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In short
The episode is a World Cup 2026 group-stage preview covering Groups A–D, recorded a week before release. Hosts Thomas Schuchek and panelists Mark Langdon (Racing Post), Lars Hivinson, Max and Barry Glendening, plus guests Ewan Murray (Scotland correspondent) and Jack Snape (Guardian Australia).
Key claims
Group A is unusually hard to predict; Mexico are most likely to win due to home advantage and altitude familiarity, with South Korea a possible qualifier. Group B looks balanced; Switzerland are expected to top, with Canada competing for second, depending on Alphonso Davies fitness. Group C: Scotland should beat Haiti in the opener, but goalkeeper and centre-back issues could decide their fate; Brazil should qualify despite Neymar fitness uncertainty. Group D: the USA and Turkey are best placed to win the group; Turkey are framed as “dark horses” with strong talent (Arda Güler, Kenan Yıldız).
Notable examples
Mexico’s 1970/1986 quarterfinal history; Czech travel/acclimatization concerns; Switzerland’s defensive qualifying record; Bosnia’s Kerim Albegović hype; Haiti’s 1974 upset vs Dino Zoff; Australia’s optimism led by Jordi Boss, Alessandro Ciacati, Mo Ture, and Nestor Irankunda.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOGroup A Overview: Teams and Expectations
0:51 to 3:08
Discussion about Group A teams including Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, and Czechia.
“Mexico managed by Javier Aguirre, known as El Vasco, his third time managing El Tree in the World Cup.”
Analyzing Mexico's Chances
3:08 to 6:16
In-depth analysis of Mexico's potential to win their group and the impact of home advantage.
“Well, I disagree with Lars early doors and say that I think Mexico here, this is a really good opportunity for them to win the group, to stay at home in Mexico last 32.”
The Competitors: Czechs and South Koreans
6:16 to 9:10
Examination of the Czech Republic and South Korea's strengths and weaknesses in the tournament.
“Czechs seem to have been sold a real pup in terms of the draw in that they play South Korea at altitude in Guadalajara.”
Group B Preview: Canada, Bosnia, Qatar, and Switzerland
9:10 to 11:41
Overview of Group B teams, their managers, and expectations for the tournament.
“Just on South Africa, Max, I'll do one little bit on South Africa because the Sundowns from South Africa won the African Champions League and there's a kind of heavy contingent of Sundowns players.”
Canada's Squad and Potential
11:41 to 14:00
Discussion on Canada's squad, key players, and their chances in the World Cup.
“Best ever is in the group stages, which happened last time out.”
Analyzing Switzerland's World Cup Prospects
14:00 to 22:20
Discussion focuses on Switzerland's team dynamics, strengths, and weaknesses for the upcoming World Cup.
“It is crazy because we'd never talk about a kind of, in terms of form, you'd never go back four years to discuss the team that was playing in the Premier League.”
Group C Preview: Scotland and Brazil
22:20 to 28:00
Preview of Group C, focusing on Scotland's chances and Brazil's key players ahead of the tournament.
“We'll go out and play our game and beat them.”
Analyzing Brazil's Squad Choices
28:00 to 29:10
Discussion about Brazil's squad selection and Ancelotti's management style.
“So if you just have him, he doesn't even need to play.”
Scotland's World Cup Prospects
29:10 to 30:28
Analysis of Scotland's chances and strategies in the World Cup.
“And just on Scotland, I was looking at kind of some modelling being done on what you need to do to kind of be one of the best third place teams.”
Morocco's Strengths in the Tournament
30:28 to 31:55
Exploration of Morocco's capabilities and potential as a tournament dark horse.
“It says here, after an eventful AFCON, which is quite the understatement.”
Show all 21 chapters
Management Changes in Moroccan Football
31:55 to 32:58
Discussion on the new Moroccan coach and his impact on the team.
“So I don't have them in dark horse territory.”
Tyler Fletcher's Journey to the World Cup
32:58 to 35:30
Story of Tyler Fletcher's rise and inclusion in Scotland's World Cup squad.
“I understand, like, getting rid of a coach who had been very successful, but a little pragmatic and boring because he was pragmatic and boring is not a move I like.”
Haiti's Historic Qualification
35:30 to 36:55
Haiti's challenges and achievements leading up to the World Cup.
“We needed you to be over cynical at one point in this.”
USA and Socceroos: Expectations and Challenges
37:05 to 40:00
Analysis of the USA and Australia's teams and their World Cup prospects.
“So look, we've done a lot in the US and we'll get to them, but let's start with the Socceroos then.”
Player Changes and Their Impact
40:00 to 42:00
Discussion on player absences and their implications for Australia.
“And it's really been in the last few days that he's come and joined the squad.”
Football Politics and Public Opinion
42:00 to 43:34
Discussion on the political dynamics affecting football in Australia.
“And there was a decision that they weren't going to put the games at.”
Host Nation Advantage
43:34 to 45:10
Analyzing the potential benefits for the USA as the host nation in the World Cup.
“We should not talk about the other countries.”
Turkey's World Cup Prospects
45:10 to 47:21
Exploring Turkey's chances in the upcoming World Cup and their recent performances.
“So it is one of those groups where if you win it, suddenly, you know, it opens up for you.”
Evaluating Paraguay and Australia
47:21 to 49:48
Discussion about Paraguay's team and Australia's performance expectations.
“Paraguay do have one Sunderland player, I should stress.”
Tournament Predictions: Teams to Watch
49:48 to 52:08
Panelists share their predictions for teams likely to win and dark horses.
“I don't think England will win it, but it should go relatively deep, and he looks, the team looks set up to kind of play to his strengths, and particularly the group looks fairly soft.”
Final Thoughts and Social Media Plans
52:08 to 53:14
Wrap-up of the episode along with social media engagement plans.
“Yeah, it's a combination of having a draw that opens up okay with them and also having the talent.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This is The Guardian.
0:30Mark Langdon:Thomas Schuchek and presumably Karol Paborski. Group B, quite exciting, Canadians and Swiss, question mark, we've never said that before, Edin Dzeko and Bosnia and Qatar. Group C, Ewan Murray in for some optimism as the Scots play Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. And then Group D, we'll get a Socceroos perspective as the Aussies line up against host the US, Paraguay and the dark horses of Turkey. Let's get on with it. This is today's Guardian Football Weekly.
0:59Mark Langdon:alongside me for the whole pod the racing post mark langdon welcome mark i'm at hello lars hivinson hello max and barry glendening is here hello yeah we should probably point out we're recording these a week before they go out so just in case harry kane pulls a hamstring or something we apologize but let's get into it then with group a uh mexico south africa south korea and Czechia. Mexico managed by Javier Aguirre, known as El Vasco, his third time managing El Tree in the World Cup. The best ever quarterfinals in 1970 and Mexico 86, well, Mexico 70 as well. They lost out in the group stage in Qatar behind Argentina and Poland.
1:37Mark Langdon:South Africa managed by the Belgian Hugo Bruce. Best ever is the group stages in 2010. Didn't qualify last time out. First World Cup since they were the hosts. South Korea, managed by Hong Myung-bo, legend of Korean football. He captained their side to the semifinals in 2002, the first former captain to manage South Korea at a World Cup. And that's their best ever, 2002. And last time out, they got to the round 16. Czechia, managed by Miroslav Kubek, who is 74 and a spring chicken compared to the 78-year-old Dick Advocat, but more of that and Kurosawa none. They've lost the final twice, Czechia, 1934 and 1962 obviously when they were czechoslovakia of course at last how do you see this
2:18Lars Sivertsen:group when i was doing my sort of brackety thing that we do i do think this is one of the groups where i am the least confident in picking a top two to be honest i think this is kind of an even group mexico have this great history of always qualifying from the group stage which they didn't at katar but before that i think it was like seventh straight world cups or something crazy that they've gotten out of the group stage. The Czechs are not great, but they've got a good sort of punchy physique about them. They've got good spirits. They're not terrible. And then I'm not entirely sure what to expect from South Korea and South Africa, to be honest, but they're not bad.
2:56Lars Sivertsen:I don't think they'll be outright bad, any of them. So I do think this is one of those groups where a lot of teams can take points off each other, and I think it's a little trickier to predict how it turns out than a lot of the other groups.
3:07Mark Langdon:Mark, what do you think of Mexico? Well, I disagree with Lars early doors and say that I think Mexico here, this is a really good opportunity for them to win the group, to stay at home in Mexico last 32. If they win the group, you then play a third place team. Last 16 would potentially be England in the Azteca on things like about 1am on a Monday morning in UK time. And everyone's talking about this being the US World Cup, you know, because that's where the latter stages are. I mean, Mexico can definitely use home advantage. Altitude is something that they'll be used to. If you look around, I'm not sure you could say the same.
3:52I mean, Thomas Suchek looks like he's played 90 minutes before he starts. So altitude might be. He is quite tall. So he is at altitude generally. He is. But South Korea have already been moaning about the fact that they've got to play a whole tournament effectively at altitude as well. But yeah, as well as the planning for Mexico, most of their players now play domestically. But I don't see that as a negative. Most of them don't need to leave home because in that part of the world, you get paid really well. So I don't know if you're in kind of Brazil or Argentina in South America. you have to make that move early because you have to do it for the financial gains.
4:33But if you're Mexican, you can stay at home as long as you want, really, because you can make serious dough. And also their playoffs this year domestically, the coach pulled basically all of the players out. So they've been in camp since early May, which again I think is an advantage when you look at Champions League final, finished just recently, and Mexican players, the home-based ones, have been fully focused. So it's a big opportunity for Mexico to win the group, to stay at home. Interested to see, I think you pronounce it, Quonones, a forward that's the top scorer in Saudi Arabia this season.
5:16So we'll see how that form stacks up. Ivan Toni was the second-high scorer, and Cristiano Ronaldo was third-high. So I'm not even certain he'll start, but it's really hard to weigh up that league just in terms of fitness and quality. So yeah, he's the top scorer in Saudi this season.
5:36Mark Langdon:Baz, presumably you'd like to see England have to play Mexico in the last 16 as we get ahead of ourselves already in Mexico?
5:45Max Rushden:I don't think that's a fixture England would find easy. Not at all. I don't think Mexico's home advantage can be overstated. You've got Monterey, which is one of the hottest cities which the World Cup's been played at. Then Mexico City is 2 ,240 metres above sea level. Guadalajara is 1 ,566 metres above sea level. If you're not used to those conditions, it's going to be hard. Breathing is hard. Running is hard. The heat is oppressive. Czechs seem to have been sold a real pup in terms of the draw in that they play South Korea at altitude in Guadalajara. Then they have to fly 3 ,500 kilometers to play South Africa in Atlanta, one of the hottest venues, but I believe the stadium there is air con, so that might not be too bad.
6:37Max Rushden:And then they have to fly 3 ,500 kilometers back to play Mexico in Mexico City. And the Czech team are based in New Jersey, as far as I know, which means they don't seem to be making any effort to acclimatize the conditions they're going to have to play in. Mexico, by contrast, have been, as Mark said, they've been together for ages at a place called the Santa de Alto Rendimento. So the Alto there would suggest they will be perfectly well set up to deal with the conditions. so yeah the Czech Republic that you know there but for the grace of God go Ireland and that's what we'd have got and I'd shudder to think how the pasty Irish fellas would have gone on in that group but I think Mexico will win the group I suspect South Africa will probably come last and then it's take your pick for second and third between South Korea and Checha
7:39Mark Langdon:yeah Lars on South Korea Obviously, Sonny is 33, only scored twice for LA this year. I mean, I don't know how much of him you've seen in MLS. They lost 4-0 to Ivory Coast recently and 1-0 to Australia in recent friendly. So, I mean, you sort of always give South Korea a puncher's chance of doing something. But maybe this is a tournament too far for Sonny.
8:03Lars Sivertsen:It might be. But again, OK, I'm marking Barry rate this Mexican team slightly higher than I do. it's possible that the home advantage will be as pivotal as Barry and Mark have made a very good case for. But I still think the Czechs have issues. Like you said, I watched both of their games against Ireland and Denmark in the playoffs, and they have a lot of strength, and they're quite spirited. But there's a bit of a lack of skill, I think. They're not the best ball-playing team in the world, so playing in high heat, potentially at altitude, seems bad for them. And so I think that'll mitigate some of their strengths.
8:42Lars Sivertsen:And I'm not familiar enough with South Africa to really make any sweeping. But my point is, I don't think South Korea have to be brilliant to get out of this group. I think there's something there to be gotten from them. And I think Mexico have the advantages that you've all mentioned, but I'm not convinced it's that good a team on paper compared to previous Mexican generations who've made a fist of it at the World Cup. so i i would stick to my i i will go along with the idea that mexico are the most likely group winners but i do think it's pretty open beyond that and and this is why i think it's entirely
9:14Mark Langdon:possible that south korea can get out of the group um as long as they bring back the mexico 86 goal nets then you know they can do frankly whatever they like i want to see big deep goal nets with
9:26Max Rushden:you know the stretch for miles from in guadalajara monterey at the time of recording their squad has just been announced and whatever about goal nets they have brought back everyone's favourite Mexican goalkeeper Guillermo Ocello is in the squad and this will be his 6th 6th World Cup what an achievement that is for him there are some players that just pop up at World Cups like a char and a Valencia you kind of don't hear about him for 4 years and then he's playing only ever gets wheeled out for a major tournament but then when it ends he gets put back in a box for another two years. Just on South Africa, Max, I'll do one little bit on South Africa because the Sundowns from South Africa won the African Champions League and there's a kind of heavy contingent of Sundowns players.
10:18But I saw their coach was complaining they've arrived later than they wanted to in the US due to visa issues for some of their players that he was unhappy with and probably not the only country that's kind of going through that at the moment, which is suboptimal, you would have thought, for a World Cup.
10:35Max Rushden:I read somewhere that any South African fans who want to travel to the States have to go to the American Embassy in Pretoria to get their visas. Pretoria is obviously a very, very, very long way from a lot of parts of South Africa. So, yeah, they're just one of any number of countries whose citizens are going to struggle to get to the World Cup.
11:02Lars Sivertsen:South Africa is another team that, because the domestic league is comparatively solid for the region, not that many of their players go abroad compared to other natures. There's a certain comparison to Mexico there. My whole thing is I don't think that's a positive. I think when that happens, what you end up is with players who don't get matched at the highest level. And I'm not convinced it's a strength at all. but it also means we haven't seen them a lot, most of us and you should never assume players are not good just because you haven't seen them so I actually really look forward to watching the team from that perspective
11:36Mark Langdon:Yeah, absolutely and this gives it a Mexico 86 feel where there are some players in a World Cup that you haven't heard of Now on to Breel and Bolo, Barry Group B, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Qatar and Switzerland Canada managed by Jesse Marsh, former Leeds boss first non-Canadian to take charge of their team, recently signed an extension to 2030. Best ever is in the group stages, which happened last time out. Bosnia-Herzegovina managed by Sergei Barbaras. Again, best ever is the group stages back in 2014. Qatar managed by Julien Lopetegui. That's where he is. Their first World Cup, I believe, was 2022 when they hosted it and went out in the group stages.
12:17Mark Langdon:Qualified via the Asian fourth round playoffs. And Switzerland managed by Murat Jakin. they've got to the quarterfinals in 1934 1938 1954 and 2022 francis says do canada represent the best chance of the host nations um i thought they were good in the last world cup barry they excited us without actually doing anything special so it'd be quite interesting to see how
12:40Max Rushden:far they've come in four years if they want to stay in vancouver they need to top this group uh i'm not going to claim to know a huge amount about canada i don't remember them in the last World Cup so they didn't make that much of an impression on me. Much of their hopes for this World Cup seem to be hinging on the fitness of Alphonso Davies whether or not he will be fit. I don't think he'll be fit to play in their opening game maybe not even their second game. They've got Johnson David, Juventus striker born in Brooklyn to Haitian parents so he could have played for any number of countries. Tajan, Buchanan, Villarreal, Winger.
13:23Max Rushden:It doesn't look a massively difficult group. It looks quite open to me. But they will want to top it to stay in Canada. I mean, Jesse Marsh is quite a positive person. I think everyone would agree that. Ted Lasso vibes, aren't there? There are Lasso vibes, aren't there? There definitely are. He's talking a good game. I think the general view is that this is the best Canadian team ever. Unlike Barry, I thought they did do well four years ago. Just struggled to put the ball in the net. I'm not saying they didn't. I'm just saying I literally cannot remember. It was a long time. It is crazy because we'd never talk about a kind of, in terms of form, you'd never go back four years to discuss the team that was playing in the Premier League.
14:10And yeah, it's what we do at the World Cup. But they were unfortunate back in Qatar because they played well, but just struggled to make the most of their opportunities. I agree that this is quite a balanced group. I would expect Switzerland to win it, but then that kind of second spot, I think, is there for Canada's taking. And then just in terms of the question, I think that all three host nations, I expect them all to qualify, and I wouldn't be that amazed if they made the last 16, all three of them. And then from there, who knows, maybe even one of them gets to the court finals. I think that home advantage has potentially been slightly underrated.
14:51I just think that it is going to be a very foreign tournament for a lot of teams.
14:56Mark Langdon:Switzerland have Granit Xhaka, his fourth World Cup, but no calves of Shaqiri. They've got some decent names that people know of, Noah Okafor, Danendoy, Zaki Amduni as well. What do you reckon to the Swiss?
15:09Lars Sivertsen:so Switzerland I mean you joke about players that you only really see at these big tournaments there's a few of them in the Swiss team and the funny thing is that I mean the amount of games these guys have played together Granit Xhaka has played 123 games with Ricardo Rodriguez for Switzerland which is mad Granit Xhaka has played 72 games with Remo Floriler in the Swiss midfield So the amount of experience that you've got in this group is pretty extraordinary, even though Sherdan Shaqiri and the goalkeeper Ian Somer and Fabian Scher have retired from international duty. Akanji have played 73 games with Ricardo Rodriguez.
15:51Lars Sivertsen:So these are guys who know each other really well, who know the way they play really well. There is maybe a lack of spark in the group. There's a reason Sheridan Shaqiri kept getting in the team, even as his club career was declining, because that little bit of creativity and something extra, they haven't really found consistently from anyone else in the same way. The aforementioned Braille Mbolo is really important to them up front. They don't have that many difference makers in attack. but I do tend to think these tournaments come down to who can screw up the least defensively and who can then go on and take their chances and in the screwing up the least department I think the Swiss have got something and they are often a little bit more punisher than we expect at these tournaments and it wouldn't shock me if they did that again.
16:39Max Rushden:They only conceded two goals in qualifying, I mean that's pretty impressive isn't it?
16:44Mark Langdon:On to Bosnia, only their second World Cup as an independent nation after of defeating Italy and Wales in the playoffs. So the team that denied it at least three Ellis James voice notes. Mark, we are happy to see a 40-year-old Eddingeco. But beyond that, do you have any strong thoughts? Yeah, very surprised that they came through those playoffs, first of all. I expected them to lose to Wales in Cardiff and Italy shot themselves in the foot as well with the red card. But actually, Bosnian were playing well even before that. There's a teenager, I hope I pronounce his name correctly. Kerim Albegovic plays for Salzburg, who definitely caught the eye in those playoff matches.
17:28There's quite a bit of hype around him as somebody that can maybe add that dynamism because when you play somebody like Dzeko up front, he's got many qualities, but he's not going to be running in behind and you need other players to do a fair bit of Dzeko's running, particularly in the conditions that they're going to face. So he might be somebody that kind of emerges out of this tournament and gets that move from Austria. And we know that RB Salzburg is a bit of a talent farm anyway and a lot of players do start there and then go on and kind of make their market in bigger leagues.
18:04Max Rushden:Barry, any thoughts on Qatar? Well, as you mentioned, Julian Lopetegui is in charge. I think they went through three coaches in qualifying. He got them through their must-win game against the UAE to qualify. Players of note, Akram Afif, Al-Assad, he's coming off a title-winning season in the Qatar Stars League. They basically want to win a game, first and foremost. Their third group game is probably the most realistic opportunity. Not a particularly big side physically and could get bullied. They played Ireland recently in Dublin in a friendly and lost 1-0. And they were playing against 10 men for, I think, all the second half.
18:50Max Rushden:So they weren't impressive in that performance.
18:53Mark Langdon:All right. That'll do for Group B. Group C includes Scotland. And you and Murray will join us in just a second.
19:05Mark Langdon:Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. so Group C then. Brazil, Morocco, Haiti and Scotland. Scotland managed by Steve Clarke. Best ever. The group stages. Famously never ever got to a knockout game. This could be the year. Brazil managed by Carlo Ancelotti. They've won it five times. 58-62, 17-94 in 2002. Got to the quarterfinals last year. Morocco managed by Mohamed Wabi. Got to the semifinals in Qatar, of course. And Haiti managed by Sebastian Minha. Last time they were the World Cup. 1974, knocked out in the group stages. Let's bring in Scottish football correspondent Ewan Murray.
19:42Mark Langdon:Hey Ewan. Hello Max. Daniel says, Scotland win the group then the lot or slow start then win the lot. Mitch says, how many goals will Scotland beat Brazil by to offset the defeat to Haiti? How are you feeling about, Scott obviously lost Billy Gilmore in that friendly which is a real blow isn't it? It is, yeah I mean this situation, it's hugely exciting first time since 1998 although we've been in the Euros obviously the World Cup feels different, it's a bigger deal so there is great excitement around this and it's also, I find it strange because it's so heavily predicated and focused on this first game, you know, because now three points and three points with a two goal win or a three goal win puts you in such a strong position if, and I'm saying if, Scotland can do that against Haiti they're in a very, very strong position but if we glance towards history and what could go wrong, if that first game goes wrong not only would i not fancy their chances thereafter but i would worry for the mood around steve clark and the and the team in that situation so it's it's strange because i just think there's so much emphasis on on game one but they should win that game shouldn't they yeah yeah well i mean notwithstanding a curacao red card and the fact that scotland struggled for 40 odd minutes of that game on saturday curacao beat 85-1 in qualifying and scotland i think in normal circumstances are better than Curacao.
21:05So, yes. I mean, I don't think we should be in a situation where you say, oh, here's why this could go horribly wrong. If it goes wrong, it's a major, major blunder for Scotland. They should beat Haiti. And as I say, given the opportunity in front of them where they know that three points and three points with a decent margin of victory puts them in such a strong position, I think there's no excuse for them not to win that game.
21:29Mark Langdon:It obviously is a tough group beyond Haiti, right? Morocco and Brazil are both good and we'll get on to previewing them in just a second. I just suppose the pressure of history is the players shouldn't feel that but you sort of wonder if they might, right? Just because there is just, you know, you mentioned there have been blunders before you think about Costa Rica in what, 1990, etc. There are just moments where the Scots have shot themselves in the foot. Absolutely. I would only say, I think now, and this also applies to Morocco, who everyone now recognises as a very good team. I mean, Morocco embarrassed Scotland in 1998 at the World Cup.
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22:02And it was seen at that time, certainly in Scotland, as a terrible result and a bit of an upset. And I think also Costa Rica, Peru, Iran, previous things. I think there was a, including in the Scotland set up itself, a bit of ignorance about these teams and what they had. And a hubris, yeah. Absolutely. It was, oh, we're better than them. We'll go out and play our game and beat them. I don't think that exists across football now. So even, And I'm comfortable and confident saying Scotland have better players and a better team than Haiti, but I don't think there's any sense that those players will underestimate that or won't be prepared for that.
22:38I think that that has kind of been removed. And the historical thing is funny because, of course, it's a bare fact if they come out of the group, they will be the first Scottish team to come out of a World Cup group and they will make history. But I would also regard it as faintly ludicrous to then regard them as the finest Scotland team of all time. Of course. Compare them with the teams that didn't make it out of the group and the players they had. So while that, again, undeniable black and white fact, I think there's probably a bit of nuance to that element as well. What do you make of the squad, Ewan?
23:12The squad's fine apart from goalkeeper. Well, that's slightly unfair. They have goalkeepers, one of them, Craig Gordon, who's 43, and Craig Gordon is still capable of playing, but hadn't played for Hearts since January until he played against Curaçao. Angus Gunn at Northington Forest, basically no football either. So goalkeeper is a problem. Their midfield is strong. Centre-back, I think, is a bit of a problem. Centre-forward, I think they can get by, including because Lawrence Shankland is in a rich way of form, and I think now Steve Clarke is inclined to turn towards him. So it's centre-back and goalkeeper where I think they may have a problem.
23:51And also, this will work both ways. They have quite an experienced squad by way of, you know, a lot of players with a lot of caps. And I actually think it will help that they will be hugely motivated, one, to do well in this tournament because they feel they didn't represent themselves fairly in the last two Euros. But two, I also think there's a good few players who will believe this is their best or final World Cup chance. And I don't think we should underestimate that this will motivate them hugely going into this tournament.
24:20Mark Langdon:We should talk about the Titan Army. I mean, there's obviously a cliché about how brilliant they are. I remember going to England-Scotland in Euro 96, and at halftime, status quo, rocking all the world over the world was playing and every Scotland fan was like doing this for the guitars and all the England fans were sort of standing going, I wish we could have fun like them but for some reason we can't do it, we can't bring ourselves to let ourselves go but obviously it's one of those World Cups where, you know, if you're a side that go to lots of World Cups you might give it a miss because of the cost and the politics, etc.
24:50Mark Langdon:But how many Scotland fans do you think will go? What will their presence be like? And obviously there's a huge Scottish contingent in the States anyway. Absolutely massive, yeah. It's funny you mentioned Wembley in 1996. In 1999, where Scotland lost the Euros playoff to England, although they won that game, they won the second leg, won nil at Wembley, Don Hutchison's goal. One of my favourite images, actually, of Scotland fans is after that game, rocking all over the world was played and Scotland had just been knocked out. And the entire contingent, they weren't celebrating defeat. They were just enjoying themselves.
25:20It's brilliant. You'll find it on YouTube. The footage there is great. yeah listen the Scotland fans are terrific wherever they go they will travel in immense numbers I know I'm slightly surprised at this given the first game is 2 o 'clock in the morning but maybe I shouldn't be but bars across Scotland are having lunch parties, ticket only they're all sold out, these events are sold out to watch that game and I'm not sure I'm not sure as a seasoned pub goer I don't know what time one goes to the pub for a 2am kick off but that's maybe one for, do you have a sleep beforehand or what do you do?
25:51Anyway
25:53Max Rushden:I would say you go to the pub at your usual time, go home at what your usual closing time would be, have a couple of hours sleep, and then get up and go back out again. Go back, yeah. Because you can't realistically go at six or seven or eight o 'clock, can you? You'd be absolutely minced. Yeah, anyway, sorry. That's something for other people to worry about. Their profile in Scotland and in America will be huge, and they're rightly renowned for how well they behave. They don't cause trouble. There won't be any aggravation. and they are the kind of supporter base where there will be thousands of people going there without tickets just to enjoy the experience.
26:27And partly, Max, as I said, linked to the fact you haven't been there for 28 years and it is, for Scottish people, quite an accessible country. There's people just going to be part of the party and they will bring a great deal to the World Cup scene. Even if the team don't, the fans will bring a great deal to it.
26:43Mark Langdon:Yeah, and they get to play Brazil, right? And, you know, it's a great thing if you're in a World Cup and you get to play Brazil. obviously and we'll move on to them Barry you know Ancelotti we know is a great manager so much noise about Neymar and people weeping in the streets when he was selected and his view in Brazil being slightly different to elsewhere but there might be a calf injury for him but how do you reckon Brazil will go? I think they'll be alright
27:08Max Rushden:I mean the Neymar fitness saga does threaten to overshadow their campaign but I don't think there's any question that they will get out of the group. They're missing Rodrigo. They're missing Estevão. They're missing Ed Armiditao through injury. Alisson has had a rough trot this season with injuries. They lost six of their 18 qualifiers. João Pedro obviously was left out of the squad as well. But when you look at who they have, Vinny Junior, Bruno Gimores, Endric, they have quality Rayan I think from Bournemouth he made the cut so he's an exciting player I don't think there's any question that they won't get out of the group and I think they could go quite far in the competition
27:58Mark Langdon:24 years of hurt for Brazil I think when you pick a 26 player squad it used to be 23 didn't it now you're up to 26 I think you can take one or two gambles and the Neymar one I think Ancelotti thought, if I don't pick him, every single question at the press conference will be, why is Neymar not there? Why is Neymar not there? So if you just have him, he doesn't even need to play. And I think you kind of just calm that noise. I think Ancelotti's got the potential to be a very clever and perfect international manager because he's not wedded to a system. He doesn't really have a footballing philosophy or beliefs.
28:38And I think that that helps when you're an international manager because you just don't have the players for long enough. So put them in positions where they can succeed and make them feel comfortable. All the things that Ancelotti did very well when he was at Real Madrid and all the other places he's been. When you've got Rafinha and Vinicius up front or in sort of forward positions, you can just win any game with players like that. So I think they'll leave their qualifying form behind. and I'm not sure that they'll win it, but I definitely think that they're better than some of that qualifying form.
29:12And just on Scotland, I was looking at kind of some modelling being done on what you need to do to kind of be one of the best third place teams. And I do think that Scotland will finish third in this group. If you can get a goal difference of zero with three points, you're almost certainly there. Once it gets to about minus two, that's where they think the cutoff point might be. I would be embarrassed anyway. you can't go through with a minus two goal difference but that
29:37Mark Langdon:but that is a really fun way you take it the greatest Scotland team of all time exactly but you know it will be a really funny what's the order Ewan is it it's Haiti what's your second game Morocco in the middle and then Brazil last so we're hoping that Brazil are hopefully home and dry no interest nothing to play for yeah one thing this is a boring point but I think maybe an important one climate Climate is in a team like Brazil's favour. Of course. Where it isn't for quite a lot, including England, for example. We can't underestimate. I've had a rough look at the temperatures and the heat and the humidity in some of these stadiums.
30:16That won't affect Brazil as much as it may well do a lot of the other big nations. Yes.
30:21Mark Langdon:And Scotland is not famously that hot, is it? So it could be an issue. Lars, we haven't talked about Morocco yet. It says here, after an eventful AFCON, which is quite the understatement.
30:32Lars Sivertsen:Yeah, eventful. Yeah, yeah. Let's go with that. Let's go with that. Eventful. We know they're good, don't we? I think they're good. And I think they're good in a way that could be suited for this tournament because they're defensively quite solid and they're quite canny. And then they've got a couple of players who can make a difference going forward. I mean, it's really sad for Brahim Diaz that it ended up being him missing the Panenka as the defining moment of that tournament because he was very good in the tournament. And he is a very good player. the time I think when you when dropping points against Morocco was seen as a shock or an upset I mean we've definitely moved on from there they would be actually they're not entirely uninteresting as dark horses in the tournament I think actually depending a little bit about how they got about it because I think this is a tournament that because the climate conditions you've described will reward patient teams that are quite solid and well organized and don't as much as we love the sort of a front foot high pressing teams in club football i'm not sure that's going to be the best thing this summer for for very obvious reasons and i think morocco is one of those teams that has a lot of defensive solidity a lot of canniness and just a couple of potential game changers uh in attacks that they're kind of
31:49Max Rushden:set up to be an interesting dark horse i think i actually think morocco are too good to fall into the dark horse bracket. They're eighth in the world. Yeah. And semi-final last time. So I don't have them in dark horse territory. They're just, they're horses. They're white horses.
32:06Lars Sivertsen:We're going to have this discussion later in the episode. Where's the cutoff for dark horses? Where do you have to be?
32:11Max Rushden:They changed their manager after AFCON, obviously. I think they're still the holders, are they? Or has it got been given back to Senegal again? I can't find it hard to keep track. But anyway, they were there, thereabouts, or else they won. I can't keep up. But the new guy in charge, Mohamedou Abiy, he coached Moroccan under-20 team to the World Cup, won it with them, and he's brought a lot of those youngsters into the senior squad. And he's apparently more adventurous than Walid Ragugi, his predecessor. And I think there could be a real force to be reckoned with.
32:51Lars Sivertsen:So that I don't like, the adventure. The adventure, I think, is bad. I'm not sure adventure is going to be what you want to go for in this tournament. I understand, like, getting rid of a coach who had been very successful, but a little pragmatic and boring because he was pragmatic and boring is not a move I like. Yeah, if you can suck the life out of games for us spectators, not amazing. But I think for your chances in the summer, it might be very good. There's also one thing I wonder about Brazil. Ancelotti has picked a pile of attackers here. Also, they've played some games where they've basically played a 4-2-4 system with Casemiro and Bruno Guimarães in midfield and just four attackers in front of them.
33:32Lars Sivertsen:I understand when the talent available is what it is, but you're going to have to convince those four to all run an awful lot for that to make any kind of sense. So I think the balance issue with Brazil is interesting. I think if I'm Scottish, you've got a really good midfield. like this would be the i i think the sort of this is where i would have a little bit of a ray of hope when you come up against brazil is that you're going to be very competitive in that midfield area if they're playing two midfielders one of whom is casemiro and potentially high heat you could have tyler fletcher tyler fletcher versus casemiro what a story tyler fletcher is have you
34:05Mark Langdon:picked that one up he's in for billy gilmore darren fletcher's son so what happened was because obviously seasons finish at different times some players got a break the scotland squad to train for the lead up to the Curaçao game was pretty diminished in number. So Steve Clarke brought in five young players just to boost those training numbers. Now, Tyler Fletcher was one of those, having never played for Scotland's full team, never been in the squad. But from what I'm told, he was the best player in training all week, which might imply something about the rest of them. However, he was the best player in training.
34:36And he's on the bench against Curaçao, Billy Gilmore, horrid luck, horrid episode. Hurts his knee, injures his knee, out of the World Cup. Now, there are others that Steve Clarke has had on the squad, midfield players who you might assume was ahead of Tyler Fletcher. But instead, Fletcher's performance against Curusai was excellent. As I said, his performances in training are seemingly similar. And I wonder if there's a little bit of politics involved because his brother plays for England's youth teams and both brothers can play for England or Scotland. I wonder if they're trying to convince Tyler and maybe Jack to play for Scotland, although that's maybe overly cynical on my part.
35:14But lo and behold, he's been added to the World Cup squad and flew out with the Scotland team. So it's a great story. And he just looks to me straight away a player who will be so comfortable in any environment that I wouldn't be surprised if he features at some point in the World Cup.
35:29Mark Langdon:Well, imagine if Scotland beat Brazil. It would be unbelievable. We needed you to be over cynical at one point in this. All right. Just a word on Haiti. First time they've qualified since 1974. We covered it with Paul Watson. But incredible, they managed to qualify with huge security risks in the state of emergency in the country, played their home games in Curaçao. Yes, Baz?
35:49Max Rushden:No, it's interesting that the Haiti manager, Sebastien Mien, and I think most, if not all, of the players have never actually set foot in Haiti, ever. And Jean-Richtner-Bellegarde is pretty much my sum total knowledge of Haitian football. He plays for them. And their goalkeeper is a fellow called Johnny Placite. There's a Sunderland player, Barry. Is there? Up front. Yes. Isidore. Isidore's been added.
36:24Mark Langdon:Oh, sack me. Sack me now. I think that's the reason, Barry, why people love you. That 1974 was when they played Italy and Dino Zoff hadn't conceded a goal for something like 1 ,500 minutes. and Haiti went 1-0 up against Italy and Dino Zoff in this shock moment in the 1974 World Cup so they're capable of upset they did lose the game but they ended Dino Zoff's run Anyway Ewan thanks for coming on appreciate your time pal Speak soon no doubt thank you
37:02Mark Langdon:Welcome to part 3 of the Guardian Football Weekly let's do Group D then the USA, Paraguay, Australia and Turkey USA managed by Mauricio Pochettino of course I got to the semifinals in 1930 in the first ever World Cup last time I got to the round of 16 Australia managed by Tony Popovich best I've ever done is round of 16 in 06 and last time out Paraguay managed by Gustavo Alfaro best ever the quarterfinals in 2010 and the dark horses of Turkey managed by Vincenzo Montella came third of course in 2002 Guardian Australia's Jack Snape is going over there, joins us now. Hey, Jack. G'day, Max. So look, we've done a lot in the US and we'll get to them, but let's start with the Socceroos then.
37:46Mark Langdon:How do you see them going in this one, Jack? I have this increasing sense of optimism, would you believe? Yeah. It's wild. Australia traditionally underperform at World Cups. We've only made the round of 16 twice. And the last time in Qatar was a team of journeymen who somehow got through. But this team is full of really solid young talent. And all of a sudden, we're wondering, yeah, how far can they go? Not just get out of the group, but maybe push all the way to the round of 16 again. Yeah, it's an open group, isn't it? Who have they got? They do have some young, sort of quite raw talented players don't they because because there's been a kind of dearth of like we think of the classic socceroos right and you think of the duke and kule and you know etc etc but they don't they haven't had any real stars for quite a while well yeah i think ewan's gone so uh we can be a little bit more rude about the scottish premier league now but it would have I've leaned heavily on talent in Scotland.
38:50But, yeah, now we've got a number of great young players, 23 or under, led by left wing back Jordi Boss, who's playing at Feyenoord. He could be our best player, and he's really got a future ahead of him. Alessandro Ciacati, who plays in Serie A, he's a central defender, another one to watch. And up front, Mo Ture has been scoring a bunch of goals for Norwich in the championship. And the wild card is a guy called Nestor Irenkunda. He's a winger, attacker, explosive player. I think he had a bunch of goal of the season nominees last season for Watford. So, yeah, we're feeling pretty good. We're upbeat.
39:32We're wondering just how far they can go.
39:34Mark Langdon:Yeah, there's this guy, Christian Volpato, who basically said he wanted to play for Italy and then switched his allegiance. I don't know, how do Australian fans feel about someone who turned their back on the flag and now has come back? Or like beggars can't be choosers? Is that too rude? It's been wild the last few days because no one saw this change of allegiance coming with Christian Volpato. He, I believe, was looking to play for Italy. That call up didn't happen. And it's really been in the last few days that he's come and joined the squad. He's never actually played for the Socceroos. So a lot of Australian fans haven't really watched him apart from a few nice goals he scored in Serie A.
40:15Do they feel aggrieved that it took for him to be rejected by Italy to turn his mind to the Socceroos? I think it's mixed. He did post on social media a few years ago when Australia lost a crucial match to Japan with an image of the loss and two emojis. One was the smiley face laughing with tears, and one was the upside down smiley face. And that was seen as deeply offensive to the Australian football community. But, you know, he was a young guy then, and I'm sure he'll add a bit of quality to the squad.
40:54Max Rushden:Yes, Jack, he's done what we call in the trade a reverse rice. but Jack Riley McGree who is the most Australian sounding Australian I think I've ever heard of it. He's very unlucky to miss out, hurt himself in the playoff final which ended up being a complete mess that whole playoff. Playing for Middlesbrough, is he a big loss? Yeah, huge loss. He was probably one of the few locks in our starting 11 and right at that right age, 27. 27. We've got a lot of players under 23 and a whole bunch over 30. So he was really going to be a crucial player. Yeah, it was an extraordinary scene or moment of tragedy there for McGree.
41:36I think he got through about 70 minutes in that playoff final, but had Southampton not cheated, he wouldn't even have been playing. So the poor guy has played the match, lost, so he didn't go to the premiership and now he's also out of the World Cup. So he's probably the unluckiest
41:54Mark Langdon:football are going around. Back home, actually, some of the games, because quite often in Australia, games are not on at perfect times. But I think a couple of the games are on at quite good times, sort of midday and ones at 2pm. And there was a decision that they weren't going to put the games at. There is a paranoia in Australia that the other codes, rugby league and AFL, like push football down. And when I got here, I didn't believe it at all. But there might be something to it. And they said there's no football on big screens at Fed Square in Melbourne, which thousands of people go to ridiculous hours of the day.
42:23Mark Langdon:And I tweeted saying this is a shit decision, and other people did. And then the Premier of Victoria turned around and changed it. And Jack, you think I was played by politicians, didn't you? You think, you know, I was just, I was just like a stupid sap in a bit of politics here. I don't know why you're raising this, Max. But for people who aren't plugged into the politics of the state of Victoria in the bottom end of Australia, Max tweeted some sort of frustration about this decision and was replied by the Premier's Twitter account when she reversed the decision. And so Max was the recipient of all this goodwill.
43:08He was the trigger point. He was the reason that the most powerful woman in the state changed her mind. And so I can only imagine, Max, that's why you're raising it. You don't really care what I have to say in response. You just want me to talk about your tweet.
43:23Mark Langdon:No, I'm more, I think it's funnier that actually I was just part, a victim of some real sort of cunning politics. And actually they knew what they were doing the whole time. And, you know, I'm happy to play the foreign idiot weighing in on things they don't quite understand. We should not talk about the other countries. I mean, look, you talked about host nations, Mark, and it being a home advantage, being important, and the US obviously have that. They do, and I think it could go either way for them. If you start well and you suddenly feel like a country's behind you, it doesn't really matter what you've done before.
44:04We've seen that with a lot of host nations. If you go back to Russia, they were going to be the worst team ever. And actually, when it came to it, performed above expectations. Qatar, not so much. But watching the recent friendly they had against Senegal, Pulisic was just on fire in that game. And this feels like it could be his kind of poster boy moment. He's been so heavily relied upon to be this figurehead of a country's football team. and you now get the opportunity to deliver in a home World Cup. And it's a very open group, but if you win the group, the path towards, say, the last 16 and then you're really into the tournament sort of opens up.
44:51So I think winning this group will be absolutely key and pretty close, I would say, between the USA and Turkey for that honour.
45:01Lars Sivertsen:Just to expand on what Mark was saying there, to be clear, If you win Group D, you meet one of the third place runners up. But if you get through there, your likely opponent is the winner of Group G, which is Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand. So it is one of those groups where if you win it, suddenly, you know, it opens up for you. And this is why I like Turkey. It's become a meme. It's become a joke. But I'm ready to be hurt again. I think the Turkey dark horses, I think it makes total sense. They got to the quarters of the last Euros. they've got some absolutely sparkling talent in Arda Guller in particular but also Ken Anildiz they've got some pretty rugged defenders behind them Vincenzo Montella appears to put all this stuff into a little bit of a system that works they've got absolutely done by Spain in the qualifiers lost 6-0 to Spain that was bad but apart from that their results recently have been pretty good and I think just because they have a slightly fortunate draw I think this sets up beautifully for turkey to to get something going here and uh and you can clip this and make fun of me if yet again they fail to live up to that billing but i i think it's it's time for turkey
46:06Mark Langdon:uh barry on paraguay uh something i've always wanted to say uh can you help a brother out
46:13Max Rushden:they beat brazil they beat argentina they beat uruguay in qualifying uh so they will be hoping for a spot in the knockout like hoping they have a realistic chance of getting a spot in the knockouts managed by Gustara Alfara, whose nickname is The Lettuce. I don't know why. I don't like him. I don't like him. Oh, yeah. They're a counter-attacking team. Like to give the opponents the ball, try and strike on the break. Notables include Miggy Almiron, formerly of Newcastle. Raymond Sosa from Nottingham Forest plays on the wing for them. They don't score too many goals. That could be a problem for them.
47:02Max Rushden:And that is about all I know about Paraguay. Well, you've enlightened me.
47:06Mark Langdon:Jack, finally, where do you have Australia?
47:08Max Rushden:They probably have six Sunderland players in the squad
47:11Mark Langdon:that I've overlooked. Yeah, Brian Broby. Exactly. Jack, where do you have the Socceroos finishing in this group? Yeah, Socceroos, I think they'll probably squeeze into third, struggle against Turkey, benefit from the imminent United States implosion as hosts, and then probably jag a result against Paraguay, but probably won't go much further than that.
47:40Lars Sivertsen:Paraguay do have one Sunderland player, I should stress.
47:43Max Rushden:I know, I'm just checking. It's the full back, isn't it? No, Alderete, the centre half.
47:49Mark Langdon:Oh, it's so bad.
47:50Max Rushden:Yeah, yeah, yeah. God.
47:53Mark Langdon:That's all right. The season's end. You get a week off after this, Barry. It's okay. Oh, man. As soon as I said that, I knew that they have a son. I know. I was just checking. Jack, I'm trying to say goodbye to you in a polite way, but I can't. Anyway, we'll catch up with you during the tournament, pal. Hello. Thanks. Jack Snape there from Guardian Australia. Before we end this, going to do this with all our panellists. Lars and Mark, who's going to win the tournament, Lars?
48:19Lars Sivertsen:I've got Spain. when I did my bracket I ended up with Spain winning the tournament I think listen, European teams don't always do as well as expected in World Cups outside of Europe but I just think these conditions the heat can really suit Spain because they're a team who know how to look after the ball, we know this they can play patiently and as we've seen in recent years they now also have the option of shifting gears playing slightly more directly when they have to I think Spain are the complete package I think they look more like a club team than really any other national team in the tournament and I think they'll win.
48:51Mark? I'm going to go for Portugal. Nice section of the draw for them. Hopefully Roberto Martinez doesn't obsess over Cristiano Ronaldo for every minute of this tournament. He did substitute them in both Nations League matches when they won the Nations League, Portugal beating Germany and Spain. Ronaldo actually scored in both of those matches as well, but I just did the quality sort of there throughout the team. And Bruno Fernandes, coming off such a great season. The Premier League didn't have Europe either, so he'll be relatively fresh. The PSG continued, Jaunevez, Vettinha, Nuno Mendes. They don't have to work that hard in Ligue 1 every week as well, so I don't think they've had the kind of season that maybe some others are coming into it.
49:38I think they're really well stacked, apart from this obsession over Cristiano, which hopefully won't go on for the whole tournament. Well, hopefully it will.
49:49Mark Langdon:if you ask me but uh uh uh gombu quickly last give us a name i think if i'm right in spain
49:55Lars Sivertsen:get all the way to the final i think lamin yamal is a good shout here uh because they don't get maybe that many goals from center forward and i think if you're a betting man you can get him at prices as much as as high as 20 to 1 which i think is is a lot for the guy who's probably the most potent attacking threat of a team that i think can go all the way to the final so let's go with you, Mark? Harry Kane. I don't think England will win it, but it should go relatively deep, and he looks, the team looks set up to kind of play to his strengths, and particularly the group looks fairly soft. How deep do you think England will go, Mark?
50:31I've got them going to the semifinals. I've got them winning the last 32 against a third-place team. I've got them scraping past Mexico in the Azteca in the last 16, but at altitude, takes a lot out of the legs. I've then got them going to Miami to play in the heat against Brazil, where again, they come through that. But I think they'll then be, I think they'll then be absolutely shattered by the semifinals and that's where Portugal will beat them. Fair enough. What about you last? Where do you think England? Yes, carry on, Baz.
51:01Max Rushden:Lars, you say you're Lamin-Yemal, but there is a chance he won't play Spain's two first games, which means he wouldn't get to pad his stats against Cap Verde in Saudi Arabia. That could be a factor.
51:14Lars Sivertsen:I agree. I am aware of the injury situation. You're correct. It's probably why his price is that high. Where do you have England going, Lars? Exactly the same path as Langeau I arrived at in my bracket, except I had them lose to Brazil. So, you know, fair enough.
51:29Mark Langdon:Fair enough. And give us some dark horses then, or, you know, horses that might be dark horses. You can go first, Mark. I think me and Lars have got the same one. Turkey. for the fear of mockery. I mean, that's the only reason I was not going to put Turkey up as the Darkhawks because it just became a running gag when they lose their first two matches. But they've got a good coach in Montella. They've got players in Yildiz and Goulet that are just players playing at the very highest level now. And I thought they were unlucky in the Euros last time around. They lost a very tight quarterfinal to Netherlands that might have gone either way.
52:10So soft enough group. And Lars, are you Turkey as well?
52:15Lars Sivertsen:Yeah, it's a combination of having a draw that opens up okay with them and also having the talent. I think everything is there. I mean, I feel like I'm sort of duty bound to say Norway. Trouble with Norway is I think we've got two interesting dark horse candidates in the same group and France also in that group. And that's not ideal. Like Senegal are a proper good team. So I think as much as Norway have a lot of strength, I think there's a very real risk that we end up having to be one of the best third place teams because Senegal are good. And then you get into a draw that's unfavorable. So I think that could be our downfall.
52:53Lars Sivertsen:We're obviously very good, Norway, in terms of the talent we have, but we've been absolutely done by the draw. It's going to be an adventure, but it's not compared to some of the groups you could end up in. It's not good.
53:02Mark Langdon:Of course, Mickey Gray plays for Turkey. I'm surprised Barry didn't know that. But anyway, that'll do it for our first four groups. We'll be back again tomorrow to stay across all of our content as we go daily from Friday. Find us on Tic Tac, Instagram, Reddit, Blue Sky, lots of behind-the-scenes.
53:19Max Rushden:Did you just say Tic Tac, old man? You did. Did I? Yeah.
53:25Mark Langdon:All right, Daniel. I thought it was a, I'm an old man, I'm going to call it Tic Tac. I didn't realize it was a faux pas. Yeah. he's taking some of the heat off me or as Mike Parry called it a fox paz but anyway I'm just trying to you know try and deflect my own mistake tick tock of course although I have never logged on so why should I know but look we'll be putting stuff out on these platforms we have no idea what happens on them as we descend into madness of me and Barry living together but that'll do for today thank you everybody thank you Lars thank you Max thanks Mark Thanks, Max. Thanks, Barry.
54:03Mark Langdon:Thank you. Football Weekly is produced by Tyo Papula. Executive producer is Joel Grove. Back tomorrow.
54:14Max Rushden:This is The Guardian.