World Cup Hangover

23:16I mean, I think a lot of people are, right? But again, the voters are the ones who vote. And Tebas hit the nail on the head, right? As of right now, and he is up for re-election in 2027, nobody has come forward to challenge him. And I think part of the reason is kind of the system, because when you step forward to go and challenge him, if you're a credible challenger, then the wheels start turning against you. And maybe they start turning against your region. And they start turning against the people who endorse you. When you talk about what FIFA's purpose is, it is to develop football around the world.

24:04You develop football with money. maybe three quarters of member nations wouldn't have functioning FAs if it wasn't for the money that they received from FIFA. It's as simple as that. They wouldn't have women's teams, they wouldn't have youth teams, they would barely send out 11 people out onto the pitch. And the reality is FIFA gives them money the only way it can, which is by making money through the World Cup. And he made an absolute killing in the World Cup because it was in the US, Mexico and Canada, half a billion people, three huge economies, all these things coming together. He's not going to be able to make that kind of money in the next World Cup because it's Spain, it's Morocco, and it's Portugal.

24:49You're going to, even if the stadiums are as big, you won't be able to charge the same ticket prices. You won't have access to the same markets. You want the same level of sponsorship. Maybe some people have suggested maybe that's why he's going to 64, saying like, oh, look, I can't give you more money. But look, I can make you a hero because you've led your country, which didn't qualify the last few times to the World Cup. My country in this case. That's the reality of the situation. It's a political situation. You have to convince the voters that they're better off with somebody else. The voters say, look, I don't care about politics and hydration breaks and Balogun.

25:25I just want to be able to keep the lights on at my football association. And I need FIFA's money to do that. So for me, what's realistic, unless Infantino does something really, really bad going forward that's scandalous or whatever, which that hasn't happened yet. You would. Yeah. Some might say it's touch and go. But, you know, in the eyes of the voters, it hasn't happened yet. What it would take is somebody else to come along and say, hey, here's my business plan. Look, you made a lot of money with Johnny. You go make even more money with me because that's the reality of football. There's rich and there are poor, and the poor are going to vote for the person who can allow them to compete at football.

26:05Not just the men's game, the women's game and the youth game. Gab, here's a question for you, right? So the ultimate revolution would be for UEFA and the European teams to say we don't want any part of this. Is that even remotely a possibility? Are they even thinking about that? Is there any chance that that would happen? is there anything that UEFA are thinking about in order to just change, number one, Infantino, but change what's going on right now? Honestly, while it's very obvious that the people at the top of UEFA don't like Infantino, and there are a number of European countries who this way and that way come out and are critical of him, short answer is no.

26:55I mean, look, you had the FA from England. Who are they endorsing in the next election? Johnny Infantino. Why? Because they want the Women's World Cup in 2035, I think it is. And I don't think there's any other viable candidates in 2035. But it doesn't matter because they fear the system. They fear the voters. Somebody else coming along. There's just not enough. You know, UEFA, I think, is 55 member nations. I think there's a bunch of them that would still continue to be aligned with Infantino. Unless you present a credible candidate who can show that he can win, where you figure this guy or girl has a chance of winning, so if I back him, I'm not backing myself into a corner.

27:43And I also want to see how is he going to run the game better. In some ways, it was very easy for Infantino to come in and do so well financially, for FIFA because the people before him and the people running the confederations before them, most of them were primarily interested in stealing money. Infantino's shown them, hey, if you don't steal money, I'm going to make you a lot more money. We're going to be credible. We're going to get more sponsorships in and the Saudis and Russia and whatever else. And you will need to steal money because you're going to be really popular because your FA is going to have money and it'll be able to function.

28:18And it's a very simple formula. I think it probably gone on too long. but you need a credible candidate with, I'm sorry to say, a credible business plan going forward. And it's not just going to be about, oh, look, you know, Kylian Mbappe is playing too many games or World Cup creep or something. It's got to be, it's going to be about following the money here. Well, Shaka, Gab brought up quite the right point in the sense that it will probably take something really scandalous for Gianni Infantino to be forced to resign. However, a lot of us could argue that we did see something scandalous in the whole Flo Balogun-USA red card saga that we all chronicled so much.

28:57Had the USA won that game, as Teba said, then that would make a stronger case for him to resign, wouldn't it? I said at the time that the worst thing could happen, both for the U.S. and for the World Cup, was the U.S. to go on and win that game because it would open up a legal nightmare for FIFA that I don't think anybody anticipated or were ready for. The best outcome for everybody was Belgium winning. That's what happened, which brings us back to here. I think one of the other aspects to this, with everything that we've witnessed, everything that we've witnessed, is the expectation is, well, certainly the expectation before the tournament was Infantino would run unopposed next election.

29:43Maybe that changes. Maybe there's a European candidate. But nobody else will stick their head above the parapet. in that regard, in going up against Infantino. One of the reasons being, he's got one more term. By FIFA's own regulations, which they manipulated to get him an extra term. I use that term very carefully. For him to get another term. But then, by their regulations, barring anything else, he has to step down. And then that opens up an opportunity for everybody to canvass everybody in world football, including those in Infantino's strongholds. So the politics says, let's just wait. It's four more years or five or six, whatever it is remaining in this team, plus four.

30:39And then everybody kind of runs on a blank slate, on an even pitch. no pun intended unless he always sorts itself out Allegedly We all know in four years this is going to be Janice, mate whoever he pushes forward here we go, because everybody's interested and Gab summed it up actually just on that one line he gave about England, the English FA they want the Women's World Cup and whatever it is and so they're not interested in the big picture, they're not interested in the good of football, they're looking after themselves and they'll all look after themselves and nothing will change. All right.

31:17Well, Javier Tevez wasn't just speaking about all of that. He also chimed in on the hydration breaks that nobody was really a fan of. I don't even think the players were at this World Cup. He said FIFA fixes things as it wants for what it wants for its interests, certainly not for football. And so if they need 27 minutes of interval, then they do it. Hydration breaks are a lie. We have them in La Liga, but when it's really hot. Here, the stadiums in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta had air conditioning. I had to put on a sweater in the stands. It was a lie, a break for advertising. Don?

31:56Well, listen, I'm not going to get into the politics and the advertisement, but that's pretty obvious. But in terms of the hydration breaks, I mean, they are what they are. I mean, they're not just happening in this World Cup. They've been around for the last two or three years, and it's just common sense if you're playing whether you're playing in a Premier League game in a World Cup or whatever La Liga and any any domestic league you want to name if it's absolutely boiling hot and the players are struggling and they need a break it makes sense where it didn't make sense was doing it in Atlanta where there's you know there's air con inside the stadiums now I'm going to stick my hand up for Infantino just slightly here and he got asked this question just a little bit because he got asked the question about the hydration breaks he said listen I'm in a difficult place because I can't have one rule for one and not the other so he thought he had to do it right across the board which is understandable a little bit but at the same time you only need a hydration break as a player if the conditions are if you're struggling to play in them you don't struggle in air con stadium or some of the some of the places that were playing football it was the conditions were fine.

33:00So it is what it is. Listen, I never really thought there was too much in it. I did at the start. I hated it at the start, but as many things as I watched the World Cup, I sort of softened and I thought, well, what's three minutes in the first half? And what's three minutes in the second half? It's not the end of the world. No. No, I think you're right. I mean, I think that there's a strong imperative saying that once you do it for one, you have to do it for everybody else. I think we should chuck something else in there, which is all the TV rights had already been sold. And then some broadcasters, and in most cases, broadcasters already had ad inventory.

33:38If this had been announced six months ago or before you sold the TV rights, FIFA could have been like, aha, look, you're going to have an extra six minutes to go and sell ads in. So give us more money than there might have been a point. That was not the case this time around. and one other thing I might add is feedback just from being around a lot of coaches like the hydration breaks because it allows them to do what they're paid a lot of money to do which is coaching it's not just wind your players up, give them the speech and then give them another speech at halftime but you can actually get stuck in but what I can tell you though is when you're actually there every single game I went to hydration breaks roundly booed by the fans in the stands and understandably why Stevie, you wanted to scrub this up.

34:25Well, there's nothing, you know, Don's talking about the hydration break, and, you know, that would suggest that common sense prevailed. But there's nothing common sense about all the stuff they do. It's never common sense. I mean, it's like the corner kick, if the referee got it wrong and it was a corner, then they gave a corner. But if it was the other way around, they didn't do it. So nothing they do is about common sense and being fair, Because if they'd been fair, there'd be that one with the corners and a lot of other things that would be fair across the board. So if it was just about common sense, then they wouldn't have had hydration breaks in the indoor stadium.

35:02So don't kid yourself. There's nothing they do that's about common sense or what's best for the game. It's about making the extra buck, regardless of what the cost is. Well, you know what they say, common sense is not common, Shaq. Well. I don't know why I came to you for that one. You just wait till you hear what I have to say. First of all, I'll say, at the starting tournament, I was all for it. And while I understand the criticism, there's some precedent to it. And we've discussed it, whether they like it or not. So, for instance, just as a throwaway example, in the FA Cup, when they only use VAR up to a certain round or after a certain round, because not all grounds have it, you make the argument, well, if you have it, use it, help your referee out.

35:46I saw this in a similar vein. I will say, though, I went to England-Ghana, which was played up in Boston Stadium, as it was then. Now, Foxborough all of a sudden again. And it was raining. It was a little cold. The break when it came, it just felt so unnatural in the game. It really did. And while I've been watching games all tournament long and you get to know the hydration breaks are coming. And sitting in the stadium as an ex-player and seeing all of a sudden you think the game is building a certain momentum. And then there's a break. It just felt unnatural to the game. And from that point, I just started to hate everything about the hydration breaks.

36:39Watching it on television, I did not even go back. I didn't have an issue. But just seeing it play out in real time through an ex-player's eyes, it felt completely wrong. Do you know what? Even the final with the halftime show. That's good. 27 minutes too long. That wasn't for football. That wasn't for the good of the game. That was because they're charging people's stupid money and they've got all these celebrities. You didn't like Justin Bieber? Absolute garbage. Get lost. I'll tell you what. I was sat in the house. I wasn't even at the game. I'm like, get this off and get the game on. You like a bit of cold play, though.

37:13No, I don't in the middle of a game of football. I want to see football. And I want the football experience. Certainly listening to Madonna and all that nonsense. Give me a break. You didn't appreciate the Muppets? Nothing. You didn't appreciate the Muppets? No. And it's got nothing to do, absolutely nothing to do with football. And yet again, yet again, forget the players. Forget the players have got to sit away for half an hour. Yeah. I mean, nothing. Just nothing this mob does is for the game. Absolutely not. I'll tell you what. Well, I'm from a different generation of Stevie Nichols, and I'm with him on this one.

37:50I love me some Justin Bieber. I'm a huge believer, but that halftime show is about 27 minutes too long, in my opinion. All right. Well, let's move on now, because we're going to take a moment to remember an absolute great, and that is Kevin Keegan, because the tributes continue to pour in after his passing. He was a Liverpool and Newcastle great. The former player and manager passed away yesterday at the age of 75, but no doubt he leaves behind what is a glittering legacy where he was considered easily as one of the best forwards of his generation. Just have a look at all of the things that he has won, including back-to-back Ballon d 'Or prizes back in 1978 and 1979.

38:31Now, Stevie and Xhaka paid tribute to him on the show yesterday, but Don, you also had a very personal connection with him. Yeah, I did Alexis. I met him when I was 11, growing up in Gateshead. The local paper, The Chronicle, they sort of had an advertisement for young boys and girls to sort of get involved and say why you want to join Kevin Keegan on his Blue Star Soccer Day as it was. He was a player in 82, 83 when he first signed for Newcastle. and luckily out of thousands upon thousands I got picked to go along to St. James' Park and meet him and then what it was on the day, there was like thousands of us sort of trialing basically and it was like basic stuff like keep the ups and I was pretty decent at that and lads were falling left, right and centre and it got whittled from about a thousand to about 20 young lads and then eventually we got to play head tennis with Kevin Keegan and then I can remember having this chat with Alan Shearer and then I put on my socials about sort of about 10 years ago, picture me at Alan Shearer on Kevin Keegan's Blue Star Soccer Day.

39:39And actually Alan Shearer was there on exactly the same day. We obviously didn't know each other because we were from different parts of Newcastle and Gateshead. But yeah, he was, he was a brilliant guy. Everyone fell in love with him. Mighty Mouse he was called, I think over in Germany. He was quoted in saying because he was such a humble guy, but he was quoted in saying he was sort of a mongrel playing at Crufts and he Just because he was so down to earth and such a humble guy, he probably didn't even recognise that he was a superstar, literally. And, you know, he'll be terribly missed across everyone that's ever either got to watch his teams or everyone that's met him or everyone that's played against these teams.

40:17But, yeah, I mean, being a Newcastle fan as well, Liverpool go to St James' Park on the first day of the season. And let me tell you, if you're going to try and get a ticket for an atmosphere to try and send KK off for a tribute. That will be the game to go to. It's going to be amazing. Yeah, it definitely will be an emotional day as well. Gab, but truly, as the boys have been saying, he truly was just a great of the game. Yeah, I mean, I had my own Keegan experience. It didn't involve a thousand other young lads playing KKU. It's going to surprise you. But we did go to interview him. I was a young reporter at the time.

40:57He was the England manager. And we just got to chatting and ended up having lunch with him. And then afterwards, going out for a walk with him. And he just was asking questions. And he was incredibly humble. And you wouldn't know that this was a two-time Ballon d 'Or winner. The other thing about Keegan, which I'm sure the lads pointed out yesterday, but just kind of from a more global perspective, He was one of the very first English players to go abroad and be a success. He went to Germany and did it with Hamburg. That's not something that was common at all in the 1970s. Today we take it for granted, Bellingham, Kane, what not.

41:44But back then it was a pretty gutsy move. Pretty gutsy move indeed. Steve, final words on the big man? Do you know, I actually misspoke yesterday. I said he was an icon at two clubs. He's an icon in Germany. Yeah. Not just at Hamburg, but actually across Germany. Imagine being an icon in three different places that just smell and taste of football. Incredible. Incredible indeed. Kevin Keegan passing away sadly at the age of 75. But as you can tell from all of the guys and all of the tributes that are flowing in. He is definitely a great of the game that will not be forgotten anytime soon.

42:35Well, Chelsea have added to their roster, completing the signing of England midfielder Morgan Rodgers from Aston Villa for what is now a British record transfer fee of£117 million. It's going to be a six-year contract with an option for a further year. Of course, he's going to be linking up with Chelsea's new glittering manager in Xabi Alonso. Gab, tell us more about this deal. It's a lot of money. Obviously, everybody or a lot of people thought the smart money was on Arsenal to go and pick him up. Arsenal reportedly were given a chance to go and match Chelsea's bid, but they said, no, no, no, we like him, but we don't like him at that number.

43:22I think the plan from Chelsea, obviously, is going to be to use him down that left-hand side. They obviously hope to shift Garnaccio. Giddens, I guess, would be his understudy. Maybe Nitto, too, when he switches over. Estaval or Cole Palmer on the right. or Cole Palmer through the middle, Esteban on the right. You've also got Neto in the mix. Obviously, Chablonzo was promised investment and certainly comes. They also made promises to UEFA about PSR, and they have a ton of players that they need to shift, especially for a club that's not going to be playing in Europe next season. Just strikers alone, they're at six.

44:08They want to go down to three. So now comes the difficult part, which is going to be balancing the books, because this is, needless to say, an enormous investment. Yeah, it is an enormous investment. I think the price tag, which of course is no fault to the player at all, but because we have been looking at how Chelsea do transfer business and they've not exactly been getting a grade A from us. Stevie, what do you make of this one? I actually think this is one of the better ones. Absolutely. You know, this guy will score goals from the middle of the park and he will do other jobs as well. And I actually think he will do great with João Pedro.

44:43You know, João Pedro is not your normal number nine. He's more of a Bobby Firmino that played at Liverpool, where he'll score his fair share of goals, but he will come off and be a playmaker. And for me, that means Rodgers will be getting in the box. So, yeah, I think this is a great signing. I guess we all question the price, but at the end of the day, if we're talking football, he absolutely makes this team better. Chaka? Good signing. Again, I'll double down, triple down at this point. What everybody said, that's an awful lot of money. But 23 years old, there's an upside to this. But proven talent, certainly in this league, adds to Chelsea better than a lot of what they have in their dressing room.

45:29That's the going price. So be it. But again, I'll leave it to Gab to explain the old PSR and no Champions League. because that makes absolutely no sense to me. When you see clubs like Villa, clubs like Newcastle, and what they're dealing with in that regard, and Chelsea go and do this, it just doesn't seem to add up fully. Gab, you want to take a crack at that? Yeah, well, basically, there's two strands for this. They have slightly different parameters. There's the UEFA version of PSR. There's the Premier League version of PSR. I mean, limit the amount of spending you can do over a certain period of time as well.

46:12Also, UEFA have squad cost rules where the total amount of amortization and wages and what you spend on agents can't be more than a certain percentage of your revenue. Chelsea's revenue is going to go down this season because they don't have European football and certainly not Champions League football. they're already under a settlement agreement with UEFA which means that they've already been fined there's more fines to come the fines have been suspended they need to figure out a way to make this work and on paper most people look at this and say alright, you need to shift players I think the difficult thing is when you spend the money first before you shift the players I don't know, maybe they were hoping to shift well, take Garnacho we know they're going to shift Now you know Chelsea have to let him go to raise money.

47:04So obviously that's going to change your negotiating stance. Enzo Fernandes obviously did himself no favors in the Champions League final in case he was thinking of moving on. Now they're even more motivated seller. Strikers, you know, we said you got Nico Jackson, you got Emiga, you got Liam De Lape, you've got Marc Yu, you've got Joe Pedro. I'm sure there's somebody else I'm forgetting in the mix. you now have to move these players for transfer fees and it's extremely difficult to do because everybody's seen the numbers so unless they have something big lined up which I think helps offset this expense or unless they think they have some sort of ace in the hole whether legal or otherwise I think it's going to be very, very tough and another big gamble from a club which, as we've seen, is not afraid to gamble.

47:59Yeah, before we get to Don, Shaq, did that clear that up for you? Yeah. Yep. You feel all the wiser now? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's like sitting in a lecture. Phew! I was worried for a moment. Do you agree with all the boys here saying that this is good business all around, even though it is a hefty price tag? Yeah, I think Villa win. I think Villa win with a price tag. I think it allows them to try and shuffle their decks and bring new players in. I think on Gab's point, I think there is going to be Kukare has left the door, but I think there's going to be quite a few Chelsea players that are going to be shifted on so they can try and make, I don't know, about 150 million, whether that's enough or not.

48:36But in terms of the player, I agree with Stevie. I think he's versatile. He's shown that he can play off the left. He can play 10. He can even play as a number eight. He's durable. He's effective. His age, I think it's the given rate. The unfortunate thing for him is now is any good young player now when you're moving from Premier League to Premier League, you are going probably for over$100 million. So that's something he's got to try and contend with. But he looks like he's got a good head on his shoulders and he's definitely got the ability. All right. Well, it's been a while since anybody gave Chelsea an A +, which is what I'm feeling for business.

49:10But look at that. Who gave him an A+. Well, I'm just assuming it sounded like an A+. Every single one of us said the price tag is wrong. But still, great business. How's a great business? You just said he's someone that could help, you know, the club. And ultimately, if they win trophies with him, A+. All right, Stevie. Well, let's talk about a more interesting story, because I can't wait to pick Gab's brain about this one, because Italy apparently are flirting with the possibility of appointing Pep Guardiola as their next coach. That is according to a source at ESPN. Now, the source added that Guardiola's conversation with the Football Federation in Italy lasted about as long as a minute, Gab, because we do understand that Pep wants to take at least a year away after he just decided to step away from life at Manchester City in May.

49:58So what's going on here, Gab? Could this actually happen? I think it would be absolute folly to appoint Pep Guardiola and then say, hey, you just, you know, come over a year from now. Just enjoy your sabbatical and come down later. To me saying that, you know, come what may, I'm not going to actually start working until May because I'm tired and I need the sabbatical that I said I would take, I think that would be one of the stupidest moves you could possibly make. And mind you, the Italian FA also appointed Rino Gattuso, so who knows? The cynic within me says that this Pep Guardiola talk, like the talk of Andrea Pirlo, is the Italian FA, the head of the Italian FA, more than, of course, the new technical director, Paolo Maldini, or their consultant, Leonardo.

50:51So looking at the two obvious candidates who remain Antonio Conte and Roberto Mancini and saying, all right, you guys want too much money. You guys want too much power. Let me go and kind of slow roll this. Let me talk to other people. Who knows? Maybe we will appoint Pirlo because he's really cheap and he plays attacking football. Or maybe we will go pursue Pep because if we sign Pep, nobody can criticize us. If those are the terms, if Pep is really going to sit out a year, unless you convince him to start working earlier. To me, it's an absolute non-starter. But you know what? It's not just Italy.

51:27I think his intermediaries have made noises that they would welcome approaches from other FAs, including, well, I don't want to name names at this stage, but you can imagine who it is. Toronto Beagle. Jamaica. I was going to say, Pep, if you want to come to Jamaica and feel all right. and steady that ship, Pep. You are so welcome. We won't even need a 48-team World Cup. Better food in Jamaica. No, no. Better food in Jamaica. But Stevie, jokes aside and logistics aside, just even thinking, Italy, of course, have needed someone, anyone to steady this ship because surely they can't miss out on yet another World Cup.

52:09Would Pep be the man? Would you like that? Listen, if somebody said to me, who do you want that's available? Who wouldn't want Pep? Yeah. I mean, seriously. Gab doesn't seem like he's a big fan of it, though. Do you know what? One of the reasons I think it would be fantastic is, you know, a lot of people look at Pep and go, well, it's OK because he's coaching Barcelona and he's got Bayern, he's got all the best players, he goes to City, he gets all the best. You know, and kind of insinuating that if he had players who weren't quite at that level, he wouldn't be any good. it would be great to see him no offence Gab take a set of players who are not quite at the elite level and turn them into a team and that would show exactly what this guy's all about, I just think too many people have jumped on the bandwagon of well he's always got the best players, it would be great to see him with players of a lesser standard just slightly less and see what he did with them, I'd love to see that plus as I said, it's an absolute no-brainer.

53:15If he wanted it and he said yes, of course he would. It would be fantastic. Difference being at club level where he can go and work every day, where he can go and instill the philosophy, where his employer and the player's employer are the same guy. That's a lot easier to do. I'd love it. He's talked about going back to Italy and taking over Brescia where he used to play. I think that would be awesome if he did that you know, one day, maybe at the end of his career. I just think with the national team, that's a whole other set. You have to fight with the clubs. You've got less time to work with the players.

53:51It's a very different skill set, as Thomas Tuchel, among others, found out, and Pochettino, arguably, as well. So, but for me, if you're going to do that, you're going to need all the time leading up to a major tournament. And that means that you have to start working now, not next May. He's entitled to a break. That's fine. He's being open. saying like, hey, I can only start then. That's totally cool. But then you go and you choose somebody else. Don, you'd take Pep at Scotland, wouldn't you? No, 100%. You'd take me to Italy, for sure. I mean, listen, there's always a world on what Gab's saying.

54:29Gab's absolutely correct in what he's saying. But there is a world where the Italian FA can say to Pep, look, we want you in tomorrow. And he says, no, I need a year. And then the conversation might turn to, okay, we'll give the job to someone. let's see how he does, whoever it might be and in a year's time, if it's failing you can come in then so there is that possibility where it's a sort of pencilled in conversation where you're just saying to him look, if everything's not working in a year's time after we appoint Perlo or if Gattuso's still in charge or whoever it might be in Zaghi and then that doesn't work hopefully for the Italian national FA it does and then the current manager would be a success then there's no need to revisit the Guardiola conversation but surely it's one worth not cancelling and pencilling in a year's time if things are not going well, surely.

55:19As Shaq and I said in the beginning, if he really wants a true test, you know, just come to the Caribbean, reggae boys, soca warriors. At least he'll have a ball. And he'll have a blammer. He'd have such a great time in the Caribbean, right? Similar beaches to Barcelona, a lot warmer. So there you go. Come on, Pep. Come to Jamaica. Feel all right. All right, well, for more transfer talk, make sure to head on over to ESPN.com. You will find it all there because remember that summer transfer window is very much opening.

55:53All right, well, club football will be back on ESPN preseason, Stevie. I know you cannot wait for this. Liverpool, it's a doubleheader up against Sunderland first. That is this Saturday, 6 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN and ESPN Deportes. And then Stevie and I will be on the broadcast for the one against Rexha. All right. Well, we have just enjoyed a very entertaining World Cup where, of course, in the end, España La Roja went away with the trophy. But as I said, it was quite the World Cup. And let's have a look at some of the best moments from our coverage. The day has arrived. Happy World Cup day.

56:35The party has started. Hey, buenos dias, damas y caballeros. The great day has arrived. Hello, my dear. How are you doing, sir? Hop Holland, hop Holland. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look at the face. What are you making a face for? Out of the competition against Congo. Look at your Craig's ass. Yes, yes. Just want to give the best. Hey, bye-bye. Great Burley. Our main man, Pearce, has a stevie breakfast. We've got a Coke and potato. Wait, then, he can't have eight bags of crisps today. Sure. Craig, how high is Balogun's ceiling? I've never been at his house. I suspect some of these guys are never going home again.

57:15Why are you trying to attack Brazil when you shoot it against Morocco? It's all right, it's okay. It's going to be okay.

57:25Jules, it's nice to see you in person. It's the first time we've ever worked in person. I know, I know, exactly. It's so good to have someone that's shorter than me. on the show. We like to fiesta when Mexico has an opportunity to have a great time. Play some tacos against some fish and chips. They were outside the hotel yelling the tequila de mariachis. Let's do the drum. I hope that they will be a little bit more in sync tomorrow night. But as an Englishman, I actually don't hope so. Back to you, Kevin. My wife has told me when you get older, you will be easier to get tears. And I've been in tears.

58:02Respect. My guys got the condom of course the Durex I admire let me check the back yo, it's not expired Are you gonna win the World Cup now? Hell yeah! You're going home! No! Football's coming home again with Thomas Tuchel We're gonna play Spain because we're gonna beat the Argentinians don't worry about it Yes we are Come on in we! Three Lions will never come home with Thomas Tuchel I don't know if I've ever felt more gutted. I was advised by somebody to watch the game back to see if it changed my perspective and it absolutely did not change it at all. It actually made it a lot worse. Have you watched it again?

58:41Shall I take my glasses off? Shall I take off? No. Oh, hello. Put it back on. Put it back on. Yeah, another goal. Come on, France. Who are you messaging on the phone? You're following away. France, the president of France texted me. Oh, my God. The president. Now that was my mother. It's even a bigger surprise that Frank's wife has put up with him. Oh boy! 13 years! Yes! Let me tell you, I've had three years of Frank. I couldn't. Where do you think Craig is? I'm driving back to Boston. I honestly thought that our producer hated me. Well, maybe. But he doesn't! He loves me! I'm stood right by him, Beacon of Positivity.

59:26Are there any small Norwegians? Yeah, there are a lot, but I'm not one of them. Frank De Boer, the Netherlands performance for you was what? I liked you calling me Frank De Boer first, you know. That's all right, that's all right. I love that player. Colin, France, Morocco? Morocco. Spain, Morocco. Are you picking an African side to make it to the final for the first time? Morocco. When they get past France, Morocco are going to get past Spain. Norway or Morocco? Norway, unfortunately. I would love to pick Morocco right there. I think Norway will win it. No way.

1:00:04We're going to have for dinner, Craig. You're not going home. Craig's going home. We're going home for dinner. At least when somebody's coming home. He's coming home. He's going home. He's coming home. Craig is coming home.

1:00:20Oh, what a time we had. What a time we had. What a time we had. It was. It was good fun. Also, hilarious that Frank got called. frangible that was classic that was classic oh my days don we had a good time didn't we a lot of hate watching but we got there in the end yeah we got there in the end didn't we i mean me and you watching england all the way through desperate for them to get beat and they just kept on going kept on going i got some counseling off alley at one time you know criticizing scotland he give me he gave me a massive alley hug which i needed after the what was it the morocco game i think it was but it was great fun I mean fantastic fun Frank was just a blast everywhere he went he was just like full on 100 miles an hour which one?

1:01:08Lebo or Lebo? it was a little crazy Gab what about you favourite moment?

1:01:17favourite moment there was a ton of them I think actually very randomly the night before the semifinal in Dallas going to, I'd never been to Dallas I had no idea beyond the stereotypes, the preconceptions a wonderful night at a taco stand with people from a good maybe 10 different countries that stands out for me that is the World Cup as much as the fancy stadiums and the hydration breaks and just Justin Bieber and the celebrities in the stands and all those things that Stevie loves. Yeah, there was a lot of positive about this. Stevie loves all that. You're right, Gabs. Stevie secretly loves all that.

1:02:05I'm going to do it near them. I'm going to re-watch the halftime show. You're going to re-watch the halftime show. All right. I'm going to re-watch a show that I never watched. For this edition of ESPN. I do not go anywhere, though, because Extra Time is next.

1:02:23All right, welcome in to Extra Time. We've still got the entire full house here. Gab Marcotti, Don Hutchison. It's a bit of a feeble all right, wouldn't it? All right! Welcome to Extra Time. We have got Gab Marcotti, Don Hutchison, Stevie Nichol, and Shaka Hislop. Was that it? That's better. I didn't have my second coffee for today, guys. It's rough. There's a storm coming. I'm worried about my flight on Thursday. It's all kicking off. You're off too. New Orleans. I'm going to New Orleans. I'm going to go see a witch doctor because there's a couple of voodoo dolls, you know. But we won't get into that right now.

1:03:00Start off with the first question, shall we? It's for all the men in my life. Donna and Shaka, what business does Newcastle need to do in order to survive the upcoming Premier League season? Shaka, let's start with you. Well, they need to bolster through the midfield because by the looks of it, they're losing a lot. Tonali, Guimara seems to be on his way out. So they need through midfield. And then they need, he likes to vote to matter and Vista to live up to their belief. Yeah. They do that. We'll be all right. All right. All right. Just accept. Okay. Just accept that and let's move on. Don, what about you?

1:03:46Because Xhaka is not sounding as hopeful. No, he's not feeling it. Don't sell any more players. Do not buckle to Arsenal for Bruno. Tell them you want over 100 million. Otherwise, there's no sale. Go and buy Ferran Torres. Go and buy Bergwahl from Spurs. Go and strengthen because I think we'll be okay. But do not sell Bruno. See if you think that'll do it. don't sell him but if you get 100 million sell him I think that's what I heard yeah pretty much you can't sell him even if he's 100 million how are you going to replace him I mean the Newcastle fans Newcastle fans already are not happy and from what you were telling me Don Bruno Guimara is a folk hero there so even if you get 100 million I mean Oh, he's a dork.

1:04:41But then again, you play Liverpool the first game of the season, so get red. Yeah. Perfect. Xhaka's stressed. Xhaka's stressed. Can't wait for this season to start. Next question. Gab, the Premier League has Haaland. La Liga has Mbappe and Yamal. The Bundesliga has Kane and Olisse. Ligue 1 has Dembele and Varaskelia. How come Serie A doesn't have any top class forwards? Oh, no, Gab. It's been a tough summer for all Italians. It's been a tough couple of years for all the time. Why do you do poor Gabba? I didn't ask it. I'm just reading it, Gabba. Leave Gabba alone. All right. Well, you've got an issue with poor Lautaro Martinez.

1:05:21Well, they do now. Who was there for the World Cup final. Just as Nico Patz was there, too, who, by the way, is still in Italy and would take over a lot of those guys. I don't know. It's obviously a tough moment all round. Jonathan David could have had a huge World Cup. Oh, what a man. I think it's a lot of touch and go. Look, I mean, if you talk about strength and depth with forwards, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You're talking about the Premier League. You're talking about the top two or three teams in La Liga. You're talking about Paris, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. After that, it really is kind of all much of a muchness.

1:06:00I think for the first time, I can remember. The trouble is Alexis, everyone that Gab named there are not Italian. So that's the biggest problem. Where's the Italian centre forwards? His name is Francesco Pio Esposito. He's 20 years old. He's had a brilliant start to his career. Hopefully we'll see more of him. Happy Don? Everybody stop picking on Gab. Yeah, leave Gab alone. Stop picking on Gab. I don't want to pick on Gab. Don Dublin down on Gab. He's saying that I was I was just gonna say that I wasn't having a pop no Too late too late low-key. Yeah, yeah You made gab just say that Italy is hinging its future on a 20 year old I mean for the first time ever Can we struggle that was struggling to begin with one kind of you and he saw the mind working He was doing all the old classics and Actually, I thought that I did a very good job

1:07:02I'm with Gab. With Gab. Gab, it's a tough time. Tough time. Yeah, move on quick. Okay, one more bit. It's what I was about to say. You don't need to remind him. Gab's chiming in.

1:07:18Yeah, and as the producer, Costa helpfully reminds me, pretty sure Kane and Odise aren't German. Yeah. Pretty sure Mbappe's not Spanish. Pretty sure Spain won a World Cup with Oyarzabal, who was really a winger finishing mid-table, scoring nine goals from open play all season long with Ferran Torres who can't get into the Barcelona side because they have a 40-year-old playing ahead of him last season. So, yeah, I feel okay. I feel better and better as this goes on. You want me to continue? Pretty sure I saw Ivan freaking Tony come on for England. How about that? I think we should move on. Four stars, baby.

1:07:57Still four stars. Only Brazil is more. Gab for the strong. I like that. I like that. No, we had another fuss for Gab. What? Relying on the producer in his ear. Oh. I've never heard that before either. An Italian relying on a... I'm with Gab. What a time. I'm with Gab. It's okay. Gab's going to support groups. Don't worry. Italy still will always win in the kitchen, though, for food. Right, Gab? There you go. We got you. Next question for Shaka. Yay! Shaka, TNT may be one of the teams to benefit from the 64 team World Cup. Will it feel the same as qualifying for the 32 team tournament in 2006? No.

1:08:36Absolutely not. I've already, well during the show, if you didn't see the show, I am not at all in favour of a 64 team World Cup. Even if that means an easier path for Trantabago to again play in the World Cup. How many groups would there be? A lot. 16. There'll be 16 groups, top two from each group makes it round of 32. Oh, can you imagine how many games will mean absolutely nothing? I'm just saying. You have 16 groups of four. You don't want to see a game. So you have no third place finishers getting in. So you go straight from there to the round of 32. And then this time around. So it's not that much of a muchness.

1:09:17But no. You don't want to see TNT against Vatican City or something. Was that done? Go on, Don. Italy might have a chance.

1:09:30Never heard of that one before, Doug. Nice one. Come on, leave him alone. Or we might just, as we've done again, choose to give somebody else a chance. In the same way Germany did. Germany said, what do we want to do the round of 16 for? Yeah, we have four World Cups. So do we. Let's go and give it to these Diddy nations. poor Spain only had one England only had one and they kind of cheated to get that one if we really look at it so why not step aside rattled hashtag rattled little Diddy Nation bring it

1:10:09Scott's people love Italy come on come on swinging amazing that this was a question to Shaq about or Gabb is still catching strays. Don said pew pew. All right, next question. Rodri wants to join Madrid. Perez has no desire for Rodri to join Madrid. Gabb, what's going on?

1:10:37So, Rodri, obviously, he's got one year left on his contract. He's 30 years old now. Florentino tends to like younger players. As we've seen that, unless they're free transfers. Rodri's going to be a free transfer a year from now, by the way, unless he decides to change his mind. So I don't think anybody would begrudge Rodri if he did leave or try to engineer a move, given obviously Pep Guardiola's gone and they're kind of turning the page at Manchester City. I think the interesting tiebreaker here is going to be the Real Madrid manager, Jose Mourinho, because as we've seen, he's got no problem at all with older players, players who are veterans, as long as they're very, very good.

1:11:20And he may say, look, I need this guy on board because of what he brings. You may think he's similar to Truamini or Valverde or whatever, but I don't think so. And our young centre-back, Dean Heysens, are going to be a lot better if they have this dude sitting in front of the back four. He'd be great in Real Madrid, wouldn't he? He'd be great anyway. He'd be great. Real Madrid would love to have him. He'd be great. Aye. On Jamaica. Great for Newcastle as well, you know. Great for Newcastle. Liverpool? No. Do a straight swap with your mask. I don't think that's going to happen. Final question, shall we?

1:12:02And it's for Gab. Again, Gab, the star of the show today. No, this has nothing to do with Italy. Actually, let me read. No, I don't think it has anything to do with Italy. But Don will find a way to fire a shot after Italy. Don't worry. Don, keep it loading. All right, Gab. Looking at the wild spending spree that the Premier League clubs have gone on for the past few years, hasn't it become exactly what everyone feared the Super League would be at the time?

1:12:33I mean, it's not a closed league. You can get promoted into the Premier League, but there's no question that the more money that you make, the more money you can spend. and the more money that you spend, in fact, and you all kind of end up losing money. I mean, you saw the numbers for the Deloitte numbers show that, you know, Premier League losses won over a billion dollars last year, and yet people still want to go and invest. I think one of the real concerns of the Premier League is kind of loss of mobility. The Big Six, if you had weight classes in the Premier League, like they do in boxing, you would have the traditional big six which weirdly includes Spurs and United even though they haven't been good in a while and they'll always be able to outspend consistently and over time that is everybody else one of the most depressing things is that if you look at the teams that achieved middleweight status whether it's Newcastle or Aston Villa or Leeds or West Ham I'm talking by revenue now.

1:13:42Look at how those teams ended up. West Ham, relegated. Leeds, relegated in financial trouble. Leicester, another one that reached those ranks, relegated in financial trouble. Newcastle and Villa, forced to basically go and sell everybody that's basically not nailed down, and then they can sell. So, to me, that is a bigger concern going forward, and everybody else, they're old minnows. and they can have a great season, but you're not going to build on the success. Bournemouth could have another 10 years, another 10 seasons like the one they just had. They're not going to reach the level of a Bournemouth.

1:14:17It's just the economics of the Premier League. And in that sense, it probably makes it a bit different from the Super League, where, at least in theory, the teams that were in it were all pretty equal. Anyone else want to have a pop? There's one more question left for Gab. It's about Italy. I'm just kidding. Look at his face. There was no need for that. Gab knows. Must I say, though, on the Football America show, or I think it was an FC show that we did, in all my years, where it was basically the club of those who didn't make a World Cup, and it was me, Xhaka, and Ale Moreno representing. Never in my years did I think we would be joined in that guttural club by Gab Marcotti at Italian.

1:15:05Wow, Gab. It's tough times. Tough times. You know what? We liked it so much that we decided to join you again in 2022 and again in 2026. Will you be joining us again for the next edition? Oh, boy. Who knows? But best food. Stop picking on Gab. Yeah, because Donna already has a couple of things. That's pretty much it for this edition of Extra Time. But just a reminder that ESPN FC, where we don't always pick on Gab, is on seven days a week on ESPN+.

1:15:43I'll see you next time.