England come out on top at the Azteca, Norway stun Brazil

0:00Gab Marcotti here for Gusto. Right now, everyone is trying to run leaner, tighter budgets, smaller teams, higher expectations. Now, the last thing you have time to waste on is manual payroll or chasing down an HR form. Gusto is how small business owners get time back when every hour counts. Gusto is online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use. So you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. automatic payroll tax filing simple direct deposits health benefits commuter benefits workers comp 401k you name it gusto makes it simple and has options for nearly every budget and it's all built to save your time with built-in automated tools for offer letters onboarding docs direct deposit and more plus you get unlimited payroll runs for one monthly price No hidden fees, no surprises.

0:58Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash FC and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash FC. One more time, gusto.com slash FC. Coming up, this World Cup keeps delivering the drama. An epic ad the Azteca has England and their fans believing it really might be coming home. And home is where the sellers' south find themselves after being dumped out by a group of pillaging Vikings. Plus, the Stars and Stripes ready themselves for their biggest game ever on home soil. And might tonight be Ronaldo's final appearance on the globe's biggest stage?

1:44ESPN FC is next.

1:52Oh, this World Cup keeps on delivering and delivering. We shall do for you today right here on ESPN FC. Ali Krieger and Alejandro Moreno alongside myself, Kay Murray, looking back on everything that happened yesterday, including England's win over Mexico in Mexico City. Even with the one-hour rain delay, the fans stayed up late back in Manchester, England. It was 2 a.m. that it kicked off, and you can see the celebrations. They will have gone on well into the morning. in, you can know that there will have been a few sore heads and a few people calling in sick to work today. But our guys have turned up here.

2:28We have Adrian Healy and we've got Steve McManaman, who's joining us from Valencia in Spain. But I must start with you, Adrian, because you were actually there in the stadium last night. Tell us about it. Oh, my goodness, Kay. What a night. You know, the phrase the morning after the night before gets used a lot, doesn't it? But this is this. This just feels like the ultimate example example to me with that stadium right behind me the aztec and my first ever visit here on a on a pure guttural raw emotional level this was this was one of the best nights ever as a follower of england it has to be i mean uh what they went in and did in the in the in the den behind me it was uh i have to say immense absolutely immense you can maybe pick some holes with various aspects of the performance, and I'm sure we will, but as an overall team collective, to have the willpower to get through that test last night was just awesome to be here to witness.

3:28Yeah, Maka, you were up even later because you're in Spain right now. Tell me what you made of Jude Bellingham's performance on the night. Well, he was magnificent, wasn't he? He was a leader, Kay. Like they all were. It was a different type of performance last night, wasn't it, compared to others that we've seen. They had to dig in. they had to be resilient, they had to be tough mentally, physically, it was draining on them. But Jude led the way, you can't believe that, what, four weeks ago we were talking about whether he should be even in the starting 11. Well, I certainly wasn't, I knew he should have been in the starting 11, but people were questioning his relationship with the manager.

4:01But of course, England haven't got many world-class players, Jude Bellingham is one of them, so he has to start, he has to play, and it was no surprise that he led from the front, him and Harry Kane, but particularly this man in shot now, I thought he was absolutely excellent yet again. What did you call it, Ali, to me when we came in today, this performance? I said it was wild, but dialed. Okay. All right. All right. You're bringing it today. But tell me, tell me how you saw it and what you saw with these players too. Yeah, it was an incredible atmosphere. Obviously, you've seen, you know, Mexico has been lucky to play there consistently.

4:34But to have an England team with all the controversy around, you know, the play and the time change and the atmosphere and everything that could have gone against them. And they just put that noise aside and really focused on the task at hand and controlled what they were able to control, which was getting themselves in good positions to score goals and to be relentless until the very end, especially down a man. But what about that defensive performance that saw them through to the end with 11 minutes of added time too and a man down? Yeah, and Gay and Konza, I love them as the centre-back pair.

5:05And I think they've been really, really good and really controlled the game from the back, which really helped the attack have as many chances as they created. So that was wonderful to see, and they were consistent and compact. And I think at times you would see five defenders in the back, along with Pickford, who was also brilliant. It was an unbelievable team performance, complete performance for me. I think England showed themselves, never mind us, because truly we're not important in this, but England showed themselves something that I don't know if they knew for certain that they had. togetherness and toughness because you can talk it you can speak out loud and say out to the people no we're together and there is toughness within this group there's character within this group but then you got to go and show it and men did they show it so for all the tactics and all the things that we might have talked about going into this match and the altitude and this and that and the other what England showed goes beyond all of that and I think that's the important part here that they showed themselves something that they are world-class players individually.

6:08They have world-class players on that team. What they have now is world-class belief that they can do this. They went into a place where they were not expected to compete because of the altitude. Well, imagine the altitude when you are a man down, even worse. And yet you see these guys running around defending for their lives together, doing it together, and this brings a locker room. If it wasn't together before, it's together now. And it makes them a whole lot more dangerous going forward in this tournament. And Thomas Tuchel is proving to be decisive. Maka, how impressed are you with this side overall after like last night showing?

6:46Well, as I said, last night was a different test for England. You know, against DR Congo, they were favourites. They had the majority of the ball. Last night was a defensive display, as Ali said, because of the circumstances of game. Jarrell Kwanzaa getting sent off. So they had to do it a different way. against Norway it'll be a completely different game and they may be favourites they may dominate possession they may be the ones who have to be more creative than the other side so I think you just I mean it is very very much a cliche I'm very impressed with Thomas Tuchel I always have been you know I know him very well and when he was manager of Chelsea I was impressed by him and his CV so coming into the England job I was always backing him but it'll be a different type of performance now against Norway they may have to create they may be they may have to overpower Norway in a different type of way so you just have to take it literally game by game they're only in the quarter finals we fully expected them to get this far well I certainly did and now the test begins I was thrilled a bit with yesterday's performance but it was a different style of performance it was a different type of performance it was great because you need every type of performance to win the World Cup but the games will get harder they'll have to do things now which sets them apart from the opposition and that's what I'm really looking forward to.

7:59But it's no surprise to me at this moment in time that I'm sitting here talking to yourselves. I mean, I'm coming over to the States on Wednesday, so I fully appreciated and expected England to be where they are in the last eight. And this is where I start to get really excited because I want more from them. As brilliant as yesterday was, with all the things going against them, as you and Ali and Ali have just said, the altitudes, the penalties, the red card, etc., etc. Now is where it gets tough because if they go out in the quarterfinals, it'll still be a bit of a damp squib for everybody back home.

8:34So they have to really step it up now and move forward, recover, get to Miami, get the fans behind and go again. Yeah, Dan Byrne coming on in the 75th minute. That's something I want to talk to you about, Adrian, because he raised a few of the Mexican eyebrows, those around you who didn't know who this player was. yeah I mean a lot of the Mexican journalists who perhaps don't as watch as much Premier League as as we do uh ask me after the game who was that who was that giraffe who came on he looked like he was an NBA player but he he was he was massively impressive in his first first ever World Cup minutes let's not forget in in this environment he and John Stones that was that was a tactical masterpiece by Thomas Tuchel to to shut up shop when he did at the time sitting there in the stadium, I was like, oh my goodness, there is no way they can hang on for what ended up being nearly half an hour, 25 minutes with the 11 minutes of stoppage time.

9:30But resetting as he did at that final hydration break, bringing Dan Byrne on, John Stones too, they both played pivotal roles. And in the end, for all the pressure that Mexico applied, there weren't that many opportunities, were there? I think in the end, England defended, even though it didn't feel like it in the stadium with what was surrounding it. I think England defended so well that they restricted those chances to Mexico to come back one final time. And Dan Pern played a massive, in every sense of the word, part. Yeah, it was an epic. It was one for the ages, wasn't it, Marco? When you think back to famous away wins for England, especially in major tournaments, this has got to be right up there, hasn't it?

10:09Yeah, I mean, I saw people talking about the greatest ever performance. I wouldn't go that far. There's nothing like getting carried away the day after the event. but the Mexican performances at the Azteca, as we know, as you can clearly see, have been fantastic. So this, alongside everything, was a great defensive performance, but I don't want to keep pouring cold water on it. That's all it was. It's quite easy to take forwards off and put more centre-halves on and then defend your goal. We've seen it before. We've seen Cape Verde do it against Spain at the beginning of this tournament. That can be achievable.

10:44and the Mexican forward line, with all respect to them, is not the greatest Mexican forward line we've seen in a while. So I fully expected England to defend their way out. I just want to keep on moving forward now, improving our performances. Great defensive performance yesterday. Let's go forward. Let's beat Norway with a great creative performance. And then it starts getting exciting because then we're talking about semifinals and finals where you're going to have to meet the likes of Argentina if they get there, etc. Spain or France and they're the big games but going into this round of 32 and 16, once the fixtures came out, I fully expected England to beat DR Congo and I expected them to beat Mexico, albeit this was a harder way of doing it with 10 men for such a long time but I fully expected them to do it, I expect them to beat Norway, that's how confident I am in England's 11, England's 14 and I just want to keep on being excited about about what I'm seeing.

11:44The road ends here, though, for Mexico, Ali Moreno. How do you assess their World Cup? Well, if you are the crowd that believes in moral victories, orange slices, juice boxes, and everybody gets a trophy, then you look at this as a good World Cup for Mexico. I don't know, you may be surprised, Kate, but I'm not part of that crowd. You're Mexico, and see, there you go. The newspaper, gracias, Mexico. Look, they had an opportunity here. all the conversation going into this game against England this is where we want England at Estadio Azteca, in the altitude, the pollution, the smog you had all of those things plus you were a man up for most of the second half and you were not able to break through so for me the ceiling for Mexico would have been right around here coming into the tournament that's where I figured they would end their competition but given their performances initially in the competition and particularly against Ecuador, you're thinking, maybe, maybe.

12:44They were thinking maybe. They were thinking quarterfinals, yes, here we come. And once again, Mexico come up short. When it really counts, when it really matters. Yes, it's a good field story, but moral victories don't get you anywhere. Knockout competition, Mexico gone. Well, I feel it's an opportunity missed. Yeah, I do, because they were in the Azteca for multiple games and they had their home crowd behind them. They didn't really have to travel as much. and I think that right in these moments now in the tournament, there's small margins. I just don't think defensively they were good enough in order to continue through the tournament.

13:19If you're not able to capitalize on those defensive opportunities to make plays and to defend the goal well and a lot better than they did against England, then you can't move on to the next round because it's in England. It takes John Stones getting subbed in and then immediately tackling inside the 18-yard box and making a point, proving that they're ready for battle and that they're ready to be resilient. I didn't see that from Mexico. And even on the other end of the field, they just weren't as clinical as they should have been. So, no, I don't think they should have moved on. And I don't know.

13:54Maybe, you know, with their injured players before the tournament, maybe, you know, without those season-ending injuries, we might have seen a different Mexico. But, no, they don't deserve it. England had a better performance. And to your point, Ali, you cannot be a man up and give up a penalty and give up a goal. And that's where Mexico works. And that in itself is just, you kind of go, well, you can't keep doing this to yourself and expect to come back against a team in England that, let's face it, individually, men for men, on paper, they are far superior to Mexico. The great equalizer here is the fact that they were playing in Mexico City, that they were Estadio Azteca.

14:29but when you needed to see real quality from players, you saw it from Jude Bellingham or you saw it from Harry Kane. It wasn't a performance from England in which they were creating a bunch of chances. They were under pressure for a lot of the 90 minutes but in moments in which they needed quality, England had that, Mexico did not. Yeah, but now Adrian, you are moving on and it's back to Miami for you, my friend. Oh, I hope so, Kate. Okay, that would be just lovely. We'll put in a good word. Yeah, yeah. One final word on Mexico here. I mean, I got to witness for myself why they have one of the best home stadium advantages in all of sports.

15:12I think it's fair to say that that crowd yesterday I was in amongst them was just terrific. They gave me a couple of beer showers for both Mexico goals, so I have that. I hope it was beer. As a memento. I think it was beer, Ali. I think it was. But honestly, they just, I mean, si se puede. Yes, we can. They chant. I mean, the wall of noise doesn't stop from minute one to minute 90. They are unquestioning. They never kind of doubt anything about their team, even if other fan bases might go, well, why are this team just slinging in crosses? They didn't. They believed they were going to get back into that right until the 101st minute.

15:47And then when the final whistle sounds, the volume ends. So it's amazing support here. It was fantastic to witness it. But on we go. I love that from you, Adrian. Learning Spanish as you go as well. Mac, a final thought from you. Well, I'm just, I mean, I'm glad that England's still in the competition, Kay. Of course I am. And really looking forward to Norway. Everybody, you know, has got their own individual battles. We all know it'll be the Haaland against whoever plays Kons and whoever plays at England because he's in such good form. But everybody knows each other, you know, Erdegaard against Declan Rice, teammates.

16:24made so loads of little subplots when they play Norway but England will go in probably favourites again it's in Miami there'll be a good crowd base and let's hope we get a real exceptional performance but as far as I'm concerned this is where they get sexy this is where the tournament starts I'm looking forward to Spain Portugal tonight later on in the day as I said I'm in Spain at this moment in time and then I can't wait to come over to the US on Wednesday to see you all and hopefully England marching on. Yeah we can't wait to see you either Maka. There's nothing quite as sexy as Macca from a hotel room in Spain.

16:57That's sexy. It's even sexier when he's right here in the studio with us. Can't wait to have you, Macca. Can't wait to have you here. We'll be seeing you very soon here on The Morning Show. And thank you so much, Adrian. Si se puede, Adrian. We will put in that good word to get you back to Miami. Make sure to join the crew tonight. 10 p.m. Eastern. ESPN2 will have you covered looking back on all the day's games, including the conclusion to USA taking on Belgium. But when we return, we've got to talk about Norway venturing into areas they've never done before. Thanks to Erling Haaland.

17:38Look, the economy is a lot right now. And if you're a small business owner, you probably feel it. You can't control interest rates or tariffs, but you can control how efficiently your business operates. Automating payroll and HR with Gusto is one of the fastest ways to cut friction and focus on what actually moves the needle. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere. It's quick and simple to switch to Gusto. Just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast.

18:16Plus, don't pay a cent until you run your first payroll and get direct access to certified HR experts to help support you through any tough HR situation. There's a reason Gusto is ranked number one on G2's highest satisfaction products list for 2026 and trusted by over 400 ,000 small businesses. Try Gusto today at gusto.com slash FC and get three-month free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash FC. One more time, gusto.com slash FC. Buster Olney here for La Quinta by Wyndham. Summer work travel can feel like extra innings, long days, late nights, and not a lot of room to stretch out, especially when your hotel room feels more like the dugout than the clubhouse.

19:09But when you stay at La Quinta by Wyndham, you can step up to spacious suites that give you room to relax, recharge, and get ready for the next day. I always feel like I need that when I'm traveling on the road covering ballgames. Plus, you can earn Wyndham Rewards points with every qualified stay. Because when you've got space to unwind, you're always playing at your best. Tonight, La Quinta. Tomorrow, you shine. Book your next work trip at LaQuinta.com. Terms and conditions apply.

19:42Norway knocked five times champions Brazil out of the tournament yesterday and made history by advancing to a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time ever. Erling Haaland the man that led his side to victory with two goals. Orjan Nylander in goal putting in a monstrous effort between the sticks and an emotional Yanagafyarov speaking on YouTube after the game. My wife has told me when When you get older, you will be easier to get tears. And I've been in tears. I don't think that people from bigger nations can understand how much this means for us. Man of the match today was Arjan Nuland. He has played seven games for Sevilla this season.

20:20Left back, we have a reserve from Wolverhampton Wanderers. Sander Berger, Patrick Berg, Sheldrup, Oskar Bob. So don't come with this that Brazil can't get something out of the play. And thank God have we seen at this World Cup that the teams that want to do things, want to go forward, are winning. Look at Brazil. Adios. Look at Germany. Auf Wiedersehen. They have the biggest respect of Angelotti. But today he was big time overcoached by a Norwegian called Stoller Solbaken, period. Preach and preach. OK, Ale, take us through these Portuguese papers, Brazilian papers. What a deception. Geração fracassada.

21:05Failed generation. Acabou. It ended. But my best one is over there. Era Garrincha. Era Pelé. Era Romário. Era Ronaldo. Esa era. Yeah. Here is Ronaldo O Phenomeno on the exit. Tonight, Ancelotti made too many mistakes. I still do not understand why João Pedro is not part of this squad. Hendrik spent most of the World Cup on the bench. I do not understand that. This has not been a good World Cup for Vinicius Jr. Norway deserved their victory, but Brazil helped with poor decisions even before the match began. Okay, Gustavo Hoffman. Gustavo, last week we invited you on for once to talk positively about Brazil.

21:47But as we know, usually it's your lovely face that we see when things aren't going well for Brazil. And that's certainly the case today, my friend. Your reaction to what we saw last night? Hello, okay, good morning, good morning, Ali, Ali. Well, a huge disappointment for Brazil, for sure. A huge disappointment because everybody was expecting at least, at least the quarterfinals against England. This was the expectation in Brazil. Everybody was believing at Ancelotti's capacity to take this team forward. But yesterday, of course, it was a really disappointment for all the fans in Brazil. I think that Brazil lost to a team that has a bunch of excellent players and one player that decided a match.

22:34Of course, that Brazil. I think that Brazil... I think that yesterday Antielo had some bad decisions, especially with Neymar. To bring Neymar to the game at that point, Brazil lost the ball possession. Brazil lost the capacity to pressure high the Norway team. So I think that Carlos Celote is one of the best managers ever, of course, but yesterday he unfortunately had some bad decisions. The best players of Brazil also didn't have a good game. So I think that now Brazil needs to restart the cycle, because everything that happened over these last four years was probably the worst ever cycle of work with the Brazilian national team.

23:19Carlo Ancelotti was called in the last year and now we're gonna need four more years with four more good work from Ancelotti to believe again that this team can become a contender. Like I said last week, I was believing that the team could become a contender match to match. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Gustavo, talk to us about the penalty. Bruno Guimaraes taking the penalty was saved. Why was it him and what's the talk been afterwards?

23:51Okay. He's done. He's had enough. That's been a big turning point, it would seem, in this game, Ali. Well, and according to reports, they did their math and they did their calculations and research and said that Bruno Guimaraes was the best penalty kick taker that was on the field, and so therefore he was the one to take it. I don't see much drama with that. I don't see what the problem is with that. There are other issues with Brazil, other issues, and other issues that started well before this competition even began. The moment you decided to bring Neymar with you to the World Cup, you were in trouble.

24:25Now, I'm not just saying that now. I've been saying this for months leading into this competition. And there have been other people in this panel, Hercules Gomez, that have defended Neymar over and over and over again. And here you have it. And here's the problem. And because people like Hercules may not be able to see the big picture. So I'll provide the big picture. The decisions made by Carlo Ancelotti yesterday in bringing Neymar and the decisions made to bring him into the World Cup condition what this team does on the field. Conditions what Vinny Jr. does on the field. When you bring Neymar in, everybody's playing for Neymar.

24:59For a guy that is not fit. For a guy that is not what he once was. And they are now conceding the ball and yielding to Neymar and saying, now you problem solved for us. And if you were to watch Brazil yesterday, who was the one player that could get after somebody in a 1v1 situation, which he did often enough, was Vinny Jr. Now he's no longer participating nearly as much because Neymar has to have the ball. You have made that decision. You have made that problem for yourself in bringing Neymar onto this World Cup. When this team was winning games in the group stage and Neymar was still injured, The crowds in the stadium were asking for Neymar to come on the field.

25:41You did this to yourself, Carlo Ancelotti. You did this to yourself, Brazil. You have conditioned decisions because Neymar now had to be on the field. And the second leading goal scorer in the Premier League this year, Igor Tiago, on the bench when you need to score a goal late in a match. How does that make sense? And Neymar playing down the middle, but not really because he's coming to the ball to get the ball deep. That is just tactically wrong from Carlo Ancelotti. but it was wrong from the very beginning. This was poison from the very beginning. Where do you stand on the Neymar factor, Gustavo?

26:12You're back with us. Well, Neymar yesterday announced his retirement from international football, so we won't see Neymar again with the Brazilian national team. No, I definitely agree with Ali. I think that the decision to bring Neymar to the World Cup was a very bad decision from Carlo Ancelotti. And yesterday, after what we were seeing in the pitch, what's happening in the game, I really don't believe that Neymar was the best option. We had some other better options, maybe. I think that he really conditions everything that is happening around him. And as I said, I think that with Neymar, Brazil lost the ball possession, and including we have some FIFA graphics showing that.

26:54Brazil lost the ball possession and also lost the capacity of pressing high. So yesterday definitely was not a good decision from Mancelotti. Can I give you another example? The through ball that Vinny Jr. plays to Hendrick. Hendrick playing through the middle, right? One-v-one situation which Hendrick should have scored. He does not. But minutes later, Neymar comes on the field, and now Hendrick is playing out wide right. You had your best chance going through the middle, through Hendrick, into space. And now you say, no, no, no, no, no. See, we don't like one-v-one situations going against a goalkeeper, so we'll put him out here and have Neymar play through the middle, which means that you're playing with nobody through the middle.