Germany Flat Against Luxembourg

27:07I mean, Cristiano Ronaldo is 63 now and still doing well. He's doing that acting thing. I don't like that. Let me also say that I thought it was violent conduct. I didn't think there was much of a debate to it. And especially as you look at the replays and you recognize that he swings his elbow and is nowhere at all interested in where the ball is. It's only interested in what's happening almost the other side of him. So it's not as though he's swinging his arm to make room to get on the end of a cross. He's not even looking at the ball. His only interest is in cocking this elbow and throwing it and making contact.

27:47And so for me, it's deliberate. It ticks every single boxer for violent conduct. It has to be a three-game ban. And that's... I have nothing for or against Ronaldo. I think you do that. You're going to guess this way? We have a barometer. Sorry, Jan. We have a barometer because in the Slovakia-Northern Island game tonight, Dan Ballard from Sunderland, the Northern Island centre-half, was sent off at the death for an outstretched arm, which was nowhere near as bad as... In fact, it was debatable that it was a red card, but I've only seen it a couple of times. But he put an arm out on Lubolka, who's much smaller than him, and he caught him in the eye.

28:26He definitely feigned it a little bit. Straight red card, I believe. And so he's going to come up for punishment as well. Yeah. So, you know, you can't give one person one game and another person three or vice versa. So, you know, they have some to gauge it against, unless it was a second yellow. I don't think it was in that Ireland game. But it certainly wasn't as egregious as the throwing of the arm, as Shaq said, when he wasn't trying to wrestle a defender out the way. Yeah. He was just a clear... I think there's been some history between this particular Republic of Ireland player and Ronaldo in match day one, but that's not to excuse anything.

29:05But there's been a little bit of skullduggery there, and Cristiano Ronaldo has reacted. Jan, I was going to ask you, is any part of this Cristiano Ronaldo bringing it on himself in some small way, by what he did with the celebration in the first game in Lisbon in the face of the Irish defender? Also saying in the press conference pre-game, He was going to be a good boy, in inverted commas. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a definition of good boy. I mean, he was starting, yeah, he missed running to him. You know, remember in that game, Cristiano Ronaldo missed the penalty. Yeah. And then he built that up.

29:40And I think Cristiano Ronaldo got to be a bit ashamed of the way he behaved on the whole situation. Yes, I see he throws the elbow. I see he throws the elbow. Then we can discuss his violent conduct and everything. I think he will get three games and I think he will appeal and they will get two. You heard it first here. All right. But I think if you read the Portuguese papers today, I can't read Portuguese, so I got them translated. But the Portuguese paper is having a big, big time on Cristiano Ronaldo, not defending him, saying you put shame on the national team and the country. And remember, they have to do the business against Armenia.

30:18They probably will, but they still got to do it in the next game to be certain. Frank, hypothetical for you, he gets the free game, so Portugal have to play the first two games in the World Cup without him, and they make a good start without him. Where does that leave Portugal and Roberto Martinez? Well, if you make a good start, and especially if the guy who is going to replace Ronaldo is scoring goals, it's going to be hard for Roberto Martinez to move back Ronaldo into the game. That's going to be the reality of football, even with the past of Ronaldo, even if everybody else thinks that Ronaldo should be back.

30:58But if it works that way, that would be the effect of that red card, that conduct. But you have to be realistic. If it works, you have to keep the guy who was there instead of Ronaldo. If it doesn't work, that's going to be an easy task for Martinez. You bring back Ronaldo. So I think everybody want to wish that Portugal does well. And therefore, it's going to be tricky for Martinez to put back Ronaldo into the field, even if it's Ronaldo. I believe that one is here. A small theory. A small theory. Do we think that UEFA will give him three games and he will miss two games at the World Cup? Will we think that one of the biggest stars on the planet of football will not be able to play in USA?

31:48Let's see. I would imagine a World Cup in North America will survive without a 40-year-old. No, but I would be very surprised if he gets all three. And has a sale of three games. I just think between UEFA and FIFA, they bend over backwards to make sure that Ronaldo misses as few games as possible. Which, again, I don't agree with. I think, you know, one punishment, one rule for one, one rule for all type of thing. And then to your question, Ed, I can't see Roberto Martinez leaving Ronaldo out. Even if, hypothetically, he's two games and they win the first two games of the tournament, 2-0 and 3-0.

32:34I can't see Roberto Martinez sitting Ronaldo. Two things, two things, Ed, if I may say. It's not about Martinez letting Ronaldo out. is about Ronaldo letting Martinez out. That's all it's fun. That is point one. And secondly, will Jack Nicholson not be able to come to the Oscars? He will always be invited. And I think that same thing will happen with the FIFA. That's the thing. Roberto Martinez will have to knock on the hotel door to find out what the team is. Exactly. Slipping under the door, yeah. Group F looking like this, heading into the final Manchester United, Portugal. All but assured, aren't they?

33:13They just need a win or a draw, perhaps, against Armenia. Hungary still in the running with Ireland. Those two meeting potentially for the runners-up spot. O 'Reilly Auto Parts can help take the guesswork out of your vehicles, check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. 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 F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC.

33:54It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space, on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivgardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hytrulo. Brought to you by Argenics. What about the Norway-Italy group? Jan has been waiting to get to this. He's been waiting to get to it. We'll get to Norway. I'll tell you what, that was enough reason to drop it. Group I looking like this. Norway three points ahead and 17 goals. Brilliant. So unless Italy win 9-0 in the game against Norway at the San Siro on Sunday, it'll be Italy into the playoffs again.

34:41And I tell you what, Gennaro Gattuso has been having plenty to say about it, isn't he? Saying, in my day, the best runners-up in every group went straight to the World Cup. Now the rules have changed. To change the rules, you need to tell those who organise these tournaments. Italy's record of six wins? You'd have to ask the people who make the groups and the rules. Now, I must say this. I'm not going to say anything, but... the most laid-back man under the umbrella of the Disney networks walked into the TV viewing room today and said, stand aside. You wait to hear my rant on this guy. I'm guessing you're talking about me.

35:26I think so. Let me see. So when I first read Gartuso's comments, I thought it was easily the most ridiculous thing I heard. I can safely say, I will say for 28 years. Well, and that's a high bar. And I mean, it is ridiculous on so many levels. And why I say 28 years? Because it was 28 years ago, almost to the day, that then Italy manager Cesare Maldini went into a playoff, I think after finishing second in a group with England, and said, why do Italy have to go to a playoff when Jamaica goes straight to the worker. And I always remember that as being at its worst... Entitled? At its worst xenophobic.

36:12At its absolute best, it's entitled. And you're right, Craig. It's an absolute entitlement that I can't begin to explain or I won't even attempt to make an excuse for. Now, here's the thing. And then Gartuso goes on to reference the number of African teams that will qualify for 2026, the number of African teams that qualified for both 90 and 94. Now, 90 and 94, there were 24 teams in the tournament. And keep in mind, everything I say from here on in, UEFA have 55 member nations. Africa CAF have 54 member nations. in 90 there were two african teams 13 european in 94 there were three african teams 13 european teams and not out of out of 24 so for somehow got to sort of think well that is the correct way to do things that's how that is how it should be is is absolutely beyond me which which again leaves me in the stronger camp in terms of my criticism, as this is just downright xenophobic.

37:27Now, the other thing to this is, I don't know why he's calling on FIFA. UEFA make their own rules around qualifying, as do CAF, as do CONCACAF, as do every single confederation. They are responsible. They have their number of teams to qualify, and they decide how you come to that number. Now, everybody else in world football, bar UEFA, have a playoff system. The only confederation that does not get themselves involved in playoffs is UEFA. And I feel that that, this is my personal opinion, it's because of this kind of, we don't want to get shown up. Now, to Gartuso's point, you want 24 European teams at the World Cup, have 12 qualify automatically, and put 12 into the playoffs against other confederations.

38:17and win all those 12. You have 24 teams. But from the time Italy goes into a playoff and some African team knocks them out, now all of a sudden, this ridiculous excuse that has lasted 30 years and counting just falls absolutely flat on its face. You want more numbers, speak to the higher-ups that you wait for. Don't start stealing other people's joy. Just win your group. He's blaming the process rather than the performance. Well, you look at the goals that Norway have scored and their goal difference, which is going to take them through. Just win your group. I mean, I know he spent some formative footballing years in Glasgow, at Glasgow Rangers, but he looks as if he's been around a few Scottish bars and then his brain's bashed out.

39:01He's got a Scottish wife too, hasn't he? Adrian, I'm going to talk before the FIB, our favourite Norwegian guy, who will have the last word, but I totally agree with what Xhaka explained and what Craig just alluded. you know what because that's absolutely ridiculous but I want to blame Norway they have to stop being good and scoring goals and winning games you know come on come on we are not used to that when Jan was playing they were losing games you know so why don't you carry on like that you know why do you bother Italy you know now that's ridiculous it's not even a debate and Jan you have the last word before I let you loose on Norway Jan you know any sympathy at all with Gattuso they could end up winning 7 out of 8 and still You don't have to go to the playoffs.

39:47I highly respect the rant from Xhaka. Brilliant said. Because, first of all, we know that this kind of system now is done by the UEFA because they get more exciting games and all those kind of things. But remember today, we saw just today, we have to see how the football changed. Today, Luxembourg played a great game against Germany. Tonight, Gibraltar, I think they were 1-0 up in their game. Fari Island was 1-0 up at Croatia. Things are changing. And if Gattuso starts blaming other nations because Italy has been bad over some qualification groups, he is in a wrong, wrong place. I do understand that he will have someone to blame.

40:32And I'm one of those who says, let's see the game on Sunday before. I'm in Milan. No, I was nail-biting when it was 0-0 against Estonia at home in Uldervall Stadium in Oslo. last night and all those kind of things. But Italy haven't been good enough in this qualification group. You can't blame other continents. You can't blame any other nation for your failure. As for Norway, we've been fantastic in this group and we beat Italy 3-0 at home, very deservedly beat them 3-0, and we've scored goals for fun. We've been the best team in this group. So Italy have no one else to blame except themselves.

41:10My God, I tell you what, the Italians, they can't have Wayne, can't they? Oh, my God. It wins and whine when it doesn't go. Norway have won seven out of seven. Yeah. I mean, can Gattuso and some of the other Italians, which maybe there isn't any. I've been very generic about this. You know, looking at their recent records. Look at that. Look at that. Yeah, but, I mean, Norway, who have struggled and struggled and struggled for many a year. You know, 98 was the last World Cup, have a good side now. and Martin Odegaard wasn't even in the side the other day. He's had his problems. So they've got players to come back.

41:48They've got amazing strikers. They've got very tidy midfielders. They've got defenders that are playing at a good level and they're a threat now. They're a solid, solid outfit, play some good football, score some great goals. They've won seven out of seven. At what point can the Italians and Gattuso not do the math? They could win eight out of eight. That's taking you to any major tournament. Yeah, yeah, and you were there in Oslo last night. There were reports of you doing cartwheels down the streets after the win against Estonia. What was what was it like? What was the night like? It was unbelievable because, I mean, back in the days in the 90s when we qualified, it was a surprise to everybody and most to ourselves.

42:30I mean, when we were in a group with Poland, Netherlands, England and Turkey and San Marino, we had no clue what we were doing. We suddenly found ourselves being top of the group. This one is a bit different. As Craig is saying, the last time we qualified was in 1998. We've had some good players, but now we have a good team. Also credit to our national coach, Solbark, who managed to make that harmony in the team. And then, of course, you have Erling Haaland. I mean, I heard a commentator on the Netherlands game giving a big compliment to Depay. He has scored 54 goals in 106 games. And Erling Haaland, the nose, scored 53 in 47 games.

43:11That could used to be, I think it was 34. And this guy lived like 100 years ago. I mean, so Martin Erdegor, Erling Haaland, Nusa, Oskar Bob, Sander Berge. We have great players going forward. We are a bit weaker at the back, but we can kind of hide that by being good organized. But yesterday, I guess the Stoner, we had to win. When you saw that table, Italy could have had a chance then coming here if they win two or three nil against us. We nil to halftime and then we start doing what you have to do with Serlotte. and I forgot Sir Lott, who's playing for Atletico Madrid, we start bringing crosses in and then we scored four goals on crosses.

43:49So it was a great night. But we didn't party. That was the thing. Because first of all, we can, in the theory, lose 9-0 to Italy. Gattuso will find a way. And secondly, it was more expected that this team now had to go all the way. They were dancing in the streets in Konsvinger. Konsvinger. Yeah, Konsvinger. That is brilliant. I went pre-season there. Beer's very expensive. Shouldn't have been drinking pre-season. That's another story. Is that north of the Arctic Circle? I tell you what, Norway are going to qualify because Italy are not going to beat them by that. In fact, Italy are probably not going to beat them.

44:26And I generally hope they don't. Normally, it should be very... What's the word I'm looking for? Fair and balanced? Yes, it should be very balanced. But on this occasion, from all this whining, I really would like to see Norway go there and basically stuff it up them. and take the eight wins out of eight and send a message to Italy at the playoffs for you. It's not about what they're doing in Africa. It's not about what they're doing in other qualification regions. It's about the fact that one team was absolutely magnificent in this group and you were not. Now, it's not all been Gattuso because Spalletti was in charge and didn't do a very good job.

45:03But for him to come in and say this is ridiculous and I think it would be a nice touch, the way Norway have played in this campaign, which has been amazing, is to go to Italy and put the icing on the cake. I can't laugh because I'm sitting in Milano, so I can't laugh. But good point, correct, good point. And if you get the chance to go to Konsvinger... Three-time winners of the World Cup, no less. Italy in real peril of not making it again. Looks like they're going to have to go through the playoffs. The extra time coming your way. You can always see your questions answered right there on our YouTube channel, ESPN FC.

45:41Tell you what, I'll not be gone for an Italian meal tonight. Isn't there a Norwegian? I think it's a Norwegian restaurant. The FIFA Pushkas. Moving on, the Pushkas Award nominees are out. This, of course, is for the most spectacular goal of the season. Right. And a couple to remind you of. it's home in on Declan Rice and Lamin Imel this was Imel's effort for Barcelona against Espanyol in the game that clinched the title couldn't we have a montage of his goals it could probably what's this guy so much in the last couple of years I've sort of forgotten he scores so many spectacular goals and then this from Declan Rice that's probably going to win it Shaq first of all I had no idea Declan Rice had this in his arsenal.

46:35Pun intended. Right. Is this not the one where the set-piece coach was asking him to do something else? Yeah. And he basically stuck two fingers up and said, sit down. I'll just stick it to the top corner. Jan? How annoying is that? Now, let's not start with set-piece coaches. No, sorry, Adrian. Any preference? If it comes down to those two, there's some other great goals as well in line for the world. But between those two as a striker, what are you going for? Oh, that is hard. I mean, Jamal doing that in quickness, coming into a fantastic balance, have a view. Free kick is good, but still you have a chance.

47:14He's like a kicker doing that. I think sometimes in these nominations, too often is a long shot. I mean, there is some luck as well, how you hit the ball. I like the small details and small things. So if I'm going to choose between those two, I will go for the Barca star. I mean, they won. Yeah. I mean, Jamal is hitting a rolling ball. Yeah. Declan Rice is hitting a dead ball. Frank, you get to cast a vote? Yeah, I'm going to go for Declan Rice for the reason is it goes, you're talking a bit about details, you know, the atmosphere, the game that you're playing. That was a Champions League game against Real Madrid.

47:50Full crowd when you can see some pictures where the stadium is a little bit empty on Jamal goal. So I go with the atmosphere and everything and the picture that I see, those two goals are absolutely fantastic. And as Shaka explained, La Minyama is fighting against a live ball where Declan Rice is being a dead ball. But what I see from behind, the power that Declan Rice puts and going in the top corner, I have more emotions than the La Minyama. That's why I'm going there. Yeah. All right. It's awards season. The Marta Awards have already also come out. One of those awards that's named for someone still playing, of course, and still scoring plenty.

48:40There's your list of candidates. Vivian Medema is on there. Marta scored this goal in the NWSL semifinal just a few days ago. She's still playing at such a high level. Clearly no part of the best, but still there's so much better. So she's going to get her own trophy, is what it means? It was a few days ago. Quite a few days ago. It was actually last season, just to correct myself. But she's still doing it. She really is. I mean, she's such an outstanding talent, generational, and even at her age now, still making players far younger look silly. Yeah. And Marta will be in action this weekend. Big game coming up in the NWSL.

49:26I like when I see people talk so much about pride. I want to go and prove them they're completely wrong.

49:35Gotham has a chance. Gotham, the 8th seed is moving on to the semifinal. People outside don't believe in pride, but pride is still the champion. People need to have a little bit more respect about it, you know?

49:54So it's Orlando Pride against New York, New Jersey, Gotham FC. The NWSL playoff semifinal Sunday, 3 o 'clock Eastern start time. That is on ABC. Also right here on ESPN+. And the WSL continues with the Manchester derby, no less. You can see that tomorrow morning. City and United, 8.30 a.m. Eastern. Again, right here on ESPN+. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple ShopPay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it. Because Shopify makes it incredibly easy to start and run your business.

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52:44That's ethos.com slash sports. Application times and rates may vary. Thank you very much, gentlemen. This has been a pleasure being back in the chair. In fact, it's not over. Good seeing you. Yeah, we have extra time. It's over.

53:08All right, here we go with this edition of ESPN FC Extra Time. And this time... Should have seen his face yesterday, sir. Yesterday I was like... Oh, wait a second. There's only him and I, Aidan. There's only Aidan and I. And we come in and he goes, Welcome in to FC Extra Time. And he's like, I'm thinking. I said, you ain't got the questions, have you? Right. I'm missing something. Something missing. I put my finger on it. I'll stop there here. All right, let's get going with Ezio, who says, if each of the guys were youngsters in a football academy, in today's era of football, how do you think their football would develop in contrast with how it actually developed in your era?

53:52Would they play the same position? Would they play in the same clubs? You know, things have changed so much, and I don't know about the other guys' experience, But my experience, without going into a long story, because it's extra time, you can try and brief it up in some sort of summary, is when I moved to Chelsea at 16 years old and down to London, what the apprentices did then, they mucked in and did all the jobs. They got all the professional kits ready. They washed it. They cleaned the boots. They cleaned the toilets. They trained. They got the balls and bibs. They cleaned everything and got ready for the next day.

54:24and then you had less time to work on the technical aspects of your game. But you learned a lot through the hardships of what it was going to take to be a professional, i.e. doing all the hard graft behind the scenes. Now, which one is better? I think there's an argument for both because one certainly grounds you a lot more and the other one should help you on your technical side. So, you know, back in the late 80s and early 90s, the youngsters did all the dirty jobs that nobody wants to do. And then only they worked on the actual footballing side of the game. Whereas the youngsters don't do that now.

55:10There is a mountain of team behind the scenes that do all the crappy jobs. And these youngsters, you know, just concentrate on the ball skills and the training and all that. It's just different now. Yeah, Craig, it certainly works for England, that kind of work that you were asking to the young players, the boot boys. It didn't exist in France. It was forbidden to do that already. So we didn't have that. And when I was at the academy, I was just following courses like a normal guy going to school. And then we were training in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. But the football has changed so much.

55:51So I don't know how would I behave nowadays. What I like is the fact that I wasn't the strongest and the best defender in the world, which is kind of the case right now with the defenders. So I guess it would have been a perfect court for me. Yeah. Would it have been different for you, Shankar, in this era? Well, yeah. You came through the college. You came through the college system. I went to university in the series before going out to England. So, yeah, definitely would have been different for me. I mean, it's just such a contrast from what I did. I can't see where. I cleaned the boots and Mickey Hazard and Graham Roberts and people like that.

56:28And I remember as a youngster, Frank will remember the old training ground at Hayes and Harrington, which was rented from the university. It wasn't salubrious at all. And I remember 16, 17, just walking in after training to pick up all the dirty kit and the towels and everything. But it was a couple of pros in the dressing room. who shall remain nameless. And I walked in to pick up all the garbage and all the gear, and they were like, what are you doing? Get out. Get out of the dressing room. Don't just walk in here. When you want to come in here, you knock and ask to come in. Go out and knock and ask.

57:03So I went out, right, closed the door and knocked on it. And they said, what do you want? I said, I've come to get the kit. They said, sod off. Listen, it was just different. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's interesting we just in the main show we talked about Norway. I mean to the question if you see all the young kids coming through the system of Norway now is because we are doing that system much better. It is no secret that Frank's background from France, I mean that was an example nearly for all Europe. How you develop your players in your country and now we've done that as Norway. My background, I come from a very small village with 900 people.

57:47When I was 14, my dad was my coach. And I said to him, yeah, but that is a problem because you are half of the year, you are at the oil ship. And he said, yeah, that's no problem because the other guy or the other ship who is half a year at home, he can train you there. But he has never been a coach. So this is five years before I played for my country. What I would say is that maybe we had a passion, maybe we had a will. I was very good at training, the finishing and all those kind of things. When I see back on my career now, I would love to have understood it, that I have someone to tell me to work more in the strength, more on your details, more in your sprinting things.

58:29I remember when that got in fashion in England around 95, 96, when you got special coaches in. I was nearly coming to my 30s and I felt progress. I felt I got better. I mean, imagine how good I could have been. Maybe, Frank, I could have been a world champion like you. I mean, no idea how good I could have been. I'm just picturing it, yeah, picturing it. Jan, is your parents, your dad's still alive? My dad is alive, yes. He must be so, all that training, all these years, he must be so proud of you having watched that video, getting beaten by a fish. I have to tell you my guest at the game yesterday was Karsten Warhol, the 400 meter hurdles winner, the gold medal winner.

59:17And he came in with his coach and he said to me, that video of your book was in their event. I never said, I have never seen a way of running as you did. That is the funniest video I've ever seen. Alright, just realised I played with way too many Norwegian players. You did, didn't you? Yeah, there was a lot in your era. Grodas. Yeah. Erlen Jonsson. Yeah. Lars Bohinen. Oh. Vidal Rieseth. Oh, my God, the list goes on. Yeah. Erlen Jonsson, the only one you had to win. I have said that before, but I was sharing room with him in the national team. I had to wear shin pads when I was sleeping. All right, Stevie's mint dealer has resurfaced with another question.

1:00:07Don't know how he has time. I'll tell you about the time that I dropped my teeth in Ellen. This is a true story. Sorry to interrupt. I put, as you know, when I used to play at Chelsea, well, until the finish, I had dentures, right, on the front because they were knocked out. And I used to put them in a pocket obviously when I was out on the field. And by mistake, I put them in Erling Janssen's pocket. Who sat next to me in the dressing room. And I was in the shower taking a lot of time after a game at Stamford Bridge. And he got dressed quickly, right? And left and went home. Woked off with the attention.

1:00:49And I had to call him. And he was halfway across London in a car. And he had to come back with my teeth. Only in England Only in England I said Ireland He says what is it? He says I said you'll need to come back to Stamford Bridge He says why? I said put your hand in your right hand pocket You've got my teeth I tell you I tell you He was not a happy chappy As you know the traffic in London Is not the best No No He delivered them Yeah No fairness Yeah It's alright That was a very entertaining thing. You know we've got to have to. You can't go anywhere without your teeth. No, you cannot. Stevie's Minister wants to know which team from the bottom three at the Premier League table right now has the best chance of turning around for a mid-table finish.

1:01:44Wolves, Forrest or West Ham? West Ham. I knew you were going to say. Not biased at all. You have to have a reason. No, you have to have a reason. He's not randomly. He's a West Ham. Nuno Espirito Santo will turn things around. He'll get it organised and he'll turn things around. You'll say Forrest. Forrest because they've proven with the players that they've got that they can play an organised style and they have a manager who will organise. So they're kind of going back into the Nuno Espirito Santo way under Sean Dykes and I think that will benefit them. Frank, you've got the best shot. Yeah, I agree with Craig.

1:02:19you know according to what I saw last season and the player that Forest have still have I think they have the biggest chance to to get out of that those three last points yeah any disagreement Jan no not at all I agree with the boys the the quality of the players in Nottingham Forest is the wrong position anyway and now they've got a manager who kind of uh who developed that even further. One saw Erling Janssen right, I have to say this. This is true. This is true. Every year we used to go to Cheltenham races, as you know, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, big horse racing in the UK once a year. The Chelsea boys, we used to go there once a year for Gold Cup Day and we said to Erling, the boys all said to Erling, listen, last year you were on the edge.

1:03:12well let's just say I know what that means no let's just say that alcohol affects Erling a little different right last year you were last year you were on the edge you know and he's a big man to be on the edge say listen pace yourself this year pace yourself right he said yes yes no I'm pacing myself right three hours later right somebody's got a leg somebody's got another leg and two people have got the arms and he's getting He's getting carried from the corporate area of the Cheltenham Gold Cup across all the muddy fields back to the bus. I thought I told you to piss yourself. And he was like, ah.

1:03:55Hello, hello. This is Alan Johnson, one of my best friends. I have to defend him now on American TV. I mean, I have to call him tomorrow. And I'm sorry, granddad, because he's a granddad now. Sorry, granddad. You've been all over American TV about being pissed at the horses. Ask him about how drunk he was at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Don't start again. Don't start again. Alan Johnson, and we all know that. Very good attitude. Player of the year in Chelsea. Fantastic football player. If he's your friend, you know, tell him thank you because he gave me the first goal, the good assist with his left foot.

1:04:41I think that was mostly an accident with his left foot. He gave me a cross and I headed it and I scored. That's because of Alan Jonsson has scored my first goal for Chelsea. I will call him tomorrow and say that, Frank. And for those who don't know Alan Jonsson, if Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator met Alan Jonsson as his top, he would turn around. All right. Listen, he come out with one of the great lines one day. Sorry to move it. But again, there may have allegedly been some alcohol involved here. Allegedly. No. Stop. No. We didn't do it very often, Jan. But we met. About 20 of us met in a London pub one night for a bonding session.

1:05:24And again, Erland struggled with the pacing himself part of it. So anyway, him and Kevin Hitchcock, who was my best man, and he's an East End of London boy, so he's a bit of a hard guy, and Erland's a big guy. Well, they started punching each other, right? But not as you do. And it was getting harder. Yeah. And harder, right? But it wasn't full out, but it was going that way. So we split them up. Anyway, it was like, oh, Bill, the drink was involved. So Erland walks in the next day to the training ground at Hayes and Harrington. And he walked into the dressing room and he went, another embarrassing evening.

1:06:03This is the Alan Johnson show. Unbelievable. Tell him he's famous in America. For all those Americans listening to this, a bonding session in England is not like a bonding session in any other country in the world. Well, Jan, moving on. Question for you, because you brought up America. Okay. Dan's fancy dress shorts wants to know, Jan, with Norway looking set for qualification, what advice would you give the team about playing in North America based on your experience in 94? Stop drinking. Well, first of all, you know, I mean, we lived at a place and we were so prepared. We were so prepared on everything.

1:06:49Just we done everything wrong. We trained with these plastic bags at home in Norway to get used to the warm. That was what we did. It's terrible. We played Sweden before the World Cup. They had Dallin, they had Brolin, they had Stefan Schwarz. They had a fantastic team. Remember that? Henrik Larsson. I mean, that fantastic team. And we were trying to do everything new. And it was so hot. I mean, we can't believe how hot that was during the 1994. And in the middle of the day, one of my teammates, a guy called Mene Jacobsen, he organized a tennis tournament in the middle of, it was a humidity of 120 and 50 degrees.

1:07:32And we were crawling around. We trained too hard and did everything. I mean, we had a time of life. I'm so proud to have played at the World Cup in the USA. But the preparation were bad and the general secretary of the Norwegian Football Association, he was in that squad, so we have learned. So we will prepare ourselves a bit better now. It just shows you how antiquated back in the day they think the thought process was. And at club level players used to do it as well with bin bags and trash bags, whatever you want to call them here, to sweat. Jansen, they trained with bags on them to prepare for the heat in America, that way of thinking is you're dehydrating yourself.

1:08:15Right. Exactly. To come and play in a hot country where you're going to have to hydrate. But it just shows you how back then, you know, people just didn't grasp the sports science part of it. Yeah. Well, yeah, follow-up question for you, given the preparation that Norway are going to be undergoing, perhaps. Will Norway go further in the World Cup than England? Well, let's put this today. I mean, I've been travelling through Europe. we like they're gonna be 6 000 norwegians in and san zero on sunday i mean and all of they were on my plane so based on a very unofficial survey norway will not only win the world cup we won't concede any goal and and erling haaland will score around 25 goals at the world cup so that's the mood of norway just right now uh quite quite realistically i think it's all depends the 5th of december the draw, who we're going to draw.

1:09:07We have weaknesses at the back, need to be said. We need to have our key players going. As Craig was saying in the show, Martin Erdegow is not even playing at the moment. He's decisive for us. And you have to keep that big man up front going. Because when you have him, I mean, again, yesterday, he had like a, I'm not saying he had a day off. He just had a typical Erling Haaland. He was doing his stuff, being the leader, being the captain. And then bang, bang, bang. than him and Sörloth have scored four goals in ten minutes. You know, our preparation was for, I think it was either Euro 96 or France 98.

1:09:42I think it was Euro 96. We came to the US here both times and our preparation was we invited Rod Stewart to come and train with us. I love that. He did. He came and trained with us and worryingly didn't look out of place. If I can say, we stayed at Princeton. And again, we did everything wrong. I mean, we haven't learned from the French or the Germans because we knew best ourselves, of course, in 1994. So after we moved out of Princeton, Bulgaria came in with Deutschkoff. They were only swimming around, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. And they got further than us, of course. They did everything wrong.

1:10:25And we went to that evening, or the next evening, at a Rod Stewart concert in Madison Square Garden. And we were all... And this is true. That's not inspirational, I don't know. We were up on the stage doing the Congo. Yeah. He invited the... I don't know how many Madison Square Garden holds. I mean, 20 ,000 or something. Anyway, this was 19... Soccer was happening here, but it certainly wasn't as big. So he said, here's the Scottish soccer team, and we were up doing the Congo. And 20 ,000 American goes, Who the hell are this lot on the stage? I tell you what, fun. You wouldn't get that now, would you?

1:11:01No. And it was a bonding night as well. Yeah. I got lost in New York. Oh, that's a nice word. You brought him up. What, Rod? Yeah, well, Rod as well. Is Haaland the best player in the world right now to aid this Norway effort at the World Cup? Ask AJ. He's not even in the top 20 in the Premier League.

1:11:28Frank, is he the best player in the world at the moment? Doesn't mean anything, he's a bad goalkeeper. So if you compare him to another goalkeeper, he's craft, you know. So, no, he's really now the best striker in the world, that's for sure. The hottest property, I would say. Yeah. He's the hottest. I mean, he, you know, there's a lot of good players, but he is, at the moment, just the go-to man, isn't he? Right. Weekend, week out. For club and country. Yeah. Just to define him yesterday, boys, at the end. I mean, he didn't go into the dressing room. He just got a jacket on, didn't take a shower.

1:12:07Just came out with his match fit, put his jacket on, didn't talk to any press, put himself in the bus. They were driving there 10 minutes to the hotel. They stopped and he went into a Hamburg shop and bought 60 hamburgers for the staff and the players. And then they went back to the hotel. that's where he is at the moment great stuff boys he can't go out incognito can he no he can't it's a bit difficult how are you going to disguise that put a false nose and some glasses on him get away with it use your teeth so an extra time just to sum up that included dentures and bin bags and Rod Stewart you only get it one place don't you right here ESPN FC of course available daily right here on ESPN+.

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