Chelsea 2-0 Fluminense Club World Cup Semifinal Post-Match LIVE! with Rory Smith: Men in Blazers 07/08/25

0:00It's Rog, here to sing my praise for a very special New Balance football boot, the 442. It's no-nonsense, workhorse midfielders and defenders, the ones who do the dirty work, but also ping a pass to perfection. It's a classic boot design with modern enhancements, with an ultra-lightweight sole, synthetic microfibre material, retains a soft premium in-hand feel, allowing for the lighter weight, the superior touch on the ball. Get a pair for yourself or the footballer in your family at newbalance.com slash soccer. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio.

0:59We're here today to revel in an epic rumble in the heat of New York. Chelsea versus Fluminense. Oh, Cole Palmer versus the big flu. And it ended 2-0. There is no romance in football, Rory. No, that's it. Economic reality bites in the Club World Cup. We're just watching spreadsheets at the end of the day run around the football field, as we'll discuss. But I want to say this live show is presented by our incredible friends at Reeds Cup. Michelob Ultra! I am 87 % made up of Michelob Ultra products at any one time. It is the superior light beer. There was a piece in the Wall Street Journal that I want to raise my glass to that talked about how Michelob Ultra has gone up 3.1 % this year and there's a quote in it.

1:49It says, Premier League football is to do with it. Nobody wants to drink a heavy beer at 6.30am. Wise words in that spirit to being together. watching football and making memories. Here's how this is going to work. Ru and I will analyse the game. It's going out nationally. Him with his informed, shrewd brilliance. Me with my slightly hyperbolic know-nothingness. Then we're going to take your questions live, you beautiful-looking audience. A lot of Chelsea fans here today. God bless you all. A lot of happiness in the house. And if you're listening along at home and want to jump through the screen and be here, just write on YouTube, send us your questions in the chat Slack and large in the chat says I'm going to catch up I'm only on my second first Michelob Ultra of the day God bless you Gustavo Coucho says how did Chelsea qualify for this thing again?

2:43Well we'll explain to this game Chelsea versus Brazilian tournament surprise package Fluminense we knew this was going to be tough for all we knew and part of the reason they qualified was because of a giant on the other team Thiago Silva, oh monstro. He lifted the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021, which is how they qualified. He had four incredible seasons. But he's returned like a salmon swimming upstream to Fluminense, club that took him when he'd almost died of tuberculosis, gave him a second chance. They're out, but he remains the most inspirational figure in football, age 40, leading.

3:22I don't know what his aging, like his skincare regime must be amazing. because he just doesn't look like he gets older. It's astonishing. And we saw in that game, there's all these moments where he's just sort of, not even running, just like walking across the pitch. And yep, there's the danger. I'll just take that away. He is, he's been an immaculate defender for 20 years. And it's really, I mean, it's really touching and uplifting to see him still there. He's Brazilian Tim Rehm. I will read out the team talk that he gave before the Inter win, talking about the death of his stepfather. I think it bears reading again because it is so beautiful.

3:57He said, I didn't go to see him in hospital because I thought he was going to come out. Don't hold back out there on the field. Do it now. Don't put off what you can do today because there's no time. Enjoy the moment joyfully, but responsibly. Those are life truths that, honestly, for me, are some of the highlights of this Club World Cup. Evan Van Alstyne in the chat says, as a Chelsea fan wearing my Thiago Silva jersey during the game hearing oh Thiago Silva again it made me super happy and with good reason just Chelsea fans have got really happy memories of Thiago Silva although they should also maybe give a little thanks to Pep Guardiola because it's the 2021 final where Guardiola decided not to have a midfield just randomly on the way thought I'll tell you what I'll do is I'll drop Rodri and just not play anyone in midfield Chelsea win and now than 90 minutes away from being club world champions as i said there's no romance in football i mean fluminense of all the brazilian sides in this tournament not many of us would have picked them to be the ones who made that run into the semi-final they've struggled narrowly avoided relegation this season but their coach ronaldo gaucho lifted them up locked down the back and we are legally obliged to point out there is a billion dollar gulf in value between these two squads.

5:21I mean, ultimately we knew going into this one there was going to be a moonshot. Yeah, I think if you look at Joao Pedro, he kind of illustrates it perfectly, doesn't he? He's the kid who left Fluminense. I think he played 29 games as a 17-year-old for Fluminense and then left for noted European giant Watford, which that kind of shows you where the pecking order is, right? So he then goes to Watford, goes to Brighton, now he's at Chelsea, ending Liam De Lapp's Chelsea career in the process and he is up against the team where he started but the players who can make it in Europe and it's a horrible reality I don't like it the players who can make it in Europe leave what you have at Fluminense are the players a few of the younger kids who haven't quite made that step yet a few players who've been judged not quite ready little maybe mid-20s and then in Thiago Silva and Fabio the goalkeeper pensioners by football standards it was a massive underdog mission for fluminense to get this far to beat chelsea would have been extraordinary the fact they've made it to the semis is testament to renato gaucho to the strength of the character of the team they will go home to brazil sad but there'll be a lot of fans waiting for them when they land in rio they'll be there may there may not be a full parade but they might get some sort of open top bus action of some sort which is real success in so what everton did when we won the Florida Cup.

6:47We were just pretty chill with it, but it was magnificent. Lord, the opening exchanges, the big factor in this game was really the heat. It was 97 degrees at MetLife. We talked about this at halftime, Roar. I don't know how many days over 40 degrees Cole Palmer's trained in Cobham, but genuinely, I was worried about that. I don't think there's an SPF sun cream high enough for that bloke for the final. There's a shade of pink that British people go when it's really hot proudly that other people don't have it's not a shade that's available to other nations Cole Palmer will have lost a lot of weight in that game and Cole Palmer doesn't have it to lose Rog he's a very slender man I know he looks like Berbatov now and Berbatov's really skinny Berbatov's looking by the way whatever Berbatov is on I want to get on that too but now for the superior moment of the match brought to you by our friends at Michelob Ultra 18 minute one of the amazing things about football You can be watching a game which does not stir the soul.

7:47And then out of nowhere, a moment of pure human poetry. 18th minute, Neto burst down the wing. Ball snuffed out half and half, bounced to. I mean, God, it is incredible. It's like the joy of football. It is a telenovela that's acted out live, written live, of all the people to pick it up. How Pedro played at Fluminense from the age of 13. It was Fluminense who said, you're not a defensive midfielder, you're an attacking midfielder. It was Fluminense who gave him the skill sets that he used to do them in. The arts, the code, it came back to burn them. Took one touch, looked up, so much space. It was a poem, it was a sonnet that he unleashed into the corner.

8:31It was an amazing goal and like you say, that's the kind of wonder of soccer. That game was fine, it was okay, it wasn't offending anybody. and then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, you get this kind of electric jolt of activity and this beautiful sort of arcing shot that Fabio got nowhere near. And it's really hard not to be uplifted by that. Joao Pedro was fantastic. I was at the game against Palmeiras in Philly a few days ago. And when Joao Pedro came on, Chelsea improved instantly. He is, I mean, they've signed a lot of players. Finally a great one. You're going to get some right eventually.

9:09They've got that one right. He will slot into that team perfectly. No celebration. By the way, it takes so much human restraint. That was like genuinely one of the feats of the game to rein that in, all the adrenaline, repressing it. He flicked from exultation to apologizing in the bee of an eye, which was humanly remarkable. Fluminense, tenacious. Streetwise Hercules slipped in one-on-one, left-hand channel, overwhelmed Roberto Sanchez, which is not that hard. He was nutmegged only for the towering Cucurella to cover, swoop back and then give the referee the old Dikembe no, no, no, no, no, as he ran off laughing.

9:49It was incredible play all round. Not you, Roberto Sanchez, in the Chelsea goal. But we're going to talk about the penalty or non-penalty. Cross from the left. Chalaba smacked in the arm. Seen him given territory. Also armed within natural silhouette territory. row I was honestly praying it would be given just to give the game some layers of intrigue yeah it was one of those you wanted to be given I think if that's the Champions League that gets given if it's the Premier League it doesn't at least one manager complains about it and you see nothing but that on Twitter for two to four days I think that's the way that works I thought it was a penalty it is a natural position in the sense that literally anywhere you put your arms is a natural position because you can do it but it deflected the path of the ball and that's meant to be the decisive factor but as soon as the referee goes to the monitor it's the var saying i think you've got that wrong and if i'm told that something might be wrong i immediately doubt myself i think the referee should have you know had the courage of his convictions parabens obrigado into the second half fluminense tried to make a fist of it um they'd only just made their first substitutions and within seconds a moment of poetic violence again from how Pedro, 56 minute, Chelsea so bloody robust in that midfield now, it was Enzo who sprang Pedro, he had so much time, so much space to run into, this is what was remarkable about that goal, lesser human beings would have computed two, three options, second guest, third guest, there was never a doubt with him, he cut inside and unleashed really a stunning exclamation point of a goal.

11:28What a debut role. And in that moment, Liam De Lappe was quietly loaned out to Everton Football Club. He is never playing for Chelsea, ever again. He's had his chance. It lasted 75 minutes, maybe, and that's it. He's done. He's got Everton written all over him, Rod. You can look forward to that. By the way, talking about Everton written all over him, Nico Jackson came on to keep the game close, I think, for Fluminense. You told me something very funny about him you look in his future and you see something very different than I did I'm conscious of one of the shirts in the audience at some point in the future Nicholas Jackson is going to score 30 goals in 47 games for Tottenham that is that is his future yeah and no one will talk about it because Maduweke will be scoring 50 and 60 games for Arsenal Football Club but yeah this is the thing with Chelsea it's the churn of players that Jackson is he's lively You said to me while we were watching the game that he's this weird mix of confidence and insecurity, swagger and insecurity.

12:29And I think that's right. But he is incredibly talented, Jackson. His movement's really good. But they've now signed someone who will do the number nine job better, which means for both Jackson and DeLamp, at some point, maybe not this season, they're going to have to make a choice. Like, do you want to play or not? I mean, how Pedro, by the way, if I was a Chelsea fan, that would be, I could not wait for the season to start quick enough. to see a human being that thunderously confident in front of goal is a beautiful thing. And I will say, it hurt to see Flamengo clipped in this way. I mean, they tried to cock a fist.

13:05They barely laid a punch on Chelsea Football Club today. But watching how Pedro turned on the team that forged him, to me, this is the beauty of the Club World Cup. It could literally only happen in this tournament. Yeah, and that's been one of the best things about this tournament, I think, is the chance for Brazilian teams and Saudi teams and Auckland City and whoever to go toe-to-toe with the Europeans. And we know how much richer European football is. We know that the best players in the world do gather in Europe. Not necessarily all of them, but the vast majority of them are there. But we saw that Fluminense, like Flamengo beforehand, like Palmeiras, like Botafogo, they can match the Europeans for a time.

13:46it's just in those moments. It's the quality of the finishes from João Pedro. It's the fact that both goals came from mistakes. The first one we talked about at half-time was just Fluminense gave the ball away really cheaply. The second one, they got a bit overexcited. It was only, what, 56 minutes? There was lots and lots of time left. And what all the Brazilian teams have done really well in this tournament is hang in. Just wait. You'll get a corner. You'll get a counter-attack. You don't need to win a game 3-4-0. Just wait for your chance that they over committed and Chelsea picked them off and it's those it's those differences that's where the money tells

14:24we say farewell Flamengo I will say I've got to say the fans from South America have been the star of this tournament for me I think there's the bones of an incredible tournament in this club world cup and it's the South American fans who give me that sense of what it can be and I also do believe that what Fluminense have done in this tournament is so bloody important they've showed us that high quality football is played all over the world Yeah, you needed at least one non-European team in the semi-finals If it was four European teams as I think probably most people would have expected all that says really is just watch the Champions League to be honest, there's loads of European teams in that if you like watching European football, watch the Champions League This has shown that the idea is legitimate, that the Brazilian teams particularly can compete with Europe.

15:16There's not much between them in over 90 minutes. Over a season it might be different, but over 90 minutes they can compete. And do you know what that should say to River Plate and Bocca Juniors, who brought loads of fans here, and in Bocca's case, kind of wasted their time, they're going to have to step up as well to compete with Brazil and South America. It says to the teams in Asia and Africa, if you can push on a little bit, there is a place where you can go and do you know what you might beat Real Madrid the Boca Juniors didn't waste their time here they'll always have that viral clip in a Walmart that's true yeah yeah if that isn't why we watch football that Walmart is now sovereign Argentinian territory don't get me started raw it brings back childhood memories but we are living in a world in which Chelsea Football Club are finalists in the Club World Cup which is incredible when you think that two months ago Chelsea were facing a failure to qualify for the Champions League after spending what was it 1.4 billion dollars and possibly only having the Conference League success to show for it all of a sudden they are 90 minutes away from the Club World Cup and being champions of the world.

16:22Chelsea Football Club a team that less than a year ago lost to Ipswich could be champions of the world. That's football imagine how good Ipswich would be in this Imagine how Liam De Lapp feels when he picks up the trophy. He's going to do the Howe Pedro. Chelsea also tribute to being thumped 3-1 by Flamengo, which is incredible. Put them in the second game of the tournament. Felt like it was over. Instead, they turned out to be on this side of the bracket, which turned out to be a blessing. Matt Christopher in the chat says, at least Chelsea gets an extra day of rest after this heat compared to Paris or Madrid.

16:58I do want to touch quickly on tomorrow's semifinal and we'll take your questions. PSG versus Real Madrid, European champions versus the most iconic football club in the world and then some. Kylian Mbappe is the storyline going into this. Once at PSG, France had a national effort to try and keep him there. Then they let him go and PSG soared without him. He actually sued PSG for lost wages very generously, dropped the case two days ago. who is going to obviously legislate it on the field. Mbappe will start, may not start. It could be one of the many, many Garcia clan doing the damage. But ultimately, he is going to be the story of the game tomorrow.

17:45Yeah, that's the heavyweight clash that I think FIFA desperately wanted in the semifinals. It gives the competition real heft. And that subplot is fascinating. Mbappe has been quite seriously ill. He's not been well. If you speak to the Real Madrid players, they will tell you that he's had a poorly tum-tum. And in that heat, not feeling fully yourself, that's really tricky. But at the same time, it's Real Madrid. They've got this superstar. They were chanting his name at MetLife against Dortmund before he came on. They've got this superstar. It's the semi-final before being, you know, potentially being crowned club world champions.

18:22No one will care more about his club being club world champions than Florentino Perez. that's why Florentino Perez gets out of bed in the morning they will want to beat PSG they'll want to put Real's sort of name on that trophy Real Madrid are the club who built the European Cup Real Madrid owned what became the Champions League for five years right at the start Perez will be seeing the echo of history he will wheel Kylian Mbappe out and what's hilarious is there's a very good chance that will make Real Madrid worse so that game tomorrow will be fascinating in any number of levels and the other main one that really struck me at MetLife the other day.

18:59Real Madrid are massive. The number of fans in that stadium with the white shirts on, singing the Real songs word for word. Spaniards who've come here. I don't know whether they're Spanish people who live here. I don't know if they're... Or people from Latino backgrounds who live here. Real Madrid are huge. That stadium tomorrow will be Real Madrid territory. It's incredible. That, to me, is the biggest lesson. The Premier League is enormous in the United States of America. Real Madrid are even bigger. They transcend as a brand. I mean, it's not just authenticity and history. There's something about it that they embody, just dreams that truly inspire the American soul and the numbers that march behind them.

19:43They're fully aware of it. They're fully aware of it. It's been remarkable to witness. We're ready for your questions. If you're here in the audience, just pop your hand up. The beautiful gents will bring you the microphone. So far away, we'll talk about the game today. We'll talk about the game tomorrow. Roar will answer anything, but do your worst. Tell us your name and where you're from, beautiful. Dan from New York. Can you hear me? Oh, hey. Dan from New York. Hello, big man. Hey. Sticking with the Club World Cup, my question is, Chelsea are going to be massive underdogs on Sunday, regardless of whether it's against PSG or Madrid.

20:19Chelsea haven't really had a super impressive result yet in this tournament. if they were to win the final tomorrow what sort of credibility do you think that gives them and and the Premier League on the world stage or do you think if they win people will sort of dismiss it as a one-off or do you think that they will be rightfully hailed as the world champions that they are you're a Chelsea fan don't it uh I'm a New York Red Bulls fan first and foremost and uh Manchester United but let's not talk about that god bless let's definitely talk about that but come on baby it's a really good question i think yeah to be honest i think if chelsea win it and if they celebrate it that's the big test if if they go back to london have a parade and fans turn out then that makes it clear that it means something to them that it means something to the fans and that's like the prestige you need i think if they win it and then kind of it disappears and evaporates it's a it's a bit more of a problem but you saw from maresca at the end like enzo Moresca it means something to him it will mean something to the players and to be honest I've never been a world champion of anything I mean it would be great to be a world champion of literally any human pastime but to be a world champion of football is something that will mean something to the players they they collect trophies it's at that level that's what they're in it for so I think yeah for Chelsea it will be enormous for Moresca personally it'd be huge the Premier League doesn't really need any more credibility like there's plenty of that knocking around but I suppose it would be a sign of the strength and depth of the Premier League that the best team in the Premier League is not here.

21:53Liverpool aren't here. The second best team in the Premier League aren't here. Even Everton aren't here. And for Chelsea, who kind of finished fourth somehow to be crowned champions of the world, that shows the strength and depth of the lead and the Premier League will trade on that. Yeah, I mean, I think ultimately victory is what you make of it. We'll only know retrospectively. But for this Chelsea project, they will get to wear that on their jersey for the next four years, right? Yeah. They will wear it. I mean, they will, believe me, ultimately part of Clear Lake Capital's investment was to use them as a branding exercise, a content machine.

22:26We will hear about this. There will be songs about this. The Chelsea fans will, quite rightly, I mean, make sure that this is ballads are written, tapestries are woven. this will be enormous for the club it will be a thing, I mean ultimately even if it doesn't mean that much to them there's nothing more English than reminding people that you have something that they can never get and for that reason alone, genuinely the differentiator, the anger, the spite spite, what's better than spite, it's why we watch football for that reason alone I think it will be utterly enormous and by the way for the Premier League it will be an enormous relief it will be an enormous relief for them in their global branding to be able to say not just that, you know, are we the most watched?

23:15Are we the dominant league? But yes, we're also the champions of the world. Godspeed. Maybe one day Manchester United. Not sure if it'll be in your lifetime. Next question. Hi, guys. Go ahead. Do you think we'll see lasting effects from this tournament for Chelsea going into the upcoming Premier League season? That's a great question. What will the knock-on effect be for the Chelsea squad? They'll be quite tired in August, I think. It fell when Man City went out. That was probably, from their point of view, a chance to actually have a break and then a pre-season. But I think it's probably worth it, to be honest.

23:58Like Rog says, it validates the project. It gives them something to crow about, which is really important. and it'll keep Moresca in a job for a little while longer, not forever because it's Chelsea. The one kind of caveat is that how many players do they sign between now and all just the 17th? 50? 70? Could be literally any number of footballers. Chelsea at some point are going to have to stop that churn. They're going to have to say, this is our squad. These are the players we believe in. Otherwise, you exist in this permanent revolution. So I think maybe it's the thing they can build around.

24:31If they win the Club World Cup, if they are world champions, maybe they can then say, OK, we've got that honour, we can build from there. And the other thing is that literally everybody in soccer, I'm sure it's the same in every sport, will say, winning is a habit, it's an addiction. Once you've won something, you want to do it again. And if the players are taking it as seriously as they look like they are, then that should kind of encourage them that they can go and get a Champions League, get a Premier League. The Premier League looks kind of open next season, and Chelsea have got a lot of footballers.

25:01Chelsea were the ones who originated that Jose Mourinho won the League Cup first and was the guy who then took that League Cup and said off this everything else comes so I mean the Club World Cup, God bless I mean it could be the beginning of something remarkable think about Wrexham Football Club and like the players who played for them in the National League played themselves out of a job, they were so successful that ultimately by the time they got into You know, League One, it's painful to see them go. They knew they were playing themselves out of a job. Sadly for Chelsea, their players may have played themselves out of a job by winning the Club World Cup.

25:40By the time August the 16th comes around and they kick off the Premier League, it may be a whole new first team that Todd Burley has brought in and reinstated. So we don't really know. Ultimately, this club needs stability more than they need victory right now. They need a sense of foundation. I'm not sure just winning this trophy gives them that sense of foundation. But God bless. I've got to say, the amount of joy this victory today has given Chelsea fans is all I give a crap about. The happiness, the memories, the journey, the wonder. And I wish you huge joy on Sunday. Is that a Chelsea shirt, sir?

26:20God bless. Tell us your name, where you're from. Yeah, I'm going to sell it too. Yeah, right here. Going to four, going to four. My name's Ben. I'm from New York. Super happy to be here. And I've got another Chelsea question. It seems to me that the only piece we're missing now is our goalkeeper. And Emiliano Martinez is kind of on my mind. He's leaving Aston Villa. And I'm curious, the rumor has he's coming to Chelsea. What have you heard and what do you think? I think Emiliano Martinez has the best marketing department in the world. he's okay like you make you make one explicit gesture with a trophy and suddenly you're like the best keeper in the world Martinez is not great with his feet I think that's the problem and it's what I think puts the clubs who want to play with a more kind of considered style off him I thought he was going to go to Manchester United as hard as it is to believe that you can improve on Andre and Anna apparently it's possible it would make sense for Chelsea I think, they need to upgrade the keeper Sanchez is not good enough, it's bizarre really that he's lasted that long but I know they've got two behind him two kids, well kids, they're like 19, 20, who they really like, so it may be that it's one of the hard things about squad building is you have to you have to kind of keep the pathways clear, so you don't go and buy like a 50 million dollar goalkeeper if you know you've got a guy who might be ready in a year, maybe you just make do with Robert Sanchez I was surprised they sold Kepa.

27:51Kepa's quite good. He was great for Bournemouth. £5 million, so like$8 million to Arsenal is a bargain. I'd have thought that would be on the list, but if they want to get those kids through, then they might have to... We might get another year of the pleasure of Robert Sanchez in Chelsea's goal. I mean, it is remarkable when you watch the Chelsea squad build, just how many attacking pieces, how many quite stunning midfielders that they purchase and then undermine by adding more of the same. You look at what Liverpool did, building a foundational rock out of a goalkeeper and a central defender and building everything else on top of that.

28:28I mean, ultimately, great teams are run by great organisations and great organisations know what they don't know. And I think Chelsea are probably... The amazing thing is Chelsea are still working out how to run a football club and they might be club World Cup champions, which is kind of proof that two things can be true in life at the same time, that out of chaos you can have glory, which I think is humanly, as someone that lives a very chaotic life, I find very deeply validating and I wish it to everybody here. But it is, it's a very insane way to operate in every regard. They do seem to be genuinely one great player away from really being a clenched fist that can smite all comers in the Premier League.

29:12and they also seem utterly averse to investing in that. So if they become Club World Cup champions without that in place, I guess if I was a Chelsea fan, I'd think what we could be with that piece in place. I do want to read a question that's come in over our YouTube. I say it's brought to you by Michelob Ultra Superior Access, where members get tickets, insider experiences that you can't find anywhere else. The World Cup, for instance. this question is who's an up-and-coming player you've had your eye on and who's the who's who has this tournament revealed to you that we didn't we weren't talking about them uh before the tournament began well Chelsea now owns so many players that even the ones who score against them belong to them so I mean the obvious answer is Esteval Willian the Brazilian kid who's who's already signed for Chelsea I think I don't know whether he gets like a holiday but he will join He will be part of the Premier League squad next season, along with 40 to 70 other people.

30:13But the other one I really liked, actually, was also at Palmeiras, Alan. I love a Brazilian player called Alan. I think he should be encouraged, if not compulsory, to give all Brazilian footballers old English people's names. I think it's a really just great model. But he looked really, really bright. Not quite as talented, maybe, as Esteval, but he was smart, he was quick, his movement was really good. he caused Chelsea problems the other night I think he's a year older maybe but he will be the next cab off the rank he will be in Europe very quickly Young up and comer that I've got my eye on after the Club World Cup is Thiago Silva Mark my words that man is destined for greatness at the age of like 57

30:58Sir, hello gorgeous tell us your name and what's your question J-Mar, I'm from New York basically so this is the precursor to the FIFA World Cup right so what do you feel like what is your thoughts of this tournament as the precursor to the FIFA World Cup and should it like in terms of region wise and things like that and should it be moved around should it be any tweaks and thing of that nature I have thoughts on that take the floor baby so yeah so the one of the things this is meant to do is replace the confederations cup which was the like the warm-up tournament for the world cup which was no one cared about but it was quite useful to kind of iron out the problems i don't know whether fifa will learn any lessons from the club world cup because i don't know if fifa do that anymore i think here it's really hard to get to met life man it's really hard just have a train that goes from manhattan to met life new york really easy really easy stuff suddenly i feel like rose running for mayor of manhattan on a populist platform you wait till i get onto the free buses so i think like philly's fine you can get to the stadium on on the on the subway in philly atlanta it's downtown seattle i think it's downtown as well boston but boston's not in boston is there a train they shouldn't they should not advertise that as being in boston it is certainly by european standards that's not in boston i think They're going to have to work out ways to get the fans to the stadiums.

32:34Miami, by all accounts, is a nightmare. A lot of fans won't want to... Europeans are used to being able to get places on public transport, but a lot of people are not going to come to the States and drive around. They don't want to do that. Not least, quite a lot of fans want to drink at games. I think they're going to have to figure out the kick-off times. If it's an air-conditioned stadium, a lot of them are air-conditioned. That's fine. but you can't play in this heat at 3 o 'clock in the afternoon and the other thing that really annoys me it's a tournament in the US and next summer it's in the US, Canada and Mexico commit to it stop trying to appeal to Europeans Europeans will stay up and watch if the games are good play it at American times that game today, it's great that you're all here this afternoon it's a semi-final of a major tournament play it at 8 o 'clock in the evening Europeans can go to bed later and also without If you're being really cynical...

33:27Roy's not only running for mayor of New York City, he's also trying to be the new head of the European Economic Community. Europeans can go to bed later. We will go to bed. The Spanish is still having dinner at, like, midnight. That's true. That's if it's on an early one. Can I just say, I think, better garbage collection for Manhattan. More Staten Island self-love. That one did not get the applause it needed. Free subways for everybody. water fountains on every children's playground i'm getting into this maybe we can all run for mayor one day god can you imagine i'd be genuinely the worst mayor ever i'd just like genuinely what already taken you know what i'd do i'd just make sure that the new red bulls and nyc fc are the greatest football clubs in the world i'd make that my platform in every regard we've got one more question for the audience and we're going to wrap it up because it's not just hot in MetLife it is bloody hot here and I've lost 40 pounds sweat my I do commit to the blazer oh there's a question there from that gentleman too but go ahead tell us your name and what's your question I'm Michael from Portugal obrigado obrigado nada I'm the president first thing Roy are you right I was back home I've been living in New York for 15 years the World Cup 2002 in Asia everybody was waking up at night so it's nada I missed exams for it me too so I have two questions I'm done talking about Chelsea sorry guys Paris tomorrow and Real Madrid my first question is about for Madrid who's going to defend on Hakimi and Nuno Mendes and number two what happened with Arda Goulo he went to the gym he gained some pounds in weightlifting and is it a missing piece of the Xabi Alonso project both two questions I don't think you can defend Nuno Mendes I think Nuno Mendes is the best player in the world.