World Cup: Spain To Face France & Messi's Email

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0:30How many streaming subscriptions do you have? Is it the same for your business? Avoid it by having all your business on one platform. Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. The Football Daily at the People World Cup 2026. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from L.A. Hello and welcome to the Football Daily with Rick and Lloyd. We are back in the sports bar at the Hollywood Park Casino. We've just been to see Spain-Belgium in the Los Angeles Stadium. The last game that we will see here. It is the only stadium that we have been to thus far. Although you're going to Miami. I am going to Miami.

1:15For the England-Norway game. Which is killing me a little bit. Because you had a ticket for me. I didn't really. I just said I did. Just to make you feel better. That did make me feel better. Due to your other commitments, you know. Not going to be possible, really. Not going to be possible, so yeah. But you are off there. You still going to do the pod? Yeah, I'll do the pod, yeah, absolutely. I'm going to take some kit, a microphone, some headphones. Can you be trusted with that stuff? Oh, 100%. All right. Yeah. Don't forget, I went to Congo with a satellite. Oh, I do. If you need electrical equipment taken on a plane, I'm your guy.

1:47I've got the ass. Check my LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. But this stadium is a glorious stadium. It's something else. It's a fantastic stadium. And it's unlike any other stadium I've been to before. This sounds ridiculous. When you walk in, it's like centre parks. Because you have this almost tropical world of trees mixed with a little FIFA store. It's just very, very large. And the roof... Whisper it maybe a little bit too big. When you're right at the top, you think, I can't see a great deal here. The first half today, I watched Up in the Gods, and I preferred Cosm.

2:32Oink. Little oink there from Boy. I was there, and I was going, this is great. I'm so happy, and I'll never take it for granted. We have a fantastic job, and we thank the people for listening. We do a fantastic job. And we do a fantastic job. But I was there going, I'm at the World Cup. and I remember my first World Cup I do remember is 1994 we used to watch it on TV although what I remember more than anything we had a TV and my mum probably won't allow me to mention this and I guess the BBC bosses probably won't either when we were growing up we were quite poor and we didn't have a TV licence and so my mum used to have a blanket over the TV so that if someone knocked on the door that she wasn't expecting just drop it over drop it over that's just a table it's just a really really high table with two candles on the top So I just remember a lot of the Island games being watched, but then it was almost like the theatre where the drapes were just brought down at half-time because my mum was worried that the TV licence people would come.

3:28But I remember that, and I have this obsession with American stadiums. I absolutely love them. So to be there today, I was like, look, I am high up, but I am also at a World Cup game, and it is amazing. But then I was like, I could see more at Cosmo. Yes. It was a good atmosphere. It was a good atmosphere, not the best atmosphere. I still think that was Belgium-Iran for me. The Iran fans were incredible. Best atmosphere by Contra Marse so far. Yeah. There were more, obviously quite hard to tell. Yeah. Because they're all wearing red. They're all wearing red. But you could sort of tell from the reactions there was more Spain than Belgium.

4:06The Spanish were dancing more. Yeah. And that's not a cliche. That's not me stereotyping. Yeah. But all of them had maracas. They all have maracas in a red dress, like the emoji. There's also a big, and I don't know if you noticed this, and I have no idea why, really. When Lukaku came on, who didn't really do anything, there was quite a big boo. Was there? Yeah. And I don't know why Spain would have a problem with Lukaku particularly. Is that something I've missed? I've got no idea. It was odd. I didn't really clock it. You were probably too high up to it. When I was with you at that point, At half-time, I came down and sat with you in the media spots.

4:44But I didn't realise that. What I have noticed with these games, it's been quite different to other World Cups and European tournaments that I've gone to, is you do have quite a large amount of the home fans and the away fans, be that today Spain or Belgium. And then there are just a lot of neutrals. A lot of neutrals. And it is amazing because you've got people from all over the world. I mean, we can see people from all over the globe in the stadium today. but they're obviously not cheering specifically for a team. They're cheering for the football. They're cheering for the football, the neutrals.

5:16That's great. A lot of Mexicans in today. But they're not cheering for Belgium or Spain. So I think you do lose a little bit of that atmosphere and I'd be interested to see when I go to Miami tomorrow how much of an atmosphere. Obviously, you've got the Norwegians with their row and then you've got England just singing Three Lions. How dare you? We're a classy bunch, thank you. what I will say is I found every single game that we've been to so far unbelievably pleasant. Like there's been no trouble whatsoever. There's been fans mingling all over. There's been no segregation. There's been alcohol throughout the whole...

5:52It's interesting, isn't it? Like not seeing a single... There has been not one bit of problem. Bit of problem? That's not... There has been not one iota of an issue. There's been not one bit of problem. There's been not one bit of problem since we've been here. And it's been lovely. And it's been lovely just people mixing, mingling, shaking hands, hugging. Making out. I didn't see that. No. I didn't see that, boy. Well, we're joined now by Stephen Warnock and Guillaume Balaguet. Hello both. And we've got our first semi-final line-up after Spain beat Belgium 2-1. I think we all expected Spain to beat Belgium, Guillaume.

6:30But they didn't make it look easy. Never in doubt. Never in doubt. Because, I'm not even joking about that, and Steven will tell you that I was saying all the time, Belgium is playing to our strengths. They cannot do pressure high, they don't have the players for it. They cannot defend deeply for whatever reason. They decide to actually press a little bit and then medium block, lots of gaps. And if you put together, I'll put you together the clips of the actions in which Spence shot on goal. There's about 15. it's just that we were inaccurate in the last pass or we were inefficient it just felt like it was about to happen but i'm from the from the generation where these games get lost so i'm thinking it's not gonna happen i feel like sometimes there's some really nice interplay in the spain side but they over elaborate at the last moment that was a few times when you're like well just one of you have a shot please one of you have a shot do you know what i mean steven Yeah, but that's why you wouldn't get in the team, Rick, because you'd keep on shooting and blazing it over the bar.

7:33And that's why they play for Spain. But also, I don't think I qualify in terms of my lineage. So that's another reason I'm never going to turn out for Spain. But I understand what you mean. They always look for the perfect goal and they believe in it. We've said on air they're looking for, they're just trying to break Belgium down, trying to wear them down. And there's a trust and a belief that they'll get that all-important goal later on. However, it comes from Kabasi. Long range. Takes a shot as the opportunity. but that was probably the one moment where no one from Belgium closed down and he thought why not, mistake from the goalkeeper needs to work on his hands Do you catchphrase?

8:07You need to keep hold of that He actually did We didn't, that's the issue We did need to We'll come on to that in a minute I've got some thoughts There were moments in that first half especially though where some of the Spanish football was just unbelievable and as you alluded to there Rick like you're just going just have a shot because there was that passenger play which I think had they scored that goal might have been one of the greatest World Cup goals ever because it was it was just so fluid and it was just it was unbelievable showboating and to be honest it could happen anytime in any game at any moment because that's the football that they want to put in practice there's somebody making a run in behind there's somebody else that drops into the pocket and I mentioned it every time I'm with you Rick but I went out with the Portuguese coach and stuff after Spain.

8:57I've not heard this one before. Yeah, yeah, I did. But one thing they said is you prepare for a way of defending. You prepare for, you know, for marking Pedri or whatever. But then Olmo just gets the ball with his right foot, passes to his left. And then with a pass that he's looking somewhere else, it just ends up beating two lines of pressure. And it's like, what do you do? So it is the game that they're looking for. So sometimes when it all clicks, it's just that when the space was getting smaller and smaller that wasn't happening today no that perfect pass i always think could you imagine they had harland as a team how much different they could play because because they don't have a natural goal scorer jamal could actually pick his head up and deliver balls into the box and just go i've just got to put it into an area and he's that good it would change the whole way that they play they don't play with a striker but i thought balls are he's a false nine he's a 10, he's a midfielder, he never plays up against anyone.

9:56They don't have that out-and-out striker and you think, if they can produce an out-and-out striker, a big number nine, as we like, I mean, they'd be scarily good. Is that what Spain are crying out for, do you think? Even when we had Morata closer to what you're describing, he still had to do a lot of work of linking up. So Yardzabal is perfect in that role. And when you have centre-backs that it's like, where is the big guy? Where do I have to mark? and then you have to be very careful of those that are running behind and that passing in front of them, all those things that you have to look at that is not the physical approach to another player.

10:31I think that works in our favour and we don't produce those strikers anymore. Ferran Torres is perhaps the only one. This is the first time I think that I've seen Lamin-Yemal play in the flesh. Obviously, you've seen him loads of times on the telly. And in that second, I hate myself, but second quarter, his oh no I know yeah but you know what I mean don't you they've got us sadly we do I think exactly it's a real big problem I know it is a problem but his the quickness of his feet and his and his movements and feints and stuff it was a real treat and again I think like he was a good outlet for for Spain we'd spoken about this before he was trying hard and some stuff was coming off he never quite got the end product but it was it was a real treat to see some of that they had to replace the left back and the previous left back got injured the Portuguese one so he's so influential it's just that what he's given us already and Monday he's 19 so he's only a kid and he hasn't been around for long yeah we'll let him off but what he's given us is I remember semi-finals I guess Inter in Montjuic Barcelona Inter Champions League and I was sitting in the first row of server seats they call them so I had for 45 minutes La Minha Mal in front of me and he was incredible because I could see that what he could see and what he could see is like three Inter Milan players that he had to beat and he did it all the time.

11:57Those 45 minutes I stood up three times to clap and we were shouting that I'm not you know I'm not there as a fan I'm not a Barcelona fan he hasn't got there yet. It's been two months not playing and right now you're seeing the best Lamine of the tournament and they turned to put it to his head and they did in the break after the first quarter or the first break or whatever you want to call it. I think it was the manager, Rodri. Unai Simon. Unai Simon, that's right. Approached him and he was like, calm down. You're trying to do too many things. You're trying to rush things. You're too anxious.

12:33Because he's in all the posters. He's in all the advertisements. I watched as he was filming a Adidas and Coca-Cola advertisement six months ago. And everybody else is having a great World Cup and he hasn't. So they've got to manage that. But what they're trying to tell him is, you only scored one goal in the Euros, and people were in awe of you. Right now, just give us that moment. By the way, he gives the ball to Porro in the first goal. Porro squares it to all more things in the penalty spot. He's influential, but he wants to be more. But he actually grew off that one pass. So he misplaced so many passes, so many dribbles.

13:11And it was a one five-yard pass that put Porro in for the goal. and suddenly his confidence went through the roof and that's just the maturity. It's just the side that he's going to get used to. And the thing is as well, he's an absolute superstar for Barcelona and everyone turns to him. Whereas I think in this Spanish team, he perhaps doesn't realise or not yet anyway, I can pass the book a little bit and I can let other people do it. And that comes again with maturity. I mean, like you say, Rick, seeing him close up, the way he moves, I'm glad I'm retired. Yeah. Very, very pleased. You would have been a very dizzy boy.

13:47I'd have got a sense off. 100%. Also, as an England fan, you're watching him and you're going, oh, he's great. And you're going, God, we might have to face him. We haven't really got any defenders. But actually, Nico O 'Reilly, I think it's not a bad matchup. Not a bad matchup at all. But currently, our defenders. Stephen's not convinced. Oh, no, I'm just thinking, like Nico O 'Reilly's a midfielder. He's doing a great job as a left back. but there's a different proposition when you're playing your mouth have you played Norway I've missed that one alright alright wow I just answered the question I just answered the question this guy is right I said we might have to play him okay in other news have you beaten France no no right then I'm not talking about the final I did say we might I did say we might did I well if not one second just do it mate just edit that into that that's good Lamine just said yeah he's grown in confidence we won so he's like I think France will be the ones that will be scared of us and I hear that again from my older generation like no no don't do that but he's like yeah yeah best moment of the game when I saw my brother getting my tongue out three-year-old Kenny who's in the stands yeah yeah we saw it on the big screen it was it was absolutely lovely I actually thought that maybe Spain's best player was an old-timer in Rodri.

15:17I thought Rodri was absolutely... It was like watching him for City in his pomp again. And I don't know if that was partly about the Belgian midfield, but he was... I just thought he was terrific. He just looked fit, didn't he? And then that understanding of how to play the game, how to win the ball back. He's so good on the ball under pressure, isn't he? He just can't get the ball off him. He's a man mountain, isn't he? He's actually beaten a World Cup record, I think, of passes that beat lines of defence ahead of Kroos today. He can just sort of do everything from there. Like the defending, breaking lines, it was, yeah.

15:54Top player. He got to about 75, 80 minutes and like the attempted passes, Spain had double the amount of Belgium. And you just go, well, I mean he's responsible. Said, you know, it's said. And that's boring. Said, said. But, said. Totally, Tom. But the thing is, though, when Belgium got their equaliser, which, by the way, was a good goal, and I hate the term pre-assist, but the little ball from De Bruyne, just first time into Castagne, it's perfect. Like, any deviation from that, and there's an inception or whatever, and then the ball in, and then that kid, De Catalera, he's got a knack. He hasn't scored any goals for Atalanta, but his movement and just timing and as soon as it came in and you saw him you're like, I think he'll win this He's a handful, he really is He was like that with USA as well, weren't he?

16:46He knew where to be He's not even a nine, has he? And that's probably where I'm talking about is a difference again what Spain don't have is he plays that role at times and he might not be a nine but he became a nine playing on the shoulder I thought his link-up play was good He's a top, top player but again, it's making sure you get the service, isn't it? He had that one moment where I think your heart may have been in your mouth, where they broke and Doku was running down the right. And he just had to dink that ball and Doku's in. Absolutely in. No way a Spain defender's getting back. And he messes it up.

17:24And then immediately after, puts the most horrible challenge. It's such a like, oh, no. And somehow gets away with it. But I did, like, at that moment, I was like, well, you know, they are still very much in it, having looked like they were probably out of it. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I don't remember a team to have such a bad look in, like, the last week. If you count the fact that Kevin De Bruyne doesn't have 90 minutes in him, but he does one or two things of magic for sure. Doku has been struggling with his breathing. For him to last all that long, I bet he's just shattered. He looked tired towards the end of the game.

18:05Yeah, not surprised. And Tiolemans, and yeah, everything is so tight at this stage. They do look a bit, I don't mean this in a condus anyway, but a little bit broken. Do you know what I mean? They need to just go and have a little reset. You would be, wouldn't you? And just go, right, we need just to get fit. And you've got to also feel for Lamens, who came in for Courtois. Courtois obviously went down injured and was visibly very upset about it. And I'm not sure what the injury is yet. Lamonts comes on and you think alright well you know solid goalkeeper solid goalkeeper had a decent season for Manchester United and only the second goalkeeper to have come on as a substitute this tournament and it's not you know it's not tactical so there's going to be a little bit of nerves there and bless him he fluffed a bit of a ball and just it was an easy one as well wasn't it it was a really easy one and your little heart broke at the end do you know what I was really upset so obviously he was actually crying I was close to tears he'd conceded and it was his fault.

19:04There's no getting away from that. The full-time whistle, absolutely nobody. No one went over to him. No one went over to him. He stood by his goalpost on his own, didn't he? For ages. I think he was kind of maybe thinking, oh, maybe Courtauld will come out if he can or the goalkeeping staff. No one for absolutely ages. And then he just stood in the centre circle on his own. And I just felt so sad for him. And like, you know, God forbid, you know, England go out to Norway on Saturday. It can happen. and Jordan Pickford or whoever is in goal makes a mistake. You know, I just think that the English, and I think a lot of other teams, have that mentality to protect their players and go and look after them.

19:40I couldn't believe it as well. But I was so, I genuinely was so sad. I was like, that is... Could you not get down there? Could you not get close to him? You were shouting, weren't you? You were saying, Senna, I love you. I was going, Lemons, I love you. And Rick was like, it's Lemons. I was like, okay, fine. But I just felt, I felt genuinely, felt really sorry for him because there's a lot of pressure to come in, having not played at the tournament and then you have a shot, which, you know, there was a shot, what, 10 minutes later, five minutes later, which he arguably harder and held on to it.

20:08So, yeah, I do feel sorry for him. And on goalkeepers, Unai Simon obviously held the record for the longest clean sheet in World Cup history, 650 minutes. But they've let a goal in today. So just let us have that moment. Wipe that smile off your face. You can focus on the goal we consider or you can focus on the fact that we won every single game in the Euros and the World Cup apart from one draw. Whatever. Yeah, I mean, I think you're... Spain are now unbeaten in 36 matches. I've got nothing, mate. They're unbeaten in 36 matches across all competitions. It is amazing. No, seriously, now, yes, as a fan and somebody that suffered defeats, like against Belgium in 86, for instance, that really hurt, you think it's not going to happen, is it?

20:56It could be one of those games. it could be one of those accidents. But you could see that the pace of the game didn't change. They weren't rushing things. They weren't just trying things out of nowhere. Because, of course, they beat Germany in the quarterfinals of the Euros with a Merino goal in the minute 119. We beat England in the minute 86. Beat Portugal in the last minute. So the belief that it's going to happen and we're probably going to win this, seems to be in the squad in a way that we don't share so much. But winning is a winning side. I mentioned to Stephen earlier what they shared before they come on.

21:34Once Luis de la Fuente has done his speech, just before coming on at the beginning of the game, they put it all together in a circle and they go like, one, two, three, win, win, win. That's all that matters for them. Never mind the style debate that's gone. It's about winning. My absolute favourite moment in the game, though, didn't come from a player it was the ref when he and I you know you see occasionally like the ref gets in the way of the ball or whatever and you have to restart what you don't see is him body checking a player and he completely and he just he basically just body checked Danny Olmo good strength it was great strength because he got his arms all protected himself he did did you notice he didn't put that on ref cam yeah that's why not finally something I'd want to see on ref cam exactly Stick it on Straight up Exactly Close up It's his nose nose He took the wrong technical decision Because he didn't touch the ball So he should have given a throw in to Belgium But he felt so bad about having done that Yeah you would though wouldn't you I think I'm going to have to give him the ball Yeah No he definitely took the man and not the ball That's for sure

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23:49Five Lights Sports. World Cup 2026. Listen on BBC Sounds. The Football Day at the People World Cup 2026. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from LA.

24:05It's tempting now to just keep comparing Spain with France because we know we've got this semi-final coming up and a lot has been made of the depth that France can call on. But then you look today and Spain bring on Flan Torres, they bring on Pedri. I think, you know, it's not like this is a shallow squad, the Spain squad. It's not bad at all, is it? I would say in attacking areas, though, I would rather have France's attacking qualities. Yeah. However, I think I would rather have Spain's defensive pair in the centre-halves. What's the capacity? He's 19. I know. It's incredible how good he is, isn't it?

24:43He's unbelievable today. Yeah. He looks like he's been playing the game for about 15 years. Yeah. He just understands the game so well. He is a top talent. He could have been a bit stronger or he lost to Catalera. He lost to Catalera, but listen, he's 19 years of age. One mistake and that's what is the World Cup. You will get punished. In those situations, I'm always crediting the striker more than saying that the defender has done badly. Rick, I wish you were my manager when I was playing. You'd have been an absolute dream for me. Stephen, don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. That was excellent for the striker.

25:17I mean, he scored a hat-trick, but hey, it was all on him. He was great. Your heart was in it, though, wasn't it? Yeah, exactly. Bless you. Rick, can I come and play for your local team? Of course you agree. Genuinely, yes. There's a sort of school of thought, isn't there, that from that semi-final in the Euros, Spain are probably as good as they were then, and France have got better. A hundred percent. It's interesting that Deschamps says he's still trying to find out maybe he has now what will he say can do for him he hasn't worked that out yet he's got a problem he's absolutely frightening I mean for me he's been the best player in this tournament everyone will talk about the goal scorers and everyone will talk about who's going to finish the golden brute he is the best player in this tournament by a country man I've said it from the start he is haven't I Rick?

26:06don't think so no I've heard you say it Leo Lloyd and Steven no no no European I said European European European. Hang on a sec, let's just check this. Could you text Messi now if you wanted to? I could email him, yeah. That's not the same. You'd still take that. Well, yeah, but I wouldn't like WhatsApp and then we see if it's red. Hang on. Let me check. I could message him on Instagram. I mean, he won't say it. Hang on, he's checking. That's a good Very good point. Has he got a number? I can email him, text anybody else from his family. Yeah, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not really interested in Mrs.

26:49Messi. Do you know what? Don't give us the email, but is it what you think it might be? Messi10 at GoogleMail.com or Hotmail.com. I reckon he's quite old. It'll be Hotmail. There's a couple of comedians, and I'm talking like big, big comedians, and they're probably going to get a flurry of emails now, where their email is literally their name at quite an obvious email. Oh, go on, give us one. No, but they set that up years and years ago. Yeah. Okay, I'm not going to tell you how, but we play Comedians Football every Tuesday and there's an email. Who did you play with? Yeah. You nearly went then.

27:26He's like Frost Nixon all of a sudden. He nearly had me. But there's a lot of people that play and you look at the emails and you're going, oh, they must have set that up when Ask Jeeves or AOL first came about. And then it's just their name. That's just that. So I'm just wondering if... And Lee Mack is half decent, isn't he? Eh? Lee Mack's half decent. He's a very good footballer. I've never played with him on a Tuesday. I think, Ljord, if I say yes, can you imagine what will happen next? Yeah. A thousand million people. Well, I know what I'm doing. They'll not mess it. They'll not mess it. See which one doesn't bounce back.

28:03Will you just show it to me later? I'm not going to email it. Glad you said email then. Yeah, just show it. And I was like, it'd be like the Holy Grail. I'd be like, wow, imagine. Anyway, I can't. Golden glow on your face. If I show it to you, you'll know it. Yeah, well, yeah. Well, do you know what? That's the problem. No, we only have a speaking emojis. Due to the language barrier. Yeah. I tell you what he answers. He sent me another row machine. And it's just him with the one way sign. Stop, stop, stop. He answers direct messages on Instagram. He doesn't. He's tried. He just said that. No, he doesn't.

28:39Does he? He does. Does he? Really? Yeah. I know of three cases. One, Jamie Carragher, when he called him a donkey. Oh, yeah. Burro. Burro. Burro. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And somebody else and somebody else. That's fantastic. Does he, like, sorry, this isn't the context of the podcast, but does Lionel Messi, like, email people? He used to. Wow. He used to. I don't think he's emailing anyone anymore. I think Instagram has taken over that now. Really? But let's just say he's buying a house and he needs a solicitor for conveyance. Will he use his email? I think he's probably got some paper. I'm not sure Gim knows the answer to that.