World Cup: Rick & Lloyd's First Matchday

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1:11So, day two in Los Angeles. We're not in our Santa Monica base today. We're actually in Inglewood in a sports bar in the Hollywood Park Casino, which is right next to the SoFi Stadium, which is called the Los Angeles Stadium for the duration of the tournament, where the USA have just beaten Paraguay, thumped them 4-1 in their opening game. Lloyd and I have just come straight from there. I'm going to, first of all, I feel like I just have to hold my hands up because I was expecting the USA to not be very good and they were excellent. They were very, very good, weren't they? They really were. I mean, Paraguay weren't, but still.

1:47Paraguay had a really good, I think, two minutes at the start. Lovely two minutes. And then it didn't really go to plan for them and the USA were, I'm going to say, silky. They were, and they were being supported admirably because the place was packed to the rafters. It was. Mark Ogden is alongside, a senior writer at ESPN. It was a good game, wasn't it, Mark? It was a really good game. Were you surprised at how good the...

2:12Mark Ogden:It can't just be me. No, well, I'll tell you how surprised it was. I was asked to do my tips at the start of the tournament for a big team that will fail to qualify for the group. The US had a big team, but they were the host, and I said I think the US will struggle to get out of the group. Do you still maintain that decision? I think I might have to change that. I think Paraguay might struggle. It's probably worth me pointing out that when the USA scored their third goal, Lloyd whispered in my ear, Paraguay are still going to win this. Look, I just... You can't deny it because you did. I'm annoyed you brought that up.

2:42I did think they might get back into it, but they just weren't at the races. I mean, it just seemed like they didn't have anyone up top at all. and the USA were just running rings around them. And not only that, but like showboating. Yeah, yeah, some lovely little skills in there. The thing that I guess I mainly want to talk about from the game is the yellow card. The one that got moved from an American, who was it? It was Tim Ream. And then given to Miguel Almiron. And as it was happening, it was completely baffling because the player moved on, for starters, and then in the stadium, you just had this big thing come up, it said, VAR, check, mistaken identity.

3:29And we were like, well, that's not a... What? That is not a thing. So, completely confused by that. Then confused by the fact that, well, for a yellow card, they can't go back and change it. You can't go back for yellow. Particularly if it's not in the area. are just absolutely just gobsmacked. Had no idea what was going on. Mark shed some light. I wish I could. I mean, obviously, it was a mistaken decision that Gio returned. Call it a mistaken decision. Staken identity is the worst name for it. That is what he said in the stadium. It should be the referee should be giving himself a yellow card for getting it wrong.

4:07Obviously, that can't happen. But you'd like to see it. But you'd like to see it. He booked the wrong person for the wrong offence. Yeah. And now rectified it. It's a mess. But I've never... You've seen that happen before. I've never seen it rectified before. We were at the game, so we didn't have any commentary. We didn't know what was going on. We just had a mistaken identity. Everyone was baffled. We asked our WhatsApp group. Producer Lizzie basically found this. And it's mistaken identity. This is an incredibly niche edition, which Kalina requested. If a player is booked or sent off, but the foul is actually committed by the opposition team, that decision can be changed.

4:40Look, I don't even necessarily mind it, but you've got to give it a different name. and you've got to explain it as well. And you've got to explain it, but isn't that always the case with PAR? Sorry, if we are throwing each other under the bus early doors, Rick, when Ream went in for that tackle, which wasn't a tackle, you went, you definitely got him there. You said, you definitely got him there. Yes, I did. But we were quite high up, and I couldn't really see. We were very high up. In my defence. Pulisic came off at half-time. He'd had a really good first half, and I think there was a bit of consternation amongst the US fans that we were sitting by anyway.

5:17Do we know what the reason was? I assumed it was just like, well, give him a rest, like the game's won.

5:22Mark Ogden:Yeah, well, that was my thought, but Richard Pochettino has said after the game that he took a kick to the calf and it was a precaution. But Pulisic has also said that he took a kick to the calf and he hopes he'll be okay for the next game. So there seems to be no real concern, but the fact that he hopes he's okay just adds that little bit of sense. But Christian Pulisic is a huge, huge figure for the US team. He's their golden boy, and the fact he played so well tonight, two assists, and he was really on it. So if he has any element of doubt, that will be a big issue, a big story for the US. What did you make of the atmosphere?

5:53Because we've been talking a lot about the fact that it's not felt that World Cup-y. But as we approached the stadium today, you were like, aha, this is more like it. They're shouting about it a bit more. And when you got in that, I mean, it's an unbelievably big stadium. Huge. Like, it's a sensationally big stadium. With a spaceship in the middle. With a weird spaceship in the middle. And it did start to get my juices flowing a bit, I think.

6:23Mark Ogden:It's a strange atmosphere in the US, because it's not like we'll get in Mexico, where, you know, it was crazy in Mexico, but it was certainly lively to me. I think one thing that struck me, though, was that it seemed a very affluent crowd, and it probably has to be to be able to afford the tickets. It didn't strike me as that it wasn't a young crowd, it wasn't a crowd of, you know, I guess that people that you would ordinarily see in the UK. People who went to this game are the people that could afford it. Yeah, you could definitely tell by everyone was wearing something that was a USA bit of merch, whether it be a t-shirt, a cap, everyone had something.

6:57And I think you're right. There's a lot of sponsorship there. Obviously World Cups, tournaments, you know, is heavily sponsored, but I think you're right. It did seem like an affluent crowd. Almost a corporate crowd. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, you might be right. It didn't particularly occur to me in there. I did think that their support and their chance are quite one note. They've sort of just got USA.

7:20Mark Ogden:I was in Philadelphia last year for the Club World Cup and I was at a Chelsea game. Chelsea got quite a big following in the US. And this chant was going round and round that you'd never hear at Stamford Bridges. Let's go, Chelsea. Let's go, let's go. And you'd never, ever hear that at Stamford Bridges. I thought they're not local fans. I would have bitten your hand off for a let's go USA let's go. Didn't do anything. Yeah, I mean, look, they were giving it their all. They obviously wanted to win. When those goals went in, they were obviously over the moon. The stadium was electric. And it was a proper archetypal, I'd say, American crowd with an American atmosphere.

7:55Mark Ogden:It was very Hollywood, wasn't it? Very Hollywood, very glitzy, very glamoury. More selfies than a nightclub bathroom. My favourite bit of the kind of pre-match was when the camera found Paris Hilton and it was on her for ages. She either didn't realise or just doesn't care and was just busy taking a selfie. I mean, it was sort of perfect in a way. Classic Paris. The opening ceremony, I thought, I don't know, it was fine, but I thought it'd be really spectacular and it was just sort of functional. Yeah, but I think the opening game was yesterday, So it's like, OK, I know there's three holes. How many ceremonies are you going to do?

8:34Mark Ogden:And then you've got the National Anthem with everybody on the pitch. My cynical view of that is that the time it takes the players and the subs to get off the pitch enables somebody to have an ad break. Katy Perry was fine with a little kid. They did some half-hearted dancing with golden balls. David Beckham was obviously there. David Beckham, we've noticed, is in. I don't think this is an exaggeration. Every other advert I've seen that is World Cup related, David Beckham is in. I mean, he's obviously already absolutely rolling in money, but he is coining it in here. Oh, my days. Fair play to him.

9:09He was like some sort of architectural software. There was an advert for architectural software where he's building a chicken shed. I mean, we're talking about it, so it's obviously worked. It's done the job.

9:17Mark Ogden:It's done the job. Do you think he was a bit warm in that suit? He was very buttoned up, wasn't he? I think, I know that him and Tom Cruise are friends, but I feel like 90 minutes, 100 minutes, just making small talk with Tom Cruise watching the football. I think that's probably hard work. Is it small talk now? Because they do hang out a lot. I don't... Do you think they're actually friends? I think they're... Look, I don't know. I haven't spoken to David for years. Any years, actually. But I think they are actually friends. OK, fine. And also, Hollywood... What's it called? He's got the star on Hollywood Boulevard now.

9:53Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame? Is that what it's called? Walk of Fame. Walk of Fame. Walk of... Star Walk? Star Walk. He had his star on the Walk of Fame today. We'll edit that. We won't. We'll keep all of that in, actually. It's the first time I've been in a stadium where you had the scheduled hydration break. And it was peculiar because it definitely wasn't required. It was quite a pleasant evening. Right sort of temperature to play football in.

10:19Mark Ogden:I've got to say, walking over here after the game, it was quite chilly, actually. It was. I've got my shots. You think they were having a coffee? Underdressed a bit. I did put my jacket on. Just whilst we're talking about ceremony, is one of my favourite bits of the opening ceremony was the flyover before the game. Of the choppers. Of the three choppers going over the stadium. The roof is closed. Yeah, you could just hear them. And everyone was like, oh, that's... Yeah, it'd be better if we could see them. It was beautiful. Did anyone go, why are we doing a flyover when there's a roof on the stadium?

10:50But, you know, fair play. Any other general thoughts about the kind of... Like the vibe here? is it getting there?

10:58Mark Ogden:Do you mean in the US or LA? Well both actually. Yeah I mean I think one thing that struck me I've done World Cups before and certainly in Russia and Qatar in Russia was a real focal point it was Moscow it was Red Square that's where everyone congregated and Qatar obviously everyone in the same souk basically. It was great in that souk. I don't know where the epicenter is. I don't know where people are going to gravitate to because it's not an obvious kind of focal point. Well to be fair it did seem today like the stadium was the magnet where everyone went to. Obviously, the game's there, but it's the first time where we've seen American fans in their droves.

11:31First time we've seen branding, I think about a mile and a half outside of the stadium. It's the first time you've seen proper World Cup branding on the lampposts and stuff. Oh, right, there's a World Cup here now. And then, as we said earlier, all the USA fans dressed up to the nines. So many Uncle Sams, so many Captain Americas. A few Wonder Women. A few Wonder Women, yeah. And a bloke dressed up as Tom Cruise. Yeah, very convincing. Very convincing. On the big sort of spaceship in the middle where they put up the replays and what have you, they did also bring up some graphics of kind of stats of things going on in the game that I have never seen before.

12:13So I can't remember what they called, like, what was it like? Defensive overlaps or something. Defensive, no, entry into end zones. Channel entries. Channel entries. and I was like, I can see it. I mean, it's fine if it helps the sort of American audience understand what's going on. But none of it meant anything. It didn't mean anything.

12:31Mark Ogden:I mean, they had those kind of wavy arrows, didn't they? I think it's obviously, it's an NFL, it's a basketball thing. They love the stats and that. I think it's just kind of bring the local audience. Yeah. I wasn't convinced, but mainly because I didn't understand that. And I never liked not understanding it. So how far can USA go then on that evidence? Because Donald Trump thinks they're going to go all the way. Yes, I did see that. He said they've got a good chance. He's got a good chance of going all the way. We laughed when they stuck that fourth in going, oh, he might be right here. Well, imagine quarters.

13:02Mark Ogden:If they win the group, they play a third-place team in San Francisco in the second round of 32. If they finish second, they could face Iran in Dallas in the round of 32. So that's one to mark your card for. That was an interesting moment, actually, when all of the flags came out in the opening ceremony. and people were like, ooh, I wonder what kind of reception the Iran flag is going to get. And predictably, it got booed. It wasn't great. It wasn't great. The only other flag that noticeably got booed was the English one. And we were a bit like, what? That's out of order, isn't it? I was like, come back.

13:39What have we done wrong? We had to give the tariffs back back as well. Do you know what I mean? But then, as you rightly pointed out, if that had been happening in England and the American flag had come out, it's getting booed. So maybe it's fair to boo everyone. Mark, just quickly, can I ask, how did you get to the stadium today? I took a driverless taxi. Here we go. Oh, yeah.

13:59Mark Ogden:Yeah, so I've seen them gliding around. Well, I've been in Santa Monica for 24 hours and every street there's a driverless taxi and because I was bored, I thought, well, let's hire a driverless taxi to go to the game. So I downloaded the app, hired the car to turn up and it was brilliant. It was absolutely brilliant. It took 45 minutes to get from Santa Monica to the stadium. It's not bad. It doesn't do motorways, thankfully. And it cost$40, which was really cheap. That's cheaper than my Uber. Well, exactly. That wasn't why I took it. I thought I'd do it for the fun of it. But I sat in the back and just walked in front of me, this steering up, this ghost kind of driving this car.

14:37Mark Ogden:And it was great, honestly. They are everywhere, aren't they? Yeah, and to be honest, I'm sure you've all been in taxis before. You're thinking the driver needs to slow down a little bit. I'd never felt so safe. Really? It was great. I might even take them back to them. A little bit creepy though. Like when you see them just driving, because it looks, when they haven't got a passenger, you're sort of like, what are you doing? Where are you? Why are you here? Why is your horrible little scanner spinning? But inside it's like, it's not silent because they pipe music in and you can talk to like, I don't know, somebody somewhere that's kind of like an automated voice, but it was really good.

15:09Mark Ogden:But did you have a conversation when you were in there? No, no, obviously I said I'd been busy tonight, mate, and then I went. What time are you on? Yeah, exactly. But obviously you have to set your destination. So you get in the car and you sit down and basically it says, we're taking to the Solfy Stadium, enjoy the game. Very clever. And that's it. Did you say I'm working? I said just get my hair up. Do you know what? You're not trying to flirt with the car. I'm actually, I'm a journalist. I came out of Ye Olde King's Head the other day where we're recording the podcast ordinarily. And there was a driverless Waymo car that had kind of like stopped in the middle of the road and it was quite funny because all the cars behind it just waited behind it because they couldn't beep because there's no one to beep.

15:53Like if there's a car in front of you and there's a driver, you beep and go, what are you doing mate, come on.

15:56Mark Ogden:But they're like, who am I beeping? There was one moment where I was in a lane where other cars in front were filtering to turn left and obviously it was backing up. And then all of a sudden I'm thinking, how's it doing? It pulled out and then went into the empty lane. I thought, how has it done that? Because it's got cameras everywhere but the fact that it, obviously that was me, I'd be looking in the rear view, looking over my shoulder and it just did it without even well without even a driver it's blowing your mind it really has you're very la already have you been to a pilates yet uh no i did i did a spin class last night there we go there we go it's pathetic how us load of middle-aged men when we get to a layer like i'm gonna yeah i think i will do all these classes it's time beat the jet low in all honesty me and loy were walking up and down the stairs in the stadium my hamstrings give me absolute grief after Pilates his quads giving him grief after his boot camp I mean it was an absolute embarrassment there's obviously been a lot of chat about whether stadiums are going to be full or not and there was the funny thing and we've seen FIFA do this before where everyone watched the South Korea Croatia game you could see masses of empty seats and then FIFA come out and say you couldn't actually because there was nearly 45 ,000 people in that 46 ,000 capacity stadium.

17:09I was like, I feel like I'm being gaslit here. And they were like, no, no, no. They're all in the concourse. Like, that's a packed concourse. Those were in the concourse here. The North Korea propaganda machine.

17:22Mark Ogden:Well, I mean, during the game, I was looking at the resale prices of Solisbury's kickoff. And, you know, if you're happy to pay$8 ,050 for Category 1, you could have got a ticket today. And the cheapest resale ticket at that time was$580.75. for an obstructed view category. And it wasn't full. I mean, it was nearly full. On the spaceship, it said full house. It did, yeah. It said full house, which again, a little bit gaslit because you're literally looking at some empty seats, but it was pretty much full. With that one, you'd say, okay, I can believe that there are some people in here, but they're in the toilet or they're getting food or getting drinks or whatever.

18:01With the previous one, absolute nonsense. I've got to say, Saturday,

18:05Mark Ogden:it's Catavi Switzerland in the 49ers stadium in San Jose which is a very big stadium. Catavi Switzerland in San Francisco, I mean I'll take him back. That stadium's also got Jordan v Austria. I'll tell you what FIFA will say about it. It's absolutely rams. Lots of people dressed as red seats. Also producer Lizzie was like do you think I'll be able to get a ticket to New Zealand Iran? I was like yeah. Oh I would think so. Actually I've I've got to say, this is my stature of fact, LA's got the biggest Iranian population outside of Tehran. So it's actually nicknamed Tehranjumis. So it'll be full on.

18:40Mark Ogden:It will be full on Monday. OK, New Zealand then, Lizzie. New Zealand then. There's a... The Westwood district of LA has got half a million Iranians. Has it? Honest to God. I'll take it back. Well, look, for that simple fact, I'm glad we invited you on, Mark. But I'm now going to say goodbye, because we're going to bring some other people on. Cheers, mate. Cheers.

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