Not sunny in Philadelphia | 2026 FIFA World Cup

0:00I tell myself, it's not about comparing. But then I start wondering, what can they lift? Are they adding more weight to their barbell than I am? And suddenly, I'm not training. Then I realize, my journey is not theirs. I've earned every step. So I smile. My smile is the shape resilience takes to keep me moving. To put more smiles out into the world, Colgate has supported female athletes for over 50 years with the Colgate Women's Games, the nation's longest-running indoor track and field series for girls and women. Colgate, your smile is your strength. Hi, this is Jonathan Fields, host of The Good Life Project.

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1:24responsibly farmed or sustainable wild caught. So fire up that grill and get all of this and more at your local Whole Foods market for in-store shopping as well as pickup and delivery. I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval. We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. while employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants.

2:05Employees get unblocked and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT. We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash ACAST. Support for this podcast is brought to you by Walden University. Ever catch yourself thinking, what if I could go after what I actually want and really make a difference? You're not alone. And that's exactly why I want to tell you about Walden University.

2:45For over 50 years, Walden has helped working adults like you get the W with the knowledge and skills to build the future you want and make a difference where it matters most. If you've been waiting for the right moment, this is it. Head to waldenu.edu and take the first step. Walden University, set a course for change. Certified to operate by Shev. This episode is sponsored by Boss, the businesswear provider for the U.S. men's national soccer team. The biggest stage in soccer is set, and the US men's national soccer team are ready to go on home soil. The eyes of the world will be on the team even when they're not on the pitch,

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4:13Luke Moore: Express yourself, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. Messi, Mbappé and Haaland were at it again. It's Tuesday, 23rd of June. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Jim Campbell.

4:37Luke Moore: Happy England Day, everybody. that's the big takeaway from today's show oh hey how about that yes I tell you what it's tonight England vs Ghana tonight we've recorded a special live preview for England vs Ghana tonight 9pm British summer time last time I incorrectly said Greenwich Mean Time of course I was watching that live it was on the YouTube live stream you didn't correct him and you did it you're both guilty of sin It's now the most British summertime it's ever been. Yeah, it is. So hopefully that'll make up for it. Indeed. But you can watch the stream back on YouTube or listen back in your podcast pipe.

5:16Luke Moore: Remember, we'll be watching the game together at our Ramble Watch Party at 40 Foot Brewery in Black Horse Road, North London. Click the link in the show notes to join us. Still a few tickets left. So come along and get a handshake from me. Well, is that guaranteed? Yeah. Great. Okay. Why wouldn't I guarantee that? We'll set you up a little booth. It's true. I know how much hand sanitiser you like to use after you touch the public. I don't need no booth, Jim. No. His whole world's a booth. He does what he wants in it. It's true. Now, on Sunday, Luke said he'd never been to a pub called the Dog and Duck.

5:48Luke Moore: I haven't. Sergey from on the Discord has pointed out that there is a Dog and Duck pub near 40 Foot Brewery. Oh, no! And that's why I haven't been there. Yeah, I'm not going there. It's a rival. Exactly. I'm not going to support a rival against 40 Foot who've been very supportive of us. Matt Rogers said we could be there 15 minutes after full time. We're not going to be, Matt. We're going to be in 40 Foot Brewery. Yeah, we could be there. Maybe if it's got a license later than the 40 Foot Brewery, then we could start to talk. It would have to be much later. It would. Absolutely would, yeah. I've not been to a pub called the Dog and Duck.

6:15There wasn't one in the town I grew up in. There wasn't one in the city near where I grew up. But there's one near this building. Is there one in this building as well? Near this building, yeah. So how about that? Yeah, maybe a little crawl.

6:25Luke Moore: Yeah, we could do. Just of Dog and Duck. We can crawl there. Yeah. And then stride out all the way to 40 Foot Brewery. Right, enough of the bollocks. Let's move on to the football. Argentina 2, Austria 0. Lionel Messi became the all-time World Cup high scorer, extending the record to 18 goals in the process. He bloody loves it. Why for top scorer did none of us think Messi? Yeah, well, because he's 39 tomorrow, probably. And it still might not happen. Yeah, also that. But, I mean, he's leading the way. None of us seem to sort of consider him. I suppose as well, we were talking, weren't we, after the last game about him being a little bit of an unknown quantity in this World Cup because he's been not out of mind but certainly out of sight for a little while and he's older now but it's really glorious to see him playing completely free of pressure.

7:13Luke Moore: I think that's what we're seeing here. It looks like he's just enjoying it that they've won it now. You know he's also he's much older so the expectation's a bit lower but he's just got that free role in a very literal way but he also looks kind of figuratively freed up as well. Like Do you remember that game in the World Cup in Brazil where he just literally had the weight of the world on his shoulders in the pre-match kind of line-ups? Absolutely, because he did. This is the opposite of that. And I think it's brilliant that we get to see this version of him. They found a way to play with him, right?

7:44And you're right to say that. I think psychologically, clearly, it's a massive weight to know you've already won the World Cup. And so you can essentially go into a tournament that's being hosted where you basically live anyway at the moment and enjoy yourself. and that's an amazing luxury to have, and that's probably why we're seeing, partly why we're seeing what we're seeing. But I also think it's important, a couple of points I'll just make. One is that they found a way to play with him, right? And what he's really good at now, if you watch him, is he's really good at, essentially, the thing he'll never not be good at, even when he's 55 years old, which is basically finding space.

8:18He just bimbles around. He doesn't really press because he can't, he doesn't lead the press, he can't do the coverage and mileage that the other players do. but he can just bimble into space. And once he gets it with the ball at his feet, he's still really fucking good. And it's almost, because he's a different type of player to Cristiano Ronaldo, he's able to make a huge contribution still. They should have had another hat trick yesterday. He obviously misses the penalty. But the only thing I'll just chuck into the back of that is that it'll be interesting to see if they can carry him in that way in a quarterfinal against a really good team.

8:55Then you'll start to see whether he can take them all the way. because I think that comes into the top scorer conversation as well. Hard for him to be top scorer if he doesn't go beyond the quarterfinals, right? So we have to wait and see. Austria are pretty decent, but they're not going to win the World Cup. They're not really fancy. They're not going to go deep. And so at the moment, it's fine. And he's certainly doing a much better job and making a much bigger contribution than his big rival for the GOAT award, as everyone discusses it. Who is that these days? Yeah, exactly. But it has to remain to be seen because I don't know if you can carry...

9:31I say carry, we're not really carrying him, but I don't know if you can accommodate him for 95 minutes against France. I'll be interested in what you think about that, Marcus.

9:38Luke Moore: Well, I think that... I mean, the next game is against Jordan that they have. He could get another couple there. So in terms of Golden Boot, you know, he's well on course, but that wasn't what you were asking. Yeah, I... We're going to say this about quite literally every single team who goes through to the knockouts. It's a more specific question you're asking about Argentina, but it will be the same for everybody. What will they be like when they come up against decent opposition? The only side you might not ask that about is, or the sides which are your big hitters, France and Spain. We know what they're like against the big opposition.

10:12Luke Moore: They're bloody good. But Spain are arguably better against better. Yes. Yeah, you could argue that. So with Argentina, yeah, I mean, there's obviously question marks. We're not talking about England on this show. Obviously, we did it on the preview. But there's a lot of question marks about England still. defensively and blah, blah, blah, blah. But the Argentina one is fascinating because you are talking about probably the greatest player of all time. And you're right, you know, they found, I mean, Tim Vickery was saying that wasn't he on the BBC about how they found a way to play with him kind of last time round at the World Cup.

10:39Luke Moore: Now, I know they went to the final in 2014 and Messi had some moments there, but it does seem retrospectively incredible that they kind of just tweaked. I say tweaked, it was Scaloni who came in and did it. And it was when Messi was in advanced years. I mean, let's be honest, that the last World Cup, you know, in footballers' years, he was quite old. You know, he's very old this time around. You know, but as you say, Luke, they've got their system. He's also, sorry to cut in, but he's also not playing in the most competitive league. He's not playing in a league which I think necessarily tests him that much, even at this age.

11:12It was an amazing infographic that came out at the end of last month or something about chances created, expected assists, expected goals, and, you know, there's all these plot points around all these players. Messi's like way up there.

11:26Luke Moore: Yeah, but he's planted as he was even in La Liga, do you know what I mean? But obviously it's accentuated in Major League Soccer. But is it possibly the case, though, that a kind of lower intensity league has sort of helped him stay fresh? Yeah, that's what I was trying to say. Possibly, a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo. Quite. Without being disrespectful to MLS, which, you know, is always something people say before they're about to... It is more physically demanding than people think. Sure, but the power of Messi is that, I would imagine if he doesn't want to play he just doesn't play if he's got a little niggle or he thinks you know what I'm fucking tired I'm 100 years old I'm not going that way again because we've seen controversy around that we've seen how teams stadiums have been sold out or the capacity sorry the attendance has gone way up through the roof because people expect Messi to play and he doesn't play and people get pissed off I wonder if that was more at the start of his career but either way he is footballing royalty obviously and has been for a long long time and he's now massively cashing all that in and has been and fair play to him.

12:24Luke Moore: I mean, in terms of Argentina, again, to very much agree and talk about what Tim Vickery said is that Messi really, when he left Barcelona, it felt like he turned his attention to Argentina. It was like, you know what? He doesn't feel the same about PSG or didn't as he did Barcelona, certainly doesn't about into Miami. He obviously cares about that. He always wants to win. I mean, you give him a football, he's going to do his stuff. But the way that he has an Argentina, I mean, I wonder what the conversations were like. And it'd be interesting to see, you know, what's written or documentaries in the future.

12:55Luke Moore: Because does he turn around and go, right, look, come on. I want you to play to my strengths. Because those were the chats that people alluded to the fact that he had that at Barcelona, that he was actually... I mean, you can be a bit sort of critical and say, well, he was a bit of a diva in the Barcelona dressing room. He said, I want everybody to play my way and so on. or is actually that a fair conversation that some other players didn't obviously like because they're not messy. And he says, well, actually, if we play to my strengths, we can do this and we do that. He won everything. Yeah, well, exactly.

13:27Luke Moore: Over and over again. So I'm not really too interested in, did he say that in a certain tone or not? The fact is he's quite possibly the best player of all time. You should play to his strengths. And that's what Argentina have been doing in this World Cup. And obviously the last World Cup is the great example of that. when they get to the knockouts it will be fascinating to see but right now you have a team who are loving it Messi is loving it and they all know their jobs their blah blah blah all the cliches are there they will take some beating because the thing with Messi you're right to say Luke about that intrigue if he is 39 or he's about to turn 39 he goes in fits and spurts it's not the whole game but the fact is those spurts are so effective and so devastating Because the ball at his feet is sensational and we saw that from the two goals.

14:17But to put a little finer point in it, Jim, what I was just saying or trying to get at was, yeah, you can get into a position with him where you get him on the ball and he can burst into the penalty area and do his thing. I mean, the first goal they scored yesterday was amazing and his finish was superb. But if you're going against France or even maybe England and England have that period they had against Croatia for 10, 15, 20 minutes, but it's all hands on deck all hands at the pump trying to keep them out keepers making saves people are putting their foot in people are pressing to try and get the ball back can they effectively play with 10 men in that kind of environment?

14:54Luke Moore: Well I that's where you will see the effectiveness of those other nine outfield players. Yeah I suspect that maybe they will be able to do that because the reason I think that is that Austria aren't a bad team by any measure and he loses his marker so, so easily, repeatedly throughout that game. Now, Argentina also don't lose a lot of games. They don't concede a lot of goals. You're a big fan of Kevin Danzo, aren't you? I am actually quite invested in his approach to defending, yeah. Against the greatest player of all time. Yeah, absolutely. Disco Danzo. Austin, you're wearing a fascinating watch, actually, because they've just got absolutely no width.

15:36Luke Moore: It's like they didn't know that you could use the outside of the pitch. so that I suppose is something that has to be factored into it but again I think they've looked so so dominant in these two games Argentina in a way that I think is a sign that they're actually a very very top team and I don't think it's necessarily that they're up against opposition that are not up to them of course they're not as good as Argentina in the teams they've played but it's the way that they've just batted them aside it's clear that their true level has not been tested yet and you can't actually say that of everybody yeah I think that But you hark back to 2010 when Argentina, you know, under the late great Diego Maradona, had a marvellous squad of players.

16:18Luke Moore: And they won, I'm pretty sure they won all three group games. And they were scoring goals and then they beat Mexico in the second round fairly handedly. And then got battered by Germany. And if people are thinking, could that happen? That's not what you're saying, Luke. Because he just got found out at Maradona. Well, he did. But also as well, it was a case of, yeah, get all the good players on the pitch. You know, we'll be okay. And it was all about team spirit. Scaloni is a far better operator than that. And this team, not only do you have the individual star quality of Messi, I mean, you've also got the likes of, you know, Fernandes and McAllister and Martinez.

16:48Luke Moore: I mean, if you've been Julian Alvarez coming off the bench, for crying out loud, you know, you've got it there. But Scaloni has a system and it works. And I think that, I think the system, I've not put them down to go on and win the tournament, but I think the system is more robust than what people might think. And I think with Messi floating about, as Jim says, that will always put the willies up the opposition. but you have Rodrigo de Paul you've got McAllister Fernandez Almeida in the midfield behind him these are hard bastards they are but let me just come back in on that because you list those names off and everyone knows those names everyone who watches football knows those players but if you get that kind of that midfield defensive square in the middle of the pitch yesterday well what is it it's Lissandro Martinez Christian Romero Alexis McAllister and Enzo Fernandez how many of them have had a good season this season Yeah, but does it...

17:37And Fernando's hat. Probably one. I was going to say one. I'll give it to you. Sure.

17:41Luke Moore: But they put the Argentina shirt. They could become somebody else. Okay. Genuinely, I'm not... But we're not living in some fucking Marvel Studios universe. No, but that's not a flippant comment, Luke. But the point... It is quite flippant because the point is that it backs up the point I'm making, which is that they clearly can be got at. I think... I get Jim's point. Have they been fully tested yet? No. Do the best teams in the World Cup generally get tested in the group phase? if they get put in a tough group sometimes, you might see France tested by Norway next, but generally speaking, no.

18:10So it's about building your momentum up, which is why I said last week, you know, you want to play a shit team first and you kind of build your way into it. I still think this question mark's over as Argentina side. Fine, but the only thing I'll push back is... Part of the reason for that is because Messi is old and because half the team haven't had a very good season.

18:24Luke Moore: But the only thing I have to push back on is not a flippant comment because that's the whole point. We see it with Brazilians, Argentinians in particular. They love playing for the national team. It doesn't really matter what happens. I think you're being flippant. Fine.

18:43Hannah, I just Venmo'd you for dinner. Obsessed.

18:46Luke Moore: I'm literally spending it right now on the lip gloss that's been sitting in my cart. What do you mean spending it right now? You instantly spend your balance with the Venmo debit card. Stop. Say more. More exactly. The more you do with Venmo, the more you get. Like earning up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash. Get the Venmo debit card or check out online. Venmo stash bundle terms and exclusions apply. Max$100 per month. See terms at venmo.me slash stash terms. Venmo checkout not available at all merchants. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. I'm Jake Stouck, co-founder and CEO of Serval.

19:22We built Serval to automate the IT work that slows companies down. Onboarding, password resets, access to applications, my laptop stopped working. while employees wait for help, their real work is put on hold. IT desperately wants to automate this work and that's why they need Serval. You just tell Serval what you want to automate in plain English and it's built. No drag and drop workflows, no expensive consultants. Employees get unblocked and IT teams go from drowning in tickets to building what actually matters. With Serval, IT becomes the AI engine powering the entire company. This is a new way to run IT.

20:00We guarantee you'll automate 50 % of all tickets and we'll prove it to you in a free four-week pilot. Go to serval.com slash ACAST. That's S-E-R-V-A-L dot com slash ACAST. Hi, this is Jonathan Fields, host of The Good Life Project. What if your home could welcome you at the door, energize your kitchen, and calm your bedroom all automatically? With Pura's family of smart diffusers, you can send every space perfectly. Choose premium, clean fragrances, adjust the intensity, and set schedules right from your phone. It's whole home scenting designed for the way you live. Build your Pure system today at pure.com slash whole home.

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21:32Luke Moore: Is there a concern that Messi might be their only goal threat? You know, because... Oh no, terrible. Yeah, if you are looking for reasons that... But Jim, no football fan for club or country has ever gone, Oh, we've only got Messi. Yeah, but 39 year old Messi. Yeah, he's 38 till he's 39. Five goals at this tournament Messi. Yeah, exactly. Should've been six. Poor penalty though, you gotta say that. You do have to say it. It was very bad. Something we can all agree. He's missed more penalties than World Cups than any other player, hasn't he? Fraud. He didn't want to break the record with the penalty.

22:02I'll tell you what though. If you're going to do that, then stick it in the stand. Here's a little top tip for you. Go on. Get on whichever betting emporium is your most preferred, and have a little punt on the most shots from Cristiano Ronaldo possible you can have tonight. That geezer is going to have about 15 shots from everywhere tonight. Absolutely.

22:21Luke Moore: He'll be shooting from kickoff. I'll tell you what, Ronaldo last night is one of the toughest wanks he's had, watching that Argentina game. does he normally do that when he's watching Argentina ask him I won't but yeah look I'll tell you what we're going to be watching that game at 40 Foot Brewery we will be I implore everybody when we're watching that game every time he has a shot whee there'll be a lot of ways every time he has a shot Marcus will do a shot yes okay yeah of Fanta fine you'll be up all night I probably will go to the hospital at some point for a good old do you know what I mean though honestly Cristiano I mean speaking of flipping points it sounds flipping but he is going to be shoot from everywhere.

22:57Do you know what, though?

22:58Luke Moore: That's, again, it goes back to the point of what we were saying. Roberto Martinez, if he had the nous, if it was indeed possible to put him on the bench, how much would Ronaldo be wound up? And if you want that chaos factor, if you want that urgency, I nearly said intimacy there, that's certainly don't want that. That's not going back to the wanking. I think we are. If you want that urgency and so on, you bring him on for the last 10, 15. Nothing could make, listen. I know. It's going to be I'll tell you what, if England win in a routine way against Ghana tonight, and they might not, and they want to be arrogant about it.

23:32But there's a chance they might. If they do, there's a really good chance I would enjoy Portugal drawing a blank against Uzbekistan even more. I'd love to see Bruno Fernandes getting really wound up by Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal feel to me they're inevitably going to knock England out.

23:46Luke Moore: Yeah, I know what you mean. Have the last laugh. Ronaldo scores a penalty to first half. Oh, it's going to happen! It's just sickening. It's the most sick. Can you think of a more sickening way to go out to World Cup than that? Absolutely not. I could probably think of one, but that will do for now. I think Scotland knocking us out wouldn't be as bad as that. Or, Messi doesn't marry on a handball. It's all that's left. Do you know what? I did think that, because if you follow it through, it is possible, one doesn't want to be presumptuous, but it wouldn't surprise me if Argentina found themselves in a semi-final.

24:13Luke Moore: And it is possible that England, look, it's the World Cup, we know blah, blah, blah, blah. It's possible any team could still play anybody, apart from Turkey. I'd like an Iraq Iran final. A Mesopotamia Classico. Well What's the chances of that? Very I think Zero What's Ray Winston? Give me the chance Have a bang on that Have a bang on the Mesopotamia Classico Yeah All that's left for Messi Is to score A winning goal A controversial winning goal Against England And either that Or Ronaldo penalty Is going to do it And there was a woman In the crowd With a sign saying 100 year old Messi fan Yeah that was AI She was actually 25 Yeah exactly A load of bollocks She was at the previous World Cup with a sign saying Mary Mimesi.

24:53Luke Moore: The first World Cup by the sound of it. I just, well, I was... In Uruguay. She could have been. She could have been, yeah. If she had 100, she could have been four years old in the Uruguay World Cup. Just leave him alone. Yeah. Okay? That's all right. No, leave him alone. Stop stalking him. When you're old, you get away with doing whatever you want, don't you? No, I suppose so. When you get really old, I remember my granddad, he died last year, God bless him, 94 years old. Last 10 years of his life, just saying whatever he wants. People walk in the room, you've put on weight. You say what you want.

25:24Luke Moore: Yeah. So she can do what you like. Within the realms of the law. Yeah. It's not against the law to say you're a 100-year-old Messi fan, is it? It's not. You're absolutely right. It'd be very creepy to be stalked by a 100-year-old. Christy Aronado... How's I got the energy to be everywhere I am? Christy Aronado walked in front of it and started to keep you up in front of it. Is it like me as well? Is it like me? Oh, dear. Elsewhere in the group, Algeria came from behind to beat Jordan 2-1, eliminating them from the World Cup. It's sad, isn't it? I feel like I've hardly got to know Jordan. I know, I know.

25:54Luke Moore: Did you see those scenes back in Jordan where, I forget where in the country it was, but it was an old Roman amphitheatre where they were watching the game and it looked like the greatest place on earth to watch a football match. It was absolutely amazing. You've been to Jordan. Would you like to use some of your experience to tell us a bit about how disappointed they'll be to go home? I think as human beings watching football, they'll be gutted. They'll be crying all the way to Petra. I don't know why they'd be going there but yeah cheer themselves up lovely spot yeah have a bit of back was it was it Matafe said the other day when Egypt scored they were cheering from Cairo to Giza yeah from all the way from Cairo to Giza which is like apparently an eight minute drive or something yeah so you know the magnificent Tim Morgan our mate yeah I saw him retweet that on the old X and said that's a bit like the time I heard someone say I like all music from Madonna to Lady Gaga

26:50Luke Moore: but yeah so sad for Jordan I am sad for Jordan but the good people of Lawrence in Kansas will be loving this because their boys Algeria won a game absolutely welcome back yeah I mean you could see a lot of um let's say obvious non-Algerians in the crowd and it was great yeah great yeah so if the World Cup comes to your nation yes it's absolutely fine to you you've to adopt a team that's... Totally. Well, in 1960, there was a couple of people phoned into the radio at the start of the World Cup. I didn't hear the North Korea one, but I heard that a guy was saying that they, I forget exactly where it was in England now, but the Portugal team were training and were based where he lived.

27:33And it was quite a small place. He was talking about like, you know, Eusebio knocking about and everyone was like, it was really exciting, you know, and he looked out for Portugal's results ever since.

27:40Luke Moore: I can't remember where it was, was it, it might have been Sunderland or something, where North Korea were training there. Right, could have been, yeah. And they took them to the hearts. Can I talk to you about a situation in... I think since they've left their hearts, though. I think they probably would have done, yeah. Can I talk to you about the possible situation regarding the final game between Algeria and Austria? Oh, this is very interesting. Are West Germany about to screw over Algeria? What's going on here? What is going on here? Algeria might get some revenge here, though. It's a blast of the past.

28:08So basically, it could be a situation where, regarding Algeria and Austria, they might both be better off losing because the team that finishes second in Group J will have to face Spain in the next round. And the team that finishes third will most likely have to play either Egypt or Belgium, which is a much better game to play. I think that's fair to say. But I suppose the gamble would be you're banking in yourself being in that good enough third place spot. Exactly. Which at the moment is the case, but it might not be. But ultimately, anyway, if you want to, one of the vagaries of this 48 team World Cup is kind of similar to when it was a 2014 World Cup.

28:49It doesn't go well, right? So you have to do these third place teams. Everyone knows that. But ultimately, it can mean that you can manipulate your way a little bit more easily. So it'll be interesting how this game pans out. It's unlikely I would have wanted to watch Algeria versus Austria.

29:04Luke Moore: It's a must watch now. But now you're going to have to see in case there's any kind of tomfoolery going on. I mean, so Austria, a point would do them to finish second in the group. So that's, yeah, they could be a little... But currently they are going to play Spain. Yeah, well, that's the thing. Next Thursday. No, no, no, totally. Yeah, I understand that. I mean, it's a funny one. I feel it's... FIFA introduced the head-to-head rather than on goal difference. Head-to-head is the first port of call when separating teams. I don't like it. No, I don't like it. Because it means some teams are already out.

29:37Luke Moore: Haiti, Turkey and Tunisia are already gone now chances are they're probably going to do it but I know what you mean Jim it's they did this to get rid of dead rubbers yeah it seems to have created more yeah you've got the situation where Senegal have zero points but they could still qualify yeah and there are some teams who obviously they can't because they can only they can only catch a team who've already beaten them which is how that's panned out yeah I just think yeah it's not as interesting as a goal difference no and you think Senegal would win their last game probably so yeah But they did it.

30:08Luke Moore: The other reason about the dead rubbers is in case there's a freak result, it's unfair. But you can apply that to anything because you can have a head-to-head with a team and on that day, a bad reference decision, or maybe you had a couple of injuries and some of your main players couldn't play. Goal difference, it's representative of what you did in the group. Goal difference is better anyway because it always gives you a chance and it also encourages attacking football, as you've already said. If you get into a situation where you're head-to-head and the team you played, you played them first, you know you're done.

30:37It's nowhere near as exciting. But I guess what they would argue, I suppose, the counter-arguent would be that it's fairer because you've shown you're better than that team because you had a chance to play them.

30:46Luke Moore: True, and in every game you can't be thinking, oh, well, we'll just go for a point or something. But yeah, the aforementioned Turkey have gone. I tell you what, that Instagram video we clipped up and put on there, that's really struck a nerve with a lot of people in Turkey. The whole of Turkey seem to be furious with their team and expressing that on our video. After those cars all drove across to Bosphorus. and for once not at us which is great apart from one person called us stupid Americans which is fair if the cat's fit by the way they should never have got Andy Brassel to do their team talk before the game started alright coming up after this it's not always sunny in Philadelphia yeah

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33:57Our my

34:01No! No!

34:11No!

34:16No!

34:33Luke Moore: How many goals has he scored? There's still 20 seconds left.

34:55Luke Moore: Come on back to the Football Ramble, everybody. But it's fair to say that he's won all the hearts and minds of his countrymen. That's what plays in Marcus. Everybody scores in six or five. Right then. France three, Iraq zero. Lightning. Yes. Not talking about killing Mbappe's pace, although you could. But heavy storms with high winds, potential tornadoes, all expected before the game in Philadelphia. And we've had our first delay. And it was a significant delay, of course, at half time. Yes, before the game, fans were warned not to travel to the game if they hadn't already. Oh, you'd be fuming if you listened to that.

35:30Luke Moore: You're going, aren't you? Yeah. You shouldn't because of health and safety, but you... Yeah. No one's been struck by lightning. It would have been a bad call not to go. I'm not encouraging people to go out and play in the lightning. Good, by the way. I do think that, like, you know, you can take some personal responsibility if you want. And go out in the storm. We can. Did we used to go out in storms when we were kids? Oh, we had nothing else to do. Yeah, probably, yeah. It was pre-internet. Yeah. But the weather wasn't that bad. Just going out in storms and falling down wells. Yeah. That's what we were doing.

35:59To be fair, though, they did really well in Philadelphia to get the game up and running on time. And then, obviously, the weather was bad. I mean, towards the end of the first half, it got pretty bad.

36:08Luke Moore: It looked amazing. It's a shame there wasn't a goal in that period because it would have been an iconic World Cup goal. Off the bar with the bar with the water shaking by the slow motion. That would have been great. The good thing about having a game delayed and all the storms is they didn't have a hydration break in the second half. No, there you go. It also... All the advertisers, all the commercials, they had their fill. They had their fill. You've had enough in the neck about that. It felt like two separate games. Yeah. Which is kind of a danger of it, I suppose. France won them both, though.

36:34Ultimately, yeah, they did. Ultimately, the safety of, as I said what I've just said, the safety inside the stadium particularly, that's the most important thing. I mean, it'll be, I mean, I suppose, where was this game against Philadelphia, right? So, I mean, generally speaking, you kind of think of those types of storms, the flash flooding storms and stuff. they're down in the south of the US so you'd be hoping that you're not going to get one in like a semi-final or a final and that would be a disaster if that happened last night that happened in the final that's a disaster

37:03Luke Moore: it's possible isn't it quickly penalty shoot hurry up I don't care don't do your deep breath you've just got to take them no stuttering no stuttering penalties you've got to get this done dizzy pens yeah oh that would be awful wouldn't it but yeah but Kylian Mbappe though he loves the World Cup I tell you what what I absolutely love about his approach is he's just having a pop. He knows that he's got the technique where he can hit it hard, he can hit it true. For a lot of goalkeepers, that is a problem, especially in the group stage. I know that Mendy's obviously a good goalkeeper, but he's trying his luck.

37:35Luke Moore: And he made some good saves. He did, yeah. And he's also, he's scored Michael Alisa's trade goal there, isn't he? Yes. Is there nothing he can't do? On his weak foot as well. Yeah, unbelievable strike. On his weaker foot. I wonder if the keeper could have done slightly better. Yeah, he should have done for sure. But he did make some other good saves. That's what I mean though. he's just chancing his arm isn't he? And I think ultimately Messi getting that record for World Cup goals is ultimately going to be quite irrelevant because he's going to hang it hold on to it for about as long as Dick Avakar's got the oldest manager job or whatever it is.

38:03Are you thinking about

38:04Luke Moore: overtaking him in this World Cup? Hugo Bruce or whoever Yeah yeah for about three days. Well no but maybe not but eventually he will. And what was quite telling about this game I thought was despite the break of two hours as you said Marcus France basically did what they did in the first game. move through the gears, you know, sort of, you know, sussed out, you know, who they're playing against, what they were like. I actually didn't think in the first half, I'm not going to say the unthinkable, say Iraq could have got something out of it if there wasn't a delay, but I do think that in the transition and in terms of their shape, Iraq were actually fairly good.

38:40No, I agree with you. They were decent. I do agree with you. They didn't really have the belief or the proper execution to really commit to countering. But in the transition, they weren't terrible. Do you feel that one of the problems with playing against France

38:56Luke Moore: is you commit? If they hit you on the break, the pace they have. They're such a difficult side of players. But it's not just the pace, is it? Because they are also so adept at a simple long ball that means pace isn't necessarily even a factor in it. They do the basics to such a high standard that actually quite often I found myself looking at France and thinking they're actually playing a really simple game here. They do play quite simple. They do play quite simple. They play short game, short balls when they're supposed to. They play long balls when it's better. They've got amazing talent, obviously, but they don't overcomplicate it.

39:28And I think that's a big part of it. But on the Iraq side of it, I just don't want to make it all about France because we'll talk about France a lot. And Iraq aren't going to be around for that much longer in this tournament. So might as well talk about them a little bit. They kind of caught between two stools. when they got back into position when there was a slower build up for France they got back into position quite well their shape was decent the problem is they lacked a commitment to going forward I think they just thought if we do push because they had a decent outlet down the left hand side put a few good crosses in

39:53Luke Moore: but they were maybe burned for that against Norway because they actually they equipped themselves well particularly that first time against Norway I think they were and they've been drawn in a really tough group and I think if they thought if we commit even just one extra body going forward this could be a cricket score and we just don't want that so I think ultimately they can hold their heads high But France moved through the gear. But it was a signal that second goal. Because actually, you get in at half-time at 1-0, France look like that they can take it up a gear, obviously because they can, and they showed that they did.

40:20Luke Moore: But they were in the game. At 1-0, you're always in the game. And I think getting at half-time, 1-0. But that second goal, it's such a signal. And that just kills them. Especially, you know, given what happened in the first game as well with Erling Haaland. I know, I know. Who'd you blame for that second goal? Keeper for me. Yeah. Yeah, he's not set properly and he's not reactive enough. He's on his heels, isn't he? I mean, yeah. It's the last thing you want to be doing. It's a very unfortunate one. Yeah. I mean, it feels like maybe the occasion kind of overwhelmed him a bit and they make those errors and that's the end of it.

40:49Luke Moore: I mean, I suppose as well, you know, you've got to factor in the two-hour break in the middle. You're not fresh, you're not focused. We don't have a lot of kind of examples of how this affects teams because it happens so rarely, but can't help, can it? No. No, it can't, Jim. But Kylian Mbappé, yeah, got another couple of goals. He's in the run for the golden boot, of course. He's also scored 16 World Cup goals now, which equals the previous record held by Miroslav Klose. Yeah, who we wouldn't necessarily fall down that list more and more. Absolutely, because it is boring that he was the World Cup top scorer.

41:18Luke Moore: Because when it was Ronaldo, the great Ronaldo Nazario, that felt right. And then Klose obviously took it off in that game against Brazil. It was a dagger blow to my heart when he took it. I know. Miroslav Klose, great forward. Great story as well. Yeah, amazing story. But on the other side of the ledger, never scored an interesting goal and is quite literally German. So you can't endorse it. You can't endorse that kind of behaviour. Not in a World Cup, yeah. No way. Not in a World Cup, yeah. Staying with records, Didier Deschamps has now equaled the record for most wins as a manager at a World Cup.

41:52Luke Moore: 16 games. Currently shared with former West Germany manager Helmut Schön. There you go. There you are, you see. He'll get that record by the tournament. I don't think so. Yeah, probably in the next group game, you'd imagine. I mean, Dembele's goal was his first at a tournament for France as well. It was quite surprising. Do you fancy France to beat Norway? It'd be a good game. Good question, that. It's going to be a good game. Yeah, I think they probably will edge that, yeah. Yeah, they are a better side. That Dembele fact is right up there with the Egypt fact for me. Egypt had never won a game in the World Cup.

42:24Luke Moore: But Egypt, obviously Egypt, I think they were the first African nation to qualify in 34, but they went years and years and years without playing in the World Cup. But that in itself was unusual, though, wasn't it? But they have not qualified for the World Cup, but that's part of it. Exactly, and that's the biggest argument probably for expanding it and making it easier for African teams. For Egypt particularly. Well, I mean, Egypt have been the best team in Africa a lot and still not done anything in the World Cup. And they literally won their first game this year. So the imbalance is clearly obvious.

42:51Luke Moore: Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fair. Well, they got it. But Norway beat Senegal 3-2, talking of African teams. Senegal, ah. They imploded as well, Senegal. I know, and they're a decent side. again, it's a really tough draw for them. They still have a slight chance of going through. And they had a chance to equalise right at the death. I mean, it was a tough one to take. I don't think it was a glaring miss. But it was too little too late ultimately. But what about Norway, though? You talk about teams who never qualify. I mean, the first time they've qualified since 98, there was a lot of chat about this Norwegian side and thinking, are they going to be the side who everybody talks about?

43:23Luke Moore: And all dark holes and all that kind of thing. And then they turn up and don't do it. Well, they are doing it, Jim. They've scored seven goals in their first two games. Erling Haaland's got four. That second finish is so, so good. Because it's not actually a great ball into him. He's got a lot to do and he just does it like it's the easiest thing to do. He's on his weak foot as well. I think Erling Haaland is underrated. I genuinely do. Because people don't necessarily give him the credit for the types of finish that he manages to pull out from seemingly nowhere. because I think, oh, he's just a big, you know, kind of...

43:58Luke Moore: Target man or something. Big target man, very strong, physically stronger than everyone he's up against. So it's easy for him because he can just brush people aside. There's so much more to his game than that. Oh, definitely. So much more. His mobility is incredible. He missed a sitter. He did miss a sitter. Well, goalkeepers not learn now. Yeah. He snatched like that, though. He could have taken an extra time. I don't know, but goalkeepers, like, it's okay to play long against Norway because it means you're not going to... I mean, you just have to get rid of it. He just, the way he bears down on a keeper, like I say, it's like something out of a quiet place, you know?

44:23Luke Moore: It's just insane. The only mad thing is he didn't actually put it in. The best compliment you could pay to Haaland is that he is probably the most similar in terms of attributes to the original Ronaldo. I know what you mean. Because he's a velvet, he's an iron fist in a velvet glove. His movement is sensational. He's not got the dribbling, but... No, he's not. He's not got the dribbling. But he's not, I mean, to be fair, for his size and for the type of game you play, he's not a bad dribbler. No, no, no. He's very fast. I don't think he's as good as Ronaldo, but I think he's kind of similar in profile.

44:58And he's a nightmare to play against. Because despite being massive, you never really know where he is either. He gets space so easily. And that goal you're talking about, when it comes across, he has to open his body up. It's a really difficult height and it's on his weak foot and he still steers it in off the crossbar. It's just mad. It's amazing stuff.

45:16Luke Moore: I also like the, in the incident you talked about earlier where he bears down on the goalkeeper, he ends up hitting the post. but I think is it Martin Odegaard picks it up and moves it in and they create another chance from it they look like an elite attacking force and that's the thing with this group of players isn't it you're looking at them thinking oh I hope they can sort of deliver on the sum of their parts and be as entertaining as they were in qualifying and as all of the players they have in the team suggest they will be and they absolutely have and it's great but again you look at the side though there's a few similar names but it's not a star-studded line-up obviously Odegaard and Haaland are the two.

45:52Luke Moore: You've got Sarlot in there. Aya plays at the back for them. He's a primarily established player. He is, yeah. And Sander Berger, I've obviously watched a lot at Fulham this year. But it is Starla Solbachen who's done very well in moulding this team and getting the best out of them. You know, the fact that Solot is on another, at any other time, he's front and centre for Norway. And so I think you have to include him as part of that group of good players though. I named him in there and I'm saying that Solbaken has done incredibly well to kind of, you know, create this and curate it in a way that is getting the best out of Haaland, of course.

46:28Luke Moore: But Odegaard and so on and so forth. Because there is on the odd occasion where a nation like Norway, they have a crop of players where maybe they're slightly mismanaged or it's not quite there. But they're at the World Cup. They qualified with aplomb. They've won the first two games there, isn't it? The knockouts. No one wants to play them. I'll give France problems. I mean, I think Deschamps will be pleased they're playing Norway. next. It's a proper test for them. And it's in a kind of not a kind of low stakes environment but ultimately they're already through. I mean they'd like to win the group of course but ultimately it'll be a good test for them.

47:00It'll battle harden them a bit more. I thought, having said what we just said about Norway, most of which I broadly agree with you know, Senegal were architects their own downfall. I mean, Koulibaly it was a sad denouement of, you know, he used to be a great player and he's now ages caught up with him badly. This will be his last tournament you'd think. he was biblically poor.

47:22Luke Moore: Even Mendy for the first goal. Mendy, yeah, he makes an error. He made some other good saves but he made the two midfield players. I mean Idrissi Gay is obviously a great seasoned Premier League operator but his best years are behind him as well. Mane did okay. Saar was pretty good. You know, got two goals. That's the thing, like, front three of Saar, Nicholas Jackson and Sadio Mane, not bad. No, it's not. So you'd think that is a front three at least that would get you through the group phase but they've unfortunately been drawn in a really, really tough group. So we'll have to see what happens.

47:53Luke Moore: I mean, they might get through. You'd think they'd beat Iraq. Yeah, you would. And, you know, it would go down to goal difference and all that kind of stuff. I mean, they're on minus three. I think, you know... They need to whoop Iraq, basically. Yeah, they do. A three-nil victory, you'd expect them to go through two-nil, maybe. So I think that would be a tasty one. That's where the head-to-head, obviously, you know, because it would be against those remaining teams. So we shall see. One thing that the Norwegians have been doing is the old rowing chant celebration. What do you think about this?

48:21Luke Moore: David Carpenter just doesn't like it. I'm into it. Okay. It's part of the colour, isn't it, of the World Cup? Is it they're trying to do their own version of the Icelandic clap? Seems like that. I think they just are doing that, aren't they? It's not that they're trying to do it. But they're trying to get it to be a moment. Is it performative is what I'm saying? I mean, of course it's performative, but that's okay, isn't it? I don't know how long they've been doing it. They all sat down in the middle of Times Square and started doing it. Is it performative? The Parliament did it. Norwegian Parliament.

48:48Did you see the building?

48:49Luke Moore: Yeah, that was in celebration of Andy Burnham coming in. Did you see the Norwegian Parliament footage? The building they sit in is amazing. Oh, yeah. It's incredible. This looks like a Game of Thrones. It's amazing. Yeah, and that's what you want. Yeah, it's on brand for them. On that, there's been so much weird stuff around the World Cup that we perhaps haven't mentioned this. I quite like the pre-match ribcage that the players emerge through. You know, they walk through a little tunnel. Yeah. It's these big plastic things that look like upturned ribs, like they're walking through the corpse of a giant whale or something.

49:22A kraken's boneyard. Yeah, it's really weird.

49:24Luke Moore: It is like a kraken's boneyard. Yeah, nice. Although, would a kraken have ribs? Don't know. A whale's boneyard at the very least. That's where Gianni Infantino lives in a kraken's boneyard. So it can't make sense. In his true form. Yeah, exactly. Vecna. Vecna Infantino. Deary me. Well, tonight's games involve, as you said earlier, Portugal versus Uzbekistan, England versus Ghana, Panama versus Croatia, and Colombia versus DR Congo. Colombia, DR Congo is a nice one. Against a good doctor? Yeah. What's the doctor going to prescribe tonight? Our man's there. Our man's there, isn't he? He is there.

49:56He's made it.

49:57Luke Moore: The guy doing the super fan. Lumumba. Lumumba statue guy. Yeah, it was odd seeing footage of him walking through, was it an airport tournament? He needs to be carried through there. And he was smiling, and I was like, oh, he's broken character. Put him on one of those little golf carts like at airports. He'd stare at the back like that all the way through. Had they have done that. That would have been genuinely magnificent. I like, listen, on the games tonight, I'd love to see Uzbekistan give Portugal a bloody nose. Mostly because of Ronaldo. Yeah, England-Gauna, who are you cheering for? I'll be cheering for England in that game.

50:26Traditionists like it. Panama versus Croatia, don't care. Colombia versus the good doctor. That's a good game for me. That is a lovely game. Colombia are a great team to watch. I'd love to see the good doctor do something as well. It's just plenty to get stuck into. The problem is, after an England game that Portugal game sorry that Columbia game is going to test you because that is on late. I mean let me just double check what time that's on. That is on at three in the morning.

50:50Luke Moore: How late is the dog and duck's license? Yeah. You have to check. Yeah. Not sure because you don't have a dog and duck and duck and duck yourself Jim. There's another or you could go home and watch it or that. Yeah. And be boring. You could be a loser and watch it at home. Stay out straight through crew Jim. Stay right. Go on, let's all come back here. There we are. Thanks for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the Acast Creator Network. Please go and listen to our England preview. It's up. And yeah, we're all talking all things England. Right. Well cut. Bloody love it. See you tomorrow.

51:25Luke Moore: Thanks, Jim. Thank you. Thanks, Lou. Thank you. And thank you, everybody.

51:37The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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