A sexy Sunday | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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4:00Luke Moore: So wave your flag, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble! The Netherlands impressed, Germany left it late and Big Dick got a point. It's Sunday 21st of June. I'm Marcus Speller. And I'm Luke Moore. Go on, Big Dick!

4:24Luke Moore: Hello, everybody. Oh, it's Sunday, but the World Cup does not stop for the weekend, and nor should it. It's a Super Sunday. It is a magnificent Sunday. That's not alliterative, though, is it? No. That's why I said Super Sunday. Sexy Sunday. Yeah, if Sky Sports can say Super Sunday for Burnley v. West Ham or whatever, then we can say Super Sunday after the games we had yesterday and the games we've got coming up today. I think it has to be considered a sexy Sunday because... You and I are on the show? And also, Harvey Renard. I mean, it was today. Yeah, I mean, he didn't shower himself in glory.

4:59Luke Moore: No, but the sex appeal was still there. Yeah, and I know that he's coming as a firefighter, but he has effectively come in and just chuckled a petrol on the fire. He's not really fought the fire. Well, we'll come to him in a minute. He's fought fire with fire. He's put more fire into the fire. Yeah, indeed. And what about Sebastian Beccece? Big Seb, what about Big Seb? You've been struggling all morning with that, to the point where you asked Rory for an official pronunciation. He gave it to me and I forgot. Are you pleased with your first effort at it? Beccecece? Yeah, Beccecece. I think he's very...

5:33He looks mad. He's Sam Paoli's ex-assisted, isn't he? I think he might have a little run and feud with Bielsa. I think he might. I think Bielsa tried to get him in and he said no or something. Join the queue, I would say.

5:45Luke Moore: So would you let me have a sexy Sunday? Yeah, I think I've not said no at any point. Okay, fine. I feel like Marcus. It's Father's Day as well today. It is, yes. Two sexy dads doing a podcast instead of being with the kids. Great. Exactly. And we're going to talk about a big dick later. A very happy big dick. So more on that. But let's start with a nation that knows how to take its clothes off. Germany. They beat Ivory Coast 2-1. 2-1. This was a proper game. It was a great game. One of my favorite games of the tournament so far It was super competitive played at a nice pace had a lot of intrigue It had a like all good when you're doing GCSE English and you have to write a story You get you get told that stuff a beginning a middle and an end well And this had a beginning a middle and an end it was really good I would love I'll be honest with you cars on the table.

6:34It's the World Cup I was pissed off at Germany one but in the man in the manner in which they did win Yeah, but it was a great game. We having for Thomas Tuchel I mean it's funny when you say that I was actually having this thought last night I was thinking he must be watching that and he's probably watching it with at least his coaching staff and possibly a few other players how does he play it?

6:55Luke Moore: Yeah so I would revert back to Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank in the England dugout in the Euros when England He's Dutch it's not the same Nah it's not that far away It's not as pervy The Dutch are quite pervy but not as pervy But he obviously when Wally Watkins scored that goal against the Netherlands you saw him like really giving some of the celebration and then he sort of well this is my interpretation kind of catches the Dutch bench out the corner of his eye thinking yeah I might not be working for the FA all my life and then just sort of ran to him quickly so no I'm not worried about Tuchel and the image of a bridge being burned in his mind yeah he did I think what Tuchel did is he went up and down the corridor in the England hotel banging on the doors of all the players lads do you want to come watch a proper team come watch a proper team everyone come watch a proper team and he's got and he's laid out towels.

7:43Luke Moore: Oh, very good. And all the chairs. Can't sit there. But it is interesting to think how he's going to play it. I think Tuchel would want him to lose. So he could say to the rest of Germany right now, come and get behind a German. Yeah, I suppose so. But whatever happened, we do know that at least one German was watching in Julian Nagelsmann. I suspect a lot more Germans than one were watching. Nagelsmann, we're used to managers wearing it's a mufty day isn't it in the in the is the attire befitting of the world's biggest sports tournament that's what I'm getting to it's getting to the point now where I think they should perhaps have a choice of uniform you know when you start when you play like FIFA or football manager or whatever it is at the start which he looked like he'd been playing all night ordering pizza a fucking nerd you get like a little you can build your avatar yeah I think you should have three choices like that and you have to wear that cloak clothes.

8:41Luke Moore: So you can wear a suit, you can wear... A tracksuit and all that. Yeah, but even a tracksuit for the latter stage, it doesn't seem right. Well, not tracksuit, but well, not club attire, because I'm club football, but, you know, the Federation. I think it should be like a wedding. I think it should be like, it's going to be a formal event for you. You need to dress with some kind of formality. But even if you're going casual, there's casual and there's casual. And he's a right gobby git as well. Anyway, but his team got a win. And by the way, he actually he managed the situation I thought very well and I know he is mouthy and he was he was complaining a lot about that disallowed German goal which from Pavlovich which was a foul it was definitely a foul of course it was a foul and you could see him you could lick read him saying to the fourth official not a foul not a foul which it was but he also kept his cool to the extent where he let he made his changes his changes were impactful and at the end they just got it done right yeah we can't argue with that I mean, I think a lot of neutrals would have wanted Ivory Coast to win.

9:42I'm not a neutral in this. I wanted Ivory Coast to win. There's nothing neutral about my engagement with this game.

9:48Luke Moore: So I think most of His Majesty's subjects wanted Ivory Coast to win. And I think a lot of so-called neutrals would have done as well. But they didn't. Germany won. And so, therefore, I think a lot of people would have seen this game and thought, oh, but they look at that at Dinger a chance. They look at what Ivory Coast did. on the balance of play Germany had more chances you would say yeah and it was and it was a back and forth game so if there was one team who were going to pinch it in the dying seconds then it's Germany but Dennis Undav came off the bench and what an impact I mean come on that's exactly what you want if you're a forward I mean you want to have an impact whoever you are coming off the bench but particularly for a forward player to come off the bench and think right okay we're a goal down here what can I do and that second goal the way he took it the pass is fizzed in by Amiri beautiful it's a goal of the tournament you'd go that high would you?

10:42so far it's a goal of the tournament

10:43Luke Moore: the incisive pass in terms of the quality Amiri also come off the bench by the way he did yeah in terms of not necessarily the aesthetics of this but in terms of the incisive pass and the brilliant forward play and the quality it reminded me of that Kai Havertz goal for Arsenal away to Sporting in the Champions League bit of a I've dug this one out but Martinelli you know the pass is inch perfect centimeter perfect and the touch and finish and it's that moment of quality we're not doing centimeters because the World Cup's in the US this game was played in Canada the World Cup's in the US so it has to be imperial so it's.00001 mile accurate and they do inches they do inches and it raised the Fahrenheit in the stadium definitely unless unless I've been sleeping on something spectacular which is entirely possible.

11:36There have been one or two good goals. There's not been a standout goal of the tournament yet. No. Since, yeah,

11:40Luke Moore: after the keeper saved that overhead kick the other day. Oh, no, it would have been amazing. Yeah. This goal was a proper clutch goal. We're going to use that phrase because it's in America, although it's, again, Canada, but it's America adjacent. The ball was fisting at 100 mile an hour right on the money and Undav killed it dead with one foot. Con our genius-esque touch. Yeah, with one foot and then finished with the other foot. Beauty. Within a blink of an eye, And it was in the last, it was in the injury time, right? It was, yeah, 94th minute. So, I mean, you can't ask more than that. The highest compliment you can always say with these moments is it was Dennis Burkamp-esque.

12:13Yeah, it was. Yeah.

12:14Luke Moore: I think it was. It was a great compliment. You can't get better than that. And he is now sort of, it's a funny one for him because he's now carving out a real niche for himself as his super sub. Yes. He's obviously, I mean, Nagelsmann clearly likes Havertz up front as this focal point. Undav comes on and makes an impact and that's twice he's done that. I appreciate the first game was against Kurosawa. he scored about the sixth goal or something, but he came on and had an impact again. He is performing essentially what Cristiano Ronaldo should be doing. And so it made a massive difference. I thought this game was really good.

12:47I thought Ivory Coast were good. They were particularly good in the first half. They tired a bit in the second half. Yandy Amande was a good example of that, I think. He makes the goal for Ivory Coast with some brilliant play. I thought for a maybe for not the entire half but for a period of time he had Kimmich on toast and Kimmich is a good player actually that's not too sure yeah he's a really really good player so they were a bit frightened of him so he showed a lot of potential there but they just came up short and you know it was probably one of the games of the tournament though he had everything he wanted he was really competitive yeah

13:21Luke Moore: and you know the three goals could have been more had chances been taken but that Simon Adingra won at the end of the game That is an absolute sickener. It's my biggest pet hate in football is when, I've said it before, and I have a chance to say it again, when the ball is there to be hit, and you take an extra touch, and it gets away from you, and you think, well, we'll never know. Because if, and I'd say this, if he smacks that over the bar, you kind of, obviously it's a noise of chance, but he's not meant to hit it over the bar. You've got to get a shot away. Yeah, exactly. The law of averages, you're not going to score every shot, It could take a bit of a bounce, a bad bounce, whatever.

14:00Luke Moore: You've had to go. That is way more annoying because you just don't know. And the fact is, as they were saying in the coverage, it was all, you didn't need to decide where am I going to do it or should I? The way the ball comes across onto his better foot, it's there and you know exactly which corner to put it in. It couldn't have been better. Sticks that away, you win the game. I totally agree with you. It was really frustrating. Even the commentator said, one of the commentators said, oh, he had enough time to take a touch. It's like, well, he doesn't need to take a touch. Well, he didn't need to take a touch.

14:28Luke Moore: No. And if you are going to take a touch, you have to do what Undaff did. It's so under... There's a couple of things in football I think that are totally underrated. They never really get talked about. One is, you can be a really good midfield player by not taking more touches than you need. But the best midfield players, I think they take exactly the right amount of touches and they move the ball quick and it makes a massive difference. Roy Keane was like that back in the day. I'm sure. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I'm sure. And the other one is, if you're a striker, get your shots off. Yeah.

14:55Get your shots off. If you get your shots off, unless you are, let's say, shit, you're going to score. You're going to score.

15:03Luke Moore: Also, the keeper can't set himself if you get shots away quick. Exactly. And Germany got away with that one. And it was an absolutely crucial moment in the game as well because it's obviously one apiece. Ivory Coast were pretty good value. They were struggling a bit. It changed the momentum. They hit them on the break. The break was good. They had the overload because Germany were pushing. They played superbly. And he didn't take the opportunity. It was former Arsenal man, Nicola Pepe, who put the ball over. It was. Worth to remind ourselves that he was once£72 million. Well, those of us who are frequently associating with you, Marcus, can never forget it because you'd never let us forget it.

15:34You put out the WhatsApp group last night and you tell Jim that all the time. Like, it's his fault personally.

15:39Luke Moore: No, because he always says that Arsenal spend really well. Fair enough. So you've had the one exception there. No, no, because I'm always amazed. I was like, blimey, off one decent season. I mean, Jan Diamande is going to go for big money. He is, yeah. Because he's such a... But he's 19 years old. Well, do you know what? There's a lot of pressure on him because back in Ivory Coast, Some big sort of football commentators, broadcasters and ex-pros and so on. What I was saying that he is, in terms of stature and what he means to the nation and the team, he'll be the new Didier Drogba. And it's like, okay, just let him play a bit, you know.

16:11Luke Moore: And he's come through, well, you say he's still coming through immense tragedy. His sister died about a year ago. Yeah, you wrote that piece about it. Yeah, 15-year-old sister died in very tragic and sad circumstances. of course. And there's a lot on his shoulders, you know, and obviously the spotlight of the world. I mean, without all that, the spotlight of the World Cup on a very exciting player, you know, is enough or more than enough. So, you know, he's turned up and he has impressed. Yeah, I know he went off yesterday, but I mean, only 19 and there's a manner of the game. He basically just tied in the game.

16:46Luke Moore: Exactly, yeah. He had a really good first half, but he did tie her. But the great thing for him and the rest of the Ivory Coast players is they just need to beat Curacao and they'll go through to the knockouts for the first time in their history. I mean, they're basically through anyway. You would have thought so. But I mean, you think about the likes of Drogba and the so-called golden generation and so on. They didn't manage to do it. Yes, because they had really tough draws and it was a little bit different back then. But if this team manages to do it, it'd be an enormous achievement. And there's much to take from their performance.

17:16And you think that because Ecuador play in Germany, you think Ivory Coast will qualify in second. Yes. Which means they get to have a good run up at France. They get to play France, which would be great. I'd love to see them play France. The only reason I'm saying that, I'm not saying they beat France. Don't laugh at me.

17:34Luke Moore: No, I'm laughing at the fact that the whole route planner thing, I kind of, I was a bit like, oh, it's so hard to predict. It is hard to predict, but I think the way we've seen what we've seen, I don't think it's outrageous to say France will win their group. Ivory Coast are almost certainly going to finish second in the group. No, no, fair enough, fair enough. It's a very, very good chance it's going to happen. Fair enough. Now, I think France went through the gears against Senegal, but it took them about an hour or so to properly work it out. And I think... It's fair to say they did work it out.

18:04They did work it out. And the sample size is small.

18:07Luke Moore: And Senegal probably a better team than Ibercose. Yeah, maybe. I think they're quite similar. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like you've got that look in your eye where you're very close to saying, yeah, but you never know in football. Listen, listen to the guy who predicted Haiti to upset everyone. Why would you not listen to me? They've upset you. What reason have I given you? I want, you know, I said France will underachieve, so I'm hoping that there's something in this, what you're saying. Do you not look at a potential France Ivory Coast and go, I fancy watching that? Of course. Yeah. It's pointless asking you that because you watch every fucking game of football.

18:40Luke Moore: Before the game, did you see that Gary Lineker was in the ITV studio? Yeah, I don't know why I'm supposed to have an opinion about this. Why do I always have to give an opinion on Gary Lineker? He's everywhere. I find him broadly quite annoying I'm not bothered that he's on ITV I didn't really care about a little joke he did do we need four pundits can we move on okay we can let's move on to Ecuador zero Curaçao zero yeah incredible amazing I actually think this should have led the show today by the way really I appreciate I didn't mention it at all before the show but I do think that is a massive story as the commentator himself said and then you heard this I don't know which coverage you watched but one of the commentators I listened to at the final whistle shouted a boulder in the middle of the sea has a point in the World Cup which I couldn't work out if it was disrespectful or not but it was an amazing achievement it is I mean Curacao is their first ever World Cup point they were ranked 82nd in the world before the game yeah they've zoomed up the rankings they're in the top 10 now but yeah it was all about the goalkeeper Eloy Roome of Miami FC he made 15 saves to keep Curacao in the game and since records began in 1966.

19:50Luke Moore: No goalkeeper has made more stops in 90 minutes in a World Cup game. And he equaled Tim Howard's record, which is a tally of 15, of course, in a World Cup game. But that game did go to extra time in 2014. And I think Howard went to 16, didn't he? In extra time. Oh, did he really? I think so. I think so. So regardless of that, it's an amazing achievement. He credits his agility to playing paddle. Everyone plays paddle these days. I'm surprised you're not playing paddle these days. I'm still playing football. Oh, fine. Yeah, that's my game. A lot of the saves, you would expect a goalkeeper to make them, but that's not the point.

20:23Luke Moore: The point is, as they're coming in so fast and furious at him, to have that focus and attention, and he did make some good saves as well, you quite simply have to give credit to old Rube. I have to, and I'm very happy to, and I will give credit to Eloy Rube. It's a fantastic name for a footballer as well. There was no room forever. There was no room forever. He was excellent. I thought Ecuador needed to calm down a lot. They didn't. Ecuador have been dogged by this idea that they are very solid at the back, but they find it hard to score goals. And so it was the case. This is a signal. I mean, they're right up, you know, like one point from their opening two games and they've got Germany to play.

21:07Luke Moore: And I understand that they may well get something from that game, but it's still on paper their toughest game. Against Ivory Coast, they concede very late on. And that game could have gone either way. I think they hit the post yeah Ecuador they would have been very disappointed because they can't score goals that's the problem they've not scored a goal yet well indeed and I think they would have been disappointed that they didn't come away with at least something against Curacao that early chance for Ena Valencia where Ruum did make a fantastic save but that was a world class save but Valencia like it's the goal is at his mercy and he has to score and when a big chance like that is missed early on for a team who don't score that many goals they need to win this game that kind of informs the rest of it if he sticks that away they'll probably win three or four what also informs the rest of it is the fact that I know he's a legend and he's the captain of the nation but they're starting games with 36 year old Ennio Valencia up front who I appreciate has played in the Premier League and I get that he's a legend but that's probably tells his own story because they've got good players dotted around their team but you're right to say that if they scored early it would have been it probably would have been a different story they didn't Big Dick takes the point he does Oh, he looked delighted.

22:17Luke Moore: And rightly so. Yeah. And they were visited by the King and Queen of Neverland as well. Well, so Big Dick stood to attention then. Yeah, he did. Absolutely. Absolutely. Saluted, you could say, the monarch. But it's a great story. It really is a great story. To lose their game like that and then to get a point and be still alive going into the last game, I think it is brilliant. I don't think they're going to get anything from the game against Ivory Coast. You wouldn't have thought so. The fact is they're still alive and they've got a result to hang their hat on because when you have smaller nations and they go to the World Cup, the fact is they've qualified.

22:50Luke Moore: That is a big enough story as it is. But when you have something where you can actually show people and go, well, do you know what? Here's a performance that'll inspire you or here's something. And, you know, L.A. Room is now a hero. I mean, they're all heroes, of course, but him in particular, obviously, for that performance. Well, him and Vosinha. They should start a podcast together. Yeah, they should. They absolutely should. But these are the kind of stories. And I think that the 48 team format has been a success because we thought, you know, the one result we looked at was the current, you know, them getting batted 7-1 by Germany.

23:20Luke Moore: But the fact is they've got themselves something here and it's brilliant. And Room has got a record as well. They're going to, I mean, Ecuador going to go home now, almost certainly. You wouldn't fancy him to beat Germany. Well, how do you rate Germany now after that game? Because it's a tricky one. I mean, on OTC, Andy and Nicky both said that Germany had no chance of winning the World Cup I don't think many people would have them down as going on to win the World Cup but in a way that's dangerous yeah my opinion on Germany is quite multifaceted it's like I think they've got a lot of good players and they look quite good going forward and I quite rate Nagelsmann in a way that I don't particularly rate one or two other managers and I think it is important in a short form tournament for the manager to be good to be able to react and to be able to solve a problem here and there but I think they can be got at defensively I think we saw enough from the Ivory Coast game to go do you know what they're quite vulnerable at the back and a team better than Ivory Coast would have capitalised more on that but they've got a chance because but everyone's looked shaky because even France against Senegal you know Senegal should have gone ahead you can look at that obviously Spain disappointed Germany's first game against Curacao you can't really well I wondered but I wondered whether because I was thinking the first half of this game against Ivory Coast I was thinking have they got a bit of the flat-trap bully about them?

24:40They can knock over Curacao easy. When they come up against a bit of resistance, what are they going to be like? Then they found a way to win. And I think that's powerful in this type of environment. So it's hard to say. Every team has looked like they're vulnerable at some point. But I think I'll go back to my previous point that I made earlier in the week about how you kind of give teams a pass for the first game. And a load of teams have only played one game. So it's hard to say at this point. But they've definitely got a chance because they're Germany. and they've got players that can make a difference.

25:08So we'll see. I suspect what will happen is with these teams like, say, Germany, Portugal, one or two others, they've got a bit of a whiff of they'll get up against someone good in the round of 16 and just go out. Because it'll start to become harder and harder, obviously. And sooner or later, the way the draw shake out, you'll play someone good. And then you either burnish your credentials in that game or you just get sent home.

25:35Luke Moore: But when you say Germany is Portugal, I do take your points. When you say, well, against someone good, well, who's ranked higher than them? It's just very few teams. I don't think it's about ranking, is it? Well, okay. As things stand at the moment, say, for example, Germany will, I mean, Germany, Scotland, I mean, Scotland have got a chance to give Germany a bloody nose. I'd love that. Are you looking at the tables too early, Luke Moore? Because I know you hate that. Well, I'm just trying to say there's somewhere, first of all, it's not a 38-game World Cup for each team. they're going to be playing like seven or eight games maximum.

26:06Second of all, it's the World Cup. It's slightly different. But Germany could come up against, say, Norway in the last 16. Do you fancy them to beat Norway? Yeah. You do? Because I think they're a better side than Norway.

26:17Luke Moore: Yeah, I get what you're saying. I don't know if they are a better side than Norway. Well, let's hope we find out. Let's hope we find out. Netherlands are another one. I'll put Netherlands in that bracket, you know. Do you think Netherlands, do they beat Norway? Let me ask you this question. Can we go for a break and talk about Netherlands after? Yeah, sounds good. Okay, all right, coming after this, we've got the Netherlands. And yeah, we're asking the question, will the naked guru be right after all?

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29:22And what the f***? What's going on here? Somebody's breaking into my house. And that made me angry.

29:27Luke Moore: Welcome back to the Football Ramble, everybody. Big Dunk there. Breaking into my house. Is it nice to have Big Dunk and the pundit? Yeah, I don't mind him. In the pundit box. I don't think we need four pundits. Right. I mentioned that before the break. I think Dunk is pretty... Big Dunk is kind of a breath of fresh air. I always think you need different types of pundits to make it a balance. I don't think you need Dunk, Big Dunk and Roy Keane. Yeah. On the same one. Yeah. Unless they're going to fight. That'd be great. Yeah, it would be. Now, before we move on to Netherlands, we spoke about Scotland's duck mascot, which we called Donnie on Friday's show.

30:01Luke Moore: It's since been revealed that the duck isn't called Donnie. Instead, it's called Dawn the Duck or Dawny. Oh, okay. We misheard it. Dawny. It's still great. My biggest regret isn't that. My biggest regret is when we're trying to think of bird puns throughout the entirety of that show. On the way home, I thought of Linden ducks. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Life's full of little regrets. And that's where we go next. Netherlands 5, Graham Potter's Sweden 1. You'd be a bit pissed off, wouldn't you, if you win your opening game of the World Cup 5-1 and you think, okay, we've got some tough games ahead, but at least the goal difference is looking pretty healthy.

30:37Luke Moore: And then it's completely wiped out in the second game. Yeah, the German guru, Joachim Clement, of course the economist, he predicted the Dutch to win this year's World Cup. We call him the Naked Guru based on the fact he's German. I don't know if he's ever been... I mean, here's a picture of him. Do you think he's ever been naked in his life? In the shower, probably. I reckon he showers with one of those Victorian swimsuits on. Okay, right. In a way, that's almost more insulting to him. Perhaps. Because in Germany, all the older people in Germany like to be naked and are swiggers. Aren't they?

31:22Luke Moore: I mean, and if any older Germans are listening to that... Rule-following swingers. It is... That's not the... That is... I think that's an improvement to some of the stereotypes that older Germans have had in the past here. And you're allowed to do stereotypes during the World Cup. I think so. There's an amnesty on it. They can say what they want. If they want to call us a bunch of kind of... Whatever. Moaning roast beefs, they can. It's fine. We don't mind. And they do it outside the World Cup anyway, I assume. But yeah, so we... So we... I mean, basically, on the basis that he's German, and we therefore substitute the word German for naked guru.

31:51Luke Moore: That's what we've done. That's alright. Yeah, I think that's fine. But he predicted Netherlands to win the World Cup. He did, but he correctly predicted the winners of 2014, 2018, 2022. I know that, yeah, because you keep telling me that. But I'm just saying that I'm bringing it around to the Netherlands game. He's predicted Netherlands and they've had a good win and they looked quite vulnerable and they looked a little bit bereft of tactical ideas in their first game. But what they, you have to give Koeman credit and say that he's learned from the first game and he didn't retreat within himself in this game and he also made changes so he started with Brobby and he dropped Somerville and he brought Somerville on that was Somerville of an impact as well but Brobby started really well and I think that's a bold move starting I mean is Brobby actually that good?

32:35How many goals did he score for Neverland? Not that many

32:37Luke Moore: Two in the last game Yeah well quite but I think he might have only ever scored one before that and he doesn't start for Sunderland so it's still a bold move for a nation the size to the Netherlands in football in terms to do that and it's a gamble and it's paid off and when they got ahead they really pushed their advantage home they were being threatened at about 2 or 3-0 it still didn't seem like they were home and hosed but they managed to keep their foot on the throat well after the hydration break Sweden actually it's just so annoying that you have to say that but you have to say it Sweden actually finished a half quite well did they go from a back three to a back four if my memory serves me well they've definitely started with a back three had some chances.

33:17Luke Moore: I mean, they scored, but it was obviously chalked off. It was a marginal one. So at 2-0, when Sweden were coming back into the game, I didn't think it would end 5-1, I have to say. And so the Netherlands really turned the screw in that second half. But they came out and they needed a big performance and they got it. I mean, it's piss poor from Sweden because on another day, they don't lose that 5-1. But the fact is, they did that day. But you're right with Netherlands. Koeman revved them up. The tactical tweaks here and there worked. and they will very much fancy going through to the next round because they've got Tunisia next.

33:50Luke Moore: Well, they are through. They are effectively through. Yeah, well, there you go. There you go. But the change worked, as you say. And the reason that's important, I think, is because in the first game, he shit the bed. Yeah. He got frightened and they got pegged back. He took off midfield players for defenders and that kind of stuff and they got pegged back and this time they didn't do that and I feel like he might have learned his lesson there. Well, he had regrets after the first game. But I still think they look, I still think, it's weird to say it because I actually rate the individual players they've got at the back.

34:23I rate Verbruggen as a keeper. I thought he had a good game, made some good saves. I obviously rate Van de Ven. Van Dijk is still great, even though he's not an improving player. I think Van Hecker's good. He's going to go for big money in the summer. And I think Denzel Dumfries is brilliant, particularly going forward. But as a unit, they look vulnerable. Well, that's the thing. And they've got a centre-back as a coach as well, which is a weird one.

34:45Luke Moore: Well, a centre-back slash false nine. Yeah, but I also rate Gravenberch and Reinders. Look, they have a decent side. I mean, it's a very Premier League side. I think, you know, of that starting XI, obviously De Jong plays for Barcelona. Dumfries plays. Was he still at Inter or has he moved? I forget. But he's not been in the Premier League. And Marlon was in the Premier League, but obviously moved to Serie A. So, you know, you've got a heavy Premier League presence there. No player in the starting line-up currently plays in the Eredivisie. You look on the bench and you think, yeah, there's a few options.

35:20Luke Moore: There's familiar names. We've got Somerville came on to great effect. Look, it went so well they didn't need Valtvikos, is what I would say, you know, in that game. Memphis Depay, obviously. Where is he currently? Brazil. I forget Memphis Depay is doing his globetrotting routine. So, you know, again, experienced players, and there's a bit of something about them. I don't agree with the naked slash German guru that I think they're going to win the World Cup. But he's done that not on kind of a feeling that we would do, or not just a feeling, but looking at his crunch, the numbers and so on and so forth.

35:54Luke Moore: But if he can make them click, that's a tough team to play against. I said last week, they can't win the World Cup if you start in games with Gakpo and Somerville. And they've got two goals each so far. You're welcome, New Orleans. And he didn't start with Somerville. No, he didn't. And he still came on and scored. And when Gakpo scored his second, it took the goals tally at this World Cup to 100 in 33 games, which is the fastest to 100 goals since the 1958 World Cup. Great. And I should say 32 or 33 games as both were played simultaneously. As Jim Campbell would say, big scores are back. Yeah, and a lot of goals are back.

36:26Luke Moore: That's good for the tournament, though. It is, yeah. We like watching goals, Mark. It's one of the main reasons we like football. Yeah, it would be very, very boring. Some Dutch fans were wearing shirts that read, Houston, we have a solution. Very good. Yes. Broadly pretty good behaviour. Koeman was getting criticised heavily back in his homeland. He was getting criticised in his studio. Well he was, yeah. And so he's responded to his fellow countrymen and he's responded to you by putting his team out there and getting a big win because they needed it. I don't think I've been a blip on this radar.

36:53Do you have any sympathy for the cowboy hat wearing Graham Potter?

36:58Luke Moore: I do. I really do. And they've got to get something against Japan you would think. Yeah, Japan. Before we move on to Japan, Netherlands. The orange kit, that orange kit with the black shorts. It's great. I like the whole orange thing. I like them to go full orange. And I also think, for me, the classic Netherlands kit is actually the white shorts. Yeah, yeah, either. I think that's the beauty of it. They can go black shorts or white shorts. Either is very, very pleasing to the eye. Did you see the fans were ordered to remain inside the stadium full time due to lightning in the area? It was that good a performance.

37:29Luke Moore: They lit up the sky. If it were me, I'd be saying get out of the stadium, because if you get hit by lightning, I don't want to be on my watch. I don't want to be responsible for it in any way. Get off my land and get hit by lightning somewhere else. Yeah, fair enough. And before we move on to Tunisia and Japan, we have another burger update. Friend of the Ramble, Mark, on YouTube said this. It's a great start to the sentence. I think I'm correct in saying... Yeah. And we're going to go with it, Mark. I think I'm correct in saying that poor slaughterhouse practices led to almost all burger meat containing a tiny percentage of animal excrement.

38:06Luke Moore: and that's one of the primary reasons for our minimum cooking temperature. Surely even Pete doesn't want to dice with only partially cooked cow shit. You don't underestimate Pete. Yeah, true. Never try and say he gets him. Thank goodness it's a Sunday. This is the similar reason why I was talking about a while back when I was taking on the conspiracy theory weirdos about raw milk. Drink pasteurised milk. Erling Haaland's one of those guys. Take him on then, tough guy. But Erling Haaland has the facilities to probably be able to find really nicely put together raw milk. The problem is... So it is possible.

38:42If you think you like raw milk, go to a dairy farm.

38:47Luke Moore: I've had raw milk before. We had a holiday on a farm in Devon once. Look at me. Picture of youth and beauty. No further questions.

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41:01Luke Moore: Tunisia 0, Japan 4. The picture of youth and beauty was on the sidelines here. Oh, the fans cleared up the stadium after. Fucking pathetic. Who cares? I keep hearing about it. Don't interrupt me when I'm talking about Arve Renard. Sorry. He was wearing his classic white shirt with at least two buttons undone. Yeah. But it wasn't enough. Although Tunisia conceded five in the first game, they only lost 4-0. You've got to say immediate impact. It's an improvement. Massive improvement. They didn't score though. He'd be delighted, Arve Renard. He looked pissed off for large parts of the game. It's not a vintage tournament for Tunisia, this.

41:29No, it isn't.

41:30Luke Moore: And then at some point, I think he just accepted it and he just stood there and thought, you know what I'm going to look? I'm going to look sexy and stoic. Yeah, that's what I think he can do. Because it was his Sunday or Saturday too. What manager are they going to go for for the Netherlands game? Yeah, they do have to mix it up. They are officially out of the World Cup. Nine goals. They've conceded in two games. They did score one, but it seems a long time ago now. Oh, dear. This game, though, was the 1 ,000th game in World Cup history. So Harvey involved in a bit of history there. And Shinizi can hang their hat on at least being a participant in that, I suppose.

42:05Luke Moore: The referee for the game wore a gold-trimmed kit for the game with the number 1 ,000 on it. Is that necessary? I really like that stuff when it's got nothing to do. It just so happens you were there. Yeah. But, you know, mark it somehow. They have to mark everything, FIFA, don't they? Because that kit will quite simply be auctioned at some point for money. Yeah. Reminds me, though, when I was the only time I went to the Azteca stadium I saw the 10 ,000th goal in that stadium there you go and you still remember it exactly yeah it's stuck in your memory I scored the goal is what I tell people yeah I'm sure I'm sure and they think okay come on granddad let's get you back to bed so after the game Japan fans were spotted clearing up rubbish in the stadium why do we have to keep hearing about this well this has taken a turn I think it's become performative now this has taken a turn yeah and I think that you might be backed up with this so a poster has gone viral back in Japan urging Japanese men to clean up after themselves at home.

42:57Luke Moore: Are these posters being handed around to Japan fans? Because if they're just at home, that's pointless, because they're away. I need to look into that if I've got that wrong. But yeah, the poster shows a man picking litter at the stadium with the same man sitting on a sofa at home while his wife cleans the dishes. Well, this is actually quite comforting for me, because... What is it? Men behave differently abroad, don't they? Yeah, well, yeah. Maybe. but I think that it shows what I absolutely know to be true and what the Wi-Fi I have access to reminds me of all the time is that I only want to do something if I'm going to get credit for it and it's broadly the case here isn't it because the Japanese fans are happy to clear up the rubbish in the stadium when the world's media are on them but they're not putting their plates in the dishwasher yeah be real man and leave your rubbish alone just chuck it in the stadium was that not the message?

43:46Luke Moore: no one thing or the other be consistent I just think it's become performative this whole thing stems from when the Japan team I think in a football match they always leave the dressing room tidy which I think is about hospitality and that kind of stuff. This is like oh let us clean up the rubbish so everyone can see us doing it. I don't rate it. But I do like Japan as a team. I think they're great. They're brilliant. It would be quite it's amusing the right word if the fans went alright fine and then the result of that poster was they just didn't tidy up in the stadium. We're not going to do it.

44:18We're not going to get credit for it. They only want to do it to get credit for it.

44:21Luke Moore: well maybe but look going to the football team they look good I mean Tunisia we know are a bit crap but the way Japan took them apart they are winning the hearts and minds of a lot of football fans around the world and they are a team that nobody will want to play against they'll beat they'll beat Sweden I think I don't know if they'll beat them by more goals than the Netherlands or beat Tunisia so it looks like Japan will come second in their group Tunisia were there to be knocked over they were knocked over I think Japan and went their best. They're a really good team. I like the way they stuck at it against the Netherlands.

44:54They came back twice and kind of made it happen, which is going to give them a lot of confidence. To me, they look a bit like a slightly poor man's Spain, the way they play. That's what you mean. And I think they could do pretty well. I think they're an absolute textbook banana skin in the next round. So that'll be interesting to see who they get. At the moment, for those of you who are interested in looking at tables early, at the moment, they're going to be playing Brazil. And you can't tell me you're not excited about that.

45:23Luke Moore: I'm very excited about that. Yeah, Japan, we've said this about a couple of teams. It's the archetypal, they're well coached, they're well drilled, they know their jobs, et cetera and so on. And it's true, the way they play. We saw this at Wembley when they pretty handily beat England 1-0, and they've managed to carry that on into the tournament, which is quite pleasing. I was really impressed with them when they beat England. They were really good. I mean, England were crap that day, but fine. That's not the point. The point is, the way Japan played, there's a clear identity there's a clear pattern of play there's a clear strategy etc etc and they've just brought that into the World Cup and it's going very very well for them so yes but Japan all over smacked of a team that will get to about the quarterfinal yeah but yeah of course but this I don't think they'll go on to win it but and you know I just think it's got a heroic defeat to France and the court has written all over it and this is it isn't it it's like Chile will do really well when they get to a World Cup and they're almost always inevitably lose narrowly, maybe even on penalties to Brazil earlier than they should.

46:28Luke Moore: Yeah, I think... Next cut to say. Yeah, because with the World Cup, it's not like the Euros where we have seen, you know, Denmark and Greece are the obvious two examples. Go on and win it. If you're being... If you were being a bit generous, you could maybe extend that to Portugal when, you know, they weren't playing very, very well. But obviously Portugal, bigger football in the nation but with the World Cup the best the biggest surprise package gets to the semi-final really I just wonder this time round early days is there a potential for somebody to really really kind of surprise us and kind of go all the way well I hope so that would be great and could it be England but you mentioned Brazil there Luke Moore we're going to finish with some Brazil chat they obviously knocked Haiti out of the World Cup yesterday which was very upsetting for Haiti and Luke Moore But did you see that Ronaldinho was at the game?

47:21I did see this, yeah.

47:22Luke Moore: Did you see that, what's the man v. food guy called? Andy Rickman. Adam Rickman. Adam Rickman. Richmond. Richmond. Adam Rickman is someone else. Yes, Alan Rickman's brother. Yeah. So for the purposes of me, what was his name again? Adam Richmond. Yeah, him. He was at some, was it at the tennis or something? And it was like a Legends football match. There was a game being played. and Ronaldinho was there and he was incredibly excited about this. So Ronaldinho's turned up to the World Cup and at the same time there's news coming out that he's come out of retirement to join Italian's Serici side Ravenna.

47:59Luke Moore: He's 46 and he last played in 2015 and everyone's thinking, what's going on here? And then the club's vice president confirmed he won't be playing in Serici. But isn't he part of a consortium that's bought Ravenna? Yeah, sounds like that. And Ravenna are a classic, they were for me anyway, like classic champ manager 2001-2002 which is one of the best iterations of the game Ravenna were like a Serie B-ish side that you could take over and do really well with and that's why most people remember Did he play the game? Who? Ronaldinho is that where he's getting this from he's thinking oh yeah I could maybe yeah nice one And isn't Neymar going to play against Scotland by the way that's the latest news coming out of Brazil isn't it?

48:36He's expected to be available He's taken available for every fucking game isn't he?

48:40Luke Moore: No but he wasn't available for the last one Why? Or the one before that The first one because he was injured? Yeah. Okay. Oh, fine. I wonder if he's available at all. Yeah. I mean, again, I think Ancelotti's taken him just to stop a load of fanfare and a load of bollocks. Because I know you guys well. I was listening to yesterday's show. No, was it yesterday's show? I was listening to the show when you talked about Scott and Morocco. Was that yesterday? Yeah. I can't remember the dates, but yeah, days all get melted into one. And you talked about how Scott and approached the game against Morocco.

49:10I broadly agree with it. the point I was making is that I detected a little bit of a feeling that if they changed how they went about things, Scotland, they might be able to get something against Brazil. Do you think that?

49:23Luke Moore: That is the thinking with... One or two people have said this. It's kind of like before the Morocco game, there did seem to be a feeling of, yeah, Morocco really, really good. Yeah, I don't know about that. If we can just avoid getting hammered. But against Brazil, there's maybe something more in that. and it's like as a Scottish friend of mine said to me yesterday the problem for Steve Clark is he still thinks he's managing Kilmarnock and trying to avoid relegation and he's been getting criticism back in Scotland by certain people they've got good players though Scotland that's the thing they're not the team I agree with your point about McGee and McTominay particularly because you've got to let them play how they play you know yeah well they will be playing Brazil next and will Neymar feature we I hope so just to see what he's still got I'd love to I'd love that although oddly back in Brazil the president Lula appeared to mock Neymar for missing the Haiti game claiming that he is the first player in the world to be called up to the national side and be working remotely quite a good burn yeah he's quite a sick burn I don't know yeah maybe there's some beef between them is he hot desking with Jürgen Klinsmann it might be because all the it might be because a lot of those players are massive Bolsonaro guys I think everyone's jumped ship there.

50:39Oh, okay.

50:39Luke Moore: Yeah. Funny that. Because he's in prison. Yeah, well, yeah, fine. You can cling to views and so on, but when it's unequivocally kind of... The equivalent of like Keir Starmer, just his last throw of the dice before he resigns as Prime Minister, saying the same thing about Jordan Henderson. Isn't it? I think Henderson's a better influence than Neymar. That's the first and last time Henderson and Neymar are going to be compared as players. Well, I don't think you were comparing him in the sort of the feeling and spirit of this yeah you know Jordan Henderson's much more hands on than Neymar imagine if Neymar when it comes to football training imagine if it's Neymar organising the quizzes at night and doing the table tennis tournaments

51:20Luke Moore: I can't I absolutely cannot it's not very likely is it there we are let's finish on that note thank you very much for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Acast Creator Network Pete will be back with Vish and Jim tomorrow to talk about you've got a day off tomorrow have you? finally finally yeah they will be back to talk about the World Cup the World Cup because it will continue I mean look today we've got Spain-Saudi Arabia can Spain finally score a gold tournament Belgium-Iran Uruguay-Cape Verde well Saudi Arabia stuck in there against Uruguay if they had the same thing against Spain that would be really interesting that would be really interesting are they yeah Arve's going is there a job going with you guys and then Spain-Uruguay in the final game Uruguay just kicked the absolute shit out of Spain that would be amazing group.

52:05Luke Moore: 2 a.m. our time tomorrow morning at New Zealand, Egypt. Tough one for me to justify that. Really tough one for me to justify. After basically seeing New Zealand look like a pub team in their first game. They got a point. Yeah, because the other team look like a pub team as well. That's why. There we go. All right. It was the dog and duck as they always like saying. But we always love a pub. I've never, have you ever been to a pub? No. I know why people are always saying the dog and duck because I've never been in a pub called the dog and duck. If you've got a pub called the dog and duck in your town or village, prove it, send it in and we'll believe you.

52:37But until then, I've been probably to, I don't know, my life, 300 pubs, never been in one called the Dog and Duck. Don't Google it, let the listeners do the work.

52:45Luke Moore: Okay, okay. I mean, there's one we could go to after the game. After this recording, there is one we could go to which is not that far away. There we go. Oh dear. It was like the King's Head versus the Queen's Head. Yeah, it was. There we go. All right. I used to play for a team called the Coaching Horses. What about that? Oh, not too shabby, yeah.

53:11The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

53:32We believe in harnessing the power of data to push the limits of what's possible. That's how we deliver reliable energy to millions across the world. Aramco, an integrated energy and chemicals company. Learn more about us at aramco.com.

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