Balogun's suspension lifted, Bellingham and England survive Mexico, Haaland and Norway shock Brazil: Night Cup 07/05/26

19:47I mean, is that now, this is a precedent? This is not a one-off incident. This can happen. I mean, I did think, I mean, this is how football works now, that you don't get the decision you want. You decide to lay siege to FIFA House or New FIFA. Chain yourself to FIFA. It's crazy. I mean, this is it, man. This is the challenge of this moment. And I did think in the moment, I mean, it was part of me that was like, Balog, you know, I've been on so many television shows this past week and, you know, no one can pronounce Balogun. They were all like, tell me about Florian Balogin, Raj. Everyone was stressed, you know, stressed ahead that he couldn't play.

20:27They couldn't, you know, this is the man. There's a joy that he's back. But there's also, you've got to ask yourself, how would you feel if it was another team, if the US were playing France and Macron had called up FIFA to get Mbappe off a red card suspension? Or Saudi Arabia. If Saudi Arabia, like, how would we feel in those moments? And I think we have the whole booth of those things together, how we feel, which is F yes, America. And like, as I say, the emotional and the rational, James.

20:58James Horncastle:No, I mean, can you imagine Macron, you know, sort of calling Infantino and saying, can you retroactively book all of those Paraguayan players from the other day?

21:09Roger Bennett:But that's the other thing where it's a relatively unique circumstance because we have never seen. And again, the precise politics of the president aren't directly relevant. I think they're not irrelevant. But the proximity of the relationship between Infantino and Trump, this is why it's a problem. Because again, it might be that, and I'm sure at some point people come out and say, oh, no, no, it made no difference. And, you know, let's play devil's advocate and say that that's true. But it doesn't look that way. It looks a lot like Infantino has done a favor for his friend. And that is a really dangerous thing for football.

21:40Roger Bennett:Because this sounds a little bit kind of hyperbolic, which I normally leave to Rod. I'm not hyperbole. You're not. But this whole thing, if we as fans don't believe it's fair, then it doesn't work. I mean, it is. Optics matter. They really matter. At J.Keeze, who v343 says, Balogun, victim of two bad decisions in one week. At Back Two Month says, it does put a great cloud over what's been such a beautiful US men's national team journey. Look, there's the process to defend. Also, you've hit it. I feel for Belgium, they will have spent their day working on a completely different system. It kind of upturns all of that.

22:20And I do think, why so late? It took four days for this to go down. What happened in between these things is really what needs to be understood and spoken to. I do think overall, the standard line we've heard from American fans, and again, you tell us how you're feeling. I'd love to know. This is very complicated stuff. I think the standard middle-of-the-road approach is to say right outcome, wrong process. And I'm not sure about the right outcome. I've lived. It's fascinating watching Thierry Henry on the coverage, the handball that he did against Ireland that was just kind of like, you know, these things live in football.

23:00The Maradona handball, these things live in football, the injustices. It's part of it. And I'll be honest, crazy turn of events. I do feel overall this World Cup has been such an unblemished joy. It's been an ecstasy. We're going to talk about two incredible games in a moment. That's what we do want to talk about. Don't want to talk about this. Do not want to get stuck in. Do not want to have to spend the week. Got to get up at 5.30 tomorrow to go on CNN and have to try and explain this, try and defend this, try and understand this.

23:27Roger Bennett:Rodger's now not allowed to criticise Christian Pulisic for doing too much TV anymore because he's just constantly on television. What? You! Hey, play you for the ultras? What do you say? You're on more than he is. My acting is not as good as Christian's. You see, what happens is you mock it and then you become it. You know what I mean? Hey. You're now second only to David Beckham. No, God bless. Could never get those chops. By the way, Beckham's backyard is unbelievably elite. But this joy of this has been world football falling in love with America and America falling in love with world football.

23:59And I feel like the tectonic plates this past 12 hours have just shifted on both. It does feel like every American win, you said it, will have kind of a little mark of cane on it. It's an asterisk on everything that we now achieve. That's terrible because we've achieved this legit, legit. And now this journey will be remembered. Think about Korea, South Korea, 2002. They were at home. They got to the semifinal with a lot of home cooking refereeing decisions along the way.

24:27James Horncastle:Byron Moreno. Yeah, home cooking is the best cooking. Yeah. No one talks about that as an achievement. No one respects that. No one is like, that was really good. They talk about the referee. They talk about Byron Moreno coming through the airport. With the drugs. Yes, exactly. You know how you got busted trying to smuggle drugs, the referee.

24:48Roger Bennett:Google it. Go on. Do you think that's right? Do you think that we overlooked South Korea completely because of the obvious home cooking? Well, I think you think to the South Korean team, it's like they once got into the World Cup semifinals. My memory of the 2002 World Cup is it was the perfect example of why you need the underdodge to get eliminated at the quarterfinal stage. Because those semifinals with South Korea and Turkey, nothing. I mean, you've got an Italian perspective and they lost to South Korea with terrible dodgy referees.

25:11James Horncastle:And for them, it was all about the referee. They felt that the referee denied them what was rightfully theirs. And then it became about the player who scored, Arne Young-wan, because he was playing for an Italian club at the time, Perugia. Yeah. And he was told, you won't be coming back to Italy, Arne. They fired him immediately. That's amazing. I love pettiness in these moments. Look, that's the tragedy. We played so well, the football of our ecstasy. And now, from now on, this whole will come. Even the achievements, the Paraguay win, the Australia win, the incredible performance against Bosnia with 10 men, the ecstasy of the free kick, all of it is tarnished with this brush.

25:50And at the same time, I do want to be clear. When Balogun takes the field tomorrow, I will cheer with him with all of my heart. I mean, that is the cognitive dissonance that will occur, and I think will occur for all of us. For the U.S. soccer brand, I do think globally, it's a total vibe strainer, though, man. It really is. Rest of the world, I think, never will there be more people who believe you should have your chips with mayonnaise than tomorrow.

26:19Roger Bennett:But what Horny says is quite right, you know, that the way that that South Korea thing was looked at in hindsight was it was the referee. So as much as we might not talk about South Korea, it's not like whenever anyone plays South Korea in international football, we're like, well, these are a bunch of cheats. No, but you don't think they're a great team that once got to the semifinal. It's pretty well being written off as home cooking. But to be honest, I don't think we think about any teams, the Uruguay team that got to the semifinal in 2010. Morocco are a bit of an exception because it was the first African team in a semi, but a lot of teams that get to the semifinals, they're remembered beautifully in their own country.

26:54Roger Bennett:The Uruguay team that got to the semifinal in 2010, to answer the Suarez handball, we hold them separately. So I think, to me, what will happen with this is if the US get through, if the US go out, it gets forgotten. If the US get through, internationally, I think what happens is the blame attaches to FIFA primarily. Because it's their issue. They're in charge of this thing. I think the US, there'll be a sense of they had it kind of in their favor. But I don't think it'll massively, I don't think it'll ruin everything.

27:24James Horncastle:I also think the US have shown themselves to be good enough to be competitive in that game against Belgium, even without Flo Balogun. Yeah, that is the tragedy. That is the tragedy of this. The smart play now for Pochettino is don't start him. I'm sorry, him saying I am so delighted. I don't know. Richardo Pepe is not that bad. Last word. Let's give to Yannick Bellassi, former Congo international and Premier League star, who said this. All I'll say, if this was AFCON and they let a man play after he got a red card, the nonsense being said would be crazy.

27:59Roger Bennett:Yep. And as you said earlier, Roger, if it was Saudi Arabia or Qatar, there'd be all sorts. Can we talk about the football? Yeah. By the way, keep telling us what you're thinking. If you want to get stuck in meninblazers at gmod.com or get into our Discord, this is a complicated one. Again, emotional and irrational. Let us know. And as the world arrives in the United States for the biggest spectacle in sports, we're going coast to coast, host city to host city to meet the world with the Men in Blazers Matchday Live Tour. These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer where we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans.

28:44It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube. And let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated. Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together courage. Let's get in to what we have just seen. I mean, what have we just seen? England, three. Mexico, two. Into the Azteca. I've got to say, before we get into the game, what does England play Mexico remind you of? because we're used to going into the Azteca and Conca-Caf. It's like this place. I'll talk about this place in a minute. But to see England, like, plucked in to be thrown into the cauldron, it's like two worlds totally fusing that don't normally come together.

29:30It was like Conca-Caf against the Premier League boys. What? So crazy. It was like when Mulder and Scully from The X-Files showed up on an episode of The Simpsons. It was like mashup or, you know, Abbott Elementary, and it's always sunny doing a crossover episode.

29:44Roger Bennett:It was the NWO turning up in the WWE. That's what it was to me. It was totally... I thought you were going to say NWA then. I missed that. Nothing to do with NWA. No, it was... It is really strange. I think that we were talking about it while we were watching, Rog. The Azteca has a mystique in England that it doesn't have here because you play them all the time. Whereas England haven't been there since, I think, 1986. And, I mean, I have been thinking the last couple of days, it's a shame that the European teams, the big European teams, not just England, don't play outside Europe more. And we've seen this not only with the Azteca,

30:20James Horncastle:but for example, we don't really see England go and play a friendly in Argentina at the Monumental, at the Bombonel. We don't see England go and play in Brazil at the Marrikanal. When we did play a World Cup there, we went out so quickly and we played in Manaus and Recife and that sort of thing. It didn't really matter. and so to come to these you know we always talk about Wembley as being this kind of hallowed ground and South Americans talk about this Wembley even though Wembley is completely different from when the myth was made it means something to go and play those and so to be at the Azteca to see England play in a major tournament in that environment it did it did hit different but

31:06Roger Bennett:it's also the fact that it's the altitude, which is not something you get in Europe. It's the fact that that place has such a massive sort of position in English football history. It's a place of myth, the Azteca. Mythos. Yeah, mythos. Mythos. Don't forget, you've been away two days. Try and use the word mythos. You've already forgotten. Humphrey Kye uses every other word. It's very, very intimidating. Mythos. Word, word, word. Mythos. Where's my butler? Mythos. I mean, it is It is a place of deep, deep, deep myth. Look, the Azteca, 24th World Cup game. Just the mythos of the Azteca within the World Cup.

31:41Most of any stadium in World Cup history. A place where Mexico had lost just twice in 59 years. I mean, it is lesser, look at it, a lesser footballing stadium. It is more a fortress. I've always thought it was like a mythical venue that George R.R. Martin could have dreamt up. It's like a steep bank stronghold, 7 ,300 feet over sea level. built out of 100 tons of concrete laid over on volcanic rock. I always think that's a very nice flourish. Yeah, it is. The volcanic rock is just like the chef's case.

32:11James Horncastle:It does feel like a lost city that you've found, you know, having gone through the jungle. And then just all of a sudden, the Aztecs. That's Malnauus.

32:19Roger Bennett:That's Malnauus. Can I be Eurocentric for a second? There's been a little bit. I agree with the Conte Taft Premier League crossover thing. I think that's a great theory. There's a book coming. These English players have played in, like, Turkey. Mexico is an intimidating football atmosphere. It's not the only intimidating atmosphere in the world. Have they been introduced to little bags of piss, my friend? Let's wait. You know what? Definitely. You know what? Let's wait until we hear what they say after this game. Yeah, that's the point. Because I've got to tell you, they were absolutely... You watch the penalty that Mexico scored.

32:50All of them were just bent over on their haunches watching it. I'd love to know. Roar's theory is you go to Turkey, you survive Turkey, welcome to hell. you can survive anything. But this is also the law, the fact that Pele won the World Cup there, Maradona won the World Cup there, the place where England lost one of their greatest, most painful defeats, 1986. I wrote about it in my book, Up the Wazoo, where they were eviscerated by Maradona, which means foul and incredibly fair. And there is that triple altitude issue, smog, heat, and the intimidation. Pouring rain, I think, mitigated the smog pretty well.

33:27The game was late because of thunderstorms. It meant the crowd was pent up for an extra hour. If they'd brought it forward six hours, maybe. Who would have had that good idea? And then they also had to face an adrenaline-filled Mexico team who'd had four wins from four with zero goals conceded. I mean, they were good at football in this tournament. England had barely survived Dr. Congo, scared the crap out of us. So we stepped into the Azteca, a place where the crowd had spent the pregame firing rockets at the English Hotel even more terrifyingly. I love this, by the way. Look at this. It's actually unbelievable.

34:04I want one of these. What, one of those? Yeah. I know what to get you as my thank you gift when we get off the bus. What would you do with it? By the way, I'd sell fireworks on them. What do you think that is, by the way? That's just a fan firing him out of his anus. It's like a firework position. He's just a very talented Mexico fan. No, it's just a man bending over, firing rockets out their arses. You're meant to as a football fan.

34:22Roger Bennett:The English can only do one arse rocket at a time. Can they? The Mexicans have mechanized it. Those are some of the most talented buttocks in football. Before the game, incredibly, the DJ decided to stop playing Mexican music. But I think purposely put on Oasis and the crowd booed, don't look back in anger. Just like got absolutely pent up. The atmosphere was insane. Mexicans came out with their phonetic press. um i think this i'm interested i think they this intensity all of it scrambled their brains first minute declan rice got booked within a second it was a really stupid foul yeah yeah i mean that is what then if it's like that's i think that's the the occasion the intensity the kind of even the delay getting to them the sense that they would have been ready and then it's kind of they're in the dressing room they're kind of waiting to go and they can hear the noise building they can hear the kind of atmosphere, this gathering storm, and then they get out there and they will...

35:18Roger Bennett:We talked the other day about Jude Bellingham being performatively English, and I do wonder whether they... I think Declan Rice has got it in and to be like, well, we're going to show these Mexicans that we're up for this as well. I think Declan was like, I was all right, and then I heard them, boo oasis. There's a line. There's a line. These are blur people. I won't stand for it.

35:37James Horncastle:But you also never know what the referee is going to be like in the opening stages of these occasions. They often set the tone because the occasion gets to them as well. They vibe off the crowd and the atmosphere. There's almost that kind of subconscious kind of like doing what they think the crowd wants sometimes. Book Declan Rice.

35:57Roger Bennett:Boo Oasis. It's something that booking Declan Rice is something that we can all get on board with. My God. I won't stand for that here. We're an objectively neutral, top, top journalist. England actually played, I thought, quite professionally in the opening 10 minutes. They tried to seize possession, tried to take the crowd out of the game. But there's no taking this crowd out of the game. It's like a pit viper, Mexico striking. Alvarado flung the ball to Jimenez, flung himself across the line, dived. Watching Pickford just fling himself. I mean, so exquisitely with the wrists of a practice young owner.

36:36in their shades of Gordon Banks, ecstatic play. Jordan Banks. And also, Jordan Banks. Jordan Wanks. Jordan Banks, sorry. Ecstatic play. And also, what we're watching is just like Wolves against Everton.

36:51Roger Bennett:It's like the juxtaposition is amazing. There is that thing of like, this is the best football in the world. That now plays for Wolves. And that one, Wolves-Everton, it's amazing. You're obviously all, you've come up, you're all Pitford-brained. but the angle of the header from Jimenez was astonishing. It was a brilliant header. You loved it. Really loved it. I mean, you were fascinated in those early exchanges by the Mexican midfield rule. You began to, I mean, it began to feel emboldened. You said their pattern of play was unlike anything we watch in the Premier League. It was just like our viewing experience expects different kind of passes and they were, I mean, it was avant-garde.

37:26Roger Bennett:Yeah, I'm going to, I'll do my serious tactics face. So, the, sleep on my fingers. So what I think they do, that was slightly camper than I was expecting. I don't know where that came from. No, I think you see it a lot with teams that don't have a lot of players in those top five leagues, that they play patterns that we don't see. A lot of the football that we watch at club level is very preordained, and it's basically all drawn from the same roots, and it's all the same ideas, the same principles of play. The Mexicans were playing between the lines much more. There are a lot more little reverse balls around the corner than you normally see.

38:03Roger Bennett:And I think England found it difficult to deal with. It was something, to use a parallel that Horncastle might appreciate. Tvaric Gelia at Napoli did things you weren't expecting players to do. He got into positions and you're like, no, no. So in this position, what you do is you cut back and pass it to your central midfielder. And he's like, no, I'm going to shoot. And you could tell defenders were like, this isn't... Well, you just do what you're meant to do. Stop having imagination. And there was a little bit of that about Mexico.

38:29James Horncastle:Yeah, I quite liked how it was not particularly sophisticated. Because you get all of these sort of tactical terms. And there is an element of this in Mexico. La salida, la volpeana. The midfielder dropping into the defense. That's all Mexican. That's something Pep took and was brought to Europe and had the men's success with it. But we didn't see any of that today. It would just kind of run at them, knock into them, put balls into the box. and sometimes that's all you want in a football game. You know what I want? I want that opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark where he goes into the marketplace, the swordsman flips the knife around, just pulls out his gun, bang, 36 minutes.

39:11That's what happened. But Kai Osaka out of nowhere made complete toast of Jesus Gallardo, floated in a cross over the head of Kane who drew the defenders and out of nowhere in flu, holding out for a hero by Bonnie Tyler's Jude Bellingham. This might be the World Cup of Mbappe and Messi and Haaland. But as long as Jude Bellingham, inside his own head, tells himself, this is the World Cup of Jude Bellingham, you kind of get the feeling that's all that matters.

39:41James Horncastle:I think he's our Cristiano Ronaldo. Not in terms of how many goals he scores, but the energy he brings, the debate he creates. Because there is a lot of debate around Jude Bellingham. Is he a limitation? Is he too anarchical? Does he do his own thing? Would we be better off without him? And then in every major tournament, he produces big moments. That pushes us forward, gets us to finals. And I'm here for it.

40:08Roger Bennett:He has main character energy in a really positive way, Bellingham. That's what it comes down to. He is absolutely convinced of his own destiny. England hadn't been great in the first half hour. I agree with you. They were professional initially. And then as the game wore on, Mets just started pushing them back. and England looked like they were rocking a little bit. And then they break once, down the right. It works its way to Saka, crosses with his right foot, which is a thing that you're allowed to do. And Bellingham makes this brilliant run behind a defender that stores this diving header. And it was very much a kind of...

40:43Roger Bennett:He's not a technical playmaker in the sense of... He's not Messi, he's not Iniesta, he's not going to tie the game together, Bellingham. But he's there in the big moments. And I think that is testament to the character that he is. He thinks he is the difference maker.

40:56James Horncastle:And he wants to be the guy who is there for the big moments. I do think Jude Bellingham was an Englishman with an American mentality. A lot of American athletes have that. I am the winner. That doesn't go down well with the English people. In America, we love it. We embrace it. Emma Hayes, by the way, also has exactly the same as a mentality. They're English human beings, but with a very American sporting mentality. That was the first goal Mexico had conceded all World Cup. but it would take just one minute, 38 remarkable seconds before it happened again. Gilberto Moura was the one that's best in midfield.

41:32Ball quickly moved out to Harry Kane, right channel deep into the box. Actually impressed me that he repressed the urge to shoot in that moment. And our natural born scorer, man drove it across the face of goal and blew me down. Man of the moments, Jude Bellingham there to wrestle it over the line. And I thought in that moment, my God, Jude Bellingham, to club America. Dude lives for the altitude. Who knew?

41:58Roger Bennett:Yeah. Drives at height. I'm a Pumas guy. I'm a Pumas guy. I'm more Tigres. Do you not think? I mean, like, is it in his locker to play? Maybe he can move to Bolivia. Let's find a picture. As a man who's played football in La Paz, that's even tougher than the Azteca. But let's have a look at what you've got. I thought you were going to say,

42:19James Horncastle:let's wait and see what he can do in La Paz. at El Alto before we judge him.

42:23Roger Bennett:Let's see how he does at the Hernando Seales and then we'll figure out if he can deal with altitude. Let's more importantly see what he looked like after 80 minutes of the Alstair. Just Jude Bellingham didn't look like he was enjoying the altitude there. But two brilliant goals, two big kind of decisive moments. Gilberto Moura got Premier League. That's what happened there. He was expecting there to be some time on the ball. Wolves, Everton. Yeah, no, he got... He was the most intense pressing team in the Premier League. Newcastle liked

42:49James Horncastle:to think of themselves as that. He got Juellington.

42:50Roger Bennett:I've completely forgotten the Premier League does it still exist? I think Arsenal won the title about four years ago they've been champions for five years I think you're completely right but at the same time they learn quickly and they are cut from a tenacious ferocious cloth got themselves back into the game before half time, a crucial goal every England game this tournament has been a knife fight they have no control over anything, there was a free kick there was chaos, there was Montes not the ball back to Canones the Colombia Mexican sensation. I think the man, more than anyone, arguably outfield play, you could say Vizinha.

43:29But this gentleman has announced himself at this tournament, made his name, feared with a roar. That finish was so instinctive, but it was just like, oh my God, I shot a man in Mexico City just to watch him die. The power on that was ferocious.

43:45Roger Bennett:It was a finish of frustration, I would say. I've written about this, actually. But Quinonez, I really like because he is a throwback to when you used to watch the World Cup and see players you'd never heard of before. Football has been ruined by familiarity. There's no magic left. There's no wonder. There's no mystery.

44:03James Horncastle:And luckily, no one's making YouTube clips and tactics videos about players who play in Saudi Arabia. That's what Quinonez is benefiting from.

44:12Roger Bennett:There's two things. One is that he plays for Al Kadzia, which is the team managed by Brendan Rodgers. and only Brendan Rodgers' family is watching those games. But he spent his entire... They say they do. Yeah, they're watching the highlights. Nice Gucci belt, Dad. But Quinonez has spent... I didn't wear the Gucci belt. There wasn't actually a game today. One of those. He spent his entire career in Leader MX until he went to Saudi. And Leader MX, I think, is the biggest league in the world that has no imprint outside North America. like it's not I'm guessing you can watch it on a streaming service but I don't know which one like we're culturally really familiar with Argentina and Brazil but Lidre Mets is a blind spot for Europeans which is our fault that's so interesting it's completely our fault I'm not defending it but very few people will have seen anything of Quinonez while he was at these massive clubs in Mexico so then he suddenly arrives and you're like oh my god this guy's amazing but that used to happen at every World Cup it's going to be amazing for West Ham next season oh he is four goals they've gone down what's his Premier League team who has a lot of money and doesn't spend it that wisely.

45:20Well, I mean, Chelsea could...

45:23Roger Bennett:He's a bit old, he's 28. And Wolves have gone down as well. Newcastle. Newcastle.

45:31James Horncastle:Newcastle, Saudi owners. Oh, yeah, that's true. I think he's coming four goals in five games equaling the top tournament output for any Mexican player in history. England had no control. They had no ability to stop this from coming. An absolute mash-up, a dogfight. There were just glasses being smashed all over the field. I mean, it was just absolute Begbie mayhem. It was another flying Pickford save off another incredible Jimenez header. We saw the full Pickford tonight. Then at the cusp of halftime, Mexico corner skidded to Montero, unmarked, two yards from goal, must score. Somehow, Bellingham stretched out a leg, hooked it over the bar.

46:13one of the most sensational defensive moments in this World Cup to flick it clear. I'm not going to lie. When that halftime whistle went, I just sat there in a puddle of sweat, struggling myself, no crap with the effects of high altitude. That was just one of the most riveting first halves of football I've seen in a long, long time.

46:30James Horncastle:Yeah, I think it was the Jude Bellingham half as well. Because I think as much as we talk about those goals, it's a moment like that, which when you look at the final results, it's actually crucial what he's done there. second half O 'Reilly thundered off the post no one will remember that then Kwanza fit again physically mentally we do not know how well the tackle dictionary definition reckless slid in horribly high bouncing off the ball to go studs up into Galado there straight red we didn't have this is your problem an active Prime Minister who can get involved and have the decision reversed

47:10Roger Bennett:Is it Keir Starmer? Is it Andy Burnham? We don't know. Do we want to get an Evertonian involved? I'd say we don't. I think that's a bad idea.

47:18James Horncastle:We know that on these calls between the White House and Number 10, they talk about fat foxes. This is what's happened this week. Is that to do with the overweight in Leicester? What are we talking about here? The first phone call between the president and Sir Keir Starmer was about the state of British wildlife and how I think bird life is getting hit by those sort of electric pylons. And it just allows fox, they don't have to hunt. So they're lazy. And they're just picking the carcasses. That's what Norway are going to do with England when they arrive in Miami, I think. Fat foxes. Back to the football.

48:02Quanta walked off. Walk of shame. They're not familiar for England fans. I keep pointing to you if you're an England fan, but you're not. I mean, Beckham, 1998. Rooney, 2006. He must have been so filled with dread. It was devastating. If England had lost, he would be absolute tabloid scapegoat darkness. Oh, at one block says, King Charles is the one who should put the call in. I don't know if he... Quanta will be back at the next hydration break.

48:29Roger Bennett:This might count as treason. If you actually look at King Charles' fingers, I'm not sure he can use a phone. He's got really fat fingers. It looks like he's permanently carrying 10 sausages. Does the butler not hold the phone to his ear? We'll ask Humphrey what the butler does with phones. When he was here, he was... Humphrey would say, it's crass for one to dart one's own phone numbers. He's got a man to leave Instagram comments. Yeah, he does. He's got a fella who just wanders around. Just before he came on this show, you didn't see him. It was just off camera. He has a man come in and he goes, teeth!

49:09And then the man brushes his teeth. Water! Spits it out. Then he cleans him up. It's really quite amazing. Don't get me started on how the upper classes do the number twos. Fancy boys don't hold their own phones. England down to 10 men. but their response was ferocious. Kane, flick on with his arm. Anthony Gordon raced onto it. Mexican goalkeeper, slow off his line, brought him down. And Harry Kane, under what must have been hysterical pressure, converted with aplomb, an incredible achievement. But Kane is a record breaker and he proceeded to become one in this game. First play in World Cup history to both convert and then give away a penalty.

49:47Did so within eight minutes. Well done, Harry. So it was soft sauce, the award we agreed. The Chicago-born Brian Gutierrez getting flicked on a high ball. Very soft.

49:55Roger Bennett:Very soft. Jimenez converted with like an assassin-like creed. England suddenly in a total level of hell. We can't imagine what they're in. The noise. The players couldn't hear each other clearly. The exhaustion kicking in. The sense of impending doom. Hurt Gomez before the Azteca game called me up. He said that what it's like to play there is that your brain's constantly sending your legs messages about what to do. and your legs are saying back to you. And your legs are saying, do not understand, cannot compute, will not be doing what you're telling me. 4-0-4. Yeah, I mean, it's just like suffocating.

50:33And you saw it too cool. Made what felt like an insane decision. Pulled off O 'Reilly and Anderson and replaced them with burn, spent stones got flung on. No pretension of attack anymore. It was just like, okay, we're going to get through this last 15 minutes. And we knew it would be at least 10 of injury time. We're just going to hack the ball clear. We're just going to ice it like in the NHL. It was the most remarkable last 15 minutes.

50:57Roger Bennett:I would say that throughout that last probably half an hour of play, England had eight players either in their box or within 10 yards of it at all times. They let Metzger have the flanks and they basically said, this is where we hold the line. You will not pass. That was the approach. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, there are World War I poetry that are less harrowing than what those Englishmen went through in that last 15 minutes. It was frenzied, desperate, doomfair, doommen fighting for their World Cup life. The one thing I had was the understanding that for Jordan Pickford, all of this was no big deal.

51:38It's just your average Everton game just being completely under siege, being battered from all sides. It's what it felt like, just a normal Saturday for Jordan. And I was watching this. I did feel for one moment like alive, man. I did feel like... For one moment. Yeah, what else makes you feel more alive than this? Watching this crap. We knew we were watching history. Human beings, England fans will talk about this game for decades. Oh, yeah. I was fully aware of that watching it live. I mean, the English were already confused. They're in pubs at like five o 'clock in the morning when they're meant to just be lying in a gutter hungover.

52:13They were drinking. It was very confusing for your average English fan. Mexico just banging in crosses they were truly terrible at. You've had the point, loaded up the team of attackers, but no creators.

52:24Roger Bennett:I really hate it when managers do this. I think, and I know James agrees with me because it's actually his point that I'm stealing, but I think Aguirre messed it up. He took off the players who could create chances for him to send on more tall men. And there's a logic there that they'd obviously decided, if England are just going to stand in their box, we can't play through them, so we don't have to go around them and over them. But what happened was Mexico just spent the entire last 20 minutes working the ball either to Alvarado on the right or Jesus Gallardo on the left. England wanted Jesus to have the ball.

52:56Roger Bennett:Aiming the ball at Dan Burns' head. And missing. And missing. And I really do think if Adiré had had the nerve to leave on someone like Moura, someone, maybe Quinones, is someone who might do something unexpected. That would have asked more questions of England because as much as that last half hour was a full-on siege, to the extent you don't really ever see in international football, England not coming out at all, smashing the ball clear. It's like if you watch NHL, that was like a 15-minute power play that England were defending. What that takes out of you is crazy. And it was heroic and England did brilliantly.

53:35Roger Bennett:But I've got to imagine, I thought Mexico were really poor in the last 20 minutes. They didn't create a single real chance with complete territorial and ball dominance. They didn't really have any ideas. And that, I think, ultimately comes down to the manager.

53:51James Horncastle:You knew it was over, Rog, when they lost faith in putting the ball in the box on the left-hand side. And one of the Mexicans cut inside, had a shot and hit the corner flag. Yes, it was. And I laughed. It's over. It's over. There were still like four minutes to go, but you realised in that moment you were calling it. And the England players, thank God, it was over because they were so shattered. They were gassed. You call it blowing. They were blowing, yeah. They were blowing. Jordan Pickford, I've got to give him a respect. This is a human truth. The man was a giant tonight. I love this tweet from Sutton.

54:23Jordan Pickford, have my children. Have all of our children, George. You mad genius. That Clark Fox 655 in the chat says, Pickford mainline mythos tonight. He did. He forged his legend. Few men have been doubted more, written off more, undermined more, discredited more. That man is an England legend. Numbers-wise, longevity-wise, performance-wise, ecstatic-wise. At Cam Gorday in the chat says, is Azteca 2026 the sequel to 1917? Oh, it was worse than that, man. I don't like to be hyperbolic. Farewell to Mexico. Azteca remains a twilight zone. It will always remain that. First loss ever in World Cup play in the Azteca.

55:08I've got to ask you this about England again, though. We asked it last time. This was defiant. This was a historic defensive stand in military history. I think it kind of stacks up with the ones we were all taught in school. But I've got to ask you, what is different about this England team under Thomas Tuchel than it was under Gareth Southgate? They still seem to be a team of good lads who are good in moments.

55:32Roger Bennett:So I would say, well, first of all, just on the Azteca quickly, despite the fact Mexico lost, I think that will serve to increase the mythos of the Azteca. Yeah, 100%. Because it was such an ordeal for England. I think it will add to it. For England, they have now played well, I'm going to say four. In an attacking sense, they have now played well for 27 minutes at this tournament. And two of them were in this game. Two of them were between the two Bellingham goals. And then it's the 25 minutes in each Croatia. That's it. In a way, it's been a really underwhelming run to the quarterfinals. But in another way, I now increasingly think they're going to win the World Cup.

56:10Roger Bennett:Because they're not really any different to the Southgate team.

56:13James Horncastle:But I think the only thing that is different is the Azteca and the mythos of the Azteca. Because we've seen things from Southgate where we got good results. We went really far. We went to European finals twice. We went to a World Cup semifinal. where along the way we went to places that are in kind of Russian fairy tales but don't have the kind of football law that the Azteca does. I think we're still waiting to see Thomas Tuchel's England because the big frustrations that we've heard from him after games is, ah, they've gone back into old habits. This isn't what I wanted to see from my team. As though their England DNA is so hardwired, Not even this Teutonic man of genius can change it.

57:00Yeah, I mean, it does feel like ultimately the England fans will not care. The vibe of this, the energy of the defiance, which ultimately is what you want. The tenacious defiance, the stars, Cade, Bellingham. That's like, boom, that's as good as it bloody gets. I do fear, to be candid, England fans, this win will be a battle won and a war lost. What this must have taken out of England, there's slightly surreal scenes at the end where after we stopped watching, Jordan Henderson fell off an advertising hoarding reported to have, they had to stretch him off, a serious injury. I think he's broken, early reports crackling that he's broken a bone in his arm.

57:42But there is going to be, what are they going to put on the field against Norway? Just like a carcass. The Aztec is like Chernobyl. You do not know the damage it's done to you until you leave and days kick in. We'll find out the answer to that question. Last one for you on this. Where does it rank? It is, to me, one of the most remarkable wins in English national team history. Obviously, the World Cup in 1966, that final numero uno. But when we think of the great days in English footballing history, they're great to us. But in context, they're not really that great. this was really to go into the Azteca against this Mexico, four wins, no goals scored and to emerge victorious.

58:26Roger Bennett:So I think if you take away anything that's happened in England, does that take out the 66th World Cup?

58:33James Horncastle:I was going to say Euro 96 beating Holland.

58:36Roger Bennett:Yeah, that was the other big performance. But if you take out that four-one against the Dutch and obviously winning the World Cup is England's greatest ever victory. Away from England, Rome 97, when they beat a really top-class Italy to qualify for the 98 World Cup. I mean, in World Cup. I was just going to say, and then they won in the Marri Cana in 1984. But neither of those are actually at major tournaments. I'm not sure what their greatest individual result would be at a major tournament. Beating Belgium in 1990. Yeah, the heroicism of it. Cameroon's really famous, but it's Cameroon. Everything else is kind of group stages, really.

59:09And the Columbia game, but that was penalties.

59:11Roger Bennett:And also, with all due respect, it was kind of Colombia. It wasn't like a major power. Whereas this, a man down at the Azteca, at the altitude, in the World Cup last 16, I think it might be the greatest victory on foreign soil in English football history. I would agree with that. And I know there's a lot of Americans that, because of their love of the Premier League, feel deeply attached to this English team. Huge, huge love to everyone there tonight. Another game to talk about. It was, in its own way, feels like it was 12 days ago, but Brazil won. Norway, too, in New York, New Jersey. I was salivating for this game.

59:51Norway, fresh off their first heroic knockout win in their World Cup nation's history. Brazil, who loved to score loads of goals, but only against Scotland. Still a work in progress. Sorry, too soon. Game open. Brazil, slow start in Norway. driven by Solov and Erdogan. We're active, as Marshawn Lynch would like to say. Get active, lads! Had the ball in the net inside three minutes. Ryerson caught just offside in the build-up, but there was a warning to Brazil. It felt more comfortable actually operating on the counter, which was strange to see. Minutes later, Norway's turn to survive, and even near a miss, Cunha played into the box.

1:00:28Aya stretched quite recklessly to try and reach him. After a quick review, where the referee got to be in the spotlight and shout out in that herky-jerky referee, Vinaccio, number 20. It was poor Bolsonaro, probably in his... Put a call in. Probably with his... Oh, Lula. No, Lula couldn't be arsed. Dilma Rousseff. Bolsonaro in his white-collar prison, putting the call. And the referee pointed to the spot. Bruno Guimaraes stepped up. This is a strange one. Neuland, we'll talk about him in a minute, stepped up, got two massive Nordic paws to the shot. This stat is incredible. Brazilian has not missed a penalty at the World Cup since 1986, 40 years.

1:01:06Well done, Bruno Guimaraes, for breaking that record. Two reactions. We need a moratorium on stutter-step penalties. I think this World Cup has ended them. The other is, when you have Vinny Jr. and Cunha to take your penalties, why are we sending up that man? Good question.

1:01:25James Horncastle:Bruno's had a very good World Cup so far up until that point. He was, I thought, along with Vinny, the best player Brazil have had through the group stages. Still, you know, Brazil, the nation demands that Ocrac, the big crack. He scores the goal. He steps up. It's why they wanted Neymar in the squad. It's why throughout the group stage, they wanted Endrick to play and they couldn't understand why Calancho not to... Yeah, there's a little crack. And so, yeah, this is... I mean, Carlo gave his explanation. He said he's the fifth best taker. Not even the fifth best taker, I think he said. Which I think if there's somebody who can say that to Vinny, it's Carlo.

1:02:12James Horncastle:Because Carlo is seen as his football father, almost. But still, it was a strange thing for him to say. Dynamics of life, dynamics of the match, start of the settle. Norway played with a real deep collective organisation. Brazil couldn't control the game with their midfield at all. Chose to see possession break with the threat they could muster. It wasn't really the epic rumble that we'd expected, that we'd hoped, that we'd yearn for. It felt more like two quite flawed teams doing battle, one ageing in its core, the other raw inexperience, just trying to stay alive.

1:02:45Roger Bennett:I think what Norway had to overcome, though, was the Brazil of it all, wasn't it? There was a point at which Norway had to deal with the fact that they, without the realization that they were better than Brazil. There was a stat that popped up sometime in the first half that made it clear they'd completed twice as many passes as Brazil. It's Norway. I mean, there is no more. It's crazy. There's a British person saying this, but there's no more long ball nation than Norway. What are Norway doing with possession? Why do they want it? Just get it launched. Like a launch it.

1:03:15James Horncastle:It was quite funny afterwards. Yeah. Yeah, one of those funeral pyres that they just push out to the water. It was quite strange because there was a journalist afterwards who was talking to Solbach and he said, Brazil wanted you to have the ball. And he was like, no, no, no. That was our strategy. We wanted it. We kept it. We felt we were better with the ball than Brazil. We just wanted to play with it out wide rather than through the middle because if we gave it away through the middle, they'd counterattack and then it would be the end of us. It was just a very measured, calculated way of playing from the North.

1:03:46Pragmatic way. I mean, they changed their wingers to start the second half. Cheryl Rupp and Bob subbed in, bring Callum Moore into the game. Ten touches he had in the first half. Ancelotti responded by throwing on his own Bob. Little Bobby Hendrick on for his fifth sub appearance of the tournament. Made instant impact, no doubt validating the complete lack of trust Ancelotti showed for him throughout the tournament. Slowing up one-on-one with Nyland. Surprised Carlo didn't just hook him immediately after two minutes. Desperate times, desperate measures. Ancelotti broke the emergency, if in emergency, subbing Neymar glass and he came on.

1:04:23He'd essentially come to America to wander around, sit on the bench or take the field and look like a lost child. And I think he's done with sitting on the bench. I mean, it was quite, I don't know how you felt watching Neymar in that second half. Baffled.

1:04:38Roger Bennett:I mean, a bit sad and baffled. It made no sense bringing him on. It was nil-nil. You're playing a Norway team that already have more energy and more legs in midfield than you. Why are you sending on 34-year-old Neymar? It felt like... And look, Horn is massively biased here. But it felt surprisingly on Carlo.

1:04:59James Horncastle:No, I think there's been a couple of decisions that have been on Carlo. It feels like he's bowed to popular sentiments rather than sticking with his own guns. Yeah, that was the case with Endric, where all of a sudden Endric comes into the team after Carlo had been subject to days and days of some of the best memeing we've ever seen. And likewise, just Neymar's very place in the squad because you would have thought there have been moments in this World Cup where they could really use a striker who's been in formless. Oh, João Pedro. And the fact that he wasn't even in the squad just to accommodate and satisfy the Brazilian, part of the Brazilian nation's desire to see Neymar in there, I think has had a compromising effect on their World Cup.

1:05:44And then Norway struck. A little burst of pace from the substitute. Cheryl Rupp took him past Hendrick, shaped for a left-footed cross, but then opened his body, clipped it with his right. An in-swinger that totally caught Gabriel on his heels. Haaland now read it utterly perfectly. Tore towards the ball with a terrible vengeance and a violence and a velocity. flattening Gabriel in the process. I will say for Haaland, probably posterising Gabriel like this probably pleases him as much as the goal.

1:06:16Roger Bennett:Yeah, it felt like the final act of that kind of rivalry that characterised so much of the Premier League season. It was, yeah, it was a nice kind of coda to it. Alex Dabrowski in the chat says, Norwegian soccer dude. Basile push, no, we can't give that away ever. No. Never give that. Don't ever say that again, OK? Basile push forward. Committed bodies, trying to get back into the game. 90th minute. total switch off. The quite brilliant Nylund man who's 35 without a club now, just been released, I think, by Sevilla. It's like a one-man Vizinha tribute act. It was just excellent. Had a save to present an own goal that was extraordinary.

1:06:52Almost Jordan Pickford-esque. Launched the goal kick up to Haaland. Won the flick on against Daniel Leo. Shalrup gathered the second ball, found Haaland on the edge of the box. I'd say most footballers in that position, 1-0 up, clock ticking, close to the end would have just held that ball up waited for support Erling Haaland though is not most footballers when he unleashed low along the grass into the corner raw if only that kind of girl had a name does it have a name Roger I think

1:07:21Roger Bennett:it's got a name oh no

1:07:24James Horncastle:Wormbo I hope you all are home just showered that out when it happened because we did and I honestly almost lost my mind at Laurel Canyonite's epitome worm burner if it hadn't touched the ground halfway there I would have called it the platonic worm burner rule

1:07:46Roger Bennett:yeah no it was it was very much a worm burner there was absolutely we didn't need to go to J-dubs for the adjudication it was a worm burner full worm burner have you got any worm burner merch not yet no we've only just we used a lot of money can we watch that again we used a lot of money on this who did the voiceover it's amazing

1:08:02James Horncastle:worm burner

1:08:07It's Daniel Day-Lewis. He has a lot of money. We couldn't give it to him, but he said, I just love Wormburner so much.

1:08:14Roger Bennett:Is it the same voiceover on Soccer Dudes? Well, you're asking a question. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. I actually just found someone in the street and gave them five bucks and they did it. We've got no money. Taps Grabbit's an amazing thing. Yeah, our effects are just amazing. We spent$10 on both of those and now we're all out of cash. By the way, going back to Haaland, seven goals in his first four World Cup appearances. It is incredible. Ryan Hammer says in five World Cup games, Haaland has seven goals on 99 touches. Harry Kane, five goals on 107 before tonight. Mbappe, seven goals on 243.

1:08:53You know, we always laugh, Ro, that Scando players, as a cliche, they always say, I am Viking. The more I watch him, What if Erling may actually be a Viking walking around us, like proficient with battle axe and spear and two-handed polearm? Good gut fishes. Yes, with his teeth.

1:09:13Roger Bennett:I'm not letting that man near a monastery. Not a chance. In the northeast of England. Not a chance. Do you know what? I think he thinks it's a Joe. He's a slightly kind of offbeat character, Harland. I think it's interesting that Norway as a whole have lent into the Viking thing. It's incredible. It must feel so amazing for them. Yeah, I sense that if I went to Oslo and met Norwegians like, ah, you're Norwegian, you're a Viking, I think they might find that quite offensive. It's interesting that they've... I bet you they don't. I told you I interviewed the Icelandic team before 2016. All of them, three of them, in an interview, I asked them how they're doing it, 150 ,000 people, how they qualify.

1:09:50And they just look in the camera and they go, we are Viking. Like, no humour, no joke, but like, this is our blood, this is who we are. I think it's incredibly validating for the nation to be able to do the row which is a slightly irritating thing to see now for them it's an expression of identity

1:10:06James Horncastle:it is every time I see them I just think of Great Britain winning gold medals at rowing I think of Loto and I think that each of them I look at them and scan the thousands of them doing it and I do realise I try and pick out one I can actually win a fight with I've now decided though even the small children-law could beat the crap out of me

1:10:25Roger Bennett:match today's game, if they want it to be really intimidating, they should all do it like the hacker for the New Zealand rugby team. They should do it before the game. The team should sit on the pitch and go, with the drum. With the drum. I think FIFA will allow the drum. I think if whoever the president of Norway calls Gianni, one of the royal family. I'm going to tell you, Erling Haaland, Morten Harkin from our half. Erling Haaland scored goals. He never looked happier than when that enormous man was beating that tiny toy drum. He just looked so... Oh, he was having a whale of a time. But Haaland definitely channels that kind of Viking idea, both into his play and into his brand.

1:10:58Roger Bennett:Viking. Yeah, yeah, it's good for business. Who said that? Jeremy Casperson says is Worm Burn a trademark yet? And then answers his own question. We have no budget left for trademark lawyers. There was the theatre of a late Brazil penalty. You love this. Neymar took it. I think the penalty was that hobble step. I think he moved towards it quite well for a man who wasn't with his Zimmer frame. But then he decided to, after going to Trash Talk Nylund in the face what could he possibly have said what could he have possibly felt vindication in that moment of his nation about to crash out it was such a weird thing to do and we've already got a reputation for not being fair on Ronaldo I don't want to create the impression that we don't like Neymar love Neymar just but love Neymar I mean he was just being a dick that ultimately I'm a very serious journalist but he was he they got a penalty in the 94th minute or something they're about to go out of the World Cup to Norway it will be a national humiliation in Brazil before the penalty him and Nylund would join at each other and then after it when he scores well done Neymar he goes up to and kind of taunts not only taunts a goalkeeper who is a journeyman compared to superstar Neymar but is about to put him out of the world club and having the game of his life in the process I don't know how the goalkeeper would just laugh in his puffy kind of tiger woodsy face and just say scoreboard in Norwegian final whistle came Neymar sobbed I did feel for him must have felt like a an emptiness um i mean just like so much promise so much joy maybe the 2013 confederations cup was kind of the the peak when it came to true global competition it was hard to watch him sob uh brazil's earliest exit since 1990 you got a text i think for me from someone close to liverpool football club tell us what it said there's a picture of a mug and on the mud was written the slogan once Everton has touched you it will never leave there will never you'll never be the same yeah laugh in that Brazil important an ex-everton goalkeeper manager they just got the wrong one Sean Dyche would have had them the issue they show the show the issue with Brazil is a country that is a country that is producing players for the European market, not to create football teams.

1:13:28Roger Bennett:That is the issue with Brazil. That's why they have no midfield. Yeah, 35 % possession is unforgivable for Brazilians. Carlo is meant to be the big tournament manager. I don't like to ask this question. Probably hurts his legacy a little bit. Mr. Carlo. Or is it going to be seen as a Brazil thing?

1:13:46James Horncastle:I think it'll be seen as a Brazil thing. But he was, remember, they spent three years courting Carlo. It felt like at the end of every season at Real Madrid, he was going to go and go and work for Brazil. and so there's been this build up that of course Carlo would be the guy who would bring the Hicksa or Hedgsa the 6th World Cup or Hicksa why do you have to do that with you? there's a lot of nipple work going on the Hicksa

1:14:19Roger Bennett:you've not seen Roger's impression of his conversation with Roger's CEO I don't do that well do you want all of this? you want all of this? Do you want the US job to do? You want access to this party? Do you want all of this? Keep going. Vahegsa.

1:14:33James Horncastle:Vahegsa. Vahegsa. Vahegsa. Yeah. But, yeah, no, God, I just got your nipples in my head now. I can't think of anything else. No, my bullets. If anyone was going to do it, it was him. It was the man who wins all cups. He's won the league in five different countries. He's won the Champions League more times than anybody else. And, of course, he would win the World Cup. I love, I love, I love, Carl. I feel like there's a New York American crew being making a documentary, a follow-up for Carl. I think it'll be a little shorter. No, he's had an Oscar-winning movie producer with him. Yeah, he's going to have to really put the work in.

1:15:09Roger Bennett:He signed a new contract, didn't he? Yeah, he signed a contract. And he announced he's not going anywhere today. He said the project is just beginning for Norway. O Progetto. Biggest win in their history. They remain the only team Brazil have never beaten in international play. What a story they are. 5.6 million in the nation. So many sporting wonder. The Winter Olympians, amazing. They love the handballers, the stoic golfers. Of course, our friend Magnus Carlsen. But nothing animates the nation like football animates the nation. They had a 2-1 win against Brazil in the final group game. This is Oslo tonight.

1:15:47Final group game of the 1998 World Cup. That was a moment that made the nation truly lose their minds last. But that was followed by an immediate round of six exit. Nation never won a knockout game at a World Cup. And so the story of this World Cup team, I think at least three of the guys on the team have dads who played on that 90s team. This is biblical lineage stuff. The manager, Sardbaken, was a sub in that Italy loss when they got eliminated in 94. It's all just generationally epic. And you watched Haaland cry. The whistle went and he started sobbing again. I found it incredibly moving. At Teresa Brofaro says in the chat, I hate Harlan in the Premier League, but I must surrender to his charm in this World Cup.

1:16:35There's so beautiful and human and very giving. This is the World Cup in its purest. We talked at the top about the World Cup and it's most complicated. But I do, after the last game, he said, I think this will change Norway forever. This is a man who doesn't really do the hyperbole. this is putting this all into real perspective and i find it deeply moving one of the things that

1:16:56Roger Bennett:that i think gets more and more with every world cup that that that comes if these scenes from around the world are genuinely astonishing like we saw the video we've seen the video from paradwild maybe i mean it's you are talking about and we can't stress this enough you are talking about an event and like we sit here and we make jokes about about oheza and you know and it's all a bit silly and the show and roge roge seducing pochettino and we're really lucky that face that we get to be around the world cup and america america is lucky that it's hosting the world cup there is no other event anywhere that comes close to getting that many people onto the streets like the olympics is great and when la has the olympics it'll be annoying the traffic will be terrible but the events themselves will be really good but you won't get 500 000 people on the streets of oslo or 200 ,000 people on the streets of Asuncion.

1:17:48Roger Bennett:It doesn't happen for the Olympics. If you think about the power that football has to these events that are happening in these cities across North America, to get these huge... You have to... It's Hunger Games level stuff. It is genuinely bananas. What's happening is that if you think about the effort you have to make, you're sitting in Oslo with your free health care and your subsidised childcare. You have to get up out of your house, your hugger house, go out into the streets, get into downtown Oslo. Listen to your Kings of Convenience album very quickly before you get out there. You've got to walk past Morton Harkett from our heart.

1:18:22Roger Bennett:Yeah. Eat some herring. Eat some herring. It's now Parking Valley. These are massive movements of people to go out and celebrate these events. Nothing else comes close to this. It's extraordinary and I think we shouldn't ever lose sight of how extraordinary it is. I love how you saw the scenes of Cape Verde's team returning there. Bosnia. And the guys who were bringing the plane in just dropped to their knees in worship. More important stuff than that very beautiful emotive outburst. At Ratatat says in Norwegian, they call a worm burner a Mark Kriper, which translates to groundkeeper. Nice, I like that.

1:18:55Ground creeper. Sorry, ground creeper. Mark Kriper? Yeah, I'm not that... It sounds like a midfielder for Ajax. I'm not that... Brentford midfielder. I'm not that coming to work with ground creeper, though. It feels a little... That sounds like the name of the serial killer. 80s horror film. The ground... Mark Kriper. Tremors. I'm sure... What's his name? Joe Nesbo has got a book coming out called that. At Torgmeister, I want to know, can we maybe get extra budget for the Roger Loeb bottle deposits to improve your animations? You know what? The Roger Loeb deposits, we're using those to try and get me a Landon Donovan hairpiece.

1:19:28We're saving up. Roger Loeb deposits sounds like what happens after you've drunk the beer. Oh, my God. And then you throw it at an England player from the Azteca. Yes, a bottle of piss. I've got bladder that's bigger than Mel Kuyper's people. We continue our residence in Hotlanta tomorrow, July 6th at 6 p.m. Eastern. Match Day Live is back at Founders Green in South Downtown for what I hope will be a joyous day in American football history. Asterisk. We'll be live with the incredible World Cup champion, Becky Sauerbrunn. And, of course, the Atlanta legend himself, Killer Mike, breaking down one of the biggest American games on the men's side of all time against Belgium.

1:20:10It's Waffles versus House of Waffles. Come be with us. Stick around afterwards. We'll be screening the game live and we'll be watching it along with you, making a night that we'll always remember. Doors open 5 p.m. Show kicks off at 6. It's free to enter for more. Check the links out in the show below. To tomorrow, starting with US versus Belgium in the night game. Balogam, Brouhaha aside. Games are really an echo of two games. 1-0, 1-0, 1-0. 2014 core final, this same stage in Brazil. The Tim Hauer saves. Brazil. The one they miss. The Belgium extra time win. The aging squad remarkably carries four holdovers, including Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, still going, kind of.

1:20:58And then 99 days ago, there was a friendly in Atlanta. Here, Belgium, Klobberus 5-2. But this feels like a very different Belgian side since then. Vulnerable, cumbersome, almost clipped by Senegal in the last game before the magic happened. Also, it feels like a very different United States team. World away from the frail, weak outfit, or curled over at the game. I interviewed Alex Freeman today, and I asked him to explain what's changed. He said, the crowds, man, they're just driving us on. I mean, the U.S. are. Do you have a sense of what weight class we're in right now?

1:21:32Roger Bennett:I think whatever weight class they're in it's the same one as Belgium that's my main takeaway I think there's no reason for the US to be afraid of them they do have a lot of famous faces they've got a lot of experience in Jeremy Doku they've got one actual threat and you can never rule out De Bruyne and Lukaku there are things that Belgium have going for them but I don't think there's any reason for the US to be afraid of them with or without following Balogun

1:21:57James Horncastle:I think this is the most vulnerable Belgium team that we've seen at a major tournament in quite some time the one thing I would say is for all the people that Rory have mentioned they still probably have the best goalkeeper in the world in the team of Corteurum Has he met Flo Balogun? Sorry, has he met Flororin Balogun? The US have won games with Swag and Nutmegs we've won games with tenacity and gamesmanship wonderful gamesmanship which we did to close out Bosnia, this is the first game we're going to face a team who actually like to possess the football, crave possession it's a game I think it's going to revolve around on our back line.

1:22:32You're going to have Jeremy Dukou. Dukou's not had the greatest World Cup yet. He's going to run at Tim Rean. And Trossard, who's been excellent, is going to attempt to hem Serginio Despac. How do you see this thing go? Trossard's in the middle of moving to Turkey. Yeah.

1:22:48James Horncastle:I've seen you, Azteca. I want Turkey.

1:22:51Roger Bennett:I want the Inonu. That's what he's saying.

1:22:53James Horncastle:It's a crazy move, that one.

1:22:55Roger Bennett:One year left on his contract, I think, at Arsenal, so they've decided to cash in. I think that it will follow the pattern of most US games this tournament where they will start really, really fast and a lot of it will depend on whether Belgium's experience and Thibaut Courtois' giant hands can kind of keep them at bay. But I think the US have got enough to get through. Let's have a look. At D Husko says, Roger, Landon, Donovan, Rug, ultimate soccer dude. We've reached a part of the night to reflect upon this where we figure out what everyone suddenly believes by looking at the calcium percentages to peek into the brains of football fans everywhere.

1:23:31Scambolo to sign up. Trade on Calci. Tonight, we know what's suddenly changed. The US will have Flo Balogun back in the squad. Before the announcement, Belgium were 51 % favourites, but in the immediate wake, the United States jumped into the favourite spot with 53%. That's a 10-point swing. Given what we know, who wins tomorrow? And does Balogun News make a material difference, in your opinion?

1:23:55Roger Bennett:I don't know. What do you reckon, Horny? My sense is that Balogun poses questions for both teams. I think it disadvantages both. They will both have spent all week working on him not being there. Probably gives it, his presence gives the US more of an edge. So I would be inclined to say the US will win. But I thought that when I thought Valadin had been sent off against Bosnia.

1:24:17James Horncastle:Yeah, I just wonder what he's done for his mental preparation for this game. Because obviously he's in great form. He would have come off that last game feeling on top of the world regardless of the red card because he basically again secured progress for the US. I just think the last 24 hours, putting yourself in his shoes, like staying focused and being kind of centered and stable in this moment must be really difficult for him. It's just like, you know, all the message you get, all the socials you get, how you interact with people. And the expectations. And the expectation. I mean, a president has come in to make sure he can pray, better bloody deliver, like that kind of implicit yeah so i look i i think belgium will have prepared they'll have watched all the tape of the us's games in this tournament with flow ballgan in them so i don't think they will be unprepared they they as i've mentioned they have got thibaut courtois who will be fine against any striker in his mind you know that sort of thing so i look at that 53 47 i think that's actually fairly accurate, what the people are thinking now.

1:25:26James Horncastle:That's how I feel about it in terms of on the balance of performances that we've seen from the US so far, they have shown themselves to be a better side than Belgium. Too close to call. I think we're going to do it. In the other game of the day, early slot Spain, Portugal. Rematch of last year's Nations League final, Portugal took on penalties. Remember, winner this one gets to claim Iberian ham as their very own Cristiano Ronaldo. today in the press conference announced this will be his last World Cup at age 41. But not his last game. I'd also like to announce this is my last World Cup. But he added, quote, I'll retire when I want to, not when you want me to, went on to say he'll be their body and soul with an important role, even if he isn't playing.

1:26:12Press conference was pretty remarkable to witness. It was a goat making a major, massive announcement in his life, in his career. but being Ronaldo, things always hit different, including this exchange.

1:26:38I know he doesn't like me.

1:26:44What's the most difficult part of playing a World Cup at 41 years? What's the most difficult thing? He's talking with you, answering questions from you. He says answering questions from you, especially with those who don't like me. You are one of them. I just need one look at the face and I'll remember very well.

1:27:06Roger Bennett:Ro? I mean, it's just really weird. I mean, I want to stress this. Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 years old. That is an adult's age. And that is not the behavior of an adult. Being obsessed with someone who doesn't like him. You think about all the things he's done in his career. Incredible things. Why are you fixating on you think some journalist isn't that nice to you? Why do you care?

1:27:29James Horncastle:I didn't realise he spent so much time on social media where he was watching Brazilian journalists talk about him. I thought he was doing crunches. I thought he was in the ice bath. Drinking a Ramco. I thought he was eating chicken and rice. Spain's dominant 3-0 win over Austria. Sports Tableau ass won with the headline. champions are back. They've not conceded a goal all summer and went well for Mexico. Now and beaten in 34, longest run since the USA snapped 35 game run in 2009 Confederations Cup. When Cristiano scored his first professional goal, Lamine was five years away from being born. Now one of them is going to advance to the quarterfinals.

1:28:07Which one stays? Spain. Spania.

1:28:14Okay, it's time for the food! We got that. James, it's your inaugural European mind. Cannot comprehend. Let's look. So this is the section of the... We don't have this. We paid for a new sting. We'll do it tomorrow. Is this a worm burner? Yeah, it's top nut. What are we eating, Rog? It's our nightly segment where we'll introduce Roar and you to... This is a special treat from GFOP Dave Bassetti. Came direct to the bus to bring us the classic, double classic burger from NFA Burgers, locations in Avalon and Dunwood. It's meant to be Georgia's best burger by Food and Wine magazine. It's not Food and Wine and Burgers, is it?

1:28:53Oh, Reader's Digest also said, this looks amazing. Only thing I'm more excited for is the US winning the Asterix World Cup. Take a bite, they're not eating themselves, and then score them. You've got to lift your mic up when you eat, or people in Mesopotamia go mad.

1:29:08James Horncastle:It's not on the gherkins. Oh, my God.

1:29:10Roger Bennett:I hate gherkins.

1:29:16That is so good. That is unbelievably good. That is one of the best burgers I've had this afternoon. Raw, a burger tastes better with you. These are bloody good. David, an NFA burger. It was a nice little sauce on that. We love you. We love your city. Thanks for sharing your food with us. Dave Bassity. Can we get a score? I think that is a 9.3 of a burger.

1:29:43Roger Bennett:So what I will say is I think it's the best burger we've had. Yeah. But it's still just a burger. What? What's this still just a burger crap? I find this absolutely limiting. What do you want from me? Just embrace life. Open your mind, man. What do you give it? Oh, my God. I can't even look at this abominable. This is a war crime. This is a war crime.

1:30:02James Horncastle:It's a 7.8 from me. It's 7.8 from me. I'm sorry. I've only had two bites, though. It might pick up to like an 8.5 the more I go into this. It doesn't crack the Rory top list, does it? This is a disgrace in the design. We're not even getting the Rory top list tonight. Okay, we've gone to crap tonight. We are going to push through just to the end. Let's invite you to close the show, dear listeners. Share your World Cup journeys with us. We want to hear from you. You know your memories, your journeys, your joy. What are you thinking? Put it in our Discord, which was popping today, really popping.

1:30:38Send us an email, menablaze.com. Tonight's letter comes from the lovely Peter Timmons. Roar, do the honors.

1:30:45Roger Bennett:I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing Rory brush up against all that our American culture has to offer, including Dallas's flyovers. Yet at times, it's felt a bit like introducing my sophisticated European friend to my drunk uncles at my wedding. Sure, I'm glad they met and seems a hit stop, but I'm also relieved it's a short-lived encounter. So is my microbiome. Rory, what will you miss about America? And more importantly, which uncles will you be thankful to leave behind? Thanks for all that you do. Love and cheers, Pete. Very nice. Do you know what? Genuinely, I'm going to give a serious answer to this.

1:31:15Roger Bennett:I'm not going to make a joke. I really, really, really, really like American optimism. It's really struck me in the kind of month that I've been here that Americans generally, and look, not everyone in America has, you know, has a giant mansion and, you know, endless burgers. but there is an optimism to American life that I really, really like. And I find it quite infectious, quite contagious. And I'm already conscious that that isn't necessarily... British people joke a lot about complaining, but in the joking about the complaining, we're also doing quite a lot of complaining. And I feel as though there is a sunniness to the American outlook on life that I'm going to try to take into my own life, Rog.

1:31:57Roger Bennett:That's what I will miss about America. That's very beautiful, man. It's honestly why I moved here. I did find it was pretty limiting in terms of the possibilities in Liverpool. You were what you were. If you had ideas more than that, you're an idiot. And it is that optimism, that sense of possibility for many that in that time drew me here. I do think of you as one of the most optimistic English people I've ever come across in all season. For low bar. Yeah, I mean, it is. It's like being the hairiest bull man, which is Mo Salah, by the way. But God bless. I don't know if you want to kick in on this.

1:32:28This is not saying no things about America. What have you taken from America?

1:32:31James Horncastle:no i think there are moments where i've been frustrated and about to lose my rag and someone's just diffused it with kindness and that's happened over and over again you are a very irascible man i like to think of myself as being optimistic as a as a brit you are no you are you're you're very clear i'm quite i'm quite sunny um in that in that regard but um no i've it's been great to be on the ground here for five weeks because when you're in the uk and you see stuff online you read stuff you get a certain impression of america and then you come here and it's totally

1:33:11Roger Bennett:different from that in a good way or in a good way but you know what it is it's any i think this with every major tournament is people people are nice it does like you there are lots of good things and bad things about every country and mainly they're to do with the people who are running that country and whatever country they are and whichever way they want to run it people remember the same thing in the same in russia people in russia are lovely like normal people in russia are great and it's if you can change and we can change yeah you know what was that what was it that that trite sign that they put from the top of the empire state building said when peace conquers war all the world knows is love or something yeah there's that's a very world cup sentiment and during the world cup you do feel that it genuinely is real people in the chat think rory's never coming back at nash wave 29 says raw it's going to buy a camper van play a banjo on the riverbank for the rest of his life.

1:33:57I'll tell you what, I'm never driving through Texas again.

1:33:59Roger Bennett:Into the wild. At James Wilson Run said, get Rory a worm burger. And he might go up to 8.1. No more burgers. Okay, no more burgers. Make love, not burger. Before we sign off, I just want to say how moved we are to see our merch, our scarves, our tees, our hats out in the world. It's been really magnificent to see them in the stadium. I want to thank the broadcaster for keeping zooming in on them during the America Games. It is a reflection of the energy around this U.S. team, around this World Cup, around all of our crap. If you've not seen them, hit the link in the notes below. Why not us? God bless Asterisk.

1:34:39That's it from us. We'll be back tomorrow night, live once again here in Atlanta. Come check it out on our YouTube channel. We'll go live after the U.S. game, Asterisk, tomorrow. We're going to be – I mean, it's amazing. We're going to be with Becky Sauerbrun, the U.S. Women's National Team World Cup winner. We're going to have John Green, my beautiful, beautiful friend, who's going to come on after the U.S. game. We'll be back with these two gents. And I'm going to leave you. It's great to have you here, man. It's great to be here. Amazing to be here. Finally on the bus. Welcome back, my love.

1:35:08I missed you, darling. I missed you, beautiful human being. I'm going to show you an interview that we take this morning with Georgia's own Michael Harris II, centerfielder for you, Atlanta Braves. If the name sounds familiar, it's because he was the one who was serenaded by visiting England fans during the Braves game. Since become an adopted son of the three Lions during this World Cup, turned up for the interview with me in an England jersey and he looked magnificent. Go and enjoy it. This is Rod saying big love to all of you. Thanks for staying up late. And here's Michael. It's an honour to be here with the greatest baseball player in English national team history, an Atlanta institution who's had an even better World Cup than Magic City.

1:35:51It's incredible to be here. It's incredible to be here with Michael Harris II. Yeah, good.

1:35:59James Horncastle:I'm glad to be here. Glad to be a part of England. Look at this. By the way, he wears this. He's been wearing this for years. The recognition has only just come. Last Wednesday night, England had just played Congo. You have a clash against the Cardinals. When did it start to feel a little bit different to you? When did you first notice this ballpark was alive with a slightly different atmosphere? Honestly, before it started. When I ran out on the field for the first time, I seen the England flags hung up around. And then I seen a big group out in centre. They were chanting from the first pitch to the last one.

1:36:32James Horncastle:So I kind of knew the energy was different from the jump. You knew it wasn't just your normal, conventional, casual Braves fan. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How would you describe the energy in your own words? It was electric. I feel like a lot of people always talk about the football fan's energy at games. I say matches. At matches. We say matches now. Yeah. The one game I went to in person at Atlanta United, and the energy there was unmatched. So how's the energy different to baseball fans? I guess because baseball fans, they they sit down. They actually sit down and give the game some time to breathe.

1:37:15James Horncastle:But they were going their whole game and I loved it. At first, I didn't really I didn't really know that they were putting my name in the chant until I guess later in the first inning. But once I figured it out, they didn't stop. So it was good.

1:37:34Oh Michael Harris, oh Michael Harris,

1:37:39James Horncastle:walk it along, sing a song, for we're gonna have a football game. What do you think it was about you that they singled out? Was it that they'd seen your career as a high school hitter for the Tigers? Didn't they deal with you from the beginning? How did you understand it? I honestly just thought I was the closest player, so they just put my name in it. Football's coming home again with Michael Harris. Yep, that was crazy to actually hear those chants and my name in it. So, yeah. Walking in a Harris Wonderland. That's my favorite one. It is? That's my favorite one. Why do you love that one singing?

1:38:11James Horncastle:When they first said it's only one Michael Harris is going to tell them there's three because I had a son recently, so. But I didn't want to, you know, I didn't want to kill the vibe or anything. Oh look, it's Michael Harris the first erasure. Your poor father. Yeah, my dad's the first. Yeah, they were totally ignoring the work of Michael Harris the father. Zooming in on this one. And your son, Michael Harris III. Yep. Yep. You did a smart thing. Never wise to be pedantic with English national football fans. Guys, guys, there's only three Michael Harrises. What did it make you feel like? It felt great.

1:38:45James Horncastle:I felt loved, especially because they did it the entire game. It wasn't like a one-time thing. They just kept doing it. I kept showing them love back, trying to throw balls up there. How did you not laugh the whole game through, man? How did you keep locked in in the zone? I would have been wetting myself. I've got to be candid. My teammates were kind of laughing because at some point they would look back and I'm dancing to it. So they would laugh. But yeah, I really loved it. When you're at the plate, are you feeling a little extra? Do you feel that little extra pressure? I've got to show you the whole entire English fan base what Michael Harris is all about.

1:39:21James Horncastle:I wouldn't say pressure. I felt like it was easier because I knew I had a whole other country behind me. It's a tough man from England. because it's just like being over here in America now, I'm not used to it. I'm used to being back home in England. There's a saying, England expects every man to do his duty. Eighth inning, at the plate, what did you do? Pretty sure I did my duty. Driven, a critical RBI. Yeah. The whole of England goes mad. At one point, they cheered a routine fly ball like Harry Kane had just scored a winner. Yeah, yeah. I think, well, every time that I caught one, they were doing that.

1:39:59James Horncastle:So I had about, I think I had about five of them. It's actually a good amount for a game. But yeah, every time I got them, they were going wild and it was crazy. By the way, you do know that football fans, it takes time to earn their respect. Yeah. To get the chance, to get that love. It often takes years for a player to earn that. Yeah, that's another reason why I was so gracious of the chance and the love. You did it within an inning. Yeah, I was confused because I just didn't know what I did to earn the respect, you know, maybe because I'm from England. Yeah, that's probably got something to do with it.

1:40:35James Horncastle:And I just forgot about it all over these years. The streets will never forget that. Yeah, I mean, I'm glad they were able to remind me that that's where I'm from. Never forget your roots, children. Yeah. Never, ever forget where you're from. At the end of it, one of the fans went tops off, gave you a shirt. Yep. Talk us through that moment. because tops off in England just being alive I think this might be the craziest moment so after the game I went out to see family and they were still out there I thought everybody was gone then they were all still out there they ran down to the edge of the wall and they were chanting for me to come back out again so I ran out took a video of it I was loving it Yeah, a couple guys took their jerseys off.

1:41:24James Horncastle:Unfortunately, I couldn't give mine away. But, yeah, I gave a hat away. And I'm wearing this jersey every day around the clubhouse. And now, I mean, your Twitter account has become just like a standard England fanatic. Yeah. Harry Kane gifs. And when you hit a home run, you did what? I said England power, yeah. Put the England flag and then put power, yeah. So what does it mean to you, your memory of this? I think it just kind of got me going again. I might have gotten a little stagnant and then that kind of put some fire behind me again to keep going. So, yeah. Knighthood sure to be looting. Sir Michael Harris II's got a nice ring to it.

1:42:03James Horncastle:Yeah, it does. King Harris II. It's coming home. It's coming home. Hope, happiness, joy. Congratulations. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you.