like a, oh, i'm I'm kind of just clearing space for myself, not like shoving, not extending the arm. It's just kind of like ah a swim move. This is like kind of normal things you do, right? And it's directly it is pretty much directly followed by a headed clearance, right? yeah he's It's not like he, yes, exactly. There's a bit more of a ball play, to use your terminology from earlier, there's a bit more of a ball play in this incident than there was in the opening one.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah. The issue is, is that Diaz basically takes the contact and goes down. And then it's like, well, how do we legislate this even more than the last one, which I'm not sure. Yeah. Hakimi goes down easy, but two handed shove like you're going down.
00:14:09
Speaker
Diaz is just shorter than him. And that's where almost you go. You didn't have to touch him. You could have just jumped. Right. Don't leave any doubt. But I'm with you. Soft. Really, just really soft. and And what made it worse is Diaz. as It gets even worse the more we're going to talk about this. Diaz is, as you said, the one who runs over to the referee and says, that's a penalty. That's a penalty. You have to look at it. And it's very clear on the broadcast. That's what he's saying.
00:14:38
Speaker
And that's where we get into where all of this just goes off, just goes into a direction that we could never have expected from our, from our AFCON final. So ah where do you want to start with this? Should we start with Senegal walking off the pitch? Should we start with crowd trouble? where Where do we go here? So it seems like the Senegal manager is the one who tells his players to, to leave. There's about five minutes where they're going, Oh, I don't know. looks like they're gonna leave. And then there's five minutes where they're gone. Yeah. Where Papachiao basically – there are multiple times where the camera cuts to Senegal manager Papachiao, and he's just doing the like we're gone motion, right? Like he's just like get on the bus. We're going home. Taking our ball. We're going home.
00:15:18
Speaker
And at some point, at least half the team is in the locker room. The camera is in the tunnel, and the players are walking down the tunnel into the locker room. There are some players on the field at some point about – halfway through this 17 minute delay, like there's only Morocco players on the field. And there's a, there's there Moroccan players huddled in the center circle and Sadio Mane just kind of chilling. He's the last guy. Cause he doesn't want to leave. He's like thinking you could see the disgust on his face. He's like, I can't believe we've been done like that. But Sadio Mane, who has been around is like, I don't know if we could just leave. Like, I don't want to lose. i don't want to end my AFCON career or this way. Like,
00:16:00
Speaker
And if there's there's a shot of the Morocco players where you can hear someone. i don't know if it's Hakimi or Aguard saying very clearly, if we win, we win, which I think Morocco is saying, if Senegal forfeits, that's a them problem, yeah which is which is his way to do it. And then at some point around minute eight to nine – It starts from Mane. I don't know if it starts from Mane or Thia, the manager, where there's this now impetus to get the players back. So Mane runs into the dressing room.
00:16:34
Speaker
And he brings them all
Conspiracy Theories and Penalty Drama
00:16:35
Speaker
back. gosh. And then we'll get into the penalty in a minute. There's also during, while all of this is happening, there's also incidents at the other end of the stadium with the Senegal supporters and the Moroccan riot police, the Moroccan security. It got fairly ugly, not Tara, again, look, our our standard for what is crowd trouble, I guess, is is is maybe too low. um You know, there were advertising hoardings that got smashed. There was some pushing and shoving. There was a volunteer who got carried off. And I'm i'm sounding very blind about this and I probably shouldn't.
00:17:05
Speaker
But and so that's happening all of this. And so I think I don't know. I think Senegal's like overall justification here is probably something like to do with that is like the best way that they should probably try to play this. Like, oh, we didn't think the conditions were safe to continue the match when it's pretty clear that they just didn't like the call that went against them. Right. Like that's the impetus here. It was.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It was the ultimate like, you know, petty, video game move where like, ah, 90th minute call I didn't like. you don't raise quickt you don't yeah Rage Rage quit. Game's over. You don't get to see it. Like, I'm not denying You you can have your win, but I'm not like giving you the moment. And then Sadio Mane was like, i don't I don't like the way this sits. We have to at least go out. And to Mane's point, at worst or at best, you have a 30% chance. Like, it's not over until it's over. You could go save the penalty. And so...
00:18:00
Speaker
Players all come back. Everyone lines up. And there's still a penalty to be to be taken. yeah There's a lot more that happens before that everybody lines up, right? Because then we get to do the whole, okay, we're actually taking the penalty dance. And so we have to go through all of the the before of of taking a major tournament penalty that's deciding it, right? You've got...
00:18:20
Speaker
Two different Moroccan players, neither of whom have any intention of actually taking the penalty with the ball in the air. You've got three Senegal players who know that these aren't the Moroccan players who are taking the penalty but are still trying to intimidate them. You've got the scuffing up of the penalty spot. You've got Edouard Mendy making himself look big, doing his thing. You've got a referee who's like, dude, this is not what I expected when I woke up this morning. I've made this call. I've got to live with it.
00:18:43
Speaker
Who's just kind of like taking his time, right? Figuring all this out. Finally, we get to the point where Ryan Diaz gets the ball. It's clear, okay, the man who has been the man of the tournament for Morocco, the highest score, he's going to win the golden boot of this tournament.
00:18:57
Speaker
He's going to have a penalty kick that is going to decide, that could potentially decide the AFKRON file. if he scores it, Morocco are assuredly going to win. If he doesn't, we go to extra time. And he goes up against Edouard Mendy, the Senegal goalkeeper. Before that, there's a yellow card. ah We love a good 90 plus 21 yellow card because that's what Edouard Mendy got here because he goes up to Diaz and now it's like, all right, One-on-one, mano-a-mano, and comes in.
00:19:19
Speaker
So, Brian Diaz, Penenka's his penalty. Edouard Mendy saves it. by Surely you've seen this. And that creates all of this controversy. And Amit, my good friend, Amit, my level-headed, always logical, always making the right point, Amit, you think that there's grand conspiracy here?
00:19:40
Speaker
I think there's a ah lowercase G grand conspiracy. I think there's a minor conspiracy. This is the time you listener get to hear my my tinfoil hat take. I think Brahim Diaz intentionally missed the penalty kick. I do.
00:19:56
Speaker
I do. And I hate to say it. And I do feel silly even suggesting it because it's football. Like to take a nefarious view of football is not something I ever want to do. I love the idea that Brahim Diaz thought. And this was my moment of thought before we get there. This is the other bit.
00:20:11
Speaker
You Brahim Diaz was thinking in his head? The movie's already going, right? yeah The cut scene's going. He's in the corner. He's slid. You know, the the music is swelling. The fans are all at home. He's just won AFCON. Not only just won AFCON by chipping the keeper. We've seen chips to win shootouts in bigger moments, in World Cup quarterfinals, semifinals, right?
00:20:34
Speaker
You can chip a penalty all the time. At any point, you can do it. And it works very frequently. Yeah. But Brahim Diaz, not the not like a prolific penalty taker.
00:20:48
Speaker
Also, Edouard Mendy, you know, he's ah he's a big goalkeeper. You know, why are So, so so sa said we're going to get into it. here's why i think Here's why I think he intentionally missed it.
00:21:01
Speaker
Part of it is the reactions to the penalty. You go back and watch, and I hate that I think this, no one on Morocco, one guy puts his hands on his heads. the guy who I totally forgot in the 90 minutes, now that you mentioned the guy putting the hand on his head, I completely forgot that Moroccan midfielder Niel Al-Anoui just got completely shattered, right? Like just blood everywhere and continued playing. That's the thing that happened in the 90 minutes that I just kind of forgot. Now that you mentioned him, and that's how you were able to point out because he got a big old bandage on his head. At one point, you get a camera cut after a clash of heads in the box, and they're just gushing blood. And they just taped him like, right, you're good to go. Back out there.
00:21:37
Speaker
Continue. Sorry. The other point is that gave us this nine minutes of echo stoppage time. That's why we got to 90 plus nine it because we spent five minutes patching him up. Yeah. He's the only one that kind of puts his hands on his head. The rest of the Morocco players all just kind of like – ah Wow, that was tough.
00:21:54
Speaker
And all the Senegal players do not react at all. They do not react at all. Watch them. They literally just turn around and they're like, our ball. Like, what?
00:22:06
Speaker
Because on the facts of it, the facts of it are this. In the minute, 115th minute of the AFCON
00:22:17
Speaker
Morocco tried a game-winning penalty kick Panenka from their Real Madrid superstar, and Edouard Mendy saved it by staying down the middle. I would be losing my mind. That's the greatest thing I've ever seen. Wouldn't they be like going to pat him on the back like, you genius, you outfoxed?
00:22:35
Speaker
Brahim Diaz, the best player in the tournament, the golden boot winner of the tournament. You came up big. It just doesn't compute. And then Brahim Diaz is crying. He is inconsolable. We know he's the one that asked for the penalty. He wanted the penalty, which I think is a strong piece that like there wasn't a big G grand conspiracy. But what I think is that somewhere...
00:22:57
Speaker
At some point in this moment, i don't know if it was Sadio Mane. I don't know if it was the players. I don't know if Brahim Diaz had the smile of will upon his heart. He just decided he thought it wasn't fair. You can disagree with me. You, the listener, can say...
00:23:13
Speaker
It's football. He just wanted to to make a starry moment. He got cocky. He wanted disrespect Senegal. And Mendy simply was big-brained enough to see it coming. I just... I just... I hate that I could go in conspiracy mode. I truly think for some reason... And not it did not come from up top. It did not come from manager Waleed McGregor, who very clearly was upset with Brahim Diaz. He wanted him to make it. I think somewhere... Somehow...
00:23:39
Speaker
Someone said to Brahim and he agreed or he thought himself, I'm not going to make this because how often do you stay on a middle and save it? Well, in the case of Edouard Mendy, he's done it before, right? we We went through this before the podcast. In 2021, Edouard Mendy saved a Sergio Aguero Panenka penalty in a primary game. And it looked very, very similar to what happened here. um I don't think I'm buying tinfoil hat amidst take here, mainly because I just think Brahim Diaz is so inconsolable that like, I don't know.
00:24:13
Speaker
I get the reactions point. The reactions point is definitely a a red flag and in in both cases, but I think there's almost an element of both of these teams might've just been emotionally spent by the time this moment actually happens, that all of the emotion has already kind of gone out. And,
00:24:31
Speaker
I think maybe from the Morocco perspective, there's all right, we've got to pick it back up and we've got 30 more minutes. And from the Senegal perspective, maybe that's why you don't see as as much of of the reaction.
00:24:42
Speaker
I'm grasping at straws here a little bit because you made a very good point. you made a very good case, I have to say. But I think Diaz's reaction and how he looks and how he reacts is, I think, the biggest thing that maybe points in my favor as to... but like but My only point is I think he's almost inconsolable after... As soon as he does it, he has buyer's remorse. He's like...
00:25:05
Speaker
Why did I do that? I could have won the game. I could have just scored. And that's why he's so inconsolable. The other thing that was weird is his behavior in the five minutes from we are taking this penalty to actual penalty, which again is five minutes longer than any penalty. like Should ever be. Should ever be. He's just – he's acting very unnerved.
00:25:26
Speaker
All he's doing is staring at the ball. Go watch. He's not looking anywhere else. And it's like – and then he said – Rogargu said I think the the weight was too much for him. But like you don't take the penalty if the weight is too much for you. Like you're the best player on the field.
00:25:45
Speaker
um I like this one from Edouard Mendy. you know What was said? What did we say to each other? That's between us. Menny told journalists after the game. I think Sadio Mane runs back in the locker room and says, this is this is this is just me full on conjecture here. I think Sadio Mane runs back in the locker room and says, hey guys,
00:26:07
Speaker
Brahim's going to miss it for us. We're just going to play 30 minutes. We need to go out and play. like Should Morocco... Should Diaz... Is there any evidence to believe that they would agree to such a thing? like Why wouldn't they just take the win? But my point is just... if you're If you were agreeing to save a penalty, the easiest way to do it would be, hey, I'm just going to go in the middle. Don't move.
00:26:30
Speaker
yeah Because if you do anything else, things can go wrong. like That's the part of it where I'm just like... If Brahim Diaz was taking a penalty kick to win an AFCON final 100 times, he wouldn't do that 100
Senegal's Winning Goal and Defensive Analysis
00:26:44
Speaker
times. He'd put it in the corner. This is a big case for logical me's ah result bias here, but like it's just so mind-baffling. So I will say, I'm personally not terribly opposed the idea of going down the middle here.
00:26:59
Speaker
You can't go down the middle with a Penenka. That's obviously just taking this like five steps way too far. But strong down in the middle, I don't think is a terrible option here. You've had the whole weight you've had so long. And so if – I can't believe I'm about to say this phrase. If Rojima Diaz is actually trying to make the penalty, I don't think going down the middle is that unforgivable. I think going down the middle with a Penenka probably is.
00:27:23
Speaker
um anything else on the on the penalty on on this situation? The fact, Senegal just literally walked off. That's a thing that happened. And it was just like, yeah. And I personally was kind of like, I get it. I feel like that. i might have done that too.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah, I understand why they did it. It was super petty, but they just thought they had like lost the game. They were just trying to make a point. and I understand. they were It was almost justified for how bad the call was. You can't really do that. But they're going to get some slaps of the wrist, as you said. you know They're going to miss some time. but um No, to your point, I do think going down the middle is fine. And it's almost if he went down the middle...
00:28:03
Speaker
it's very unlikely Mendy stays when the ball is hit hard because if you see the ball being kicked, you're going to go. That's where it's like, we'll never know. We'll never know. i don't think we're ever going to know.
00:28:15
Speaker
and And we're going to talk about it forever and ever and ever. it's to great. It's going to be like 15 years from now, you're going to pull up the Wikipedia article of the 2025-26 AFCON final and you're going to remember all this and it's just going make you really happy.
00:28:27
Speaker
So then from there, that's obviously not the end of this story because now we've got 30 minutes of extra time. And it kind of only felt like one thing was ever going to happen here. Right? Like all of that doesn't happen to Morocco.
00:28:41
Speaker
Doesn't just go on and win anyway. And so what happens three minutes into extra time, your man, Amit, your guy, the man you've always wanted to talk about, the guy you're always looking for,
00:28:53
Speaker
comes up and pop gay, finds space and just rips one into the back of the net. How do you beat a great goalkeeper in Yassin Bono who has been on the top of his game all afternoon? You just put one where you can't get to it.
00:29:05
Speaker
I mean, this was the thing we've always said about Senegal. They just had a few guys that could take a half chance or quarter chance really is what this is and just have the moment. I mean, in a game where there were lots of good chances, better chances, you just simply tip your hat to a well-struck ball. And we've seen that in big finals, big cagey matches, right?
00:29:24
Speaker
Sometimes um a ah big call from distance is what it it's asking for. this was ah an immaculate hit, bar down, right? And I think Pop Gay is maybe not the guy you you you you'd pick, but to as you said, like he is one of Senegal's stars. They've got a lot of stars, and I think you know, not over reading into it. Like we did say every player in this match kind of had their chances. Hakimi had great balls. Diaz had great balls. Diaz had his penalty. You know, Nicholas Jackson didn't do a lot, but Indai had his moments. Mane had some moments. At some point, the, the, your moment turn came up to pop gay and he was like,
00:30:02
Speaker
so this one's This one's me, right? like I'm not sure there's a lot more than that other ah other than i do think emotionally and physically both Senegal were just a little livelier in the in the first period of extra time.
00:30:17
Speaker
All of that, I think it's good. All of that is accurate. And I think it can almost be easy for us to be like, ah, You know, big guy came up, big moment. Not a whole lot you can do about that.
00:30:28
Speaker
But I know there was a whole lot that Morocco could have done about that because I didn't think Atra Akhimi, I don't think Atra Akhimi covered himself in glory on this goal. I think he should have been able to do more, should have been stronger. He kind of just got shrugged off and that led to Gay getting the space. You are the otherworldly right back for one of the best clubs in world football. You're the star of this tournament. You have to do more in that situation. I don't care if you have to hack him down and take a yell. You have to do more.
00:30:52
Speaker
You're right. You're 100% right. The defending was tough, and that is part of the... fatigue of 100 minutes of defending where you know it's easy to defend in your box when it's red alarm, you know red alert, fire. It's hard when you know you've got to physically disrupt an imposing midfielder. and Hakimi is a great defensive fullback.
00:31:13
Speaker
He is. but you know it's You watch this one. yeah He gets shrugged out of the way. He kind ofs he kind of gives a half chance. You can't half challenge in an AFCON final, right as you said. yeah i think That's ah that a very good point. and In a game with very few defensive mistakes, that was one. It was a minor mistake, but that shows you why you can't make the minor mistakes. The margins are fine here.
00:31:40
Speaker
And so then from there, Morocco obviously have to try and respond and come back. I think very interestingly, Raguay chooses to sub off Brahim Diaz. He brings on Ilhas Akwamach. I don't think I would have done that. I understand the whole penalty thing. Brahim Diaz has been your best player. He is your best player. If you're getting back in this game, he's probably going to be a reason why. i think Raguay was just probably furious with how things played out and wanted to show that he was furious. I think Brahim Diaz has to finish this game.
00:32:07
Speaker
I'm with you. There is something that his work rate for 120 is just tough in the winger spot specifically. Winger is the spot where you could use the legs, right, to just get that running. But Diaz is the kind of guy I agree, even if he's not tracking back, you just need him to unlock a defense. And it was very sorely missed for Morocco, who does not have like incredible, incredible depth, like a super sub winger to come on. Yes, he would have helped. I do think Raguagui was not only mad at him, I do think emotionally there was part of it where Diaz himself looked a bit inconsolable, which maybe you just didn't trust that to to finish the game.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. And from there, did you think Morocco had much to get back in it? Not really. Not really. I think they were physically spent. um And they, you know, they tried to get the ball, but Senegal honestly did a really good job of killing the game off. Morocco had trouble setting up even, you know, their attack in the final third. And the best thing was to try to get some crosses from Hakimi and Masraoui, who did some good carrying and ball progression.
00:33:11
Speaker
But there just wasn't quite that midfield um you know assertion of the game. Senegal were hitting lots of long balls. i thought this was a great game from Ismail Assar, who came on as a sub for Senegal.
00:33:23
Speaker
And you saw, we said Senegal's depth was a little bit better here.
Absurd Antics and Match Entertainment
00:33:26
Speaker
It wasn't like was he was a ah a difference maker like in the biggest way but senegal's work rate in the final 15 never dipped and that's what we can see in extra time for a team to come back or what happens in the last 10 minutes of an extra time game when one team is in the ascendancy it's because they they've got some momentum and legs the team that was up one was the team that had the momentum and legs and that's when it looks rather one-sided i'm not sure we saw even a quality half chance from morocco in the final 10. And Senegal could have obviously had a second to kill this off were it not for a really, really good couple of plays from Bono, who, as we we said, was was phenomenal. ah you You want to get to the towel-stealing ball boys? I feel like that that's a pretty good place for us to go. In the midst of all of this...
00:34:12
Speaker
Morocco, who... It's kind of funny because I think there's some element of this that after this, Morocco... I don't know that they're necessarily going to do this, but you can almost try and play like the, ah, Senegal were really bad sports. Like, ah, that was pretty petty of them to just get up and walk off. That wasn't great.
00:34:29
Speaker
But it's not like Morocco behaved themselves particularly well in this game either because... Sorry, it just makes me laugh thinking about this. For basically all of extra time, Edouard Mendy's towel is being held by a reserve goalkeeper, Yvonne Douf, of Senegal, because apparently in the semifinal against Nigeria...
00:34:50
Speaker
Morocco had got big brain and they sent their ball boys and security personnel and basically anybody to keep stealing Stanley Wobali's towel, who was the Nigerian goalkeeper. They took it and they just walked off with was like, Oh, you don't have your towel anymore.
00:35:05
Speaker
It's a, Morocco were like, oh, we'll just run that strategy back and no towel of for Edouard Mendy. But Senegal had apparently watched the semifinal. And so Senegal said, oh, oh not so fast. That's our reserve goalkeeper out with the towel. There are multiple videos of multiple moments in this game of Moroccan ball boys, of Moroccan players trying to steal the towel off Edouard Mendy, trying to steal the towel off. You have a... new I don't think I've ever seen anything like this get this far. There are like uniformed ball boys attacking a Senegal reserve trying to steal his towel. What?
00:35:40
Speaker
It's the game within the game. I love it. but Morocco is hunting for every advantage. it's wet It's a wet. It's a wet January in Rabat, man. You stay in Lumballa. You got to, you know, maybe this guy doesn't have the best hands. Well, let's see how he can deal with the wetness. Can't dry him off. Right. And so they're like, oh yeah. You know, we looked at the forecast. It wasn't rainy at the start.
00:36:00
Speaker
We got, don't worry. We got Mendy, right? This is why it's so funny because Senegal watched the tape. Like, yeah. I knew. and yeah They knew. um No, extremely comical stuff of like, you just go watch the clip. It's so funny. Every time they're trying to get it, it's the game within the game. And credit to Senegal, right? Don't.
00:36:20
Speaker
I think one of the the funniest, the fun. Did you ever, did you ever think that credit to Senegal would be referring to having their backup goalkeeper protecting yeah their main goalkeepers towel from ball boys? It's it insane. no,
00:36:35
Speaker
It is since insane. It's hilarious. But what I just like about it is that this idea that when it when you get into the dark arts of of whatever you want to go in any tournament, whatever level, yeah you have to match you have to match. You cannot be out-initiated in the dark arts by your opponent. And to Senegal's credit, man, like...
00:36:55
Speaker
pay a pain in the butt at every turn to Morocco who was, this was their destiny tournament. Right. And it took Senegal to be like, we're actually so much pettier than you could even conceive.
00:37:07
Speaker
It's so good. it's so good um i think there's there's a moment here that we like there's obviously been a lot of pearl clutching from outside audiences um you hate to see it from seiggal you need to be punished whatever and a lot of like ah this is just what you don't want to see from a major final and to all those people i would simply respond with actually this is exactly what i want to see from a major tournament file This was wholeheartedly entertaining and I loved every second of it. And I have no regrets. And I don't, I don't begrudge either of the two teams for behaving in the way that they did.
00:37:41
Speaker
I personally enjoyed it. This is entertainment, right? Like I was entertained. Yes. Should we do without the crowd trouble? Yes. Probably we should ensure that people who go to matches are safe. Okay. I'm in agreement on that point.
00:37:54
Speaker
But beyond that, nobody is demonstrably hurt by anything that happened in this game. And we, the viewers, the public, the the connoisseurs, we connoisseured it. We enjoyed it.
00:38:06
Speaker
We loved it. I'm all for more of it. I don't think we should should should should punish these teams too heavily for for what we saw. That said, there are probably going to be punishmentes punishments. Gianni Infantino, who i I would have loved to have been in the box beside Gianni Infantino while all of this is happening, right? Like, just like, oh, there's crowd trouble.
00:38:27
Speaker
Oh, the Senegal players, what? all like Like, what is Gianni Infantino thinking and in any of these moments? I love about it in that there's a certain level of control that FIFA or CAF or, you know, anyone likes to think they have over this game that we all share. And the truth is you exactly your moment. What is he thinking? He's like, oh my gosh, like Seneca has just quit. Can I do something about that? And like,
00:38:57
Speaker
Can Morocco win? like they They deserve to win? and he he What was he thinking when Diaz chips that penalty? I would love to know. And also, there's ah the photo of Diaz getting his golden boot award with Infantino. And Infantino is giving him this look of like, oh man, I'm really sorry for you. it's this It's this look that FIFA officials have. I've noticed this.
00:39:22
Speaker
There's a UEFA guy, Safarin. He gives the second place guys their handshakes and their medals, and he's just a machine at it. These FIFA guys have this look down, and Infantino has the perfect like, ah, Brahim, good try, and Brahim Diaz's face is just the pit of despair. And that, to me, will be my like...
00:39:44
Speaker
seared in my brain memory forever when we go back and look and the penalty, I'm going to want to remember that. And to your just point that like, you cannot control this silly game. And that's why we I agree with you a hundred percent. That's why we love it.
00:39:56
Speaker
And like, yes, safety first, but like, I think what both of us – this podcast is called World Cup After Dark.
Future Implications and Team Morale
00:40:03
Speaker
It's not called the World Cup X and O's. This game and specifically international soccer has a way – just has a way in the biggest moments of of being bigger than itself in ways that do not make sense. and then That's why we keep coming back over and over again.
00:40:22
Speaker
If you play this final a hundred times, and I love this thought exercise, and what and how many times do you get this? You get it once. You get the one time that you got, right? get it the one time you got it, and we got it. You can't ask for more.
00:40:35
Speaker
So to to get back to the point on Infantino, he puts the you know the whole big Instagram post. Congratulations to the winners. What a great game. But also we saw things we shouldn't see. I encourage cap, blah, blah, blah, punishments, et cetera. The punishments here are pretty clear in my mind.
00:40:49
Speaker
Everybody that you saw, you're not going to see them in March. There's March friendlies. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Two game suspensions. Everybody that you saw, June whatever, first game, you're going to see these guys. like These guys are not going to miss a World Cup game because of any of this.
00:41:03
Speaker
Here's all you to know about that. What would Vettino say if Cav suspended them for the first game of World Cup? It's not happening. There's no chance it happens. These teams going to show up to the World Cup. They're going to be in full fledged and that's what it should be. Wally Ragawe got into it with Moroccan media after the game. Moroccan media, who appeared to be like pretty serious dudes because they also got into it with – they seemed to get into it with just about They got into it with Pop Jaw as well. He didn't even have a post-game press conference because he just got booed by the Moroccan journalists and was like, nope, whatever, I'm out, which fair. You won. He got booed by the Moroccan journalists. He walks into the press room and – And there's just straight booze from the Raghavan journalists. And so he just leaves and holds up a two. Like I've got two AFCONs, which is good. That's the proper reaction here.
00:41:53
Speaker
um I'm sorry. That's also also incredible. It's great. They ask for Wally Raghavan to resign. One journalist apparently brings up there's children crying in the stands because of you today, which is just great. To which my response would be, dude, this is not on. He didn't tell Brahim Diaz to miss the penalty. Very clearly, he was not on board with that. This isn't on Waleed Rikogwe.
00:42:14
Speaker
It would be a massive disappointment if he leaves because this is such a promising Morocco team. But I think I did say to you a minute before this that there's not really a scenario here in which what happens to Morocco will affect him at the World Cup.
00:42:27
Speaker
I take that back. There is a scenario here in which what happens to Morocco could affect them at the World Cup. And this is it. I wouldn't feel great about Morocco in six months time. I agree with you. There's a bit of a stink.
00:42:41
Speaker
There's a bit of a emotional whiplash that's going to be felt here because Morocco was kind of a great vibes team. We have, we always identified that about them.
00:42:51
Speaker
And What has ruined the vibes more than this? This is the most sour way you could have gone out. if It'd be one thing if they had just played this game and lost one zero on, let's imagine that no whistle is on that first. Yeah. And go ahead or from sec. And it just, it goes in. Sour gets the rebound. 1-0.
00:43:09
Speaker
I think you say, oh man, we we played a great game. We just got a bounce. But hey, like. You can be mad at the ref. They didn't call foul. Whatever. You know, like, hey, like we we've got a lot to work with. This is hard to sit with. And specifically Raguay and specifically for Diaz, who is Morocco's best player, was Morocco's best player. There is a...
00:43:31
Speaker
he's not escaping this. He just is not escaping this. This is going to haunt color. Every single thing he does, not only just, I mean, for Madrid. Yeah, maybe he can escape that, right? Sure. Whatever. But anything he does in Morocco Jersey jersey is going to be colored with this lens and the pressure on them at the world cup to repeat a semi-finalists already in extremely tall tasks to get back in the top four.
00:43:57
Speaker
It's just not... Spin me scenarios where this ends well. It seems like the vibes have flipped so fast for them. And I feel like they've dug themselves a hole they can't escape out of because of how emotionally taxing this was.
00:44:13
Speaker
It doesn't feel like the type of thing that you get over and in in six months, right? it's Like you said, it doesn't. It is the defining moment for Brahim Diaz in Morocco shirt until he comes up with another one, right? And yeah, there's the opportunity for him to do that at the World Cup, but it's so hard.
00:44:29
Speaker
Morocco are a good team, but they are not a world elite team, right? And so it's so hard for Morocco to come up with elite-type moments at a World Cup. Let's see. But yeah, I i think that this was... ah Sorry, I didn't foresee Brahimdias attempting to panenka a penalty in the 113th minute after Senegal had walked off the pitch for 15 minutes. I didn't foresee that in my in my preview stuff here.
00:44:52
Speaker
um For Senegal, the vibes are good going into the World Cup because of this, right? like Regardless of of how this gone, I think I would have said that. But Sadio Mane, who has said that he is going to be done with international football after the World Cup, we'll see if that holds. I've seen that statement from major players made before and not necessarily backed up.
00:45:09
Speaker
He was as good as he has been in a Senegal shirt, certainly since he moved to the Middle East, I think. And Senegal, I think... The nine is still an issue. I didn't think Nicholas Jackson really gave them anything in this game. I'm concerned about that. But their ability for guys to have moments bodes well in World Cup.
00:45:28
Speaker
Agree. I think, honestly, at the last World Cup, Mane was a slight negative just because of the balance of his stature and his... ah versus his role and what was needed from him. And this tournament, um they kind of solved that.
00:45:46
Speaker
And... Part of that is because I honestly think his level improved a little bit. like Is he a better player than he was in his prime? No, but he's kind of accepted like, I am a post-prime player.
00:45:59
Speaker
These are the things I can do, and the team around him is not relying on him. He is just threat on the left wing that you have to account for, and he's working hard in the big games. And the rest of the team, the midfield engine, is so good.
00:46:12
Speaker
I think the vibes are good, but not only just that, this tournament was proof of concept that the level you need to play through Senegal is reserved for the best, best teams internationally. Like, are they, you know, if pick your European heavyweight, right? England, France, They're going play France, right? They're in a group with France. They're going to open the World Cup with France.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, like... Okay, that's a tough match. But like outside of those teams, can you play through Senegal? answer is no. And even for France, you could say or to any team, going to be miserable to do it. You're going have to really run with us and and you know get through your gears. And Morocco, again, had chances in this game, but they did not come at the expense of chances the other way. So...
00:46:55
Speaker
i I really like this team. They're going to be popular because they won. Because they won, because the vibes are good. don't like over I don't want to overdo it, but a team that everyone's going to be thinking can make a quarterfinal, that pressure is going to be on them. But the other thing mentally is that's kind of a good spot to be.
Senegal's Prospects in International Football
00:47:12
Speaker
yeah I think they should be feeling good and should be feeling like... hey, we've we've got a little bit of um the good vibes, right? like everything go yeah Everything can go well for us. And I do think that that Mane retiring thing adds to that in a good way. Like, hey, we're super motivated to play for him, but it's it's not like he's a burden.
00:47:31
Speaker
Because, ah you know, not going to name names on an AFCON podcast. Sometimes the one last dance can become a burden when the guy is too much to to accommodate. They're not accommodating Mane. He is boosting. And that is a good spot to be. Yeah.
00:47:47
Speaker
Are you excited for the Moroccan protests to wind its way through here as they attempt to get this game replayed? 3-0 to them, all that. we're both Nothing is obviously going to happen. youre You're not overturning this result under any circumstances.
00:48:01
Speaker
You're not. I do think FIFA and CAF, you maybe should have a playbook answer for what happens when team tries to leave. Yeah. Because there's almost the there's almost something where like the second they do that... like How come they get to come back? like that there's a always We were always going to come. but like Because now at any point, obviously anyone could do this ever. But like what is stopping teams when you don't like call, you really thought you got hosed?
00:48:28
Speaker
Oh, well, Senegal just walked off and got away with it. like You have to make a statement. But you can't make a statement so big that you take them out of the World Cup. So it's a lose-lose for everyone. Senegal almost got away with that.
00:48:41
Speaker
yeah believably Yeah. I think this is probably going to end with a 9,000 point protocol from FIFA for the next time that this happens, right? Like, oh, we didn't have the protocol in place, so it's okay. But ah starting, you know, June 11th at the World Cup, there's, good you know, like you've got a 90, whatever. I don't know. I don't know what it will be to ensure that this doesn't happen at all. So think To go back to your initial point about control, right? Like, I think FIFA will probably exhibit significantly more control than we saw from CAF at the tournament. This is not going to fly at a World Cup.
00:49:14
Speaker
Probably at a World Cup, you won't be able to leave. you did They'll be like, you what are you? Are you sure? are you Are you really sure? Are you really, really sure you want to leave? Because then I think they'll say the second you leave, all right.
00:49:26
Speaker
no That's it. not only Not only do you forfeit, you're like you're done. done like you come yeah Timeout. Super duper timeout. Double super probation. I think that's the the protocol to to to avoid something like this happening in the future. and i feel for Regragueri in a way because like for all of the things that Morocco could have done differently, what what should he have done? He needed his star player to make the penalty kick. Yeah.
00:49:57
Speaker
Yeah. Like, at the end of the don't I don't want to give to y'all credit for telling his team to walk off like that. Again, I'll give him credit. As I said earlier, match the dark arts with the dark arts. But like,
00:50:10
Speaker
Also, don't be so dark artsy. I don't know. like It's good. I appreciate that we were very close to all of the post-AFCON think pieces being, is the AFCON still
Closing Thoughts on AFCON's Unique Value
00:50:21
Speaker
AFCON, right? like And then AFCON just like, oh, don't you worry. We are still AFCON. We are as AFCON as ever, actually.
00:50:31
Speaker
Yeah. we just That was also just the cherry on top. They couldn't... We're both laughing. This whole podcast has just been beyond belief because AFCON did what we what we needed from our AFCON. And what we wanted and what we were looking for on, you know, January 18th, six months before World Cup. you want to play a major tournament five months before World Cup? This is what you get, right? This this is what you deserve.
00:50:54
Speaker
um A couple of days ago, a bit. Also, we haven't even gotten to Egypt nil, Nigeria nil, the third place game from Saturday. You want to get to that? I think we could get to it as much as those players got to it for 120 minutes.
00:51:09
Speaker
Most of all, played played all 90. No extra time, but played all 90. Yeah. Sure. great Great. I'm happy for them. um I think a bit when I was thinking about what we were going to on this podcast, I was expecting you know a regular final like we thought. And I said, okay, you know we can – We'll get into maybe we'll look at African teams heading towards the World Cup. That's where I thought this podcast was going to end. We're 51 minutes in. This podcast is not going to end with that because you can't.
00:51:35
Speaker
There's no pivot from Senegal walk off the pitch to for 15 minutes to, ah, how do we think Cape Verde are going to do now that they haven't featured at the AFCON? So we're going to do that show later in the future. We'll we'll do that show it in a couple of weeks time when when all this is boiled over. And we'll probably have more fallout from this that that we can talk about and bring about. Any last points you want to make about this particular game, about this particular AFCON? Do you have any more giggles for me?
00:51:59
Speaker
just Just again, because we're going to leave this going. Was it? Was it not? Edward Mendy says, did Brahim miss the penalty on purpose? No, of course not. We have to be serious. Do you really think that with one minute left and a country is waiting 50 years for a title, we can reach an agreement?
00:52:18
Speaker
He wanted to score and I deserve credit for stopping him. That's all.
00:52:23
Speaker
Point me. I'm taking my points. good That's a good answer. That's a good answer from Edouard Mendy. I can't – my only response to that is, sure, you said – no, no, no. Like, actually, like, that's – you know, i i want to I want to take the logical view all the time. And so I like that answer from Edouard Mendy.
00:52:41
Speaker
Will I go to my sleep tonight thinking that he intentionally missed it? Maybe less so. Maybe less so. But –
00:52:50
Speaker
What's beautiful is no one will ever know. What's beautiful is that we get to ask the question and that it can be a legitimate question and that we, like you said, we don't know. And that this great, crazy game that we love and this particular offshoot of it that... Somehow consistently delivers moments like this in a way that the professional club game simply can't just continues to treat us to things like this and that we could sit here and we can enjoy it. I've had a blast this AFCOM. it Like we said, it it didn't necessarily boil over until all of a sudden it really did. But even before that, I'd had a blast. I really enjoyed this tournament. I had a lot of fun.
00:53:29
Speaker
Always enjoy doing the the the podcast with you, Amit. And I'm just absolutely thrilled because we're obviously not going to get this at the World Cup in five months' time, but we are getting a World Cup in five months' time. And that always brings drama and passion and storylines and things for us to continue laughing about and giggling over and questioning and analyzing and all of that. And it is as close as it can be. And we are...
00:53:56
Speaker
getting into defining those last spots. We're going get a great intercontinental playoff. We're going to get a lot of fun anyway, and then it's going be World Cup time. And this was just the perfect appetite weather for what's to come in June. And I, so for one, certainly can't wait.
00:54:10
Speaker
I agree. This reminds us of everything we love about international football. And why made to your point, even before this game, I think we've all realized that the the knockout rounds, specifically of knock of international football in a big tournament,
00:54:22
Speaker
it's the It's the best stuff because you get the the stakes and passion that you don't always get. Not saying you never get in the other football, but that means a little bit extra. And then the and then the the tactics and talent on the field backs it up. It was really good games. And then when you bundle in the little bit of the after dark,
00:54:40
Speaker
Well, then you have our podcast. And that's why we love it. And that's why we got more. If you, like Amit, enjoy that this podcast is called World Cup After Dark and not World Cup X's O's, you can support us by becoming one of our Patreons at patreon.com slash WCAD. $3 a month helps us do what we do. You get access to subscriber-only content. There will be some subscriber-only shows heading into the March window. There will be subscriber-only shows during the World Cup itself. Get to be determined. But if you want to support what we do, you can do that. And if you'd also like to give us more support, you can rate, review, like, download, subscribe, all of that good stuff on anywhere that you get your favorite podcasting platforms. all right, that's it from us.
00:55:21
Speaker
We are bringing this AFCON to a close. We will be back soon and we will maybe get some more big picture takeaways from this AFCON at some point. But we've got to let this digest. We've got to let more fallout happen before we do that. So we'll be back in a bit with that.
00:55:34
Speaker
And then right around the corner, we've got March international playoffs, the last spots in the World Cup on the line. We will be here for that. Thank you so much for listening. We have had a great AFCON. We hope that you have had it too. And we will see you guys soon.