Cape Verde's magical run comes to an end, Plus a Round of 32 roundup

0:00Legally, we can't say drinking Storm makes you smarter and more focused. But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking, Storm. Storm. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life. Coming up, it was a game for the ages. The minnows of Cabo Bergi almost shocked the world. But Messi and Argentina managed to avoid an all-time upset in one of the most unforgettable matches the World Cup has ever seen. We'll react to all the drama on the field and off it as well as chaos ensues over a proposed scheduling change between England and Mexico that has everyone's knickers in a twist.

0:45All that and much more on ESPN FC next.

0:56Very contrasting scenes here from watch parties in Argentina. This is Buenos Aires. Once Argentina managed to get over the line and then in Playa Cabo Verde, it was heartbreak as the Blue Sharks put up quite a valiant fight against the defending champions of the World Cup, but fell short in the end. Either way, they played out an absolute thriller. And you can imagine it took headlines everywhere, especially in Argentina. These were the headlines. No puedo parar. Es un sufrimiento. It was a suffering. And that is exactly what Cabo Vergi made Argentina do, suffer. But no suffering today from us.

1:34Hello, everyone. Welcome to ESPN FC. Good morning. Happy fourth to everyone as well. Ali Krieger here to my right. We've got Don Hutchison and Shaka Hislop. I'll tell you someone who is suffering, though. Our favorite Frenchman, Julian Laurent. He's out in New York on a rooftop in some blazing hot heat. We're going to be talking to him about pretty much everything. But first, let's talk about that game. Argentina, Cabo Verde, Ali, yesterday. I did ask you if you thought Portugal, Croatia was the most entertaining game of the tournament. So far, you said yes, but this one has to be top now. Yes, this was incredible.

2:08And no game's going to be easy at this point, right? Every small margin is going to be key in how you progress into the tournament. But what an incredible performance from Cape Verde. I think that they were unbelievable. They brought their pride and the resiliency, and no one expected this to happen. Obviously, Argentina was put on their heels a little bit, a little bit surprised, potentially. They looked a little bit tired towards the end of the game. Everybody seemed like they were cramping because they were just giving Argentina everything they had. Unbelievable performance, and they should be so proud leaving this tournament the way that they did.

2:42Yeah, Argentina won, Don, but I feel like we just really need to continue talking about Cabo Verde. Correct, and the man in shot there, Cabral, with, I think, the best goal of the tournament. Yeah. And do you know what? how long has it took us about 45 seconds to shoehorn scotland into this conversation here we go again 40 who had 45 seconds on their big here we go again hey verde have just made a mockery of a very small nation of a population of about half a million no one's got the excuse anymore if you've got a population a big population how you can't have a go at the world champions and that's exactly what they've done towards the end of the game it was brilliant because they played an open game cape verde they said we're going to go toe-to-toe they It didn't go defensive.

3:23And towards the end of the game, it just was a brilliant watch because there was bodies everywhere on the pitch and everyone was completely shattered. And they can take so much pride from that performance. Yeah, Shaqan, what's interesting is that we can't just chalk it off and say it was an off day, a bad day for Argentina. They played bad. No, Capovergi took the game to them. I think they deserved all the applause that they're currently getting. They probably deserved a little bit more in terms of how this game progressed because they matched Argentina in every single department. You could sit here and say the one difference between the two is a little guy called Lionel Messi.

3:58Otherwise, Cape Verde matched Argentina in the way they pressed, in the way they played on the front foot, in taking of their goals in every single department. Now, Ali said at this stage of the competition, there are no easy games. If ever there should have been, it was this one. No bigger discrepancy in terms of the FIFA rankings between the two teams. Yet, Kev Verde, watching this game, at no point was that evident. And I will finish by saying, until somebody tells me differently, but I'll be honest, nobody can tell me differently. Kev Verde, if you want this work up. Yeah. Well, they haven't lost.

4:38In 90 minutes, they haven't lost. Here's the thing I think about. This tournament will play out. They'll crown a winner. There'll be a golden boot and a golden glove and all that. And those will go down in the journals of history. But you cannot tell the story of the 2026 World Cup. Dare I say, you can no longer tell the story of World Cups without mentioning Cape Verde. 100%. And we know Julien Laron's France's recent history in World Cup with Argentina. So I don't think anybody was cheering louder for Cabo Verde than you were in this game. but Jules, what an entertaining affair it was. Yeah, incredible.

5:19I mean, I just agree with everything the guys just said. It was fantastic. It's good to see a team like Cap Verde go Argentina, and it's probably even harder when you go behind. When you take the lead and then you try to defend your lead, but twice they go behind, twice they come back. That second goal from Cabral is incredible. I think the best for me, the goal is outstanding, and I agree with her. She's the goal of the tournament so far. but it's the celebration who goes in the stands after scoring who goes and looks for the girlfriend he's a man in love and is there waiting I tell you what you would he's a man in love if he wanted to he would as a Frenchman you know what Alex as a Frenchman as a Frenchman as romantic as we are this is the best celebration I've ever seen in my whole life credit to him even if it was a bit awkward but credit to him but credit to Cap Verde as well for everything they did through this tournament I don't the best thing about the celebration was I don't think it was pre-planned.

6:14No. It looked like completely off the cuff. Who pre-plans that? Who pre-plans dropping inside, picking one top corner, and then let me run into the crowd and look for my girlfriend? We don't pre-plan that. We love it. We're all romantics here at this table, so we absolutely loved that celebration as well. Ali, I'm sure you loved it. Yeah, it was brilliant. It was the goal of the tournament for me as well. I mean, it was so unpredictable in that moment. I mean, you could see that they were just putting Argentina on their heels and they wanted that goal so bad. It was incredible. And then to see that reaction, the fans just lit up in his family and his partner, obviously.

6:51So wonderful. I mean, I think we've all watched that goal go in in slow motion a couple of times because it truly was a thing of beauty. But if we're talking Cabo Vergi, we cannot not talk about Vozinha. Yeah, Shaka, let's give the big man, the goalkeeper, his flowers because once again, he showed up and he showed out for his country. And what's even interesting is that, yes, he bows out of the World Cup. Yes, he's 41 years old. He's a free agent now, Shaka. I'm wondering how long that will stay because he really has been one of the best stories of the tournament. It really has been. 40 years old.

7:23You mentioned, Alexis, free agent. We see who takes that chance, whichever way. it's a club marketer's dream to have Vizinha whoever decides to have it it's a dream for them I will say though, 40 years old Vizinha, obviously because it's Kevverde's first World Cup, making his debut at the World Cup, announced himself in the first game against Spain you wonder if it was a one-off could he keep that momentum? could Kevverde keep that momentum? and they did, and it culminated in this game against Argentina, against that guy Lionel Messi, and Silva Zinia was equal to that. Absolute credit to him, credit to his story, credit to the team, credit to their story for everything that they brought.

8:12Because, again, I will continue to say you cannot tell the story of World Cups without now including Cape Verde in that discussion. Shaq, I thought you'd be a bit jealous that, you know, because we have to compare him to your World Cup performance. but he said that you would get the nod over him for us. No, no, he blew my work on the water on the first day. That was long gone. All right, well, someone who still keeps blowing records and milestones out of the water is this man, Lionel Messi. No surprise, there are just a couple of the milestones that he's passing now. First player in World Cup history to score in eight consecutive appearances.

8:49First player to score seven-plus goals in two FIFA World Cups. He's the first man to make 30-plus appearances at the FIFA World Cup and the first player to score 20 career World Cup goals, just extending his own FIFA World Cup record. All right, here's a look at the bracket. Now that the round of 32 is all said and done, this is how the round of 16 is looking. But before we get into the round of 16, let's give the round of 32 its flowers, shall we? Because it has absolutely delivered. Look at some of the results that we had. And Jules, there was so much criticism heading into this World Cup about extra teams coming in that we thought were just going to be wiped off of the pitch.

9:31But looking at the results, all the drama that we saw from the round of 32, it's delivered. Incredible. Really, of those 14 games, 10 at least had some incredible ending or some drama into it, some suspense at the end, like a thrilling ending or a massive twist somewhere like in the Belgium-Senegal game, for example. I don't want anybody to hear, I don't want to hear again anybody saying, oh, we should not have gone to 48. This is not a good idea. Look at some of the teams in this tournament. They've always been some weaker side in World Cups, even at 32 before, even at 24 before. It's just normal.

10:10Not everybody can be as good as Argentina or France or teams like that. But I think this showed that even if the third place's qualifications looked a bit awkward at times because you had to wait to see if you were through or not and it was the same for your fans, etc. I get that. But look at the games we've had in that round of 32. And then look at the game of last 16 that are planned as well. We've got some very exciting games. And again, I think it will be very dramatic again. And I hate to make this about Scotland again, but Don, they definitely would be ruining missing out on what was a stunning round of 32.

10:42What stood out to you? Well, as Jules was chatting there, I was thinking about the Italians. They couldn't even make it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, how embarrassing is that? I think I'm with Jules. I think, I mean, I'm 100 % with Jules in terms of the 48 tournament. Yeah. I think 100 % I'm with that. I think it's been sensational and a great addition. I do feel for Senegal in that bracket there when you see the games that went on, how they didn't see it through, I'll never know. But it feels like now in the last sort of three, four, five days, it's like business end. and it does feel now like every other game is you win or you go home and that's what's making for great entertainment because everyone that's playing is leaving everything on the pitch.

11:18It's not like match day one where you can afford to have a 0-0 draw or a 1-1 draw or a 1-0 loss. Now it's you better perform. It's your last chance at a tournament and boy, we've seen it. Can I also say, I hold my hands up. I'm one of those that Jules mentioned who when this 48-team tournament was announced, I thought it was diluting the tournament too much. I wondered about some of those big scorelines that you might see and how that would affect the game. We've had one big scoreline, a 7-1. Now it's Curacao against Germany. And then even then, Curacao covered themselves in glory with a draw and won, I think it was a 2-0 loss, to finish off the tournament.

11:56The entire group stage, while you're figuring out who's first and second and who qualifies, there were some incredible romance stories in the group stage. Then you get to the knockout stage and you see how tight all those games are. The only two that were comfortable were Spain, Austria and France, Sweden. I will also mention this. You have Gartuso. You mentioned this. Gartuso coming out after Italy don't qualify to chastise everybody else in the rest of the world and to make some kind of ridiculous argument about greater European presence in the tournament, I doubled down. He had a pop at Sweden, didn't he?

12:39Yeah. He didn't win a game in the qualification. Rightly so. But my point being, for all Gartusos, questioning about everybody else and African representation in this tournament, it's two European teams who are heaviest defeated in the round of 32. It speaks to the value of this tournament. It speaks to the value of international football and how people almost transform, lift their respective games when they push on a national team shoot. That's what you've seen all tournament long. It's almost like a level of arrogance where people say, no, these teams shouldn't be allowed in. We want to see the Argentinas and the Brazils and the names that you've been used to watching over the last 50 or so years.

13:22You have to give people the opportunity. And it's not just the opportunity. I mean, teams, you know, have qualified rightly so, top of their groups, have earned the right to get here. You know, Cape Verde topped their group, I think, in qualification or close to it. They earned the right to get here. It's not like they went through a back door and someone said, I will do you a favor and we'll give you a chance. You're a rest of that as well. Exactly. I would know. They've absolutely earned it. I think that just from a player's perspective, when you get to these moments in this round now where you see a lot of these results and a lot of these upsets, I'm thinking to myself, well, I better show up today.

13:55I better play my best because this could be us. And I think that that, you know, from a player's perspective, that really puts fire underneath you to want to get out and perform well because you never know. That could be you if you're not going to step up. And, you know, as long as you don't get complacent and you show up, I mean, anything is possible since we've seen. Yeah, they do call the World Cup the greatest show on earth, and it is definitely showing why it is. Right. As I said, Argentina Cabo Verde, that thriller had everybody talking. Just listen to what our boys from ESPN FC had to say last night at the full-time whistle.

14:25Craig, we've sat and we've watched thousands of games together. I don't know if we've seen anything quite like that before. No, I think in defeat, probably the best performance of the tournament by some stretch. Karl Brau scored a goal that I think even just talking about it now gives you goosebumps, because you couldn't quite believe what you were seeing. We all jumped. We are completely neutral, but we all jumped because of the beauty of the goal that we saw. That was insane. It was just incredible to witness and it was just emotional, really, gutted for them. absolutely gutted that they couldn't at least go to penalties.

14:58This wasn't, you know, he's parking the bus and catching teams on the counter. No, no, no. This was a team playing attractive, stylish football. The World Champions were hanging on against Cape Verde. That's where we are. They were hanging on against Cape Verde for their life. Well, for the full show, make sure to check out ESPN FC. It is available on ESPN Plus right now. After the break, we're talking scheduling and altitude ahead of Mexico against England.

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16:30It's why Shopify has the best converting checkout on the planet. Your customers already love it. If you want to see less carts being abandoned, it's time for you to head over to Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash network. Go to Shopify.com slash network. Shopify.com slash network. Save money on your next oil change with O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Get a$15 O 'Reilly gift card after rebate when you buy five quarts of Mobile One full synthetic motor oil for just$35.95. Stop by your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Welcome back to ESPN FC. Now, headlines about a potential reschedule for England's game against Mexico took over their papers yesterday.

17:22Now, a lot of England fans went to bed UK time thinking that their game against Mexico would be moved to hours earlier. But then last night, news broke that there would be no change and things would stand as you were. Now, if we're going to talk about anything, Mexico, we have to bring in the legend that is John Sutcliffe. John, thank you so much for being here with us. And I just want you to explain what the discussions were about and why a schedule change was even considered. Buenos dias. It's been some interesting Mexico City news, Mexican national team news. Yesterday, around 10 in the morning, three sources told me that because of the concern the city of Mexico, the authorities had of fan safety, all the fiesta, all the celebrating around the street of Reforma, the Angel of Independence, they asked FIFA if they could reschedule and change the time of the game on Sunday.

18:23Instead of 6 p.m., it was noon. My sources tell me that FIFA agreed to the change. but then the information was filtered on social media and there was some backlash and FIFA didn't like about it. At the same time, the head coach, Javier Aguirre, came out on a radio station to give a very weird interview, like saying, hey, I'm not happy. If they're doing these changes, it's also going to affect me. But if FIFA changes that, I agree upon. I can tell you that any coach who's ever played a game in Estadio Azteca would love to have their rival played at noon. The altitude, the smog. So then it was agreed upon that FIFA said, I'll change, I'll reschedule.

19:14But they didn't like the backlash. So they never came out and said anything because FIFA didn't like what happened. And the game sticks on, stays at 6 p.m. So that's a reality that they're never going to say publicly that FIFA agreed upon with Estadio Azteca and the Mexican authorities to change the game. At the end of the game, there are also some other things. If you put the game at noon, that's 7 p.m. in UK time, prime time. So the BBC could probably sell more ads three times more. So there were a lot of different aspects of changing this game. But at the end of the day, nothing happened. The game's going to play at 6 p.m.

19:58locally. The England team is happy about it because it would have been a huge difference. I can tell you when Roger Federer came to Mexico to play tennis or Tiger Woods came to play golf, at noon, the smog, the altitude, it affects. So I think if you're talking about on the pitch of fairness, it's good the game stayed at 6 p.m. because it would have been a huge advantage to the Mexican team, even though the excuse was, let's change it because of fan security. All right, John, I definitely want to talk about altitude because for those of us in the CONCACAF region, we are absolutely used to it, especially when it comes to playing in Mexico.

20:40But I think it's obviously a new discovery for everyone in the British media. So talk to me about the altitude there and what to expect at the Estadio Azteca. Why is it such a big talking point when we're playing in Mexico? What happens, I've lived all my life in Mexico City, and I'm used to the altitudes. But 7 ,000 feet, I can tell you that about 25 % of your breathing is affected, especially in the middle of the day. I saw it with Ecuador in the second half. Anybody who plays in Estadio Azteca can feel the altitude. Any athlete that comes to perform in Mexico City. So it is an advantage. It's not a coincidence that the last time Mexico won a win or go home game in the World Cup was 40 years ago.

21:35Where was it? At Estadio Azteca. I can tell you Pumas, one of the teams from Liga MX, loves to play at noon every Sunday in Mexico City because they know it's acute advantage. Some of the MLS teams that have come to play in Toluca or Estadio Azteca, they feel it. So it is, it's like going to play in La Paz in Bolivia. Unless you've never experienced, you don't realize what's going on. So even though the game's at 6 o 'clock, Harry Kane and the rest of the English team, they're going to suffer. It's not the same. It is a huge advantage for the Mexican team. You have to come to Mexico City and start breathing to realize what effect it has on you.

22:18Well, like I said, us from the CONCACAF region, we're used to it. But Don, you've actually played in altitude as well. Yeah, I went to Salt Lake City and played. We've done a preseason there, actually. And to John's point, I think everyone in England on the British Isles of just thinking altitude is just a word. It's just an excuse. I promise you when you try and train and play at altitude, it literally takes your breath away. We were scheduled on the first day we got there just to do some box-to-box runs, and it was just scheduled at four to six runs. We were breathing after two, like you wouldn't believe.

22:49The morning after, it got more tricky. It was meant to be about 20 box-to-box runs on a pre-season fitness trip. We got to about six, seven, eight. and the coach and the doctors were like, literally these guys, you just can't get oxygen into your bloodstream. So for the English players with three days, two and a half days to try and acclimatise, it's impossible. You need about 10 days. So fitness is going to be key. From Thomas Tuchel's point of view and a tactical point of view, he's going to have to utilise his squad. He's going to have to put an 11 out there that might just last 45 minutes.

23:20Then four or five, that's going to have to come off the bench because that first 11, I promise you, cannot play 90 minutes at altitude. Chaka, that's why we hear England's drinking a lot of beetroot juice. Okay. Apparently it does something to your blood cells so that they open up. It allows things to dilate so your blood can flow more and more freely. This is sounding like excuses. It sounds like England's rattled. No, I wouldn't say it sounded like excuses. Right now it's sounding like England trying to find a way to cope. Because I'm with Don here. This is extremely difficult. This is a really difficult proposition going to play at altitude.

23:56I've done that with Triantabago. We had oxygen tanks on the sidelines. Never mind hydration breaks. We had oxygen breaks. Right? Whenever there's a break in play, you see players just running over to the bench to have a drag on oxygen. That is how difficult it is from just a breathing perspective and keeping maintaining your tempo. And while you can breathe and you might be able to do one or two runs, as Don was mentioning, but you cannot recover because you're just not getting enough oxygen in. I spoke about this a couple of days ago. Similarly, for us, when we play there, because it's at altitude, the ball is flying just a little bit further.

24:35And in a game where inches makes a whole lot of difference, you play a 40-yard pass, all of a sudden it goes 45 or nearly 50 yards. Those things are telling from a footballing perspective as well. So it's doubly difficult to make that adjustment to go to altitude. And you've also played. Yeah, I think two things can be true at once, though, because we played in Denver in altitude, and I agree with Dawn. Ten days isn't even enough, but we only were there for seven, and we were gassed. And that's the U.S. women's national team being gassed, and that's almost unheard of because we were very fit. And then on the other side, they knew about this tournament in Mexico City for years.

25:13And so I think knowing the conditions are going to be that, I think preparations, It shouldn't just be a surprise that all of a sudden you only have two or three days in between in order to be able to fit within the altitude and what's expected of you. So I'm a bit, I'm a bit, you know, this is a part of the tournament. This is what you chose in one of the cities to be to play in. So I think those two things can be can be true. Yeah, definitely. And John. I just want to add two things different from Salt Lake or Denver. The smog in Mexico City is also another factor. And covering golf or tennis also here in Mexico City, the higher a ball goes, there's less friction.

25:58So the ball goes further. So you'll see how the English team is going to have to adjust to those long passes. Suddenly you hit it. It's like a pitching wedge. You hit the ball and it goes a lot further and you can't believe how long that ball, that football just fly. So you also have to adjust. Today, England's going to train in Pumas, where Pumas usually trains. And they're going to have to adjust to that because there is a difference on the way you hit the football because just the altitude is so different. So those are the little things. And then if you add the adrenaline, the pressure of 90 ,000 fans, that Mexico hasn't allowed a goal, it's going to be very interesting.