England sink the Azteca | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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3:19Wear your passion, your wear. Available now at Boss.com or at your nearest Boss store. You never give up, that's how it shall be, everybody. Welcome to the Football Rumble! England have threw after an epic battle at the Azteca. It's Monday, 6th of July. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm the producer of Hanzaraja! Bates Beans 1, Pinto Beans 0!

3:50Ease! Ease! Ease, Ease, Ease, Ease, Ease, Ease, Ease, Ease. Come on! What an event. What an epic occasion. Do a whole show like that. Look at me, I'm a lucha libre. We sunk the Azteca. We brought it right back down to sea level. Oh dear. Come on, Nick. Hello to everybody watching on YouTube on this fine day for England. What day is it? No one knows. I think it's Monday. I think it's England day. That's what it is, and we're together.

4:33Luke Moore: Oh, England win at the Azteca for the first time since 1986. Yeah, that's right. They won in the round before the whole Maradona business. Everyone forgets that. Not you. So what's the big deal? Business as usual. Exactly, yeah. And we scored three goals in that one as well against poor old Paraguay. Oh, my giddy aunt. She is giddy. Why do we do this to ourselves? I'm a bit giddy.

4:56Marcus Speller: I'm a bit giddy. My voice is Darren Cairn and Harry Kane today. It was a very kind of... Darren Cairn possessed Harry Kane. Is that why you gave away a penalty?

5:06Luke Moore: Yeah.

5:07Marcus Speller: I'm part official now. It's so bad. It's so bad. It speaks to the partisan nature of just getting behind in a game like that. That when Darren Cairn came on to make a sensible point about why it was a penalty, I was like, get this cunt off. Get this traitor in the tower now. Why does he hate this nation? In the tower. Lovely, lovely reference. Put him with the skeleton of the little kids who were already in there. There you go. Disappointing. It's fine, they won. It was an amazing occasion. I think that is probably partly maybe because England were on the right side of it. It's got to be the most epic occasion I've had watching England.

5:50Definitely. It's got to be, because I was so, I mean, people who listen or watch regularly will know that I kind of earmarked this very early on as being the banana skin that I thought England would go out at.

5:59Luke Moore: Yeah. And so I'm very happy to be wrong on that occasion, of course. But I've had a lot of nervous, idiot. I've had a lot of nervous energy about this game ever since I knew it was possible. Yeah. And so, and so. We all knew England were going to be in this game. Let's be honest. And when you get into those basketball games, those kind of slug fests in the deep water, it's normally England on the wrong end of them. Even though we've exorcised our penalty shootout demons and the rest of it. To me, coming off the back of that and on the right side of it, it's euphoric. It's absolutely euphoric.

6:30Marcus Speller: It had all the ingredients for exactly what you said. A game that England mess up in and do so quite dramatically. It had, as I said, all the ingredients right down to the shaky camera. And I was like, oh no. And that's because the atmosphere was so big. I think it was just relentless. And for the players to go in that lines then and be able to deal with such adversity in terms of the atmosphere, the conditions, the delay of the kickoff, the altitude, going down to 10 men and still come off the back of it winning in normal time. In normal time, which was crucial for everybody. Did it feel like normal time?

7:06If 11 minutes could be added, it's not normal. It was nearly 12 minutes. There were a couple of corners there at the end and I was thinking, it's not a penalty. You can blow up now, big lad. We've got to go to work. Yeah, exactly.

7:18Marcus Speller: A game that was scheduled to start at 1am, finish at 4.30am. Yeah. Yeah. In real time... Perfect baseball game. Extra innings for this. It was, in real time, the best game I've ever hated. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it. Portsmouth, the FA Cup, 5 ,0008 is up there.

7:39Luke Moore: That's it. Yeah, the only thing... I mean, I'm going to go back to 1990 Cameroon, maybe, and it was that sort of epic kind of... That's very similar. Very similar. The crucial thing was that England were never behind in this game. And I think that, you know... It felt like we were behind the whole time. Yeah, well. Oh, my goodness. I mean, if you haven't watched it, it ended 3-2 to England, by the way. You may have realised. But, yeah, to win there, and you talked about the Lions' den, well, you put Lions in the Lions' den, they're going to feel at home. And I'll tell you something, the composure and calmness that England had throughout that game, by and large, I understand there were ropey moments, and you said this, look, you know, We're just going to have to get comfortable with the fact that some teams, in fact, a lot of the teams at this World Cup are good at football.

8:22Luke Moore: Yeah, they have a team that will win as well. Yeah, they're going to cause problems, and especially a Mexican side with that grit and determination. And it's kind of a... Obviously not because it was England who put them out, but I feel wishing Mexico had played another team in advance. They've been such an amazing team at this tournament, and the fans and all the rest of it. But this Mexican side, they really made the Mexicans believe in a way that other teams haven't before. It's their best run in the tournament since 86, you know the fifth game they reached it and so on and I understand they haven't Reached the quarterfinal because of that extra game, but they've been they've been good and they and they they gave a good account of themselves But my goodness, you know England under the cosh there were huge performances, you know Pickford and it came Bellingham Oh my goodness, but it's one of the best individual performances.

9:04I've seen from England player Everybody played their part even I mean at one point don't say even no No, no, no. If I may. Even Sean Gregan. Big Dan Byrne repelled an overhead kick at one point. To the halfway line. When that happened, I thought, it's our day. It's our day today. I know the ball travels further at altitude, but that was ludicrous. But Big Dan Byrne plays at altitude, of course. So it was always an advantage England had. He knows the club. He knows the atmosphere. At one point, I think I read that no one had more clearances than him in the whole game, and he played 15 minutes.

9:39Luke Moore: Yeah. Well, no, he played about 25 minutes. Oh, because they had a time. Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, where to begin, Luke? I mean, you know, at the start, I suppose, you know, the thing was... Which one? Which start? Yeah. The official kickoff, which was delayed. Much was made about how Mexico would come at England and so on, but it was quite cagey in that first 20 minutes. He had to rile him in his head, Pickford saved really well. He'd be happy with that, because that's a nice save for getting him up and running. Yeah, exactly. I felt really cheesy. But we got to the hydration break, and it was nil-nil.

10:08Luke Moore: Yeah. Which is crucial. And that was, according to Anthony Barry at halftime, that was job done for that bit.

10:13Marcus Speller: So we talked about this on yesterday's show about how to get to that first drinks break and calm it all down. It went off. Yeah, it did. That was as calm as it got that first 25 minutes. What was really noticeable for me, and I don't know if I was imagining it because of all the preamble or because I was half asleep still or whatever, but the ball pinged around. Yeah, it did. The pace of it was so fast. I mean, I felt like, it felt like, I mean, to me at least, it felt like there was no way that both teams could maintain that pace of play. And I actually felt that quite pleased because I was thinking, okay, England are a better team than Mexico for sure, but the conditions have massively conspired against England.

10:53And I thought if it carries on like this, it might be tough, but I don't see how it can carry on like this. And then England getting to the first ring respect was important, absolutely. Absolutely. And then they basically came out of that drinks break, as Vish said, with a real sense of purpose. I thought Anthony Gordon was brilliant as well, by the way. I thought he was super. It's hard to pick just, you know. It is really hard to pick, yeah. But we don't have to. We can praise them all because they're all. And Declan Rice for being on a yellow card for the whole game, basically. He got booked up at 40 seconds.

11:22That's right. And when that happened, I thought, ah, this referee, man. Like last week, I was saying how the referees have got way too much main character energy. I thought, please. But I actually thought the referee refereed the occasion really well.

11:33Luke Moore: I thought the referee was excellent. Best referee in performance I've seen at the tournament. Every big decision was pretty good. Yeah, he got it all right. Yeah, and then, but when England provide that thrust after, you know, 35 minutes when Bellingham scores the opening goal, they provide that thrust and Rice gets them right up the pitch and, you know, they kind of kick on from there. You think, okay, that's great. And I was still kind of celebrating the first one when the second one goes in. And then Quinonez, who's been identified as being not only one of their standout players, but also in a crucial part of the pitch where England probably struggled the most, he scores, it's a great finish.

12:04And you think, oh God, do you know what? The first thing I thought after 42 minutes when Quinonez scores that goal is I thought, we are not going to have this our way. If this is going to happen, this is going to be the most horrible, stressful, you know, horror movie of a game we're going to experience. And so it proved to be.

12:23Luke Moore: Well, it did. I mean, at 2-0, you're thinking, allo, this is exactly, this is, this is, suit. We've got them where we want them. You get them in at half-time and then you're hoping that they're going to pitch forward. Now, Thomas Tuchel said, didn't he, the bigger the opponent, the bigger we'll be. And you, Jim, and I sort of slightly scoffed at that, thinking, there's no evidence for it. It's an easy thing to say. And this idea that, oh, when we play the crapper teams who defend loads, then, oh, how can we possibly beat them? You know, give us a much better team and then we'll beat them, you know.

12:51Luke Moore: Obviously, he didn't quite say it like that. You know, we were a bit naughty perhaps with Tuchel's words, but you have to say he's right. The goal, the first goal comes from Mexico pushing up. And England, I don't know whether it was by hook or by crook, whatever. They did suck him in. It was that ball. Pickford gets there just before Raul Jimenez. He was so lively. He was on a mission because he's playing against England. Absolutely, yeah. Well, I think he's playing for Mexico. Because he plays his club football. Fine, fine.

13:19Marcus Speller: He had an excellent game.

13:21Luke Moore: He was superb. He was superb. Belied his age, for sure. Yeah, indeed. And I was like, why did Fulham let him go? But anyway, who gives a shiny shite about that? It's good that he's, a good amount of time at Wolverhampton's blackened his lungs. It did, it did. Ahead of this. He's also playing the championship next season. Which is bad. Which is mad. But the weighing and broke, as you say, Pickford, Emile, and then Rice. And Saka as well, who's not, due to, you know, getting back to fitness and so on, hasn't had too many moments at this tournament. I know he set up Rashford for that goal against Croatia.

13:52Luke Moore: but his work down that side is lovely and it's just on a plate for Bellingham and that Bellingham crashing into the box with the header we saw him doing two years ago against Serbius he did that as well you know you can start picking them against Diarongo in the previous round another day he scores one maybe even both of those headers and it's there and then as you say when the work Gordon does in the second goal nips in there and Kane as well I'm thinking shoot for crying out loud shoot and AC's you know squares it to Bellingham. 2-0, you're in dreamland. It ends up being a lovely one too, basically.

14:27Well, it does. The understanding they both have

14:29Luke Moore: is just incredible. And two world-class players England have got in them, Vish, but you were going to say, sorry.

14:35Marcus Speller: Yeah, I think the trust that everyone has in Bellingham, you probably see it more keenly with Kane in that he knows where he's going to be. So, for example, I think Kane Kane's always making that near post run, but he can do so with a bit more conviction not worried about the ball going over his head

14:52Luke Moore: because yeah you drag at least one defender away

14:54Marcus Speller: and then as you say when Bellingham plays that ball to him I really thought he was going to shoot and he actually I think he you know the surface was great considering all the rain but I reckon he lets it go a little bit too far and then immediately realises right if I'm shooting I'm not getting a proper connection here and I know he's going to be inside plays that ball through yeah such a lovely goal and the confidence England emerged from that with was something that was really exciting and they were channeling it quite well until Mexico get that free kick and the ball dropped to Cunones and I think that...

15:29Luke Moore: The dynamic shift in the game was just enormous.

15:33Marcus Speller: Yeah, but it was after that first goal where they really... I mean it basically rubber stamps all your plans you have up to then in terms of containing for that first interval and then getting that goal and getting the goal in the way they got it. And they never really lost that even when Gerald Kwanzaa got sent off. There was still that belief of like, we should obviously clear the ball as fucking far away as we can. Get it into the sea from here if we need to. But when we get the chance to play it, play it.

16:00Luke Moore: Yeah, and you're right. It was funny though, wasn't it? Because you're thinking at 2-0, getting at half-time 2-0, then it's like we're getting at half-time at 2-1. But even that, it was towards the end of that first half. You're right, there was a there was a couple of moments. Jimenez has a header, but I mean, it would have been some goal, you know, and Pickford makes a good save. You expect him to save it, but I mean, it is...

16:22Marcus Speller: It was a really satisfying slap, wasn't it?

16:24Luke Moore: Yeah, and then there's that moment where Bellingham just hooks it away. Yeah, that was pretty... But I mean, Bellingham did lose his mark for that. And also with Quinonez, I don't know if he was Bellingham's man or not, but he was, like, left unmarked there. So when you get in at half-time, again, you think to yourself, right, lads, take your medicine here. Literally. Yeah, absolutely. You're a goal up, okay? those moments where you've just switched on and then last it you cannot do that in this second half I think it was one of the few examples the Canionians goal was one of the few examples where England didn't pick up a second ball 100 % the second ball thing they were pretty good at but that's why on those occasions you've got to be good at that but I think that again because that happened they had to do it and then when they come out in the second half O 'Reilly it was a favourable deflection I think it was going wide it hits the post and you're thinking okay but when Gerald Kwanzaa does that it's a red card all day long I think we're all agreed anybody disagree with it?

17:17No I think it was I think it was a rare card I think it's unfortunate it's a lunge and I think in those kind of occasions it's a really fine line and I think the thing that worked against him was how high his foot was Yeah

17:30Luke Moore: He's over the ball

17:31Marcus Speller: His beans were going as well because I actually think that's a tackle he should make 10 times out of 10 Yeah because the ball the ball is away from the I don't understand yeah away from the forward there's no reason to to go as high as he's going because he can actually get the ball and the man quite cleanly.

17:47Luke Moore: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. When I saw that, my heart sank. I thought, he's off.

17:51Marcus Speller: Yeah.

17:52Luke Moore: He's absolutely off. And to have to play 35 minutes, well, it would be, you know, 40, 45 minutes from the 54th minute with 10 men. I remember thinking, oh my goodness, you know, the headline's going to be England squander a 2-0 lead. Because, like, I honestly thought, this long, with just a solitary goal lead with 10 men, I mean, if this doesn't go to extra time, you know, and I tell you what, England are then handed an absolute lifeline. Because moments later, you know, England sort of then revert to a sort of a 4-3-2, don't they? With Gordon up there with Kane. And it immediately, incredibly, paid dividend.

18:28Luke Moore: The ball over, you know, I mean England, basically from there, kind of resort a little bit to your amateur level kind of tactics. Right, keep it tight, you know, hit the man up top, get the flick-ons. You know, like it really was old-fashioned stuff. And even though the flick-on from Kane hits the defender, it breaks. Gordon is on to that so quickly and that contributes enormously to an England victory he had a brilliant game yeah and that was he's come alive he was so alert yeah for and he absolutely makes it and what was really interesting is I wonder how much Kane not getting that penalty contributed to Gordon getting it because he wasn't massively dissimilar yeah I don't think Gordon's quite on his way down but he's definitely looking for it and it felt it felt to me like if the referee I don't know if they have or if they haven't.

19:15If they didn't give that, that would have been outrageous. But you know what I mean? I do know what you mean. It becomes a wider narrative because if Kane doesn't get given that because he's on his way down, he's clearly looking for it. It's either one of, the reason it's not given against Congo is because of one of those two things or both of them. If it's the fact that he's clearly looking for it and he's just doing what some strikers can do where they move the ball away from the keeper, they don't even care where the ball goes. They just know if I get there first, I get the context of penalty.

19:39Look, the referee and the Congo clearly didn't agree with that. So I was thinking, please do not make a show of yourself here and not give it. Luckily, he obviously does give it. And once he gives it, crucially, it's not going to be a return. This is the referee in at this tournament. It's a penalty all day long.

19:55Marcus Speller: I think specifically in that instance, you do know what you're going to get. Because earlier in the Norway-Brazil game, Nyland, when he takes out Kunja and he properly takes him out, the referee doesn't give the penalty. Because I think he assumes that Kunja's A, going down upon arrival to the keeper and has booted the ball out. Narlan completely that was outrageous and so they're clearly resting on VAR but that feels like a real specific directive because we've seen it far too often for it to be coincident but crucially it comes down to the decision given on the field right because if the referee gives that Congo one it's not going to be overturned by VAR so that's the crucial part of it once it's given you're like and then straight away I'm thinking Kane do not do that thing in the exclamation do not do that do not do this I know he's going to step out I'll miss it anyway.

20:43Marcus Speller: The most bonkers logic you've ever heard in your life.

20:45Luke Moore: This is where we are with penalty analytics now. Everyone, you know, you see how many you watch the last, I don't know, 10, 12 penalties of a particular taker who always takes them. Where does he go more often than not? We've actually passed that stage now. It's what's his pressure penalty? Yeah. What is the penalty? It's not, you know, the fifth in a 5-0 win. It's when the backs are against the ball and you knew that that is Kane's go-to penalty, the whip into the keeper's right.

21:09Marcus Speller: It's the twat the fuckery out. Yeah, yeah.

21:12Luke Moore: Because the keeper knew, the keeper went the right way. The power takes that in. It does. And when that went in... The power's taking him in as well. Yeah, right. But I mean that goal, so crucial because suddenly you're like, okay, 3-1.

21:22Marcus Speller: It was quite cathartic finish, wasn't it? Because there's always the anxiety about penalties no matter what. Especially that one. If, you know, to my mind, I think I messaged in the group, I feel like he's going to miss this. And all I was thinking there was the historic anxiety of following England in a tournament. Yeah, yeah. Oh, if he misses, we're out. Yeah, exactly. It's that feeling, isn't it? And we're not out immediately, we're out on penalties. That's how it works. That's how it works, yeah. Yeah. Oh.

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24:55I feel as if when Kane gives the penalty away after that as well. Which was a penalty? I don't understand why people keep saying it wasn't.

25:02Luke Moore: If it's up the other end, I want that as an England penalty. He kicks his foot. I think, yeah, I think the only... Whether you personally agree with what it should or shouldn't be, you can do that all day in football. If you don't think that's going to be given as a penalty or shouldn't be, you obviously haven't watched any football. Well, I think people might... Always given, always. People might say that it doesn't change the pass. It doesn't change the... Whatever. Look, I thought it was a penalty for what it's worth. But you could also say that about Modric on Madueke in the opening game. 100%.

25:28Luke Moore: Because that doesn't change Madueke. You just get a little bash on the leg. It's exactly the same feeling. He doesn't know he's there. And he nips in quick. Totally, yeah. That's how it goes. You can't argue with that. The problem I have with that was that, and I don't know if you saw, but if you noticed this, but Pickford takes a massive step to the wrong side. Too big. Yeah, but do you know why he does that? I think he does that to game it. Yeah, but it was too big. Yeah, I agree with that as well. I agree with the tactic. He just, the problem with Pickford, I don't know if you've noticed this, later on in the game as well.

25:53He's diving all over the place. There's balls that are going 10 metres over the bar. I don't mind that.

25:58Luke Moore: That's him staying warm. The reason why he does that with Jimenez, I've seen Jimenez take so many penalties and I knew he was going to score. He's so trusty at the spot because Jimenez, he often waits for the keeper and if the keeper doesn't move, he usually stuffs it in the top corner. And Pickford's thinking, right, if Pickford really has to suck him in. But the rationale is correct. But Marcus, the point I'm making is that. The point I'm making is what he did was absolutely the right thing to do. And it was very similar to what he did against Jorginho in the Euros final. Well, Jorginho, he just basically stayed.

26:28Jorginho just stood still, didn't he? Yeah, but he's waiting is what I mean. But Pickford does, the only difference is that Pickford does a little jump to the wrong side on purpose, but he jumps way too far because he's about that far away from the ball when he dies.

26:40Luke Moore: And indeed, but he was so close to kind of getting it right because like I say, if he stays still, Jimenez looks at him and goes, okay. I've seen him so many times. You stay still. I'll just stick it in the top corner then. So what he's trying to do is say, right, I'm going this way, there's your gap. And then obviously Jimenez said, well, thanks very much. And he did just a little bit too much. But I think he had to do it a lot because if he just does it a little bit, Jimenez is such a good penalty taker. He needs to, yeah. So the calculations. Yeah, look, he didn't save a Rahul Jimenez penalty.

27:11Luke Moore: Join the queue, do you know what I mean? Right, okay, yeah. So I wouldn't, you know. But when that goes in, you're thinking. I was thinking it's too early. That is too early to be deceding that goal. I get we're going to be put under pressure with 10 men in that atmosphere it's an absolute Christopher Nolan of an epic encounter I get it but you cannot concede after 69 minutes if you concede after like 85 yes totally it was actually the running time of a Nolan film wasn't it yeah it probably it was yeah exactly yeah out of the weather of a Nolan film but I just felt like but the one thing that's felt different after that though was England obviously given the occasion given the situation they played in the way they had to play.

27:50There's no other way you can play. Like, in that situation, you're away from home, partisan crowd, you're down to 10 men, it's a massive, you know, all the stuff you already know. There's no other way you can play. So your responsibility then, then, is to use your fresh legs as much as you can. I said to Vish, and I said to you guys, and kind of Vish agreed, you know, I would have liked to see England bring on an outlet, like a Rashford or a Maddowek. Well, I thought they might have

28:12Luke Moore: taken off Kane a bit earlier. Yeah, yeah. But they obviously decided not to do that. He made quite a defensive substitution in the grand scheme of things when compared to earlier games in this tournament. But the way they executed was magnificent. It was. And you can't get it twisted, by which I mean, a lot of people will feel like, oh, well, if it's all last ditch and it's all big tackles and it's all headers away and it's heads on a stick, then that's not a great way of playing. I'll bugger off. Yeah, but you can't in this situation. It's the only way you can play. Just piss right off if you think that.

28:40Luke Moore: Because you're down to 10 men after 54 minutes against a team who have got their tails up and all the rest of it. Blah, blah, blah. And, you know, he brought on John Stones for Saka pretty early. And we wondered if Stones was going to park Legay in the centre of the defence at some point this tournament. I didn't think it was going to be in these circumstances. Is Esri Conz going to do a job at right back? You're going to have to, big man. All right? You are doing this. And I thought they were all great. And then, of course, as the game goes on, you get after that, the hydration break. I completely forgot there was a hydration break.

29:10Marcus Speller: Yeah, all this happened before the second hydration break.

29:13Luke Moore: Yeah, madness. Yeah. And what does he take? Anderson off and O 'Reilly. Spence came on. He was great. Dan Byrne had his time in the sun, you know, on the altitude. Speaking of heads on a stick. Oh my goodness. I mean, but again, just heading everything away. And I'll tell you something again. Well,

29:27Marcus Speller: let's talk about 114 Dan Byrne's altitude. We only needed one. We just needed one. We just needed one.

29:35Luke Moore: And as well, you know, Tuchel has said so many times and he said this months before the World Cup. You know, we're a band of brothers. You've got to have all that kind of thing. I'll tell you, if you're an England defender, if you're gay, your Konzer and Stones, you're thinking, right, we're up against it. You see the big man come on you, you're like, yeah, that's what we need back here. Do you know what I mean? We need, we need... And Elise the Kraken. Yeah, but again, I thought he might take Bellingham off because Bellingham was kind of running on fumes towards the end. But I just think to have him on the pitch was so big.

30:03Luke Moore: But you were going to say something, look, I'll come back to Bellingham. We need to come back to Bellingham. I was going to say, the one thing I would throw in the mix around the way that England played that last 20 minutes or so is they didn't panic. They kept it calm and they did what they had to do. Didn't give any chances away. I mean, there was, so I think of the 20 shots Mexico had in the whole game, I think seven of them were blocked. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those were in the last 20 minutes, whereas England were kind of, they were solid. It is hard when you play against the back five, even if we do it.

30:30But the point I wanted to make was that it did, if I'm being totally even-handed, it did also show up the shortcomings of Mexico. I think the reason I had this earmarked as a game that England would perhaps get knocked out on was because of all the other things in the mix. Not because I think Mexico are brilliant, because they're not. And actually, the weird way, this last 20 minutes showed up the fact that if you try and empathize with the Mexico position, if you're a Mexico fan, you're thinking, this is quite one-dimensional. This is quite kind of basic. We're not really, we're not really coming up with anything particularly innovative or difficult for England to deal with.

31:05Because the reason I say that is because the shots blocked, most of them were quite half-hearted. the aerial balls weren't really venomous. And also if you are Konza, Gahey, or Burn, you're eating those all day long for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thank you for giving my favorite food. That is favorite food stuff. You want that all day long. And the only time it felt properly nervy, other than the fact that we've all got a load of this generational trauma to deal with, is when these corners were bombed in.

31:34Luke Moore: It was when John Stone nearly scored an own goal. I couldn't work out that. That's already calculated. The karma slot beyond the near post. But I think... But Vish, was that calculated or was it lucky?

31:42Marcus Speller: I think it was calculated. I do. Because he clearly sees that, like, right, I'll back myself from six yards to get it on the other side of the post. Gay watched it. While on the floor.

31:50Luke Moore: Gay watched it as well. It was absolutely fine.

31:52Marcus Speller: The other thing about, just to reinforce your point, Luke, is what England did really well is they funneled Mexico out wide. Yes, totally. Correct, yeah. And actually, if you look at that Mexico team on paper, it's a really impressive front three and really unimpressive middle three. The fact that they, with all due respect to them, the fact they're bringing on Edson Alvarez at halftime, that reinforced the fact that they're basically running on fumes. When Quinonez comes off, you know they're going to be lacking that spark. And yeah, as Luke said, they basically played the game that England, or certainly Thomas Tuchel, wanted them to be playing.

32:28Marcus Speller: I think that's right. And also, without being unfair, this is going to sound unfair, so forgive me. it was a night where Gilberto Moura was either going to announce himself or be swallowed and I thought he was absolutely swallowed by the occasion as well I thought he didn't really do anything

32:42Luke Moore: I think it was so difficult for him I mean he already announced himself but I understand the point I understand the point you're making and I think it shows you that England's midfield which has looked a bit disjointed at times in this tournament it's a far better midfield than what Mexico have got and this was the thing we said yesterday yes this is an intimidating atmosphere and all the rest of it but there's no Mexican player really that I think, I wouldn't mind him in the squad other than their right back. Any right back. Who have you got there? We'll take him. But the same wouldn't be true the other way around.

33:14Luke Moore: But I thought that you're right to say about the funneling because if you're looking how to defend a lead when you're down to 10 men and see out the game, that's how you do it. That is exactly how you do it. and Konza when he was at right back again he was just giving the winger a little bit just if he was committing too much he skips past you just a little bit and then pounce in the moment they got it absolutely spot on and the way that particularly on the left side where Gordon doubled up with Spence those two were brilliant Spence obviously made a bit of a last ditch challenge at one point but he came on and again down that side there was so many times where I thought he's going to whip the ball in the box and the two of them snuffed it out and it went back and it's those seconds it's all about the seconds but going back to Bellingham so we were going to go back to him what he gave England other than the goals was some kind of an outlet and when the ball was being I said it before and my goodness I'm going to say it again the way he moves the way he controls the ball the way he shifts it on both feet is Zidane-esque let's be honest at times

34:15Marcus Speller: it's the way he can turn with an inside touch the fact that he's big there's a bit of the Adidas thing in there as well obviously with the boots he's a glider as well yeah he's a glider He, when they took off... You got the same ball patch? Yeah, same ball patch. Same off. Smokes 20 a day. Enzo Belling off. If only. Do not take up smoking, dude, until the end of the world. I don't want to know how many cigarettes you got through last night. Thank you to Lost Mary, who's a part of this show. Support of you individually. Triple mango out now. The... When he was used as the... When Morgan Rogers comes on for Harry Kane, I thought Rogers was going to go further forward.

34:57Marcus Speller: Or rather, I thought whoever would be brought on for Kane would be the one to go further forward and offer an outlet out wide. And Rogers came on and basically swapped with Bellingham. So he did the Bellingham role and Bellingham played as Harry Kane. And he was playing further forward than Kane was when Kane was taken off. And I was a bit like, okay, curious to see how this goes. And apart from one, really late on, I think he controlled everything. Both stuck to him. With both feet, with his chest.

35:24Luke Moore: The chest control was again...

35:25Marcus Speller: That was the Zidane one. That really was Zidane. I can remember the one he missed control which tells you that must be the only one.

35:32Luke Moore: But those moments though, when Bellingham's doing that and he's up there, it's a 10 seconds here, a 20 seconds there. That's so vital. So vital. Those seconds are so important. I know it sounds silly but honestly, it's difficult because I'm so emotionally invested, but when you see all that, it's like this is... you're down the park. Everybody knows this, you know, like in the channels, you know, like hold it there. But he was, but at that elite level, it was, he was a monster. The only thing you would level at him would be that he occasionally overran it. Like he got nicked off, he got nicked off him three or four times.

36:06Maybe one or two. Where you think, particularly in the key parts of the game, you're being ultra critical here, because I basically broadly agree with everything you guys are saying. There was an opportunity on more than one occasion to play an easy pass after. Because he wriggle out of three players and get into space and then almost get a little bit excited and keep going when he could have... There was one moment actually quite near towards the end of the game where he actually did the exact same thing Maradona did against England. The first two thirds of it. And he just punched it in the net and everyone cheered.

36:37No, he just wriggles away from three players, goes around another player. You think, fuck, he's actually going to do the Maradona in it. I thought he was going to score. But he gets caught in possession. He does, yeah, yeah.

36:44Luke Moore: Do you know what? It would have gone through his mind as well. He would have gone properly. I can change the narrative forever on this but overall though I would say you know it's right to talk about Birmingham I actually think that was probably Gordon's best performance in the English show yeah I would say so he was superb the fact that if you come away from it and you look at it on paper he doesn't get a goal he doesn't get an assist but he is I mean you could argue the penalty but yeah okay fine but he's everywhere he's everywhere he was brilliant and it wasn't just the forward work it was because I feel like it's an obvious thing to say and this is not really a time to be criticising England players particularly ones who didn't play but Rashford doesn't give you that defensively.

37:19No, no, no. The way Gordon does. Gordon did both, he went both ways.

37:23Luke Moore: We knew Gordon was going to start. You know, Saka and Gordon are the best ones equipped for that. You would argue, I thought he was going to go Madiweke just for the, you know, if Saka is still kind of recovering from whatever he's doing, you know, just for the athleticism. Saka wasn't great overall. Yeah, Gordon has assist though. He did, but overall he wasn't great. But yeah, I mean, you would hope he would start in the next game and you'd hope he was up to speed, but my goodness, you know, like that is that kind of performance there again under the cosh you know you've got a lot to think about I mean that game that game literally had everything and England they come out of it victorious in a stadium all the history the atmosphere in there all the business the atmosphere was unreal it's a sensational victory yeah it is

38:05Marcus Speller: there was a point at the end when the crosses were flying in and all you could see were Jordan Pickford's fists yeah he got everything spot on yeah Yeah, but there was a bit early on where I was like, just please, just stop punching. Just stop throwing bows in the penalty box. And then by the end of it, I was like, here he comes again.

38:25Luke Moore: Yeah.

38:26Marcus Speller: He's not the biggest person in that box.

38:28Luke Moore: No, but I thought he got it spot on. He did. There was no moment where I thought, oh, Pickford, what are you doing?

38:33Marcus Speller: Yeah, same. Even the times with the new rule about how, you know, like how they're really militant, rightly, on how long a keeper holds the ball for. Even little things like just delaying picking up the ball.

38:43Luke Moore: Totally, yeah.

38:44Marcus Speller: And the dives as well. The dives is part of it. It's about getting yourself off the floor, dusting yourself down, going and getting the ball. It was a masterful performance from him. Overall, it's just amazing to come out of that on the right side of it because it was a fit. Ultimately, really, as it transpired, given everything that happened, it was a 50-50 game. Mexico will be gutted. They'll go, we're at home, 40 minutes against 10 men. We kind of had them where we wanted them, really. although obviously you don't want to concede three goals but you know in that last period of the game and they just didn't have that final ball that ingenuity that they couldn't lift themselves to go that extra mile because I think and I said this to you guys at the time if they get this through extra time they'll kill us dead that's it there's no way England can be that Herculean for another 30 minutes I just didn't see that happening so the fact they held that was amazing I mean the amount of head I mean I've said it already but the amount of head of Dan Byrne it's just demented it's absolutely ridiculous That's what he's there for, baby.

39:44You know when you watch teams doing training at the training ground, they're doing that, throw up in the air head, throw up in the air head. You're not doing that in a game for like 15 minutes.

39:51Luke Moore: Yeah, the only thing that put a bit of a dampener on the celebrations was poor old Jordan Henderson. Yeah, it did. That looked really nasty, by the way. It did. I mean, and it was such an innocuous one as well. He's just kind of coming back over the advertising hall. It looked a bad break, though. And he fell, and somebody's saying his arm, BBC's saying it was his wrist. I mean, he might well have just snapped his wrist. It looks like he snapped it. If you look at the video, it's horrible. It is. And I think that the way, I mean, I would say it's like genuinely quite impressive to get booked and break your arm and not even play.

40:19Yeah. That's how big a battle it was. So, look, England, this, before, look, the post-game stuff is important. The point I really want to make, which I think is, you know, in my view is the most important point, is that this is a big inflection point for England now. And the Henderson could be a lead into it because that's another injury. If Henderson's broken his arm, he's not playing this tournament now. That's it. All being well, he wouldn't have played. Sure, but you, But I get the point. You could see why he could have played for 10 minutes today. I take your point. I take the point. So that is now basically Rhys James, I don't know what's happening with him.

40:48Kwanzaa's suspended. Rice is managing big issues. You've got Henderson, one or two others as well. This has taken an awful lot out of England. They now play Saturday night. So they've got five or six days to recover, which in the grand scheme of modern sport, modern football is quite a long time. But ultimately, it's been a long season. They need to work really hard in dispelling any idea of kind of after the law of Mayer's show about that. You want to see them celebrate with the fans. You want to see them enjoy it. But they have to find a way of lifting themselves again. And I think if this turns out, in retrospect, to be a summit because it was such a big effort and they got so happy about it, then they're going to get beaten by Norway.

41:25So they need to find a way of making this the right kind of inflection point. And they need to find a way of getting 11 players out on the pitch that can still perform at a really high intensity level because Norway have got a lot of weapons. Well, I mean, we might well... Do you have a concern about the Lord Mayor show type thing? Not with the England side, no.

41:44Marcus Speller: Yeah, I think there are a lot of players in there who would be whiter that already. I think Thomas Tuchel is certainly not going to get carried away with that.

41:51Luke Moore: There's no way they're getting carried away with this.

41:53Marcus Speller: Also, presumably they'd get a better night's sleep as well, because I can't imagine there were too many Mexican fireworks last night. So it should be alright. That would have been, yeah. If they are, they're doing them Balotelli in their own bar. Yeah. Ah, ten men at the Azteca. Ten men. You're going Harry Kane. I'm going for Harry Kane.

42:10Luke Moore: He loves Wonderwall. He loves Wonderwall. He does, yeah.

42:13Marcus Speller: Understandable. Quite a basic man, isn't it? But God bless him. Come on. Seriously though, who's the other you on? Sorry. Should we go and smash up a mariachi band? I did like there were loads of tweets about like because of the performance of loads of tweets about like all the different players as like, you know, they're all individual stories and my favourite one was Dan Byrne from Asda to the Azteca. I used to work at Aztec. There you are. I used to work at Aztec as well.

42:41Luke Moore: With the similarities. And I've been to the Aztec. Never set foot. No, I did. When I was a student, used to go to Aztec a lot. Yeah. Amazing win. So we're still in the hat. We march on to Miami. We go to Miami and the crucial thing in Miami. Dancing in the club when the heat is on. I land on the beach to the break it on. Come on, Vish.

43:00Marcus Speller: Welcome to Miami. There you go. There we are.

43:02Luke Moore: Here's the next bit. Yeah. Bienvenido a Miami. Yes, there you go. There we go. Well, Miami, so if we were worried about the altitude and all the rest of it at the Aztec, one of the concerns about Miami was... The women. What? That's not a concern. Very happy with it. Don't need the distraction. Are they going to support England? This is why we left Carmel. It was... There we are, you see. Get him out there as a decoy. I don't care if we've got no right back. Carl, I've got a grenade for you to jump on, mate. I'll be honest with you, you are going to enjoy it. You are going to like it. He said the other day.

43:37Is this a right back thing? Sort of. Yeah. Yeah.

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45:07Luke Moore: We were worried about, you know, if England were to progress through this tournament, there was going to be a quarter-final in the heat of Miami. Well, crucially, England are playing a team from an even colder country than us. Because Norway beat Brazil 2-1. They remain unbeaten against Brazil. Never in doubt for the Norwegians, was it? It's these lot again. It's a great game as well. It's a really good game. Well, unlucky. Oi There's always next time It says the Norwegians Ancelotti And the boys My big takeaway from this Is almost a bit of a sad note Which is that I felt that You know After about half an hour or so I just thought It's a World Cup And Brazil are just another team now They're just another team And I think that's the That's the sixth time in a row Or something They've been knocked out By European opposition The first time they've played them Or something like that They're terrified Yeah And how the how the how the kind of sounds have shifted over time in that i mean to me obviously of our generation and older generations watching brazil in a world cup it was almost like it's like another worldly thing yeah they do football this way that they play it almost at its best you know even you don't even got to go that far back like i mean rivaldo ronaldinho ronaldo it's like england going into that game i remember being how are we going to deal with that that's arguably the greatest front three to ever play the game together you know what what we're going to do and now, ultimately, they're just another team.

46:28But they shouldn't be.

46:29Luke Moore: You look at the players they have. No, they are.

46:32Marcus Speller: You look at the players they haven't. They can be better, but they're no way going to be.

46:36Luke Moore: No, they're not going to be like that. But they should be better than this. On paper, they've got more stars than Norway. There's a reason they got Ancelotti in.

46:44Marcus Speller: Well, indeed, and I'm surprised. They tried to find a quick fix from the outside. You could even talk about the shifting sands when it comes to the Netherlands as well. People talk about that. Do you want me to? I think it's also the same with the Netherlands. There you go, I've done it.

46:56Luke Moore: Carry on.

46:57Marcus Speller: They've got distractions on TV though. What about Germany?

46:59Luke Moore: Italy? There's a few in there.

47:01Marcus Speller: But the thing with Brazil, and the thing with Ancelotti, is that, you know, we talked about his charisma, and obviously he's a very charismatic man, and we should say, a damn impressive club manager. Can I still come to Carnival next year? Yeah, yeah. Paying you 10 mil a year, I know. I'll spend a bit, I'll put it back into the economy. I'll trickle it down. Of all the things he got right in the lead up to this tournament, bringing Neymar on after 67 minutes was a tacit admission that, you know what, I don't really know what to do.

47:33Luke Moore: Yeah, I thought that.

47:34Marcus Speller: You know what, I do hate Hendrik. I hate him. But again, they probably have themselves to blame as well. Gimmaris misses the penalty. Hendrik has that brilliant chance when he's put through by the initiative. By the way, he should probably have his Brazilian passport taken away for that second touch. That is not a description of how Brazilians play football. That is like one of the worst second touches when bearing down a goal you will ever see. That would be, it's a proper like, if that was in the group stage and it was like Iran or someone, a load of commentators would have been patting him on the head saying, oh, you know, they haven't quite got the quality.

48:04Hendrick doing that, that is not in the World Cup tradition of how Brazil play. Also, even if he did that

48:09Marcus Speller: on like a midweek five or so, he'd be like, mate, you paid eight quid for that. Yeah, exactly.

48:13Luke Moore: Yeah, I suspect that Ancelotti thought, right, I've got some hardened, experienced warriors in this side. I'm going to get them to play. I'm going to, you know, almost like be like, you know, Jose Mourinho's Inter or something like that. Or even Ancelotti's Real Madrid, as I said in 2023, 24, when they went all the way on and won the Champions League. The writing was on the wall in some of the earlier games for this. I tried to make the case of, you know what, but they're canny, they're going to do it and so on. But when Erling Haaland's on that kind of form, I mean, that second goal in particular, I mean, it's just a beauty.

48:44The second goal is a beauty, but the first goal, can we just say, He has absolutely dinner-moneyed, Gabrielle. He's... Oh, right. But the movement, I think that is something... He's bogwashed him. He's wedged him. He's absolutely stolen his week's lunch money.

48:59Luke Moore: Yeah, he has. He's following his sister on Instagram. He's got him stealing from the tuck shop for him. He's made his girlfriend a mixtape. He's done everything. He's done absolutely everything he could have done. What is this? It's just me doing Robbie Williams covers. I thought he'd like it. And the reason I'm saying this is because this was one of the big bits of narrative that we were fed before the game. It's Haaland versus Gabriel, right? Yes, yes. And the problem is when you're the defender in that situation, you've only got to be beaten once. Obviously, they were beaten twice ultimately here.

49:26That second goal as well, Marcus, you're right, it's an absolute beauty.

49:28Luke Moore: But the first one, it's the movement and the jump and the size of the man. You saw everything that Haaland is magnificent. It's why he's one of the most feared strikers that we've seen for many, many a year. Because again, he just, the movement, the way he kind of backs up and he's got the run on the defender. and as you say it's Gabriel one of the finest centre-offs you know Arsenal you know one of the best defences probably the best defence in Europe blah de blah de blah and Haaland the anticipation and the way he just gobbles it up so difficult to defend against and England it's inevitable England are going to have to be so aware of that I mean if it is Stones and Gay you know they obviously know him at club level but my goodness

50:06Marcus Speller: they're England a bit equipped at dealing with that because I think the problem here with Brazil was that Gabriel and Haaland have battles when you've got You've got Saliba on one side, you've got either Calafiore or Timber on the other, you've got Rice and Odegaard who press you and make the space small. Did that space seem small for Haaland? He was everywhere. There was a point, there was two points yesterday, where he managed to reel in both Gabriel and Marquinhos, and he did it in the first half, when the ball fell to Odegaard and he had that shot, which was by Alisson. That was purely from Haaland, basically acting like two strikers at the same time.

50:45Marcus Speller: got them both involved the ball ends up falling to Odegrad he did it in the second half as well nothing really came from that but he just had so much power over everything they did you also have to factor in like the mentality and even the statistics backing up that mentality of your Norway he scored like 15 games in a row for Norway so he's basically inevitable what you're essentially saying is across that period of time he's going to score a goal so you are going to basically score a goal whatever happens and then you've almost just got to keep yourself in the game. You've essentially just got...

51:17And the fact is, the difference... We can talk about Brazil, you know, they're not what they were, and you can be critical of them. But the difference was up front and in goal. The two ends of the pitch, Norway were magnificent. The goalkeeper was absolutely sensational. He made so many good saves.

51:33Luke Moore: The penalty, of course, being the obvious one. The penalty was garbage. Again, it was garbage. But you've got to give keeper credit. I'm very happy to give him credit. I thought he had a brilliant game. It was one of the best goalkeeper performances of the tournament, for sure. but the penalty was garbage. It was trash.

51:46Marcus Speller: And there's no excuse for it. Yeah. God awful. I have to say as well, as well as Nyland played, he did rob us of what would have been the funniest own goal in World Cup history. Oh, yeah. 25 yards out. But what a save, though. Yeah, unbelievable save. Yeah, what a save.

52:01Luke Moore: That was stunning stuff. I don't think he had time to weigh it up. Yeah. This would be quite funny. Yeah, no, I'm saving it. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I mean, what you said earlier there, Vish, with Ancelotti just throwing Neymar on, it was almost quite sad to see one of Brazil's finest ever players you know he's their top scorer in their history he's what second I think only Cafu's got more caps than him if I'm right in saying that you know he's up there he's you know that's all there for everybody to see it's disheartening how easy it is

52:29Marcus Speller: for us or anyone to ridicule someone like Neymar

52:33Luke Moore: yeah and look I understand he scored the penalty it was pure consolation of course

52:37Marcus Speller: and he scored it and he went about his business with distinction It was pure Neymar energy. Scored it. It was irrelevant. He still made a fool of himself. Then he instantly retired. It's amazing. Proper WWE wrestler of an appearance. Great cameo.

52:53Luke Moore: Because for him to have never won the World Cup for Brazil, he was robbed of his moment, really, at World Cups when he scored that brilliant goal against Croatia four years ago. And they should have gone on to play Argentina in that semifinal. And Croatia found a way to beat them on penalties. you know that was really that was his time but yeah to see him sort of bow out like this I mean to be honest with you a lot of us maybe thought he wasn't even going to make the tournament you know Ancelotti was going to overlook him but for Ancelotti to go out like that as well with this Brazil side it's a head scratcher I really thought Brazil were going to advance and yeah there was a feeling I had about them but they've gone they're out for the before the quarters for the first time since 1990 I know you got that extra game but still yeah they lost to Argentina in the second round.

53:40In the second round, yeah. In the second round in 1990. The reality is, though, that I think it's what we suspected and we have mentioned it once or twice in this tournament already. If you can get past the idea that you're playing Brazil and not the idea of Brazil. If you're a decent unit and you know you can score goals, both of which is true about Norway, they're peppered with good, experienced players who play at the top level. That can be enough against Brazil. Will it be enough against England? I think England, I actually feel weirdly more relaxed about playing Norway than I did Mexico in the Azteca, but we'll see.

54:09But it's an amazing scout for them. Lars Sivetson, our colleague here, he wrote a really interesting piece about Norway ahead of the Brazil game, saying that this is an ideal time for Norway. Everything's set up for them, basically, to show what they're all about against Brazil. What better team to do it against than the most World Cup team ever. And they've won it. I mean, it's incredible for them. And that'll be a good game against England. We obviously will preview it nearer the time, but it's exciting.

54:35Luke Moore: They row on. They do row on. They do row on, yeah. Will Wayne Rooney be rowing down the Mersey? If he sticks to his word, he will be. Did you see it? He said, if they get the quarterfinals, I'll row down the Mersey. Have I missed something?

54:46Marcus Speller: He's in great nick. He is. I saw that. Did you see how funny he found Harry Kane's post-match? Yeah, amazing. It was like he had never seen anything. He literally couldn't punt it. Yeah. Someone else had to, Joe Hart had to talk on his behalf because he was laughing so much.

54:59Luke Moore: It was absolutely magnificent. Yeah. Absolutely magnificent. But you know what? That is, surely that. I mean, that's the greatest win in Norway in international football history, You've got to say that. Must be. They're quite used to not losing against Brazil though, to be fair. But the game in 98 was a bit of a... It was a dead rubber for Brazil.

55:15Marcus Speller: They probably didn't even stay up for it. They're like, you know what, let's get a bit early. Yeah.

55:19Luke Moore: I just sincerely hope... It's going to be up there, for sure. I sincerely hope that our boys won't take one hell of a beating in the next game. Oh no. God, the build up to this is going to be... The VT packages are going to be tedious for this. I'll tell you what, though. If England can beat Norway, Jason Cundey, come on. It's all over to you, baby. Set up for him. It is absolutely... A nation expects.

55:38Marcus Speller: Indeed it does.

55:39Luke Moore: But I mean, despite what they've been doing, Brazil are currently ranked fifth in the world. Norway are 19th. I've got a feeling that'll jump them up a little bit. It will. But they struggle specifically against well-drilled European teams. That's the problem. They do. Look at the profile of the teams that have been knocking them out in the World Cup since they've won it, is what I would say to that. But England beat Mexico, of course. And Mexico a tenth in the world. I think the last time England beat a nation in the top ten ranks, I think it was Argentina 0-2. Right. But in knockout games, blimey, you're going way back.

56:09Luke Moore: You're going way back, baby. All right, should we end with a little email here? I think we should, yeah. Yeah, James Pallister. Hello to you, James. I'm not sure he's related to the great Gary Pallister. Hope so. Or the band James. Less likely. He's emailed in the show at footballamber.com. He said, the dog that was at the Argentina versus Cape Verde game. Here we go. Yeah. This is what we turned up for today. With the ear defenders on. It's called Brody That Dude. And he's a celebrity at the level of Pitbull in Miami. That's an outrageous claim. That is an outrageous claim. Has Brodie the dude got a stadium named after him?

56:38No.

56:39Luke Moore: That's my first question. Are they both dogs? Yes, in a way. But apparently Brodie is at every major Miami event, from the Grand Prix to the Florida Panthers playoff games, and he was even hanging out with the Tartan Army at a Miami Marlins game a while back. So he's everywhere apparently. The Tartan Army claimed that he, of all these events, he liked hanging out with the Tartan Army the best. Yeah, exactly. That's what the Tartan Army tells everybody.

56:57Marcus Speller: Yeah, he actually kissed a Scottish bloke. Yeah. And he wrote a letter in the local Miami newspaper.

57:00Luke Moore: He's never licked a man before until he saw the Scots and he had to lick them all. Listen, we don't need to have a pop at the Scots today. We're riding high. We're riding high. We don't have to worry about the little brothers today. Including the producer. Oh dear, William. We've taken our cap off.

57:17Marcus Speller: We have. We've doffed it.

57:18Luke Moore: Yeah, and I would like to, as I always do...

57:20Marcus Speller: Also, a hell of a griff from this dog's owner. Great stuff, though. Yeah, he's the famous dog. You would though, wouldn't you? This is Brody, that dude. Yeah, he's got a million followers on Instagram.

57:28Luke Moore: Brody the dude, yeah. Just a couple shy of Vazinha and all the other players in this tournament. But I would encourage the rest of the United Kingdom to get behind Britain South when we play Norway in the next round. Also, if we're going to Miami, let's get an XL bully out there.

57:42Marcus Speller: There we are.

57:44Luke Moore: There we are. A little bit of protection. Today, we've got the small matter of Portugal versus Spain. I'm excited for that. I'm so excited for that. Oi, is he going to start Cristiano Ronaldo, Luke Ball? I think he might play all 101 minutes. and I think we might see we can do it over under on the amount of touches he gets in the box you can't rule out a penalty I reckon Cristiano Ronaldo will have fewer than three touches in the Spain penalty area tonight check back with me later on how many goals have we scored I mean he'll be up against Eric Laporte who he knows from the Saudi league well he does even Laporte's gone yeah I need to get back to Europe now also it's a win-win for us because if Spain go through Cristiano Ronaldo inevitably cries and we haven't got to put up all this nonsense on the world stage again and if Spain go out, I think England can beat Portugal.

58:31So it's a win-win.

58:33Luke Moore: Yeah, other half of the draw. Just the Roberto Martinez. Think of the final. I am. I'm always thinking of the final. You know me. You of all people. Are you staying up for US-Belgium? 1pm kickoff here? 1pm? 1am kickoff here?

58:43Marcus Speller: It's our job. We've got to. I think I might, you know. We've got to. Florian Balligan's playing, apparently. Can the Donald have a word about Gerard Conzer? Who would you trust to have that conversation? Starmer or Burnham? It's a really good question. Burnham

58:58Luke Moore: I'd go back to Mandelson it's not the thing with the Quanser thing it's not worth you'll see in the emails I'm a good friend listen it's not worth the 45 minutes it would take to explain to Old Trump who Joe Alquanzar actually is to do it he tweeted Old Trump and he's like Harry Crane's a great player great player what a player Harry King Joe Alquanzar never heard of him never heard of him let's rescind that red card okay thanks for listening to the Football Roundmore part of the Acast Greater Network thank you to everybody who's joined us live on YouTube it's been an absolute pleasure Vish and I will be back tomorrow with Pete Donaldson lovely so you got some more Norwegian cheese what's he going to bring in tomorrow it has to be some kind of Portuguese or Spanish themed food just bring him come on yeah or some Belgian frites maybe or some American hot dog a hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog we're in the next round baby see you on Saturday lots of love

59:58The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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