USA fall asleep in Seattle and it’s tchau Ronaldo: World Cup Daily

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0:47Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Has Belgium ever had such global support? They beat the US pretty easily in the end. Charles de Quetelera with two in the first half. And then Matt Freeze froze and Tim Ream had a Tim Ream. and then Lukaku doing what he does in a Belgium shirt and then they all did the Trump dance. It feels like justice after the game was completely overshadowed by the US president claiming credit for Flo Balogun's inclusion, something denied by Gianni Infantino, Chini Recon. But what a shame for genuine US football fans who saw their side get to this stage on merit, whose team until now had impressed the world and who are so desperate for this sport to grow.

1:19They deserve better. In the early game, Spain beat Portugal 1-0. Mikel Moreno's injury time winner, Sid Lowe's, managed to do seven interesting minutes on it. It's no major tournament semifinal since 2016 for Portugal. Could they have, I don't know, set up slightly differently? Nick Ames was at the Azteca, so we can talk about that last night. Good news for Barry. And the amazing content we hadn't seen. Pubs watching pointless. Fans sleeping through it all. And the Mexican manager, Gordon, fuck you. Ha ha ha ha ha ha. All that plus your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.

1:50The panel today, Archie Rintuk, welcome. Hey, Max. Barry Glendening, hello. Hello. and in Mexico City Nick Ames hey Nick hello let's begin then with the USA 1 Belgium 4 I think the official Belgium team account posted overturned this with a picture of them celebrating a good tweet from Franklin Leonard saying get your Belgian chocolate now before the tariffs hit so yeah 4-1 to Belgium then the game to be replayed next Wednesday but like a really comprehensive victory for Belgium Baz they were better all over the park and maybe this was the first really good team that they played or maybe all the off the pitch stuff affected them

2:28Max Rushden:well i was surprised by how bad the usa were in this game they never really got going at all um were second best in every department their defense was a shambles particularly well i was going to say particularly in the first half but no all throughout um they conceded four very avoidable goals, I would say, and probably should have conceded a few more. And the way Belgium... I mean, you shouldn't need additional motivation in a World Cup to play well, but Belgium's motivation has been questioned before today. But the way they tore into the States from the kickoff suggests they maybe had a point to prove and had revenge on their mind after events of the last couple of days.

3:20Max Rushden:And it's hard to know how good Belgium were because the United States were so bad. The goal they scored came very much against the run of play and was a little bit lucky because Malik Tillman's free kick took a big deflection. Cakewalk for Belgium. And the thing is, I think a lot of people who wouldn't have had any great animus towards the United States before yesterday or the day before, we'll be absolutely delighted to see them yeah I mean Gianni keeps saying football unites the world and it felt it did feel united and so we should do some Belgium Archie Alec de Quetelera who's an interesting player I've always really liked him kind of got a languid not very fast technically good player and it's a really lovely day for him he's never really fulfilled the potential that I think many saw when he left Club Brugge for AC Milan didn't score a goal for them in Serie A there and hasn't scored many for Atalanta since he moved on after that.

4:19And you talk about his languid qualities. I've been hearing about how when he was younger, he actually got made to play at centre-back at one point. Oh, I could see him as a nice centre-back. In what sense? Just, I like a languid centre-back, you know, good on the ball, a ball playing, you know, the John Stones of Belgium. Sure, okay. Are you with me? You don't sound it. I just, there's something about the way he carries himself that doesn't scream centre-back. No, it doesn't. To me, but then again, And we are used to growing up with Dan Burns, but we'll get on to him at another point. But it was just the way that, I don't know, the way he seemed to shut his eyes, actually, when he had that header for the second goal.

4:55Yeah, Dan Burns not shutting his eyes. I would point to the fact that including de Quetelera was a big decision for Rudy Garcia as well. And Belgium and Rudy Garcia in particular were helped by this whole sideshow. well it wasn't the sideshow it was the main show in the end with everything that was going on with following Balogun because they'd not played well in any of their four games so far you could say the game against New Zealand but given how New Zealand performed at the tournament how much value can you attach to that and you look at the decisions that Rudy Garcia had to make in this game he left Kevin De Bruyne on the bench he leaves Jeremy Doku on the bench he brings in Nicola Raskin and Dodi Lukabacchio who were both excellent as well it was and even even playing Timothy Castagna over Tomar Mounier who has been good so far in this tournament or a bright spark of the quarter finalists we now have Belgium despite having played five games remain the most mysterious because I still don't think we can work out how good this team is despite the body of evidence can you uncover the mystery nick no i think we saw good evidence of their depth today as as as we just pointed out um and that was very encouraging um i think they came up against a u.s team that just was not at it at all um and if if i can shift it to the u.s slightly you've got to be if you're the u.s players or or or pochettino or or a lot of their fans maybe not all but a lot you've you've got to be asking was it worth it this balagan farce he's he's obviously a very good striker he's had a good season very talented um he's not a world beater he's not a superstar you've got a good team of decent mainly mainly pretty good players that were functioning well in the tournament without him and then for this sideshow to take over which let's be quite honest was all about the ego of one man and his administration who are very used to getting whatever they want and to steaming in and getting their way and supplemented with that the cravenness of a global governing body FIFA and its president who are used to both rolling over for this guy Donald Trump and also frankly these days for steaming in and getting their way for these two things to come together and completely overshadow what should have been a good occasion a joyous occasion maybe for the host nation and if I was one of their players or staff i'd be really angry about it i'd be zooming out and seeing what has happened here it's i as it happens i don't think that i don't think they'd have won the game anyway they they lost to finley 5-2 to the to belgium not that long ago so there's clearly a big difference between the sides and we saw that today but i just think i just think the whole show of ego and bluster and bombast that clouded this entire game did for us no favours at all it completely backfired and it's going to have much wider ramifications or it should have much wider ramifications too um for fifa janny infantino and football in general yeah i mean i feel for balagan barry because i mean he did nothing in this game virtually had no service yeah but to be suddenly caught in the middle he actually dealt with that red card really well you know the way he acted on the pitch, afterwards what he said about it, and then to be in the middle of this political storm, it's just not fair on him.

8:42Max Rushden:It's not fair on him, and his name is going to become a byword for what happened here. It's the Balogun affair, the Balogun incident, the Balogun palaver, whatever. And to be fair, the USA, as far as we know, didn't agitate to have his ban suspended. And it just happened outside their bubble. And Potch, his statement, left a lot to be desired, I think. But once they were thrown this bone, they picked it up. And I do think, I've been pilloried for saying this by some American fans, that they should have left him out and just not played him. And he did play. It must have affected him. As you say, he didn't get much service.

9:31Max Rushden:He didn't play well. None of the American team played well. I mean, I can't think of a single one of them who had a good game. But, yeah, we can't quantify or we can only speculate as to how much of an effect this farce had on them. But it's got to have affected them in some way. I would say I think the chance of any side leaving out their best centre forward if he's available for whatever reason, morally correct or not, I don't know if any team would. I understand your point completely yeah it's not even a moral thing it's more we you're because this thing is going to be talked about for a long long time and if he doesn't play at least the team can say well we were in no way complicit with this no I totally understand I just wonder if Kane gets a red and it's overturned well you know Kane's a different story Kane's Kane yeah I understand that no no I understand that Archie Just on the football side of things and where the US lost this game, the panic with which they started the match and how their midfield did not turn up in anywhere near the same form that it has so far.

10:42I add to that the struggle to get Christian Pulisic on the ball. Shame for Amadou Arnana that he looks to have picked up a pretty serious injury judging by the knee brace that he's got there. and the way that Christian Pulisic was having to come back deeper into midfield seemed to disrupt the US flow a bit. They didn't seem comfortable with the way that they've been rotating off the ball. You can't also concede 61 seconds after you've scored your equaliser through Malik Tillman and you have the gift of a deflected goal. And the way that none of the players go towards the second ball when it's up in the air, I think that was the problem for the first two goals and the third is not great defending.

11:24The third produced quite a chuckle from you.

11:27Max Rushden:It did, yeah. Timarim was not a language centre-half at that moment. He certainly wasn't. If I can go to the non-football side again very quickly, although it is all about football, this episode shouldn't be forgotten and it could easily be whitewashed now and wiped under the carpet because the US didn't win, Balogun didn't score, nothing to see here but the fact is that we've seen not even a failure of process, we've seen a trampling over and brushing aside, riding rough shot of process here that could on another day have influenced the biggest football tournament, the biggest sports tournament in the world, I mean Balogun had a decent second half chance that he didn't score didn't he, it could have been different so the important thing is that this is now not forgotten and i think it was very very key interesting today that you know we we saw trump basically dump infantino in it by saying yeah i i called him um and what was interesting after that was that fifa that normally you to get a reply out of them a substantive reply about a substantial about a controversial topic it's like blood from a stone and there they were churning out the explanations from infantino a very wordy um screed later from from a disciplinary um commission i think it was um you know they knew they were on the rack here and they know they're still on the rack and the fury that i was hearing from contacts all over football various various ends of a scale was very very real but there is always a danger especially these days when we're so dopamine hit that we move on to our next story and our next scandal and our next sugar rush and everything that it just gets forgotten and becomes another silly so proper thing that happened that that cannot happen here this was really serious and I think it is a bit of a bullet dodge maybe that the US didn't win frankly I think it's a very good thing for football unfortunately sorry US fans that they didn't um but we can't let us let this be forgotten in an uncharacteristically rambling speech uh trump did say that he had personally asked gianni to review the red card um gianni then said oh the fifa fifa's judicial bodies are independent they operate autonomously belgium were given a very small window to appeal trump did also say you know the the ref was dodgy you know i've seen this ref before he's very suspect so on the ref fifa and the referees committee had to do a statement on Raphael Clow saying FIBA recognised this guy as one of the world's leading professional referees and a valued member of Team 1 at the FIFA World Cup.

14:15France have appealed to FIFA over Lise's yellow card. It's been reported the FA are considering an appeal against the Quants are red. I perhaps don't bother lads is what I would say. And a really important point I sort of mentioned it in the intro but like we've spent a lot of time you know with the Guardian US soccer guys Alex and Pablo and Jeff and there are so many US football fans who listen to this podcast and have for years and years and years who love the game and want it to grow in this country and have probably got carried away with those four wins and the US playing well. But there was so much goodwill towards this team.

14:48I think if this hasn't happened, I think as neutrals were probably supporting the US against Belgium and hoping that they went through. I don't know. And they must be so pissed off. The desperation to grow this game and to get respect for football in this country and around the world for US soccer. they must be so pissed

15:07Max Rushden:I'd say they're really angry and probably a bit embarrassed, I remember when after the Thierry Henry handball, the FAI, Football Association of Ireland, tried to lobby, I think it was Sepp Blatter at the time, to give Ireland a spot What we do for Sepp now We'll come back Sepp, all this we're given to give Ireland because we'd been cheated out of this place, give us a pity spot at the finals. It was toe-curlingly embarrassing and that made me angry and I certainly wasn't alone in being embarrassed and angry. That would have been on John Delaney's watch. So, yeah, dyed-in-the-wool USA fans will have found this whole thing very distasteful.

15:55Max Rushden:There are a lot of USA fans who only started watching soccer three and a half weeks ago. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's fine. You know, everyone's welcome. But I think a lot of them thought Balogun deserved his reprieve. Well, a lot of people are doing, a lot of journalists and pundits have been doing the mental gymnastics to say this is great for football. And that has been pretty frustrating, if unsurprising, aren't you? Just also feel a bit for the players. Yeah. Because they couldn't have really done anything about this. And if they do speak out against it, then they're putting their piece and their family's piece on the line.

16:38I think I also feel a bit, most of all, because of Fulham Connections, I also feel very sorry for Tim Ream, especially on the mistake. But I also just know and think that he's a really good bloke. He probably hated this. Yeah, exactly. But what can you do as the captain of this? Well, of course, you could make a very strong political statement, but in this climate... Yeah. Well, it's very easy to sit here and say, this is what someone should do, and I agree. If you're on the cold face of it, not as easy. Anyway, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll do Spain's win over Portugal.

17:24Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Spain beat Portugal 1-0 to set up that game with Belgium. Michael Marino's injury time winner. I caught up with Sid Lowe at full time. Hey, Sid, we're trying to make a podcast as interesting as after the England-Mexico game. So can you make this game sound better than it was for me? It was amazing, Max. What a game. Should have been the final. Just glorious. Completely brilliant. Yeah, just fantastic. No, I mean, it had a brilliant end. And it had an end that had me desperately scrambling because I was literally going from 0 to 850 words in seven minutes.

17:58That wasn't too easy. And a nice end as well because, of course, Mikkel Merdino, who'd only played 28 minutes since the end of January, who'd had an injury that at first they couldn't diagnose it properly. They didn't know what it was. They were struggling to find an answer. In fact, he said that he was kind of almost relieved when he eventually got operated on because he didn't really know. And at least then he had a clear plan to go forward and went a couple of months without being able to walk. his wife is pregnant at the time he talks about how his his wife who's you know six seven eight months pregnant trying to help him around the house which should be the other way around trying to help him get up and down the stairs because he's on crutches and he didn't think he would get here as I say just 28 minutes since since the end of January but um Luis La Puente and I remember seeing Luis La Puente in when would it be late February I think and ask him about Marino and he was absolutely clear even at that point even if at that point he wasn't necessarily um being offered with a chance to say so publicly, it's absolutely clear that he would wait to the very, very end for Mourinho because he was convinced that he was a player that was a bit different to some of the others that could play in lots of positions and had that amazing ability.

19:03The Spaniards always refer to it as Yigada, which means a rival. That ability to arrive into the penalty area at the right time, to be a midfielder that gets into the box. And no one really does that for Spain except possibly Fermín, who also got injured and couldn't come to this tournament. And so tonight was wonderful and well, tonight, this afternoon. And that celebration, which of course he repeated, from Stuttgart, which was copied off his dad, who did it 33 years ago. Yeah. And the pass from, I mean, the game wasn't fascinating, but the goal is beautiful. And the pass from Ferran Torres is so good.

19:32Yeah. And I think there's another element to that, which is important, which is that, you know, those, the three players involved in the move, Mourinho, Fabian and Ferran Torres, all substitutes. Mourinho had only been on the pitch six minutes. I must confess, I'm not sure how long Ferran had been on, about 20 minutes, I think. And Fabian hadn't been on very long either and I think in the case of Fabian obviously it's been quite difficult to deal with this because he's won two European Cup wins in a row with PSG and then to find himself kind of out of place with the Spanish national team I think was was quite hard for him to deal with he was a starter in the first game and hasn't played since and I think for Ferran I don't know if you saw this footage Max and I must confess I now can't remember which game it is I feel like it was the game against Saudi Arabia and there's a and Spain are obviously already going to win the game anyway and Ferran has a goal which gets ruled out for offside and the cameras catch him basically kind of with his fingers crossed going please let it be a goal please let it be a goal please let it be a goal please let it be a goal and then there's a chance that he gets late in one of the next games which was it maybe Uruguay I'm not sure he hits the bar and there was a sense I think of him feeling under pressure you know him feeling like it wasn't quite going for him so so I think it's quite important for him as well to feel like he's played a part in this and and Luis de Fuentes talked about the importance of trying to give opportunities to those players who haven't had them yet to try and give people minutes to try and make them all feel like participants and I think that goal apart from its obvious importance because it puts Spain through and of course that's the most important thing and I'm not going to try and invent some big story around everything else but I think there's a there's a kind of a significance as well because of the role of three substitutes in in making it happen.

21:06There's an obligatory question about Ronaldo see it I mean that's his last ever game at a World Cup you were there to see it and listen Portugal didn't do much but he certainly didn't do a lot no no I think that's true I've actually just been listening to him in the mix zone after the game saying that although this is his last World Cup it might not necessarily be his last game um obviously we don't know if I'm I don't know there if he's talking about club football or international football I think it's club football obviously he he wants to continue I would imagine he absolutely would because I think he'll want to get to that thousand goal target um although Roberto Martinez has always said no he's not obsessed by that that's not a thing that's a media thing it's you that talk about it not him I think with the international team of course the decision almost certainly won't be in his hands um but he said post game now's not the time to make a decision you know in the heat of the moment I was there's time for me to talk to my family there's time for me to to think about what I want to do next and to whether I continue but yes it will be my last game at the World Cup obviously it's maybe even you know a World Cup later than he would have anticipated than anyone else would have anticipated, not least because when he walked out of the World Cup last time, it felt like the manager had kind of set the wheels in motion for him not to come back, hadn't he?

22:13That that hard decision had been made and that actually Roberto Martinez could have turned up and not had to make it himself and just kind of carried on with the idea of Ronaldo not in the national team. But you're right, today he didn't really have an impact. I think in his defence, I think he scored three goals at this tournament. It's difficult to know what Portugal would have looked like with a different forward up front. I think it's true, of course, that there isn't the press, that there's not maybe the velocity to the game that there might be with a different forward. And, of course, Gonzalo Ramos came on and scored very quickly the other day.

22:43But I'm just reluctant to make an all-round performance in which they didn't create a huge amount about him, if you see what I mean. At times, a striker is both a cause but also a consequence of the way a team plays. Yeah, and actually, if that's the case, then it is frustrating that Portugal's midfield should be so brilliant. And maybe you feel like these are two of the best midfields in the tournament. They cancelled each other out a bit today, maybe. Yeah, that was the focus before the game, you know, this idea that these might not be the best two teams here, but they're certainly the best two midfields.

23:16I felt that there was a period in the first half where I thought this is straight shaping up to be really good, because it did feel like these were two teams that wanted the ball. These were two teams that wanted to go at each other. These were two teams that wanted to happen. And I thought that Nuno Mendes was brilliant. And I did feel like the game died a little bit with his departure. Now, I don't know if I'm overstating that because I was so focused on him and Lamin and on that battle. But it did feel to me that that was kind of the beginning of the end. And Semedo actually did an all right job of stopping Lamin and Marlon.

23:42Lamin wasn't able to do a huge amount either, really, all over the one or two really nice moments. But you're right, the midfield, it did feel like they cancelled each other. I don't know how it felt watching it for you. But I felt this was an unusually low-key performance from Pedri. I thought he gave the ball away a lot more than he usually does. I thought Rodri played very well, but I thought Pedri struggled to really influence the game. And I felt a little bit the same with Bruno Fernandes, although there were a couple of very nice passes from him. But yeah, a game that was set around those two midfields.

24:10I suppose, yeah, the conclusion maybe is the way you frame it, that it's not so much that those two midfields didn't play well, as that they were both up against really good midfields, it's quite hard to do so to play well when the other midfield is also really brilliant did you trip luis de la fuente up the other day yeah i i i was really i mean i very nearly hurt him quite badly um and i'm quite glad that i didn't he do you know that thing when you trip up and you have to sort of run to stay on your feet otherwise you're going to fall yeah i tripped him up and he did that and he went running down this sort of mini slope by the pitch and he kind of turned around and came back to me i was like oh my god can you can you imagine the headlines not just journalist nearly killed Spain manager but English journalist nearly killed Spain manager I would have been the most hated person in the entire country if Max I am not already.

24:55Was it a reducer like what were you just a little ankle tap or were you going two-footed? It was a little it was a little narrow walkway and it was a little ramp that went up to to the pitch in Los Angeles and I went to have a look at the pitch on match day minus one and Luis La Fuente was out there looking at the pitch with his staff and I thought well I probably shouldn't get in the way so I stayed in the narrow walkway rather than going out to the pitch so what that meant was that when he left the pitch and went down the narrow walkway it was quite narrow and without me realizing my foot was sticking out a little bit and he went straight over it that's what people say he's not that kind of journalist like that exactly he's not that kind of journalist anyway uh thanks i got away i got away with it max i did get a red card but a call yeah a call from donald trump cleared me for the rest of the tournament.

25:40Of course it did. Thank you, Sid. Pleasure. Cheerio. So Sid has basically covered Spain and all of it, actually. I think I was overcome with fatigue today.

25:52Max Rushden:I think it must have been sadness. The emotional and trauma of last night's match in Mexico. But I actually missed this game because I was asleep. Well, you didn't get out of bed till. Where did you get out of bed? No, I got up and then I went back to bed. And I watched the Fox highlights package, which you won't believe was 15 minutes long. Well done to them. So I'm not really in a position to comment on it, but crikey, it was bad. And I don't know how a team like Portugal, well, I do know, but it shouldn't be happening, is playing like Everton under Roberto Martinez. A team with so many good players as Portugal have.

26:41Max Rushden:How are they reduced to playing like Everton under Roberto Martinez? Are there any clues? I mean, there was a great tweet. I don't know, some meme of someone smiling from nothing saying, you know, Roberto Martinez when he finds out his agent's got him the Netherlands gig. You can just see it happening. But, you know, it feels like Chris Sutton on Five Live was like, this is all about Ronaldo, Nick. And I don't know if you think is, Sid was perhaps a bit more circumspect today, but what a waste of the rest of these players, right? It's 2016 the last time in a semi-final. They've got so many brilliant players.

27:13Yeah, and you've got this fantastic midfield, all these technicians who can move the ball so well. These wingers, these wide men who are fast and tricky and devilish, and all of these players are trying out for movement in front of them, and people who can exploit space, and people who will make runs that free others up and, you know, make the players around them better. But instead, they've had this totem up there. And I think it's a point that many of us have been saying on this pod for years now, but it shows how absurd the problem has been. I mean, there was one moment, I think, in the second half today when Ronaldo sort of attempted a run down the left, I think, towards the penalty box and sort of 15 years ago, he might end up in a goal.

28:04This time he travelled about 10 yards and just sort of stumbled and got dispossessed. You just like, it just didn't work. And I think it's not all about Ronaldo, but I think it largely is because it's such an important part of a team, especially these days when it comes to pressing from the front and as I said, making runs that can basically allow your entire attack and midfield and attacking full-backs to breathe and Portugal have had none of that and there was an opportunity to change it because our World Cup when they put Gonzalo Ramos in for Ronaldo against Switzerland he scored a hat-trick and they won 6-1 I was at that game and you think okay this is the new dawn now this is the new dawn and it just hasn't happened and ultimately they have paid for it and Roberto Martinez who I think would have gone anyway if they hadn't won the World Cup which they were probably never going to has paid for it in a way as well and it is just a bit of a shame because there's a lot of players there with fantastic vision fantastic scope and they have been lumbered by the all-time great let's be honest we can't denigrate what Ronaldo has done over his career but we can say that what he has offered now is not good enough.

29:29A tweet from Duncan Alexander saying Cristiano Ronaldo's dream of scoring more World Cup knockout goals than Matthew Upson feels like it's over. Yeah finally on this Archie. Nick made the point about that run that Cristiano Ronaldo did down the left. The thing that actually struck me most about that run was that no one followed him as if to think as if to say that his teammates are going well we all know how this is going to end and surely your teammates are going to follow your runs in in hope yeah I think the biggest mistake that Cristiano Ronaldo has made is continuing to play football for the last five years because of his quest quest is not a strong enough word um his ambition to obsession thank you to to match Lionel Messi when instead had he retired earlier I think we could consider his greatness in football on in in its own pantheon and yet the further he's gone on the more it's just slipped away as Messi has become brilliant at the World Cup and won the World Cup with Argentina and then you're left with this weak quote from Ronaldo today saying well me winning the Euros in 2016 when I think you came off in the first half anyway point like Portugal won it not just Ronaldo in that tournament where he's saying that, look, that has to be considered in the same dimension as winning a World Cup.

30:50It's not. You're reaching. You need to stop. And the longer that he's gone on, and if he still goes on, who knows, the longer that he continues to tar his footballing legacy. I don't disagree, Archie. And that'll do for part two. Part three, we can do a bit more how was it at the Azteca with Nick.

31:16Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Sorry to put you through this again, Barry. Totally. Nick, you were at the Azteca yesterday. What a privilege to be there. And how was it? Yeah, I was at, just in case Barry's forgotten my score after his long sleep, England's 3-2 win over Mexico at altitude against a team that hadn't lost at home since 2013 that put them in the World Cup quarterfinals. but yeah now we got that detail out of the way it was I mean a lot of words have been said already so I can probably only add to them I mean I'm here in my hotel in Mexico City 24 hours or so on and you still feel a little bit drained almost I was with just before this pod our good friend and colleague Dave Heitner from The Guardian and a couple of other colleagues too having a spot of dinner who was still here and we we were all just looking at it i'm looking at each other saying we're knackered and it was just a game of football that we went to last night it was it was literally an edge of the seat tense stuff for a hundred and 101 minutes wasn't it um and the atmosphere was everything that people say about the azteca it was it was intense it was it was thrilling it was a real roller coaster ride as well but i think something something thing about it all has been it's been really nice as well it's it's it's been really jovial and genial and the mexicans well while they were so passionate and into their team and while the noise in there when they scored their goals was utterly phenomenal and i was at the ecuador game in the round before and on tuesday and the noise when they scored those goals was the loudest i've ever heard in a stadium in my life it was astonishing um there was no doubt how partisan they were but the moment they were mingling on my concourse with england fans or in the bars afterwards or before i only saw and heard really lovely things and just in terms of the the hospitality and the way people got on so so it's all made for a really lovely occasion actually and obviously an all-time classic of a football match that I think has been covered in great depth already but I think the England players would have enjoyed their day off today and Thomas Tuchel said he wasn't going to even engage with any football today and I think they've earned that and I think we'll all come away from Mexico City thinking this was a once in a lifetime moment to be able to do this.

33:56It's definitely being able to cover these two games of the Aztec era against Ecuador and England. I think they've been the best things I've done in my career, quite honestly. Not the best work I've done, the best things I've done. It's just been absolutely magical. And I think it's a bit of a scandal, really, that Mexico doesn't get much further presence in this World Cup. I mean, we can talk about where the finals should be. I think the Aztecs should at least have a quarterfinal or semifinal. But then maybe less is more. Maybe scarcity is good. Maybe it makes things that bit more magical and rare and joyful when you do experience them.

34:33But no, it's been honestly a lovely and quite overwhelming experience for a lot of us. And one of those things that is everything that it's cracked up to be. And obviously the result, Mexico 2, England 3, was also a very pleasing one for a lot of people.