Gab & Juls Show: Going, going, Guardiola?

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25:35With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the Thumbtack app. Download today. All right, enough FA Cup final. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, guys. Manchester United beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 to consolidate third place. Bruno Fernandes equals the assist record held by Thierry Henry and Kevin De Bruyne. Jules.

26:00Julien Laurens:Yeah, he's on 20 now. He's got one more game. Brighton away next weekend on Sunday to try to break the record. We've said it before already. I think it would be an incredible achievement for him to beat those two, especially although nothing will ever be a number nine like Thierry to give that many assists in a Premier League season. But anyway, while still scoring all those goals at the same time. Shots fired. Bruno Fernandes. I don't know, but that's obvious. You know, Bruno's job is to assist players, right? Thierry, his job is to score goals. I mean, you could also make the point, though, that this is more broadly not just about this season, that when I look at De Bruyne and Thierry Henry, they had tremendous players around him who scored lots of goals, like Bergkamp, whatever.

26:42Bruno Fernandes United, because I looked at the last couple of years, one of the things about assists is that I think Bruno and Jared Bowen, possibly soon to be relocated, Jared Bowen, I think they're the only players who were in the top 10 this year and last year for assists. assists for most players, they're up, they're down. Yeah, for sure. So to be so consistent is pretty remarkable. Oh, it's incredible. But yes, I'm not suggesting Bruno Fernandes is a better player than Thierry.

27:09Julien Laurens:I think he's been incredible this year, and I even think he could have had another one or two, even in the last game, especially more than the Sunderland one away. Wonderful. I don't really mind if he breaks the records or not next week. I hope for him he'll be a great achievement and for United fans. And then maybe I think Bruno then will be recognized are more valued than I think what he is right now in this country. The Mbumo handball correct decision? I was convinced it was going to be given. I think for me, he controls the... Without his arm, he doesn't control the ball. I know the rules say I know, but for me, this has to be given.

27:47Everybody lost their mind over this. Yeah, too much probably. Once you decide that it's unintentional, a lot of time passes between them and the shot because remember, he controls it, He shoots, the ball comes off, it deflects off another player, and then it goes to Cunha. So I think that's why they did it.

28:04Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. Bayern wrap up their season with a 5-1 hammering of Cologne as Hurricane Baggs, a hat-trick, and Leon Goretzka, Rafael Guerreiro, and Nico Jackson said goodbye. I think you were really kind to add Nico Jackson to this list. We still say goodbye. 122 league goals this season. The previous record was 101. in one. They did not beat the overall. Do you know what the record for goals is in a big five league? It's 125 goals in a season. Barca or Messi? No. Wow. It'll shock you. It's an Italian club. Wow, wow. That must have been a long time ago. Torino, 1947, 48 season. I told you. But to put Bayern in context, they played six more games that year than Bayern.

28:47So this is absolutely tremendous. Shout out to Harry Kane, too. We take his brilliance. 36 Bundesliga, this season in only 31 appearances and only 25 starts. 58 and 50 overall. They still have the Pokal to come. The record for a non-Messi Cristiano season is 59 held by Luis Suarez. Luis Suarez, wow. The modern era record. Dixie Dean. But he can yet beat that. So it's just incredible. Rafinha scores twice as Barcelona beat Betis 3-1. Jaws was the game in which Robert Lewandowski said goodbye to the Camp Nou

29:26Julien Laurens:Yeah, I thought it was quite emotional as well he was given the armband to towards the end I think they were very grateful of what he brought and we could talk about how much money they also paid him, but I think in terms of returns, some of the goals, seven trophies in his four seasons, loads of goals at his age, I think he's remarkable the longevity, the fitness that he still shows and yeah, now I think it's probably the right time for him to go I think maybe an extra season too much. But still, I think he was a great servant to that club for four years, had them really won the last three titles.

30:02Julien Laurens:And I think that was a positive signing, even if at the time we were not too sure. I'll go out of my way. I was wrong about it. And I think from an accounting perspective, it was maybe still because they spent$45 million on a guy who was about to turn 34 years old. And they made him the club's highest player. But now it was definitely the right time to lead. They'll have the salary slot, the flexibility. They're still under financial restrictions. They'll have some more flexibility now to pursue his replacement. But he came in and certainly waned a little bit this season. But the three years before that, he certainly did his part.

30:36What a professional.

30:37Julien Laurens:And more Barca, Gabi. Hansi Flick has extended his contract through 2028. No-brainer? Yeah, 100%. I mean, there was no question about it. And there's an option for a year after that. I don't think it's going to come to that. But yeah, this was inevitable. Vini Jr. scores the only goal and Kylian Mbappe plays a whole 90 minutes after his injury on his return as Real Madrid win away to Sevilla. Yeah, he's not the fourth forward pick in the order now. Arthur did well, to be fair, even if he didn't score. He had chances. I think he showed certainly the body language. The attitude I think was good.

31:15Julien Laurens:It was decent from Real Madrid. I mean, decent in the sense they have got nothing to play for either, so don't expect too much. He's a bit mean of them. Sevilla fans are ready to party. They're staying out, no ownership. No, sure. But still, I was glad to see him playing 90 minutes, that's for sure. But you know who's mean? Courtois with that save at the end. Yeah, sure. Let's rewind to Friday. Aston Villa clinched their Champions League spots, beating Liverpool 4-2 jewels. Arnest Law says his team crumbled. A few hours later, Mo Salah takes to social media to say pretty much the same thing, that they're crumbling.

31:46and they should play heavy metal football. Mosa gets killed for his comments, especially by people like Wayne Rooney. And Arnest Lott is just,

31:55Julien Laurens:oh, look, he's being honest and not very good. So I thought Liverpool were embarrassing at times in the second half, especially really embarrassing, really not good enough again. I've said it many times for the last few weeks, Arnest Lott should not be staying in that job next season. By keeping him, you reward mediocre results and mediocre football and mediocre performance. And if you give me the line of, yeah, but look, he won the title last season. Okay, they were not very good last season. We said they were better than everybody else, but it was not a good Premier League season campaign in general.

32:25Julien Laurens:From February onwards, they were very average anyway. But that's why they changed all the players. They were still saved by Salah's incredible season and performances. Van Dijk and Gravenberg to a certain extent. So I'm not sure how much credit that gives him anyway, but for me, he should not be there next season. He hasn't been good enough. and I might be wrong and I hope for Liverpool and Liverpool fans that I am wrong. If he has an amazing season next year, I would say, OK, sure, it was the right call to keep him. For now, I don't believe it's the right call to keep him. And I completely agree with what Mo Salah said.

32:59Julien Laurens:This is the shadow of the team that we saw under Klopp. It doesn't mean that Slott has to do what Klopp did. Sure, I understand that. But this is not good enough for sure. Can you understand why Salah is getting killed? I mean, I was on the FC show last night. It's a bit selfish. It's a bit selfish. I get that. You don't even mention Slott by name. You're talking about... Yeah, because you don't like him. But you're talking about how the season's been embarrassing. Let's hope that we can get back to being great again. And I'm leaving, by the way. True, but you know this is against Slott. You know, even without mentioning Slott, this is a dig at Slott.

33:28Julien Laurens:So I can see what people say is a bit selfish, but why wouldn't he? He's Salah. He's one of the greatest players in the club in history. He's not happy, and I think he's allowed to say it like that. Juventus lose at home to Fiorentina. to need a no longer controlled that Champions League destiny gap. How bad was it? I don't think this performance was terrible. Now, the problem in the U-Sphere, it's all about results. That's all that matters, right? And so Spalletti's getting killed. Spalletti just came out and said how awful they were. They had two goals disallowed. They had nearly two XG. Di Gregorio made a massive mistake, I saw, on the opener from former Paris Saint-Germain star Sharon Doerr, who's actually Italian.

34:07And then Rolando Mandraga scored an absolute worldie, one of the best goals I saw this weekend. This was the difference in the game. The bad news for them is that they don't control the derby against Torino the last day of the season. Even if they win, they have to hope that Milan and Roma don't win so that they can leapfrox them. And even then, their head-to-heads against Milan, I don't think, is going to see them in. So it's a really tough situation. My message to Juve fans is you're on the right track with Spalletti. Mistakes were made. He inherited a team. They got the second most points in Serie A after Inter since Paletti came in.

34:44It doesn't mean you need to panic. You need to rebuild. You're paying for the mistakes of the past. And you might just have to rebuild with a smaller budget. That's it. Paris Saint-Germain may become the kings of Europe if they beat Arsenal in 12 days in the Champions League final. But Jules, they are not the kings of Paris. That honor belongs to Paris FC. And, by the way, Luca Koliasho, Norwalk, Connecticut Born and bred Luca Koleosho Who plays for Italy By the way Setting up the winner For substitute Gori Or whatever his name is

35:17Julien Laurens:How about that Come on man Two wins in three games Against PSG For Paris FC Well done to them I mean a game Where even with Sanuclidean said like I want to forget About this game as soon as There's nothing to be Dembele coming off After 27 minutes Precaution they said But still a bit of A calf injury 12 days before The Champions League final Is not good news either It was terrible but even the way they received their trophy for the league title before the game was shambolic. It was a really bad night. Because Paris FC wouldn't let them do it in the middle of the pitch. Yes, and not after the game.

35:49Julien Laurens:The idea would be after the game. Stupid question. For those who don't know, they were literally playing this game, literally a four-minute walk across the street to the Parc des Princes. You could not have had a full Paris FC stadium for the game starting at 9 p.m. French time, and then a party at the Paris-de-Prince full attendance again, like midnight or something. Have it at one o 'clock in the morning. Even one, yeah. Give the Paris FC fans. Yeah, it was not ideal. It was poor. All around, it was poor for PSG on Sunday night. Milan are on track for Champions League after winning 2-1 away at Genoa.

36:22Julien Laurens:Gab, are you going to continue hating on Max Allegri then? For the way they played? Yes. I mean, this was really bad. Again, yeah. They had like two shots for an XG of 0.1 until they were gifted the penalty with Christopher Nkunko, somebody named Alexandro Amarim. There's nominative determinism for you. They put them on their way, and they win 2-1. So, yeah, he lives to fight another way his way. But is he the right guy going forward? I'm not sure. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

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38:12Your 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. Jules, we saw the wildest of endings in the Scottish Premier League. Hearts were three minutes plus injury time away from becoming the first team not named Rangers or Celtic to win the title since 1985.

38:46Julien Laurens:Yeah, you feel for them, really. They've been the best team by far in Scotland this season. I think the last time Celtic were top of the table was back in September. We explained it on Thursday's show, but not just since Aberdeen in 1985. The Hearts hadn't won the league title since 1960. This is the third time they lose the title on the last game of the season. It's not no pun intended, but it's heartbreaking for them. Obviously, you saw how much the players and the fans as well. that 87th minute winner by Maeda that was you know with a VAR intervention for the offside and everything a very tight offside so tight so tight but still really feel for them because I think for me they've been the better team but well done to Martin O 'Neill who came back twice and turned things around in an incredible way eight wins in a row to finish the season for Celtic and the winners again for the 56th time I think in their history or 59th or 56th It's just incredible.

39:48I mean, I talk about the imbalance of resources all the time because it bugs me, frankly. Obviously, in Scotland, it's been like this for a long time. When Aberdeen did it, by the way, that was an outlier because they were coached by one of the top three coaches of all time, a young man named Young at the time, Sir Alex Ferguson. They had this incredible team with Gordon Strachan and Joey Arnford. Yeah, the European Cup win. Not the big one, but yeah. Yeah, but they won the Cup Winners Cup in Europe. That was a legit team. That's what it took to break this. And then we nearly saw it this year.

40:26You know, I'm not an O 'Neill guy, but you have to give him credit in these circumstances. I don't think the game ever actually ended because there was a massive pitch invasion and some slightly ugly scenes at the end. But I guess due to the drama, maybe that was to be expected.

40:43Julien Laurens:To Gianluca Mancini, he had to give Roma a 2-0 win in the Derby. against Lazio, take them join third in the table. Gab, impressed with Gasperini? I am. I mean, he's conquered Rome quicker than I thought he would. I thought, because coaching Roma specifically is so incredibly difficult because, I've said this before, I think other than Real Madrid, I don't think there's another club that has as much scrutiny locally than Roma do and so much pressure. And I thought Gasperini, with his odd, let's say, personality. I thought he would struggle there, like he struggled when he was at Inter before. And I thought, I wasn't sure about the signings and whatever else.

41:27He took on all comers. He took on Claudio Ranieri even, who's an institution at Roma. Roma fan, ex-Roma player, ex-Roma manager. He's got the trifecta. And he's really powered through the second half of the season. Daniel Malin, a big part of it. He's won over the ultras. He's won over public opinion, and I think the Freedkins are going to chuck money in there. My one warning is, Paolo Dybala, you do not need to extend his contract, bro. Let him go. Let him go. Move on. Newcastle rolled a 3-1 win over West Ham. Jules, it's not over yet, but this is a huge boost for Spurs and our boy Roberto de Zerbi.

42:06Julien Laurens:Massively. How could West Ham get it so wrong against a team with nothing at stake? Yeah, mistakes. I would not have played a back five in this game like Nuno did, I have to say. and he changed things after 20 minutes because they were 2-0 down after two mistakes. It was certainly the first one. Two bad goals to concede when you're in that kind of position and when you've been solid. And to be fair, after that, probably also because Newcastle knew they were going to win the game. West Ham was not bad, but Tati has been one of your best players since he arrived in January. Don't bench him. Yeah, don't bench him, please.

42:38Julien Laurens:It was a big mistake. I think this one is a bit on Nuno and probably the players, the pressure got to them. bad result and now Spurs only need one point really because their goal difference is so much better than West Ham. One point in two games for Spurs between the Chelsea game away on Tuesday and the home game against Everton on Sunday. They're not going to not do it. So Spurs will stay up and West Ham will go down and West Ham have done it. Don sat down Monday last week. They kind of used to going down and back up but still it's bad news for the club and they have to be careful. I want to give a shout out to Newcastle as well.

43:10They've had nothing to play for a long time. We know the wheels are coming off. PSR, players leaving, Anthony Gordon, link to Bayern and whatnot. But the way every game they go out there and they put in maximum effort, that's a credit to the fans who obviously set the tone for the club and to the players as well.

43:30Julien Laurens:Sugar nearly threw it away in Frankfurt as they let a two-goal lead slip. But the two-two day to two draw is still enough. In the end, they will be in the Champions League next season. Yeah, and I think this is, I think it's one, it's a testament I'm into Sebastian Harness, the job he's done, losing pieces pretty much every year. Nick Voltemada, most recently. Before that, it was Guy Rassi, it was Waldemar Anton. I have to say, though, this got really, really uncomfortable. Yeah, it's tense. After an hour, they're 2-0 up, away from home at Frankfurt. All right, everything's swimming. Hoffenheim are getting destroyed in Gladbach.

44:02Leverkusen were losing at home to Hamburg. And then it all changes. Leverkusen equalized. They conceded two stupid penalties. I mean, really stupid penalties. And then Frankfurt equalized. Then the second penalty, of course, was an injury time. And then all of a sudden, and stranger things have happened, you're like, my God, if we concede another goal and Leverkusen score, we're out. That would have been really, really, that would have been almost heart's type cruelty there. Didn't happen. Happy for Stuttgart. And Rod Griezmann doesn't score, but he delivers an assist for Ademola Lukman as Atletico Madrid beat Girona 1-0.

44:38and he says goodbye to the Metropolitano.

44:41Julien Laurens:Yeah, very emotional. His 500th game for Atletico, I don't know if he would play the last game of the season away from him, but the most important was this one, the whole family on the pitch, Koke talking, Griezmann talking, Simeone talking, Delardo talking, all the club's legend really. A lot of tears, even El Cholo crying. Some really nice words being said. For a club legend, that's all we expected really. there was nothing surprising but he was still beautiful I thought and for me not just with the goals and he's obviously the top goal scorer in the club's history but this assist was his 100th in for Atletico as well plus the 212 goals that he scored that's 3-1-2 in 500 games is pretty special and he said to himself I'm sorry there was no league title with me and I could not bring you the Champions League either it's okay you brought the money when you went to Barcelona but he also said I apologise you know I got it wrong but he said your kindness will stay with me forever I thought everything was so beautiful.

45:38Julien Laurens:I was almost crying on my television. I won't lie. So I had to wear the shirt today for Griezmann. The greatest for me, greatest ever Atletico Madrid. You know, it's funny though. I was half joking about that. If you consider though that when he met to Barcelona, that they got so much money back for him and they won the title and then he came back and he contributed again. You know, he says it was a mistake. Maybe it was a mistake that worked out really, really well. That's true. Serie A champions Inter gave up a late goal to Verona and had to settle for a 1-1 draw, but Gab, it was all about the party and the post-match trolling.

46:13Yes, absolutely. They went. This is where they really had their big party, in the Piazza del Duomo, under the watchful eye of the golden Madonnina that keeps all us Milanese safe, even the red and black side of Milan. There was trolling. There's a lot of trolling between Inter and Milan. Lautaro leading some not-so-elegant chance to Beppe Manotta, the club CEO, saying, oh, like, I want to get ahead of this one. Speaking of Milan, maybe one day they can emulate us and win something, which... Milan did win the title four years ago with the youngest squad in the league. Take it easy there, Beppe.

46:50Marseille beat Rennes 3-1 in a de facto Europa League playoff duel that also denies Frank Hazard's crew a spot in the Champions League. Not many shots on goal in this one, huh?

46:59Julien Laurens:No, it was pretty spectacular if you got to watch a little bit of it, all over uh 27 each so that's 54 shots in this game the most i think opta have recorded since they've recorded uh stats like that you know 40 years ago whatever it is um incredible for marseille i think they give you regrets because if they played more like that you know they would have finished higher and in the champion league position but at least it's europe league it's a bit better for ryan i'm a bit disappointed terrible start of the game and after that it was too hard for them to come back at the Velodrome. But Esteban Le Paul scored his 21st goal of the season.

47:35Julien Laurens:So he's a top goal scorer and really good for him. Great story. And in a way, Lyon thanked Marseille, their harsh rivals, obviously, because Marseille beating Rennes means that Rennes didn't overtake Lyon, who lost to Lens at home. And Lille thanked Lens, the harsh travels and super enemy because Lance did them a favor by beating Lyon while Lille were losing to success. So it was all kicking off basically in Ligue 1 Sunday night. If this game had ended in a draw, Rennes would have passed Lyon, right? And Marseille would have still qualified for the Europa League, right? It depends on the French Cup.

48:22Julien Laurens:Lance has to win the French Cup against this. Napoli beat Pisa 3-0 on the road to clinch second place but gabon to know conte is being mysterious about whether he's going to stick around or not yeah it's this is the thing with contes there's always some kind of psycho drama he says well i've already communicated my decision to the president aurelio de laurentis and uh because of my friendship with him i won't tell you enough respect for him i won't tell you what it is i'm guessing it is he might go to the italian national team which i think would be a better solution and the other guy that's being mooted max allegory um but it might not be and he's like well but you know if i do leave it's the first place and the second place in two seasons that's pretty good right um i don't know you you can communicate the decision you've knew you're finishing second you're qualifying why can't we be grown-ups yeah about this i mean i i'm guessing they're waiting for the um italian fa elections on june 22nd maybe that's the other hurdle conte that wants to know where he's going to go if he does move on.

49:24Personally, I hope he stays. 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. I like things my way, my coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains FGAR-Tigamide-alpha and hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivGuardMyWay.com.

50:04That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about VivGuard Hattrulo. Brought to you by Argenics. Olympique Lyonnais collapsed at home to loans, as we just heard. Four nail jewels. they still qualify for the Champions League but for the time being anyway

50:21Julien Laurens:they have to go through the qualifiers and as we know historically French clubs don't do well in the qualifiers because they usually fall against quite a top club or one of the champions on the champions side of the draw basically so it might be difficult for them they need ideally the Champions League more than anything else for the huge losses that they've had under our friend John Texter and by the way how beautiful was it that Pierre Sage, who was signed by John Textor from Lyon, doing such an amazing job at the time, remember, and now on the bench at Lens, humiliating his former club with a B-tip, but pretty much a B-tip, a mixed team certainly, was very special, I think, to him as well.

51:00Julien Laurens:Let me say for the time being anyway as well because… Oh yeah, they might be banned by UEFA too. They're also under UEFA settlement, that loss of 186 million euros, weighing very heavily. I don't know how they wangle their way out of that one at some point you need to start enforcing these rules unless they sell the club which is the other which I think is going to happen but I don't know if it's my understanding is that they're trying to restructure the debt right now yeah yeah but yeah that's a big ask Como without Nicopas beat Parma 1-0 and stay within two points of the Champions League positions with 90 minutes left to play in the league Gab can they do it?

51:42Yeah, it's out of their hands, but they'll be right there. It was one nail, by the way. They hit the woodwork a couple times. They still played really well. You know what? He's talking to somebody there. He said, oh, well, we'll probably lose Nico Patz, but how about that Baturina? He's really, really living up to the hype that he had, what, three, four years ago. Do we guess effective again? It would be a tremendous story. But then, of course, they too would end up probably facing some financial stability rules issues. Borussia Dortmund end the season with a 2-0 win away to Werder Bremen. Jules, Julian Brandt, Niklas Zule and Salih Oshkan are going.

52:22Rami Ben-Sivani, Karima Di Yemi, Emre Chan, maybe even Sir Ugurasi. All these guys could go too. They had two Italian 18-year-olds starting for them, which is something I would never, ever thought I would say. And of course, they got Gadou coming in.

52:38Julien Laurens:They're hitting the reset button, yeah? Yeah, reset button, lots of changes, rebuilding if you want, clearly going for youth. Niko Kovac staying. Yeah, Niko Kovac staying, clearly going for youth, which would be interesting to follow. I think if they try to do a bit of what the Red Bull group is doing, I think it will make for a very interesting season next season in the Champions League as well. But then you think if they go youth, I don't think they can compete with this kind of Bayern team that we've seen anyway. Let's talk FIFA ticket prices. Gabby they released the final batch of tickets and strangely prices are going down yeah this is I mean they're still expensive of course but I had direct knowledge of this because a friend of mine he had purchased two category two tickets for the USA against Paraguay game in LA I think and he bought them for twelve hundred dollars each and then he loves the World Cup he's buying more tickets he he went online to see when they released his last batch and they were category one tickets which are better than category two on sale for 995 dollars and obviously he wasn't too happy about that i am getting the sense here that dynamic pricing and look i'm not going to go and defend the dynamic pricing model because i understand why it's there i also think it's a bit of a land grab and everything, prices can go up and they can come down too.

53:58And I am genuinely getting the sense that maybe some of these ticket resellers who use their bots to go and get a bunch of tickets got a little too greedy or got this wrong and that prices look to be coming down. I don't think, you know,$995 for a U.S. World Cup game, a group game that could be decisive for the U.S. to advance because let's face it, this is not... We assume they'll get out of the group, but it's a game they probably will need to win. At SoFi, that's not a ridiculous amount of money. This is literally the most expensive kind of ordinary ticket category. So watch this space. Maybe all the prices will crash in the end.

54:42Jules is now official. Matthijs De Ligt is out of the World Cup. Holland are very deep at that position. So from a football perspective, that would be okay.

54:51Julien Laurens:But still, I feel bad for him. Yeah, you feel for him. He's sad. Second operation on his injury. Hasn't played for a long time now. I don't think Koeman expected him to be fit regardless. And he's young enough to have at least another one, maybe even two World Cups. Sure. But yeah, this must be difficult. By the way, it's been World Cups. Can we talk about my boy Yuto Nagatomo called into the Japan squad? Age 39, five World Cups. Five World Cups come in. Wow. I'm all in on Japan, by the way. Gab, the wheels of justice is turning in the Southampton Middlesbrough Spigate case. The Times now report that if found guilty, there could be individual bans too.

55:29Yeah, well, first of all, I guess they listened to us because I said you have to. If you come to a resolution, you need to move the playoff final to have a proper investigation. Move the freaking playoff final. And apparently they're open to that. They're also looking at filing individual charges, which they would use under the bringing game into disrepute kind of charge, and then you can charge individuals with that, and people would get in trouble there potentially. Your friend Tonda Eckert, former Jeno assistant Tonda Eckert, and Johannes Spores, who I believe is a sporting director there. There's a big FIFA president here from the Olympics, Jules.

56:10You were there covering them in Paris. Yes. Bev Priestman, who was the coach of Canada at the time, she found guilty of using drones to spy on New Zealand and she was banned for a year yeah um

56:22Julien Laurens:i mean this is this for me this is the same there's no except of being in a competition it was before a match that was a you know like a league match technically well i know he's the player of best still i don't see any difference so if if you find out that this guy william salt if he uh if he doesn't stand tall if he squeals and he says yeah tonda told me to go yeah and do this would you be okay banning tonda for a whole year sure and especially if on top of it it's proven that it's not the first time they did it this season like like like some clubs in the championship is saying i might also add by the way in terms of it's not just this guy's an intern there but for those who are familiar with geography in england middlesbrough is really really really far away from southampton so he wasn't just going for a drive yeah and then like oh look i get 30 I pull over into this golf club.

57:17Oh, look, I happen to look over a training pitch. Oh, this is interesting. Let's be very clear on that. Rough few days for Neymar as he sweats on Carlo Ancelotti's Brazil World Cup squad announcement, which I believe is later today. Today, on Monday. Santos loses at home to Curitiba 3-0. The fourth official puts up the wrong number on the substitution board, and he has to make way and come off. And he needs to make way for Robinho Jr., his frenemy.

57:43Julien Laurens:Exactly, his friend who he slapped in the face. I mean, I don't know why, even if he's the wrong number on the board, but he can't change it. It was ridiculous watching the... He's holding the piece of paper that was given to the fourth official. He's got the wrong number. They can't fix it. I know. I could not believe that. He had a terrible game. He played as a fourth nine, which doesn't suit him. There's six things in the table. The latest that our colleague at ESPN Brazil are hearing is that he might be in the squads. That is more likely. It's more positive now, apparently. but we will know very soon but that was another shocking day for him the PIF the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia have been named as FIFA World Cup sponsors the same thing happened last year one year ago last year in the Club World Cup I don't want to be cynical about this but it seems that we told people we're going to make X many billion 13 billion whatever it is from the World Cup and it seems like we're a little bit short World Cup's only kind of six weeks away.

58:43Hey, let's call up our friends at the Public Investment Fund and see if they want to chuck in some money for us. And just like that, they did it last time. All right, there's two things that are obviously very odd. First of all, this is an investment fund. This is not something that's consumer-facing. You cannot buy a PIF. You cannot buy PIF services. This is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. the only customer of pif is the kingdom of saudi arabia unless you are the kingdom of saudi arabia in which case you're probably already familiar with them you cannot transact business with pif it's not a sponsorship it's not a sponsorship it's just so stupid on top of that um fifa one of the fifa's biggest sponsors now they signed the deal last year saudi aramco which of course is also owned by the government of saudi arabia all right look this is just chucking money into the pop people are going to be cynical about this and i'll tell you what if i were an investor in the public investment fund of saudi arabia i would be mohammed bin salman the crown prince of saudi arabia because ultimately it's all his money right but i'd be a little annoyed like do we really need to do this they've already given us the world cup is this really necessary come on into miami beat the Portland Timbers 2-0 and that Lionel Messi chat puts on a show, Jules, as does his friend, Luis Suarez.

1:00:09Julien Laurens:Yeah. The little chip. The little chip. 2-0 win, as you said, Gordon and this is from Messi, who was outstanding through the whole game. Everything. He could have scored two or three easily. Created chances. Vettelane is doing really well. I don't know. I mean, again, I know we've said it before, last season especially. I don't know. I'm not sure why he says this says about MLS level overall. I know he's a genius and he's the GOAT and everything, sure. But he's also 39 years old and he's like walking the league like nobody has ever walked this league before. But this was very special. Like every game that he plays anyway.

1:00:43So I watched the short... I'm not going to give this away. I did not stay up to watch this game. I watched the short highlights.

1:00:49Julien Laurens:11 p.m. kickoff in the UK. Okay, that's fine. I still had other stuff to do at that time. Like write my 3 ,700 word column for Monday. But I watched the short highlights and i'm like this is good so then i found like the longer highlights and what's mysterious to me about messi and this must be a combination of conditioning and timing is i saw him in person at the world cup in in 2022 and he was walking around the pitch and still made made all the difference here he doesn't sprint often but when he sprints or when he just runs with the ball he seems faster than all these MLS defenders. I don't understand how he...

1:01:30It's some kind of optical illusion. It shouldn't be happening, Jules. And what shouldn't be happening too is Luis Suarez, let's face it, great player in his time when he's not biting people, whatever, but not known for his sublime technique. That little chip, he gets that perfectly. Try to watch.

1:01:47Julien Laurens:Gab, we talked a few shows ago about how China did not yet have a deal to show the World Cup games on television. Well, now they do. Yeah, it is amazing. Who wants to negotiate with China? So basically FIFA had a problem. FIFA had not sold the rights in China yet. It's 1.2 billion Chinese people would not get a chance to see the World Cup. And your mission is literally to grow the game. So they pulled out the big guns. They sent the Secretary General, Matthias Grafstern out there. And they sent Arsene Wenger there too. I guess Johnny was... I thought Johnny would go along since his friend, the President of the United States, was there at the same time.

1:02:22I guess he didn't. I guess he must have been busy with something else. And they go to negotiate. The problem with China is that if you're negotiating with China, you're essentially negotiating with one media company, Central China Television, which is owned by the government. It's not much of a negotiation. In economic terms, it's called a monopsony, when there is just one buyer, and they can set the price. So they're selling the World Cup rights to 1.2 billion Chinese people, the second biggest economy in the world, for$16 million.

1:02:51Julien Laurens:It's more money than$16 million more than what they had a week ago. $60 million is more than zero. You're correct. And by the way, I believe the India ones are still up at stake. That's not going to be much more either. This is a bit of a failure, I think, when it comes to selling stuff. Gamba Osaka, Iqza! Beat Al-Nasir 1-0 to win the romantically named AFC Champions League 2. Why don't you spend some money on marketing people who can give proper names to competitions? This is basically the Europa League. It's a Champions League that is not the Champions League. It's the Europa League for Asian football.

1:03:26Julien Laurens:Giorgio, Cristiano Ronaldo did not take it well. No, not at all. And I have to say, I will explain what he did first and then give our opinion. I was super disappointed. I really, I was. Cristiano didn't want to receive the... The runner-up medal. The runner-up medal. That's what I was looking for. So he didn't wait for the medal ceremony and just basically walked out. You could be the GOAT and have the greatest career of all time, you and Messi or whatever, you cannot behave like this. I'm sorry. I know you wanted to win and you're born winner and you're obsessed with winning. Great. A lot of us are.

1:04:02Julien Laurens:But I think especially at your age, after everything you went through, the good and the bad, the wins and the losses, all of that, you cannot behave like that. And especially when you're Cristiano Ronaldo, I'm really sorry. A lot of kids who idolize him would have watched this and think like, okay, so now we don't even have to wait for the medal. You can just walk out because you're unhappy that you lost again. He was crying. I'm sure a lot of people who lose finals, even at a rubbish level, would cry. Sure. But that doesn't justify you not being there and getting your medal and then looking, watching the winners get them.

1:04:39Julien Laurens:Like everybody does. Why would it be different for you? I'm kind of with you on this. I've said this for a long time. It should be said too. El Nasser dominated this game. No, no, sure. I can understand the frustration. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's not a good message to send. And look, and I said this too. Remember, I was one of the few people back in the 1990s who was not a Michael Jordan fan because I thought he took this, I can't start losing, I hate winning. I took it too far. And then we sit there and we applaud. Oh, look, he wants to. No, no, no. There's something. When you get beaten, rightly or wrongly, fairly, unfairly, you don't walk out.

1:05:16You want the other players, the lesser players than you.

1:05:18Julien Laurens:Absolutely great. FIFA have announced their headliners for the World Cup final halftime show. As you know, this is the first time we'll have a proper show at halftime. Gab, I will ask you to start Bench or Drop, so basically rank from your favorite to your least favorite, the three singers or band who will be in the halftime show. BTS, which is like a K-pop for the people who don't know, a K-pop band. Madonna, like everybody knows, or Shakira. Okay, and I will ask you the same. I'm going to start Shakira. Your hip don't lie, I know. Exactly. It's just associated with the World Cup. I'm going to bench Madge and I drop BTS.

1:06:03Julien Laurens:Okay. Well, you're going to start BTS, I assume, because I know you love your K-pop. No, I mean, I respect K-pop. We don't listen to K-pop in our house, but I think Madonna, for everything that she represented, for kind of more even our generation or even before for doing a world cup concert 1994 wearing roberto baggio's jersey you know shakira i would have in second uh and then i think i'll drop bta is just on my stuff now the amazing thing two things that is very eclectic i think it's good it's for every taste yeah i mean not much in the way of rap but um but i'm sure they'll find ways to shoehorn more being chris martin by the way put this together and apparently they're not getting paid it's a charity yeah we'll citizen all the stuff but fifa still maintain the whole show is going to last 11 minutes i can't believe that how are you going to shoehorn these three people in for 11 minutes in the halftime break yeah that's gonna be that would be some achievement yeah and also do you really believe chris martin from coplay goes for all the trouble he's not going to come up on stage and sing with them of course of course yeah probably i know there's a poly market out there on Chris Martin City.

1:07:09Really? And if there isn't, I'm going to go and make one after the show. Joel, let's bring this to an end. Yeah. We've got to come back on Thursday when we're going to have Europa League winners. For sure. Definitely. And we may have Premier League champions as well. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

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