World Cup playoff drama and Salah’s legacy at Liverpool: Football Weekly Extra

20:13Will Unwin:Exactly, yeah. This is why you bring me on. The only reason. There's sometimes, like, from the outside, People see somebody make that decision, wonder why they did it, why they did not think it through. But it's a split-second decision, and your instincts do just kick in. And Ryan's somebody who, like it is the case of others, they're hugely competitive to where they can't just let things happen. They always want to be involved. They have to be involved. They have to be engaged with some level of defending. And unfortunately for him, on that particular occasion, that instinct has led to that moment.

20:44Will Unwin:I'm sure in some ways he regrets it. And in times gone by, maybe he would have gotten away with it. Times, for example, when he'd be, because he started off in the championship, obviously he's had a spell in the Premier League, but back in the championship now, maybe that doesn't really get seen. Maybe it doesn't get reviewed, that type of stuff. But on that stage, he needs to try and turn off some of those instincts. But unfortunately, it just wasn't the case for him yesterday.

21:07Jonathan Wilson:Yeah, I did feel Wilson, I did think they'd hang on though. I mean, I was watching both games saying, okay, they're both going to get through, this is good. And I didn't see, even though Cechi were putting the pressure on, I just didn't see where the goal was coming from. I don't know.

21:22Barry Glendenning:They had so much pressure in that second half. And Ireland just lost all capacity to get out of their own half. I don't know what happened. I don't know why the game changed so radically on that one moment because Ireland was so in control. But by the second half, they couldn't hold the ball in the Cechi half at all. I don't know if Ogbena got tired, but he became a lot less effective and eventually taken off. No, I mean, clearly they could have held out. It's a slightly odd header from a free kick that Krejci sort of almost turns away from goal and it comes off the back of his head. I'm not sure if he knew exactly what he was doing there, but it's an annoying goal in the sense that it just didn't really feel planned.

22:05Barry Glendenning:I mean, I guess you can say the Irish second goal didn't really feel planned. It's sort of just a ball into a dangerous area that bobs about. and that I think was the real issue of the game the just lack of quality from both sides in the final third that you think all four goals it must have been quite good but it's two penalties and both penalties are sort of for nothing I mean the Ireland penalty would never have been given without VAR I mean it's like the Harry Kane penalty in the year 2024 semi-final and it was a good minute of play after that before it was eventually given and I saw it in real time was like oh that might be one of those horrible modern penalties and then the game sort of moves on and you're always forgotten about and they go back it's like i think that probably is so it's two not not dodgy penalties because they are both fouls but two penalties that haven't really been created they just sort of happened two set plays and really not much else and that did make me worry a bit about this world cup it has the expansion of 48 teams letting too many sides that don't really have much about i think eight groups of four was perfect 32 teams almost every game matters with two of four to go through what we've got now is we've got 48 teams some of which are not very good it's going to be very hard for a half decent team not to go through because one win will take you three with eight of the eight of the best third

23:27Jonathan Wilson:pretty much pretty much you you could be unlucky there will be someone who whose goal difference which is bad enough. I actually did a spreadsheet to plot England's route to the final. I wrote a column about it. But I did, you know, Scotland beat Haiti in my spreadsheet, but they didn't get through on goal difference. But you're right. One win is probably enough to get you through.

23:45Barry Glendenning:So you then get a last 32. That's not going to be very different from the 32 teams you've seen in the World Cubs, except it's not going to be a group stage. You don't have that security to make sure the better teams do prevail. You've got 16 knockout games. it's entirely possible quite a bad team can draw two games nil nil win on penalties and they're in the quarterfinal and that suggests to me we there's a possibility we could have a really weird set of quarterfinalists not because they're suddenly good or last 16 last 16 well i mean i'm suggesting it could happen twice but yeah sure last 16 um and then people go oh look this justifies the expansion because i don't know uzbekistan and jordan have both got to the semis yeah well you know if they've got there by winning one group game and then two nil nil draws and penalties which what could happen i think it introduces the randomness and the jeopardy at the wrong stage i think because of that people be aware of that and i think the football in the last 32 and last 16 could be extremely defensive i mean it is unlikely that jordan and azbekistan will be in

24:49Jonathan Wilson:the semi-finals of the world cup but i said quarterfinals but but a quarterfinals fine well you know i still my my point is still remains valid uh you're right and actually you're right if you're going to have 48 you might as well have 64 right because then at least it's top two go through um although that's a lot of countries isn't it and the strain on infrastructure i mean

25:08Barry Glendenning:you should just have 32 because that's that's the right number you can fiddle about with uh the final round of qualifying to try and uh give teams from the confederations which only get five or six slots to give them more of a chance you can make that that final phase of qualifying more global to try and not make it quite so euro south american centric but 32 is the right number

25:30Jonathan Wilson:okay well i'll see what i can do uh that'll do for part one part two uh we'll begin with northern liners defeat in italy you got questions about chicago me too i'm aaron allen host of the curious city podcast where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers. Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.

26:20Jonathan Wilson:Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Northern Ireland lost 2-0 to Italy. I thought, Nadam, they were good. I like Shea Charles. I thought Ethan Galbraith was really good. They play good football, right? It was not attritional. It was like they moved the ball well, but once they get to the final third, it's a bit like, there isn't anyone there.

26:41Will Unwin:Yeah, I think to say there's nobody there feels a bit harsh, but yeah, especially at the national stage. But if that's what you want to say, Max, then that's Max Rushton and everybody. He says they've got nothing. Okay.

26:52Jonathan Wilson:Nothing is harsh. I agree. But the thing I thought, if now you've attacked me, is... Hey, that reveals a lot

26:59Will Unwin:if you think you're being attacked. But carry on.

27:01Jonathan Wilson:I thought they were just as good as Italy for big parts of this game. I didn't think there was a discernible difference in the quality of these teams apart from the moments where Italy scored goals, which is an important part of football, granted.

27:16Will Unwin:Yeah, yeah. I would agree with that. We're back on the same page now. Yeah, good, good. Yeah, nice. I think for me, one of the differences between sides, yeah, that is at times subtle, but when you look back, it's quite clear. It's the ability to create chances against sides who defensively are good, but then also like the discussion around sort of the finishing, the final pass and so on. That's like the last piece of the whole thing, even though it might not necessarily be the best back four in the world. The four of us could play at the back and be committed and like throw ourselves towards things.

27:47Will Unwin:The four of us probably aren't going to create a ton of chances against really good sides. I don't think. I could be wrong. I've not seen you guys in full-actual flight.

27:53Barry Glendenning:I'm not putting myself in the way of anything. Not these things.

27:56Will Unwin:Are you more likely to be able to block a shot or take a shot and score from a tough angle?

28:01Barry Glendenning:Okay, more likely to be able to block it. But it's more like the shot will hit me rather than me blocking it.

28:04Will Unwin:Yeah, it's okay. So if we use you as an example of like a mannequin, if you were to be a mannequin in the space of the six-yard box, the ball could hit you. Technically speaking, that is a block. However, the other side of things, to be creative and to find solutions to break teams down who are also very, very committed, I think that's what the difference can be. And that's how I saw this Northern Ireland game, as you were saying, Max, because the players for Northern Ireland, they're obviously good players. They can score from anywhere. They can do however they please. But it's that last section, like the Moise Keane goals, for me, it's a great goal.

28:36Will Unwin:It's a great finish. It's a great moment. He'd been consistently, like, persistently, rather, playing on the shoulder. and he'd had a couple of efforts beforehand, which was saved well. But that one is different because he's come back onto his left side and he's finished it into the corner. That's a big moment. The ball dropping to Tonale and the technique to get over it and keep the ball low, to take that first time. That's like real, real quality. And the Northern Ireland players, they couldn't all do that, but it's a lot more difficult to do it in the moment when it's needed. And I think that ended up being the difference between the two sides, just key moments and key actions that make a big difference.

29:12Will Unwin:And, you know, now Italy are into that. I'd say that final to try and get to the World Cup for the first time in, you know, in the three attempts. So I'd be disappointed if I was Northern Ireland because they know that the difference isn't great, but it's enough. That's the thing, it's enough, especially when you are playing away from home. You have to be clinical in both boxes. And I thought defensively they were good, but in attack, as you sort of alluded to in a violent way, you know, they just didn't really, couldn't really create the stuff that they needed to.

29:38Jonathan Wilson:yeah I mean I suppose Will Italy have missed two World Cups and it is good to have Italy at a World Cup right you know it's a good kit there it's a good set of you know

29:49Will Unwin:you can buy the kit anyway Max don't worry about that you can buy the kit anyway

29:52Jonathan Wilson:no I know but when I when you know if you grow you grow up watching the World Cup and you think of Tardelli and Scalacci etc etc etc Italy being in the World Cup is good obviously you know it makes a big difference to the group that they you know they go in I don't have that in front of me and that would have probably changed the spreadsheet that I just gave, defeats to all the playoff teams. But now they've passed this and now they can't play Wales, I suspect a lot of people would like to see Italy there. I did quite enjoy Nedim as well, wanting to own a back four with us to add to his sort of endless list of former teammates.

30:25Jonathan Wilson:I don't get them on the list. The thing is, I was looking at it going, well, clearly me and Nedim have got to be the centre-backs, right? Because I've got a bit of height here. And then I'm just, Wilson, I can't see Wilson kicking it with his left foot. So that puts you at left back, Will. And I don't know if you're an overlapping left, but it feels quite a deep back four. Anyway, to the question at hand, Will, on Italy being at the World Cup. I mean, I think for general interest, the bigger, in theory, better nations is what you want there. As you say, there's going to be so many mediocre teams.

30:58But you sort of watch it last night, and you just think they're not going to trouble the scorers in the final stages, are they? they don't look like they've got the X Factor I mean Northern Ireland are missing people like Ballard and Bradley and they are a small nation let's be honest, they didn't have the quality to cause too many problems even with people like Donnarumma and Tadali they just didn't look particularly excited, they didn't look like they'd be problematic so I mean it would be great if they can get there there is always a little sense of excitement with these teams being the one team you'd switch on a game where England aren't involved if you're English.

31:34You think, oh yeah, Italy, you do have that history. But yeah, they don't look great. So it would be nice there that you have a few different options. It's good to see that Moyes Keane looked lively. When it was stretched a bit, he looked quite dangerous. But yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned about playing Italy at the moment. But maybe give it a few more games, a bit more build-up. They might get more rhythm. But yeah, not the East Leveau old, I'd say.

32:01Barry Glendenning:canada qatar and switzerland is the group for whoever wins between bosnia and italy right

32:07Jonathan Wilson:so that is a nice that's a nice group isn't it nice in what sense so yeah for whom i mean probably all of them right like if italy aren't you know italy you are scared on paper but it's not italy of of old switzerland are you know quite good i don't know that is in the preview it'll be a quite a short preview for a sort of odd group i guess i mean i guess it's good that

32:33Barry Glendenning:if wales are got there all of those are teams who wear red or white so just to get a different

32:37Jonathan Wilson:color in the group it's good that there's going to be bosnia or italy there was a moment in that game where retegui was put through and looked like he was running on in treacle and i was like oh this is that's bleak you know like there must be old isley fans going what's happened to us but Look, they could hammer us in the quarterfinals. I have no idea. And they might not even get there, right? You know, they still have to get past Bosnia. So as Barry alluded to in his voice note, the best part about Ireland not going through was they don't have to play Denmark again, who hammered North Macedonia.

33:09Jonathan Wilson:It was 0-0 at halftime, but then Denmark turned it on. Dammsgaard opened the scoring. Isakson got two. Christian Norgard scored one from about 0.1 centimetres. I don't know if anyone has any strong thoughts on Denmark. Oh, now forever hold your peace. Sweden won in Ukraine, Will. A hat-trick for Viktor Jokeres. I had forgotten until you mentioned that Graham Potter was their manager. Yeah, I mean, he'd had a few games in charge and got a contract extension, which I quite enjoyed. But it looks like it's paying off. You know, good move for him. Jorikovic took his goals really well. Ukraine didn't really have much up front.

33:45It seems to be sort of a telling thing in these playoffs teams. They're lacking in the final third. maybe there's a constant dearth of strikers or something um but yeah so be you know sweden can get through the next round it'd be useful to have an english coach at the world cup so that group

34:02Barry Glendenning:if sweden do get there that's netherlands japan and tunisia so those are i mean i don't know what will happen with with prices but japan netherlands certainly tend to travel in numbers sweden travel in numbers very colorful so in terms of the aesthetic which seems to be for some reason of what I've started talking about in this episode. That is nice.

34:21Jonathan Wilson:No, I agree with you. I think that is nice. But also Sweden, I don't know what the fitness of Izak is like and Kulisevsky, but they actually could have, let's talk about the final third, they could have a lot in the final third if those guys are fit by the time the World Cup starts. But I mean, I haven't checked. They may not be. Poland, red and white. We don't need another red and white one, but they beat Albania. And actually, I don't know if any of you saw the highlights. Albania really, they had an amazing chance at 1-0 to make it 2-0. They had an amazing chance at 1-0 to make it 2-1 and Zielinski scores a brilliant goal about a minute later.

34:54Jonathan Wilson:So I think, and Poland always goes to major tournaments and then just, Wilson, I look to you as our Eastern European expert, do absolutely nothing when they get there.

35:04Barry Glendenning:Since 1982, that has been true, yes. Yeah, obviously Lewandowski, there'll be, as there was in 2022, can he finally do it at the World Cup? I don't think he even scored at the World Cup until 2022, had he? Was his goal against, I want to say, Saudi Arabia, was that his first ever world cup goal i'm going to agree with you i remember watching that with nick ames there was people selling grilled chicken there was lots of tents and uh it was sort of like a fan zone it was an unofficial fan zone but very clearly aimed at the this local market in doha and it was um it was grilled chicken and candy floss seemed to be the only two foodstuffs they sold i wouldn't put them together crisps but on a on a skewer like very finely fried potatoes yeah it was so and it was beside the you know a big hotel in doha that looked like a horseshoe it was just beside that i think i think nick and i were going to another game and he insisted oh we have to go in this local fan zone because nick loves local color and god he loves a sunset nick does he loves the sunset oh it's so orange yeah he's he's a great man for sunset he's a great man for a bar or a cafe on a hill where you can see us who doesn't like a sunset.

36:13Barry Glendenning:Well, I'm indifferent to them, to be honest. Fucking sunset, I don't want anything to do with that. Give me the fucking moon now. Well, they happen every day. I just don't think it's worth going out your way to see one. Okay. Maybe I'm just lucky because I grew up by the sea and regularly, I mean, I suppose the sun rises over the North Sea rather than setting. But the sun doing things doesn't bother you that much.

36:37Jonathan Wilson:No, I mean, it is important that it does it stinks. Seen one sunset, you've seen them all. We're on Google Reviews, sunset, one star. Dark Horses, Turkey beat Romania 1-0. Beautiful pass from Arugula for the goal for the Brighton fullback Karioglu. They'll play Kosovo, who won 4-3 in Slovakia, which was quite a fun game. Not the perfect 4-3 because Kosovo were 4-2 up at one point, but still lots of fun. So Kosovo, Turkey, Sweden, Poland Bosnia Italy and Czech Republic Denmark England play Uruguay tonight um so I've plotted our route to the final Nadem as I said South Korea in the last 32 then France in the quarter final we beat them and beat Argentina in the semis and then we beat Spain in the final uh in the heat so shall we all just fast forward to 2030 is my uh yeah that's one way to boycott

37:31Will Unwin:So England win and then, yeah, just everybody move on. Yeah, happy days.

37:35Jonathan Wilson:What are you, are you looking forward to this game? I mean, sort of, we talked about it a bit on the last pod that it is a bit, as Ali Maxwell said, squids gamesy, where basically you've got 45 minutes to prove to have a good 45 minutes and you might do, and that might squeeze you in. If you're Adam Wharton above Kobe Mainu or Jed Spench above Tino Liveromenta or whatever, I looked at it and went to the squad and was like, It doesn't really matter who he picks as the reserve. They're all quite good and none of them will really play.

38:04Will Unwin:Yeah, but you know what? You've nailed it with that exact remark. Because say when the tournament comes around, is it going to be a 25-player score? 26. The sad thing about that is, you know, football being 11 a side. There are so many times where they will do an 11 a side in training and people will be substitutes. So whatever you think about, say, the person that won't be getting any game time in actual matches at the World Cup. There'll be people who'll be doing individual work for probably six weeks at the World Cup, which is quite a tough position to be in, especially because these players that we're speaking about, for the most part, regular starters for their club sides, important players for their club sides.

38:44Will Unwin:So yeah, this game against Uruguay, I'm always interested to watch national team games, international games, because I don't like going into tournaments just completely blind and almost trying to figure out what to expect and so on. Whereas I think more generally, people tend to tune into an international football when it is tournament season. But to watch them play will be interesting to see what Tuchel's trying to go for. Because Tuchel, I think yesterday, was talking about Alexander-Arnold as well and his style of play versus what they're trying to do and so on. So it's interesting to see what Tuchel wants his England side to do, how he wants him to play, and whether this is almost revealing in some ways of what to expect for the summer.

39:20Will Unwin:like if against Uruguay all of a sudden it's a flipping he's gone for a back six and just like four people holding in front it's like okay cool so this is the defensive strategy when they're under the cosh a little bit come somewhere and it's 30 degrees or is it going to be more expansive is going to be a back two back three and so on so yeah I was tuning to watch that but also like if somebody plays four to five minutes and they do really well one of the worst things they can do is believe that that means they're going to be going to the World Cup because that is like Tuchel probably has seen more from the players in training that matters compared to the result or the performance in this game itself.

39:54Will Unwin:Maybe he's looking for the way that the partnerships and stuff are formed. But if you do it for 45 minutes playing, say, two centre-halves together, they've probably done it for three days through this camp already. They do it for another three days potentially after, unless the next squad comes in. Was it a 35-man squad they've gone for this time? So he knows what he likes. He knows who he likes and he knows who can do it. He knows the different profile of the players. And this game is probably just a game that's just in the way of training for him. A game that just essentially has to be played for people to watch England, for England, the FA to make money and so on.

40:30Will Unwin:But I don't think it matters that much to him. But I guess, as you say, for those players, it's a cap. It's a chance to represent their country and to sort of put something positive out there. But I don't think Tuchel's going to be the one that decides that because of that game against Uruguay, you know, you can start in the final against Spain in the World Cup this summer.

40:46Jonathan Wilson:Wilson, is there anything in the selection that interests you?

40:48Barry Glendenning:I think the full-back issue is a big one because England used, I think, five different right-backs and four different left-backs in, certainly as starters, in qualifying. And the left-back who played the most was Malser-Iskelly, who presumably is not going to be involved in the summer. So I think full-backs are the areas where, you know, those days when England had sort of the 15 best right-backs in the world were all English, they seem a long time ago. and I don't think there's any clarity on who's going to get those those positions I think the fact that Alexander-Arnold is not even in the squad I think what we've seen within the managers throughout time is a tendency to pick the the most famous the best players without really necessarily thinking of how the team's going to work well Tuchel has not done that I don't you've seen that with leaving out Bellingham for Morgan Rodgers that he's got a clear idea of what he wants from each role but it's who those fullbacks are going to be I don't think that's clear at all so i think these two games will at least give us some clues as to that and i think it probably would have been reese james but with the injury i mean at best he's going to be going to the world cup without a run of games behind him but we may not even make the

41:57Jonathan Wilson:world cup and i think he would have been the right back yeah and also you know someone who struggles with fitness you know there will be you know can you play this many games in this many days well

42:05Will Unwin:max he had struggled with fitness before this season and then the hamstring injury kicks in now because I think he'd played more games a season than he had done for maybe three or four years. And it's fair to say, well, I think it's fair to say that he looks really good as well. I think he's one of Chelsea's best and most important players, getting the praise that he deserves because we can talk about his ability. And hopefully this hamstring injury isn't too long and maybe he's becoming more robust because I think if he does start for England in the summer at right back, I think he's one of the best right backs that will be at that entire tournament and can be a difference maker in so many subtle ways.

42:39Will Unwin:is really tough and robust defensively, but the quality on the ball. Like I know Alianz-Arnold has got the range of passing and so on, but I think to a certain extent, so does Rhys James. And some of his set pieces, for me, they're as good as it goes.

42:53Jonathan Wilson:That's true. But if Tuchel doesn't like, you know, defence splitting passes from a full-back, Rhys James would be best advice to keep them in his pocket. Don't play. Don't put anyone through for a goal because Tuchel does not like that sort of right-back. No, no, no, no. He wants someone to defend. Well, that was to be fair.

43:08Will Unwin:That was his right back when they won the Champions League in 21 though, wasn't it? For Chelsea. So, you know, I'm sure he's got a spot for him.

43:13Jonathan Wilson:Speaking of the World Cup and prices, the Athletics' Adam Crafton was in Boston for the Brazil-France friendly and has reported that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority intends to almost quadruple its usual prices for a round-trip train ticket from the centre of Boston to Gillette Stadium during the World Cup. So if the tickets weren't enough or a parking space, you know, What costs 20 bucks on the train will now cost 80 bucks. So that's good, isn't it? I mean, who knows? Dynamic pricing for a Oyster car.

43:43Will Unwin:I'm sure the price of fuel is going down as well. Yeah, I think that is true.

43:48Jonathan Wilson:Well, because of Donald Trump won the Peace Prize, you see, everything has settled down in terms of that kind of thing. Anyway, France won that game 2-1, and Mbappe, even with his wrong MRI leg, scored. so he's moved within one goal of equaling france's all-time top goal screening record which i think is olivier geroux um anyway that'll do for part two part three we'll talk about oh yes well just if you wanted to say about uruguay oh i don't know yeah go please do oh yeah bielsa well there's

44:15Barry Glendenning:two things i think are interesting about uruguay so it's a bielsa he started really well with uruguay and you have a classic bielsa arc that he comes in everybody's um won over by his charisma by his intensity, they play this incredibly dynamic football and then as time goes by they start to get worn down by Luis Suarez, retired from international football in September 2024 and then launched this astonishing attack on Bielsa saying he's isolated the players, that he was too harsh with them he told the story of when Uruguay won 2-0 away in Argentina how at half time when Uruguay were 1-0 up, he'd hammered Darwin Nunez in the dressing room to the point that Nunez burst into tears and Suarez had to sort of console him and Nunyes apparently then has a much better second half, scores the second goal, they win it 2-0 and Suarez spoke to Bielsa about it afterwards and Bielsa was like you've just got to talk to him like this, it's the only language he understands and Suarez was like well I'm not really sure reducing your players to tears is a great idea so I think because Suarez is such a hero in Uruguay that has perhaps intensified the criticism of Bielsa which would come anyway because he is Argentinian and there is that Uruguay-Argentina rivalry and I think as results have declined I mean, they picked up right towards the end of qualifying low.

45:28Barry Glendenning:They had two or three easy games at the end. I think Uruguay is a three and a half million population. They're never going to have a consistent level of good players. And I think one generation is just getting to the end. So Suarez is retired, obviously. And Vecino's fallen out the side. Benton Kerr's had injury issues. And so I think the results would have dipped anyway. But Bielsa's sort of getting the blame for that. And of course, their last game was a friend against the US. You got Hammond, right? They got in five, yeah. to Pochettino as well so play he used to play for Bielsa and so I think there is a lot of uncertainty around Bielsa in Uruguay at the minute but the other thing that is mildly interesting is one of the reasons this game is happening is on the initiative of the Uruguayan ambassador to Britain who's a bloke called Luis Bermudez who for a series of slightly odd seconds I ended up having a drink with a couple of months ago and he's a really interesting nice bloke loves his football like genuinely is a big fan he was going on about oh yeah we need to mark 60 years since the opening game of 1966 world cup which i don't think anybody's mentioned in the build-up but he's very very keen on that but he was uruguay's ambassador to south africa in 2010 and he told me this story that the day before their first game which is against france he went to the camp and sort of went around talked to everybody talked to diego lugano the captain sort of asked him how it has ever been getting on and Lugano's oh it's all great you know great facilities having there's just one thing we're a bit worried by Bermudez okay what is it and Lugano says that our national anthem is really long and FIFA only let you have 90 seconds and we're worried they'll just do the instrumental bit first but we want to do the singing bit that's where we sort of kind of can everybody get together and so Bermudez himself recuts the Uruguayan national anthem and takes it to FIFA and says can you use this version and FIFA play it they say i'm sorry it's 92 seconds long we're gonna have to lose two seconds off the end and he's like go on it's two seconds i've i've i've re-cut it down from four to a bit minutes or whatever it is today and they said look okay france's anthem is actually quite short so if a french agree that you can have two seconds of their time you can do it and so he went to whoever's in charge of this france and they were like we said bon and every game you played through that tournament he had to ask the opponents can we have two seconds of your anthem time and every single one agreed and Uruguay of course got to the semi-final of that tournament with Lou Bermuda's version of Uruguayan national anthem I will say Wilson that's an excellent

47:54Jonathan Wilson:anecdote thank you you have a play you have a place on this podcast as we said before we came on air play the hits and it's exactly what you're doing uh part three we'll talk about Mo Salah you got questions about Chicago me too I'm Erin Allen host of the Curious City podcast where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers.

48:34Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.

48:45Jonathan Wilson:Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Mo Salah announced on Tuesday he's going to leave Liverpool at the end of the season. He arrived from Roma in 2017 for£34 million. 255 goals in 435 games. Third highest Liverpool scorer ever behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt. Obviously a key part of that Fab 3 with Firmino and Mane. As Wilson New wrote, he had that brilliant connection with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson as well. scored 29 goals assisted 18 last year to help Liverpool win the title again his second title with them and I think Will when you're sort of people sort of say he's now up there like he is up there with Dalglish and the great Liverpool players of all time and Hansen etc etc etc I think it's quite hard when your history is happening in front of your eyes to sort of agree that this guy is up there with the greatest Liverpool players of all time but he is.

49:41Yeah, I mean the trophies tell the story generally and he's a key component of the trophies you know goals win matches he scored those goals and won those matches it's you know it's straightforward times yeah no one generally has a stand or a statue built in their honour during their playing days it comes afterwards this is it it takes time to reflect you know because if if for any reason if you know Federico Chiesa goes on and scores 40 goals next season Liverpool win the league then he'll get the statue and that's the nature of the game so you have to wait a few years for it to happen but you know you look at the games last season especially there was a lot of games won by a single goal or so and it was often Salah making the difference and that is what you get from these top players in tight games they're doing it you know it's very easy for times when teams are all dominant and they're beating teams 3 or 4-0 that everyone chips in but I do think last season with Salah, it was a lot of his making at times where he had that extra edge, that point of difference that you need in your final third.

50:51We were talking about the playoffs before, the teams that went through with Jorikas, Lewandowski scoring key goals. The losing teams didn't have them. That's the matter of fact. I think we can all accept that it was an Everspool that Salah was going to leave after the Ellen Road outburst. And, you know, bit and fortitude's gone like that, but, you know, nature of football. So, yeah, an absolute legend he'll go down as. I think everyone will forget the last bits of negativity. And, you know, the montages won't include him stood in a mixed zone at Leeds. There'll be goals and, you know, stood on podiums lifting trophies.

51:31And, you know, considering how long he's been there, the consistency he's shown has been quite incredible and at 33 he's taken a bit of a dip that I didn't really see coming necessarily this season in the drastic way it has but bodies catch up with people football evolves football's changed but yeah one of the players I've been most excited to see when I go to Anfield and see Liverpool so yeah I'll miss the sort of dynamic running and the finishing and the cutting in and all that so no thanks for the memories Mo

52:03Jonathan Wilson:so and Nathan Will makes a good point about consistency, right? That is the thing that marks out these players. It's ridiculous. You know, 255 goals. Is this an unbelievable amount of goals? And there was just last season and in other seasons, there has just been that air of inevitability, like when he's got that ball on his left foot in that arc that he's just going to curl it in the top corner. Yeah, for sure.

52:25Will Unwin:I think his significance for Liverpool is huge because obviously football existed before the Premier League, but the best versions of Liverpool in the Premier League has featured Mo Salah for all those years. Like the section just before, you know, when it was Sturridge, it was Suarez, Sterling, all that stuff, they were good. But they didn't carry the weight that these guys did long-term. And I think Mo Salah, when you talk about the Mane-Fumino era, well, those two guys left, but Salah still remained just as impactful. And he could argue became even more important. And his goal-scoring record is remarkable.

52:57Will Unwin:The moments that he's provided for those Liverpool fans so many times in front of the cup, you know so many times say in European competition even helping them get domestic the domestic title which they were which they were craving as well like he's he's he's huge and did we see this coming when he first signed for Roma or was this Mo Salah who'd gone from playing in I think it was Switzerland to doing that thing at Chelsea and then in Rome it's oh yeah maybe he'll be a good sign well he's been a great sign and I'll give you one of the best in there in the Premier League era in terms of being one of the most important in their history like if you're third top scorer for a club the size of Liverpool for the success that they've had I think in some ways that um that speaks for itself as well so yeah an absolutely incredible servant these this last year I'll be honest I've not liked it I've not liked it some of the stuff that he said the outbursts and so on but as uh as Will was saying before it's like a blip in what is an incredible absolutely incredible record for Liverpool and all those people who've played alongside him you know how good he is how good he has been you know he will be spoken about as a legend I'd imagine in the same way like they talk about something like a Steven Gerrard the boy from the city as well so to do that hugely impressive and I'm just I'm just curious as to just what happened you know it was like a year ago he was in the best form of his life will he sign will he not sign and he signs you know the biggest deal that Liverpool have probably ever given out to anyone and then a short a year later he's on his way out it's a shame but these things can't go on forever you know I've learned that myself as a as a player and his legacy you know to give him full credit after he leaves if someone wants to do a highlight reel of all his goals the video will last a lot longer than most other people's I remember a few years ago I watched the I've seen the Messi ones and the Ronaldo ones for La Liga and those videos are really long the same will the same will go on for Mo Salah at his time at Liverpool not these are the strikers who will probably get like a little 10 minute one this will be a really really long video showing just how great he's been for the football club yeah Are you right in peace about him, Wilson?

54:57Barry Glendenning:Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure I've got much to add to what Will and Nodem have said, but it doesn't matter how good you are, you have to have the right team to get the best out of you. And you talked about that front three, which obviously got absolutely the best out of him with Firmino dropping back, creating the space for him. But he was also in that great three on the right-hand side. And I think to be a sort of the junction of two interlocking great threes, it's hard to imagine a better scenario for a player. joseph marino gets rid of him from chelsea in the same season gets rid of kevin de burner in the season when he says i only have to look at the play for 10 minutes to know if he's any good or not i mean that's just quite funny but b that probably does show just how significant circumstances and environment is that you can be a you know a 90 out of 100 player but you can look like a 70 out of 100 player if you're not in the right place and you look like a 99 out of 100 play if you are in the right place.

55:54Jonathan Wilson:There was another interesting stat Stanford University did where since Mo Salah joined Liverpool, I think hate crimes in the area and anti-Muslim comments went down. I think hate crimes were 19 % and anti-Muslim comments dropped by 50%. So that is an incredible impact on and off the pitch. However, if you can quantify it totally for his impact and how well he did at Liverpool on that, it's impossible to say, but it must have had some impact. Now, AOB, Baz isn't here Wilson so you're going to have to take the role on as uh as Barry in a wedding celebrant uh the day yeah you don't think you do you want Will to do it no I'll do it I'll do it I just I wouldn't get your hopes up though whoever's getting married well look Barry normally just says it won't last so you know at least you are married you have experience whether that helps or not I don't know Callum says good evening my partner and I childhood sweethearts of 15 years are getting married this Saturday every time Hannah my partner overhears Barry on the pod she says ah it's the nice Irish man but after another five minutes or so she asked to get that football rubbish off so thank you barry for extending my pod listening by those five minutes if he could let her know the rest of the pod is top quality too that would be great good luck on the run i hope i can email again on the decade or so for my vasectomy uh best wishes to the rest of the gang callum so it's callum and hannah and you're very much there is he wanted barry but he's got you wilson i know you like playing the role of understudy to barry glendening two very similar journalists in my writers in my in my experience uh would you like to wish them the best i i would like to wish them

57:25Barry Glendenning:the best and i'm sure it will last the callum sounds like a lovely lad it sounds like he's understood his place in the relationship that he is essentially subservient he has to you put up a bit of a fight but you have to give in in the end that's just how marriages work in my experience i hope you have a lovely day and i i wish you all the best and i'm sure it will last for a very

57:42Will Unwin:very long time max if i've heard the the intro correctly so she's into into barry's voice then five minutes later she's out that's that's what we're hearing yeah so when we do the like the whole youtube type thing and say make sure you stay tuned for the end of the video because i've got something to to reveal so you just push barry just later and later and later and later in the part oh i see so you could say oh no no no it's just going to be on in a minute just give it a second give it a second and then at the end you know here we go barry glenn's dennings closing remarks two hours into a podcast there we go i think he'd actually i think barry would probably

58:17Jonathan Wilson:quite like that if you just say take it back just sit sit tight for 55 uh not too sure says which is more difficult to win the world cup or metro southeast football victoria metro southeast division seven this is with regards to an instagram story that was posted by the a league yesterday where I found myself playing golf with Juan Mata, Glenn Maxwell and Aaron Finch. Five World Cups between us. Factual, yep. I don't have any of them. Anyway, it was wet. It's fair to say the two Aussie oafs could hit the ball further than me and Juan, but we were more delicate around the greens. The video we'll be at, it was so wet.

58:55Jonathan Wilson:But yeah, as you can imagine, Juan Mata is an absolutely marvellously lovely man. and this is a vasectomy email it's quite it's amazing it's from David 45 and a half from France hello as a man who had his vasectomy a few years before the current trend of discussing the topic on my favorite football podcast I've not really had anything to add to the conversation however after last week's sad news that Max will not be live blogging or vlogging his own imminent emasculation I finally feel I have something I can contribute before my own operation my doctor revealed he was being interviewed by the national news for a piece on the growing trend of men in france undergoing the procedure and would i mind taking part the news crew were to ask me some softball no pun intended questions before i went under the knife just to find out my motivations for taking this course of action i told the doc i had absolutely no problem taking part on the day of the op i'm in the hospital and as i'm lying on the trolley in my gown i answer the questions put to me by the journalist they asked if i was happy for them to record me going into the theater no problem, I replied.

59:55Jonathan Wilson:Here in France, vasectomies are done under general anaesthetic, not the 15 minute in and out job you get in the UK. So I woke up some hours later before going home that afternoon. A few weeks later, my doctor sent me a YouTube clip of the news segment that went out on national television. I sat down to watch the video, proud to be the face of the pro-vasectomy movement here in France. After a little chat between the doctor and the interviewer, there I was sat in my trolley looking ridiculous in my gown, followed by a close up of my face as I gave my reasons for having the operation. A few seconds of footage of me being wheeled into the theatre, the next piece of video that appeared on my screen will haunt me until my last breath.

1:00:30Jonathan Wilson:In evolutionary terms, I don't think the human brain is comfortable with seeing its host's innards exposed and being quite literally sliced apart, especially not in ultra high definition 4k video. They'd filmed and included in the segment the actual moment the doctor snipped an exposed pipe that looked like a piece of rancid tripe surrounded by my jam and pubic hair. I vomited on the spot and forwarded the video to everyone I know with no warning of what it contained. Having gone through that, I think that you are a coward, Max, for not allowing us to be part of your big day for shame. Thank you, David.

1:01:07Jonathan Wilson:I'm not going to search out the video, but I'm sure you can find it. And we appreciate you sharing your story with us. That'll do for today. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Nadim. Thank you very much. Thank you, Wilson. Thank you. Thank you, Will. Cheers, Max. Football Weekly is produced by Ian Chambers and Jesse Howard. Our executive producer is Danielle Stephens. We'll be back on Monday.

1:01:32Will Unwin:This is The Guardian.

1:01:42You got questions about Chicago? Me too. I'm Erin Allen, host of the Curious City podcast, where each week I answer your questions about the region. From mysteries like, is this building haunted? To questions like, what happens to birds that get stuck inside O 'Hare Airport? We get into the answers every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, come back for a deeper dive where we pull a thread from Wednesday's questions to uncover even more surprising and hidden layers. Listen to Curious City wherever you get your podcasts.