World Cup: England Survive Mexico Thriller

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever, burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye, grab creamy potato salad and savoury flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with 365 brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market. Make your summer sizzle.

1:02The V-Series line-up at Cadillac.com

1:20Hello, welcome to the Football Daily with me, Rick Edwards. And back again, Lloyd Griffith. Yeah, it's nice to have you back, actually. Honestly, I did miss you a tiny bit. No, I listened to the podcast whilst I was away, and you did mention me quite a lot. If anything, I'm honest, it was a little confidence booster, because I was listening in, and you obviously throw a few little jibes my way. That's absolutely fine. But then Guillaume Balaguet, who I love, thinks I'm absolutely hilarious. He's been to see me do stand-up a couple of times, and he was bigging me up, and I absolutely loved that.

1:54Second language, isn't it? Well, I can do comedy in two languages now. can you? Well, I mean... As in English or English? In English or... English for a Spanish speaker. Or Steve McClaren, that kind of thing. And then also, another little confidence boost that Dion Doblin thinks I'm that much of a good actor that he didn't realise it was me that was playing Steve from Gillingham. Yes, I think it took me half a second. Well, yeah, because we spend all day, you know, with each other and stuff. Yeah, we do. And I've heard you Steve from Gillingham before. Yeah. Is that how you wake me up in the morning?

2:25No, no, I booked a table for six people. I want it. but also like an audition for a Guy Ritchie film I know if he's listening which he's not I know he is he's not but it was nice that Dion thought I was a fantastic actor as well he didn't say that he didn't have a clue slightly different you had to anyway enough of that I'm back and what a day to come back did you win any money by the way oh let's not talk about that about$600 did you well give or take $600 well done mate thank you I won I won$50 $50. $50. Okay. Can I take that back? Yeah. I am absolutely full of, I think, adrenaline. Yeah. And cortisol.

3:08Is that the stress one? Yes. And various other things. Like my body is a maelstrom in here. We've just had a match two hours. Oh, man alive. That was insane. It was a lot, wasn't it? It really was. It was too much. It was too much for me. 11 minutes. I mean, we knew it was going to be 11 minutes. extra time. Ref, we've only got ten men left. You sent one of our fellas off. It's not fair. And the goalkeeper shouldn't be on the pitch. No, you were quite keen on that idea, weren't you? I didn't enjoy the fact that you stayed on. No, you didn't at all. Didn't even get a card. Yeah, bring Dion in. Come on, big man.

3:42Come on! Come on! Come on! I mean, beyond stressful, Dion. Beyond stressful. That was an extraordinary game of football. So England... It was horrible to watch, wasn't it? It was... It was a few minutes that were lovely, two in particular. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, but the last sort of 40 minutes of that were agony. So England beat Mexico just 3-2, and it basically had absolutely everything. Red card, two penalties, five goals, a load of VAR stuff. Dan Byrne. Dan Byrne coming on, which was, I think, surprising, but worked. bodies on the line at the end relentless relentless pressure from from Mexico us having literally zero out ball at all it was just like and as hoof it as far as you can to anyone?

4:37no no just as far as you can doesn't matter takes up a few seconds get it away from your goal takes up a few seconds it felt like clay pigeon shooting do you know what I mean just like launching it out there and then just hoping that someone might get on the end of it and then see what happens yeah listen that's all you need to do that's all you need to do it was I mean imagine if you've stayed up for that at home thinking I'm going to go to bed afterwards you're not going to sleep. My mum just texted me No chance. It's 4am She's got work at 7am Oh it is 4am What an absolute legend I know I know To stay up and get that result though Yeah It's just It's just bizarre You don't mind being tired at work tomorrow knowing that you just watched In my opinion I think one of the best England games I've ever seen I think this is the best game at the World Cup after the Cape Verde game Oh yes After the Cape Verde.

5:24Yeah, yeah, yeah. The best game. Yeah. There's so much on it. And the subs that came on, stopping the ball going into the box. You know, because Thomas Tuchel had a go at Jez Spence, by the way. Yeah. About letting crosses come in the box. Really? So at the end, that's why no crosses came in our box. Because it was all about stop the ball going into the danger area. We'll defend it, but stop it coming in. Stop it at source. Like, everyone did such a good job. Oh, my gosh. At the end there. That one where John Stones just nicked in. Yeah. dribbled past the post. I was like, I actually thought that was a shot.

5:55I did. I thought Jimenez had done the shot. I thought Jimenez was in. Well, as if he's missed that and then he goes, oh, wow. There were so many of those. We'll go through the whole game in a minute, but the Bellingham clearance, do you know what I mean? Which, again, I thought... At the back post? Yeah, yeah. In the first half. That's a goal. Timing. Without that. Timing. Dan Byrne heading right to the far post as well. Brilliant. Jordan Pickford, immaculate. Excellent. Two unbelievable saves from him and his the first one the first one yeah that first one that's what I'm talking about Banks-esque Banks-esque Hang on Hang on Hang on Hang on mate it was good but hang on stop it he's a very good friend of mine and I'll stand up Gordon Banks you do know all the goalkeepers I do know all the goalkeepers and seeing the scenes and after the game just like the elation the exhaustion like run into the ground after 102 minutes or whatever it was in the end come out the other side and then I don't know if you've heard this Dion but Harry Kane interviewed afterwards like obviously the guy's absolutely shattered yeah and then he's been singing with the England fans and when he comes to the interview can't speak like his voice has gone and it's like squeaky and breaking it's so funny he sounds like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo yeah yeah yeah it's such a good way well for the younger view of that you have to say though I think that was probably a mix of him singing Wonderball at the end and just like communicating and shouting.

7:24Yeah, that's what he does do it so well. He'll marshal from wherever he is on the pitch and they all listen to him. It's all about his voice means the most when you're out there over the white line. So yeah, I would imagine both of those things. Before we get into the game, also probably worth noting that Jordan Henderson has been stretched off at the end of the game. Yeah. I'm not sure if you saw that. Apparently he went over the advertising hoardings. Maybe hurt his arm. And on oxygen. Was he really? Yeah, hopefully he's all right. but he didn't play. He managed to get a yellow card and get injured.

7:52That's not easily done. But I think that, and I'm not making light of that, that just goes to show like even if you're not playing, you put your bodies on the line because he was interfering with the playing which helped buy in time and stuff. So I genuinely think that everyone... I think that's a stretch. Yay! I do think that's a stretch. Very good, very good. Stretcher. I just think it's great for him and hopefully he's okay. I think he's... He'll be fine, he'll be fine. Let's try and just dissect it as it played out. So the first half an hour, there was a lot of pressure from Mexico. A lot of pressure.

8:27And then we get the goal. Fantastic goal. Great header. Great ball in. Great cut back. Bellingham just popping up exactly when you need him. And then very quickly after that, the second, and you just think, come on. We're in here. We're absolutely in. And it was against the run of play with a two-goal cushion. and you sort of thought, fine, just hold this. A two-goal cushion is possibly the worst cushion that you have. One goal's worse, isn't it? No, no, no, but one you know you've got to get two. When you get two, you think, right, we have to get three, otherwise we're in trouble. And I just feel that the way we started was just absolutely perfect.

9:04You know, Bellingham and Kane, again, do what they do, but the way that Jude gets about the pitch, he spoke about, you know, it just seems to make sure that we're okay. And what he does as well, and what Gordon did very early was, let's get the ball into the final third. Let's run the ball into the final third and play in the area we want to play in. I thought Anthony Gordon was... Brilliant. He could probably go through every player, but I thought Anthony Gordon in particular was superb. Very positive. Really positive. Great to see that as well. That's what you want from your wingers. And Saka's cross.

9:34Oh, my gosh. It was great. Just like the little... Just a little wedge. A little sand wedge. A little wedge, wasn't it? And also, it was beautiful. They had a fantastic replay on the screen. over here. It was like from an aerial view and you could just see. It was like chess pieces just moving forward and the way that Bellingham could see what was happening was like, right, I'm going to peel off. Lost this man. And then Kane, they thought that he was going to be Kane and then just goes over with a lovely little loft wedge. It's sort of, the way that Jude went into the box, he gets to the edge of the box and then the guy that was marking him leaves him for the other defender but the other defender doesn't do anything about it.

10:08But his movement on the way into the box and you know what, I'll tell you this right now. when you know that Saka's in that corner and he's going to wedge it your eyes light up honestly as a centre forward or anybody attacking your eyes light up and you go oh yes please and then you time yourself and you go bam everything goes in the box the player the man the ball everything then Quinonez who we knew was going to be a danger man scores the the Mexican goal and it's a it's a good finish like yeah it was slightly disappointing that he's on his own but also going back to that second goal as well our second goal that came from just pressing and like closing it down and just not giving up energy energy energy and that was with with 11 men do you know what I mean so they were just from the off just like going right we're not we're not going to be second best here yeah and then to be fair after Mexico scored England definitely wanted half time to come because there was a lot of pressure needed it as well to be fair and then as we discussed unbelievable block from Bellingham at the far post where that is a certain goal four yards out he's four yards out and he just gets there takes it away from him which is good what I did like is the togetherness when something was done well the togetherness of we are in and Jordan saves you've mentioned already his saves and everybody's gone brilliant so you're all on the same page it means I mean we just got through it imagine the lads the energy they put in and how they feel now you know this is the goal we have to get by these hurdles and I think that's probably the biggest one for sure I mean that atmosphere particularly when Mexico were pushing you've got to withstand that and then the ref I don't know actually let's talk about the red card so 54 minutes early early in the second half and Kwanza I mean he gets the ball when you watch the replay it's a red card I think he's unlucky completely unlucky because he gets the ball and it bounces the foot bounces up I agree.

12:09So it's not that he's come in with a high foot. No, I agree. But it just sort of glances up. And it looks worse than what it is because, like you say, he rolls on top of the ball. He rolls on top of the ball. Bounces his foot up high. It looks terrible. He's got it wrong. And he's unlucky. But it's a record. And then you're just thinking, right, this is going to be. Oh, we've seen this before. Yeah. We've seen this script before. We don't see it again, do we? Not particularly. But, yeah, 40 minutes of just backs against the wall, really. and then the penalty again it's a lovely flick from Harry Kane it's great awareness and pace from Gordon just to nick it past the goalkeeper it's a clear penalty you think the keeper should have gone?

12:50no I don't think you should have gone you were screaming that quite a lot he's got he's got to go red red you were screaming it you were saying that's very heavy we were at the golf club and there were a lot of Mexican fans there was a lot of Mexicans and I was like I'm just going to give a little bit back you were red can't do some Mexicans in the face He's historical. I believe... Imagine how he read. No, you're not imagining. He always carries. I'm not even joking. I actually do have a Premier League set of red and yellow cards. That doesn't surprise me. Pathetic. Yeah, no. A ref gave them to me.

13:25Still pathetic. Okay, fine. I don't think... He wasn't the last man. There were... Don't point at him. Sorry. He wasn't the last man. There were players around, but I don't even think he got carded. we were like to see look and have you got carded and I don't think you did and he's like well you've committed a foul there in the box and they were just yeah they were very underhand to be fair I don't care no no no true to be fair you could have given him a yellow three reds I don't care we got through what a penalty by the skipper under the pressure I mean that pressure by the way and the guy it's interesting isn't it because the keeper goes we saw a very poor penalty in the Brazil-Norway game yeah we did and this was just like power exactly where he needed it doesn't matter that the keeper's gone the right way he's never stopping it it's a lovely lovely pen under incredible pressure yeah and the way that the captain takes the penalties is I'm going to do what I'm going to do regardless of where you go or where you dive therefore it gives you that mindset of I know what I'm going to do anyway so even if I see you move I'm not going to change and he takes it so well it's just amazing what a bad and then you think okay back to the two goal cushion I know you don't like the two-goal cushion, Dion, but I preferred it to the one, I've got to tell you.

14:39And you just say, okay, just settle, settle. And then the penalty, which it did remind me of the one that we got, Modric, on Madweke, which was soft. In real time, I was like, never a pen. And then you watch it back and you're like, ooh. But it's very soft. but as always as soon as it goes to VAR and he jogs over to his little screen and he's got 85 ,000 Mexican screen at him I'm like well I think I know what's going to happen and he wants to get out of the stadium alive as well and get home to his family I understand it so fair play final decision is penalty yes I've heard that before I've heard that and so Jimenez penalty actually it's a good penalty Pickford takes that slight little jump to the left up to the left and if he hasn't taken that then he might get a hand to it that was my first thought and you were digging your mate out weren't you that was my first thought but actually again even if he didn't go to that left I think Jimenez has done the same the power the power it's not as in the corner it wasn't as in the corner no but and again you know we talked about it before if you're a goalkeeper in those situations you're either a hero or it goes in as long as you don't make a mistake and I think it's a good penalty Jimenez I mean He played brilliant, by the way.

16:00He was super. Very unlucky to, you know, not have won, but I mean, guilty of it. Yeah, I'm not too guided for him, actually. But yeah, yeah, he did play well. He's an absolute nightmare to play against because as a centre forward, he's always in the right position. He always seems to get on the end of the cross. How many headers did he get across his man? I know, I know. Strikes on the ball, you've got to know exactly. It was like Harland's goal today. Harland's goal when he got across his man. That's what him and Ed does all the time. It's a good job that we haven't got to play Harland in the next game.

16:28Who got next time? Oh, Harland. Harland and Norway, yes. Can we not think about that for now? And then it's just, can England hold on? There was nothing but holding on, and the substitutions were… Brilliant. Brilliant. They worked. They all worked. I guess we went to a back five, although at times it sort of looked like a back ten, really. Yeah. Happy back six, back seven, I don't mind. Well, no, not a back ten, a back nine. Yeah, it worked. But it worked. You know, the defensive minds of Stones and Dan Burns, it's just the organisation. of, you know, you go there, I'll go here. It's natural for a defensive-minded player to deal with that situation and know where your other teammate's going to be and tell them where to go.

17:10And it just worked. It worked perfectly. So those changes that he did make, what was the thinking of that for the layperson watching it? Like to bring Dan Burnham? Was it just bigger bodies? Yeah, because he knew that when you get to a certain stage in a game, everything's going in the box. Yeah. Everything's going in the box. And it was. And it was. So you need to make sure that people that go on the pitch are happy to go and attack that ball. And Stones is, as we've seen, with that little nick away. And there was a massive header at the far post by Dan Byrne that went right over the halfway line.

17:39That's all you need. Head it away. Squeeze up. Go again. There was that moment as well where I can't remember if it was from a corner or it sort of bobbled around. And then somehow it just kind of popped up into Jordan Pickford's man. And then he fell on the floor. You stay on that. You stay on that. But for seven seconds. Yeah, exactly. How hard is it, though, when you're having to... I mean, forget the atmosphere for a moment. When you've got 45 minutes plus to keep out 11 men when you're down to 10. It's down to... And they want to do it on the training pitch. It's very much what we call forwards against defence.

18:20You go into a defensive shape. and when the ball goes into a certain position, you find your way into a position. Make sure that people like Jimenez don't get a run on you and they would have known exactly what to have done. They did it to the letter tonight. They were absolutely outstanding. And sometimes it's not going to be pretty. I don't care if it's not pretty. I don't care if you don't play the beautiful game. We did. We got our goals. They came back into it and they deserve to come back into it, to be fair. They did play their part. But I just think the organisation that Thomas Tuchel sorted out with his team that went over, the players that went over the line was absolutely spot on.

18:54I also think that it was a very strong recommendation for the squad choices because definitely there were eyebrows raised when he takes Dan Byrne. And then Dan Byrne comes on in a situation like that and is a colossus and does exactly what you need him to do. And you're like, right. To be fair, Rick, to be fair, if he'd have taken three or four players out of his squad now and brought in the Fodans and the Cole Parman, then he's still got it wrong. He's never going to get it right. We're never going to agree with everything he does. What we have to agree with is the players that are there and his tactics.

19:29And he's got it spot on. Just so many people stepped up today as well. We talked about Pickford. He was coming out. He commanded his box. I haven't seen him for a long, long time. Some of those punches. I mean, Alvarez was in the crowd. I'm sure he was like right in there. That's how you do it, is it? You know, Stones coming in. Gay, I thought it was brilliant. The fact that we've not really talked about him because he just had a great game. That means he's had a good game. Exactly. Because that's the way he plays the game. He's very understated. He's not six foot three, six foot four. He just does the job.

19:57Paul Robinson, we had him last week, and he was talking about England got this fantastic spine of the team. And you could see that today, just like straight down through the middle. I mean, Gaye. And then through the middle, Anderson. Again, just so, so good. Rice, Bellingham, Kane. Rice playing 100 minutes on a yellow card and just going, right, I've got to play. I can't go into every tackle, but I've got to give everything that I can do. Bellingham outstanding today. Kane was incredible. He was just going, oh, everyone's just stepped up. They were on it, weren't they? I love that moment right near the end, probably in like the hundredth minute, where I think it is Jordan Pickford has kicked it out and Bellingham is out wide on the right.

20:34Yeah, far right, yeah. And he's annoyed at himself because he doesn't quite bring it down perfectly. I'm like, we're fine with that. I think you've played your part. For the first time ever. Also on that, what was really nice is that that ball came, Bellingham took it, and it was just a little bit, maybe a foot or so, just to the right. And he just looked back at Jordan and went, and then just apologised to Jordan. And it's those small little things. Yeah, the details. Where other teams, you go, what are you doing? Do you know what I mean? They were both trying, and that's the only options they really had at that point, because they were just, what, you know, trying to survive with 10 men.

21:07It was a different feeling. Did you get a different feeling about the way that they dug in? It felt different tonight. It felt like they really felt like they could win it, and they can go far because the attitude is incredible. I think it's because they trust each other. I think everyone knows we're all here because we trust each other and these foundations have been laid by Gareth Southgate for how many years? I was watching it with my pal Scotty and I said, Jed's on it. Jed Spencer's on it because he obviously got a bit of a rocket from the manager about letting crosses come in and he stopped every single cross.

21:36That's how hard you have to work. Help your teammates out by doing your job. Although we were unbelievably stressed, it did feel like we were going to be able to do it and previously in situations like that I would have thought well we're definitely going to concede 100 % it was that that real feeling wasn't it going look we have seen this we're going to repel all this we have seen this script before but there was just something different where you're going no we'll dig in like there's been a few decisions that have gone against us and obviously you know the red card is a red card and you know Harry Kane bless him I mean I'm so glad we won that because you did not want Harry to be like oh it was down to that penalty it wasn't at all he had to go for it he didn't know he was there but it was just the It was different, it was different.

22:16It was, and you just think, I think we can do this. We're not just convincing ourselves it was different because of the result, are we? No, no, no. I'm always worried that it might be a bit of that. Do you know what I mean? I honestly don't. I just think there was something there today. Like the first 15 minutes, you know, you're going, oh, crikey, do you know what I mean? And we're looking for signs of them being exhausted. You kept doing the Henri Carragher touch too, mate. Oh, did you panic? Panic sets in. What's this? And then you're like, look, I'm trying to look and see if they're exhausted.

22:39And there was moments in that first 10 minutes, and I'm not sure it was just the camera work where they were like pan to Bellingham and he was just tripping with sweat but you're going well I think everyone is are we getting too worried about it but I think that the feeling that we all had and it's better now obviously we've got over we've got over the white line we've got the result can you imagine being in that situation as a player now you know what it takes you know muscle memory is oh we have to go we have to go to those lengths do we in order to be successful so we have to stop all the crosses and we have to do everything and I Jude has to run that far and maybe take a long touch and then get back and say sorry.

23:15They're the lengths. If you want to win, they're the lengths and they know now. We talked a lot about the altitude and the conditions of the Mexican fans. We've also not mentioned the fact that Mexico hadn't lost and hadn't conceded. They have now. They have now. And we are delighted though. We are delighted. Yeah. Absolutely delighted. Completely agree. And then on the Kwanzaa red card, I guess we'll just hope that Keir Starmer gives Infantino a call. Yeah, I'm sure that's how it works now, isn't it? I think so. You call him up and you say, I'm not sure about that, actually. Just check your social.

23:49Check your social. Yeah. We'd rather have Kwanzaa available for the quarters. I think that, yeah, that'll just happen. Yeah. And you just make sure you say please. Yeah, and you'll be all right. Just wait. Bind your time.

24:16The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever, burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with 365 brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market, make your summer sizzle. If your best finance people are doing expense reports, chasing receipts, or spending time on month-end clothes, it's time to get Brex AF, a gentic finance that eliminates that work before it starts.

24:56Learn more at brex.com slash AF. It's for my favorite World Cup moment. It's the first World Cup I properly remember watching. Argentina 78, the ticker tape, Mario Kempes, Ari Hahn scoring goals from miles out and always one of my favourite World Cup moments, Archie Gemmels' great goal for Scotland against the Dutch. What makes the World Cup such a special tournament is the atmosphere, the colour. It is a meeting of the nations and of people who love football. The People World Cup 2026. Listen on BBC Sounds.

25:43Next up then, Norway. Easy. After they beat Brazil and look, we were talking after that game and saying, Norway are a good team and they've got some good players, but they have this man up front. I think he's an alien. He is beyond good. It's unbelievable. So, you know, this amazing battle between Gabriel, that's continued from the Premier League, you know those two are always at it, and Gabriel was doing pretty well, and then he just gets absolutely banged. I don't know how Haaland plays that well all the time, and his goal stats are just bizarre. It's 62 in 54 for Norway? I don't know. I don't know how you mark him.

26:32I really don't. I don't know how you deal with him. He's a joint top scorer for Golden Boot. And he didn't even play one of the games in the group stage. Had a little rest. And he didn't really do anything today in the game. He scored his goals granted. So often he doesn't. Which is fine. And they accept that. They accept that that's what he does. And what he does do, he says, when you have the ball in a certain position, I will be on. So give me the opportunity to score a goal. Never moans. Never says, got to cross it, got to cross it. But if you don't give it to him when he's made a good run, then that's different.

27:05On that, he only had 30 touches before the game ended. Stoppage time in the second half. We ended up with two goals. Yeah. And that's what we've got. That's all you need, isn't it? But that's what we've got to try and stop. Yeah. Listen, with my defender's hat on, if you don't know where he is, and if he can see your number, as in if he's behind you, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. As in the header today. Yeah. Because if you watch the header today, the cross is that side. he goes behind he goes behind and what happens is as a defender you're looking over your shoulder you're looking over when you look at the ball that's when he comes he's in that's when he comes because you haven't got time to go like that too late I'll maybe just hear the breath oh god yeah and the snorting the snorting of the absolute machine on his way to you that's the second goal that's awful defending you've got to close him down that's awful defending I don't quite know why they haven't but the finish is immaculate yeah they don't think there's a problem no No.