Cape Verde’s heroics and it’s g’night Australia: World Cup Daily

0:00Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.

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0:47Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly, an extraordinary game between Argentina and Cape Verde. At the end, bodies were everywhere and Cape Verde kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Sidney Lopez Cabral with the moment of the tournament up there with the great World Cup goals, arcing a glorious strike into the top right-hand corner to equalise for a second time. It was absolute perfection. They were brave, good on the ball. Voizini was great again. Pico Lopez heroic, but in the end it wasn't quite enough. Messi with an exquisite touch and finish. Martinez banging one in and then Christian Romero in off the defender.

1:17And it will be Egypt next for Argentina. After Egypt beat Australia on penalties, the Socceroos changed their keeper. Two centre-backs missed spot kicks. The inquest down under started already. In truth, neither side were that good. And then Colombia beat Ghana. An early goal was enough in a sea of yellow in Dallas. Ghana, once again, a hard watch. We'll discuss the England-Mexico kickoff time almost, but not changing. There's more fallout from Croatia's Snicko Gate. We'll answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

1:50On the panel today, Arjun Rintat, welcome. Hello. Hey, Barry Glenn Denning. Hello. And in Dallas, Lars Hibberton. Hey, Lars. Howdy, everyone. Howdy, doody. For the YouTube viewers, we are broadcasting from our bedrooms again because it is late again. But it will make no difference if you are listening, of course. Let's start then with Ghana. No, let's start with Argentina 3, Cape Verde 2. I mean, that was such a brilliant game, Archie. And the Sidney Lopez Cabral goal, I mean, it's the most that we have all shouted watching a goal, including England games. It was just unbelievable. The thing that really caught me with it was, A, I don't think I've reached that higher pitch in this tournament yet with the noise I made after that went in.

2:41I was very excited. Let's be real. Only Christine Quinn's dog could hear you. these are all things which are true and the thing is that I was very excited with the first Cape Verde equalizer and that was the whole point of why this second equalizer was so special because I think any football fan watching this game even if it wasn't the most interesting game of football that we've seen it was important because of the context of who these two teams were and that's what made it so engaging. And we'd all probably, in our minds, apart from the Cape Verde players and staff, had written them off after that second goal from Lissandro Martinez, it seemed like things had gone wrong.

3:26But both times, in fact, all three times that they conceded, they kept coming back for more. And at the start of the second half, they had an excellent period of play. That first goal that they score from Di Roy Duarte is an amazing move. But this Sidney Lopez Cabral won. Sure, we can talk about the finish. It comes from a move which is of at least 13 passes where they move it from back to front. But then the finish, oh, to die for. The way that you see it arcing into the top corner and there's that moment in your brain where you're thinking, this isn't going in. This can't be going in. It is going in.

4:03Oh my God. It was glorious. And for hit to happen to him as well Sid did a brilliant interview with him yesterday where he was talking about how he was freezing in the fifth tier in Germany earning like£850 a month using bin bags for curtains but he had his big day he had his big moment it was just such a shame to see him in tears at the end but look I'm sure it was just overwhelming emotions because yeah sad that cape verde lost but what a performance that they put in here and yeah like the surprise team of the tournament yeah i mean the finish barry was so good the celebration like he was desperate to hug i presume his missus she didn't seem that bothered but like he he waited for hours in the

4:48Max Rushden:in the stands yeah uh in his match report barney said that she was probably his girlfriend or at East wanted to be his girlfriend and is probably his girlfriend now. But it was an incredible goal. It's one of the all-time great World Cup goals. It will become as iconic as any, I'd imagine. And the thing is, he's a left footer and he hit that with his right foot. It's just astonishing. And what an addition Cape Verde have been to this tournament. due to various issues we mentioned but probably don't talk about enough and due in no small part to FIFA and Gianni and Trump, this tournament, certain aspects of it are shameful, they're embarrassing, they're tawdry and they're tone deaf.

5:44Max Rushden:And it's heartwarming to see that quite a few, that most of the teams involved and most of the players involved are all doing their damnedest to drag what could be an aberration, a sporting aberration, kicking and screaming out of the gutter. And this match, there's been some super matches in this tournament, and this is, I think, in my opinion, the best of them. It was just, this will be remembered for years.

6:17Lars Sivertsen:so on the goal i i think we all have types of goals that we favor above all others i know max you're partial you're partial to a shot where the ball stays ball famously barry i would imagine very long range headers have a special place in your heart for me it's always a case of i love it when there's when you can see someone line up a shot and you have time to think no don't do that that is a very stupid idea and and then they do it and it goes in that is one of my favorite things because i i you know contrary to what i think i really like it when i'm wrong about this stuff and and i definitely had with this goal you have this moment of like absolutely not your left back should not be doing this like this is what you got inside there utter foolishness to attempt this and i think that makes it uh obviously spectacular but for me the fact that there was this little pause you can think no don't be doing that i know you're thinking about it but you're not doing that and and he did and it was glorious i just thought the last hour of this was was pretty glorious and it came at you know the tournament fatigue max it hits us at different times i've been doing uh radio shows six days a week you go you i guess you've been doing every day and i have to admit and i've watched everything by the way like there's been a couple of games where i've had to watch 20 minutes in my car but i've been i've done every game this tournament and somewhere through Australia, Egypt, I was starting to think, you know what, running low on energy now.

7:47Lars Sivertsen:I'm not entirely sure what I'm up for. If this is a boring sort of Messi scores a couple of goals and Argentina pass themselves to the end of the game, I'm not sure I've got 90 minutes of that in me. But then, of course, that is the magic of football. Just when you're sagging a little bit, it serves up an all-time banger of a game. The last 60 or so. Just the way Cape Verde kept going. you tend to think when you get deeper in the tournament then it's the teams that have depth then the underdogs are supposed to get tired but they kept going and I did actually say I have witnesses for this I did say to my broadcasting partners here in Dallas that I'm not sure this game is over in an extra time I kind of thought there was this sort of drive in Cape Verde didn't quite expect that to be honest but yeah what a game so much fun Yeah, you need games to remind you why you love this game.

8:40I mean, I presume Asasu's furious that they let in three, but for the rest of us, and actually they play good stuff, right? You can look at games and go, right, they'll have the ball, they won't, that'll be a low block, et cetera, et cetera. We'll get to Ghana in a bit, and Argentina and Egypt both sort of, I mean, Australia and Egypt both sort of played a low block, but they played, they came to play. They didn't, and they're good on the ball. They pass the ball through the lines. And as we've all alluded to, they never stopped. They never, ever, ever stopped. And I just think, I don't think it's patronizing because look, how small is Cape Verde?

9:22How short is their footballing history compared to the reigning World Cup winners and Argentina and Messi and all of that? And to go toe-to-toe with them, I think is just so brilliant. It tells you something that after the quality of goal that Lionel Messi scored for the opener, that this is the conversation that we're having, that they came back and played so well after that. That Vecinia once again was a shining light. I think he doubled his tournament save tally during this game as well. and also it was the way that Vecinias sold Lautaro Martinez not one but two dummies in the first half and there was a moment I think it was in the second half where Lionel Messi's the one coming up to him and you just see him think am I going to do it you know what I'm not going to push my luck here I think this might be a bad call and that's the thing is they were not phased at any moment of this tournament which is look yeah I was starting to go down the patronizing route and I had to stop myself but that's the thing about a World Cup is having expectations of a team and thinking okay but what can this team really get up to and it's great when you are proven completely wrong I'm intrigued to see what happens with Argentina from this because they are usually the team that can handle things very well when they are not the best team in the game.

10:54And then they put together a move and boom, boom, boom, they score, which is what happened in the first half. And sure, they faced a warning sign in their 2022 World Cup win against Saudi Arabia, against Netherlands as well when they were 2-0 up. Look, the final, you could say as well, was not exactly a clear thing either. And I just don't know how much margin for change there is actually for Lionel Scaloni because they have one style which suits their best player and it's actually quite a low tempo style. Only Qatar made less sprints in the group stages than Argentina. So I think he can't really change much.

11:36He's going to have to tweak things. Maybe it is Julian Alvarez for Lautaro Martinez. in the next game, Martinez pressing in moments didn't look great. But yeah, they had one hell of a scare in this game. Yeah, there is a stat during the rounds. I haven't checked it. A Calci FC, one of the boys saw it. Voizini has completed more dribbles in the knockout round of the 2026 World Cup than Cristiano Ronaldo. So I haven't checked it.

12:06Lars Sivertsen:So if that goes sufficiently viral, I will bet any amount of money that Cristiano will go out with the strong intention of making a couple of dribbles in the next game like whether that is something he can still do or not that cannot stand it's like how Mbappe has apparently Mbappe has apparently been given some grief by friends and stuff about how he doesn't do any work off the ball which I'm guessing is because of that uptest that went around about how just no one does anything the players pick up on these things sometimes as to what Archi was saying I thought the Irish sports writer Gavin Cooney made a very good point during the game, which I want to steal and repurpose, which he made the point that Argentina are good when Messi is walking.

12:46Lars Sivertsen:They are not good when everyone else is walking too. And I do think there was a real tendency of that going on. And I guess part of me thought they were just playing with their food for a lot of this. Part of me thought that they were just, OK, we've got the goal. We're just going to slow the tempo down. It's a long tournament. We don't want to burn off too much steam. But it very nearly did cost them. And again, Cape Verde, they nearly scored at the end again. Like, Emi Martinez had to come up with a great save. Like, Cape Verde's ability to just keep going and never accept that they were beaten, I thought was, dare I say, inspirational.

13:18Lars Sivertsen:And they are a team. Like, they got to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Afghans. They finished above Cameroon in their qualifying group. They were in a group of Libya and Angola as well there. This is not a total fluke. Like, there's some football here. And I remember looking it up. because the island is so small or the archipelago is so small you're assuming they're all diaspora guys but that's not true there's a bunch of guys in the squad who are born uh in cape verde so it's just really terrific uh story and just just great stuff the word to bazon pico lopez who could have

13:46Max Rushden:been playing was it sligo away today instead yeah if he hadn't answered that linkedin message he'd been playing at the showgrounds in sligo tonight instead of in the world cup against argentina he's got a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday I don't know if he'll make it back for that that's in Malta Shamrock Rovers trying to qualify for the Champions League he had another massive game at the back for Cap Verde he had one interception from across that was sensationally good I thought he put it in his own net and he didn't and it was a remarkable, he has had a remarkable World Cup. Vazina as well.

14:35Max Rushden:I thought Vazina was massively overpraised for doing quite routine goalkeeper stuff in the game against Spain. But tonight he was immense, like just a guy who's had this massive celebrity thrust upon him and is just determined to enjoy every minute of it and make hay while the sun is shining. and of the five goals in this game, four of them were outstanding. Yeah, the winner was somewhat fortunate. I think Romero's header was good, but it did take a big deflection on its way in. But I just enjoyed this game so, so much. Yeah, absolutely brilliant. And it's a shame that we can't spend the whole podcast talking about this game and we have to talk about the other two.

15:22The other two games. Is that why I was going on for a very long time with my answers? Absolutely no comment whatsoever. Anyway. Taking some time off the clock. Game management. We're potentially obliged. Yeah, and we will talk about Australia, Egypt in just a second. Hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too. Hello. Global Weekly is supported by Gradient FC. Now, Barry, with the World Cup underway, we know player performance will be under a microscope, from superstars cementing legacies to upstarts vying for big summer transfers. But with 48 teams and up to six matches a day, it's hard to catch every moment and that is where the Gradient FC app shines.

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17:36Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Australia won, Egypt won, Egypt going through 4-2 on penalties. Before we chat about it, I caught up with our man Jack Snape at full time. Okay then, Jack, how was that for you? Yeah, it wasn't quite good enough, really. pretty sad that the Socceroos couldn't convert this opportunity right chasing this first World Cup knockout victory and they got close but not close enough in the end very frustrating that they're going to sit on this for four years now knowing that look in the round of 32 next time up in Spain Portugal Morocco I don't think you're going to get a much better opportunity than than Egypt to get through the last 16.

18:21So yeah, definitely a missed opportunity today. Yeah. I mean, the criticism from Australia, Popovich is getting hammered actually about how defensive they were and how they didn't take the game to Egypt after they equalised. It's wise after the event, I guess. There was concern, right? Halftime, soccer is 1-0 down. Their best player, Geordie Boss, has gone off with what looked like a pretty bad knee injury. You're thinking, gee, how the hell are Australia going to work their way back in their game? They haven't scored since the first game against Turkey. I was pretty much pre-writing my match report of 1-0 defeat.

18:56But the Socceroos, where do they turn? They turn to the set piece. And sure enough, the big bodies got into the box and there was an own goal, but under a lot of pressure from the Socceroos defenders. So yeah, they got that opening and I think it kind of reset the match a little bit. But yeah, Tony Popovich and his socceroos, they're not set out to impose themselves on the other teams, right? They're well-organized, relying on certain moments. And so one all as fatiguing legs into extra time, I don't think it was any surprise that Australia didn't take the game on more. And look, I think if the penalty shootout had gone the other way, we'd all be saying, hey, he played it pretty well.

19:44Ultimately, though, that's not what we're saying. From my experience of living in Australia, football, the whole footballing world is in like a permanent existential crisis. And I guess this will add to that. There is going to be a lot of rage unleashed on Saturday brunch across the breakfast table or across the lunch table as they come to terms with this defeat. Tony Popovich will be briefly public enemy number one, particularly that decision to take off Patrick Beach, an informed goalkeeper who's really done nothing wrong during the tournament for this make-or-break shootout. But also the decision to start the shootout with Harry Sutar, who I'm not sure has ever taken a penalty.

20:28Number four, Lucas Harrington. This guy's 18. He certainly hasn't. Obviously, the players have a choice in whether they take the penalty or not, But to put pressure on that 18-year-old, I think, is one that Popovich would like to have back. Certainly, when the ball hit the crossbar, I think it's one that he can't disagree with. Yeah, and I guess from the people that I've chatted to back home, if you look at that squad, it's not filled with elite players, but it's filled with elite potential, perhaps. You mentioned Harrington. You know, Irian Kunda could push on. Jordy Boss could push on. There is hopefully the nucleus of a young squad that could get to the next World Cup and play slightly more progressive football and actually have a chance of unlocking defences.

21:13Yeah, I think there's a real positive in Christian Volpado, his integration in the Australian team. He was pretty much the key attacking outlet today, particularly operating between the midfield and the Egyptian defence. He felt like he was really important. And he's a player that we don't have a lot of in Australia. Skillful, can take the game on. And so I think he's really important. But Tony Popovich, his system is very solid. Three central defenders, two protecting defensive midfielders and relying a lot on the physicality and speed of the wide players and forwards. That is probably good enough to get to the round of 32 every World Cup.

21:55But you're right. Let's, as the Australian football community, dream a little bit and wonder how we can get the most out of players like Jiren Kunda to push on and maybe develop a style that can take us a little bit further. Safe trip home. If you see Mrs. Rushton and the kids give her an hour off, would you? Will do. Will do. See you back in Melbourne, Max. Enjoy the tournament. Jack Snape there. And thanks to Jack for all his work. He's flying back to Melbourne now. Look, it's agony for Australia this time. We have a much bigger Australian audience than an Egyptian audience. So we will get to Egypt.

22:27and the inquest has started, Baz, about the penalty shootout and Popovich changing the keeper, bringing on a much shorter keeper who died the wrong way, as it turned out, and the centre-backs taking the penalties. And I think hindsight, you know, it can be so black and white after the shootout, but none of it worked.

22:49Max Rushden:No, and yeah, I'm very much a Monday morning quarterback here, but there was always a very strong possibility that this game would go to penalties, and it did. It wasn't a good game. It's not really worth talking about the 120 minutes that preceded the shootout. And it seemed to me that Popovich and his Australian team weren't even familiar with the concept of a penalty shootout. So thoroughly ill-prepared did they seem to be for it. He decided to replace Patrick Beach in the dying moments of extra time, despite Beach having had a really good game. with Matt Ryan, who has saved 12 out of about 70 penalties he's faced in his career.

23:33Max Rushden:Matt Ryan is shorter than Beach. Beach had been playing well. Egypt immediately went to look at some Matt Ryan penalty saves, apparently one that Kylian Mbappe took against him, and deduced in a few seconds that, oh, he just dives early, you know, before you've even started walking from the halfway line to take your kick. keys away and so it came to pass he didn't get near saving any of the penalties and then Australia's penalty taker you'd Harry Suter centre-back and captain he took the first one which is some say the most important one that was the first penalty he's ever taken in his life and and then when they had one that they had to score to stay in the match Lucas Harrington an 18-year-old centre-back took one.

24:22Max Rushden:His wasn't terrible, to be fair, but it did hit the bar. And Egypt didn't miss any of theirs, and Matt Ryan didn't get near any of theirs. So it seemed, and obviously I'm talking with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, but it seemed very poorly organised by Popovich and his players. Yeah, I mean, I would say that he's not guessing, right? He must have known before the game starts that he's doing this. If he is guessing, then it's mad. But he's not guessing. And there is precedent to, you know, Australia doing it. It took Matt Ryan on and brought on Andrew Redman, I think he's called, in a shootout.

25:01If he's not guessing, he knows. And, like, sometimes keepers aren't told. So Patrick Beach didn't know that he was coming off. If he is guessing, then it's completely mad. And in 05, Australia, one of their greatest moments, they beat Uruguay in a shootout to get to the World Cup, Aloisi scoring. But in that, you know, two centre-backs, Lucas Neal and Tony Vidmar scored. So, like, I don't know. I sometimes think, Lars, when we look at these things, we look in, you know, as Baz has said, you know, it's all hindsight. And his decisions did not come off. And sometimes they don't. And then we decide, well, they were definitely wrong.

25:33And if Sute gets over the penalty, then maybe it's different. I don't know.

25:38Lars Sivertsen:Yeah. No, listen, I'm assuming they subbed on Matt Ryan because they've been practising penalties and he has been saving more of them in practice. That would make more sense to me. I'm assuming that young Harrington took one because he's been making them in training, which he said after the game, I believe. I'm looking at quotes here where he said, the coaching side of the team had my back. They believed in me. I made my penalties during the week. We practiced it. I was confident. Maybe I'm guilty sometimes of deferring too much to the expertise of the people involved. I mean, our job is to discuss things and have opinions and whatever, but I tend to think like the coaching staff just generally speaking know this stuff better than we do uh all that being said yes putting up an 18 year old center half to take the fourth one as well which I think is statistically the one that's the most likely to be important seems that is a pretty wild decision like even if he has a lot of them during the week and and also like Matt Ryan just looks so small I mean like that's that they would they would know that I It's like Jordan Pickford's tiny hands that aren't actually that tiny.

26:45Lars Sivertsen:It's just kind of the shape of his body. Comparing it to the Paraguayan keeper who's 25 foot tall. Yes, Archie? Defend Tony Popovich for having Harry Sutar go first on the evidence of the game that we'd just watched. If we're talking about Patrick Beach's form in the game and that he should have been allowed to stay on, then I think you could actually make a similar argument for Harry Sutar and how he was feeling. I think the only problem is if you'd wanted him to take it with any part of his body, it would have been his head. Because there was no thing that came his way that he could not head away.