The art of suspension bridges | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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2:49Luke Moore: Staying forever young Singing songs underneath the sun everybody Welcome to the Football Rebel The first semi-final is upon us As it's Tuesday 14th of July I'm Marcus Speller I'm Luke Moore And I'm Daniel Cartlidge

3:13Luke Moore: Hello everybody Hello There's just four left Welcome back, by the way. I wouldn't miss a semi-final. You missed a big England win. You've been aware with one of the enemies as well. I were the old enemy. He was doing important behind enemy lines reconnaissance in France. It was a French-Scottish wedding. There was way too much talk of the old alliance. And I was a bit like, but new alliances kind of try that, don't they? When we all were in it together in previous, more recent times. If we get to the final against France, your insight's going to be absolutely vital. You will be flown straight out to New Jersey to see Tommy and the boys.

3:50Luke Moore: Tommy Tuchel has a pager in which only I know the number of. That's not when he's gone for a pager. He'll get to a phone box. That's how it is, baby. I'm a modern man. Or I used to be. There's only four left. Incredible. And it's the four seeded teams, of course. It's almost like they designed it that way. Well, England were one of the seeded teams. Which they literally did. I mean, that's what seeds are for. Yeah, but, yeah, Farmer, that's probably a different discussion. And we're told to consume a lot of seeds these days, aren't we? And here we are. We've got four of the buggers. France versus Spain tonight at 8pm.

4:25Luke Moore: This is a, I mean, some may say that this is the de facto final. I wouldn't say that. Well, it isn't because it's the semi-final. And England are still fighting for this title, so have a bit of respect. But as I said that, David nodded his head, not necessarily in agreement with the statement that it is the final, but in agreement with that some people have got it down as the final. David, how do you see this game? Obviously, it's a huge one, France versus Spain, but they're the two favourites. A lot of people would have had France or Spain down to win this tournament. Only one of them will be in the final, though.

4:57Luke Moore: Indeed, yeah. I mean, if you look at European football in the past few years, it's been France and Spain who have kind of been vying at the top in terms of producing talent, in terms of when they face each other on a national scale as well. so this all kind of comes to a head and it's the fact that Spain have got the most recent victories over France as well which has been brought up by Lamin Yamal Rodri as well yeah Rodri so they're bringing up the French players turn up then Lamin yeah celebrate your 19th birthday by making a contribution he's getting a bit of criticism for it I saw a good post this morning somebody said if that was Sergio Ramos or Carlos Puyelson in the past everybody would be like yeah but because it's Lamin, Jamal, he kind of seems a bit arrogant, a bit cocky, he's a young guy and everything like that.

5:43He hasn't really had a very good tournament so far. He's getting a bit of stick for it. But I like it. It's a bit of providable. It's a bit of confidence. It might be he's trying to convince himself to turn up to the party because he's probably been the one big superstar that hasn't fully turned up, right? So far. I said exactly the same one on the continent yesterday. So I totally agree. And he needs a big game. And for Spain to win this game, they need him to have a big game as well. I think Pedri's a big factor as well. he needs to have a big game he's been off it as well for me one of the best centre midfielders in the world but he's been completely off it so they need their stars to turn up because France's have already turned up from the very start yes so they have Luke I'd say so I read an absolutely sickening sentence this morning I'll just read it back to you guys now Didier Deschamps still has a decision to make in the final third

6:28Luke Moore: here we go with Desiree Douai and Bradley Barkela competing for a place alongside Mbappe Dembele and Elisa how the other half lives yeah exactly exactly It's not too shabby. Call it off. Yeah. Call it off. We don't want to play them. Yeah. Elisa's yet to score. Yeah, but he's got about four million assists. I fancy him to bag tonight. Do you? You know what I mean? He's due one. Okay. He is due one. I think what's interesting about this last four set-up is you've got this game tonight, which is going to be a kind of almost like a celebration of technical excellence and ability. And it'll be a really good contrast of stars because they're the two best teams.

7:08And then the other semi-final will just be an absolute shit show from start to finish. It'll be mucking bullets from start to finish. It's going to be a psychodrama. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own, Luke. Yeah, we'll do that tomorrow. But it feels a bit like you can enjoy tonight for what it is. I think if I was going to get ahead of myself, I would say that I would rather England play Spain than France. But I understand why people wouldn't agree with that necessarily because it's very much kind of pick your poison. Who would Argentina,

7:41Luke Moore: you know, just for those who are superstitious, who would Argentina rather play? France, wouldn't it? I think they'd probably have another... Yeah, another tilt there. Their dream is beating England and then beating France in the final. That is the ideal path for Argentina. That's what their fans want. Well, France would rather have Argentina again because they obviously... Turned it around. There's beef. Well, there's beef because of those horrendous racist chants the Argentinian players were doing. But tonight, it's France versus Spain. and it is a clash of styles it is yeah it's basically a technically brilliant but boring team who who are up against you know a team who are just incredible going forward like really difficult I mean if Spain can keep France out which is a massive a massive if then obviously they've got a really good chance but I think France are by some distance the best team here I said this I think a week ago or so you know you can make an argument I totally get why people thought France or Spain going into the tournament.

8:37Luke Moore: You could have said France was the best team about three weeks ago, by the way. Yeah, but back then, people were kind of talking about these two, weren't they? And my point just is that I would argue that Spain have dropped back into that kind of pack of really good teams and France have been left standing alone as the best team in the tournament. And it wouldn't surprise me if they just brushed Spain apart to the side. But again, it depends how much Spain can control the ball or how disciplined they can be because technically they're brilliant, blah, blah, blah. and they've got weirdly enough as well if you look at the front side you've got so many players in there who can win you a game right just out of nowhere but Spain have got Mikel Moreno he loves it doesn't he if you stick in there if you stick in there by your fingernails Moreno might pop up and save the day you know what the plan is for Spain keep it tight get Moreno on if it's level I think he might start the game ludicrous decision give it a load I only five minutes but if you give me 90 well see what he can do I'll score you 13 goals I think they'll keep him on ice I think and bring him out later I just think the one decision they've got to make is whether Pedri or Fabian Ruiz starts Fabian Ruiz scored so you think Olmo will start over Mourinho and then Mourinho will come on you were slagging off Olmo the other day yeah I was I was a bit disappointed by him he's a bit soft sometimes in his end product he got a goal in the last game he did but he's nice and techy he's got some fancy little moves but his end product is lacking a lot of the time and it's the same with Alex Berner as well and when they work together they're very nice, very fluid together but sometimes it can be like oh my god lads, just somebody have a shot France obviously have been the best team in the tournament so far and lots and lots of people from the first game they played particularly that second half were up to now if they didn't fancy that they would have done this 16 goals and have only conceded 3 in their 6 games I think that we forget about the defence I suppose they're so terrifying going forward that teams are almost reluctant to go and attack them because the pace they have up top and the way you know that they can break and use that space is such a difficult team to play against.

10:46Luke Moore: Mbappe and Dembele have scored 13 goals between them at this tournament. That feat hadn't been achieved by two players from the same team since Brazil's Ronaldo and Rivaldo in 2002. Bellingham and Kane. Well, they're up there. What have they got? 12. Six each, yeah. Yeah. So with this France side, there are shades of Brazil 2002 in that they're winning games in the 90 minutes. They're winning games. There's none of this extra time, you know, all this kind of stuff. And it is hard to look past them. But Spain, they've only conceded the once, which, of course, was against Belgium in the previous round.

11:22Luke Moore: And they've got a great record, particularly under De La Fuente, of course. I mean, if you remember the last Euros, the way Spain, they were the best side in the tournament. I think the absence or the other by and large, the absence of Nico Williams has affected them at this tournament. But they've lost just one of their 27 major tournament matches they've played since Russia 2018. That's excluding penalty shootouts, of course, where they lost to Italy in Euro 2020. They've not lost any of the last 36 games in 90 minutes. they feel that they will have a psychological edge over France because of recent victories at the last Euros, even the Nations League before that.

12:00Luke Moore: So there's a lot going into this time. So I'd be surprised. And in midfield, you would think they're better set up in midfield than France. That's where the battle is. And I'm, yes, exactly. And that's something that I was looking at this and think, okay, France got the better front line. Defensively, probably France shade that for me. But in midfield, David, surely that's where Spain are going to look to get the ball and dominate them. Absolutely. And if Spain have perhaps regressed a little bit, as Lucas said across the course of the tournament, which I do agree with, Rodri has got better. And he is finding his top, top level.

12:34The computer. Yeah, the computer. And then, like I keep saying, I'm a massive fan of Pedri. If he can find his level as well, those two could really dominate that game. And Spain have found themselves a lot of the time controlling the tempo of these games that they have played, and they do so really, really well because they've got so many good technicians. I know France have as well, but if there's that one area where they do edge France, I think it is in midfield. I think Rodri's going to be the best midfielder on the pitch there, you know what I mean, in terms of the players available. So it'll be interesting to see whether they look to say, right, we're going to dominate the ball here.

13:07We're going to keep the ball away from Alise. We know what Alise can do, and Dembele and Mbappe do. Let's try and keep the ball away from them. And almost a bit of a throwback to the Del Bosque era. That's what they used to say. There was all these great attackers in that era, but they used to say if we have possession that's the best form of defence the other team can't attack us so they might go for that type of method

13:24Luke Moore: and no team can keep the ball like Spain no exactly and I think all those things in combination you talked about Spain having almost like a psychological edge because they've beaten them recently and fairly regularly to me that's absolutely key because if you look at the games that France have come through there's been a kind of different so I mean you go back to the group stage the team that could potentially give them trouble is Norway and Norway make 10 changes because it's the final group game and they end up it's not really a game of any significance then they go up against Sweden who they're better than then Paraguay try and kick the shit out of them it doesn't really work and France Nick Pye who's been their closest opponent to them so far they're the ones who's given them the best game so far and then Morocco don't have the belief they just don't have the belief Morocco was set up for them they were scared they had the ability to counter-attack but they didn't leave players up and when they did their heart really wasn't in it so ultimately it might come down to the fact that Spain do probably believe they can beat France and that might be a big part of it and I do think you're right keeping the ball away from them would be great Spain are brilliant at keeping hold of the ball France could get frustrated but then what we've seen when we try and make arguments against we try and make arguments for teams beating France and admittedly these teams so far haven't been as good as Spain are but when we try and make arguments for it France just have this habit of just going through the gears and knocking people over.

14:46And it's not been that difficult for them. They've not travelled much. They've not struggled. They're not going to be as fatigued as... They're fresh. Yeah, so it's really difficult, despite what you guys are saying, I think in my heart, to believe that Spain can beat them.

14:59Luke Moore: I do think France will win the game. But I think this will be a big old battle. And I think that we're looking at this France side in the context of this tournament. And I say that because, you know, qualification, yeah, fine. But the last Euros, France, despite them going far they were very disappointing they were very boring and very stodgy and they got a lot of criticism and I thought Deschamps that would have been him off after that tournament I think a lot of people Figaro Zidane was always looming over that and obviously still does Indeed yeah but they turn up at this tournament and they've been great they've been the best team to watch you certainly argue really really enjoyable playing some great stuff but they haven't really played anybody again Morocco and you've already just said that look with Spain they've played I think tougher teams particularly in the last two rounds.

15:44Luke Moore: You know, Belgium, yeah, Spain weren't that convincing, but a phrase that we were using a lot in this tournament, they got it done. And Portugal as well, which was a huge game. I know Portugal were disappointing, but that is a derby game and it's still a good side. And Mikel Moreno managed to come through it. But Spain haven't been as convincing as France. I think Spain, I think France have the ability to up it, obviously, because you look at that talent, and I think they will come through it. But I think this will be an interesting game. one thing that Andy Brassel said about Francis the only kind of area where you think maybe they're slightly weak is potentially at left back with Luca Dean and then you would think right I'll agree with that right Jamal there you go so Porro behind him as well yeah so he loves to get forward well he does and Jamal's had a lot of players there were a lot of teams doubling up on him yeah because Nico Williams isn't on the other side so you can't do the switch and then he's going so I don't know what the state of play is with Nico Williams will he start tonight probably not no yeah no he wants that like I said I think the only decision is that Pedroia Fabian.

16:42If there's anything else different out there, I'd be really surprised. Yeah, interesting.

16:45Luke Moore: Very, very interesting. Well, gentlemen, yesterday was the 96th anniversary of the first ever World Cup and the matches kicked off in Uruguay, of course, in 1930. There were two games that day, France versus Mexico, which France won 4-1 and USA versus Belgium, which the US won 3-0. Belgium finally got their revanche. They played in 2014, didn't they? It was because their Balogun couldn't play. Is that what it was? Yeah. Yeah, because he was some decades away from being born. So it was very difficult for Donald Trump, who was also some decades away from being born, to actually intervene. Some decades?

17:20Some years away from being born to intervene, sadly. That's true. It would have been nice for the anniversary if it was in Uruguay, maybe Uruguay and Argentina, wouldn't it? If this World Cup, I thought it would have been quite, I thought it would have been a nice gesture to do that. But I realised that the money probably isn't there. No, exactly.

17:36Luke Moore: Well, they're going to host a game in four years' time, of course. I thought that was a joke you were making. Yeah. Yeah, they are. They're going to do it all over the place in four years' time. Madness. I also have a strong support of the 1930 FIFA World Cup because this was in the era when England were quite simply too arrogant to enter, which meant that no one was heartbroken by their dreadful performance. So to me, that is an era I'd be happy to heart back to. If England decided, if we get knocked out by Argentina tomorrow in dramatic fashion, I would definitely be in favour of us arrogantly and quite haughtily declining to enter the next event, much like we did 100 years ago.

18:11Luke Moore: Yeah, no, I'd be bang up for that if I'm brutally honest. No, you'd have no reason to keep going. It's the thing that keeps you going, the old England stuff in the tournament. I'd find something else to do. But do you know who came third in that tournament? The USA actually came third. Yes, they did, yeah. And Yugoslavia came fourth. I tell you what, I don't think... There were only 18 games. The two semifinals, Argentina beat the US 6-1. Uruguay beat the former Yugoslavia 6-1. Nice. Get it done. I don't think that's going to happen. but yeah there were four groups of three teams I know 18 games in total you would take if you were coming from far and wide which most teams were then you would travel weeks and weeks on the boat and then I mean you lose your first game and well that's pretty much you done should we stick around for the for the same I mean quite oddly actually there was one group with four teams actually group one had Argentina, Chile, France and Mexico the rest had three so it's not always been playing sailing.

19:09Luke Moore: See, we savour these wonderful and peaceful and perfect administrative times that we live in. Because back then, it was a bit crazy. It's organisational genius these days, isn't it? And we thank Gianni and the guys for it. But I love the idea. Oh, Lord and Siv, yeah, thank you. I love the idea of a city. I actually think there's a good chance that England probably thought, I'm not doing six weeks of sailing down there for a couple of games. Yeah, yeah. Come back again. 13 teams at that first World Cup. Yeah, amazing. You do the maths. Yeah. I think it was invitational as well. Why can't there be 64 teams?

19:41Luke Moore: Anyway, we're going to talk about that in a bit. There probably will be. Almost certainly. We spoke on the last pod about the feels-like temperature being 42 degrees for the England-Norway game and how that affected the game. I do look at that. I'm a bit old-fashioned. I do check the BBC weather for the weather. I think it's pretty accurate. The iPhone one is a disgrace. They've changed it in recent years. None of them are very accurate, but the BBC one's probably the best. I think the BBC's probably the best, but you always sort of tap on whatever symbol it is. Oh, it feels like that. And I was doing that.

20:12Luke Moore: Miami, 34 degrees, feels like 43. I was like, oh, Gordon Bennett. Not great as well. Well, on the topic of heat and its impact, listen to Matt Keane emailed in and asked, with 120-minute games and 40-degree heat, is it time or fair that we should be looking at having substitute referees or linesmen in future tournaments? It's a really interesting discussion point because I think, actually, if you look at all the column inches and all the media attention around the temperature for the England-Norway game. How many times were the referee, all the officials mentioned in that context? I would argue it's probably zero.

20:44At no point has anyone thought, oh, fuck it, that's really hard for the ref as well. But we are going to scream bloody murder at him in the last five minutes because he's making a poor decision, partly because he literally can't see because he's so tired and so hot. No one kind of cares. But then I do think, obviously, if we're going to answer it in a semi-serious way, Matt, what I would say was referees do interpret games in their own kind of inimitable style, really. So if it was to change a referee out, I know it has to happen sometimes for injury and stuff like that. It probably would affect the game more broadly.

21:19Yeah, it's important for a referee to get a feel of the game to see how it's going. I mean, what was it? One of the games where there was nine guys in the Val room? Yeah, there was like a backup team. They put them in the camera shop for some reason. Unbelievable. You're correct. So basically, it meant at some point there were, that meant in total there were 662 officials for a game. I mean, yeah. Just a little killer. Well, I... Do you know what I'd do? I'd have a whole group of officials. So I'd have the referee, two assistants, the fourth official, the backup fourth official, all the VAR, the backup VAR.

21:53So that's like 13.

21:54Luke Moore: Independent jury made up of citizens. I'd have all those, but I'd change it every minute of the game. Okay. So everyone's super fresh and honest. So all they've got to concentrate on is like, one minute. I think they should do it like air traffic control. Yeah. 20 minutes on, 40 minutes off. 20 minutes on. I think so, yeah. I knew it was low. 20 minutes on, 40 minutes off, I think. Hydration breaks, that's why they've got to stay. It's true. Before we move on from the refereeing, I do want to quote the magnificent Liam Gallagher with regard to the madness of the refereeing and all the rest of it.

22:23Luke Moore: What the fuck are the rules of football these days? Been watching it since I was one. It's cuckoo up to RAS. It's like algebra. kind of is like algebra actually yeah i think he's right

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23:4533 days, 33 episodes, no off switch. From the goals and the glory to the politics and the problems of the World Cup, if you want soccer analysis from a podcast that's been over-analyzing the game for more than 20 years, then this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives, well, better.

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25:17Speaking of the England-Norway game I had a few people up in my grill saying what's Speller's take on Tuchel versus Bellingham because you weren't around you heard our takes on it yes I did and I saw everything so do people not like your take I don't know I don't care about that I just wonder I thought you covered it well I think that it's I'm not looking for a ruffle I want to know what you think

25:36Luke Moore: yeah I think there's a lot of pressure on Gabriel Clark going into the next game he's got to put it right yeah yeah yeah don't mention anything to do with geography Gabriel please don't for crying out loud if you're the director at ITV going into this Eagle Island TV game you're not full of confidence are you after that well it's on ITV certainly on the BBC I don't know anyway is that a win for the entire peninsula Thomas

26:00oh no

26:01Luke Moore: yeah I thought it was I thought you covered it well I thought it was all a bit silly much ado about nothing but you don't think there's anything in it no no no I don't The only thing when, I mean, it was interesting when Bellingham wasn't that diplomatic, I suppose. But then he's the man in the arena with his face covered in sweat who's just come through it and is exhausted. And, you know, if there's pressure on, I mean, the pressure on Bellingham now is enormous. I mean, he's essentially him and Kane. But Bellingham's put himself up with that performance and the goals. He has the weight of the nation on his shoulders.

26:36Luke Moore: And my goodness, he can take it. that is that you know again you covered all that talking about that type of player I completely agreed what you were saying that his performance thus far in this tournament has been the best of any English player in any tournament you would argue and for my money he's on for the golden ball I know people will say well what about Messi what about Mbappi I think it probably will go down to that and understandably and obviously we've got the games today and tomorrow but yeah with Tuchel loves a bit of that I can't imagine Tuchel is going to go what were you saying about me he's gonna grab him and go you've been damn right there's much ado about nothing yeah did you think that yeah is that what you thought it was almost i tell you what it was almost quintessentially english football england at the tournament everything is going quite well oh should we just throw something in there just like kind of like throw everybody off and it's the same with bellingham you mentioned bellingham there honestly i hope everything goes really well because the saviors in this country can soon turn to a scapegoat very very quickly yeah we've seen it time and time again.

27:32Luke Moore: I don't think it will. I don't think it will. But I think, Clark, again, you thought you were very fair to him because he's doing his job in pressurized conditions. I'm not saying that he's got the weight of the nation. Oh, how's the interview going to go? Come on, Gabriel, don't let us down. Obviously, it's very, very different. But it is a tough job. I need you to nail this because we've got a postcode lottery advert coming after this.

28:00this section is sponsored by the Kia Sportage so can you make sure you absolutely nail this link

28:08Luke Moore: otherwise chicken tonight are going to be fucking raging and how are we going to afford that studio in New York but I think again if you're an interviewer I can just imagine that you ask Tuchel a question which he thinks a fair question I don't think it was that unfair but the way Tuchel responds he might be thinking well I've got I sort of stand up for myself here. It was a wrong conviction. He should have just taken it and then moved on. But again, easy for me to say when I'm not the one staring into the eyes of our beautiful German psychopath. You know? The German psychopath put an exaggeration on something about that.

28:42I also, I mean, your point about the scapegoats, I actually wonder whether that's a little bit of an outdated view with respect. Yeah, because I think that if, say, for example, England go out against Mexico, right, who they're better than, and, you know, it was a flashpoint and a potential bonanza again and all the rest of it. If England go out at that tournament, is Gerald Quantz going to be it?

29:03Luke Moore: It's not like it was. I just don't think he would have got the same stick that say, no, I understand at the time in 98, Beckham was a high profile player and it's probably apples and oranges. And the 90s were so different. But there are different players from down the years in tournaments for England who have been seen to be blamed. Wayne Rooney as well, he got sent off here. I just think the whole discourse has softened since then. and I think it might not I'd like to think that say for example heaven forbid fucking at least don't happen but Bellingham gets sent off early on against Argentina and they go out I just don't think it would be the same I think people would be like fuck he's been brilliant yeah we will the fans I think in the media they will be yeah but I think because of online the media landscape's different now isn't it because of online and so I think I think people would look let's not start people on X would be alright about it wouldn't they?

29:56No, they would. They're very understanding. They would. It's not the fans I'm necessarily worried about this time. I can't say. Who are you worried about, David? You do sound concerned. Yeah, well, there is.

30:05Luke Moore: You're worried about Alexi Lala having the last la-la-la. Yeah, I couldn't give a shit what he says. Has he been saying anything? I don't know. I don't know. It's got all going very quiet because initially, I think it was when the US were in the tournament. I think even he's picked up on the disdain that Thierry Nairn's Latin Ibrahimovic. I don't think he has. Well, I've had a bit of insider information. So the big one that's been taking all the attention since Lalas post the Norway game is Mike Grella, right? Yeah, I mean, he said the good news is you have two games left and you can actually win a World Cup.

30:37The bad news is you're not very good at football to which everyone pointed out that, you know, mate, you play for the Long Island Rough Riders.

30:44Luke Moore: But I would say that as loathed as I am to come to his defence, it's a hell of a lot better than I did in my football career. But you're not broadcasting in that way. Well, give me a chance. And you're not being asked to pundit for an official broadcaster on a game. Fine. It's not the same context. Yeah, but I do think bringing up his previous football career, I just think you don't need to do that. What would you like to do instead? I'd say stick it up with bollocks, mate. Because England, you know, well, I would disagree with his point of view and I would use all the evidence to say that. I mean, I think what I would say, the only thing I might say about the England-Norway game is and I think which is why it's a reasonably fair question for Gabriel Clark to say was it a mentality thing it wouldn't shock me if England went into that thinking we're a better team let's just go through the motions we'll be okay because that's what happened and also you know you because it's very difficult you know we can't get into the mindset of what it is to be in that camp it's a long time it's the biggest world cup it's always a long tournament yeah it's even longer this time.

31:51Luke Moore: Well, not as long as 1930 when you had to sail. Yeah, door to door. That was the longest one. Is there a football pitch on the boat now? Yeah, Roy Keane would have hated that. You know, Saipan all over again. Just longer. Just chucked himself in the sea. Just gets off the fucking boat in the middle of the Atlantic. Ah, dear. Drop me off at the nearest island. Shove up, you bollocks, mate. You can't even swim. We've had leaks since we left port. What sort of shit? What size ship is this? Put it out. Oh, dear. He was always plugging gaps in that midfield. But I think with England, again, I'm not accusing them of arrogance or anything like that, but it would be somewhat understandable if, and you saw that by and large of the first half, right, we've got the ball, we'll be all right, we've just got to go through this, we're a better side.

32:38Kick the ball off the cable. Yeah, exactly.

32:40Luke Moore: Aim for the cable, we'll be all right. And that looked like how it was going to play out. Then obviously they get a sucker punch, they respond well, and then in the second half it's like, oh, hang on a minute, we're on the ropes here a little bit. Then in extra time, it kind of almost like the... The machine got up and running again. Yeah, exactly. And it kind of went as you'd expect. And so I wonder if there was just a teensy little bit and Tuka wasn't happy about it, as you could see, but it was for those England players, all right, let's just get this done. Let's just get through this. And here they are against the best side they'll have faced easily so far in this tournament.

33:15That can be seen as a good thing as well. I think it shows that the players have got self-belief in what they can do as well, which I think is good. And again, look, everybody keeps talking about France, but not everybody can be France. Each team's got a different style of play and that is particularly England. So sometimes it might take them a while there to get going, to click, to start a little, get the movements together.

33:31Luke Moore: The only time France have really probably been tested in this tournament is the first half against Senegal. Yeah. That's the only time. You know, Spain have been and they've got through it. They've not been hugely convincing, but look, Spain needed to capitalize on a goalkeeping error just like England did. Yeah. You know, so it's funny. England are where they are right now we're going to do the preview tomorrow I appreciate it but they have reached the same point now where they did under Gareth Southgate they're going to play now an equally or better side than them they've got to turn up and do it but look anyway rest it back to Alexi Lalas yeah please forgive me for bringing in a tabloid headline it's not from the Sun Alexi Lalas begs for England to suffer ultimate heartbreak ahead of Argentina World Cup showdown thanks for it I don't think that is tabloid hyperbole that's the kind of character he is I'm going to nibble here, why?

34:25because he's attention seeking

34:26Luke Moore: there's that but he doesn't like England he talks about the arrogance of there is a little bit of that in America I think because a lot of their fans are influenced by the Premier League and kind of aspire to it and I've heard that some of those fans can be a bit gatekeepy and that then rubs certain people up the wrong way you're just trying to perform almost to Premier League fans and then there's a bit of resentment maybe. There might be other reasons as well. There'll be plenty of other reasons. The gatekeeping thing is something that I can naturally recall from because as you well know, I don't want anyone to enjoy football or this show.

34:57As much as us. No, atorn. Is that why you brought me in? How can I be a gatekeeper? Yeah, exactly. So I thought, how can I make them suffer more? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Fair enough. You can't be a gatekeeper if you've permanently locked the gates. That's right. You don't want anyone in.

35:11Luke Moore: Well, you've blocked the gate. I have. You've filled it in. I'll park the bus and park the gate. I love gear keeping I'm very precious I gear keep Movies, music No matter what it is Restaurants It's outside the restaurant You're not coming in If I really enjoy it I'm not recommending that To anybody It's mine Luckily no one listens to him So it's fine That's true That you once recommended A restaurant to me once In Seville I bet it was Slava Can't remember But it was number one On TripAdvisor It wasn't really I'm appalled by that As if that wasn't all As if that wasn't the worst conversation of all time anyway at the time.

35:48Oh, you'll decide, will you? Do you have TripAdvisor number one? My God, I've never used that site. I can't believe it. I'm devastated. Marcus, are you thinking about a little family holiday for the kids?

35:57Luke Moore: Yeah, Disneyland. Disney World. Sorry. Oi. Keep it to yourself. That can get quite busy. A little word to the wife. Wait a minute here on Angus Steakhouse in London. Do your kids like Lego? Oh, they love Lego. Lego isn't Windsor. You're joking. A whole land of it. Yeah. You're allowed to ignore it. Hidden gem. Do you like hip-hop? Here we go. Yes, I do very much. Jay-Z, thank me later. Oh, yeah? Thank me later. Oh, right, okay. I'll get on that straight away. There we are. Anyway, talking of nonsense, should we talk about FIFA for a bit? Yeah. Gianni Infantino. Games are thick and few and far between now.

36:31I know.

36:32Luke Moore: Yeah, we've got to turn our attention to the games administrators. Yes, Gianni Infantino. He's opened the door for a 64-team World Cup. We want more football. We want more teams. He went asked by Swiss broadcaster Blue Sport if the tournament could expand from 48 to 64. He said, these are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup. When organising a World Cup, it's important to organise it for the whole world. You've misunderstood World Cup there. And every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup. Just let everybody turn up. Bollocks. Do you know what I mean?

37:07Luke Moore: It's fine. All 211 members of the nation. What other things would you like Gianni Infantino to be examining instead of this? Should I give you a couple to start with? His footwear. The bottom of the boot of a prison gang member. There you go. That would be a nice thing to be examining, I think. You know. Could be one of those, you know. Mariana Trench. Inside a furnace. Pacific Ocean. Mariana Trench. Good. The dark side of the moon. Any of those would be fine for me. A fucking black hole. Yeah. Great white. Summon that, you baldy bastard. Yeah, baldy. yeah I mean the thing is with the 64 team World Cup and we all have this chat I'm sure post tournament when we kind of sum it all up although I think we're in a reasonable position to do so now but I'm sure that'll happen but who's going to host it this is the thing I mean everyone it's the world's game yeah I mean it literally will be what's happening what seems to be happening now and this is kind of off the top of my head type of observation so it may fall down under scrutiny but to me it feels like not just the World Cup but say things like the Olympics as well There appears to be an understanding among countries that actually this is a fucking major ball ache and it doesn't really make us any money.

38:19And it means they're having to do a lot of fucking hard yards, particularly in the case of the World Cup, for stadiums, for infrastructure, to keep everyone happy, to deal with the rampant ridiculousness of FIFA. And people just kind of wisen up to it now, which is why it looks like. And bearing in mind the process for these World Cups is very long. So if you think of when US, Mexico and Canada kind of were awarded it and bid for it, it was years ago. Think of it now. It feels to me the direction it's going into. It's just petro states now. It's just like countries that somehow will apply because they've got a load of money they want to spend on reputation management and stuff like that.

38:55I'd be very surprised when the tender opens up for the next round or whatever, if you actually get an awful lot of countries applying because it's too much of a hassle. They're going to have to massively change if they do stuff because ultimately what Infantino is saying is not just all the stuff we know about the tax exemption. the fucking shit you've got through, the hoops you've got to jump through. But like, oh, by the way, you now have got to find a way to accommodate potentially 64 different teams, all their entourage, the facilities they need.

39:22Luke Moore: The matches. We've got 40 more matches. You think about the police operation, the transport. It's going to be spread out. I mean, it would be 128 games in a 64-team tournament. We've got 104 this time. It'll be spread out. But it's already been spread out. I mean, the next one... But more. It'll be like a Taylor Swift tour. There'll be three nights in London and then they'll fly over and play three nights in Paris. But honestly, I guarantee that's how long the goal is. So a bit like the COVID Euros. You know, you've got semifinals and final in one country and then it'll be spread out. I mean, think of poor old Seth Blatter right now.

39:54Luke Moore: Because he was always keen to take the cup to places it hadn't been. And to be fair, he did that, rightly or wrongly, certainly wrongly on at least one occasion you could argue too. But South Africa hosted a World Cup and then obviously Russia and Qatar had never been hosted in those three countries, those three territories. you'd go as far as to say. That won't happen under this. You could argue that maybe it could be spread over, say, seven or eight African nations maybe or South American nations or something like that. And the burden of hosting the whole thing doesn't fall on one nation. We see that it's going to be, you know, Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

40:29Luke Moore: Okay. But I agree with Luke. I think people or countries will be like, I don't know about this. I mean, their hope was probably that China would host it at one point because they probably have the funds and the size of the country and so on. I think China looked at the media intrusion that happened in Qatar and thought, no, thank you. No thanks, yeah. Yeah, because, you know. So 2030, there's going to be some centenary games in South America. Then it's going to be Spain, Portugal, Morocco, right? Yes, you're right to say there'll be six hosts technically. And 2034 will be Saudi Arabia, right? And then the Gizaru, is it Rudy Giuliani's son?

41:01Or Andrew Gima. Yeah, he was saying that like 2038, the US might be interested again. It's like, right. I think we're going to see a massive change in the medium term about how this is all done because it's just unsustainable but then I said that about the fucking the English Football League it's unsustainable and it has been for about 20 years but that's still

41:18Luke Moore: you're biding your time you're biding your time

41:36Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube. Ready to experience something new? All Trails helps you find your next hike. Whether you're looking for something nearby or planning a trip, read reviews from real people like you to choose your trail and know what to expect. You can also download the map in case service gets spotty. Plan and experience your next hike with AllTrails, the app for exploring the outdoors.

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43:05Luke Moore: in other FIFA related news we have new information about Foller and Baligan the decision to to rescind the red card it's actually suspended it wasn't rescinded suspended sorry you're absolutely right sorry is this in 2026 or the 1930 original one I think you'll be fine whichever World Cup you can go back in time no one would have a problem with him playing because it's been reported that Mohammed Al Kamali, the chairman of FIFA's disciplinary committee, made the ruling to overturn Balogun's ban without any input from the other 17 committee members. So he's the guy that did it, apparently. So Trump claimed credit for lifting the ban, saying he called Infantino about it.

43:41Luke Moore: I mean, it appears that despite that, how mad that was and how piss poor that would have been and so on and so forth, that's actually not been the case. I mean, perhaps he had an influence, I don't know. but Mohammed Al-Khamali seems to have been the man behind the suspension of the red card. Would you be interested to know that Mohammed Al-Khamali went to University of Bristol to study commercial law and business? What, in Bonny Old England? On his LinkedIn. On his LinkedIn. Are you sure it's the right guy? That's where he learned to do it. Oh, right. That's where he learned. Bristol, how you proud of his life.

44:14Luke Moore: Well, he loves suspending things. He may have thought that up on the Clifton suspension bridge. That's what he said. He said to Donald Trump, I'll do it, But I'm dedicating it to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. They are. It all makes sense. It's following around for a photo op. It all makes sense. Not that kind of one. Yeah, no. Yeah. Here we are. We've got it. We finally found out why. That makes sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What I liked about that the most is how your eyes lit up when you thought about the Clifton Suspension Bridge. You know, sometimes... They're making it up as they go along, aren't they?

44:46Are you sure? Imagine what will happen if a big... This will be really interesting. This will test them. Here we go. This will test them. There we are. what happens if one of the big players from this World Cup I think Mbappe Bellingham Kane Messi one or two others who are still in the tournament if one of them get a red card and it's slightly even vaguely controversial in the semi what's going to happen?

45:09Luke Moore: Yeah I'll tell you now if it's any Argentina player they'll be fine. Well I'm just saying do you honestly Do you not find this weird this whole thing with Argentina? There does seem to be a conspiracy that they're getting massively favoured and they are the ones who always style themselves as the underdog, everyone's against us, blah, blah, blah. It seems quite odd to me that that's been kind of flipped at this world. Well, it's because everyone in South America hates them, so they're just balancing it out. I think the entire world hates them at the moment. It seems to be real. Yeah, it's been a bit of energy against them.

45:37Just to extend that point I'm making, because I think it's an interesting kind of thought process, thought experiment. If Messi gets sent off in the semi against England,

45:44Luke Moore: and they go through. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. In controversial circumstances. Are you honestly saying you think Trump could resist getting involved? Well, I don't think he's... I don't think it will be Trump. I think it will be your man, Al Comerle. On the Clifton Suspension Bridge. His office is on the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Just firing out missives all over the place. Depends on... Summoning people. Get him back on the bridge. It would depend how much the Argentinian FA suck the teat, basically. Yeah, basically. That's what all of this comes down to. Do you think that's what it is? It's about massaging egos.

46:14Trump's much more Ronaldo coded, isn't he, than Messi coded. Yeah, he is. But he has met Messi. He said some nice things about Messi. Yeah. So there we go. I don't really buy into the Argentinian conspiracy theory thing. Do you? I mean, I don't know.

46:26Luke Moore: No, because we talked about the Egypt. But you sounded like you did a little bit. No, no, no. No, I don't. I said it's interesting that it's happening to them because they would be very much... But you're saying it is happening to them. No, there's a conspiracy about them. Sorry. Sorry, to get my words correct there. I don't think there is. I thought the referee made the right calls against Egypt, for example. The big calls, yeah. But to be fair... You can be angry with the law, but I thought the law was correctly applied. But Egypt's main complaint, as far as I remember it, though, was that every single little decision went against us, blah, blah, blah.

46:57They didn't want us to win. Yeah, exactly. Which, to me, is a big red flag because it screams to me of distracting away from the actual big decisions. Oh, no, no, but the big ones that we effectively were on the wrong side of, it's not about that. It's about the little ones and you wouldn't have noticed them because you didn't know they were against us. I thought it was a little bit tinfoil hat, really.

47:19Luke Moore: Yeah, I'd have to... I'd have to re-watch the game to see, and I'm not going to do that. Listen, this time on Thursday, I might have quite a different opinion. Let's keep a power draw on that one. Like when people said to me the other day, you had a big go at Jesse Marsh for doing that big chat and the players on the pitch after the game. I'd rather be us than them. Yeah, that one. As good as Morocco is, I'd rather be us. Matt, we were the better team. And then they said to me, you didn't complain about Harry Kane doing it. No, because I thought when Harry Kane did it, it was good. Yeah. Did you complain when you heard this at the World Cup?

47:51Yeah, I think Darren Fletcher If there was some kind of career-long Broadcasting licence I'd have torn it up And quite simply thrown it off the Clifton suspension bridge

48:01Luke Moore: And when you said that you'd have said It's just repulsive, isn't it? Speaking of people from the West Country I would encourage you to If that ever comes your way Who's that? Ian Holloway He's got to be from the West Country, isn't he? Is that Ian Holloway? I thought it was Pete The entire time I thought it was Pete No, you remember the... Press it again. Come on. It doesn't sound like Pete. No, this is Pete. Biddy, biddy. Right? This is Ian Holloway. Do it. Do you remember? Sounds like Pete. Do you remember when he went on that rant? I remember the incident. Yeah. Yeah, right. There we are. Anyway, talk about FIFA selling pieces of the pitch.

48:34Luke Moore: This is funny. David brought this to our attention. Yeah, absolutely right. Yeah. Ian Holloway was born in Bristol. It's all coming up Bristol today. It is. Right. FIFA will be selling pieces of the World Cup final pitch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, they are. I would encourage can I encourage people to just jump on the pitch and just take it to themselves you're not an official FIFA broadcaster mate like Mike Grella although if you're listening FIFA do get in touch yeah yeah pieces of the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will be going on sale for$450 each the pieces of the pit pieces of the pitch not the stadium right yes yes should make that clear the store says each piece of the turf is 17.5 by 17.5 by 17.5 it doesn't It doesn't specify which unit of measurement.

49:20Luke Moore: So that could be meters, feet, millimeters. Metres. Yeah. Miles. Would you like a whole penalty area? Would you basically like a piece of the pitch, which is the size of a moderately furnished semi-detached house for$450 and deliveries not included? That is brilliant. If you lived locally, you'd have to do that. someone tell me exactly how many cubic fucking feet that is it's not metres, it's going to be millimetres isn't it, let's be fair, it's going to be like that big it's FIFA for God's sake I'm not going to bother overseeding this year, I'm just going to buy a big piece of this pitch and put it down in the back garden that's essentially it somebody's sent an email asking for details on dimensions, they have so far got no response so there we are the pieces will be permanently preserved in a premium acrylic in a display alongside a USB keepsake.

50:15Luke Moore: USB? Yeah. At least a USB-C. Well, that's all I've got. That's all the information. USB? Yeah. That is so FIFA. It's like so 2012. There's a CD-ROM for those who... And a floppy disk if you're that way inclined. But FIFA says features... All this features an authenticity film while offering a sleek contemporary display piece. And an official FIFA Furby. Yeah, so I don't know. I don't know what you expect. Pete's buying that. Yeah, I think Pete should, but the thing is, I think Pete should buy that. I think we could probably convince him. And we stick it up on the shelf. If there's one piece left, somebody will probably hijack them.

50:55Yeah, put it... I'll tell you what, they'll sell out.

50:58Luke Moore: They will absolutely sell out. Of course they will. I'd love to know what size they are. It's going to be millimetres, isn't it? Shall we finish with an email? I'd love to finish with an email. It's£336, roughly,$450. Yeah, but we don't know what we're getting. That's the point. It's not the price, is it? we don't want the size of the piece of picture we're getting and that's what makes it so exciting it's true it's true come to the free magnifying glass it's like the old Kinder Bueno egg you know you never know what the toy's going to be you know how big it's going to be it's called a Kinder egg Kinder Bueno's a different product it's the chocolate bar I'm surprised the answer I'm surprised the answer in the turf gold or anything like that you never know what about this email then it's a follow up email from Chris who emailed us earlier in the tournament it was ahead of the England-Norway game because if you remember, he was going to a My Chemical Romance gig at Wembley on the same night.

51:44He says, Morning, lads. A follow-up to my email about catching the football after seeing My Chemical Romance at Wembley. The show is pretty damn good. 90 ,000 aging emos singing their hearts out and soaking up some nostalgia. Very good stuff. The football. We got out of Wembley after the final song of the encore and people were checking their phones to find England were 1-0 down. People were muttering in disappointment until we heard the roars of excitement popping up all over the place that Jude Bellingham had equalised. Then spontaneously, in the queue for Wembley Tube Station, a cross of Hey Jude started to be sung out.

52:15We got back to Adlington with sparse updates on the journey. We all piled into pubs and just managed to catch Jude's second. Ecstasy, brackets, not pills. I'm too old for that these days. Safe to say the celebrations were electric. I was a little sore on Sunday morning, but excited for the impending semi. Cheers, Dr. Chris. Oh, he's a doctor now. He's chucked that in there at the end. I like that. Didn't mention that in the first email. No, he didn't need to. I like that because in the first email, he's heard that read out and he's gone, they've not respected me enough. No. I'm making sure I'm going to let them know I'm a doctor in the second email.

52:44Luke Moore: Yeah, he's got a photo of himself there looking a little bit worse for wear. He's got a cigarette in his mouth. Yeah, is that a cigarette, is it? Looks like it. I thought it was one of those little sweetie cigarette things. Oh, it looks to me like you might have... Do you remember them? Yeah, I do. What did you call them? Why was... Candy sticks. Candy sticks. Why were candy sticks giving in like a cigarette packet to children? Yeah, I know. Encouraging people. It's amazing, isn't it? the 80s it's amazing yeah absolutely amazing yeah did you boys have that you know the candy sticks yeah yeah the little sort of yeah yeah yeah you're familiar yeah no George isn't familiar George's too young George's too young thank goodness thank goodness we've put that right he looks to me like he's got it hanging out of his mouth like he's just got a free lollipop from the barbers after having his hair cut yeah which is why I thought it was a sweet treat rather than a cigarette yeah which would be my choice anyway yeah there we are right thanks for listening to the Football Ramble part of the Acast Creator Network.

53:35Luke Moore: Luke and I will be back tomorrow with Jim previewing England versus Argentina. It'd be good to have Jim back. Where's he bloody been? He's been on holiday. Fuck's sake. Is he going to paint his face? He's going to have to make him. He should paint his face. He should. Pete came in with the same face pattern he had the game the show before. He did, yeah. Marvelous. Absolutely marvellous. Great stuff. Right, there we are. Thank you very much, Luke Moore. Thank you. Thank you very much, David Cartlidge. Thank you. And thank you very much for Clifton Suspension.

54:12The Football Ramble is a Stack Production and part of the Acast Creator Network.

54:33years, then this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt, or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch full episodes on YouTube. Think of a toilet as just an everyday object? Your entire perspective shifts the moment you experience a Kohler smart toilet. Design changes everything, transforming a basic routine into something extraordinary. With standout aesthetics and intuitive controls, these are functional works of art. Stunning design that never sacrifices performance.

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