Italy Out Again, Turkey’s Threat, and Global Qualifying Unpacked, presented by Christopher Ward: 04/01/26

0:00You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, Suboptimal Radio. Well, a bit like the front page of Giseta dello Sport said on Wednesday, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, tutti a casa.

0:13Rog:Everybody go home. It's over. It's finished. You can't take away Lumumba and the Colombian Eagle guy. The World Cup needs these people. As much as it's only a very slender chance that Max Danman goes to the World Cup, I think it's not a zero chance.

0:31Rog:The feel for World Cup 2026 is finally set, and for the third World Cup in a row, four-time champions Italy will somehow not be part of proceedings. They were sadder than the Tracy Chapman song last night, self-immoliating on penalties in Bosnia. To a nerveless, flare-propelled host, Apocalypse Now 3. A talent-soaked Turkey top to game Kosovo to earn the final slot in the United States Group D for danger. Sweden finished last in their World Cup qualifying group. So how did they just qualify last night? Iraq also made it. And to answer six big questions about the passion and emotion-filled window on the mad delicious, bum-clenching last day of World Cup qualifying, including England g***ing the bed to Japan, panic stations, and to touch upon Tottenham Hotspur's third manager of the season.

1:23Rog:But who's counting? It's a joy to welcome Crownpits of Harrogate. How is your level of World Cup fever, Mr Rory Smith? It's a pretty severe case, Rog. It's a pretty severe case. This week, you can criticise the World Cup, the expansion to 48 teams, the way that FIFA have kind of messed about with qualifying. There are legitimate criticisms to be made. But this week, I think, has worked really, really well as having like a taster, an appetiser of what the World Cup will be. It obviously isn't the official World Cup, but it does feel a little bit like it's kind of started, sort of. For World Cup fever, I'm not a doctor, but I recommend leeches.

2:01Rog:They work for everything, yeah? Well, let's dive in with question number one. Italy, how has it come to this? Last night in Zeneca, Gennaro Gattuso's boys went down in flames. Remember in 2017, they were beaten by Sweden in the playoff. Four years ago, brushed aside by North Macedonia. last night against Bosnia and Herce Gavina. Never played two teams at the same time, yeah? Team ranked number 71 in the world. The Azzurri went 1-0 up, were reduced to 10 men when Alessandro Bastoni was sent off on the cusp of half-time. Bosnia had been battering them before that, but they proceeded to pepper Donnarumma's goal.

2:42Rog:Game went to penalties where the Italians fell apart, missing two. This defeat feels like a national torment, both very shocking. and now third time on the run. Not surprising at all or at the same time. Yeah, I've spent the last week in Rome, Rog. Not actually for these World Cup qualifiers for something else but speaking to Italians, they weren't hopeful before that game. They have lost all faith in their national team and I think they kind of went to Zeneca. They went, watched their team go to Zeneca. Fully aware that that word in about 48, 72 hours would be intensely painful forever for Italian football because all they saw, unlike the players who seemed to celebrate when Bosnia booked their place by beating Wales on penalties, unlike the players, the population of Italy seemed to realise this is an obvious trap, away against the team with no little quality.

3:37They're obviously not a major footballing power, Bosnia, but they've got players in major leagues. They've got players of talent and tactical discipline and all that stuff. Hostile crowd, loads of smoke, loads of pyro in the atmosphere. it was kind of written. I think we all sort of saw this coming and the Italians definitely did.

3:57Rog:This episode is presented by our friends at Christopher Ward, one of the fastest growing watch brands in the world. CW is an independent watch brand challenging the traditional luxury model. I love them. Many of you will recall our work commemorating Goodison Park in timepiece form with Christopher Ward, a reminder of the love we share for the culture, the stories, the fandom, the global community that make this sport so powerful. When I look at my CW watch, and this is the goodest, I like to imagine I'm a manager counting down the seconds to the final whistle. Oh, an undeserved win in a relegation battle.

4:32Rog:What could be sweeter? Big love and thanks. Courage. So how? Why? I think whither? Those are the questions in that order. Because football ultimately is about the bants, apparently, and the bants for this. We're at 11. Italy haven't played a men's World Cup game since Luis Suarez bit Giorgio Cellini in 2014. That remains true for at least four years. At Daniel Russo 22 tweeted, Italy getting good at literally every single sport you could possibly imagine. Besides the single sport they actually care about is probably the most Italian thing to ever happen in history. And then this one, 20 % of the world population has never seen Italy at a men's World Cup.

5:13Rog:Look, there were so many indignities, so many agonies, so many traumas. Donnarumma, it has to be said, was immense. Bosnia had 30 shots in this game. Moise Keane kept up his scoring record, opening the scoring 13 goals in 13 starts. But in the second half, he blasted a one and one over the bar, reverting to Everton Moise Keane's settings. Bless. Yes. And of course, Bastoni bringing down Amar Memich, who was in behind a wild, lamentable decision and agony that led to the Red. There's that old phrase roar, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. So what is fool me three times in terms of missing World Cup qualification?

5:54Rog:Is it now normalised? Is this just who Italy's men are now, a non-World Cup qualifying European nation, a bit like a Belarus or an Armenia? Well, a bit like the front page of the Giseta dello Sport said on Wednesday, fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times, tutti a casa. Everybody go home. It's over. It's finished. Get out. I think they meant that everyone involved with the Italian national team should be dismissed, which is probably a start. But we talked about this before, Rog. A lot of the issues are far more deep-seated. They're really complicated, the situation Italy's got itself in.

6:30A lot of James Horncastle talked to us last week about how hard it is for Italy to produce talent, how few players of the utmost quality Italy produces. And I'd actually say that their failure, not just this year, but in 2018, in 2022, in between winning the European Championship, what it shows is that tradition and the size of your population aren't really what makes you a football power anymore. You know, you can be Belgium, which is a very small country. I don't know, it might be a little bit past their best, with all due respect to the United States team, who they blew away over the...

7:03Rog:Too soon. Who they blew away last week. Too soon. But Belgium doesn't have the population of Italy. It doesn't really have the history of Italy in terms of football, or even art. But they can produce players in these huge quantities. Same with Portugal. Same with increasingly, you know, relatively small nations in South America or Africa. In terms of their population, they might not be able to kind of match Italy. but you don't need all 60 million of your people to be really good at football. You just need kind of a few hundred. And the Italian youth system is broken down to such an extent they just can't find them.

7:36They are still Italy. They're still a superpower. They're still one of the heavyweight nations. I think the World Cup will be poorer without them but they don't have a sort of divine right to be a major football power. You have to work at it and there's intense global competition to have that status.

7:52Rog:Yeah, I mean, I found it fascinating listening to the iconic 1994 ponytail divine wonder that is Roberto Baggio, the Italian superstar, lamenting not just the state of the Youth Academy, but the style of Italian Youth Academy. It's actually very relatable from an American perspective that Italy is no longer creating creative football players who are instinctive on the ball. We're creating almost tactical machines who lack that spark. Italy. I mean, it's relatable from a US perspective too. But God bless Bosnia after winning back-to-back penalty shootouts. So now in Canada's group. I think real relief for Jesse Marsh that he doesn't have to play Italy in Toronto with its massive Italian population.

8:36Rog:But he, at the same time, will not make the mistake I think the Italian team made and underestimate Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Italians did. Look how that played out. By the way, I loved 21-year-old Wisconsinite Baratarevic scored the vital penalty for Bosnia, PSV right winger, as he grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin. His Bosnian-born parents emigrated in 2001. He developed his game in the New England Revolution Academy and he made his US men's national team debut in 2024 and then elected instead to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Made his debut that year and has now cemented his name in their nation's history books.

9:15Rog:It's a beautiful story. He is the kind of creative talent, to be candid, that we do not create enough of in this nation. But Raw, it has happened. Probably a dark day for the organisers across the nation. No Ireland, no Italy at a World Cup in the United States. It's like the world without Angela's Ashes and the Sopranos. It's a massive miss. Yeah, I think it is. I mean, from a fan perspective, the Irish will be missed. Same with the Welsh. They would have added something too. But Ireland in particular in the US would have been a real draw. They would have turned every single game that they played into a spectacle.

9:47they would have turned every single city they visited I think two of which would have been in Mexico into a real party I think with Italy missing out and this isn't very romantic Rog but I think the whole tournament does lose a little bit of glamour a little bit of stardust and Italy against Switzerland is a bigger TV draw internationally than Bosnia against Switzerland that's meant there's no disrespect to either of those teams it's sport, you have to get there on merit you can't get there because you've got a great kit and some famous names but I do think having Italy in the World Cup which I am old enough to remember unlike quite a lot of people I think having Italy in the World Cup does add something to it and there will be a point where maybe we'll miss them a little bit I think

10:28Rog:Yeah, I mean we're going to miss Ireland as the famous almost biblical phrase says the beers don't drink themselves but Italy you'll always have the baseball Question number two How profoundly should Turkey fill our nightmares until June in today's edition of Precision Play presented by Christopher Ward, highlighting the key performers of the qualifying round. The Turks ground out a 1-0 win against tiny Kosovo on the road last night to fulfill their destiny. Grabbed the last slot in the US group day. They last were in the World Cup 2002, went on a dance to the semifinal, and that, shockingly, was their last appearance.

11:06Rog:This generation is talent-soaked, will arrive in the United States with the idea of carrying out a sequel to that Dark Horse run, Too Fast, Too Furious. They are good. They outclassed the United States last year in Connecticut. Inter Milan, Hakan, Shalanoglu set to the tempo. Young Maverick daggers. Kenan Yildiz of Juventus and Ardegula of Real Madrid will be cheered on by the massive Turkish-American diaspora. Ro, which players should we have nightmares about? How good are they as a collective? Can we get a fair check out of 10, please? Well, so there's sort of two answers there, Rog. One is, I mean, the answer to which players should you be worried about?

11:40You've named them both. Canan Yildiz and Arda Guller are potentially two of the kind of breakout stars of the tournament. Yildiz is the only good thing about Juventus at the moment. And Arda has been a real success at Real Madrid this year. Xabi Alonso, probably his legacy as Real Madrid manager will be kind of breaking Arda Guller into the team. But they have more. I think Turkey are really good. They are maybe not semi-final good, but they are very much eyeing a run deep into the knockouts good. Italian coach there will be at least one Italian at the World Cup with Vincenzo Montella they've got kind of a little bit of everything they've got plenty of European experience they've got high quality players they've got a really deep pool of talent some of it Turkish some of it German Turkish drawn from the Diaspora the fact that they were in the playoffs is a little bit misleading they were in Spain's group and they dropped points in two games and both of those games were against Spain they were unlucky in the sense that if they got in a group with a slightly less impressive first seed then I suspect they'd have qualified automatically So yeah, Turkey will look at their group draw with the US, Australia and Paraguay and think, okay, this is a decent start for us.

12:43Let's make the last 32 and figure out what happens from there. But I don't know if the US should be afraid. I don't know if that's a problem for the US because the US don't have to win their group. They might not even have to come second, Rog. So as long as the US beat Australia or Paraguay, they should really qualify. You want to perform well against Turkey. You want to kind of show that you can compete with a team that's got that sort of quality. but that's not what will determine whether the US goes out in the group stage or not.

13:09Rog:Yeah, but this is what drove me. US group, Group D, D for disaster. We start against Paraguay June 12th. Then we face Australia. We cap off against Turkey A. And the thing that fills me with fear is that we were so happy in December to be drawn into this group. We laughed. The easy group we felt compared to the others. And then we realized everyone else in the group was laughing too. They all were delighted to be drawn with us. The United States' pot one team and Mauricio Pochettino's United States have just been utterly outclassed by Belgium. Really, Portugal cantered by us last night. Luckily, as you say in this bloated first opening round, three teams will emerge on the group stage.

13:56Rog:How do you see us? Because we US fans have two moods. We have like, we're going to win it all. Pochettino is telling the fan base, semi-finals, that's where we're headed. Why not us? Is his message, which is a bold one. I'd say it's very singular. There's no other international manager who's making bold proclamations right now. You don't hear that from Spain. You don't hear that from France. You definitely will get to him. Don't hear it from Thomas Tuchel. But I'm interested. How do you see us? Are we seen from across the Atlantic? I know Potch has spent a lot of time speaking to the English press on and off the record.

14:30Rog:Well, he's been US manager. often tell him how much he wants to come back to England. How do we look the United States from a distance, Rob? I think it probably helps that no one really watches the games. That might be an advantage. They're at the wrong time to make much of an impact here, I think. And obviously, you know, European fans and the English and the different, are kind of more consumed with their own team. And in the case of this last week, with the final qualification slot. So I would imagine that, to be honest, I think people were more engaged with Italy than they were with England, and the US would have been a long way down that list.

15:05I wonder if we almost have the polar opposite perspective to fans in the States. A lot of the names are familiar. You can just about name a US national team full of players who the average English fan has sort of heard of, and that is a massive advantage because that's not true of most European countries. There are a lot of players on the pitch for Bosnia on Tuesday night that most English fans, apart from Edin Dzeko, would have had no clue who they were. Whereas with the US, there's all these players who've either played in the Premier League occasionally or they play for big teams in Europe.

15:36They're familiar, therefore we kind of assume they'll be all right. There is an awareness that there are difficult results for Pochettino kind of every few weeks. But I think overall we think, well, you've got a manager who's managed in the Premier League, who took Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League final, who came relatively close to taking relegation-threatened Spurs to the League Championship. we're a country that believes fervently that football is decided by coaches you've got a good one so I think despite the results our assumption is that it will be okay when the tournament starts I'm not quite sure how misplaced that is but that my my guess is that's the kind of English perspective on the US

16:18Rog:I love the English perspective on the US this is how we should we're doing it all wrong US fans don't watch the games just listen to what Raw said just create your own vibe your own aura and it's all going to be okay talking about all going to be okay question number three how on earth did Sweden qualify for this thing managed for the last four games by Graham Potter Sweden's World Cup qualifying group record was 1-0 drawn 2 lost 6 goals 4-4 goals against 12 they finished rock bottom of their group qualified for these playoffs by winning a Nations League group, Group C, the third tier, in that UEFA Nations League.

17:02Rog:They faced Ukraine away. Luckily, though, away for Ukraine was in Spain. So there were actually more Swedish fans in attendance. And then they got to host a final game against a Poland dude once six times in qualifying and were the better team here from a footballing perspective, but went down agonizingly 3-2 as Sweden scrappily blocked shots, danced with own goal death and won on an 88th minute. Victor Jocheres, pinball goal, cue face mask, big picture. I'd say IKEA doesn't have cheaper backdoors, but it doesn't matter, does it? Or does it roar? The manner of qualification, is that all forgotten once a World Cup ball kicks off?

17:40It probably is, isn't it? But I don't know if it should be. It does feel slightly like Sweden have got in on a technicality, which is winning their nation's lead group. It wasn't even that they won the nation's lead, You know, the top tier, tier A, I think, of the Nations League. They won the third tier of the Nations League and then basically didn't try in World Cup qualifying. They lost home and away to Kosovo, which is, you know, Kosovo got some good players and I don't mean any disrespect, but that is not really the form that you should be showing to get into the World Cup. It won't devalue the achievement once the Swedes are there.

18:11Their fans will travel in numbers. They'll be delighted to take part. And I think they've probably got enough individual class to cause a few teams' problems. But yeah, I've got to admit, it does feel a little bit to me like they shouldn't really be there. It feels like they've got in because of paperwork.

18:27Rog:I love bureaucracy. That is why we watch Czechia with the other European qualifiers. They outlasted Denmark on penalties, capped off a UEFA playoff in which home advantage was dominant. Eight of the 12 games in three of the four finals went to the home team. Unfathomable, intangible. God bless the neutral site then, employed by the Intercontinental playoffs, which took place in Mexico last night. My Lord, scenes. Question four, are Iraq back? They outlasted Bolivia to earn the final place in the World Cup. Their first World Cup place in 40 long years. Football mad nation. Incredibly joyous scenes across Iraq last night.

19:09Rog:Also in Mexico, it's been really quite moving to watch the Mexican people embrace the traveling Iraqi fans who came in numbers to support their team. Many of them from the large Iraqi diaspora across the world. Their team had a grueling three-day journey from Baghdad. It was like planes, trains and automobiles stuff because of the closed airspace in that region. Iraq will now play in Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto. Ali Alhamadi plays on loan from Ipswich for Luton in League One. He scored the opening goal. He said after the game, I don't think people understand how much we've been through as a country and a people.

19:48Rog:There's a reason we all live abroad, because our families had to leave to give us a better future, to come back and give joy to millions of people. This is why we love football. By the way, Alhamadi speaks with a Scouse accent. Grew up in Toxteth in the centre of Liverpool after his parents fled Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. These are complex, fraught times, Roar. I always believe that the true wonder of the World Cup is that it's a mirror to the world, the culture, the geopolitics in good times. That's true in times of darkness. I found it profoundly moving watching the Iraqis celebrate last night, Roy.

20:23Rog:It is a reminder of almost the naive, albeit fleeting joy that football can bring. Yeah, it's really hard not to be kind of uplifted by the fact that Iraq have made it, as you say, 40 years on. a country that has been through so much, summed up by the fact that it is largely, and this is true of an awful lot of countries in the World Cup, largely drawn from diaspora players, which I think raises a really important question that we should all think about, which is what is nationhood, what is identity, when are you from a place? What makes you identify with that place? Because those Iraqi players don't feel any less Iraqi for not having grown up in Iraq.

20:57Maybe it's a little bit naive, it might be pushing it a touch, I think, but you do wonder to what extent are these genuinely nation-building moments as well? that's the other thing you know that across iraq which is still not you know it's still there are still issues across that country there isn't really much that will be able to unite people from different religious or ethnic backgrounds as much as seeing their country qualify for the world cup it does have football does have that power and and i think it's important to lean into that and to almost to recognize it that it's it's okay to accept that football can do that for a place that it can even if it is only fleeting even if it is only brief it can kind of provide a country with something to work with and i think there are times when we kind of all need that

21:41Rog:yeah amen rocker football can be better than real life but also football is at its best when it transcends mere football that happened again last night dr congo won the other slot by clipping jamaica or conca calf cousins and truly sad news is that congolese superfan michelle kuka and Boladinga, the gentleman who became famed as Lumamba Vea. You remember the viral sensation during the AFCON tournament, maintained that statuesque pose for entire games in honour of Patrice Lumamba, Congo's independence leader, first prime minister. He will not reportedly be with the team due to visa challenges. We used to say in football, no perlo, no party.

22:25Rog:I'll just say the World Cup will be diminished without that kind of pride, that kind of fandom, that kind of singular wonder and joy that Lumumba brings. I just pray that good sense can prevail here. Well, and as long as the Colombian Eagle guy can make it, you can't take away Lumumba and the Colombian Eagle guy. The World Cup needs these people. But I would admit, Roger, I found his form of tribute quite stressful because just every time I saw it during AFCon, I kind of thought how hard it must be to stand still for that long. Like it causes me an almost physical level of stress just to see it.

23:01So in many ways, yeah, obviously it's sad he's not going. But personally, I'm kind of relieved because I don't think I could do that.

23:09Rog:By the way, you talk about Colombian Eagle guy. We have a US Eagle guy, remarkable man. He was at our show in Atlanta at the weekend. He goes to every single game. Somehow goes to a lot of wrecks and matches too. We need to get, this is what I'm saying, workout organizers, We need some non-ornithological representation of fan bases. Get Lumamba in there. And talking about good sense, let's lose our minds with question five. Because last night, Japan beat a flatter mind and flatter for England. 1-0 at Wembley to become the first ever Asian team to beat your boys. That followed a dull edge 1-1 draw against Uruguay.