Off you pop, Croatia | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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4:17Luke Moore: And we all like Vindaloo, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. A point for Dr. Congo and a win for England. It's Thursday 18th of June. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Jim Campbell. I'm Luke Moore. And I'm Pete Donaldson.

4:42Ease! Ease! Ease!

4:49Jim Campbell: Ease! Ease! Ease! Ease! Ease! Ease! Ease! Croatia, you bunch of slugs! There we go! Old man slugs! Off you pop! Not even the type of slugs you keep in the garden. Absolutely right. You keep them over the back fence. They're covered in little slug pellets. They are. And salt. Yeah. Harry Kane, two slug pellets. Stuart Bellingham, one slug pellet. Marcus Rashford, final slug pellet. There we go. See you later.

5:15Luke Moore: We love a fort to win at a World Cup. See you in the quarterfile defeat. Oh, there we go, everybody. We're up and running. Now, as you heard in the intro there, that was from our World Cup watch party, which happened last night. It's fair to say we had a marvellous night. It was a capacity crowd, everyone in great spirits. It genuinely was a magnificent occasion. Thank you to 40 Foot Brewery for hosting an incredible night. We have got a special prize to celebrate, everybody. We're giving away four free tickets for our next party when England play Ghana on Tuesday, 23rd of June. Simply submit a five-star review wherever you're listening and send a screenshot to showatfootballramble.com.

5:53Luke Moore: That's showatfootballramble.com. And if you win, you'll be able to claim up to four tickets for you and your mates. We'll announce our winner on Saturday's Football Ramble. I reckon last night the assembled crowd and some of the people in this room both on the mic and behind the mic between us destroyed over well over a thousand pints of my physio last night did you know what the feedback was very very positive very strong overwhelmingly positive there was a lot of people with big jugs there were there were that was where you went after

6:23Jim Campbell: it's a rambled crowd that's why I turned up there were pictures of beer pictures of beer pictures of the American It's for the avoidance of people talking about you loving Big Jogging. Have you seen my Insta algorithm? I very much enjoyed the tacos. I have to give the taco people their juice as well. They didn't have a fork, so I was just eating meat with my hands. So apologies. You're supposed to use the taco as a Mexican sandwich. There was too much filling. That's how good the taco was. No such thing. There was ice cream sandwiches as well. And the ice cream sandwich. Marcus, I owe you an ice cream sandwich.

6:58Jim Campbell: Yes, you do. I like that one of the Instagram story videos was essentially you stealing Marcus's debit card out of his pocket. I left my phone upstairs at lunch. Yeah, what choice did you have? Who's a well-meaning fool? Who understands a sweet tooth?

7:17Luke Moore: Get me one, Pete. Anyway, Marcus, the key part of the whole evening was the fact that England delivered for us and for the assembled Ramble fans. And the other key part of the evening was the Richard Keys head was on display at full time, Peter. You were saying that you can't really see out of it, so why did you climb up the side of the screen then?

7:36Jim Campbell: I was trying to be like Eddie Fedder from Pearl Jam. Maybe the next one I'll get even higher. It's genuinely impressive when Ben did it because he was really high up when he was doing pull-ups and stuff. It's frightening. You're a man in your mid-40s. A man in his 40s who couldn't see out of the head. So some credit where it's stupid. And I've had some drinks.

7:54Luke Moore: It doesn't board well, does it? No. So yeah, for those who were asking and didn't hear the show the other day, yes, Pete has got the head back. Got the head back. And who knows? Maybe, maybe it'll appear for England versus Gardner. You can't beat a good bit of Richard Key's head after an England win. That's what I'll say.

8:10Jim Campbell: Harry Kane has received his head and he's used his head for a header. Absolutely, Peter.

8:15Luke Moore: In what was a lovely win for England. England's first 4-2 win at a World Cup since the 1966 final against Germany. What a stat. It's a stat. It's a stat. Is that a stat? I felt it was relevant. You felt it was relevant.

8:28Jim Campbell: You felt it was relevant. Oh, no way.

8:32Luke Moore: A game of two halves, it's fair to say. Tuchel, Tommy Tuchel said pre-match, I think we should play brave and play to the strengths of the players. Jim, what did you make of the whole grisly affair?

8:44Jim Campbell: So in the first half, you referenced it being a game of two halves, and it very much was, despite the fact that England scored two goals, the penalty was a funny one, wasn't it? because it was an absolute gift from Modric to give it away in the first place and then it's so rare that you see a penalty retaken it was like okay that is a slice of luck to a degree where's Kieran Lamp that little stutter what's he doing he tried to make up some story afterwards as well I know if I do that the keeper will come off his line so I get to take it again well did he actually say that yeah really he said something like that that's retconning

9:15Luke Moore: so what he said was that he's been doing the stutter actually for a bit but he had a great system before I know he missed running against France but the system he had before the kind of visualization, a little stutter at the start and then almost modeled on the, as far as I remember, Johnny Wilkinson. Yeah, the Johnny Wilkinson routine. But he changed it I think because goalkeepers knew, as we all did, that his go-to penalty became the whip to the goalkeeper's right. Which was very effective. But you can change the place you put the penalty without changing the routine. You can, but what he has been doing for a little while at Bayern, he did against Arsenal in the Champions League I remember, to give you one example, is he did do that sort of stuff he would run up and he would wait for the keeper to move.

9:54Luke Moore: Now here, this was an odd one because the start of the round just didn't work because the goalkeeper just didn't move that by. Is he rumoured with fucking Eze? It must be. That's what's happening. But what he said was...

10:06Jim Campbell: He's putting Interreling in Germany also. He thinks he knows everything. But what Harry Kane said was,

10:11Luke Moore: and I think Michael Richards or Joe Hart said on the BBC straight after, he said he'll have looked at the keeper's movements and how he goes. Levakovich. Levakovich, yeah. and he says, you know, he puts a lot of weight and basically tries to go early. So Joe Hart was looking at a very favourable angle from Harry Kane's point of view. But then what else does he do again? I mean, he knows it's ridiculous. Well, it's because he's saying that, and this is what Kane was saying, and if you see what Kane immediately said to the referee, he said, can you just make sure that's looked at? And Kane said, I was about 80 % sure he went early.

10:43Luke Moore: But that stutter was, he says he's looked at the goalkeeper's movements. If he stutters, he knows the goalkeeper's going to, his weight is going to be so far forward. So why didn't you put that side then? Yeah, it doesn't score a penalty then, does it? Your point still stands. I saw him move that way, so I thought I'd just put it at him. He's gotten bigger because he's gotten closer to me. I'm going to make him learn the hard way.

11:04Jim Campbell: Is this a view with Charlie Kane? Is this 1D chess, Kane? I think so. I think it is.

11:10Luke Moore: So Joe Hart's claim on the BBC after the match was that goalkeepers will now be wary of Kane because if he does stutter, then they'll maybe, will they go off their line? Blah, blah, blah. Do it against Ghana. It's all a bit... Don't do it against Gareth. It's all a bit tangled. The point is, just stick the penalty in the corner.

11:27Jim Campbell: I mean, it ultimately doesn't matter, does it? Because he does stick the penalty in the corner the second time.

11:32Luke Moore: And the margins of it, it's like... The penalty was given away by Luka Modric and it felt to me quite a cathartic moment because at that moment I thought, I don't need to worry about Luka Modric. 20 years of Luka Modric is hopefully finally over.

11:49Jim Campbell: But I have to say, though, in that first half, obviously the header's brilliant, but at half-time, once the Croatia get back into it, I found myself thinking, have I tricked myself into just thinking that England are going to play really free-flowing attacking football at some point just because I want that to happen? We see that at tournaments so often, don't we? You kind of get an idea of England and they don't live up to it. Well, it's a hope as well. Absolutely, yeah, because you've created it in your own mind. But that second half was like I scripted it myself.

12:18Luke Moore: But the first half, though, was interesting. We always chat to you and I was saying that it felt, I was a bit like, even straight from the off, really, the first few minutes I thought, are England trying to draw Croatia out and then hit them on the break? And it's like, no, they just look nervous. Yeah, and I think a lot of the chat that we've seen since the game has been centred around, you know, do we need to have Gaye in there? Do we need to have Rashford in there, so they're Gordon and all the rest of it. And for me, it was quite an obvious example of just, you know, it's a big tournament.

12:49It's the first game. There's a lot of expectation. Despite what people say. Yeah, the players are nervous and they just didn't execute the plan. And you could tell they didn't execute the plan because of the way Anthony Barry behaved at halftime in that interview at halftime, which was pretty revealing and actually pretty interesting. It was actually a pretty good advert for those types of interviews because normally you feel like this is a waste of time, but it wasn't. He set the bar. But before we, I mean, if you want to talk about that, obviously we can. But before, I just wanted to say that it just felt to me that Ingram were fearing their way in and they were a bit twitchy and a bit nervous and they overthought it a bit.

13:23And I wouldn't personally read too much into that. I wouldn't say that means that you need to change personal around. I don't think it means you need to throw the baby out of the bathwater. They came out in the second half and they were sensational. The first half, defensively, they made mistakes and they were tentative. And I just think that can happen. I honestly would be fine with that. I don't care too much about it. Like I say, it's the first game and England come out of it looking good anyway, really. And the other thing I just wanted to say was that what was fascinating to me was the feeling that the players seemed to have in the second half and the confidence they were given clearly at half time and also the positivity of the changes that were made by Tuchel afterwards.

14:04And I think what people can't do is they can't kind of associate this with some of the worst criticism, sorry, of the Southgate era, where it's like, we go a goal ahead or we go two ahead, and what we have, we hold. So we go 1-0 and get pegged back, go 2-1 and get pegged back. And the reason that happened last night for England wasn't the same reason it happened on the Southgate. I think that people should be really, really positive about how England played, particularly in the second half, but also with the changes that were made by the management. And if England do go out, even if they go out early, it feels quite clear to me now they're going to go out on their own terms.

14:42And that's what Tuchel said to Cain.

14:45Jim Campbell: Cain sort of said it full-time. He said at half-time, you know, get out there and if we lose, we lose on our own terms. I think England, you'd probably argue that we're the only one who've played a really top team. Like the way that it's all been seeded out is... France-Senegal. Yeah, France. And Belgium, Egypt, maybe. But I take your point. And to see how, well, you used the France example, to see how transformative Dechon, you know, changed up second half and France looked so much better. And I was thinking at the time, like England don't really do that. We don't have like this kind of person who can sort of talk.

15:19Jim Campbell: But we went through the gears, right? Yeah. And it was just so, so good. I mean, dude, do Bellingham's goal just to get it out of his feet. and just get it out of his feet and just strike it at the exact right time where the angle's right and the defender was just about to clear him out. It was just perfect. Do you know who deserves amazing credit for that goal as well? Medueke. Yeah. But the run he makes to take the defender away. Because if Medueke doesn't make that run, if Medueke says, all right, Bellingham's going, just because he's going to go himself and he doesn't bother, they can double up on him.

15:47Medueke drags the defender away because there's a chance that Bellingham could cut it back and the defender needs to be a part of that. And so it gives Bellingham the space. So it was an amazing goal. It was a great example of the positivity that you need from your attacking players is just go and stop trying to protect possession all the time. Just go and try and take a chance.

16:05Jim Campbell: And it looks like he's managing those big personalities quite well with Jude. Obviously, he's kind of in and out of the squad and he's injured for a little while and stuff. He's managed him well. And you just sort of think that if there is a difficult decision to make or say in the final group game, Harry Kane is there to be dropped for a match. He wouldn't call it dropped though, would he? He wouldn't say dropped. No, he wouldn't say dropped. Rested. a well-earned rest a well-earned rest I think Tuchel is the man to sort of do that where Southgate isn't I also I think it's great that the manager is able to get that sort of tune out of them in the second half because that's something that it's very very important to be able to stop that rot and correct your course as you know as Didier Deschamps did it's quite interesting that he's gone go out there and lose the game in his half-time talk which is quite something a bit of reverse psychology there I think what he said is look, he obviously knows at the back of his mind that they're a better team so go out there on your own terms and even if we lose we won't lose our identity and it won't be because we've not tried I actually think that's a really good way of setting about a tournament because a lot of time there's a temptation because there's so little time to make an impact people tend to be conservative the worst type of tournament football you see which England have been guilty of so many times is just sitting in and not trying to give anything away like Southgate in the last tournament.

17:25They were just trying to build and build and just inch their way. Do you know what I mean? Inch their way to the final. And this didn't happen. But it's so important, isn't it,

17:33Jim Campbell: to have someone who can just punch through that and go, no, don't do this. Because you're not going to get such a fearable draw this time. We just aren't. So they're going to have to play like that. Mexico City. Let's just see how it goes. Quite literally a tasty burrito.

17:49Luke Moore: I think that Tuchel is an elite level manager. This is why they've got him in. It's one game for crying out loud, but you're right to highlight all these things. And I think with Tuchel, he knows what he's got. And he's also got a very, very punchy assistant in Anthony Barry, because I do want to mention Tony Baz again. Because we all saw what happened in that first half. England were far too charitable with Croatia. Just fannying around on the ball. Just before that first Croatia goal, Jim I kept saying to you what's going on it felt like a pre-tournament friendship which is basically what Anthony Barry said yeah pretty much but that's it when he said all that I was like you know I know it's you know I'm talking completely as a fan here obviously but you know when you're like you get a whiff of do I know more than the England manager do you know what I mean what's going on we all wouldn't do that and when somebody comes out and says that yes of course you know the important chat is the stuff we don't hear but when you have somebody come out and basically say all that you go oh that's really reassuring sort of thing and I think he also said

18:55Jim Campbell: marzipan is delicious

18:56Luke Moore: yes exactly which was pleasing for you I tell you what no confidence boost for you after a difficult one we are totally kindred spirits but when we were watching that and he said that the players were playing with nervous energy they were making things confused and complicated they were going long when they should have gone short and vice versa and so on you sit there going yeah blimey it went back to the studio and Garen Everwood well that was punchy yeah it was but it was and a number of the players Kane and Bellingham, obviously the two of the big stars of the team, both talked about Tuchel at half-time.

19:28Luke Moore: I mean, Bellingham, well, he just... Rice did as well. What a brilliant manager, you know, because he said that. And I think that Tuchel, Tuchel, unlike, you know, okay, well, you've mentioned Southgate there. Let's mention other previous foreign managers, shall we? Because there was a little bit of chat about Tuchel when he took over. Capello just didn't get it, simply. And I know people think, why on earth are you talking about him? Well, I just want to say that Tuchel, he is from another country. I think he totally gets it I think it's comparable

19:53Jim Campbell: as well though Marcus because Capello when he came in it's easy to forget because it was so dull wasn't it it was really exciting he was like one of the best available managers in world football so I think it is

20:03Luke Moore: a fair comparison well thank you Jim I appreciate that and we had our fun with Sven yeah well a fair few people did that was the first half good second half well indeed yeah but with Tugum what he said about half time again it's that calmness because I wasn't nervous throughout this game it was just at half time I was baffled I was like what's going on here You know they've got a better Tuchel. That's Tuchel, isn't it? Yes, he basically said, as you mentioned the quote, Peter, lads, you know how to play this. And it's so reassuring, that idea of identity. He said, we want to play like a Premier League team, blah, blah, blah, blah.

20:35Luke Moore: Now, if they run out of steam in the last 32 or the quarterfinal, or whatever it may be, then he said, but look, let's do this our way. Because the worst thing is when football happens to England. And we've seen that a number of times before. And I think Southgate got us to a level which was better than we'd seen for Donkis years now let's go that extra level that's right and I think it has to be said that the 25 minutes or so after half time were some of the best you're seeing them play particularly in the tournament I mean that was blitzful they absolutely bombarded Croatia I mean Lavakovic had a worldie he was so good he made so many saves on another day I mean you just break the halves of Charlie that Nick O 'Reilly header was he is such a threat

21:16Jim Campbell: he had a really good header and a really shit one the one where he just should have steered at the back post he put it yeah I don't know how he managed but he had another really good one where the keeper made a brilliant save on another day he just completely broke the hearts I mean like Roy King said you could have scored seven and seeing Declan Rice enjoy working with the striker is never not good because like it's that out swing car and Harry's just unmarked fuck up but that header

21:40Luke Moore: I honestly thought is Dan Byrne on the pitch he just ran off the bench you know what was also amazing was that after Inger had that 25-minute spell or whatever, pretty much exactly to the minute when that started to die down slightly, he brought on Rodgers, Saka and Rashford. It's not too bad. Yeah, I mean, that's so positive.

22:01Jim Campbell: When you looked at the French bench, you were just like, oh, God. But then that's an oh, God, as well, isn't it? But he pushed James into midfield, he moved Bellingham around, and he made it super positive, and then obviously Rashford scores. And I think it was a fairly quiet night for Gordon. I think it's a big occasion for him. I totally understand that.

22:17Luke Moore: I think Croatia wanted the ball over the other side. Yes, they did.

22:20Jim Campbell: And also, I think England did as well, didn't they? Because when Thomas Tuka was having a go at Jordan Pickford, it was because he passed it to the left. So I don't know what that's about.

22:28Luke Moore: Well, they're targeting Croatia's back line. They're obviously targeting Perisic and Guardiola, I guess. But the old men... Oh, you keep taking that side and Guardiola encroaching the penalty area. Honestly, I promise you. The old men of Croatia, right? Look, again, they're warriors and you'd still fancy them to go through. You know, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, I mean, the last thing they want is Rashford and Rodgers as you said Saka coming on it's just like Oh it's a heartbreaker for them Yeah it is and England you know great for Rashford to score as well took his goal really really well and England they needed that fourth because you know Pickford it was a comfortable save but he still had to make it

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26:14Luke Moore: But we're talking about England going forward. Very, very positive four goals. You can't really argue too much about that. At the back, though, there's work to be done. Yeah, I mean, I talked a bit about that. There is, and I think people, I've seen a lot of chat this morning already around, you know, gay comes in for stones and that's what we need to do to make a change. I don't know about knee-jerky reactions like that because I think Stones is still England's best centre-half. You just need to put it in context. I don't think that England conceded two goals because their defensive makeup is wrong or the balance of the team is wrong or because the personnel isn't right.

26:46I think they conceded two goals because they got in their own heads and tried to overcomplicate it and were really nervous. And I think it's interesting to see that because they're pros and a lot of them experienced. But it can happen to anyone. that thing and I wouldn't read too much into it. I promise you that I would put decent money on the fact that for the next game Tuchel won't change much. He might put Rashford in for Gordon. He might put Gaye in for Stones. There's not going to be a big change. Because the reason you have to equate to two things. The reason that Barry and obviously Tuchel were so pissed off was because they know how good the team should be and they know they can see it's two stupid goals by not doing what they're supposed to be doing.

27:23That's not the same as oh my god this is a fucking disaster. I just don't see that. I just don't see it.

27:28Jim Campbell: And even when the changes are made to style is going to be the same, isn't it? And the squad has been calibrated for that exact reason. Yeah, and they're going to change it because Ghana will sit in. Do you know what I mean? Other teams will sit in and try and defend a bit more. I mean, the Ghana game was a fucking poor game. Yeah, that was an absolute drain, wasn't it? Also, I think, you know, Martin Baccarina's goal was a really good goal. It was a great goal. You're right to say that, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Finally, some good fucking food! Yeah! As a Scottish chef once said. it was it was it was an enjoyable night overall and part of the reason we enjoyed it was because of the jeopardy of it because it was a bit of a you have a punch we have a punch well do you know what England has to battle themselves a little bit as well which is I think good to get that out of the way early almost

28:09Luke Moore: yeah a former member of England coaching staff Jimmy Floyd Hasselbank was saying on the radio the other day he said you actually don't want to have the perfect performance in the first game of the World Cup you almost want to kind of have some positives or maybe a couple of things to work on inevitably and so on and I think that probably was it and with that with the contrast between the first and the second half. But I thought, you know, again, all the chat at halftime, but at full time as well, it was positive. And Bellingham was interesting. I thought Bellingham was great on the day, but in that second half in particular, his goal was superb, as you've already said.

28:42Luke Moore: He was making every tackle. He was really leading. Wearing a cape, wasn't he? He was, yeah, which is what you want to see. And talking about how Tuchel's managed things, Tuchel, again, throughout the qualifying campaign, you saw some of the quotes he was coming out with with Bellingham and so on and so forth. He's basically just revved him up and said, you want to start for this team? You play the way I want to play. And I'll leave you out. I'll bloody leave you out. AKA being an actual manager. Yes. The problem is, it's difficult sometimes in certain contexts for managers to do that with big players.

29:14I mean, if you look at, say, Arbolaga at Real Madrid, really, any manager at Real Madrid, beyond the exception of, say, Zidane, Angelotti, perhaps even a Mourinho. It's hard for a manager to do that because the manager a lot of time knows he's not going to be there very long. We'll talk about Portugal in a bit. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. It's a good example when we can. But the point is that Tuchel's managed it and said, I want you to do what you're good at, but I want you to do it within this team dynamic. And you're going to do it when I say you fucking do it or you're not going to play. And he said the same with Tony.

29:42He said about Tony last year, he said publicly, which Southgate would never have done. Didn't I just be harsh with Southgate? No, but it's not about being harsh with Southgate, Marcus. I know you take a bullet for him, but it's about I'm putting it into context, the style difference. The style difference is with Southgate he would keep it all in-house and he had a great camp usually and there's no criticism of Southgate. I'm not throwing a shell on Southgate. What I'm saying is the things that Tuchel said about Bellingham, but also about Tony. With Tony he said the training and the commitment wasn't the level required, so he's not going to be in the squad.

30:12And come back onto your previous point about the fact that you don't want a perfect opening game. Absolutely, 100%. If you're a manager, you can't empathise with the manager position, it probably would be really handy to know and be confident that your team can have a setback and respond to it. That's when we talk about, I think we talked about this in the context of Arsenal earlier in the season, when they started really well. It's like, for me, there's always a question mark over a team until they have a setback. How are they going to respond to it? Because it's so easy in the Premier League, right, to go, you lose a game and all of a sudden you can't get it back.

30:41And before you know it, you've not won in five or six. And it's disastrous when you've got ambitions to win something. In this context, it's the same because there's no time to really to recover. if you lose the opening game look what happened in 2014 with England you come on the back of a bad one you have another hard team to face and you lose that and you're gone so it's absolutely perfect for Tuchel and for the coaching staff to know what they're made of this team because particularly when you take into account the idea that for 95 % of the competitive games they play they're expected to win and they normally do win so all that stuff is really helpful

31:12Luke Moore: a little bit more context I said before when we were doing our previews and I backed England to win I said no England haven't beaten the top 10 sides at the World Cup since Argentina 2002, which is not a good record. Well, you can actually push that out a little bit further because this win, Croatia, I think are 11th in the world. This is a first England World Cup win against a side ranked inside FIFA's top 15 since the Argentina victory. Which again, it's a pretty poor record and it's, look, the game is still the game and so on, doesn't add too much colour. But England have done something right here and there is something positive to take away from it.

31:49And I like the idea as well, just coming back to those three subs that came on. I like the fact that if England can play to that level of performance in the second half against Ghana and Panama, people, other teams will think, Jesus, we don't fancy them. And to me, I think the Rashford part of that is key. But in 2024, 2020 and 2018, it was almost like England had these weapons, but they either didn't know how to use them or they were frightened to use them.

32:19Luke Moore: Because they were coming out of a period where they were scared. Yeah. And I think that's it. I think the fruition of it. Perhaps, yeah, yeah. You know, it's kind of like, right, let's try and express ourselves. And Tuchel's here going, right, all that chutney that came before, whether it was good, bad, or indifferent, or whatever you want to make of it, we're here now. You know how to do this. We're going to play like this. Come on, lads. And if we do that, we're going to give ourselves a chance. And if we don't, we say, well, do you know what? We set out to do what we wanted to do. And, you know, we did it or we didn't do it.

32:46Luke Moore: As you say, we play the way you were. you die on your own sword kind of thing and honestly when I heard that the manager was saying that I thought that's music to my ears I think the phrase is you go out on your shield you don't die on your own sword it sounds like you killed yourself don't do that don't do that no soldiers left no that would be really stupid I also think you've got to bear in mind that it's an obvious thing to say but when you're talking about going out and playing how you want to play only one team can win this tournament you can go really deep in the tournament have a good tournament and still not win it and if you do it with your head held high playing really well then great

33:17Jim Campbell: It's great that they've left everything out there on the pitch like that and I think We were mentioning yesterday how it's it was very good that you know Mbappe, Haaland and such-and-such scored And in terms of the star power of the tournament, it's very good for them But it's also good for England that that Kane's up and running. You know Rashford's got his goal Yeah, exactly Bellingham has his big moment Even Saka comes on gets an assist all of those players where there are you know there's going to be a lot of focus on them contributing and there will be a narrative if something doesn't quite click immediately they'll be like it's such and such right pretty much everybody hit their marks other than maybe Anthony Gordon which is absolutely not his fault because the ball wasn't near him enough the occasion can get on top of him a little bit I find do you find that?

34:02Jim Campbell: it'll take a little bit of time I think the last obviously friendly match he was incredible but that type of position though you're trying things in the final third and you're essentially being asked to try and make something happen. And if it doesn't happen for you, like having a bad game as a wide forward in the 4-2 win isn't as bad as having a really bad game as a centre-back. I wouldn't even say he did have a bad game. No, no, no. It's not a criticism of him. I think it's, you know, it's just the way the game went for whatever reason. He'll get less fierce in the next two matches. That's the thing, I think.

34:28Jim Campbell: But even then, Rashford comes on in the same position. The game's been stretched by then, and he delivers. So, you know, the plan of the players sharing that role has been executed perfectly. And that second half, looking around at everybody, absolutely beaming, chance after chance, It's what we're here for. That is why you fall in love with the World Cup when you're a kid. And that is what you want. The Croatia keep pissing me off a bit. Not playing his part. Not fucking playing his part. He stepped off his line at a crucial moment. I was going to say, I think he contributed.

34:56Luke Moore: We were very fortunate with that, let's be honest. Another part of the World Cup is obviously soaking up the local culture. Many England fans went to a rodeo in Texas the night before the game. If that was me, I simply would not be able to resist telling everyone I met, this is my first rodeo.

35:12Jim Campbell: Yes, indeed. They'll have to do a lot of work to, you know, take on the love that Boston has for Scotland. But I'm sure they'll be equal to the outpouring of love. I was in the taxi home a little bit worse for wear. Did you go all the way back to Leon C last night? I did, yeah. My goodness, mate. And I was just watching all of the lovely people of Boston. They're loving it. They're absolutely brilliant. I love these Scottish people. Because they're all... Not everybody. Not everybody.

35:37Luke Moore: Did you see that guy was kicking off? It's my town. Get out of my town. Were they? Oh, yeah. I was getting annoyed. The bar owners would have been, they would have made that. The local economy boost will be... They've shut the bars, they've all gone on holiday. There was one guy who owns a bar in Boston who said, they drunk all the beer, so I called up the distributor, and the distributor said, I can't bring in your beer because they've drunk all my beer. I've already delivered all the beer I've got. Get them off his aunt out there. Yeah, exactly.

36:05Jim Campbell: Is it the jobby off-license? Have you seen that term? Yeah, jobby liquors. Jobby liquors. Jobby liquors. But the great thing is, though,

36:11Luke Moore: is that England, when they go there for the next game, I believe, is in Boston against Ghana, they can tell them, yeah, no, we're British as well. We're just getting a slipstream of our British brothers. We'll just slap a Sharpie label that says tenants on the My PhysiAunt. There you go. And then they can just figure it out.

36:27Jim Campbell: That will be a true test of how Irish some of those Bostonians are. Indeed it will.

36:34Luke Moore: Elsewhere in Group L, Ghana scored a very, very late winner to break Panama hearts. They beat them 1-0. oh poor old Panama poor old Panama absolutely gutting absolutely gutting you lose that first game we all know the cliches and so on but the Panama keeper

36:49Jim Campbell: was up for a corner oh it wasn't even a corner it was a free kick it was right at the desk

36:53Luke Moore: he won the header yeah he got his header he did and they were unlucky but I mean look Ghana are my African team as you know I'm delighted for them but I was gutted for poor old Panama split the alties next time around I shouldn't think so no that won't be a problem are you gutted for Panama I am you can't be gutted for a team it's in the England's group fuck them Not because we've been... Fucking man. That's a fucking stupid little hat. Stupid canal bastard. Yeah. Having been to both Ghana and Panama, of course. Yeah. They're fine nations. I love them, they love me. I really enjoyed the episode the other day when you were talking about all the nations you've been to the world.

37:27It's like, what the fuck am I listening to? It's some kind of fucking Judith Chalmers type episode.

37:32Luke Moore: I've got to think of a career late on in my life. No, I was, but...

37:37Jim Campbell: Anthony Bourdain eating a cheese sandwich in every country. Yeah, exactly. Ham and cheese. Ham and cheese, actually. Sorry, ham and cheese. Fanta on the continent. If Ghana are your African team when you like Panama, so who would you pull them for in this game? I don't know.

37:50Luke Moore: Ghana, but I'm just saying for Panama, they haven't even ever got a point at a World Cup. They worked really hard, Nate. They stuck at it, yeah. And to lose it like that, but Brandon Thomas Asante, he knows what he's doing. He does. He missed a chance, actually, just before that. He's the one who set up the goal, right? Yeah, he did. I think pretty sure it was him missed a chance just before that and then he set up and he just thought, you know, I'll probably just play it right across the goal for Jarenki to tap it. He scored with his ankle. Yeah, Jarenki almost did his best. He was lucky that he was like a yard from the goal line.

38:19Luke Moore: It's one of those six yard boxes sort of bubbles up.

38:21Jim Campbell: But you could see that add to the joy in his face as he was crossing the line. He's like, I'll mess this up and yet I've scored. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got a winning goal. Did you have a Rube Goldberg machine? Yeah. I kind of started this. I like the fact that Carlos Quiroz had a little jig. at half time. Oh my God, Carlos Kyrgios was loving it at the end. Was that a politician as well? A politician? Yeah, she was loving it.

38:44Luke Moore: I knew that was, but she was loving it as well. But Kyrgios, it was like Mourinho-esque. The whistle goes, didn't go over to his players, straight over to the fans. And he was like kissing them and like saying, my heart goes out to you. He was doing that with both hands, by the way. But he was, yeah, he couldn't believe it. You can't keep a good man down. He lost his last game, opening game, at the World Cup 6 too. Wasn't he the manager of Iran for ages? Yeah. When England was Yeah I remember the game Yeah Honestly he couldn't believe His luck He was Throwing shapes What is he 73? I think he's 74 I might even 74 Is it a world cut For the old boys?

39:19Luke Moore: It is I At the risk of setting ourselves Up for a massive fall here I And I think it's probably Contextual because I just Watched the England game And obviously for periods of time That was a really good game This game looks so poor Yeah it did I remember I just I watched the Obviously ITV I think it was Doing the highlights package On YouTube of nine It seems to be nine in spirits every single time. I was thinking, how are you getting nine minutes out of this? That's what I thought. About two minutes here and I was like,

39:42Jim Campbell: if this is in the highlights, surely this is nil-nil. Surely. Yeah, yeah. It must be. So I don't think there's too much, you know, we're going to get the pelts as we normally get from the Scottish contingent, but I don't think it's too much for England to fear here. I can just see the YouTube comments now. You've had one win. What are you talking about? Yeah, but,

40:00Luke Moore: and this is, England are such a uniquely placed nation. I know because of the history and blah, blah, blah, blah, are. But I wonder if other countries have lots of other countries who are willing to sort of pile in on them when they, you know, do...

40:13Jim Campbell: Spain and Portugal do that to each other.

40:15Luke Moore: Yeah, do you know what I mean? Kind of thing. So England, obviously, again, I understand why. I'm not pushing back on anything. But, you know, the Scots, Welsh and the Irish always sort of go, oh, what are you talking about? But look, England are one of the seeds. You know, again, the FIFA have done that. And England are, you know, the favourites to win the group, of course. So, you know, it's not ridiculous to think that England will be favourites against Ghana. Therefore, you will think that they will be okay. So anyway, we shall see. Time will tell and all that kind of stuff. So England could play, am I right in saying England could play Scotland in the round of 16?

40:45Seems unlikely. They could though, right? Because if Scotland comes third.

40:49Luke Moore: Luke, trying to predict the route.

40:51Jim Campbell: I think it can happen. It's a delicious idea.

40:54Luke Moore: If Scotland win the group and England win the group and then they were to win their knockout games, they would meet in the quarterfinal. okay but I think that's definitely no but I think if England win their group and Scotland come third in their group which is likely and then we both win we play them in the round of 16 I think I think it's more likely though that people say round of 30 for those who have done the route plan the bracket the brackets and those who you know guessing it's more likely to be possibly Dr. Congo in the last 30 yeah I saw that that's the most likely and then Mexico at the Azteca we don't want that in the last 30 no thank you very much thanks for the offer but we're like no having said what I've said I do sympathise with the Scots Welsh and Irish and think let's just this is a joy last night and prepare for the next game I'm pleased for Scotland as well I got up in the middle of the night to watch them labour to a win over Haiti so I'm supporting it was a Haiti watch it was it was alright coming after this the good doctor earned their first World Cup point

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44:02It makes me laugh 20 years old I was still drinking Milk for my mum This guy Is so He's so huge I'm very impressed

44:14Luke Moore: Well back to the full bravel Everybody The milk What the hell is that? It's Franco Zola Isn't it? Right He was talking to Jude Bellingham Bellingham when he was Might have been the Champions League final victory I can't remember And Zola was also very small, so you can imagine at 20 years old, he could have still looked like a baby. Yes. Zola is. He's a little bonnet. Does his mum sound like David O 'Leary? He's just my baby. One of my babies. One of my babies. He touched my babies. Portugal won. Dr. Congo won. Pleasing. A genuinely pleasing warm-up for the night last night because everyone was watching that and cheering and booing every time Ronaldo was on the screen.

44:48Oh, dear.

44:49Luke Moore: Yeah. I mean, look, before you get to that, more eye-catching than Ronaldo starting a World Cup game again. the Dr. Congo players arriving wearing their leopard themed suits they look fucking amazing they did I mean because there's been some great get up already I think it's it would be Ivory Coast because they're the elephants that's their nickname and they've a little bit they've had their trunks out a little bit careful a little bit high street fashion and they had a sort of their suits on but there was like a sort of leopard an elephant on the back right but the leopard ones it was they look great yeah Dr.

45:21Luke Moore: Congo players look fantastic

45:22Jim Campbell: it's their sunglasses as well just looked and just the way it's just one big lapel it's like a big big leopard skin lapel that said to me don't give a fuck about Cristiano Ronaldo we don't care

45:33Luke Moore: who was it one of their players said didn't they after the game they asked did you have a special plan for him and he went to be honest no no because he doesn't

45:43Jim Campbell: defend he doesn't go

45:44Luke Moore: in the build up he just hangs out in the box

45:46Jim Campbell: just let him shank stuff all night

45:48Luke Moore: that's the plan if that doesn't you know give Martinez food for thought like I don't know what will look that fight's long dead but I think he became the oldest outfield player to start a World Cup match exactly well done well done brilliant but that's the thing isn't it they're not they're not frightened of him because as you guys already see he doesn't really offer much and it's it's just it's a very odd thing to witness really I mean we have to get around the fact that you know I don't want to go over the top with the criticism because clearly he's one of the greatest players to ever play the game.

46:23Luke Moore: But it's a shame that we're here having this conversation. And he has been amazing. But ultimately, this is a show that's gone on too long. This is the Game of Thrones season that no one asked for. It's like he doesn't realise because he's not able to realise because of the type of character he presumably is that he is hurting his team. And I don't think that anyone is positioned, clearly, within that set-up to actually tell him. and if you look at some of the reactions of Bruno Fernandes he's had a really good season a really good player and who is probably incredibly frustrated by the fact that he's doing what he's doing and Ronaldo's just not capable it sucks all the oxygen in it it's like he's the Jupiter of the solar system he's sucking everything in with gravity

47:09Jim Campbell: and it's very unfortunate for Goncalo Ramos as well who's obviously not at the level that Ronaldo has ever been but he's a good capable striker who could fit into that system. Sometimes having a bit of a compromise on quality for the benefit of the system is what frees everything up, right? They've got someone there. But not just that, Jim. How do you know how good Gonzalo Ramos can become if he doesn't get any international development? I do think Ronaldo could pick it up because it's rare that a player loses such a touch so quickly. But the matches leading up to this tournament, he's had so many chances and shanked pretty much all of them.

47:45Jim Campbell: And so it's kind of like, well he might just be going through like a poor patch but what's the point? I mean what's the point? Just give... 41 right? There's no shame in it but with all the

47:55Luke Moore: sort of the shanking and so on the shanking with Ronaldo again it's a shame that we're having this conversation about a guy who's one of the best goal scorers of all time one of the best players of all time you would argue and I totally agree with what you've been saying Luke and I think others going on about this he should simply not be starting and when you have an opposition player say well no we didn't make a special plan for him because he's a bit older. He basically was saying what we're saying now. Legend of the game, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he's older. And also, not just that, he's been playing in the Saudi league.

48:27Luke Moore: And so he's not being tested at the highest level. I know Ivan Toney is as well, but Toney's not 41. And I think with Ronaldo, if Roberto Martinez actually wants to deploy him, get Gonzalo Ramos in the starting line-up because there's a guy who can actually run and do things. And I know he doesn't start a lot for PSG, but he still plays for PSG and he's used. But with Ronaldo, if you need something, bring him on the last 10, 15. To me, it's prime. Because when you're saying about, you know, when he's shanking stuff, because he wants it too much. He's seen Messi score a hat-trick. So what you want is, if you need something, you say if Portugal thought, you know, we don't want to draw here.

49:02Luke Moore: We want to go all in. Because you've still got, you know, a tough game against Colombia to come. Get Ronaldo on. Because if you want it to be hectic, if you want a bit of urgency, get him on the last 10, 15. And also, that's when the opposition defenders will fear him. Exactly.

49:15Jim Campbell: It's a leveler. it only really makes sense to have him in the squad at all to bring him on against tired legs because it's closer to you know the level that he's going to be able to play at

49:26Luke Moore: get him in the box all that kind of fox in the box all that good stuff to me like he is a really good option for that but starting games and trying to get you know with the patterns of play and so on he probably should go hat-trick in the next game now but you know what I mean but I mean Bruno Fernandes we know he gets upset with people when they don't get on the end of his passes and so on but he looks visibly upset with Ronaldo it's quite interesting when you look at certain players of a certain vintage who are playing in this World Cup and the jobs they're being asked to perform. So if you look at other older players in the World Cup, just off the top of my head at that moment, you've got Messi, who's still obviously doing it.

49:59He's got a hat-trick in his first game. You can't really criticise the selection, right? You've got someone like Neymar, who's been sat down by Ancelotti before the tournament saying, you can be in my squad, but here's the role you're playing. And if you don't like it, you're not going to be a part of it. Totally, yeah. You get a Jordan Henderson type player, who's obviously not at the level they were at. And it was his birthday yesterday. Happy birthday to Jordan.

50:18Jim Campbell: There was a man at the watch along who looked just like Jordan Henderson and I very much enjoyed. Great. Definitely worth an interruption. Yeah. Bit rich. Yeah, it is a bit. Very rich. But he's obviously accepting of, he's humbling enough, he's humble enough to be, you know, humble enough to be able to say, look, I accept this kind of role. Cristiano Ronaldo, if he was like a better bloke, could definitely do that. He could be like, you know what? I'm your fucking clutch guy. I'm the guy who takes a penalty in the shootout. I'm a guy who comes on and puts fear in the heart of opposition because of everything I've achieved in my career towards the end of a game or in extra time.

50:51And you know what? I'm going to show you guys the way. I'm going to talk to you about how it's done. I'm going to be the kind of glue that glues you all together the way Henderson does. The problem is Ronaldo's like the worst of both worlds.

51:00Jim Campbell: Yeah. And in a squad that has Vettinia in it, in a squad that, you know, has... They've got a really good squad. They've got a brilliant squad. Jean Neves. I know Jean Neves is young, but I don't think this squad even needs that, to be honest. In fact, it would probably benefit them. Bruno Fernandes, another great example, because of his leadership and his qualities in that regard. It would just benefit them to move on from this era. I think that's a fair point as well. And I guess we're talking in slightly different terms here because I guess what I'm trying to say is the reason that people are supportive of Jordan Henderson being in the England squad, if they are supportive of that, and the reasons that have been given by his colleagues, could apply to Cristiano Ronaldo.

51:37But they don't because he's a fucking idiot. So it's all about him all the time. I mean, they've got an amazing squad. Do you look at the team they've got? If they struggled...

51:46Luke Moore: They've got one of the best squads at the tournament. So talk about the game itself. You know, Congo were competent enough. You know, they stuck in there. They obviously get a goal at a crucial time and then they kind of see it out. Newcastle man, your own Wisser, Pete Donaldson. I forgot about him.

51:58Jim Campbell: I mean, I didn't recognise what he was doing on the pitch. Getting the ball in the net. He didn't recognise the full stop, did you? He was celebrating. Marcus, who was the last Newcastle player to score at the World Cup Finals? Your own Wisser. before him oh before that not worth the interruption no did I answer the question correctly we judge it at the end we judge it after it's done yeah

52:22Luke Moore: last Newcastle United player that's a really good question it's good to see Chancellor Mbemba play as well I know he always pops in like a Europa League match can you give the answer was he playing at Newcastle

52:34Jim Campbell: playing at Newcastle yeah it was Mitrovic

52:35Luke Moore: oh wow

52:36Jim Campbell: of course it would have been blimey

52:38Luke Moore: do you know what I nearly said Mochelo in there 2018 2018.

52:42Jim Campbell: Is that right? But they're only every four years though, the World Cups, mate. That's only two World Cups ago. Yeah, but like... The way you said it was like in the 50s. But the good doctors stuck in there. Very much so. They prescribed themselves... Surgeon Congolese. Yeah, they prescribed some hard work. They stuck in there. But the thing was, I mean, not to take it all the way back to the man we've just been talking about again, but this is relevant. He played the whole fucking game.

53:04Luke Moore: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He played the whole game. So like, it wasn't though they could... I don't know why they did, why Martinez did that. But they couldn't kind of inject it with any kind of urgency from the front because they wouldn't take off the ground. I'll tell you what, the good doctor I thought might have needed to perform surgery on Johan Visser after Araujo took him down. Yeah. Grabbed him around the throat. I was like, that's one of those fails where if you're a Portugal player or a fan or whatever, you want your man to do that. But because it's, you know, again, the underdog, they're on a breakaway.

53:32Luke Moore: You're like, that's dirty. He should get a red card for that, even though it's a yellow card. But the rules don't allow for the satisfaction. You never feel satisfied off the back of that. But what I was just going to say was if Portugal struggled to break down Uzbekistan, which they probably won't based on what we saw last night, but if they do struggle to break them down and they come out with two draws and they're opening two games and then they're going in against Colombia, I mean, it's disastrous. Well, it could be. For the level of squad they've got, it's a disaster. But, you know, great point for Dr.

54:02Luke Moore: Conklin. They're a proper side. I think, you know, you look at, you know, there are one or two familiar faces in there. You know, Twan Zaby, of course, is one. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, obviously. Johan Whistle, we would know them well. I'll tell you who's on the bench for them. 34-year-old, former Chelsea and Fulham man, Gal Kakuta. Oh, Gal Kakuta. He didn't get on the pitch, I don't believe it. He's among their ranks. He's one of those really weird, odd Chelsea players. You've played for them for like seven years and never really played. I should have said, guess how old he is. Is he 27 or 38? Weird career he's had.

54:33But Congo have been criticised by other African nations. I can't remember exactly which ones. off the top of my head, for this active recruitment of players who are eligible for Congo. Right. And which, I mean, I don't think it's a problem because, I mean, essentially, you're performing within the rules. And I think, you know, other teams, actually, like the aforementioned Scotland, have kind of done that as well. Who's eligible? Who wants to do that? Yeah. But Congo have done that, and that's been part of the reason why they've improved so much. And they've got, yeah, like you said, they looked fairly decent.

55:01They stuck to their task really well.

55:03Luke Moore: I think it's a fabulous point for them against one of the fancied sides of the tournament. And that's the toughest group. That's the toughest game on paper in the group. Sadly, Congo's superfan wasn't at the game. Yeah. He wasn't there. It's unclear why. Some suggesting it could be to do with the start date of his visa. I don't know whether he was in the delegation. Surely he's got different in that community. Wow. Yeah. He's due to be at the game against Uzbekistan.

55:30Jim Campbell: So this is the supporter who dresses in a suit and is like a statue.

55:34Luke Moore: Yes. Yeah, like he mimics the country's first Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba. Yes. And he's dead still the whole time. But maybe it's because he was just standing dead still waiting for his cow to pick him up and it never came. He's still there. I can't move. It's my thing. Someone carrying me to the game. The phone's just ringing in his pocket. He can't answer it. Yeah, he's too method. Yeah. You've got to do your thing. Yes, excellent stuff. Well done, the good doctor. Right, let's move on to the other game in the group. Uzbekistan 1, Colombia 3. Colombia put in the tournament debutants to the sword.

56:09Luke Moore: Great for Uzbek, the Uzbek people to get a goal though, Jim.

56:12Jim Campbell: Yeah, it was. And actually they were competitive in this game for like large swathes of it. So, I mean, there's encouragement to take from them there. And it's kind of, again, I know it's only the first round of games now. We may get those dead rubbers up here, but they're another team who've given a really good account of themselves and made a sort of contribution to the entertainment factor of the World Cup. Pete, lovely to have

56:34Luke Moore: Colombia back at the World Cup they weren't there last time Colombia back at the World Cup playing at the Azteca Stadium come on

56:39Jim Campbell: it doesn't get any better than that really what more do we need? we want the third man to descend ideally and them to be playing Mexico it would be good that would be particularly tasty Daniel Munoz got a nice goal

56:50Luke Moore: oh it was a lovely one yeah that was a beauty he'll do that yes he will but of course we should call Uzbekistan by their full name Fabio Canavaro's Uzbekistan speaking of interesting career one of my favourite players of all time. My crush. My boy crush. For the longest time. But his managerial career is very interesting. Good to have him at the World Cup. It's fair to say he doesn't mind where he takes the money from. Is he? Which is a bit rich coming from me after the month either.

57:17Jim Campbell: Do you think that I always feel like where Cannavaro goes Gattuso's not that far behind. I don't know why. Like managerial wise. I think he'll get to you know the climbs of Utsin. When he realises what's on offer there. In many ways he's like the chaos negative of Cannavaro. Yeah I think so. One of the key elements of Gattuso is that he's always lurking. Yeah. He is, yeah, very much. He's done very well, the jobs he's had. He has. Given that everything just seems to be bad. He's done well until it's got to the point of doing the actual job. No, I think that's what I mean. He's done very well to have the career he's had.

57:46Jim Campbell: That's a good game. Poor choice of words from me.

57:48Luke Moore: I think a lot of people wish him goodwill and want him to have the career. Like, here's another opportunity. Come on, come on, come on, come on. But anyway.

57:53Jim Campbell: Give great copy. And the people in Fleet Street or wherever, you know, whatever the Italian version of Fleet Street is. Fleet Street. They're probably quite, you know, they'll get you in jobs that you are completely unfit for.

58:06Luke Moore: Yeah, it did, yeah. Well, it's nice to have an Italian at the World Cup. Yeah, we'll all agree on that. Flying the flag for them. Yeah, but it was a great moment when they equalised, of course. I don't mean to sound patronised. I think that's one of the things with this 48-team World Cup. At the end of the tournament, when we've seen it all play out, I think we'll give a proper opinion on that. But one of the lovely things, Luke, is seeing tournament debut. Yeah, but do you get a Cape Verde situation if it's not a 48-team World Cup? So it's like... I don't know what that is in their group, but yeah I see what you mean but I mean Africa in particular have been they benefited massively and so they should have done you know think about the European places and the South American teams as well you know Africa have been grossly overlooked England are one of the few

58:41Jim Campbell: European teams who've actually won you know what I mean you've got to separate out the negative of the fucking money grab a bit but the fact that it does actually give some more nation a chance same with the Euros when you look at the stories that Wales have had Scotland have had and the Euros that's not possible well it's possible but it's far less likely in the old Euros format with fewer teams so you've got to bear that in mind

59:01Luke Moore: so there we are we've seen every nation play now it feels like it's been about three weeks already doesn't it just for one round I think we're never mind a player's been exhausted at the end of this tournament we're going to be exhausted think of the podcast think of the fans I'm loving it I think the teams that have grabbed my eye so far are probably I mean you have to look at Germany's win I know they went up against March but that was a big statement win for them Sweden did well I thought oh Potter yeah they did pretty well Argentina I'll tell you what the team you'd probably reserve the most credit for after the first round of games was probably US.

59:34Yeah, I think so. You'd say the US probably. Because Paraguay are decent. I know there's controversy around saying this, but Paraguay, I think, are a fairly decent team. So it'd be interesting to see what US do against Australia next. Because Australia, of course, themselves had a really notable result in the opening game as well, didn't they?

59:49Jim Campbell: There was a little boy, a US fan, getting interviewed by, I think it was the BBC, and they said, who would you take from the England team to be in the US squad? And he just went, burn it is burn that's how confident they are that's very good that's the final you know key for the lock get burning yeah very good I think you've got to look at France as well the way they kind of turned up in the second half went through the gears and also I think Norway have been quietly very impressive I think people have obviously assumed that they would win against Iraq reasonably so but to win 4-1 in a way that was both kind of business like but also emphatic by the end of it is quite impressive but I think there's an element to it though Jim that I don't think they're up against much I think Iraq kind of self emulated of course but we've seen a lot of teams in situations like that not win 4-1 you're still frightened of that Haaland video aren't you bearing down the key it's keeping you up at night it could happen at any moment if that's what it's like

1:00:50Luke Moore: don't play it short don't play it short well it's been a very enjoyable first round of games and we give FIFA all the credit in the world for putting on a marvellous tournament. The only thing that could have made it better is if there were more fans. Well, Gianni Infantino posted on Instagram yesterday celebrating the highest attended day in the history of the World Cup. He said, wow! Exclamation mark. 281 ,223 fans. That is a lot of fans. In FIFA World Cup stadiums today. 16th of June 2026 will go down in FIFA World Cup history so two days ago the most inclusive FIFA World Cup 2026 continues to show just how much our game is loved inclusive it could be less how dare you say that how dare you say that when referees aren't being let in he can say that now in a way he couldn't four years ago in Qatar perhaps but still it's not accurate the maddest FIFA story I read this week and how FIFA unites the world sorry I just didn't want to completely get that in there the maddest FIFA story I read this week was, so you know the games in Boston, they've not actually been played in Boston, they've played in Foxborough.

1:02:01Luke Moore: Same with Dallas, right? It's in Arlington. That's right, just outside Boston, Foxborough is, and it's the New England Patriots Stadium, and it's known as the Gillette Stadium. Yes. Right? Oh yeah, that's obvious. But every single seat, it's about 68 ,000 of them, every single seat has got the brand Gillette on them, and FIFA is so protective over their branding and over their official sponsors. Gillette are not an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, so someone had to go around, I mean, I presume it was more than one person and put a tiny bit of sticky tape over every single Gillette logo on every single seat.

1:02:31Incredible. Someone spent their time for their job doing that ahead of the World Cup. Well,

1:02:35Jim Campbell: did you see the Levi's stadium where they had to cover up the Levi logo so they just covered it so tightly with sort of like wrapping. You can still see it. You can still see basically it's the Levi's sign. Is that why is that why

1:02:46Luke Moore: Levi Colwell wasn't picked? he just couldn't. He breaks the laws, the branding laws. No, it is good that they've done that because now Gillette have got more more in the public eye.

1:02:56Jim Campbell: Exactly, yeah. Jesus Christ. With the little bottles, I can't remember where it was. It was some kind of green room. They'd taped up all of the different sources. Oh, it's the press conferences, isn't it? It's a press conference, yeah. Oh, no, it's the... That's quite standard, though. The journalist room. Yeah, where the food was

1:03:10Luke Moore: and they just taped up all of the brands of the food. That is quite standard and if there's like 20 bottles in there, I kind of get it. It was 68 ,000 seats. Yeah. Just at some point, like just how much is too much? How much is enough? We're way past that. Well, indeed. Pete you predicted Infantino would defend a three mile private jet journey hasn't done that yet but there have been reports that he's using a private jet provided by Qatar Airways of course the same one they gave Trump might be friends for life you get a plan he's watching two World Cup matches per day to be fair to him if you are the president of FIFA hang on two

1:03:49Jim Campbell: there are four a day is he doing?

1:03:51Luke Moore: yeah true he's slacking off yeah let's not be fair to him yeah he also almost said my prediction as well he was very close because you said that we have achieved world peace through football but I think he'll do that

1:04:01Jim Campbell: later in the tournament yeah but and perhaps once the ink is dry on the Iran deal there'll be a Gianni's

1:04:08Luke Moore: final thought and it'll be wide ranging perhaps you knew this Luke but football unites the world is the name of the FIFA campaign yeah it's on everyone it's on the captains of our bands but no no but I think I think that's something different though I think that I knew that was the official tagline when I made the prediction, but I think him very obviously coming out, because what will happen is he doesn't really do press conferences until he gets all puffed up and he's really confident. That's why he had that disastrous one there for a week. Off the back of the World Cup, if it seems successful and the football's really good, which it probably will, based on what we've seen so far, he'll then do another one.

1:04:42Because that's kind of how he got into that today I feel disabled, today I feel black thing. Because he just gets a massive self-inflated opinion and can't stop it. And I think if it comes along, as Pete said, around the same time that there's some kind of cease-firing Ukraine or something or the Iran thing, I can massively see him saying that. So I'm saying that, don't hold your breath. As long as he's not kind of treading on, you know,

1:05:05Jim Campbell: Daddy Trump's toes. Yeah, but he's fucking fucked up. Anyway, he's fucking falling asleep half the time. Fucking shitting himself.

1:05:11Luke Moore: Daddy Donaldson. Yeah, he's 80 now, isn't he? Is he? Yeah. Not Donaldson. No. He's 44.

1:05:18Jim Campbell: Today I feel 80. Are you 44 or 45 now? 45. 45. 45 in April. Could still do a job. And Jim, it's your birthday today, right? It is. It is June's birthday. Go on, Jim. Yeah, well done, Jim. Thanks, Jim. Yeah.

1:05:32Luke Moore: There we go.

1:05:32Jim Campbell: Did it again. Birthday, Jim. Gabriel Martinelli, Pierre-Americk Aubameyang. Oh, really? Jason McAteer, Delia Smith, Paul McCartney, and Frankie Maguire, who's just a mate of mine. Who sounds famous. I see. So you're a pisshead like Delia. Yep. Yeah. Who are the others? Aubameyang Martinelli, Jason McAteer. Jason knows. The stupidest McAteer. Yeah, it's a trigger. As arrogant as Aubameyang. Yeah. Will occasionally let you down like Martinelli. Sir Paul McCartney. Not cool. No, not cool. Weirdly not cool. Yeah.

1:06:04Luke Moore: Right now, as drunk as Delia Smith. Yeah, exactly. I already said that. He's a drunkard like Delia Smith. I said that. Sorry. He kept saying to us before we came on, when we were going to see the three of us. He came in and he said, we're the fourth man in here. Where are you? In the mirror. He's in the mirror going, where are you? I just wanted to say anything before we get loads of comments and negative feedback. Luke's claimed that Carlos Kieros is 74. He's actually 73. Oh, did you say 73? Oh, yeah. I just want to put that to bed right now. Before we get loads of feedback. I'll just translate that for everyone.

1:06:34I was right and he was wrong and I can't let it go.

1:06:37Luke Moore: Oh, dear. Show some fucking respect. Sorry, mate. Right. Thanks for listening to the Football Hour. We're part of the ACOS Created Network. Remember to drop us a five-star review and send us a screenshot for a chance to win tickets for our next World Cup watch party. It was a fucking brilliant night last night. Get on our socials, calm down. It was superb. Yeah, really good. Susan Perb. Susan Perb. There we are. Thank you very much. Luke. Thank you. Thank you, Pete Donaldson. Goodbye, everyone. Thank you, Jim. Thank you. And thank you, England.

1:07:10The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

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