Gab and Juls Show: England Stumble against Ghana

25:21Julien Laurens:What's funny is that this game started at 11 p.m. French time and obviously finished really late the next day. So it's the first time ever we had a France game that was over two days, which is crazy in itself. And yet, apparently, according to French television emcees who were broadcasting the game, they still had 5 million people at 2 a.m. in the morning back home to watch that second half. So credit to them as well for staying up or maybe for not sleeping, considering the heat wave is hitting Europe right now. Yeah. By the way, quick, quick thing on this. Some Norwegian colleagues asked me about this.

25:54It's like there's obviously some fantastic stadiums, some fantastic NFL stadiums here in the U.S. But we're not used to football stadiums where or playing football in stadiums where the fans are not covered. And people ask me, why don't they do it at NFL games? I was in Foxborough. That's not covered. Obviously, the lengths aren't covered. I didn't have a good answer. I'm guessing people like to tough it out. Did you have any clever theories on that? I don't know.

26:28Julien Laurens:We did discuss it the same way. Maybe it's just not to spend an extra, I don't know, 100 million or so on stadiums to put a roof on top of it so that would cover fans. Maybe you're right. Maybe it's just whatever the conditions and the weather, we're here to support our team, and it doesn't matter if we get snowed in or rained on or snowed on or whatever you said, whatever the expression is. I did think if you're in LA and the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, it's very often sunny no problem. On the east coast as you know Gabby, as a Philadelphia Eagle fan, often it snows and often it rains and it can't be always nice if you go to your NFL game and then you know the snow is coming down and it will be all over you I wonder if it's just the case that NFL fans and college football fans are just a lot tougher and football fans in other parts of the world are a little soft, especially in Europe.

27:23Julien Laurens:And meanwhile, Norway defeated Senegal 3-2 and Erling Haaland got himself a couple of goals again. Gab, first place certainly isn't guaranteed for France then. Yeah, no, not at all. Obviously, they square off in Boston on Friday. France have the edge in terms of goal difference. So if it's a draw, France go through. But Norway, I speak from experience, having been a country I support, was a victim of Norway in qualifying. As you know, they are incredibly awkward and unpleasant to play against. So that said, I think Norway did not put this game away against Senegal when they certainly could have.

28:12you know it felt as if like 2-1 or they kind of were under the cosh more than they should have been I don't think Norway's very good at managing games so it'll be interesting Senegal I think will look back and regret this I mean I think they were outplayed but with a little more urgency especially in the first half they could have certainly had more out of it and of course Erling Haaland says, look, everybody else is scoring goals. Why not me? And of course, he gets two. Everybody was mean about Spain after that scoreless draw with Cape Verde and Voxinha in the opener. Will that 4-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia shut the critics up, Jules?

28:54Julien Laurens:Well, it's the reaction that we expected, that we wanted to see. There's too much gap in terms of talent and experience and depth and everything you want between Spain and Saudi Arabia, really, and especially when you score so early. I mean, Yamal's first World Cup goal, of course, then everything gets easier for you. Spain could have scored more goals. They controlled and just managed the last 14 minutes or so of that game. We got to see Oyazabal, who was very frustrated against Cap Verde. He didn't touch a single ball in the first half hour of that game, setting a record that he probably would not have liked to set up anywhere.

29:31Julien Laurens:That was much better. We saw some good combinations. we also saw a far more attacking Spain time that you can't reproduce in-game when they will face tougher opponents, obviously. But for that, that was good. And now they've got Uruguay to see where they finish in this group. I like some of his changes. Alex Baena, Mika Merino, you know, kind of keep the whole squad involved. Gabriel, Messi scores twice and misses a penalty as Argentina beat Austria 2-0. He's now the solitary all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. Yeah, that was a really ugly, ugly penalty, by the way, the miss early on.

30:10His two goals were ridiculous. He nearly had a third as well, deep in garbage time. Look, he is the all-time leading goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. If you look in his rearview mirror, Kylian Mbappe, two goals back. Cristiano, even, three goals back. We'll get to him in a minute. we've seen him do this before I think what's interesting though is the overall performance of Argentina and let's not forget, you're playing Austria I know it's Ralf Ragnick and whatever but you're still 1-0 up deep in injury time and you're also conceding chances this might be a little bit of a warning that we're all focusing on Messi and Messi's fantastic and he's producing on the biggest stage of all and that second goal was, well, where he pokes it through was tremendous.

31:01The first goal, I feel like I've seen him do this a million times. Nobody can stop him. You know what's coming. But I don't think Argentina looked that dominant, and I think they need to

31:12Julien Laurens:kick it up a notch. Am I wrong, Jules? Yeah, no, I thought so. I thought, again, without him, I'm not sure really where they would be. But then again, they built everything around him, so he has to be good for his team to perform certainly in terms of results. But otherwise, I thought, again, it was not the best of performance from them. And you do wonder, OK, in the next game, I don't think there would be much of a challenge really for them in that game. But then once we get to the knockout stages, then I think it's far more interesting to see how they will play then than what they've done so far in the two games that they've played.

31:55Shout out to Ballon d 'Or Lautaro, the best Martinez on the Argentina team right now, without a doubt. Back there at the office for Belgium, Jules. Nathan and Goy get sent off. They're held nil-nil by Iran. In a game we saw some really good saves from both keepers, Thibaut Courtois and Alireza

32:13Julien Laurens:Beranavand. Yeah, Courtois had to come big a couple of times and there was a goal disallowed for a tiny offside as well for Iran. who defended well. And again, we knew what they would do and we knew exactly how they would set up. No, Jérémy Doku, which was a problem, obviously, for Belgium. They miss him so much. He is currently, I think, their most important player. But his wife was giving birth. That was very important to him and to the family. So, you know, fair enough. We've got no issue with that at all. But without him, it was quite difficult for this Belgian team who created still chances and, you know, could have probably done more and better.

32:49Julien Laurens:I think the pressure is massive now before the game against New Zealand, which you would expect them to win. But on Rudy Garcia, some very strange choices for him before the game, during the game as well. And for some of those leaders, like Lukaku and De Bruyne, who were not good enough again against Iran. Yeah, Iran set up very defensive in this game, set up very attacking against New Zealand. Curious to see what they do in Seattle against Egypt. Portugal were also criticized for the opening game, and so they took out their anger on Uzbekistan. and your boy Fabio Cannavaro winning 5-0, Gab? Yeah, look, when you've got superior talent like that, it's going to make a difference when you score goals early, obviously.

33:29We'll get to Cristiano. Uzbekistan, I feel for them a little bit. They have their moments. I think Fabio went into this World Cup thinking, like, we're going to try to play a little bit. And I think he paid a price. And we saw that in the first two games. I do think that with Portugal, it's really difficult to make the right choices, management-wise. And again, leaving Cristiano to one side, I think it was nice to see Rafael in there. Nice to see Bruno contributing. But I kind of feel it's a roll of the dice from game to game, still at this stage. Speaking of Cristiano, he also made history. His two goals means he became the first person ever to score in six World Cups.

34:24Though he did get a little stroppy after the game, Jules.

34:28Julien Laurens:Yeah, he was asked again about Messi and scoring goals and all of that, which he didn't really like. The reaction to the first goal early on in that game saw how much he meant, saw maybe how much he was frustrated by his own performances, some of the critics and everything. for me scoring two goals against Uzbekistan doesn't change anything really and it's good for him to score he hasn't scored in a very long time in open play in a big tournament so well done to him but then let's see what he does against Colombia because he could still go back to what we've seen before which was not good enough from him and not beneficial for the team I still think that this is a team that can play better without him than with him he's on 10 goals now in those 6-4 Cups that he played, eight behind Messi, it's a long way back, really, because he has not always performed that well in World Cups.

35:22Julien Laurens:And the reason why he's the only one to score in six World Cups and will probably be forever the only one to score in six World Cups is also because Messi, who also played six World Cups, had one World Cup where he didn't score at all. So that's a great record for Cristiano. Another one. And he's still one of the gods, obviously. But I'm not sure really he's going against Uzbekistan, changing the narrative here. So I guess you don't think Guilherme is going to play into his 40s. No, I don't. I think Guilherme has two more World Cups and after that, that'd be four for him. Sorry, five. Yeah, five for him.

35:55Julien Laurens:But then I don't think he gets to the sixth one. Some love for Mexico. Gabi, they advance with three wins for three games after beating Czechia three in it. And we even have a Memo Ochoa sighting. Yeah, I mean, Mexico have this incredible stat at the Azteca in their history. I was skeptical about Mexico going into this tournament. I thought maybe they were actually potentially the worst on paper of the three North American teams. I hold my hand up. So far, you can only be what's in front of you. And they weren't always great. And, you know, they've had moments of good fortune. But the enthusiasm is really, really building.

36:36Three wins for three is a massive confidence boost. this Quinones fella is potentially a game changer the man from Saudi and from Imochoa absolutely fantastic he joins Cristiano in the 6th World Cup club he came on as a sub with 12 minutes to go and he said this is my last game for El Tri and what a career he's had now the other game in the group provided for me the shock of the day, Jules, or probably shock of this period. South Africa beating South Korea 1-0. Again, I'm holding my hand up. I never saw this coming. I did not think South Africa were good. I thought they were going to finish last in the group.

37:24Boy, was I wrong.

37:26Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, I think we all were, Gabi. Not just you. I think this one is a massive one on South Korea, who benched Son. Hong, the head coach, was under massive pressure already. they took this game for granted for me in his lineup the way they played and they let really South Africa do their thing which is give up the ball and then play in transition on the counter with a bit more of that kind of urgency that we didn't really see in their two previous games against Mexico and and Czechia so for South Africa to have four points and qualify for the first time ever for the knockout stages is something very special you saw how much they celebrated back home and it's great for them.

38:09Julien Laurens:But I do think still that they're not a great team and that this is a bit of a huge surprise, more than a bit, a huge surprise for me to see them in the next round. It looked like a huge surprise for Hugo Bross as well. By the way, Hong Young-bo, as a defender, I don't understand what he was thinking. I can only imagine what he was thinking when he saw his defenders defend in transition as badly as that Korea bad line did time and again. And South Africa will take on Canada in the round of 32. Gabby, Jesse Marsh's crew finish second in their group after losing 2-1 to Switzerland. Yeah, disappointing.

38:46Look, we know Switzerland are good. They're sneakily good, which is why they're so annoying to play against. But even then, I certainly expected more from Canada. It seemed like they woke up late, got back into the game after Promise David came on. but still not enough and your boy Johan Manzambi does it again on the score sheet the super sub you're going to keep saying that he needs to start and he's not going to listen but then what do you expect from did you see what Joaquin was wearing it looks like he raided Pep Guardiola's

39:26Julien Laurens:closet yeah it's a bit like that yeah it's always a bit like that the Euros, the glasses and the kind of persona that he projects everywhere. We know the kind of guy that is, I think, Monzombie. But like we said, and we will talk about Aray Begovic in our next week too, we could have talked about Gilberto Mora when we talked about Mexico and we didn't mention him at 17, starting from Mexico in a World Cup and playing as well as he did, you know, against Czechia. Or even Chavez who scored a lovely goal, the young left-back who plays in the Netherlands. It's good to see those youngsters coming into this World Cup, the next generation, establishing themselves, or suddenly making a name for themselves.

40:09Julien Laurens:We talked about Inao Ulai before and Dior Monday, obviously, for Ivory Coast. Ibrahim Mazza done really well for Algeria in the game against Jordan too. So this is great to see those kids between 17, 18, and 20, 21 to have this kind of impact at the World Cup. We could add Kalabierinki to the list as well. Maybe even Laminya Mal. Although I think we... Yeah, but those are already... Not really a surprise. I can't believe you say. 4th of July savings are happening now at the Home Depot with select appliances starting at$398. Plus, get free delivery on appliance purchases of$398 or more, no membership required.

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41:36Bosnia, meanwhile, beat Qatar 3-1, and their hopes of qualifying as a third-place finisher look pretty good. That's close to my heart because that could have been Italy. Jules, that Kareem Alebegovic is pretty darn good for an 18-year-old. He is not lacking for ballistic prowess or confidence.

41:55Julien Laurens:No, that's right, Gabby. One of the best goals of the tournament, if you haven't seen it, go and check it out, where he kind of comes inside and waves through players and then hit a lovely strike. I don't know why he didn't start the first game against Canada. I thought he deserved to, really, considering the season that he's had at Salzburg, considering even the playoff games that he had and the one against Italy, especially. Sorry to bring back bad memories for you. Incredible talent that is already worth a lot of money, that he already has the biggest clubs in Europe scouting and checking and following.

42:30Julien Laurens:And I'm glad that we get to see him and his team for another game at least. And that game should be really interesting as well in the round of 32. Yeah, we also have a Mo Salah sighting. His goal puts Egypt ahead in the 3-1 comeback against New Zealand. Their fate is not in their hands when they play Iran in Seattle. Where are you going? That's right. I don't think I... Can you tell I'm excited to be going to Seattle? Because I've only mentioned it about 99 times on this show already. Yeah. Again, New Zealand, again, I have to tip my hat at them. It can't be easy. You're playing in Oceania. You're playing in teams that are much worse for you.

43:11Maybe that's why they're used to having the ball. They're used to attacking. And so that's how they roll, even against, on paper, better opponents. I thought they took the lead. I thought they were threatening. Egypt woke up at halftime. Zico, not that one. It's spelt differently. And then Mohamed Salah coming, finally appearing in the second half. I think Egypt have a lot to worry about. I don't know that things are necessarily fixed. Obviously, they can still go through. Let's put it this way. They have margins to improve, Egypt do at this stage. Joes, we know Morocco are good, but they got quite the scare against Haiti, who scored their first World Cup goal in 52 years.

43:52and it was such a good goal that I am so bummed that those mean people said, no, it's an own goal by Bono because the ball would have gone in. You can't have my man Joseph keep the goal, really?

44:04Julien Laurens:I know, but I mean, it's okay. I guess Isidore made up for it on the second goal because that was one of the goals of the goal of the tournament from the Sunderland forwards there too. I kind of wish really that they had got a point that I think they deserved before considering those two late goals, although one of them from Gassim Gassim is again another young player doing really, really well and becoming the youngest Moroccan to score in a World Cup. But it was great to see AIT going out. Okay, fair enough. They went out and they lost their three games, but in style, with those kind of goals, with that kind of performance against the team with changes and Mohamed Huabi was always going to rotate a little bit and rest some of the players and focus already on the next round, the round of 32, by the way, both for Morocco and Brazil, could be a tricky one because they're going to face some teams of the group of Netherlands and Japan.

44:59Julien Laurens:So, very interesting to follow. The legend of Cap Verde continues, Gabi. They hold Uruguay to a 2-2 draw. Yeah, is it the legend of Cap Verde and Virginia or is it the story of Fernando Muslera, who I absolutely love. I love the story of him bringing his debuts so young. But, Jules, he's responsible for both goals. He gives them both goals. And at the other end, is Uruguay not a I mean, Uruguay, when are Uruguay ever prolific? But they could have scored four or five. They didn't because their finishing is what it is. Look, it's great that they keep going. It's great that they have two points. It'll be great if they advance.

45:41But I kind of feel like this was a game where everything kind of fell their way. A little bit like the Spain game. and that's fine. That's the thing about football. It's a low-scoring sport. Sometimes you can get lucky. Uruguay need to get a lot, a lot better if they want to do anything in this tournament, though. Algeria have some big names, but Jules, they feel like less than the sum of their parts. They needed to come from behind to beat Jordan 2-1.

46:09Julien Laurens:Yeah, it was a tough first half for Vladimir Petkovic and his players. I've got no faith in him as a head coach at all. I can't even believe that the Algerian Federation extended this contract before even the World Cup and seeing what this team would do at the World Cup. I think it's absolutely crazy what they did. But he's there now. Guiri, Beldema with that goal in that second half, late in that second half, to turn things around and get a huge win for Algeria. Again, that they had to win. And now with three points, they're in a position where they've got their destiny in their own hands, really and can go for it for their third game.

46:47Julien Laurens:But it was not easy. And again, I think they made life difficult for them outside of Ibrahim Maza, who I thought, again, showed all the talent that he has and what a talent he needs. By the way, Moussa Hodge, he's a one-man highlight show. Why doesn't the guy start? No, he started the first game, Gab, and he was not good. So no, I mean, Mahrez, again, showed his leadership and experience in this game. There's the assist on the corner and the set piece as well. but I think that first game showed that there's still a lot to learn from him, especially in a tournament like this. The old warrior Ante Budimir comes off the bench to give Croatia a 1-0 win over Panama.

47:28Julien Laurens:Gab, this was far from comfortable though. No, it wasn't comfortable at all. Dominic Livakovic having to make a bunch of big, big saves. We said Panama play open. Maybe Croatia weren't expecting that. Maybe they didn't watch their opening game. I know Croatia squandered a couple chances as well. Marko Pasalic proving that he is the worst Pasalic on the Croatia team. They need to kick it up a notch, definitely. And I'm really curious to see this. It's going to be really fascinating against Kana. I want Modric. I want to see Modric in the knockout rounds. There. There you go. There. I said it. Colombia huff and puff but it takes a deflected Daniel Munoz goal to blow down DR Congo's house jewels yeah I mean what player he is really and we knew that from Crystal Palace and his season in the Premier League his last season in the Premier League even but to do it at the World Cup to have so much energy and this Colombia team who played well and Pasi was great in goal for Congo saved a lot of things Munoz also had a goal disallowed for a tiny offside He missed a massive chance too really early on and nil-nil.

48:41Julien Laurens:So this could have been far easier for Colombia. And now I think a lot of us are getting really excited and rightly so about the Colombia-Portugal game coming up because this should be really interesting for both teams to see how they cope with the opposition. Let's talk transfers now, Gabi. Atletico Madrid insists they won't let Julien Alvarez go unless someone pays his€500 million release fee. But Julien himself feels a little differently. Yes, he came out and he said, well, this is not the moment to talk about this. But then, of course, he goes and he talks about it. He says, I spoke with people at Atletico I needed to speak with.

49:20And the best thing for everyone is a transfer. I want to fulfill my dream. Like, this is your dream? I thought it was winning the World Cup, which you did four years ago. But whatever. Jules, I understand the business of football and I understand the reality. Obviously, he's been linked to Barcelona. There was a whole business with that. He's also been linked to Real Madrid, weirdly enough. But I just kind of, I don't like the business and I don't understand the business of stupidity and doing things stupidly. For me, this is really bizarre. His agent, the people who look after him, do a ton of business and have a ton of important players at both Barcelona and at Atletico Madrid.

50:05I find it extraordinary that they can't sit down around a table and figure this out. I find it extraordinary that Atletico Madrid having, can we say this in a nice way, kind of semi-rolled over for certain people in the past. All of a sudden, they're making this a point of principle. I don't fault them for it. It's their right to do it. I think we know how this is going to end up, but it's going to end up with Julien Alvarez not at Atletico Madrid. I think it's a really bold mood. and if I'm an Atletico Madrid fan, I would certainly be disappointed. And I'll tell you what, maybe I'm in a minority.

50:41If you go too far above 100 million, I genuinely don't think Julian Alvarez is worth it at his age and with his goal-scoring record. Manchester City have reportedly had a 120 million pound bid for Nottingham Forest. Elliot Anderson rejected. Jules, we're in world record territory

50:58Julien Laurens:for a midfielder here. Yeah, for a midfielder, for sure. and I think they will have if they want him and I think they will push up another 10 million or so to get him. I think he's too much money, as good as he is and as good as he's been with Forrest all season in the Premier League and in Europe as well and with England too, already in this World Cup, in the two games that he's played. They need a midfielder. There's no doubt about that. I'm not sure that breaking the bank for Elliot Anderson is the right answer, but if they've got that money sitting there, is clearly the players that they want, the players that they want, the players they've identified is the solution for them.

51:36Julien Laurens:And for Maresca, so go for it. I still think that you are massively overpaying for him. But you know what? This is the genius of Mr. Marinakis once again if they do get a massive fee for him. Yeah, we thought Marco Palestra's move to Inter was a done deal, but now he seems Chelsea bound. Yeah, a lot of people took this for granted. If you remember carefully, listeners will say, I wouldn't be surprised if somebody else gets involved. And indeed they did. And it's Chelsea. They're offering a 60 million euro package, including bonuses and add-ons. Inter's package was about 50 million, including bonuses and add-ons.

52:17But we knew Atalanta were going to go and use that initial bid to kind of solicit other people out in the open. He is that good. For me, the best player in Serie A last season, not named Nico or Fede, and that includes Ballon d 'Or, Lautaro. Apparently, he had the agreement in principle with Inter, so they're disappointed. Inter have leaked, oh, look, Chelsea are paying him a ton more money. I don't know if that's true. If it is true, they're talking something like€6 million a year. I presume that's gross. I'm sorry, I presume that's net, rather. If it is, it would mark a pretty stark departure from Chelsea's policy, and it would be proof that the Chelsea model is no more, that they've gone away from it.

53:05Inter, I think, also asking themselves, wait, how can Chelsea do this given the settlement agreement that they're under with UEFA? They're going to have to sell a whole bunch of players. Otherwise, they're going to breach. So watch this space. It's not done yet. I would assume there's going to be more stuff to come out on this issue because I think there's things here we don't know. Manchester City are on the hunt for a right back. They're linked to Tino Livramento, who I think is really, really good, but he's injured again. And Malagusto, for whom Chelsea reportedly want£75 million, which feels a little silly, but hey, I guess this is how you're going to pay for Palestra, right, Jules?

53:49Julien Laurens:Yeah, maybe, although nobody will ever pay£75 million for Malagusto as much as I love him. This is not, you know, even in your wildest dreams, this is not at all the value of the player who has done some really good things. Chelsea going forward, certainly defensively, it's more of a problem and there doesn't seem to be much progression there. And that's the issue here. Maresca knows him really well, obviously, having coached him at Chelsea. so you could see the link here to Barcelona at that price. Speaking of Chelsea, they're going to get£10 million plus in compensation for Enzo Maresca, according to the BBC.

54:28Okay, so, you know, again, this is another hold-your-hands-up moment. We've been so critical of the Chelsea ownership at Bali and Tabboli and many decisions they made. This is one that they got right when they sacked Enzo Maresca because he was sacked. You can call it mutual consent. You can call it whatever you want. They obviously did it in such a way and he, for whatever reason, accepted it. It is not a sacking. And he was still under contract and they're still entitled to compensation. That was really clever of them. Maybe he didn't care because, hey, look, it's Citi. They have a lot of money.

55:05They really want me. I'm going to take over from Pep, whatever. But that's 10 million, which doesn't sound like a lot of money. but when you have the sort of financial stability rules problems that Chelsea have, every little bit helps. Johnny Fantino appeared on Fox and Friends to confirm that U.S. President Donald Trump will hand the World Cup trophy to the winner on July 19th. Jules, there's made headlines everywhere. I don't understand. Surely it would have been weird and it would have been news if he had said, no, Donald Trump won't be there, given that it's customary for the head of state to sit with a FIFA president and hand the cup to the captain of the winning team, right?

55:48Julien Laurens:Yeah, and the story had leaked already before anyway. So we knew it was going to happen. He just got to confirm it. And as much as I don't really like Donald Trump and some of the stuff that he can do or say, like you said gab this is this is part of the processes or maybe processes is not the right word but the protocol sorry protocol is the word yeah yeah i was looking for so i don't know why people are surprised or angry about this i i think look johnny says some silly things and even in this one he's like oh yeah me and mr trump me and donald you know me and trump we're together all the time we're always together you're in this world cup blah blah blah like bro you can leave it.

56:31Like nobody actually believes that you're always together because guess what? The president of the United States is dealing with more important things like the Iran memorandum of understanding and things like that and the reflecting pool perhaps, whatever. And there's a reason we haven't seen him at football matches, whereas you, Johnny, go to two football matches a day. So unless you have a body double, you can't be at the White House and at Mar-a-Lago and also be in the stadium at the same time. Just not possible. But yes, he should be there. I think if his job allows, he will be there. Every head of state and every FIFA president in my lifetime, I think, has been at the World Cup, has been the one handing over the trophy, except for one.

57:14And Jules, you'll know who it is. It was Sepp Blatter in 2006 handing the trophy to Fabio Cannavaro. I don't remember who they beat in that final. Ah, me neither.

57:27Julien Laurens:Oh, one of those finals that France played, I guess. Yeah, one of the many France has played in recent years. Many finals. But the funny thing about that is the reason Blatter didn't go was because he thought he was going to get booed. As the story goes, I mean, he says, no, it's because I wanted to leave the stage to everybody else. Apparently, it was because there was such sentiment against Blatter at the time that he was afraid that he was going to get booed and it was going to hurt his feelings. Yeah, sorry. Lazio midfielder Maya Gothberg won a landmark case at the Court of Administration for SportGab.

58:04Yeah, this is Lazio women's midfielder Maya Gothberg. I think this case is actually really, really important. So what happened here is she played. This is Lazio's women's team. She played for them. They had a good season. They got promoted. and they talked about a new contract. They agreed a new contract verbally. They sent draft documents back and forth, but she didn't actually sign it. But it appeared it was a done deal. Before signing it, she came out and said, told the club, oh, by the way, I'm pregnant, which means, rightly so, women athletes. She wouldn't be able to obviously play for X amount of time, going on maternity leave and whatnot.

58:47And at that point, Lazio said, oh, well, in that case, since you haven't actually signed the contract yet, we're going to withdraw it. And Maya took her case to FIFA. FIFA's dispute resolution chamber ruled in favor of Lazio on the basis that she hadn't actually signed the contract. Cass, on the other hand, ruled in favor of Maya Gothberg, saying that it was just kind of a technical issue that she hadn't signed the contract. She was given the Lazio's off-season training plan. She was on the Lazio WhatsApp group of players and coaches for the new season. So de facto, and of course they had agreed the contract verbally, so de facto they ruled that Lazio had made that commitment to her, and so she deserves compensation.

59:36Obviously she hasn't been playing since. She's been a new mom, and she's been dealing with this case. We wish her well. it's obviously one of the situations where I think it's so important for women athletes who also want, understandably, to be mothers. We're going to be back later with more Quick Hits Jules. In the meantime, everybody out there, you can watch ESPN FC every day during the World Cup. We're on YouTube. We're on all the different streaming, all the different sources where you get us you can watch Craig, Ali, Dan Thomas and the rest of the game so that's every single day.

1:00:20This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19 ,000 local agents they help you find the coverage that fits your needs so you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

1:00:46Julien Laurens:Hi Diva, it's Rachel. And Jordan, yeah hi, quick question. Why are you not spending your Venmo balance? Yeah, we're concerned. You can like buy stuff with it. Ugh, you love buying stuff. And earn cash back on eligible purchases. Mmm, you love purchasing eligible things. So, the money your friend sent you yesterday, that's today's ramen, or rideshare, or eye patches. The skincare kind, not the pyro kind. Spend with Venmo, and you can earn cash back with Venmo Stash. Venmo Stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. Max$100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo.me slash slash terms. ID verification required to use a Venmo balance.

1:01:20This is the Gavin Jewel Show, presented by Gusto.

1:01:27Jewels, we're not done. We have more quick hits. Let's go, Gavin. It's time. It's time. It's Texter time. Jules, Michelle Kang is now officially the owner of Lyon. Men's and women's. Our hero, John Texter, did not take it well. And I am so glad we can still talk about this guy.

1:01:48Julien Laurens:Well, yeah, I would rather talk about Michelle Kang than John Texter. So I will go on Kang if you want to go on Texter. I think it's great news. She did a wonderful job to almost save the club last summer after the mess that John Texter had created. So credit to her. I think she's a great advocate to the game, both in the women's side and the men's side. She's smart. She's tough. She has good ideas. She's got good people around her. She did a really good job with O.L. Lyon since she took over the women's side of it. And now they just needed her, really, to come and rescue, in a way, the men's side of it.

1:02:22Julien Laurens:So I'm really looking forward to seeing what she can do with the men's side too. Yeah, it sounds like she's got a pretty good deal on it in terms of how much was actually spent on it. She's also, I think it's under 100 million euros. And then she's also pledged to make X amount of investments. But of course, this is a club which has a ton of debt, partly because of what happened in the John Texter era and a ton of uncertainty around it as well. So you can kind of understand that. I don't want to go into the nitty gritty about why John Texter is so upset about this, But long story short, it has to do with Aries coming in.

1:03:04Aries are sort of a private equity shop coming in and loaning money. And what he feels is a persecution by legal and financial authorities towards his Eagle football group and blah, blah, blah. But it is funny. I mean, Texter really is a gift that keeps on giving. Some really mean words for Michel. He told for an office sports. Michel seems to have done it again. Smear, divide, and conquer. Why buy a club when you can steal it? So yes, obviously not taking it particularly well, Jules.

1:03:38Julien Laurens:The Times report that FIFA have asked IFAB to change the penalty procedures in the laws of the game. Gav, what does that mean? So basically, when you take penalty kicks, there are essentially two coin tosses. This is in the laws of the game. one coin toss is to the winner gets to decide if they want to go first or go second. Statistically, teams that go first seem to have a bit of an edge. And then the second coin toss is to decide which goal to shoot at. The referee can kind of say, no, we don't want to shoot at it. We only want this end if there's safety concerns or other reasons. But obviously, it's an advantage or it's a presumed advantage to be kind of shooting towards your own fans.

1:04:22FIFA, and sometimes you have clubs who lose both coin tosses, like Arsenal were especially rubbish at the coin toss in the Champions League. I'm surprised people didn't blame Arteta more for this because, of course, they lost both coin flips. But what FIFA have done is FIFA have decided, well, this is too much of an advantage if somebody wins both coin flips. and so the winner can choose whether they choose the end or whether they choose to go first or choose to go second. My guess, everybody's going to choose to go first and the end's not going to matter as much. But Jules, I want to ask you the obvious question is, did they just realize this now in the middle of the World Cup?

1:05:03There was an IFAB meeting just a few months ago. Surely they could have passed it then, no?

1:05:08Julien Laurens:Yeah, I thought the timing was a bit, not wrong, but surprising because I'm all good. I mean, we both are thankful for things that can improve the game all the time. But I guess you're right. This is surely a reflection that they've had for a bit now. Unless, as you said rightly, the Champions League final and the fact that Arsenal lost the two tosses maybe made them think about it again and think, OK. But like you said, there was still enough time in a way to do this between the end of the, well, between the Champions League final on what May 30th it was and the start of the World Cup on June 11 to try to sort this out.

1:05:43Julien Laurens:But I guess as long as they do it before the knockout stages, because this is only for obviously penalty shootouts, not just penalty kicks, but penalty shootouts, then as long as it's in place for that when we potentially can have or will have penalty shootouts, then it's all good. Yeah, they would need to rush this through between now and Sunday. We're taping this on a Thursday morning. So yeah, they get to get into gear. Although, to be honest, look, I'm not an expert. iFab is eight dudes approving things. How much time does it take to say yes? I can't go quote unquote. I mean, come on, man.

1:06:18All right, Jules, this brings us to an end. Thanks for tuning in to the Gab and Jewel show presented by Gusto. Gusto is your small business partner for payroll, benefits, and so much more. Get started for free at gusto.com. Jules, we're going to be back on Monday. do this all over again. In the meantime, I am heading out to Seattle, the city of Fraser Crane, for some Milan against Egypt. You'll no doubt be somewhere else. Until then, love the game, love your neighbor, love yourself. Bye-bye, William Penn.

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