France’s Depth, Messi’s Back, and Norway’s Potential: Cup of Cups Preview 06/09/26

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2:12Roger Bennett:I'm really surprised Messi's here. I'm really surprised that Messi didn't see what happened in 2022 as the perfect way to sign off from international football. He's definitely kind of a throwback to an era where players kind of made their reputations in the World Cup. But Mbappe's done it the other way around. He's kind of Francis killing Mbappe rather than like a club player, which is unusual and possibly unique. It's not quite fair to represent Norway as like Erling Haaland plus 10 other guys. But it does feel as though it's his chance to kind of lay claim to this tournament and mark himself out as a genuine superstar.

2:49Welcome back to your Cup of Cup previews presented by Camarena. We're deep into the alphabet, I and J. Featuring both of last tournament's finalists, Cliffhanger Much, can Argentina run it back? With many of the same guys who run it four years ago, and is France the most stacked cast? since Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and happened to be joined by the Matt Damon of football analysis. It's Mr. Rory Smith. We're running out of letters, Rog. We'll just go again. World Cup 2074, whatever, we'll be like Group AA. And we'll think nostalgically to the time it was just 48 teams.

3:24Roger Bennett:48 teams was the perfect amount, Rog will say. Yeah, it was just 104 games. It was just right. So let's start at Group I, by caramba. Because if there's death to be had in a new World Cup format, where two-thirds of the third-place teams advance, this one is probably the death-rattliest. France, finalists in the last two editions. Norway's Erling Haaland let loose in his nation's first international tournament in a generation. Senegal, who hold and parade out that African Nations Cup that they may or may not have won. And Iraq, who win the nickname sweepstakes with the Lions of Mesopotamia for the first time in 40 years.

4:00Or is it fair to say this is the most mortality curious of all the groups?

4:05Roger Bennett:Yeah, it's like mortality adjacent, isn't it? It's not quite a group of death because too many teams get through. So as long as everybody beats Iraq, or as long as Iraq win one game against somebody else, then maybe three of them can get through. But there is a little bit of a risk in this group that one of the big names goes home early. Thin line between group of death and group of life. Today's episode is presented by our great friends at Camarena Tequila. But wherever you're enjoying the beautiful game, be sure to kick off with Camarena. Kick off in England means something very, very different.

4:35But France, let's start with them. Captained by a now 27-year-old Kylian Abaf. It's hard to believe he's still a baby in my imagination. He's still a teenager, isn't he? There'll be a perpetual blur of speed and legs and ego and big cut Mo. He's back at the tournament where he's made his most indelible contributions. 2018, a winner, scoring four goals, including one in the final. First team to do that since some kid called Pele. Last time, he hoisted the whole nation on his back. Scored eight times, including that final hat-trick, losing to Argentina agonizingly on penalties. But life is not a straight line, and since then, Mbappe's become somewhat of an albatross.

5:11In the past five years, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid have won four Champions League between them. Mbappe has won zero, despite paying for both of those teams. Oh, we laugh, because otherwise we cry. But French shirt roar, completely different story. one goal behind the all-time French scoring record. If he bags five this summer, he'll become the leading goal scorer in the men's tournament in history. Roy, is Mbappe just a magnificent historical anomaly who saves his best moments for the international stage, not for the club shirt?

5:42Roger Bennett:He's definitely kind of a throwback to an era where players kind of made their reputations in the World Cup, that what they did for their country outweighed what they did for their clubs. And that doesn't really happen anymore because the Premier League and the Champions League in particular have such kind of a weight on like our day-to-day imagination around the game. That's where you forge your reputation. It's where you make your legend. And then the World Cup is this thing that kind of rolls around every four years and is almost, I guess, the icing on the cake more than anything. But Mbappe's done it the other way around.

6:10Roger Bennett:As you say, probably the greatest achievement of his career is winning the World Cup with France at the age of 18. The greatest individual performance of his career is the World Cup final hat-trick that didn't win him the World Cup in 2022. whereas at club level he's not really had that like defining moment either for PSG or for Real Madrid. He's won some French titles, well done. He's scored some big goals for Real but no major trophies. He's kind of France's Kylian Mbappe rather than like a club player which is unusual and possibly unique. And the one thing maybe I share with Kylian Mbappe so far is that we both peep very early in our teams.

6:50This is not about me, this is about France and this team is utterly loaded. Silence Mbappe, you still have to cope with the reigning Boulogne or a winner. Ousmane Dembele, who's his two-footed, there's a number of Champions League trophies he's won over the past two years. Or Michael Alisse, genius, avant-garde by a Munich Maverick, perhaps the most in-form attacker in the world this season. You've got impish, mischievous Manchester City delight, Ryan Cherky, probably on the bench. The no-look pass in human form. Look, all of this has its roots in the 1970s. It went to revamp its national pedigree.

7:23France started building Centre de Formation, 16 training academies all over the country, most famous of which is probably Claire Fontaine, offering free access to elite footballers to develop their skills. And it's worked. They won Euro 1984, World Cup 1998 at home, and then the following Euros. But Raw, when this current roster unpacks at the downtown Four Seasons in Boston, which be their base camp for the summer. It is truly stat-like Pringles. It could possibly be the deepest World Cup squad of all time. Does it have any inherent weakness?

7:55Roger Bennett:Not really weakness, no. I mean, France could have named a second squad of 26 players that probably would also have won the World Cup, which is genuinely extraordinary. The amount of talent France produces is kind of hard to grasp. Just the sheer kind of numbers of players that are there for Didier Deschamps to call up if he wants. By the way, I love the idea of a French second string winning the World Cup, which would be the ultimate dream for all the Kylian Mbappe haters. I would love that notion of a French second team winning a trophy without him. But we're not here to hate. We're here to talk about one of the most fascinating complexities in this roster, which is the gent who oversees it.

8:32As he has, it should be said for the past 14 years. Didier Deschamps, one of the elitely tiny small number of players to win the World Cup, both as a player and a manager, guided France to two concessive World Cup finals. And despite all that pedigree, it often feels like Deschamps is just there. He kind of exists, low on aura, low on charisma, not viewed as a coveted manager that's going to be prized away, but still his resume can't be doubted. He's gone through a process which has been called oxygenization, breathing new faces into a deeply talented roster. He said, quote, I'm not nostalgic.

9:05I don't look to the past. But ultimately, France will go as Didier Deschamps goes, in that he's got the unenviable task of talent management. All that talent, all that ego, and only 11 of them can start. That's some unique set of problems.

9:20Roger Bennett:He was nicknamed the Water Carrier by Eric Cantona in 1998, when France won the World Cup. He was kind of the guy who did the work for the more talented people on the team. And he's kind of taken that approach to this French side. So as much as they have for the last 10, 12, 14 years, had this incredible array of attacking talent, Deschamps has always kind of kept them on quite a tight leash, that France never kind of ripped through teams. They always seem to be playing slightly within themselves, which creates unhappiness, certainly among the fan base, as they feel like, actually, we could be beating these teams much more heavily.

9:53Roger Bennett:Le handbrake. Le handbrake. But then you wonder, like, maybe that's the secret of his success, because, as you say, you can't really argue with results. I guess the complexity this time is there's even more talent. There's even more... You listed the players and you didn't mention Desiree Douai. You didn't mention Bradley Barcola. Like they have so many of these players who will want to be in the team and will want to be expressing themselves. Can Deschamps do that while still kind of building the structure and the organisation he needs to actually get France to the final? We'll find out in their very first game, June 16th in New Jersey, coming against former colony Senegal, just like in 2002.

10:34Nothing could possibly go wrong here. Back then, reigning champion France was sensationally upsmart by a whip-smart, whip-quick Senegal in the opening game of the tournament. 1-0 set the tone for a really wild opening round that summer. Senegal went all the way to the quarterfinals. If they're underestimated then, not anymore. The Lions of Taranga, highest-ranked team out of Africa. That's one for all you David Attenborough fans at home. 3-1 friendly win in Wembley last June. Since then, coach Papa Chou joined late 2024. And Senegal have lost just two games on the field, friendly to Brazil. And of course, last week, against a resurgent, you can't stop Christian Pulisic in the USA.

11:10Plus, technically, most recent AFCON final, though no one in Senegal is giving that trophy back. The US beat them at the weekend on a fairly odd spongy field in Charlotte, Asterix. So this team, unbeaten in qualifying, conceding only thrice. Their fans brightly colour the body paint, oft head-geared, are facing a near-total travel ban. Raw, you've got AFCON also, chip on the shoulder. Will any team enter this tournament propelled by such a vast sense of righteous indignation?

11:39Roger Bennett:Yeah, Senegal will kind of want to prove they're the rightful champions of Africa, I think. Leaving aside, you know, the memories of 2002 when they beat France in that opening game, that still stands as one of the great shocks. They'll definitely kind of arrive in the States wanting to prove they're the rightful champions of Africa, which they kind of are in my head, just my memory of that game is Senegal won 1-0 after a goal in extra time. Morocco got a very controversial penalty as the home team. Senegal got a little bit suspicious. They walked off the pitch. They were eventually persuaded back onto the pitch, largely by their captain, Sadio Mane.

12:10Roger Bennett:Brahim Diaz, a Morocco player, took the penalty, missed the penalty. The game then went all the way through extra time, went to a penalty shootout, which Senegal won, making them champions of Africa, until several months later, CAF, the African Federation, told them that actually the match had been annulled and now Morocco were champions. And that Senegal had to give the trophy back. Senegal was like, nope. But Senegal don't know where the trophy is. It's very hard. You've got to pay a lot of postage on it. It's very expensive. And they do parade it out at very, very opportune moments. So there is that kind of sense of injustice, I think, for Senegal.

12:42Roger Bennett:The whole thing is very complicated and very messy. But it does feel an awful lot like Senegal maybe did win that game under the conditions and you can't just reverse the result. But they also have a huge amount of quality, Rog. They've got such a kind of deep squad. But they've also got the talent to kind of live up to that reputation, Rog. Do they ever? This roster topped by all-time leading national scorer Sadio Mane, that footballing unk, Premier League and the Champions League from his time with you at Liverpool. One last tournament in him, at least at age 34, before he said he'll retire internationally.

13:15Mane would join the wildly uncalibrated Nico Jackson, Everton's surreal artiste, Ilman and Dai, with Crystal Palace's European champion Ismail Assar in reserve. For a population of around 20 million, It's got to be said, Senegal cranks out elite footballers, largely thanks to a series of state-of-the-art academies that have cropped up across the nation in the past couple of decades, which has been bolstered by their savvy recruitment of diaspora players, largely from France. 13 of the current roster comes through the domestic academies, but they tend to feed almost instantly to Europe instead of into the local clubs.

13:48The 13 players, this is amazing. They cost a combined$116 ,000 in transfer fees when they were sold onto academies in Europe's major leagues. They've since been flipped for a combined$94 million. That's some incredible machine rule. I'm not sure it actually helps the Senegalese domestic game. Somebody's making money.

14:10Roger Bennett:The problem is that Senegal doesn't see the benefits of the money that talent goes on to make. And it does feel as though that's a flaw in the model. They have got these academies that do find young talent in Senegal, that do give them high quality training, and then do send them on to European clubs, often through like partnership arrangements. Surprising number of Senegalese players come through the French team Mets because of a partnership arrangement between Mets and one of the academies in Senegal. but you do see the amount of money that European clubs pay for them when they are kind of game ready and you wonder whether it might not be better for Senegal if that money was going directly into the Senegalese system rather than to the French clubs that have taken them out of Africa.

14:51A team that I cannot wait to witness, Norway back in the tournament for the first time since 1998. Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard coming together to propel their boys to a perfect record in qualifying. Eight wins out of eight. Helped dunk Italy out of the World Cup along the way. Campaigning including an 11-1 demolition of poor Moldova. Wouldn't somebody think of the Moldovans? Big Earl milked his way to 16 goals in those eight games. Man obliterated Norway's 87-year-old scoring record at the age of just 24. He's got more goals than caps for Norway. Heads into his first international tournament admitting he feels more relief than happy.

15:30Real quote, there's a lot of pressure and stuff. he's so honest he's a poet as well as a goalscorer who says you can't do it all is this the summer that Erling Haaland announces himself as the single most recognisable player on the planet

15:45Roger Bennett:it's not quite fair to represent Norway as like Erling Haaland plus 10 other guys but it does feel as though obviously he's the standard bearer obviously he's the talisman but he is kind of one of the great characters of the modern game as well and I think from his point of view this isn't just a chance to prove that you know he is one of the best footballers in Norway's history or that he's the person who can take them out of the group stage at the World Cup. It's his chance to kind of lay claim to this tournament and mark himself out as a genuine superstar rather than kind of the goal cyborg who plays up front for Manchester City.

16:17The global superstar he would love. I mean, there is a chance here to be the face of the game in the United States. Kylian Mbappe actually actively wants that. Massive NBA fan. He senses the power for the future of his career. I think Erling Haaland wants that too. can do that too. And you're right, it's not 10 plus Big Earl. This is a team that the nation is so unbelievably proud of. Kind of really moving watching the Norwegian squad get unveiled by the country's monarch, King Harald V himself. Best Harald since Kane. Talked beautifully about how his nation has waited, quote, a long time to return to the World Cup.

16:53This is a real quote. The hope has lived on. On gravel, on grass, and artificial turf, across long distances, ferries and mountain passes. So what's wrong with the game in America? We don't do enough football on ferries. It does remain to be seen how fit Martin Erdegaard is after the rigours of, you know, the Arsenal trophy celebration. Atletico Madrid's Alexander Solov, powerfully physical, forced Crystal Palace's Jürgen Strand-Larsen is not chopped liver. And Oscar Bob of Fulham also knows where the net is on occasion. That attack is peerless. But the squad, particularly the limited defensive options, may end the flow of Aquavit after game success pretty, pretty early.

17:31This is an incredibly talented squad for a nation whose population is smaller than Wisconsin. Pound for pound, they might be one of the best in the world.

17:38Roger Bennett:Yeah, they produce a huge amount of talent. And to be honest, not just in soccer at the moment, Norway's kind of dominance of lots of different sports, from like middle distance running to tennis and golf. They've got superstars in everything. It's not just stuff. They can do more than just slide down mountains, the Norwegians. That's what we've discovered in recent years. Black belt in chess, man. The black belt in chess, exactly, Magnus Carlsen. I think Norway's approach might have to be to try and outscore teams because they do have this incredibly stacked front line. The defence is decent.

18:07Roger Bennett:They're OK. They won't be kind of overly vulnerable, but there's no real superstars in there. Players like Oskar Bob and RB Leipzig, Antonio Nusa. It's in the creative role with Martin Odegaard. And then it's all of their massive strikers. Those, you know, the players you've named, Saul, Arth, Stran Larsen, Harland, are some of the biggest humans at this tournament. And that is ultimately kind of an advantage. So I think as the tournament wears on, Norway to stay in it probably have to take the approach that attacking is the best form of defence. Those giants, that mass of human flesh, may not win the World Cup, but they would fancy their chances in a Royal Rumble.

18:43Last member of Group I, most arduous journey to get there. A really, truly grueling campaign over 28 months and a tournament high of 21 games to qualify. It's Iraq. Also faced near impossible logistics during the playoffs. The entire nation's airspace was shut down because of nearby conflict. The team, 60 % of which is based domestically, mostly for Baghdadi clubs, had to take 10-hour bus rides from Jordan, catch a flight to Mexico for the intercontinental qualifier. Journey, the players said, was, quote, hell. But their Australian manager, Graham Arnold, said was the best option out of plans A to F.

19:15He himself was grounded in Dubai. Once in Mexico, the team soared. They beat Bolivia 2-1 in Monterrey and they qualified. It's quite moving watching the fans, both watching the fans, both Iraqi and Mexican, rush the pitch. Mexican fans embraced this team through flags, through sombreros from the stands. Players posed topless with those sombreros on. And you saw in that moment, it was another example of a football team thriving because of, not despite, the agony of their nation.

19:43Roger Bennett:It gives them a motivating force. doesn't it? Like an animus behind what they're doing, a sense of purpose that maybe feels more immediate than it does for some other countries who kind of expect to be here. That there is very clearly like an aspect of nation building about being at the World Cup for teams like Iraq. The complications didn't stop when they qualified. They had five players refused visas initially. It means so much for the Iraqis to be here. There is such a chance for them on a bigger world stage than you can get anywhere else. So that, you know, as you say, 28 months, all the kind of challenges they face, all of the logistical difficulties.

20:16Roger Bennett:All that stuff is worth it to be at the World Cup, regardless of what happens once the tournament starts. Most important, least important thing. And then it's time for our spoiler alerts. Your match to watch in Groupon. It's really hard to pick because any combination of Senegal, Norway and France is going to be great. I think France, Norway is the obvious one. June the 26th, definitely top three marquee clash of that opening round. I'm going to be quite emotional watching Iraq back in the tournament. against Haaland in Boston on June 16th. I don't know how you say bionic in Arabic. The player you're looking out for.