Messi & Mbappe Madness

24:15I think he might mean it. OK, when it comes to odds to win the World Cup, France came into the tournament as second favourite. But right now, Shaq, they are the favourites from everything that's been seen so far. Understandable to you? Yeah, without question. Understandable given their second half performance. Their first half performance, France crash out in group stages. But then all of a sudden, you see things just start to work. And you know I picked them to start the tournament. Kay and I never waver. Never waver. Never happened in the last World Cup, of course. Certainly favourites for me.

24:47Spain, though, I mean, just kind of talking about those odds. Spain, obviously, that draw drops down. And Argentina, I agree with Kieran in what you said, are simply playing with house money, given the fact that they won four years ago, a freedom from them that I did not expect. They certainly move up considerably in whatever those charts were. France, the favourites for you, Kieran? Yeah, yeah. And like I said before, my fear is that there is so much more to come from them. and just that one tweak from Deschamps at halftime, you see what it does. It unlocks the team completely and there's just a rhythm about them that I don't think any of the teams that they're going to come up against can stop when they're on form.

25:29Yeah, we've seen some great trends on social media. We shouldn't get carried away with France. They did very well and we are saying that because Spain drew against Cap Verde. Don't forget what happened to Argentina at the first game when they lost against Saudi Arabia the last World Cup and they won it. So it's good. It wasn't good first half. It's good second half but we're going to show as French the humility we described us the most. Don't listen to Frank. He had Canada win in the last World Cup and that's a fact. That's true. That's true. That's true. And Denmark. So we've seen some lovely trends on social media already in this tournament and we got to see the French players with their first jerseys, their first football jerseys, showing them off here in this lovely picture.

26:16So we decided to do the same with our panel. And here we go. Look at this, Shaka. What have we got going on here? That's the old Reading shit. Wow. That's for the playoff final in 95. Frankie? Is that Frank? That's Frank.

26:36Bravo. You want to talk? Yeah. It took me 10 seconds to recognize you. I didn't realize you had curly hair. That's beautiful. Yes, I know. Frankie, Frankie, your shirt there, your jersey. That was Laval, my first club as a professional. And I played two and a half years for Laval before moving to Strasbourg. And a lovely city. sorry city lovely place to learn the football with a great guy who passed away a couple of years ago Michel Lemillinaire was my mentor and and really I really appreciated my two and a half years living there because I was so great so nice and I learned so much lovely stuff and of course the two Arsenal boys either side of me in their jerseys too Frank so thank you so much for joining us for this World Cup Morning Edition we'll speak to you very soon and make sure to stay up to date with Gavin Jules every single day.

27:36A new episode will drop tomorrow wherever you get your podcasts. And I can tell you, Jules is very happy. Now, Erling Haaland was the star of the show in his World Cup debut. We'll look back on it next.

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28:56Iraq took on Erling Haaland and Norway and the big striker announced himself on the world stage in some style by bagging a brace on his World Cup debut. That game finished 4-1 and Haaland has arrived. They sit top in the standings ahead of France in the same group of them on goal difference right now. And look at these scenes from Oslo, Norway. This was the middle of the night And these guys were out celebrating 28 years later Norway in a World Cup tournament for the first time. And Erling Haaland leading the line for them. A brace on his World Cup debut. The golden boot race is on, Shaq. It really is.

29:34And listen, given everything we've seen, I know you wanted to see an Erling Haaland response. Maybe not the supporting cast that Kylian Mbappe has or Lionel Messi may have. But Erling Haaland just seems to write his own records. still unplayable and you see that given a gift for his second goal but you have to give him credit for at least chasing it down and put him in seven in that position as pure goal scorers go they simply do not come better than Erling Haaland no way off to a flyer No shot of any confidence is he Kieran nor should he be? No, not at all and I really felt from minute one that he wanted to make a statement today and Norway, to be fair, as a team, the way they performed.

30:22You know, first World Cup in 20 years. And I think it was important for them, you know, as a nation to really start this tournament well and impose themselves on Iraq. And they certainly did that. I worry about them in, you know, in the latter stages, but I think that they'll be able to get out of the group. but for Haaland, I mean, this stage was built for him, wasn't it? And I can only see him going on here and notching a few more. He just continues to break records, can score any type of goal but I just loved his approach to this game. I felt like, you know, in City last year he had phases but I think he's really ready for this World Cup.

31:06How lucky are we to be getting him in the World Cup? We just wanted to show you some of his stats. in competitive matches with Norway. Robbo, look at this. The last nine games, 18 goals and two assists. Now, I know you're our maths guy here. Yeah, well, that's two again. Make it down for us. I can work that one out. I got my maths O-level. It's now called GCSE, but I got my maths O-level. Not here in the US. But your maths qualification nonetheless. But again, yesterday, he only had 20 touches. Imagine if they got the ball into him that little bit more and he was making more runs down the side and he had 40 touches.

31:40you'd be getting four goals. And to Shaka's point... It's been math again there, Robbo. I know. The second goal, what shocked the goalkeeper was his pace. The goalkeeper, oh, I'm all right, he's not going to get there. And suddenly the pace of Erling Haaland over that 10 yards was magnificent. And his work rate was really good in the game. Yeah, we love having Norway on the world stage. And the fans have been bringing it as well. And one of the things that we've loved seeing is the viral footage of their rowing celebration. But it's not just in the stands. We're seeing it in the escalators wherever they go.

32:11This was in Boston. So they're rowing their way up the escalators. You just need to take a look on social media, across digital, you'll be seeing this everywhere. It's wonderful stuff. There's a chant, there's a row, and we do have a resident rower on the panel today. Hey!

32:30It's easier rowing up that escalator than it is having Gab Marcotti in your boat. I mean... You're sinking! The bug was sinking. Pull up the egg, Robbo.

32:43Quick, Robbo. Get to shore. Just get on the swim, Robbo. That's Dan and Stevie Nichol winning. Look, Gab's not happy with you. What did he tell you? He was meant to be the cox. He was meant to tell me where to go. And all I could do was just... When I first got, the oars wouldn't go in the water because when the boat tipped down like that, what have you got in it? Oh, wonderful stuff. Should have got Burley in there. Absolutely should have. Another major tournament, rowing edition. Stuart Robson involved in that one. I don't think he's having as much fun as the Norway fans are right now. And we did get to hear more about Norway as Jan Arger Fjortov, our resident Norwegian, joined the show last night.

33:29Make sure to go and check that out. That's now over on our YouTube channel and, of course, streaming on ESPN+. as well. Next up, we talk about the Three Lions. They opened their campaign today with Harry Kane and the rest of the boys. Is it coming home?

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35:40The three Lions get their Group L campaign started in Dallas today and it's a familiar foe. Croatia who beat them in the semi-finals in Russia 2018. Harry Kane front and centre of all the papers in England alongside Ghana, Croatia and Panama in Group L. And it is England, Croatia coming up later today. Well, the England fans have been getting into the Texas spirit, enjoying the rodeo and no doubt enjoying the drinks as well. Because our Adrian Healy is on the ground in Dallas. He's not been able to find any England fans this morning. Well, hazard in a guess, they're still hung over in bed after enjoying these Texas delights.

36:23Oh, boy. Very nice stuff. Adrian, there he is. Big smile as well. Is that the case then, Adrian? You think that they're all still resting after every night last night? Oh, absolutely, Kay. You know it's true. There's supposedly 15 ,000 England fans in this area. I'm right here in Arlington. We've got Fort Worth over to one side where you see the stock. yards and the rodeo. Dallas, the other side, 15 miles apart. They're all spread over the area, but out of those 15 ,000, I reckon about two are awake right now. The Dutch did it the other day, didn't they? Yeah, I am one of them. Yes, the Dutch did the old march to the match with the bus, and the English don't really go in for that, do they?

37:07They're going to turn up, but they will be here. They will support, and I tell you, talking to a lot of them yesterday when I could get a word in, Edgeways, they are quietly confident that this England side under Tommy Tuchel is primed to do something special. Their first ever World Cup game on US soil is happening in just a few hours. Oh, wow. Yes. Are you confident, Kieran Gibbs? Do you know what? I am quietly confident, actually. I am. I think that this has probably been the least amount of attention on an England team in a World Cup since I can remember. And I think that that will do them a favour.

37:41I think that the attention has been on other teams, stuff outside of the pitch. And I think that they need that, especially, you know, the selection that Tuchel went with was probably the big question mark. But I think that this group of players have a unique camaraderie. I think they have something and I know we always talk about how important that is for when you're in a competition like this. But I just think that they have a togetherness. I love the fact that he's gone with a mix of experience and also youth. And I think he's got a balance of people that are new into the competition on the international stage and players that have been there and done it before.

38:34So, yeah, I like the balance and I think that the style of player that he's got and the structure that he's going to go with is going to actually suit this type of tournament. We're looking at a potential starting XI here for England, Robbo. Jude Bellingham in it. Yes. Yes. And I think he's the best suited player because you have to build the team around Harry Kane or build the front line around Harry Kane. And Harry Kane will score goals and he'll arrive in the box at the right time. But he's also a player that drops deep. Now, you need somebody that's going to make runs beyond him. And that's what Jude Bellingham has done for Real Madrid all the time he's been there.

39:08That's the position that suits him best. That's the position he wants to play. Now, Morgan Rodgers is, I think, more of a counter-attacking player. It's somebody that doesn't really want to go beyond people with runs. He's somebody that wants to go beyond the centre-forward with the ball and will drop slightly deeper. So I think Jude Bellingham is the right player. And if it's Saka or whether it's Madweke who plays on that right-hand side, crosses will come into the box and Bellingham is good in the air. Before I get to Saka on Kane, I just want to talk to you, Kieran, if I can, about Bukayo Saka because he has struggled with an Achilles injury in recent weeks.

39:40He said he'd be taking a gamble regarding his fitness but is ready to play. Do you think it will be Madweke, though, to begin the tournament? Well, I mean, I think it's like for like. I think earlier in the competition, I think if he needs a little bit more rest, for me personally, I would go with Maduweke. I think he's been clutch for Arsenal this year and I think he's been more important than people will give him the credit for. And then as time goes on into the competition, you can bring Bakayo in. He's played so much football. He's played so much football in the last five, six years. And that could be where this Achilles problem is coming from, just that heavy, heavy load.

40:16So the more time you can give here, every day is important. I would rest him in this earlier stages. Yeah, let's bring Adrian back in because he's all alone there with no England fans around him, but the hopes of a nation very much on the shoulders of Harry Kane. Yeah, where are they, Adrian? Let's talk Harry Kane. Yeah, I mean, you know, 61 goals in a season. It is absolutely phenomenal, isn't it? And he just seems to be primed, but he has the right players around him playing in the right position. That's what, you know, talking to the England fans last night, that's what they really get from what Tommy Tuchel has done.

40:50he's put players in their correct positions as opposed to perhaps Euro 24 where we had Alexander Arnold playing a little out of position Phil Foden playing out of position Harry Kane has all the right weapons around him whoever is playing whether it's Gordon or Rashford whether it is Bellingham at the number 10 I think Kane is primed for he will have sat there and seen what Kylian Mbappe and Messi and Haaland did yes they won't do and he will want a piece of that for himself yes absolutely Now, we're talking a lot about England, Adrian, but of course, Croatia are playing them today and they are not to be underestimated.

41:26We find that out year after year and their fans are out in force as well. Have you bumped into any Croatia fans? Yeah, I absolutely have, Kay. There's a massive Croatian population in this area and in the US in general, over a million of them. And those red and white checkered shirts are very hard to miss, aren't they? And, you know, they are confident, too. They obviously have had a lot of success in recent tournaments. They pretty much have the same sort of lineup with your Modricis and your Perisicis and Kovacicis. They have been there since 2018. They're pretty much the same team that made that semifinal and knocked England out.

42:07I will draw your attention to one name to watch, though. A local lad. He's a Croatian, Peter Moussa. They call him the Moose. Don't get many moose in Texas. but Peter Moussa plays for FC Dallas here. He also plays for the Croatia National League. He has been waiting for this day to represent his country in his home city for some time. May not start, but you'll have to watch the moose if he comes on later on for Croatia. Lovely stuff, Adrian. We look very much forward to hearing more from you and hope that you will get to see some of those England fans a little bit later on today. Speaking of England fans...

42:41They're there, they're there. This is a little bit of an embarrassing moment for me. Wow! That is my 1990 school photo in the England replica tracksuit. I need that picture. What's going on with the barnet? What's going on with the peanut head? You've seen a ghost by the looks of it. The best bit is, underneath, I had a T-shirt with Gazzer on, crying, saying, tears of a clown.

43:11I presume that's your brother next year, isn't it? That is my brother David. My sister gets away with this one because she was already in high school by this time But yes Unbelievable Let's just say things got better It very much has It very much has But you know I've got to be involved in the old embarrassing pictures too Oh we've got the three lions today but we've also got a lion making predictions What will the lion say? We'll find out next

43:46NWSL action coming up. Boston Legacy taking on Bay FC July 5th, 12pm Eastern on ESPN. Be sure to catch that game. As for today's games in World Cup action, Portugal against DR Congo, England-Croatia, Ghana taking on Panama in the same group as England and Croatia, and Uzbekistan against Colombia later tonight. Time for some predictions, though. And here we are, back at the predictions board and Kieran enters the fray as we start with Portugal. First up, is it me? You're up. Against Congo Dia. This could go any which way, couldn't it?

44:27I think he's going to be a... He's sitting on the middle. Draw. Draw. Wow. I'm going draw. I'm going Portugal here. Congo Cup 30 playoffs, but I just don't think they're strong enough. No, I've looked at the Portugal team and, yes, We've got Ronaldo at 41, but the rest of the players are very good, so I think they'll win this game quite comfortably. So do I, and I think Ronaldo all score. Oh, look at you. What Kieran's talking about, anyway. OK, same group, Uzbekistan against Colombia. Kieran.

45:04This is going to be a Colombia win for me. Yeah. I think an easy Colombia win. Well, I've seen a lot of Uzbekistan over the last three years, and they're a very... What are you laughing about? I think they're a very good team. They've got a very good centre-half, we know about, and I think they're going to get a creditable draw out of it. Oh, Robbo. All right, I'm going to go with the boys, though. A little bit of Columbia. A smart gift. All right, that's where we're sticking at right now. Now, we're going to get to see Antoine Semenyo's goal. Remember this in the FA Cup final? What a goal it was.

45:37He's in action for Ghana. That's who England got after Croatia. but we wanted to catch up with him and talk about what it was like to score this goal and what was going through his mind. So here he is doing just that. I think Mateos Nunes got the ball. He's obviously played it into me in the pocket. I've just tried to touch it, make sure Ryan Chalke gets in and I can get into the space, attack in the space. That was kind of the game plan to attack behind the defenders. And it opened up, Ryan went to play it, got intercepted and then I think Bernardo got the ball. It's obviously driving, committing, played Erling down the channel and it was like, I thought he was going to play it to me because I made the initial run and he didn't play it to me.

46:18I was a little bit like, why didn't he play it to me? Anyways, obviously Erling's crossed the ball and it was behind me and it's like in training, you improvise on a lot of things. You don't necessarily practice, but you improvise and that's the first thing I can think about. I'm going to have to improvise now. I've got a lot of pressure on me, so if I try to turn and shoot, might get blocked and the opportunity is gone so just went to flick it and like as soon as he left my boot I was like oh my gosh this is great connection this this could go in and then I went in the net and I was just like even in my celebration I was like oh damn and actually actually went in it's a it's a great finish but um yeah just a lot of improvisation there a lot of improvisation just like this show it was a great finish though wasn't it very humble play you were there at that final I wasn't the final it was a good finish and he's a good play had a great season at Manchester City we didn't think he would bring quite as much as he's brought when he was at Bournemouth but what a player will they win today yes they will I've been quite impressed with the African side so far though they haven't had a lot of wins they've certainly put up good shows so I think they're gonna be much too strong for Panama.

47:23Jaquette? Yeah I'm with Rob on this I'm worried for Panama this tournament doesn't start well with Ghana. Yeah I have to agree I think they're just gonna have too much physicality for Panama in this game. I thought you were quicker when you were playing football than you are dragging that across. I was like where's he stopping, where's he going? All right I'll do it too. I mean the fact that he's like yeah you know didn't really mean to do it but I kind of did it was improvisation it's like if that's in the locker then I'm going for Ghana as well. All right so this is how things are looking today which one are you looking forward to seeing the most Robbo?

48:00In terms of the games,

48:06I'm going to go with this one here because I want to see the African side, the Ghaner, see how well they are. They're strong, they're powerful. They've got some good technical players. Let's hope they win the game. Okay. Speaking of strong and powerful, we've got a lion making predictions right now. In fact, two of them. This is the new trend. Remember we had the octopus in 2010? Pulpupal. And so this is, does that mean England advance? Oh, I don't know. Oh, this one likes Panama.

48:39I'm not too sure what it means. Who speaks lion here? I'm not too sure what it means. You guys can tell me what it means. Kieran Gibbs. The lion, the box it goes for is... Oh, okay, that's the one that... It's like they're mauling it, though. Does that mean they're going to get mauled? That's what I was worried about. I bet. But that means, apparently, that means they picked England, okay? I bet. All right. Are you going to go with the Lions? Yeah, yeah. For the three Lions, Kieran? Got to be. You might have to move the thing across. I'll do it for Kieran this time. And even Shaka's faster than you into corner.

49:07Okay, Shaka. I'm going to sit on the fence, you know. Oh, my goodness. Because I suspect I know what's coming from you two. I'll tell you what, you can sit right over there as well. Never mind the fence. Go on, Robbo. Well, I have to say, Croatia, that little bit older. England, I think, are going to be one of the top sides in the tournament. I've got no doubt England will win this game quite comfortably.

49:31Okay. I've got to go up. As you know, Kieran's got a lovely lady. So, we just wanted to show you a little bit of Kieran's fits, okay? Because you know that it's changed everything to...

49:53I've got a better body than that. I'm insulted. I've got a better body than that. To be honest, you were the only one that we didn't get to see in a picture like that, but there's a lot of shows to go, so maybe next time, look out every day. Robbo could be coming on shirtless. See you tomorrow.

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