Trumpet’s corner | 2026 FIFA World Cup

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4:10Pete Donaldson: Don't panic, everybody. Welcome to the Football Ramble. England drew a blank, Colombia are through, and Ronaldo's back. It's Wednesday, 24th of June. I'm Marcus Speller. I'm Pete Donaldson. And I'm David Cartlidge. You!

4:34Pete Donaldson: Hello, everybody. It's the football ramble. Here we go. Hey, core blimey. Core blimey. We had a nice time, despite the flat performance at 40 Foot Brewery. We did. In North London. It was such a good hot night. It was. Hot boys and girls doing hot things. Was it steamy? It was steamy. It was a steamy romp. That's what the tabloids are reporting. Yeah, exactly. We met Prathitian Visha's brother for the first time, which is very exciting. inexplicably more broad-shouldered than Vish. Yeah. Round of applause for Vish's mum's birthing canal. Well done. Well done. Who do you prefer, by the way? You what?

5:12Who do you prefer? I'm excited. Oh, yeah, no, I think the crowd definitely went for P or V. Wow. And that went straight in the family WhatsApp, apparently. So, good stuff. Make-a-wish Vish, I think. Make-a-wish Vish. That's what somebody put on there. Solid. Solid. But great to meet him. Yeah. Great to have a... Newcastle supporter.

5:31Pete Donaldson: Great to have a round of applause. Oh, fucks it. Really, is he? I prefer Vish I've known how Vish and P as his brother introduced himself to me would appreciate that round of applause for his mother's body part there yeah, absolutely fine that's what you expect you want to do the England-Ghana match? well, I would rather talk about other things he's a flying elephant in the room let's do it I think I speak on behalf of the nation and say it's always pleasing to get a clean sheet England have got their first clean sheet of the 2026 World Cup. Can they do it on a wet night in Massachusetts? Evidently not.

6:06Pete Donaldson: No. But Ghana have got their second clean sheet. Nobody can score against Carlos Kiaros' boys. No. England, nil, Ghana, nil. Of course, England remain top of Group L. They'll have to wait until Saturday to confirm their progress. Surely they're going to go through, you would think. But that's not, I mean, you know, nil, nil. It was ultimately disappointing, Pete Donaldson. After that game against Croatia, we've been here before we have been here before and the cry and the plea is don't panic everybody well it felt a little bit and or in the World Cup qualifiers it felt a little bit like well Kane's gonna get us out of this one and they did on that on that situation but they didn't obviously in this match I mean this is Carlos Ball five at the back molasses thick defending in the box ten at the back it was just but not too shabby on the break in the second half no and they probably would count themselves I was unlucky not to have had a penalty at the death.

7:04So obviously England rode their luck there. But all in all, we're not going to play those teams playing like that in the knockouts. One would suggest... Because we're not going to get there. Because we're not going to get there. Oh, we're bugging these all to have a clue. But it was broadly fine, if unwatchable.

7:22Pete Donaldson: I find this quite fascinating, David, this idea of, well, actually that team wasn't very good. therefore we couldn't play our game and therefore we can't play that well against them. I do understand the kind of, I appreciate I've been a little bit, uh, tongue in cheek there, but I mean, England had 78.8 possession, which is the highest possession presented recorded by any side in a world cup game since 1966. Sorry. That's just when the records began. I hate saying that year, uh, but without scoring, uh, it was the, you know, so the highest percentage without scoring. Um, I mean, What did you make of the whole grizzly affair, David Carlinger?

8:01Pete Donaldson: I wish there was grizzle. Yeah, actually, we could have done it a bit more. There was drizzle, but there wasn't any grizzle. No grizzle. Yeah, true. I'm calm, honestly. Everything that I expected to happen, happened. Look, this is Keros' eighth clean sheet in 15 World Cup games. Yeah. It's exactly what he was going to do. This is what he does. This is why he's brought in by all these nations at World Cup games, to make themselves difficult to beat. But we knocked six pastors here outside before. Bring back Southgate, David. That's what I'm saying. I know. And look, the vibes after the Croatia game probably haven't helped in a way because everyone was on such a massive high.

8:32It was a bit too high, you would say. Yeah, it was high. Everyone's singing Wonderwall. The vibes are high. The country's great again. Do you know what I mean? K is gone. Everything was amazing. Everybody's really happy and all that. So this is a proper, like, brought down back to earth moment. But come on. Like, you're not going to play this type, you're not going to play this type of team and this type of setup in every game. Kairos is always going to do this. Of course, England had their chances to win as well. Kim blizzed over Riley hit the bar of course they could have been better I was very disappointed in the wingers and what have you but am I losing faith?

9:03Of course I'm not and you sort of with those kind of low block teams you basically have two ways of doing it you either play the tight lines through the middle but mainly you overload on one side and then switch the player they didn't really do a lot of that I thought they had quite God I snuffed that out to be fair well quite regressive sort of fullback choices obviously or one fullback choice that probably could have I think when Nico came on it was a much better more attacking form and I think the substitutions changed things up a little bit I quite enjoyed Saka coming on I just hope that he you kind of hope that he is able to start sometime soon because he just seems to he just seems to add just so much more to England's attacking play Gordon's disappointing considerably so he's got that in his locker but it was you just need patience more than anything else otherwise you're kind of relying on that kind of England individual brilliance which is not something we've always had even though we've had very talented footballers I mean if there's a Grealish in the team if there's a if there's a Cole Palmer in the team are you getting anything out that much I'd probably suggest on balance no because Garno was just so bloody stodgy and we've had those players before

10:10Pete Donaldson: in similar games so I think the idea of saying because we can get bogged down with it sometimes but if we just had him it started last night straight away I think in the space of five minutes I saw Gibbs White Palmer, Foden Morton all mentioned And that's natural That's natural action I completely get it I thought we could have done With a few more dribblers A few more runners I think when you're facing A deep block like that You want somebody To pick up the ball Just off the front line And kind of have a run Maybe draw a foul Things like that Pull people apart But there was no way to do that So I do get that Would I have liked Seeing Cole Palmer last night Of course I would have But am I regretting About this No Everybody Look we've got 26 men there That's who's there Nothing we can change about it I probably would have liked To have seen a bit of Big man Tony just mixing it up a little bit.

10:53I would have loved to have seen that. Just some simple whipping it in and just, you know, playing it simple. Get IT and Watkins on, man. Just get them both on. Just load it up. Hoof it up. I'm not even joking.

11:04Pete Donaldson: It came to it. I think... They're better than Cape Verde. Look at what they did against Spain. So, like... Well, yeah. So, I think that's it. I think that's it. I think that when you... I think... I think as England fans, we want to have... You almost... You want to be in that position where France fans are and Spain fans are. But you are right to point out the Spain draw against Cape Verde, but the fact is in the last 20 years or 18 years to be precise, Spain have won four tournaments, and France obviously have been two back-to-back World Cups, won one of them. You want to be in that position where you kind of go, yeah, just every game you go into it and you think, yeah, that's not, oh, we got through it or whatever.

11:43Pete Donaldson: It wasn't a loss. I mean, you say England did ride their luck on a couple of moments, which we'll come to in a minute. But it is a coming back down to earth, And as I say, if all works out okay, it'll be fine. I mean, it's interesting what Anthony Barry said at halftime. He said Ghana were playing a lot deeper than they thought they would. But of course, I think that was maybe sort of underestimated because again, you talk about Carlos Quiroz, you're absolutely right to say that, but Ghana have, well, they've now got four points. They'd already got three points in the bag. So there was no onus for Ghana to go and win this game.

12:14Pete Donaldson: And they knew that if we keep it tight, Actually, this is one of the little problems of what Tuchel wants to do, like play like a Premier League side. Well, Premier League sides, that type of football, and I agree with Tuchel's approach, by the way. I think it worked in that second half against Croatia, and I think that's probably what you should do. But when you come up against a team like this, England often lack a little bit of creativity and ingenuity. Now, they should be used to this, because this is by and large what happens through the qualifying groups. But of course, Ghana aren't a bad side, and when it comes to the tournament, things can be a little bit different.

12:49Pete Donaldson: But I suppose I was slightly surprised with what Barry said there. But England, I think it was all about, let's be patient, let's be patient. Fine, but at some point you've got to ramp it up a little bit. And Tuchel was doing his nutting on the sideline. And I think there was a little bit of lack of urgency, a little bit of lack of something. And ultimately England got it in the last five, ten minutes, but it was too little too late by then. I don't know who was in that team. to up the tempo. The midfielders don't fizz the ball about. I think they're very patient in the way they play. The two wingers, their first thought is to slow the game down.

13:26Or their first natural way to go about things is to turn back. You know, the number of times Gordon cut inside, the number of times Madiweke, wrong decision with his passing and such, that slows play down. That allows a team to just set in a little bit deeper and say, oh, right, we're okay. We've got our shape here. We're fine here. So you did need somebody to just have a little bit of a drive. That's probably why I think Rashford and Saka are walking at the team next. They're more direct winners in terms of their first thought when they get the ball is to drive, to get into that angle on the penalty area.

13:55I think between Gordon and Madiweke, they don't do that enough. Madiweke in particular, I feel like he just never goes outside. He was better on the left. I don't think you can, but the left side was really struggling, especially with Gordon and Spence together. Both the same footers as well. Everybody, the natural inclination was to go inside rather than go outside. He needed something different.

14:13Pete Donaldson: So speaking of Spence, you know, apparently, you know, the chat was Tuchel put him in. So he had a little bit more recovery pace because they knew that Garner would probably try and hit England on the break. Fine. I thought as well, he might think at some point because of his lack of options at fullback, which maybe is a tournament progressive, should England progress into the tournament, that could bite him on the ass a bit. But anyway, we'll see. But with Spence, I thought to myself also, don't let's, he will need Spence at some point. let's not put Spence in for the first time in a knockout game.

14:45Pete Donaldson: Get some minutes and all that kind of thing. But yeah, there were flashbacks to the Euros, with the right footer at left back and blah, blah, blah. But I think, yeah, I agree with you with Rashford. Obviously when he comes on, the Ghanaian defenders are a bit more tired, so maybe there's a tiny bit more room. But even putting balls into the box where it came to it, it was like, right, you just need to do that. But one thing though, you have to say, Ghana defended superbly well. they went about their task. I mean Jude Bellingham was given as it's called superior player of the match which does sound superior player of the match it does sound quite high and mighty but Bellingham immediately said he didn't deserve it and he said he should have gone to one of their lads who defended so well which I thought was a nice touch from Bellingham and I agree with him but one of the things that Garner did was completely nullified Harry Kane this idea and it was funny on the BBC you had Ellen White saying oh Kane he should have been in the box more in between the two centre-halves and so on.

15:42Pete Donaldson: I'm like, yeah, I suppose in that game, he sort of tried to do that. But that's the same chat we've been having in previous tournaments. Kane doesn't want to do that. The problem was for Kane is that if he was to drop deep, it wasn't like the Croatia game. It's kind of like, well, what's the point of that? Because you've got so much time on the ball. 78.8 possession England had. So the midfielders, even the centre-halves, had tons of time on the ball. So they completely nullified that whole business of Kane roaming around and doing his thing. and they did it pretty well. And as you say, with the wingers and so on, completely snuffed out.

16:14Pete Donaldson: They basically said, you're going to have to do something pretty special, which England evidently didn't have on the day, or we're going to make a mistake, which Ghana didn't because they stuck to their jobs and they were brilliant at the back and the keeper caught everything. He did absolutely everything he needed to do. So credit where credit's due. And that kind of performance can happen. You can look at some of the bigger teams. Spain versus Cape Verde is the obvious one, but France have played a different profile of sides. You know, Senegal, as we say, are going to try and win the game. Even Iraq, you know, I mean, there were mistakes there, but they needed something out of the game.

16:46Pete Donaldson: So it's an odd one. England end up getting a point. I don't think it's a disaster. But David, it does, it felt like, oh, we're back. England are back. And it's that feeling that we just don't bloody want. Of course it isn't. But I'm honestly finding it hard to get too upset about this. Yeah, sure. Seriously. this has happened before this in the second game as well I still think there's a lot of positives there the vibes are still pretty high as well just come on like I'm not when I was a kid I used to get absolutely raging after games like this honestly and throw it oh why isn't he there what's he doing there but like just calm and I tell you what the way that it's all set up as well there's very little jeopardy in here look it's a learning experience it's a learning curve it's important to top the group though of course they still can top the group they're playing the worst team were already out in the final group game.

17:37We win that, then everything's fine. Yeah. Who have been better than you expect, but they're still no Garner. Yeah. You sort of look at it and sort of go, well, they're not having a... I almost sort of think that England just need to get the ball and just whack at the goal first couple of minutes. Because... Shoot on target. Well, seriously. Shoot on target until the 57th minute. I think that was the thing that made it so depressing. Yeah. If it was depressing. Just have a crack on goal just to sort of get things started you know what I mean just remind people what we're here for do you know what I mean it was a very catchy performance but the most annoying thing for me is that at the England Watch Along we had a trumpet player ready to go at full time do you remember I was chatting to one of our listeners who had brought his trumpet yes he offered his services as a full time trumpeter yeah listen to Greg listen to Greg and I was gutted that we couldn't get him trumpeting away at full time

18:31Pete Donaldson: he had a little blow at half time oh did he I didn't even hear that very quickly Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably best for the neighbours that he didn't. I was very worried about licensing restrictions in E17. I wasn't. On the night. Oh, Pete, you can't trumpet at night because, you know, Pete will shout at him. It's a little corner in London. Let the man trumpet. It's like a speaker's corner. It's trumpet's corner. You can do what you like there. You've got to take that trumpet home, cold and dry. Yeah, we didn't get any. I suppose, I mean, I did say at the end, you know, we were almost all but qualified, so let's have an easy for that.

19:00Pete Donaldson: But there were two incidents in the game, though, that went England's way. and I think actually this you might say is a bit of a concern Pickford looked a bit erratic and he was it felt like it's felt so far in the tournament we've got the more erratic Jordan Pickford he's not settled into England Pickford yet that's what I call big poppin right so there was the first one where he came together and he actually got given the free kick yeah which seems a bit mad yeah I mean I thought I thought at best for England it was a kind of coming together a collision I don't think it was a foul necessarily it didn't do it for me the other one which we're going to so what did you think should have happened what did you think was the fair I think that was fair as in a foul on Pickford did you think I think that was fair I thought the lad's leg was up against Pickford as well that's a very very hard one to kind of decide and I think England also had a covering defender it might have been Geri but yeah that was fine so the other one and this is where England England were despite the win against Croatia and the better performance England's defensive line was criticised now Stones came out for this one Gay came in there was talk of maybe a little bit more recovery pace I mean Gay's not the quickest but he's you know he doesn't lack pace but I think I'm looking around going where's Carl Walker for these moments you know we all got used to him you know in a back three where he was charging across the pitch exactly so England are susceptible if they you know on the counter with the pace that say a team like Ghana have So Konza, Esri Konza charging back.

20:34Pete Donaldson: Both feet have left the ground. He is very much in the air. Can we have a chat about not doing that in the knockouts, please? I mean, that was the dictionary definition of a desperate lunge. Desperate lunge, out of control, two-footed nonsense. It was like a kid jumping in the pool with a cannonball on holiday. It was incredible. I mean, the thing is, I understood where Konza was coming from because he had to do something. Yeah, the sky. he was coming back down to earth for a few moments there and he makes contact with the leg and it wasn't given what did you think? if he'd have turned the camera and shouted I'm back like Cristiano Ronaldo does in his match I wouldn't have been surprised it was wild do you think it was dog zone?

21:27I think it was dog zone

21:28Pete Donaldson: So at least a penalty At least a penalty, yeah I don't think it was dogs though It was definitely a penalty though 100 % Well Darren Cown on the BBC The refereeing expert or advisor Guru He thought it was a penalty Funnily enough Carlos Kuros definitely thought it was a penalty He said the VAR was on vacation In the second half apparently Referring to that as incident He said once again the VAR went for coffee I like to take my coffees once in a while it's a clear penalty and a red card on Konza I mean whatever whatever you may think you can you can say wow was it and I was it I mean it wasn't a coming together it was clearly you know again to try and sort of it's the same way the Hadron Collider comes together exactly it's smashing the atoms it was one boxer's fist and the other's face come together is it coming together even if you say well the attacker was on his way down whatever you may think at the end of the day England got away with that yeah because you could definitely make a big argument for that being given.

22:30Pete Donaldson: And I tell you what... Enjoy that as part of the England performance. Exactly, exactly. The referees... So you may have noticed, everybody, that there are... Because actually, in the build-up to that, I thought, would it have been Eze was fouled? I think it was Eze who was on the ball and he was just basically checked off the ball. Yeah, you got... That wasn't a foul for me. Do you not think it was a foul? No, Eze needs to be stronger in situations like that. Just come on, come on. But the referees are letting the game flow a bit more, even though there was a lot of fouls in this game, and maybe this game not.

22:58Pete Donaldson: But in some moments, I mean, the Mbappe one against Senegal would be sort of case in point. To me, it's kind of like, I understand you want to let the game flow, but actually that is pretty ridiculous. Because apparently the great Pierre-Luigi Colina said that he wanted a higher threshold for fouls before the tournament. That was the chat with the referees. You can see that in this tournament. You can see that playing out. Yeah, because there's so many breaks. because you've got hydration breaks and what have you. So when the ball is in play, they are trying to let flow as much as possible because they know you've got those omissions.

23:28Pete Donaldson: So if that is the case, which I think is an interesting argument you've made there, that makes these hydration breaks even more scandalous. It's not even the fact that it's interfering with the flow of the game. If you're saying, which may well have been in the thoughts of Kalina and the other referees, that comes into how you actually officiate the game. I think it's broadly I think that decision was broadly in step with what we've seen elsewhere at this tournament so look if that's the game that we're allowed to play let's fucking enjoy it cartwheeling studs in the face you need to be physical anyway in these games you know Argentina have showed that they're happy to get physical when they need to and everything in England they've often showed that in the past the big story obviously because of the dullness of the game potentially most outlets are going with is the Jed Spence not shaking Thomas Partey's hand in the start of the game.

24:25It's an open-call case, all that good stuff that limits everything that gets said in this room. But it's interesting to have an England player breaking lines or, you know, not thinking for himself, but you know what I mean, making decisions on himself, bearing in mind how lines were drawn in the Qatar World Cup about the LGBTQ stuff, for example. But we can't talk about it. We can't for obvious reasons. And I think Jed Spence because he's got a broken jaw. So let me move on.

24:50Pete Donaldson: Yep. All right. Elsewhere in the group, Panama 0, Croatia 1. Panama have been knocked out of the World Cup. Gutting for them because they were so close to a point in the first game. All right. They were better than we thought. Well, they have been better than we thought. I think it's fair to say. They'll continue their search for their first ever point or three World Cup. They've got England next. Can we help them make history? To help us. Help them to help us. yes indeed in this game Luka Modric made his 200th appearance for Croatia that's mad isn't it we were saying that Jude Bellingham reached 50 caps I think he's one of the youngest or the youngest England player to do that and you think that's crazy how's he got 50 caps and I'm thinking well but then Messi's got 200 200 cap mark was like a number of years ago that was you couldn't get anywhere near I mean Shilton obviously is our top it was very rare wasn't it I think there'd be a lot of Asian nations like Saudi Arabian what have you who did quite a lot of caps but with Modric to get 200 to play at such a high level during that 200 it's not like he's just been hanging about and everything he's been brilliant and he did struggle at times the Panama players really got into him in terms of pressing him and just forcing him 200th cap rate we'll test this little old man out he's passing 88 % as usual again par for the course.

26:17That's where he's been like for probably all 200 casts. I mean, interesting to see if he's ever dropped below 80 % in any of those 200 casts. Yeah. They had like, obviously he made his debut back in like 2006, 2007 and he like, that's like three Spider-Mans ago. Oh, at least. At least.

26:31Pete Donaldson: We had so many Spider-Men. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. We've got a Spider-11 I think since then. Well, so he's the fourth player, men's player to do that out of the three obviously, Cristiano Ronaldo, Badir, Al, Matawa of Jordan and Lionel Messi. He's in various team company who's more likely to be at the next World Cup Ronaldo or Modric they'll both be there come on I think Modric is making noises that this might you know however many matches he's got left in this World Cup might be his last when you say he's making noises making noises he hasn't said anything

27:06Pete Donaldson: I can't remember if the ball had gone out of play or not in the passage of play but Leverkovic made an unbelievable save at one point in the first half. I think Paul May have already gone out. It wouldn't have counted. But he's having a lovely old time. Conceded four against England, but still, though, was in fine form. So, yeah, Croatia, you can see them getting the result they need against Ghana and going through. And then the last, you know, how are they in the quarterfinals again? Or something, you know. But they find a way, quite simply. You have to admire it. All right, coming up after this, Darren Fletcher does a Darren Fletcher.

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30:30We'll be right back.

30:40Pete Donaldson: Luke said he'd love to see Uzbekistan give Portugal a bloody nose, mostly because of Cristiano Ronaldo. They didn't. They did not. Everyone was really enjoying David with Cristiano Ronaldo not scoring at this World Cup. And Lionel Messi's scoring lots of goals. But Ronaldo, we got two. You're not going to track him in the box. You're not going to track him in the box like that, that early in the match. Yeah. You know he's busy. You knew he was going to score. In the first match, I said that you know, you don't lose a touch like that so quickly. He'll probably come back. But, you know, it's against Uzbekistan.

31:14Well done, they're 34. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, what do you think, David? Yeah, I just thought it was nice before the game. You know, there's a lot of division in the world right now. But the fact that we have such unity over Cristiano is lovely to see and it warms the heart. The thing that gets me is like the commentators and people who sort of are quite close to football. I don't know what it is but I've never disagreed with so much kind of commentary and so many statements in the match after you know I think during the game he turned to the camera and shouted I'm back yeah no you're not the commentator said did you ever think he was going to leave the stage quietly he will leave the stage quietly he's bad at football now and Lee Dixon said everybody who loves football wanted to score hard to disagree I could not believe that are they living in a different world where they just don't read what any normal punk that talks about it's unbelievable Absolute nuclear bellend

32:08Pete Donaldson: Another commentator said Exactly He should be canned for that Whoever his employers are I'm not even kidding either Yeah Six World Cups though An insane retort But this is the thing This is the annoying thing about Cristiano Ronaldo Great pass on Bruno but a beautiful second strike This is the frustrating thing about all this bollocks Is he becomes the first player to score in six different World Cups. That's astonishingly good. He's the second oldest goal scorer in men's World Cup history after Roger Miller. And the great Roger Miller. You know, these things like we... Because the reason why you love the likes of Messi and even Mbappe, I think maybe to a slightly lesser degree because Messi's so loved because you don't really know.

32:56Pete Donaldson: He comes across so well. Now, you might get people suggesting, oh, but in the dressing room, this, that, that. Yeah, it's fine. But from what the world can see, the way he conducts himself is very, very good. Very, very impressive. And with Ronaldo, this sort of try-hard bollocks, I know we've said all this so many times before, but it's Ronaldo, just let your football do the talking. Here we are, 41 years old. You scored in your sixth World Cup. We're saying the same thing over and over again. The fact is that Lee Dixon's wrong. So many people didn't want him to score because they found it funny because he's getting wound up.

33:29Pete Donaldson: And that's it. He's not universally loved in the way that he should be. and it's I honestly think it's a little bit of a shame I know it's a sort of a more serious point on what has been sort of quite funny you know so far but he's only got himself to blame but it's just things like him pointing to his head when Mendes' free kick goes in exactly as if he's the first person to do a fucking decoy free kick before everything is just so forced yeah it's so performative yeah yeah exactly it's very sickly and it's so annoying but it's so annoying David look at the moments look at the goals the shed load of goals he's given us all this it's kind of like you don't want to say this about him you want to go oh what a amazing 41 scoring goals that's what you want to do but he's created this narrative that we're talking about now he has he's created the circus and the monster within the circus he's the only person he's the only player who deserves I show speed's adulation do you know what I mean he's tomfoolery but this story should be we should be starting this by saying this man his attitude and mentality he was written off and now look at him he's up and running at the World Cup the sixth World Cup second oldest player blah blah blah that's what it should be and it's not that because of the way he conducts himself and I honestly find that so frustrating the football purist in me finds that very frustrating but look the fact is you do have to give him credit you know like as you say Peter the second one in particular was 11 the first one was nice sort of on the slight turn he's contributing and he's answering back to the so many of us myself included who have said you know what is he doing starting games.

35:02Pete Donaldson: I still think when it comes to the crunch, when Portugal go through this tournament, and I think they will go deep, David, you've got them down to win it, lest we forget, that against bigger sides, you know, he is, to me, would be much better off as an impact sub. And I think he could have real value. It's not going to turn out like that. And this is obviously going to justify the decision to play him. But otherwise, it was a great day for Portugal. They needed this performance. And for them to have, you know, It was one own goal, but Leao coming on and getting his goal as well. This is exactly what they needed after that.

35:38Pete Donaldson: Very flat performance themselves against the Arcongo, don't you? Oh, yes, significantly so. And this was the ideal opposition for them in terms of Uzbekistan were willing to play. They needed something out of the game. Yeah, exactly. They had to look to play. So they weren't completely behind the ball. The gaps, the spaces were there. but like Pete's just said for them to switch off well you know Cristiano I mean Cristiano's only going to be in about a 5 or 10 yard space the entire game like you know where he's going to be and look his movement is absolutely outstanding and it's like Roy Keane I think Roy Keane said look that's the sign of his sharpness and his awareness and that's never going to leave him but they just had to be switched on for that I think but yeah yeah it's exactly what Portugal need and again it's kind of flipped it's almost like the reverse of England they started off on such a negative manner and now the vibes are unbelievably high and like oh Cristiano's on fire now everything's all good and it's just interesting how things can flip within you know your 95, 96 minutes I'd love it to be on fire I mean that's the different dynamics of who your first opponent is what's needed in the second game all that kind of stuff I mean that free kick that you've already mentioned Pete the goalkeeper it's shocking from him but that's the thing though like when Ronaldo sort of taps to his head thinking, ah, that was clever.

37:00Pete Donaldson: It's like, no, but the goalkeeper thinks that you surely are not going to give up a free kick. So he's all in on Ronaldo, whipping it one side. Lying on his bellendry. You know, and a very, very brief moment of, I suppose, modesty or humility from Ronaldo letting Mendes take the free kick, who puts it right next to the goalkeeper. He really should have done better. And then that humility and modesty is immediately taken away with a tap to the head. That was that lovely moment where the Uzbeks scored an absolute peach of a goal. Oh, I know what a goal it was. And the goal gets chalked up and everyone at the watch on was just like, I mean, yeah, I mean, it was, but I mean, I mutter it.

37:39Just allow it.

37:40Pete Donaldson: Should there be a rule, though, that if there is a foul in the build-up, if the goal's good enough, then it can stand? I think every team should be allowed a vibe decision. Add back that rule. So if you see something in the build-up, Only the captain can go up to the referee and go, come on! Yeah, exactly. If you do that, yeah. Bash! Bash! If you get one botter tournament. Bash! Bash! I think if you see a player, one of your men foul someone in the build-up, you think that could be given right. We've got to go for an overhead kick here, lad. Yeah. You can't do it, absolutely. You see a guy like flicking it up off the chair.

38:16You see overhead kick Raborna, Dave.

38:19Pete Donaldson: Yeah. Oh, deary me. A reminder though That Ronaldo's red card Against Ireland In World Cup qualifying Would have meant He missed the opening Two games of the tournament But FIFA decided To suspend that ban For a year There we go Yeah Suspend it for a year He's 41 FIFA just love football So much They do They said give them Some Cristiano Play on Yeah They're the play on Tournament Totally In unrelated news It's Lionel Messi's birthday today Happy birthday Lionel Messi Five goals already Happy birthday Leo if you're listening We love you Prince. Beautiful Argentinian prince. I know. I know you and your countrymen hate us, but we love you.

38:59Pete Donaldson: Right. Let's move on to Colombia 1, Dr. Congo 0. Colombia are through to the knockouts. They are, yes. They have a good value for this. I tell you what, Colombia, though, it's only 1-0. It should have been about 3-0. With the support they have as well, I think Colombia... I think they're very tasty. I think they are quite tasty as well. They were backed a little bit before the tournament, weren't they? I mean, it's an obvious one to have as dark horse. You know, people were saying, obviously, like Japan, Ecuador. I was like, with Luis Diaz, I mean, he didn't score, probably should have done. He did have the ball in the back of the net, but he was offside.

39:33Pete Donaldson: So that does not count. But Daniel Munoz did score his second goal in two games at the World Cup. Very fortunate deflection, which it needed because Lionel Mpasi in goal had a good game. He kept Colombia out. And it was such an unlucky one as well, such a heavy deflection. but I tell you what David the Colombians you talk about the vibes you know with that stadium packed full of yellow you look at some of the names on their team sheet I mean Diaz obviously is the obvious one James Rodriguez looks ever green he was lovely have you seen that little role they've given him as well he's just allowed to stroll about just quite deep he's even rocking up right back like a deep line playmaker just spraying it about really really nice to watch but the coach is getting the best out of James Rodriguez in qualifying him and Diaz were the two main guys as you would think.

40:20Pete Donaldson: And Rodriguez, what is he, 35 now? He's no spring chicken. But again, a canny player, an experienced player and the type of player who thinks, you know what, he might have thought a few years ago, I might not, you know, at the age of, sorry, he's 34, sorry, he'd be 35 in a couple of weeks on the 12th of July. Will they still be in the tournament by then? That's quarterfinal territory, that is. With James Rodriguez, again, just the way his career's gone and he's had, I mean, He's played for an extraordinary amount of top clubs. But the way it's gone, he might have thought, am I going to be struggling to make a big impact at this World Cup?

40:56Well, I'll tell you what, the coach has been setting it up, as you say,

41:00Pete Donaldson: in favour of him. He's getting a tune. Yeah, Columbia were almost in a bit of a Neymar situation, I think, with James Rodriguez. I think a lot of people in Columbia were kind of like, oh, maybe we love him, thank you. You were brilliant a few years ago. We'll never forget those goals, how great that was. But maybe it's time to kind of move on. but look he's playing a very key role and those around him also stepping up Daniel Munoz obviously you know Premier League fans know how brilliant he's been at Crystal Palace but those little like gallops behind the full back he's ghosting in every time he's brilliant I mean Munoz he is magnificent oh what a player like really I mean really tasty like as you say it's such a weapon they have you know he's going to do it but the problem is is like when you've got Diaz on the other side and everyone's kind of coming together and there's a bit of a swarm and went, oh, you've got to watch out for Rodriguez.

41:48Pete Donaldson: Oh, Munez is in again. He's ghosted in. He might have had a hat-trick on another day. There was one where he probably should have done a bit better where it came off the post. But yeah, he's such a handy player for them. He is the archetypal player where modern clubs, in the modern game, they love it when you have a guy who's a full-back, although really a wing-back. It's almost a bit like you hark back to when Danny Alves was doing that for Barcelona or Mike on. It was quite a South American-Brazilian thing. And Spirney and Jody Alba really well as well to get him behind. Yeah, Cucuré does it.

42:20Pete Donaldson: It's like you almost it frees up the winger in front of them so much because they just have that one side and they just absolutely dominate it. The standout footballer in the Premier League they've seen. Yeah, definitely. He's unlucky to get that injury but I'm just really pleased to see him. And maybe England could do something similar with Lewis. Oh yeah, I forgot you. Stop it, David. Stop it. Come on, I've been positive. You have been positive. I'm not plastic.

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45:07Pete Donaldson: The other big story from this game, Pete Donaldson, was that Michael Nkuka Mboladinga was back. Yeah, didn't like to see him walking through the airport, moving. I don't like him moving. I want that man as still as possible. And he was there doing his Patrice Lumumba tribute statue thing. He's got great get-up. He's got great get-up. Some of the tightest hair you've ever seen in your life. Absolutely stunning work. And he obviously did his 21 days Ebola isolation period. Now he's there. I like to think when he was in isolation, he was just... Yeah, just practicing, just absolutely still for the whole thing.

45:44He's a real presence, isn't he? He is.

45:46Pete Donaldson: Is he the modern-day David Blaine that we all really wanted? Oh, I thought you were going to say he's like the modern-day mega-fan. You know, when Nation always had a fan that everybody knows, like Spain had Manolo. The hot man, Garna. Birdman. I was about to say Birdman, Columbia. So is he the man now? He has to be I mean he is Quite simply He's there I mean he was in the He travelled with the team Yeah With the DR Congo team He is the man then Well absolutely But he's there Hopefully they can get through To the knockouts But yeah Columbia They'll take some beating And nobody Will want to play them I say that about a lot of teams You say that?

46:23Pete Donaldson: Yeah You've got to play somebody At some point Now Peter The duck saga continues At the 2026 World Cup Because Merlin The Mexican duck Has now met Mexican president Claudia Scheinbaum at a press conference nice that feels like the press conference was just invaded by a Mexican duck he just flew in flew in well she's just eating bread and he's like I'm getting involved do not eat bread around him he's very aggressive Merlin's Merlin's owner it just says owner Carla I assume that's Merlin and not the president introduced her family to the press Scheinbaum the president said that letting people know the family was a matter of humanism.

47:05Yeah, confusing statement. I'd very much like them to explain that, but I imagine it's second language stuff that I'm not really across, to be honest.

47:11Pete Donaldson: Yeah, that's fine. We'll leave it there, but we can all get behind this. Merlin tried to peck the president. Yes! I've pecked the president. I mean, I presume special forces rolled in. Yeah. And a sniper took Merlin out. Did he disagree with her policies or something? Maybe. Yeah, and that was... Not as back to present. That was the last we ever saw of Merlin the Mexican duck. Oh, deary me. Oh, love it. Listener Alex has been in touch. Oh, has he? He's been in Kansas City. Hello, gents. I'm currently in Kansas City. After initially thinking I had massively overpaid for tickets to Argentina versus Algeria, it clearly became one of the best value tickets I've ever bought for obvious reasons.

47:51But the battle for the highlight of my time here now has a huge arrival. I went to the Kansas City FIFA Fan Fest. Which is quite a mouthful, isn't it? The Kansas City FIFA Fan Fest. to watch the Scotland match. However, at the 5pm local kickoff time, the big screens did not show kickoff, but rather the emblem of Pitbull's Florida compatriots, a one, Mr. Flo Ryder. We quietly took ourselves over the smaller screens to watch the game while Mr. Ryder's lyrical genius blasted through the speakers. At halftime, we caught the tail end of his performance in between renditions of Apple Bottom Jeans and Where the Girl's At.

48:25Where the Girl's At? Where the Girl's At. 2026. Oh my god In the apple bottom jeans In the boots with the fur You've answered your own question there Flo In Ted or not He was doing what can only be described as FIFA propaganda Initiating chants of When I say love You say FIFA No And I love FIFA No he wasn't I love FIFA It is unclear to me If he understands that FIFA Is the Sith-like empire That we know it to be Or if he's just a complete puppet for Infantino All in all A very enjoyable few days In Kansas City We were trying to

48:57Pete Donaldson: I thought I'd seen just about everything. Well, we had a conversation yesterday before the Portugal match, which sort of pop acts came on the scene, unleashed like three or four absolutely banging singles, but had no penetration in just the world. You know, the kind of collective consciousness of the world. And I had Flo Rida down as one of those men has just been just making an impact, doing big old songs, big, you know, sort of jock anthems and then just disappearing and nobody really thinks about him. And Akon was the other one. Akon was the quintessential man who, a forgettable performer. He was just always on every, there was a point when he was on every feature.

49:37Yes. You know, like Sean Paul. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. On every song that came out. Derulo, is it Derulo? Jason Derulo. Is Derulo that kind of man? I think Derulo's got more penetration. No, I think he's got more about it. Yeah, he had a few hits, like hits, not just features. No, I think that, yeah. DJ Khaled? I think he's getting there, isn't he? Probably. Like, you know, massive impact, couple of big songs. completely forgettable. Can we talk about Britpop?

49:59Pete Donaldson: No. Okay. No, I'm just a bit out of debt with you. Sounds terrible. When I say love, you say... Oasis. Yeah, they do. The Gallaghers. When I say love, you say FIFA. I mean, how much has he been paid to get to say that? He's probably just one of those corporate guys who goes, right, who looks at the piece of paper, who am I performing for today? No, but why love? When I say football... Insert oligarch's name here. Fine. Okay. Where's Robbie Williams? Where's Robbie Williams? He's probably done a bit of that But when I say football You say FIFA That's utter shite But okay Love Yeah but he's a company man He's a company man Didn't he perform at The Trump concert as well Yeah he's a big Trump guy I'm sure he performed at that as well But yeah yeah Further questions They do have a sort of cabal Of sort of people who You know the village people Obviously sort of tied But not the actual village people There's apparently about Three or four offshooters Oh is there Yeah yeah Was there a big fight Yeah yeah No actually there is There's a lot of legal trouble Same with Milli Vanilli We won't go into that UB40 The original UB40 Well we better not comment on it David We'd all be dragged into this Yeah Milli Vanilli were announced For that For the 250th anniversary concert Weren't they But then They cancelled it At the last minute I think I think so yeah But one of them did The other one said Oh I want to perform But then apparently there's another I'd say you're very complicated One of them's dead What's going on I don't know What is happening Pete is spinning his apple I'm spinning my apple Apple for teacher Yeah Yeah, the apple bottom jeans is something not what you think it is.

51:30Pete Donaldson: Right, tonight, British summertime tonight, we've got a lot of games, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Qatar, Switzerland, Canada. Switzerland, Canada, that's a tasty one. And then after that, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland v. Brazil in Miami. I'm going to have a disco nap. Welcome to Miami. Let's just check how hot it is in Miami. according to the BBC. Doesn't matter. England can't do it in the rain. I know, yeah. Bring more heat, please. There's going to be rain. We've got thundery showers and a gentle breeze. Highs of 34. Highs of 34. It's going to be tropical. Slap it on, lads. Come on. So, Scotland obviously want it to rain at some point during the game.

52:14Pete Donaldson: Make them feel a bit at home. Although, I mean, when the weather is about 32, 33 degrees, I mean, the rain is sort of kind of welcome. Yeah. But the heat is there. are we going to see delays who knows you can't take your eyes off that one though the US just want Scotland to stay and I hope it happens so I hope they beat Brazil well David what do you think I can see Scotland losing 2-1 in the same way I can see England go out I can't even score a goal Marcus okay fine bundling an own goal the classic Scotland thing would be is to go out by one goal yeah a gallant performance yeah exactly I don't have that much faith in Steve Clarke as you know I mean this idea that Brazil can be got at yeah I don't think Brazil are a great side but there's been a lot of a lot of chat about how Grant Hanley will deal with the likes of Inicius Junior and so on and so forth poor old Grant he's taken a lot of flack he's taken a lot of flack and it's not his fault and we might see Neymar oh don't forget that lovely oh wouldn't it be lovely if he scored the winner what no no what no what I don't even mean that from an anti-Scotland point I just really like Neymar.

53:25Fair enough.

53:25Pete Donaldson: Fair enough. Well, there we are, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Football Ramble, part of the Acast Creator Network. Friends of the Ramble, don't go anywhere. Keep listening for Ramble Uncut. If you're not a friend of the Ramble, head over to patreon.com forward slash football ramble to sign up now. Thank you, David. Thank you, Marcus. Thank you, Peter. Fare thee well. And thank you, Flo Rida. Boots with the bow. We hit the go! She hit the floor.

54:01Pete Donaldson: A big body of water is called an ocean. What would be a slightly smaller body of water called Peter around the British coastline? Sue! Sue? Sue? I mean... You can edit that out, Tom. No, keep it in. No, edit it out. I think it's a super addition to the show. Edit it out. No.

54:23let's have a clean break oh god I'm gonna I'm gonna ref it right throughout the show that would be very unprofessional this is good at the end

54:31Pete Donaldson: this is good fine we'll deal on that not shaking your hand the football ramble is a stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network

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