Sin City

26:30He's not actually in Manchester right now Halloween's coming up Mark, thank you so much for being with us, you stay safe okay ESPN FC has you covered every single day. No doubt we'll be talking a lot more about this story and the news as it develops on Man City's charges.

26:53This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands for the super athletic stuff, like running gear for cruising up the trail. Woo! And the super athletic-ish stuff, like fishing gear for chilling by the creek. Nice cast. Fitness apparel to push for higher reps. You got this. And golf balls priced so you can afford to lose one. Or a few.

27:33Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it.

27:43France played its first fixture under new manager Zinedine Zidane taking on Türkiye in the Nations League. It was the opening game of the tournament as well. And the opening goal of the Zidane era came from Kylian Mbappe in the 54th minute. He had to come off injured after scoring the goal. And in the 87th minute, we see Türkiye's keeper, Shakir, also given a red card. he came out of the boxer block a barcola shot one nil it would finish to france frank and gabber still with us frank he's right where he wants to be right now zinedine zidane talk to us about this appointment and what he wants to make france this side well you know what i think he will it will enjoy you know the the results i know i think i'm pretty sure he's not going to be happy about the by the performance and where they want to go and how they want to achieve it but uh one game after one game, you know, let's appreciate the results on the bad field where the ball was bouncing, like in the time of myself or Stevie for sure.

28:48But that was awful. But let's say that for the record, Zidane is the only coach who won his first game getting into that job since Emeja K94 and I'm sorry Gab it was against Italy away from home in Naples we won 1-0 but it says a lot about how hard it is to get into the project but we feel that he was already you know into it I saw him talking to Lacroix when he scored the goal him talking to Le Paul or some others when they were coming in. I feel he's really into it. He wants that. He wanted that. He's looking for something special. And he knows that he has the support of everybody, the media, the fans.

29:43And we want him to be successful because overall, that's Zinedine Zidane. So good luck to him. That's a good first result. Let's see how it goes. It's that aura that already demands the respect of the players that France have got to boast in the team in this national side. Zinedine Zidane is already respected and admired by all of them. Well, and I think to that point, Kay, some of the images that we saw from France leading up to this match were not so much about Mbappe training or Barcola training or this guy or Michael Olisse. No, no. It was Zinedine Zidane striking balls at training. Look at him.

30:21He still got it. While you have some of the best players in the world there for France, the news where that Cine d 'Incidane still had it. He can still knock the ball around. That's how much respect he commands around this team. I think the biggest challenge that Cine d 'Incidane is going to have with this group is how do you impact a team that is so strong already? And how do you get some of these players that are so very talented to get to an entirely different level, a different level that can get this team to win the World Cup, to win the Euros, to do the things that Zidane has done himself and is expected to do as a manager.

31:05Getting your influence and your impact and your touch and your flavor on this team that is already formed, is already built, is already talented, it's already one of the most talented, if not the most talented group in the world, to have that flavor, that special something, that special sauce, that special magic. That's what Zidane needs to bring, but it's not always easy to do. That will be his biggest challenge. Yeah, to set out a clear identity with this front side. And this question comes now. They finished fourth in the World Cup. Everybody expected them to win this World Cup that we've just had.

31:40Is it actually a better time to take over a team of stars like this when they haven't just won a World Cup, if you're a manager, Stevie? No. No, I don't. Listen, the better a team that is that you take over, then I would suggest the easier it is. Now, when you take over such a high profile side, then the expectation is what you have to match. But there's no question. He's more than capable of coming up with the expectation. But I think the one thing that he's going to find difficult is how does he turn this? I mean look at this line up It's fantastic And it was the same under the Shonks But the one thing that the Shonks couldn't do Was somehow keep this team on its toes From the first whistle to the last whistle It was almost like they fell asleep In periods of too many games So how does he keep that How does he keep them on the toes That they actually show What they're capable of Not just as individuals You can sit and watch Alise and Mbappe and doing all kinds of things.

32:47But as a unit, as a team, that, I think, is the challenge for Zinedine Zidane. And we've seen today that he couldn't do that. But obviously he's going to have a lot more time to do it. But can he? Is it possible? Deschamps couldn't do it. And he had how many years to do it? So that's the problem he has. Having talent and winning games is going to happen. That isn't a question. It's how they do it. that's going to be the key. Can he actually get them to play together as a unit whilst using all the talent together? And I agree, Stevie, that at times this French national team looks like they think they're too good and they lose focus for periods of time during a match.

33:35And so much so that they were punished because of it during the World Cup. Then they got to a team that actually could keep the ball in Spain and they couldn't get a hold of the ball. It's like, Now what do we do? But I think it does benefit Zidane in the sense that Didier Deschamps may have lost the ear of this team because he'd been there for a while. And players had turned over and they had come and they had gone. And you're hearing the same voice over and over again. I think there's something to say about a new voice coming in and a new voice that has so much weight in the history, not only of French football, but world football, club football.

34:13If this guy is so historically respected, you know these players are going to listen to him. At the very beginning, they're all going to be all on board, all hands on deck, trying to impress Zinedine Zidane. Carrying that for a longer period of time will be a challenge as well. But I think he's more than capable of carrying on this responsibility. And the expectation's got to be winning Euro 2028, hasn't it, Gab? I think so. But I think it's also a different style that you're going to get from Didier Deschamps in terms of the man management. Obviously, both would consider themselves player managers.

34:59But I think the difference is that, as Ali said, Zidane's approach is going to perhaps carry a little bit of a different weight. He's going to be able to turn the page in certain areas of the pitch, if that's what he thinks is right. and let's not forget, I mean, Deschamps certainly had his critics. He was there a long time. I certainly was a big critic, but the man still won things and he was still freakishly successful for long periods, however disappointed people might have been with what happened at the last World Cup. So I think those are still some pretty big shoes to fill. Italy and Belgium also got their Nations League campaign underway and it was a 2-0 win for Belgium.

35:44Mika Gotts scoring the opener. Dodi Luka-Bacchio scoring the second. Roberto Mancini tried out some youngsters, but there's still a lot of work to do. Gab Marcotti can talk to us about this. And Mancini, what's he going to be able to do with this generation of players, Gab? Well, he's almost like he's moved on to the next generation because if you look at the line-up who actually played, I'm gonna guess these are not names that are particularly familiar to the average fan I'm talking about people like Muhammad Ali Zouma people like like Romano and was kind of the keys of the midfield yeah who by the way is 20 years old is on loan at Cagliari and I think he's played maybe like 15 games as a professional Zouma by the way you may not be familiar with him if you're a Bundesliga watcher or if you're a Serie A watcher because he plays for Nuremberg in the second division.

36:41Or guys like Issa Dumbia, who's at Sporting and was at Venezia last year. So he's opened the door to a whole bunch of new places, many of whom are young. Even Cambiaghi, who's not young, but I think this was his first cap, the Bologna winger. And for the first 45 minutes, honestly, Belgium could have scored four or five. Italy were absolutely dreadful. And then at that point, what do you do? Do you take Romano off, who's having an absolute nightmare? Do you want to destroy the kids' confidence? He stuck with him. Italy had a period in the second half when we saw the Ken chance. They had another chance.

37:20They played better. Luca Bacchio's goal, you could say, was on the break, and it was a great finish. But equally, had this game finished 4-5-0, Italy could have had nothing to complain about. There's a long way back, and I just hope he has the guts to continue sticking with the kids, to continue sticking with players, perhaps from less fashionable clubs, and really giving everybody a chance and trying to build a squad that way than what we've seen in the past, even if he has to go into the German second division to find a player. Can Italy ever be the powerhouse they were again? Under Mancini, can he get them back to that level?

37:55Can we see Italy being a world beater once again, Gab? Well, of course. I mean, that's not even in question. Kay, I know you're familiar with this. It was a little over five years ago that Italy won the Euros. Under Mancini. We've had better teams under Mancini, funnily enough. Now, do they have the talent in Spain or France or England and Brazil? No, obviously not. But, you know, there is a pathway back. having a dysfunctional national league does not stop you from producing talent. Look at France. So look, I think these things come in generations, but there's a lot of things that need to be modernized.

38:42There has to be a different way of thinking. And I think we're seeing this new way of thinking. The problem is, is other countries just have such a huge lead. Other countries, Belgium being a good example of it you know they've shown hey look you're 18, 19 years old well I'm going to give you a chance I'm going to chuck you in there players are going to be accustomed to playing alongside 18, 19, 20 year olds and these guys produce I mean Mika Gotts I know Stevie said he got lucky with the finish I'll defer to him on that but the guy looks an absolute natural on the pitch he looks ridiculously gifted and this is a guy who had what one, not even a full season as a starter at Ajax and then suddenly moves to Paris Saint-Germain.

39:26Italy are not in a situation where they're producing players like that. And Belgium evidently are. And just to go back to the Mancini appointment as well, Gab, is that to fix the problems that they've been going through and looking at actually what he did there in the Euros and hoping that he can recreate some of that success? Why was it Mancini? Well, I think, look, there's no question Mancini's Italy played good football. Even when they didn't qualify for the World Cup, they were actually good. They screwed up a game. We know how that happened. And that's why they kept him around. Ultimately, the reason Mancini left had to do with perhaps him not being very clever in the offer from Saudi Arabia and so on.

40:08But that's the reason he moved on. I think he's a very good coach. And he's a very good national team coach. Obviously, he can only go so far with the players who are there. If you don't have superstars, and there were also some players missing for Italy, like Bastoni, like Di Marco, like Rettegui. But, you know, you have to then put your faith in other players. What I like about it is he's casting a really wide net. He's calling young players in. He says, no, no, no, I want to see these guys in training camp. I love the extended national team break. I can have these guys with me. He's using the Nations League almost as like a proving ground.

40:46And we'll find out. It's going to be sink or swim. But I would much rather this than what we had in previous years, where you wouldn't get a sniff of the national team until you were 24, 25 years old and had picked up all sorts of bad habits. Which, by the way, a lot of these young Italian players, others who didn't play, like Samuari Piaf, for example, or Anastan or Marco Pallesta, these guys play abroad. So some of the bad habits, some of the insecurities, they might have picked up in Serie A. Hopefully they won't get them as much playing in foreign leagues. So he realises all this. I think he's taking the right steps.

41:25Now, of course, you've got to deliver and continue to build and hope that that first half against Belgium was just some nightmare and a low point. Is this the time to be looking at that young talent that might be on tap that's out there that could be delivering? Well, yes. I mean, the theory is correct. unfortunately theory and practical don't always and as soon as Gab was talking about you know the young guys and the bad habits and getting rid of this and that I'd go straight back to Scotland my own country with Bertie Vokes that's exactly what he did he went back to trying all kinds of players from all different leagues the German second division maybe not that maybe he should have done but it absolutely went horribly wrong and it didn't again Again, the theory that he had is the exact same thing as what Gab was talking about, but it went horribly wrong.

42:19So it's a great idea. Will it work? The odds have got to be against it. Here is from today's evidence, from today's match, in which, yes, you had the young Italian guys out there, but you also had the young Belgian players out there. And what was clear to see, at the very least, in the first 45 minutes, if not for the course of the 90 minutes, in that in the first 45 minutes, the team speed of Belgium as compared to the team speed of Italy, just flat out running, the change of pace of the Belgian players as compared to Italy, there wasn't even a point of comparison. There wasn't even a point in which it was close.

43:02It just felt like Belgium were playing at a completely different level in terms of speed than Italy. And that's not a, well, it's the young guys against the old guys, and so the young guys are just going to run by you. No, no, this is young guys against young guys. And so then that speaks to the shortage of talent in Italy and as to why I would be concerned in the now and in the future for Italy. While I agree with Gap that these things tend to turn over and generationally things get better, I feel like we're in a downturn that continues to go down for Italy. And if indeed this is the new generation as compared to what we saw from Belgium today, and it's only 45 minutes and it's only today.

43:44But if that's the evidence we go by, Lord, it's going to take a while for this generation to turn over into what Gap thinks could be something successful in the future. All right. Let's remind you of how the results look today now that the Nations League is back underway. This is League A and Group 1. Belgium and France off to a good start, both getting three points on the board today. Keep up to date with everything over on ESPN FC. New content uploaded every single day over there.

44:21This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you, so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands for the super athletic stuff, like running gear for cruising up the trail. Woo! And the super athletic-ish stuff, like fishing gear for chilling by the creek. Nice cast. Fitness apparel to push for higher reps. You got this. and golf balls priced so you can afford to lose one. Or a few.

45:01Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Okay, Europe's top four domestic leagues have issued a joint statement demanding FIFA reform, asking to give affected stakeholders a genuine role in decision-making, ensuring evidence-based decision-making, separating FIFA's role as a regulator from its commercial function. And there are more news and pointers behind this as well. It's quite lengthy if you are to read it. So what should we know about it, Gab? Gab can condense it all for it and summarize it.

45:41Frank's with us too. Yeah, look, they're calling for more transparency and evidence-based decisions, which is another way of saying that, hey, if you have this bright idea of selling off a chunk of the World Cup commercial rights. You have to show us that it's a good idea, and you have to be transparent, and we all have to argue about it. That's nothing new. That's common sense, and that's their way of turning the screws on Johnny Infantino. They also ask for kind of like a seat at the table for football leagues at the FIFA Council level, or at least to be consulted, not just for them. They asked for one for the players, Union, FIFPro, which obviously, you know, they represent the leagues.

46:31And so the leagues are going to want more power, more say over things like the calendar. They've got legal action against FIFA. They're complaining about the international break, saying, well, but only X many players play international football. What about the rest of them? What do they do for three weeks? This is hurting us. And again, fair enough. That's their role. Other people might say, well, look, international football is important too. And then the other thing that they want to do is they want to spin off the commercial operation from the actual sort of governance operation. And that one, dare I say, maybe a little bit self-interested on their part too.

47:11Like we want to be the guys deciding where the money goes, not you politicians, you know, effectively, since we generate the money. I don't think this is going to be taken seriously by FIFA. Johnny's not going to look at this. Oh, look, a bunch of great ideas. Let me adopt them straight away. But it does show that they're laying down a marker and they're added to the long list of people that would like to see Johnny Infantino, if not gone, at least challenged by a credible candidate at the FIFA elections next March. And a reminder, nominations close November 18th. Stevie? Yes, Steve. He didn't need that.

47:48He's already got it circled in his calendar. What does it mean then for Gianni Infantino? What will he be thinking about this, Gab? Will it be a concern for him? I could care less. He doesn't. You know, people like this, people like Tebas, he represents the league. His interlocutors aren't the leagues. They're the national FAs. They're the associations. You know, football leagues, tough life football leagues like La Liga, the Premier League, whatever, they just represent the elite 20 clubs in the country. And Gianni's going to come out and say, oh, no, but I deal with the association, which represents every single male and female player and kids and veterans and so on up and down the country, amateur, professional.

48:27I got much bigger fish to fry. I don't need to listen to these people. I don't even need to interface with these people. We've seen that approach before. We saw it with the Club World Cup. If he's going to invite Real Madrid and Atletico to the Club World Cup, he sure as hell isn't going to ask Tebas for permission. he's going to go straight to the clubs or straight to UEFA and tell us which clubs are qualifying. So I think this is also domestic leagues wanting a piece of the pie, which I don't say it in a negative way. It's right that they should. Ultimately, the league football is the bread and butter.

49:02But there's a lot of political reasons behind this as well. Frank, we'll let you in. Are you feeling left out? Because that's the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga. Where's league gone?

49:14I don't know. I don't know. We are not that big, but because we want to show humility, that's why. But let me go to the subject. You know, I realized that FIFA is a big thing. I mean, I remember when Michel Platini wanted to be the president of it and how it worked with Gianni Infantino and how bad it came out. and I'm being the president of the FIFA or being part of the board of the FIFA is huge. You are dealing with the first sport in the world and you can force countries and even politicians of the country to follow you or to be punished or penalized by the FIFA, which is huge for any country in the world.

50:01So it says how big you are, because sometimes we can be in sport wise above any country. So it's huge. The position is huge. And we can see that politically talking. It's not a position of a president of any sport. It's a political position. So, of course, they don't care. They listen, but don't really listen. So you can ask for whatever. And it's nice that France is only the five top league in the fifth top league in the world. like that, we don't bother. Okay, good stuff. Transparency is the enemy for these people. Oh. Oh, Stevie, put it on my fridge. What a quote. Big conglomerates, big governing bodies.

50:43Transparency is the enemy. Transparency is the enemy for these people. Oh. Stevie. So good luck with all their ideas getting through. And on that note. So in-depth, so philosophical. Yeah, that's what you're going to get from Stevie. Just the truth, son. Gab, we're going to let you go. if there was ever a show made for you to come on and help us out today, this was the one. Thank you for being with us. Gab Markotti will speak to you again very soon.

51:09All right. Yes, extra time where Craig headbutted his birthday cake yesterday. We'll be doing the same today. Not headbutting birthday cakes, but answering questions. You can check that edition out over on our YouTube channel. He did that with so much anger.

51:27This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Sierra has all the best active and outdoor brands for the super athletic stuff, like running gear for cruising up the trail. Woo! And the super athlete-ish stuff. Like fishing gear for chillin' by the creek. Nice cast. Fitness apparel to push for higher reps. You got this. And golf balls priced so you can afford to lose one. Or a few.

52:07Head to Sierra or Sierra.com for the brands you want at the prices that let you do it all. From athletic to athletic-ish, Sierra's got it. Rumor is the day is going to finally come when I get to host this show myself. Look out, you never know when it's going to be, but I can tell you it's soon. Hopefully it's on one with you, LA. I don't believe I'm on on that day, Kay. I'm so sorry. My apologies. I'm not doing it then. Alright, thank you so much for being with us on the latest edition of ESPN FC. Stick around. Frank has done just that because he will be answering your questions with these guys on Extra Time.

52:46That's coming up next. Welcome into the latest edition of Extra Time. Ale and Stevie here in the studio and Frank Leboeuf joining us as well to answer your questions. If I may say so, and maybe Stevie agrees with me, you know, usually we come to work and we really enjoy what we do and we talk about games and we watch games and we have fun and we joke and this and that. And then we saw what was the list of topics for today's show and it's like, oh, no. Oh, no. Between the Manchester City charges and the FIFA nonsense, it's like, oh, bro. Yeah, there's certain things you don't look forward to talking about.

53:26Oh, no. Well, because you know what it is? It's a Gap monologue. And nobody needs that. Nobody needs that. Hello, enjoy Madrid. Three days off, great. OK, Friday back. Charges, FIFA reform. It's all yours. And Gap. And Gap. Yes. Thanks again for coming on today. All right, for the panel, how did you guys stay motivated to maintain your fitness just weeks or months after your retirement from the sport? Did you even bother about it or did you just let yourself loose, especially when it came to your diet? I think I'll start with you, Stevie. How dare you. How dare you. This just didn't happen overnight, you know.

54:10This took time. This wasn't work. This wasn't weeks and months. This is work. A lot of work. Discipline. The long-term plan. Commitment to dedication. To begin with, it's easy. The first weeks and months are easy. Because you're so used to getting up and going and training that even though you're not at the training ground or with the boys, you still make yourself go and have a run. That's easy. it's probably it's probably a couple, maybe more than that years, in my case it took years before I eventually just went, I've had enough I just I was at the revs I was coaching the revs I think I was about 48 something like that and for some reason I just went I've had enough of this running on treadmills and going for runs and all that stuff and then trying to watch me eat.

55:15I just down tools. But it took me a long time and I just down tools. Could never be you, Frank. Could never be you. You still maintain your fitness plan, don't you? Yes, I work out every day for at least an hour every day for 365 days a year. I found my body too skinny when I gave up my career. I was 73 kilos, which I think was something like 160 pounds. And I put on some weight to 85 kilos, working out every day, getting a coach, and planning all my meals as well. I think I became more professional after my career than during my career and uh and i i got used to it i'm used to it and i'm suffering of an illness called bigorexia which means that you need to do sports otherwise you don't feel good and uh that's a real illness and i need that i need that if i don't do any sport for like a day or two i feel guilty and i don't feel good so it's part of my life it's uh my body has been my uh my tools and I need to make sure that I feel good and I express myself, you know, sweating on the treadmill or putting or working out with weight.

56:47So it's part of my life. Ali, you keep yourself well. Well, thank you. Okay. I appreciate that. I walk the golf course and so that's three hours that helps out in terms of being active. I try to do some weights the days that I'm not out on the golf course. Every once in a while I continue to play. But at this point, and I think the guys can attest to this as well, any time that you actually play for an extended period of time, everything hurts. What happened when you played with your son and his friends? How were you feeling after that? Well, so... Who are D1 soccer players, by the way? So here's what happens.

57:33And this is, again, a mistake that I think we've all made and we continue to make. If we play when we decide to play, then somehow we think that the lights are on and the fans are there. And here we go. We have to win. And now I'm not letting these kids run around or whatever. So now I'm running my mouth and I'm engaged for however long we're playing, an hour, an hour and a half. and then the moment we end the excitement and the adrenaline goes and now it goes much quicker than it used to it's a matter of me sitting for five minutes and now it's like oh I don't well and so like you need help to straighten yourself out and when you get to that point you know it's like maybe I shouldn't be doing this and then the knee swells up for at least a week and you're just kind of hobbling.

58:28It becomes very difficult to stay active at a high level. I did not appreciate, by the way, the director, when you were saying that all of that you did, you know, it takes work, that we got the shot from the side here to provide us with evidence. Huh? I made that. Was that really necessary? Thanks, Costa. Was that really necessary? Thanks, Costa. By the way, I walk three miles a day. With the dogs? Yeah. I'm just letting you know. Good. All right. Keep it up, Stevie. I'm proud of you. Me too. So when you do that, you can enjoy yourself. How many press-ups can you do? Come on now, let's not get crazy.

59:07Proper one. Proper press-ups on your feet. Five. Oh, let's see it, Stevie. Come on. Let's see you doing five right now. I don't think I can... Come on! Oh no, oh no. I don't even know if I can do it. Where's he going? Here we go. Wait, wait, wait, wait, here we go. Hold on. Hold on. One. Oh my god. Two. Lift your knees. Lift your knees. That's a downward cobra. That's a yoga position. That's a yoga. That's a yoga. That is not a four. What is that? That is not a four. We're not counting that. What's wrong with Ian? We're not counting there. Get up. I can't. I'm hot my shoulder. I can't. What's wrong with the lower body?

1:00:01I'm hot my shoulder. Why's the lower body staying on the floor?

1:00:09Listen. I'm a little bit out of practice. I know, but I think you should do yoga because there was some yoga. Yeah, there was that. There was a downward dog or something. I'm proud of you, Stevie. The guns have gone. Now you know what you can build on. What do you think, Frank? Well, I was wondering what was wrong with the lower body. Why the lower body didn't move from the floor?

1:00:36Oh, man. OK, Stevie, if you're not out of breath. The other day you said that man management is critical for successful coaches. How would you deal with the superstar who thinks he's above the team? and how would you deal with a mediocre player who was extremely coachable? Is there a balance? Oh, the Bertie Big Spuds, you absolutely just wait for your moment to pull them out in front of everybody. Just knock them down a peg or two. The other one, you don't need to do anything because everybody sees it and everybody wants to be like that. But the Bertie Big Spuds guy, you just, you bite your time.

1:01:16Don't manufacture it because if that's what they are, you'll get plenty of opportunities to point them out. But just wait your time, perfect moment, and then bosh, knock them down a peg. How long until Haaland moves to Madrid and Vinny is shipped out is the next question. Well, I don't know that it would be Haaland to Madrid. Haaland to wherever is depending upon when this whatever sanctions are for Manchester City. Yeah, there may be an exodus from Manchester City period that is not limited to just Erling Haaland. There was conversation at some point to Erling Haaland going actually to Barcelona.

1:02:00I don't know how realistic that was or will be in the future, but that was part of the conversation. Erling Haaland will not hang around, I don't think, if Manchester City are given the sanctions that we were discussing in the show. Okay. Nor should he, for that matter. Nor should he. Frank, I know it's still early, but if you had to commit to a prediction right now, which of these three nations do you think will go furthest at Euro 2028? Rank them in order. Italy, Netherlands, Germany.

1:02:34Well, according to what I saw, because I watched the game Italy against Belgium and we had gaps during the show, it was, I think, very optimistic because I really think that Italy, they are still falling from the cliff. I mean, I remember, and before me, a long time before me, Italy already in the 30s. They were the top of the top and it carried on until I would say 2010 or maybe something like that and they won the 2020 European Championship. But what we are seeing right now is appalling and it doesn't represent at all Italy. I don't know how they're going to recover from there. So for sure not Italy.

1:03:19I want to believe that Germany, I mean, I like what Klopp did for the National League, the amount of players that he took and trying to rebuild something. And I want to believe with his background and what he was capable of doing with Liverpool, Germany will rebirth from their past. I don't really know about the Netherlands. We'll see. You always find talents. But I want to believe that Klopp is the right guy in the right spots for Germany. and it will do good with them. Okay, so... Let me put it to you this way, Kay. I believe that Stevie has a better chance of completing 20 push-ups than Italy going far in the Euros.

1:04:01What? That means Italy's got no chance. Well, that's a point, Stevie. You could have said 10, to be fair. Well, you didn't have to go as far as 20. You really wanted to make the point. You could have said 5. According to what we've seen, you could have said five. You could have said five, yeah. Look, it wasn't a full-strength Italy today, and it wasn't a full-strength Stevie today. He wasn't warmed up. He wasn't ready. You know, that's what kept him from completing the task. Yeah, I think four stops. What order are you putting this list in, Ali? Germany, Netherlands, Italy. Same as Frank. All right, that's all we've got time for.

1:04:38Thank you so much for... Oh, no, there's one more, apparently. Not on my paper. Let's see what it is. Oh, is it trunk or what's next? What is it next? I don't know. Handstands. Ah, the hidden one. Has Craig now started a trend on the show with the birthday cake face plants? Well, no, because here's the problem. It comes from a place of anger. Usually when people have their birthday and they bring out cakes, we're all in a celebratory mood and we're also sharing in that joy and that happiness and we take pictures and we eat the cake and we have fun and we smile. For whatever reason. Thinking about eating it.

1:05:15that too but for whatever reason for Craig it seems to be sort of a point of honor that anger overtakes him and then decides that this is the solution and no yeah I don't I don't believe that this is a trend that if indeed you can call it a trend it's not gonna catch on would you have deleted it Stevie after that oh no no no oh no no Stevie has standards I know it doesn't seem like but here's yeah yeah no that's not what a waste of a good cake yeah i i know just making sure yeah exactly somebody worked hard for that cake and that's the waste and i was told by my parents you don't waste you know food it's a shame on you craig burley it's just funny but shame on you selfish it's it's selfish what about everybody else i wanted to enjoy the cake we all very much enjoyed the middlesbrough cake yes we did absolutely we did okay before we do go we're I'm gonna show you Stevie's push ups again.

1:06:12Oh no! Oh my god. Come on Stevie! That was the first one. Come on Stevie! Oh that's hard work. I'm gonna say this right, this is, that's a yoga position. That's a yoga position there. That is a, no Stevie. Ahhhhh! My god. Oh my god. And that was the third one. Mommy! Stevie!

1:06:40That's hard. That's hard work. It seemed like it, Stevie. As my shoulder goes down. Oh, yes, yes. At least you tried, Stevie. Hey, man. We won't be making you hide. He's still alive. He's still alive. I know it doesn't seem like it. Fight another day. You'll see him again on ESPN FC, which is available daily.

1:07:13This episode is brought to you by State Farm. No two football players are exactly alike, and the same is true off the field. That's why State Farm gets to know you, so they can help personalize coverage for your life and budget. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.