World Cup: Rick & Lloyd's First Days In LA

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1:12Hello from Los Angeles, our first episode of the Football Daily. From out here in America, Lloyd Griffith and I, here for the duration. We're basically going to be your companions for the entire tournament, which is a bit of pressure on us. we're at Ye Olde Kingshead which is a British pub in Santa Monica on Santa Monica Boulevard the reason we're out here on the west coast is essentially just it's the most friendly time zone in order to watch all of the 104 games it is a lot of games we're we're basically pulling an all-nighter so you don't have to I mean don't don't feel bad for us by no means feel bad for us and also I will say we're pulling an all-dayer Well, you, but then bear in mind, I'm also doing breakfast.

1:57You are doing breakfast, yeah. But we're watching all the games during the day. We'll summarise and we'll talk about the main topics of the day slash evening so that when you wake up, it's all there. It's all there. It's all there. Just subscribe to the feed. Is that the thing that kids say? Oh, yeah. Subscribe to the feed? Yeah, yeah. That's absolutely what they say. Also, we're on Route 66. Yes, this is the very end. The very end of Route 66. Of Route 66, which is a good fact. lloyd it turns out is full of excellent facts for example there's a kind of cage at the front of the buses that lloyd has just told me it's for people to put their bikes on which i think defeats no sense don't pay for two modes of transport pick one and stick with it also this the pub mock tuder facade yes at the front um and some family friends of mine worked here in the 70s or 80s i mean that's extraordinary yeah full circle proper family friends as well proper family friends, Jim and Pete McKenzie, they actually taught me how to play football.

2:54So I guess it's their fault that I'm doing this and not playing football professionally. And also other factors, height, weight, ability. But they worked here and I said, oh, we're going to be recording from Yodi King. So they're like, that's where we worked in the senses. Like a load of footballers came over here on scholarships and they worked here. And it's a great pub and they've been very welcoming, haven't they? They've been blooming lovely. Yeah. It's currently, I mean, obviously this is our first day here. They're enjoying our company. They're enjoying our presence. I think we're checking in a couple of weeks after the 87th game when do you leave when do you leave all famously you can't have another cob salad they are good though aren't they i got here a couple of days before you how's it been has it been thus far are you settling yeah absolutely yeah i was in australia last week um filming a tv show had four days in england then came over to la so i had two bouts of jet lag to try and defeat i think it's a challenge to the old body clock isn't it yeah and my body at the best of times is already tested as it is.

3:50So I think I'm settled. We've got a nice little house. We're housemates. We're housemates. It's me, you, and producer Lizzie. And producer Lizzie who's putting up with us. And I think she'll probably be bored of us quicker than the staff here. I reckon by game 17 she'll be. Very good to monitor that actually. I think it might be tight. We're having a nice time. We're settled. I took you to a comedy night on your first night. You did. What's Lloyd going to enjoy? What's going to make you feel at home. And you took me to, I'd say, arguably the worst comedy show I've ever been to. And that sounds like an exaggeration, but I can confirm it was unforgivably poor.

4:28I think the signs were there. It was brutal. The signs were there early doors. How much did the tickets cost, Rick? $3.50. $3.50. I treated five of us to those tickets. That was lovely. We were doing all right. And then also, when we got to the door, the man who took your tickets was like, does any of you want to perform tonight? After we'd paid. well i don't think that's a great but then that that was continued when the guy the barman yeah he came out and sort of introduced the mc yeah he then came on later to do his three minutes his three minutes so there was 20 yeah 20 acts and i would say 15 of them were unacceptable yeah the 15 of them go oh bless them they've had a go yeah they've had a go it made me feel a lot better but they shouldn't have another go they shouldn't have another go i mean get get back to the day job no offense and i mean you know also do keep do keep at it we've sort of bonded over pilates socks yes you immediately lent me your your grippy pilates socks which i appreciated well i i arrived in la i said what are you up to i'm going to go and do this pilates class do you want to go and i've started doing reform pilates as well and i said where are your grip socks and uh you said i don't i don't have any i said well do you want to borrow mine so within about half an hour i had already lent you my grip socks uh and i think they did well didn't they well i mean they were they with the least of my problems in my heated reformer class what i'm saying is we're embracing la we're going to be here we're going to be watching a lot of games we are also embracing american life especially santa monica life just trying to give a sense of what it is like in the world cup in this place that isn't you have to say it's not a football mad like it's very interesting turning up and i'm sure you thought this to lax having been to tournaments before in wherever you're normally absolutely bombarded with imagery that says you're at a world cup we're hosting a world cup we're hosting the euros or whatever and everyone is talking about it and it's fizzy and it is not like that here yet unless you're in certain places so we've just watched the the opening game of the tournament at mexico south africa and it was very very lively in there it's very fun yeah i think i think the thing is the fans are doing the heavy lifting here The only way, when I landed at LAX, the only way that you really knew that there was a tournament going on was the fans wearing the jerseys, wearing the training tops of the countries that were there to come and watch.

6:46And again, same thing. We had a little walk down Santa Monica Boulevard and along the beach. And there's no real branding to say, oh, we're a host city. Like LA is a host city. Obviously, we're in Santa Monica. You know, the stadium is about, you know, a good 40 minutes away. But there was nothing there. Germany, when we were in Germany. and you just couldn't move for branding. You know, this is a host city, wherever you were. Same with Russia. All the lampposts were dawn bunting. And there doesn't seem to be anything that really tells you that the World Cup is on. I think also what is so telling, one of the hosts of the houses that we're living in didn't know that there was a World Cup.

7:22And that is surprising. They live in LA and they didn't know there's a World Cup on. So I think the fans, as I say, are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. they're going to be the people that make this feel like there is a huge international tournament I do wonder if it will just spark into life in LA itself at the opening game for the US which is at the Los Angeles Stadium tomorrow night we're going to be there we've chatted to a few people already who are also going to be there and excited about it I mean this is a very LA thing so we're watching the Mexico game and we'll speak to John Murray who was in the Azteca shortly and we noticed that there was a a very large gentleman and by large i don't mean i don't mean like a big framed man who looked incredibly healthy sort of thought he looks like a sportsman and he was wearing a and he was wearing a leeds shirt which is you know he's like okay and producer lizzie got talking to him and he and he's just saying oh you're a leeds fan you know he's like yeah yeah yeah i've got um yeah i've got a bit of an interest in in in leeds which is a slightly strange way of putting it because normally you just say oh you're on a fan yeah so she's obviously said what do you mean a bit of an interest and he said yeah well a part own it and then we're on our phones we find him on instagram uh he's a basketball player he plays for the calves the cleveland cavaliers and yes he owns a bit of leads he owns a bit of leads and why not he's called larry nance jr a lovely lovely bloke lovely absolutely lovely bloke and he was just there watching the game in his lead shirt we liked it it's sort of classic LA really another thing I quite enjoyed is LA is famously a real melting pot of cultures and backgrounds and people and so you get these interesting little snippets and evidence of that so in this pub which is a British themed pub they were playing Sweet Caroline very loudly while a load of people in Mexico shirts chanted Mexico, Mexico.

9:28It was like a real melding pot of cultures there. Yeah, it was like quite a badly organised sound clash. It was a beautifully organised sound clash. And they were very vocal, the Mexican fans. Very vocal, very friendly, and obviously very happy that they won. Yeah, I didn't love... Some of the vernacular that Americans use to talk about football is... i i'm just gonna have to get used to it yeah i'm not gonna change them i know i'm not gonna change them but when someone gets anywhere near uh the penalty area and they're all shouting shoot that shoot that i think no not shoot that just stop saying shoot there was a two american men one of them went outside came back in and he's like hey what's the score and the other guy said it's still one zero i was like no it's not zero like come on i i think it's one love use the correct terminology I think it's us that have to adapt.

10:22There's no point constantly trying to correct me. We're in a British poem. We're very British. Hey, learn our language. I think we have to leave it. My other observation about you as someone to watch football with, and obviously we've watched football together before, but watching it, so we watched the England friendly yesterday. Costa Rica. We just watched this game. And whenever a goalkeeper makes a save, and I would say even a good save, you automatically shout hold on to that. Yeah, hold on to it, yeah. Every time. South African goalkeeper, you know, fantastic chap, but he should have held on to a few more of those.

11:00Like the Costa Rica last yesterday. Straight into the... Fair enough. He maybe could have held on to it. Some of your hold on to that shouts are terrible. I just don't understand why you're not... If you're getting your hands to it, hold on to it. I mean, that's what your hands. He's diving. He's getting one hand to it. He's holding on to that. You should be holding on to that. And also... You take a pretty hard line on that. Yeah. And I genuinely think, I think if I had five minutes in goal in a World Cup game, I could get away with it. Are you in your body or have you constantly leaped into the actual goalkeeper's body?

11:31Into the actual goalkeeper's body, yeah. Always. Yeah. Always. Okay, yeah. And I will be imagining I'm Jordan Bigfoot for the whole of this tournament.

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13:145 Live Sports

13:22sounds the football daily podcasts at the people world cup 2026 with rick edwards and lloyd griffith listen on bbc sounds okay now i think we can join john murray in the azteca stadium who has had a few little technical gremlins are you directly beneath the leak john i was uh i can't believe that it seemed like i was the only one getting rained on in the azteca so I've laughed all my life to commentating in the Azteca stadia and for about 15 minutes in the second half I was I was the only person who was underneath this leak this leak in the roof of the Azteca came all the way here to the Azteca and it's got a leak in the roof right above my head really really disappointing could Steve Crossman not have held a prolly over you or something I know I know he's lurking around there somewhere make yourself useful Steve I spoke to you yesterday and you were very, you were like, you were like a little kid the day before Christmas, John, about going to the Azteca.

14:25When you arrived very early this morning, did it deliver? Yeah, it has delivered enormously, apart from the match, which was disappointing. Great occasion. Shame about the match. So, I mean, the first thing to say probably about the match is three red cards, which I think is the first time that that's happened since 1998. also featured South Africa. I'm not sure any of those were red cards, John. Certainly the first one for Sittoli was debatable. A bit of a tangle of legs. The second one, I think that's a bit of a UEFA World Cup. You know, UEFA, FIFA, World Cup, sending off a sort of cuff on the back of the head.

15:09Again, you know, is there enough in that? I'm not sure. And certainly the third one. Certainly the third one. I was staggered that the red card came out for Cesar Montes. Do we feel that this then is telling us something about how FIFA want the tournament to run? Like, have they briefed the referees to be kind of zero tolerance? Yeah, I seem to remember seeing this happen at tournaments before, in that you get the iron fist at the start, and then they have a little bit of a think about it, and things settle down. Don't you think? Yeah, I mean, I kind of hope so, because you don't want to see those kind of decisions through the rest of the tournament particularly.

15:48And also, if you hadn't watched that game and you hear there were three red cards, you'd be like, oh, is it really feisty? No, not really. Not that sort of game. South Africa, I thought, were quite heavy-handed. There were some not great tackles. But you're right, I agree with you. It wasn't a dirty match or anything. I think you're right also. It's like a few years back when we had all that extra time. the added time in the Premier League to then stop people from time wasting. I think this is almost like the first game. And it has settled down, hasn't it? It has settled down, yeah. But now referees, and apparently, according to the commentator, we were watching it locally, was saying that this referee was known for being quite no nonsense.

16:27But I mean, that was absolutely no nonsense. That was the scariest teacher you've ever seen. Yeah. The atmosphere in the bar where we were watching was fantastic. I imagine not a patch on what it was like in the Azteca when Mexico scored that first goal. And actually, Rick, as I speak to you now, the heavens have opened again and we've got a lightning and thunderstorm. Just above you. No, I've moved my seat, so I'm not sitting there anymore. You know, if this had come an hour and a half earlier, you know what, that would have caused a problem. But listen, it's been such a memorable experience.

17:02We had to set out at the crack of dawn this morning to get here because roads were being closed with protests being planned, et cetera, et cetera. But it was really worth it. because 80 ,000 attendants inside the Azteca, it felt like they all came at half past seven in the morning. I don't think I've ever experienced that outside a football stadium before half past seven in the morning. There were thousands and thousands of people. The atmosphere was amazing. Sombreros all over the place. We saw senoritas dressed in their traditional dresses. And, you know, just the mood on the streets was so upbeat.

17:40and I did fear about what the atmosphere might be like because so many people here, what you would talk about, the ordinary people were priced out of this. But we did have a stadium almost full of Mexico fans, replica shirts by the thousand, and they created the atmosphere. There was a proper atmosphere inside the stadium as I'm sure it will be in the centre of Mexico City later on today after this. Yeah, well, we saw some footage. Sorry, that's what I can only describe as a hog. someone on an absolute hog we're outside a bar so there will be a bit of road noise but that's I mean that's a bit much isn't it yeah it kind of seems a little bit yeah come on hey hey hey try to do a podcast move on please he doesn't care he's wearing a helmet as he should be I also noticed that at some point during the game Chris Sutton managed to acquire a sombrero yeah got one of the sombreros what they did was they put out these I mean they're effectively big round pieces of cardboard with holes cut out in the middle and you put them on your head and it looks like wearing a sombrero.

18:40And whenever anything exciting happens, so before the match, then obviously when the opening goal was scored in the ninth minute, you know, the sombreros went flying. And so we had regular intervals. We had sombreros. People were throwing them like frisbees, flying around inside the Aztec Astero. It was an amazing sight. So you've got the hydration break and the sombrero breaks. Also, had you picked up the sombrero yourself, you would have stopped the leak going on to you. It could have been a fantastic game. That's a good point. That actually occurred to us after the match. I should have put the sombrero on.

19:16Missed opportunity. Well, you've learnt a lesson. I have. Next time I'm in the Azteca, commentating on Mexico, I'll bear that in mind. The game, as you say, it wasn't great, but Mexico, even before the sendings off, they were on top. They probably deserved it. And you just want to get off to a good start and that is a good start for Mexico. Yeah, and I thought with Alvarado on the right, Gutierrez in the middle, Brian Gutierrez, goal scorer Quinones. He looked good, didn't he? Yeah, he did. Quinones as well did a lot of good things. And of course, Jimenez. And it was a brilliant moment when he finally scored his first goal at the World Cup.

19:52And then, of course, they sent on the 17-year-old Mora. Brilliant reception for him. Gonzalez as well, Armando Gonzalez, who came on for Raul Jimenez. They've got a bit of something there. and after this, you know, they are very well placed. They'll have the toughest matches to go because Czech Republic and South Korea surely will be better than South Africa have been. But even so, as they say in football, they carry a threat. And also, we talked about this yesterday as well, going to the Azteca at altitude, potentially very hot, 90 ,000 Mexico fans. That is intimidating. That is the definition of home advantage, isn't it?

20:35Yeah, if they get a bit of momentum going, if they are able to win this group, to be able to play here in the round of 32 and potentially in the round of 16, when, as we say, it could be Scotland and then it could be England. And, you know, that will be a challenge for anyone coming to play here in these conditions, most definitely. Where are you off to next? You're England now, aren't you? I go to Dallas tomorrow, so I go to Texas. tomorrow and my next match is actually Netherlands against Japan which is in Dallas and then we stay in Dallas for the England match against Croatia after that so I've got a little spell in Texas coming up never been there either well remember to take your sombrero just in case it rains over you England have got some I've got some rest days and then I guess Thomas Tuchel knuckles down it was interesting what he was saying after the after the friendly yesterday like oh yeah we're not really thinking about the group games at this stage.

21:32I thought, if it was a bit late, I think you should be thinking about the group games. You've got to think about them at some point, haven't you? His starting line-up yesterday surely will be pretty close to the starting line-up against Croatia. They're due to play that match behind closed doors against the team, the Miami team, so they've got that as well. But I think the manner of the performance, I think you have to take into account that it was against a team that has not qualified for the World Cup, Costa Rica. But even so, there's some really promising stuff and some the kind of relationships that we saw from the England team in the autumn when they've played the best football so far under Thomas Tuchel.

22:07But of course, what they have to do is to play that kind of football against the better teams, which is the next step. And you personally, John, are you in Mexico City tonight? Are you going out and about? We will. Is it going to be a proper tear-up? It's got to be, hasn't it? I wonder how on earth we're going to how on earth are we going to get back to the hotel? I mean, the place is going to be absolutely mad. Yeah, it is. It's a very good problem. Did I tell you yesterday that they boarded up the windows in our hotel last night? Because you're there and they know that you can get a bit lively.

22:43From the inside or from the outside, John? They boarded them up from the inside. What? I was joking. I did wonder about that, but I presume that reduces the chance of flapping glass on the inside. And do you think that is anticipating Mexico losing or Mexico winning? I think any scenario. Yeah. Just be safe. Get them all boarded up, lads. John, just quickly, we're in LA and there isn't really much of a vibe at the moment. You can't really tell that it's a host city. I listened to you on the radio before the game and you were saying, obviously, the atmosphere inside from... That's pathetic. That's pathetic.

23:20A huge fan. Was electric. What's it like in the city itself? has it got the vibe of a host nation or is it quite similar to what we're experiencing here? Definitely, it's got the vibe of the host nation. It's not necessarily got the vibe of a World Cup because of course, you know, other fans of other countries are not coming here in big numbers unless you're coming to play Mexico. And the South Africans, I barely could see any South Africans inside the stadium here. They were just sort of the odd pocket. I did think that, yeah. Just the odd pocket here and there. I mean, if they were here in their hundreds, I'd almost, you know, there's no more than that.

23:55So in answer to the question, it's all Mexico. It's almost all about Mexico. And I just imagine what it was like in the city centre because I think people had kind of got over the fact that they weren't able to get tickets for this and had made other plans to do whatever and watch the match in whatever way. So it has got a huge host nation feel to it, but not necessarily the mix that you would normally expect at a World Cup. Just before I let you go and try and wend your way back to your boarded-up hotel, John, I imagine that it's going to be you, producer George, Sutton and Crossman. Yes, correct.

24:37And Mark, our engineer. And Mark, your engineer. Who's the responsible... Oh, I think I've worked with Mark, the engineer, so it's not him. Who's the responsible adult? It's me, obviously. Of course it is. best of luck best of luck marshalling those troops and uh yes safe safe travels and we'll chat to you soon and i'm actually i'm actually using george's uh uh earbuds at the moment i'm not sure they fit my ears it's quite unhygienic that isn't it that's not what we should be doing at the world cup already at that point of the trip where you're sharing each other's earbuds it's only going to get worse so so later in the world cup if i'm ruled out with an ear infection you know why or wearing George's pants etc I won't be doing that cheers John speak soon see you both now because I'm a professional broadcaster I wasn't checking my phone during a chat with John Murray but I have now checked it and I was getting a wave of abuse from Chris Sump who said last time I waved at you you've gone big time I didn't see him then he said I'm not coming on your show now your ratings will suffer then he said put your cap on the right way you're not 16 anymore i love that and then value points well actually to be fair the killer for you who's the brian blessed guy next to you that is awful that is absolutely i always preferred mike newell always preferred mike newell well i could i could see chris sutton waving yeah but the thing is but the issue was he didn't realize that his head was framed off so i just saw someone waving you saw the lanky and i assumed it as a fan so I was like oh that's that's cute that someone's waving then I realized that they had accreditation on and my first thought was well they should be behaving yeah and then you realize it's Chris Sutton Brian blessed I'll take that to be fair that's a compliment I think he's talking more about the voice what about the voice probably uh I mean let's be honest it probably wasn't the voice was it he couldn't hear us it might not if John Murray couldn't hear us he definitely couldn't hear us so I'll be I'll be taking that up with Chris Sutton um we are um off to the game tomorrow So at the Los Angeles Stadium, USA, first match.

26:49We think that is where it's going to kind of spark to life in terms of the feel around the place. Where the fever kicks off. Yes. Where the fever kicks off in America. And we've got the opening ceremony, which is, I think, going to be really long. Yeah. Obviously, we watched the opening one in Mexico, which is good. I'm a little bit annoyed. I would love to have seen Andrea Buscelli live. Still one that I want to tick off the list. But one that we get to tick off tomorrow, Katy Perry. Katy Perry. Katy Perry I think she's going to be out of this world I do because she's an astronaut yeah no that's good it's going to be a title of her song I've got to say don't do any of that because I'll struggle no no I was doing the fact that she's now an astronaut as well as a yeah yeah fine singer do you reckon she'll come out in the gear?

27:30imagine she's got to come out floats down come on Katy you've got to reference it bit of production you've got to reference it you've got to take the mickey out of yourself a little bit little rocket shit wouldn't go amiss with it and I've got no idea what to expect from the usa absolutely no idea no as uh as john alluded to the game in mexico city was made because there were so many mexicans here i'm just not sure how many usa football fans are gonna gonna bring that noise if anything i know that it'll be uh paraguay that will be yeah well we saw a lot of paraguay fans in this bar yeah last night singing wonder what lovely it was really their national anthem the Paraguayan singing their national anthem wonderful well we will be back tomorrow at 7am so make sure you subscribe to the Football Daily feed and you will not, will not miss an episode the 2023 Ballon d 'Or France footballer is Lionel Messi the winner is Cristiano Ronaldo this is the story of the greatest rivalry in the history of sport a rivalry that split football into two fates for a generation.

28:41There could be no, oh, Messi and Ronaldo are both great players. There had to be one that was better. They 100 million percent pushed each other to the next level. You know, we were the lucky ones who got to see it. I'm Steve Crossman. This is Sporting Giants Messi v Ronaldo. Listen first on BBC Sounds. Take the leash off your laptop with the processor that gives you long battery life. Work on the go. Jump between back-to-back calls. Stay locked in from brewing morning coffee to burning the midnight oil. Get maximum performance, even when unplugged. Finally, the freedom to move across the room or across the world is here.

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