USMNT Stumble vs Portugal

27:41Spurs have a new manager and he has seven games to save their lives in the Premier League. Roberto Di Servi has taken over. Ian, I asked the boys yesterday whether or not he will indeed get them across the line. What do you think? I've got absolutely no idea, frankly, because, you know, with these Tottenham players, you know, they were 17th last season. Postacoglu couldn't get them to play. Thomas Frank couldn't get them to play. Neither could Igor Tudor. So what's the common denominator? The players. I think, you know, their mentality midgets. So I don't know what they've got. I mean, Deserby, you know, he's got a great reputation.

28:21He's admired by other coaches. He's volatile. He's going to shake them up a bit and ruffle some feathers. And maybe that's exactly what they need. But, you know, there's no team in the Premier League playing worse than Tottenham Hotspur. I mean, their record is appalling, really, particularly at home. So I have no idea what he's going to get from them. But he better do it quick. How big a deal would it be if Spurs go down, Ian? Massive. I think, you know, it's the biggest story, probably, in terms of relegation anyway. Leicester winning the title was probably the biggest story of the Premier League year.

28:56What was it? 5 ,000 to one. But I mean, Tottenham last went down nearly half a century ago. So it's probably as big a deal as that. Jules, you are very positive when it comes to the Zerbe. You feel that he will keep Spurs up. And Lott was made of the run-in yesterday. Where are they going to get the points? Where do you think, in fact, he will help them? Yeah, Craig made quite a big deal He said, where are the points going to come? I think it's hard to tell Because you could also look at This Sunderland game Where Sunderland, okay, away from home It's not easy It's a tough place Blah, blah, blah All of that We know already all those cliches But they also have nothing to play for They can't qualify for Europe Let's be honest here They don't really believe in it They can't go down They're that kind of mid-table team right now That if you show a different mentality from Spurs If you go there with a different mentality and De Zerbe has two weeks.

29:47It's very easy, slightly less than two weeks, but to get that, at least, and we explained yesterday, he will have to be pragmatic. For somebody who's so dogmatic as him, in terms of tactics, in terms of identity, style, DNA, it might be very difficult for him to move from being very dogmatic to being very pragmatic, but he will have to do. He'll have to be, because it's not in the space of 10 days that this Spurs team, that by the way, not many of those players are suited to the De Zerbi ball style of football that we know. So it's not in 10 days that he will implement that to the team. However, he's also very intense.

30:22He can have that gung-ho mentality of like, we have to go, we have to fight. I think he's got the charisma to transmit that to the players. And that's how they will have to play between now and the end of the season. Not the De Zerbi ball that we saw at Brighton. Not the different kind of version that we saw in Marseille. It would have to be very different. I think he's a very good coach. And like I said yesterday, very good coaches. improve their teams. Wherever they are, wherever the players are, it won't be the same as Brighton. But for now, I think it'd be enough to keep them up. As a player, how much difference can a coach make within 10 days of training?

30:56The feeling, the sensations are different. It was all doom and gloom with Igor Turo. And it was doom and gloom from the moment he got there. It was doom and gloom before he got there. And somehow, he found a way to make it worse. So, actually, if you're Roberto Deterri, Anything that seems like a sign of life, it's an improvement, right? So that, I think, as a manager, you have to go into the locker room and right away separate yourself from the doom and gloom. We're going to save ourselves. Not only are we going to save ourselves, we're going to thrive at the end of the season. And this is how we're going to do it.

31:32And let's go out there and train and compete. And let's make this an environment that we're all excited to come into. And the only way that we're going to do that is having each other's backs and covering each other's backs and working for each other and sacrificing for each other. It's us together that we're going to do it. You and I together, we're going to do this. That's got to be the message. Because Igor Tudor was very quick to separate himself and kind of go, well, let's throw these guys under the bus, see how that works. No, no, I don't think that's going to work. You're going to have to massage and lie to these players and massage the ego and have them somehow believe in themselves, in a truth that doesn't exist.

32:09Manufacture the truth for them, sell it to them, and then you're going to grind enough results to get this through the line. It's not going to be easy because you don't have the personality of players to grind. Yes or no? Oui. Yes. Yes. Ian, don't say you have no idea. I think they probably will stay out, but I'm not as sure as Jules and Ali about it. By the way, Ali's team talk, you'd have got the job if he'd have done that. I was ready to go. I was ready to put the boots back on. Test out this new liver, Ian.

32:45Spurs, of course, have that extra weekend off because of the FA Cup. Those games live on ESPN+. Manchester City against Liverpool is how we'll start our day. Chelsea against Port Vale. Saints against Arsenal on Sunday. It's West Ham against Leeds.

33:28taste and a good source of protein. Quaker, bring out the good. If we knew more about our sleep, what would we do differently? Would we go to bed at a consistent time? Or take steps to reduce interruptions to our sleep? With Sleep Score, Apple Watch measures your bedtime consistency, interruptions, and sleep duration. Then, every morning it combines these factors into an easy-to-understand score from 1 to 100. So you'll know how to take the quality of your sleep from okay to very high. know your sleep score with Apple Watch iPhone 11 or later required Brazil 3 Croatia 1 is how it finished on Tuesday night, much better from Brazil than we saw in the clash against France, Danilo would open the scoring, Igo Thiago converting a penalty and Martinelli late on sealing the deal for Carlo Ancelotti's side Right then this was improved, wasn't it?

34:25than it was against France or is it just you're playing an easier opponent? Yes, it was improved from Brazil, regardless of the opponent. I think what was concerning in the match against France is that when France were at their best, Brazil didn't even seem competitive. And even when they went a man down, when France scored their second goal, how easily they were able to do that once they started combining. And those players who proved to be, obviously, one of the leading candidates to win this competition, they look so much better than Brazil. This version of Brazil was different in the sense that Brazil wasn't trying to outplay Croatia.

35:02They gave the ball to Croatia. The possession was with Croatia, especially in the second half. And I think there's a recognition from Carlo Ancelotti that they're going to have a better chance of winning games in the World Cup if they're a counter-attacking team. And if you just look at it tactically, and if we're going to break it down conceptually, what is it that Brazil can do on the field? If you're only playing with two midfielders, in this case, Casemiro and Danilo, you don't have enough numbers to match up against opposing midfields. So if you're playing against a team that has three and four, mathematically speaking, you're already at a disadvantage.

35:37So what can you do to take advantage of that front four? Well, I think it's what we saw yesterday. You're going to set up your line of confrontation a little deeper, where you absorb some pressure. You then find areas where you can press the ball. Once you press that ball and you press it together and you force that turnover, now these guys, these front four that are naturally runners, they're on the run. So Vini is on the run. So Andrew was on the run when he came off the bench. So did Martinelli. This version of Brazil, a counter-attacking version of Brazil, I think is their best in terms of how they're going to go about winning games in the World Cup.

36:14And there's recognition of Carlo Ancelotti to do this. I don't know that Brazilian fans are going to enjoy this. I don't think the Brazilian media is going to enjoy this. but this is what gives them the best opportunity to go deep into the tournament. Do you agree, Joes? Yeah, completely. That's exactly what I would have said on your question, Dan. This is not Brazil's DNA, sure. But right now, this is what they are, and this is what they are best at. I'm still not too convinced with the 4-4. We discussed that, I think it was on Friday on the show already. I think it's too fragile defensively.

36:46They could be well too exposed. We saw the Croatia goal from last night. It's far too easy. I know it's late in the game and there's been a lot of changes, etc. But it's still far too easy. A couple of triangles, a bit of movement, and they're all over the place. Brazil, it was the same with the second France goal when they were 10 v 11. Again, far too easy for France in transition to go through the whole midfield and the whole defence, really. And that's the worry. But then again, no Gabriel in this international break. No Bruno Guimares, no Paqueta, for example, if you're looking for other players and other potential game changers to play slightly differently.

37:20But maybe that's where Carlo Ancelotti is also at his best, when actually you don't worry too much about your tactics on the board because his transition, so his quick forwards, and you focus more on that kind of team unity that has been missing for Brazil. But it's only two wins in the last six, by the way, for Brazil. Even since Carlo arrived, he's still not that great. Brazil obviously kind of desperate for that young starlet to emerge in the World Cup. Endric?

37:47Hendrick, I think, made enough of a case yesterday to be on the team. And that was still up in the air. Let's not forget that Carlo Ancelotti had Hendrick at Real Madrid and didn't particularly use him as much as Hendrick would have wanted, so much so that now Hendrick is at Lyon. But I think what we see from Hendrick is a player that has speed, power, strength, and he has one purpose in mind in this setup where they become counterattacking. He's going to get after you offensively, and he's going to exploit spaces in behind. So Hendrick could be that guy, but the question is, is he going to get on the field?

38:33It's crowded. Who is going to sit on the bench? And Rafinha is going to play. Vinny Jr. is going to play. It seems like Carlo Ancelotti really likes the work of Mateus Cunha because he's the one guy that kind of drops underneath and can play make from a different position or from a deeper position. And then the question becomes, Joao Pedro, who struggles to score goals with Brazil, hasn't scored a goal just yet. Maybe he's sort of the weak link, if you want to look at it from that perspective. And maybe that's where Endry gets a chance. I don't know that he's going to get enough opportunities for him to be that breakout star that you're looking for.

39:08Any scenario in which Neymar's there, Jules? I think that's the dream for him. I think for a lot of Brazilian fans, for a lot of football fans, for Stop. If we can get Neymar the World Cup, I think all of us would want him to be there. It looks like the clock is ticking and not in the right way for him because he still has all those injury issues. And when he plays, he plays with Santos because he has to play. If he doesn't play, he's got even less chances to go. So he plays, but he's not fully fit. So he doesn't play that great. There's a moment of brilliance, of course, because even at 34, he's still Neymar and he's still the greatest dribbler of his generation.

39:48But he's not 100%. He's not fully fit. And can you really take somebody to a World Cup, the top of the top of any football competition, not fully fit? I'm really not sure. I would love him to be there. I'm not really sure.

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40:46Meanwhile, look at this. How cool is this? Our friends at Marvel have drawn up the big game, of course, this weekend with some of its most well-known superheroes, Atletico Madrid against Barcelona. That game live on ESPN, 3 p.m. Eastern this Saturday. Of course, the biggest superhero of them all will be on the call, Ian Dahl. Women's Champions League down to the quarter-final stages. Bayern Munich taking on Manchester United. This one nicely set up. 3-2, of course, in the first leg. And then 11 minutes into this, Mallard would make it 1-0 United, 3-3 on aggregate. Yeah, well, um, goalkeeper. Sheikastrophic!

41:27Oh, dear. Good luck. It looked like maybe we'd be going to extra time, but then the ball is scrambled home as Bayern retake the aggregate lead. Glorys Wigelstadt with the finish. It's a good header. 1-1. And then this would seal the victory. The ball cleared initially, but then bam, whacked home by Dolman to make it 5-3 on aggregate. The ball just sat beautifully for her and then good technique, laces through the ball, good finish. And the celebrations then will continue in Germany late into the night as Bayern are through. Meanwhile Chelsea taking on Arsenal. Arsenal remembering the first leg with a 3-1 up.

42:15Chelsea with it all to do. Elisa Thompson puts it wide. It's a good first touch forward but drags the ball wide. It's a really good opportunity. Maybe it hurts the shot a little bit too much. Frustrating night for Chelsea. Just it did not go their way at all. I know, barely Berman. This is my kind of range then. She hits it straight into the ground and then off the post and out. Two minutes later with time very much running out. The ball off the inside of the post. It's a great save. It's a good header. A whole lot of power behind it. Really good save. In the post and then down the line and then out and you know it's not your night.

42:59Too little, too late. You can't possibly be your night when those things are happening. You score there, but in the end the damage very much done in the first leg as Arsenal advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Jules then, so Arsenal and Bayern going through. yeah yeah and I think both of them probably deserve it over the over the two games I think it was two great ties between Bayern and Manchester United both our Trafford and and at the Allianz Arena tonight and it was great for Arsenal they rode their luck a little bit we we didn't show but they had scored a goal that was ruled out and rightly so but for a tiny offside from Blackstanius it was a very competitive game that could have gone probably Chelsea's way and Sonia Bonpastor was really unhappy after the game on Disney+.

43:47There should have been a red card for KT McCabe as well for pulling the hair off Thompson, for example. So again, she was not happy after the first leg. She was not happy after the second leg. Barca, 6-2 up after they win a wear at Real Madrid. So they will be the third team. So then the last fourth one will be either Lyon or Wolfsburg. I'll be there tomorrow in Lyon for Disney +, as well, to present the French coverage of it. but I think that will leave us with a great set of semifinals as well. Most definitely, Jules. Thank you very much. Just a reminder, you can watch the Women's Champions League on ESPN Deportes and also reminding you that Extra Time is coming up next.

44:24As we say, thank you very much for watching. Do you think I upset Jermaine Jones? I don't think so. Oh, that's good. Still time. Stay with us. Welcome to the latest edition of Extra Time. Oh, my prayers have been answered. The curtains are back. We love them, Ian. Yes. I'm never going to take them down. No, no. I've been waiting to take them down, but I keep getting messages. They've got to stay. I tell you what, you could sell them on eBay for a bit. Ian Dark's very own curtains. I might need to soon.

44:59Jules, we know Gab will be rooting strongly that Germany don't win the World Cup. What is the one European country you would least likely to win it?

45:12I don't have any, I really don't mind, you know, I really don't mind. It's not like Gab, Gab has those teams that he really, really doesn't like and really doesn't want them to do well. Where do you stand on England, Jules? No, I mean, like I said the other day, my children are born here, obviously we live here in London. They have nothing English in them at all, apart from the fact that they were born in London. but mum is Welsh, dad is from Paris, they love PSG, you know, they love Arsenal as well, but PSG more than anything else. But I would be happy for England, it's been a long time coming, I love the kind of 66, 26, all that kind of stuff, he worked for us in France, 98, 2018, no, I love things like that, Dan.

45:56And I would be happy for you and for all my English friends, for sure, and I would not mind the fact that the country would go over the top for the next six years or so. Investigative reporting, Dan. Yes? We have a lie. Oh no! In front of us. Wow! Well, yes we do. Who from? Well, because Jules just said, no, the curtains are the truth. Jules just said, did I hear that correctly, that he was born in England? No, no, it's kids. Oh, the kids born in England. The kids, yeah. I retract that statement because it says, pear is born and bred in the back and I'm like wait a minute exactly he said the dad is born in Paris so if it would be no anyway okay all right Jules who do you want to win it if not France I would love Brazil to win it I would love Carlo Ancelotti to win it I really do I think it would be a great story I don't think they they can you know what I would really love I would love a new a a new winner.

46:59We've had the same countries really from 1930 all the way and we count Uruguay in that but if you take out Uruguay it's always the same ones winning it. And I think it'd be great for football if we had somebody new winning it, another great story to tell, somebody that, you know, a team that never had that kind of chance and a celebration and everything to go with. So one of those stories, you know, something like Morocco but going all the way, for example, something like Colombia going all the way. And I know it's hard because the super teams are super strong. Obviously, I know that. But I think it would be great.

47:31Portugal, Belgium, somebody like that would be fantastic. Who do you hate, Ian? No, I don't hate any team. I mean, I always want the team that wins the World Cup to be the team that kind of deserve and give the tournament its best football. Like, you know, that was definitely true at the last Euros in Spain. We're the best team by miles, weren't they? And it was good to see that rewarded. So, yeah, that's all I feel really as a commentator. You want to see some kind of justice done. But I kind of agree with Jules. Wouldn't it be good if an African country did it? I mean, could the Morocco-Senegal story research somewhere along the way?

48:07Yeah, that would be interesting. How about Senegal? Oh. Who do you want and who do you hate? Who do I hate, Ben? Yes. That list is long. Yes, I know. Let's just keep it to teams of the World Cup. Oh, all right. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah, I wouldn't want Paraguay to be anywhere near. And the reason being, Paraguay eliminated us from contention in the World Cup, a couple of World Cup cycles in a row. And then they also eliminated us in the semifinal of Copa America 2011 in a game in which we were much better. And we might have hit the post, and I might have hit the post. But the good thing is that I've turned the page.

48:48I really let go. It's something that I do very well, naturally. So who do you want to win? I think Spain. I think there is something likable about the Spanish team and the way they play. I'll take Spain. For Ian, what was your favorite World Cup as a commentator and as a fan?

49:11I think probably the one in South Africa, really, because it just all felt so different there. I mean, you know, it was great to travel around and really feel like you were part of Africa. I can't remember the stadium. I think it was Nelspreit, which has now changed its name, I'm told, since then. But that was wonderful. You're almost up there by the Kruger National Park, you know, where the wild animals were. So, yeah, it was, yeah, I really enjoyed it. Good song as well. Yes. Very good song. Yeah. All right. Thank you, Dan. There you go. Moving along, Dan. And which player will you miss the most seeing at the World Cup, Ian, because their country failed to qualify?

49:51Lewandowski, Kovackelia, Gerasi, Donnarumma, Sobislai, Osserman? Well, Sobislai deserves to be at a World Cup the way he's played for Liverpool this season. He's almost carried them single-handedly, hasn't he? So, yeah, it's tough on Hungary, but they didn't make it. All those players there that you mentioned, yeah, that is sad. It'd be great to see. I mean, Georgia, we kind of fell in love with them a little bit in the Euros, so no Cabrera, Scalia. Yeah, tough. Yeah. Still for all those players, really. I do. They'll be all right. Which player is especially hated in your country for something they did in international competition, like Jules' Thierry Henry in Ireland?

50:30Jules, who do the French hate? I mean, for us, it's a long time ago. And I don't know if you guys will remember 1982 World Cup, the France against West Germany game of course and Schumacher going on Batistone really hard yeah and and the referee not giving even a foul and that I mean in all whatever your age because I was born in 1980 I saw I was I was not even two at that 82 world cup but whatever your age you've heard this story of this game incredible game by the way and I think Schumacher should have been sent off but the game is 3-1 up for France then it goes to 3-3. During extra time it goes to Penn and the Germans win it but that Schumacher on Battiston I think in terms of French football memories and history will always be the one that was not right.

51:23That's a grudge worth holding that is that Jules has got there. I do remember it. I wasn't as you realise. I mean, that was, Jules, that was about six red cards in one, wasn't it? Yeah. By Sumacra, and as you say, he did nothing about it. I mean, he was in hospital with quite bad internal injuries, wasn't he, Batistón, for quite a long time? Yeah, I think he had like two, yeah, two ribs broken, he had his jaw broken, the teeth had gone, everything, yeah, but he was not even a foul. Ian, four years later? Well, yeah, I hardly need mention, yeah, the hand of God, of course. I wouldn't have sorted it out, of course.

52:04Yeah, it certainly would. I don't think we've been relevant enough to actually be able to hate somebody. There hasn't been an opportunity where there has been something egregious done against Venezuela to where it's more like I get the sense that as of late, well, I will say as of late over the last 20 years, there's been a sense of pride of what the turnaround of the Venezuelan national team has been. Since you were signed. Last 20 or 30 years, Dan. I include myself in that list, the beginning of that list. And so, but it's getting now to the point to where it was an expanded field in the World Cup.

52:46We were in for the longest time. and we're not even able to make it into the playoffs. So now that hate is not as much outward as it is inward. It's towards our own players. And that dislike is towards our own people. And like, wait a minute, how many more opportunities do we need in order for us to make this happen? So let's just say that we're going to keep the hate in-house rather than put it out there. Jules, what are you pointing at? What's going on? No, just one more. I just wanted to... because Materazzi obviously, after what happened in 2006 and Zidane, he's not at the level of Schumacher because at the end Zidane responded, he should have never reacted the way he did.

53:34However, Materazzi is not far behind Schumacher in terms of those kind of stories. You know what's interesting about the hand of God, because Ian mentioned that, it's like, for as much as he may be, Maradona may be hated in England because of it, the sense in Argentina is like, good on you. You got away with it. You got away with it. And so, and then he followed that up with the goal that he scored, and it's almost as if like the hand of God was just a premonition, was the preview to what then came afterwards. And so it's impossible to, and it's Maradona, the career of Maradona as a whole and Maradona as an individual, I think you can encapsulate it in those two instances.

54:14He was capable of the hand of God, but he was capable of being God on the field as well. There are so many contradictions about Maradona, but what you cannot deny is how beloved, as hated as he may be in England, how beloved he is in Argentina still. Go ahead, Ian. I don't think he is hated in England. What you said there, I think he's admired in England And yeah, they don't like the fact that that hand of gold gets gold counted. But everybody knows, you know, he might have done the most torturous thing ever in the World Cup. But he also scored the greatest goal. You know, you talk to any England player who played that day about Maradona and they're just in awe of him, frankly, as we all are.

54:57I mean, he did it, didn't he? That documentary, he did it on some bumpy pitches with everybody trying to kick him off the park every time he played. He was something else. So, yeah, he isn't hated in England really at all. He's admired overall, but resented for the hand of Joktia. So he's just hated by Ian then? No, not the whole of England. Look at Ian. Ian can hate anyone. No, no. Just love. Full of love. And the curtains are full of love too. Okay. Jules, has there ever been a more lucky and undeserving team to qualify for the World Cup than Sweden? They finished last in their qualification group without winning a game and only made the playoffs.

55:40They won their group in the third division of the Nations League.

55:46Yeah, absolutely. I mean, Craig yesterday got slightly wrong his numbers because he said, yeah, they only won two games and they didn't even win. They had two draws and all the rest was defeats. That's how bad they were. And there's a conversation here about how deserving it is to go to the World Cup like this. I know it's an extended World Cup, so you need to find a way of qualifying all those teams. Sure. But surely not like this. Because I think there are other teams that got more points in their qualifiers. And again, we made that point yesterday on the show that qualifiers are called qualifiers because you qualify for the World Cup.

56:20That's how you should be qualifying regardless. No through the back door of the Nations League and where you finish. Even less when you're in the third division of the Nations League. So it's a bit harsh. I think it's a bit harsh and a bit cruel for them to qualify. They were very happy. Good for Graham Potter, Giocares, etc. But I think for others, you feel aggrieved really about how Sweden, who are not very good, let's be honest, have qualified. Jules, thank you very much. Ian, you're off to Spain this weekend. Big one, Atletico Madrid against Barcelona. Enjoy that. You're going to Lyon. It's a first of the trilogy, isn't it?

56:53It is indeed. God, it's a movie. There you are. First of the three. Jules is going to Lyon. What are you doing? I'm right here, Dan. What a treat. ESPN FC then back on your face tomorrow. Where of course the tensions I imagine would start to turn to the return of domestic action.

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