Mexico & Canada Back in Action | Day Eight Preview | Morning Cupdate, Presented by The Home Depot

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2:42to day eight of the World Cup.

2:48Hello and welcome to Morning Cup Update, built by the Home Depot. We're here every single matchday morning during the tournament, looking ahead to all of the football and telling you the biggest stories. And we're back on the Home Depot bus, which has made its way up to Seattle and it's parked right next to the iconic Space Needle in the heart of the city. It doesn't get much better than this. The Home Depot is your winning assist to host the ultimate watch party. with fast free delivery to get your backyard match day ready, subject to availability. Now, thank you all so much for your lovely comments on YouTube.

3:20Again, there is so much love for the buzzer. I don't actually know what is on it today. I've left that to my producers. So shall we see what they've gone for? It's coming home. Hey! Come on, England. It's coming home. Predictable. Very predictable, guys. As a Wales fan, I must admit this is painful. I think the next five weeks is going to be very difficult, probably because England are going to win the World Cup. We're going to talk about them in a moment, but let's begin with the first match of the day as the Democratic Republic of Congo snatched a precious point, the first ever World Cup point, by the way, against one of the pre-tournament favourites, Portugal.

3:58Joao Neves gave the favourites an early lead, but Joanne Visser equalised for DR Congo on the stroke of half-time. I am absolutely obsessed with this clip, where a tiny pocket of about 15 Congo fans celebrated at a watch party in Lisbon, surrounded by thousands and thousands of very silent Portuguese fans.

4:27Excellent. Excellent. This is what the World Cup is about. Videos like that, incredibly brave as well from them. Does anyone know if they made it out alive? Anyway, what a result for the African nation. Much of the post-match debate was about Cristiano Ronaldo, as you can probably imagine. We asked you yesterday in a poll whether he should start and nearly 90 % of you said no. I'm not going to lie, what a shout because he was really poor, wasn't he? Potentially the worst moment was when he failed to play a dummy, which would have given Bruno Fernandes an easy opportunity. Thierry Henry on Fox was pretty cutting as well, saying the team needs to score, not you that needs to score.

5:05A desperate performance from Ronaldo, I think it's fair to say, which will have hurt, particularly after Lionel Messi's hat-trick for Argentina the night before. Here's Rory Smith on Night Cup giving his take on his performance. The bits where you really find it difficult to believe that they can go all the way is when he's getting in his teammate's way actively. But when you see him, there were two or three that I saw where he's making runs and you think, there's a Vitini standing there or Juan Evers is standing there or whoever. Just leave them to it. He's like an overbearing parent. Then afterwards, England took on Croatia in Dallas, one of the first heavyweight clashes of the tournament, arguably the game of the tournament so far.

5:43What do you guys think? We're actually going to win England. You're a USA fan. I'm going to call you out right here. Enough of that, please. Thank you very much. Now, England twice took the lead in the first half through Harry Kane, only for Croatia to equalise both times. However, in the second half, England blew their opponents away as Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford each scored wonderful goals to give them a 4-2 victory. One England fan went viral after she heard the news that England had scored a fourth while she was at work. Oh, England just scored! Yeah,

6:24not your average England fan. That is pop sensation Olivia Dean. If you haven't heard about her, get to know about her. She is amazing. I mean, to drop the news of the England goal and then go straight into Man I Need is such a flex. I love it. We watched the match here in Seattle at the Georgian Dragon pub. It was quite an experience. Lots of English fans, a couple of Croatian fans and a lot of swearing. So naturally, we got talking to some of them. Tell me, we're going to bring it home. This is the year. Shall I hit it then? It's coming out. He was very buzzing afterwards and I can see why. And I do have a feeling, if I'm being honest with you guys.

7:08In the mid-afternoon kick-off, Ghana took on Panama. The West African nation have one of the best sets of supporters at the tournament and they certainly brought all the vibes to Toronto. Oh, this was a tense match as Panama, who are still searching for their first World Cup point went toe-to-toe with the Black Stars of Ghana until the 95th minute when Caleb Yarenki scored a dramatic goal for Ghana. It is safe to say the team very much enjoyed the win.

7:45Finally, it was Colombia against Uzbekistan in Mexico City. Luis Diaz, Daniel Munoz and Yamington Campas were on the score sheet to give Colombia a winning return to the World Cup. That 3-1 win means that Colombia top Group K, putting them in a fantastic position to reach the knockouts. Here we go again then. Every team in the tournament has now played, so it is time for round two of the group stages. We begin in Atlanta at noon Eastern with two teams in Group A who lost their opening matches as Czechia take on South Africa. Bufana Bufana had a bit of a nightmare in Mexico City in the opening match because if losing 2-0 wasn't bad enough, They also had Yaya Sitole and Tembezwane sent off.

8:25So both of them will be suspended for the game. Trevor Noah was on the night cut with Rodger Rory. And here was his take on South Africa's subpar performance. I didn't expect it. I'll tell you what I was sad about. I don't think Bafana Bafana played the way they played. Right? We play some of the most beautiful football in the world. And this game, we set up as if we didn't want to lose. That's what it felt like. I was like, all right, set up with five at the back and let's just swing that ball forward and let's hope for a counter-attacking. It didn't feel like us. As for Czechia, they were a little bit unlucky to lose narrowly to South Korea.

9:02They'll be heavy favourites for this match and know that anything other than a win puts their hopes of reaching the knockout stage in serious jeopardy. Then at 3pm Eastern, Group B gets back underway as Switzerland face Bosnia and Herzegovina in Los Angeles. When we were on Venice Beach on Monday evening, by the way. There were Bosnia fans absolutely everywhere. They're definitely one of the unexpected fan turnouts in this tournament. They love the beach as well, supposedly. They even have released this, which is an absolute banger if you ask me.

9:38Bosnia were able to slightly spoil Canada's party in Toronto by securing a one-all draw against the co-host. This will be another difficult match against Switzerland though, who will be determined to make amends after conceding a late equaliser against Qatar in stoppage time. Don't forget, by the way, Rory Smith's bold call about Bosnia before the tournament. I think it might be Bosnia, you know. I think Bosnia have got, in those two young winners, I think they've got enough creativity to supply Dzeko. So I think Bosnia take the route. Win against Qatar and surely it is game on. Speaking of them, they take on co-host Canada in Group B at 6pm Eastern, with both sides still looking for their first World Cup win.

10:13For Canada, they will have never had a better opportunity. Qatar may have done well to stay in the game and steal a point against Switzerland, but they conceded 26 shots in that game. One thing going in Canada's advantage is the fact that this game is in Vancouver, and that is the subject of today's drilldown.

10:35Yep, today's drilldown brought to you by Makita is all about the fact that this being a home tournament for Canada and playing in Vancouver is a real ace up their sleeve. The Canucks' recent record in the Vancouver Stadium is formidable. In their last four matches there, they've scored 17 and only conceded two. In fact, they haven't lost there in over 10 years, which is quite ridiculous, really, isn't it? Part of the reason is home comforts, with seven members of the squad, including Alphonso Davies, all previously featuring for the Vancouver Whitecaps. Also, some Canada reporters believe that the pressure is lower in Vancouver than when they play in Toronto, although midfielder Ishmael Kone denied that in a press conference today.

11:15The other advantage is the field itself. New turf was laid in Vancouver for the World Cup and it received rave reviews from the Australia and Turkey players who played there on Saturday. It's a zippy surface and Jesse Marsh loves to play direct football that utilises his fast and youthful players. One of those is Alphonso Davies and he is the real key for Canada. Alphonso missed that first game against Bosnia with a hamstring injury but he is expected to play today. against Qatar. Finally, in Guadalajara at 9pm Eastern, it is Mexico against South Korea. And after that opening day win, the vibes of El Tri supporters are 10 out of 10.

12:00This was the arrival of the Mexico bus and there must have been tens of thousands on the streets to greet them. How cool is that? Imagine that. That tuna win over South Africa has sent the country into overdrive. We spoke to a Mexican fan in LA straight after their opening victory against South Africa and asked him to tell us why the neutral should support Mexico in 30 seconds. Three, two, one, go. Number one, tacos. Number two, you can drink in the stadium. A lot of Kawamas. Number three, the colours, green, ecological colour. Who doesn't love that? Number four, we're very passionate. You go to a stadium, you will scream, you will dance, you will go all over the place.

12:43So who doesn't want to do that? And number, what was it, number what? Number five, you can swear. You can say everything you want to do. Fudge, this, that, whatever. It is not just the home supporters having fun. South Korea are here in good numbers as well. Here's the beautiful moment when one South Korea supporter started waving a Mexico flag during a fan parade.

13:12The South Korea fans love everybody. They are definitely the friendliest group of fans that I think we've got in this World Cup. It feels like everyone in Group A is having a great time in Mexico. Now, I don't want to bring down the vibes too much, but Captain Cesar Montes will be a big miss for Mexico at centre-back. He's suspended after his red card in Game 1. Edson Alvarez is expected to step in. He's normally a defensive midfielder, but is very capable of stepping into defence. South Korea haven't beaten Mexico in 20 years, and they'll need to show huge spirit to defy the 12th man that Mexico has behind them in the stands.

13:47However, after their impressive comeback against Czechia, they'll feel confident of upsetting the locals and sealing their spot in the knockouts.

13:58Tonight, directly after the match between Mexico and South Korea, don't forget to watch the night cut with Rog and Rory. They'll be joined by wearer of Men in Blazers neckties, legend of the other football, Mr Andrew Luck. Throughout the tournament, I'm going head to head with a prediction challenge against one of the night cup team. Yesterday, I took on Rog and I've had a little bit of a nightmare, guys. I'm going to be totally honest with you. It's not going very well for me at all. We both went for Portugal wins and obviously DR Congo upset the odds to get a draw. Then in the England against Croatia game, Rog backed England and I went for Croatia, which I don't actually think I meant to do.

14:33It just came out. So it means that the night cup take a 3-1 lead in the series. I really, really, I really, really, really need to start pulling it back, don't I? Otherwise, this is going to get very ugly. Today, I took on the one and only Rory Smith. It is prediction time with our birthday boy, Rory, who's 44 today. Happy birthday, Rory. Thank you very much, Betty. That's very kind of you. Let's start with Qatar against Canada. What are you saying? I didn't think Qatar would get a point. And they got that 96-minute equaliser against Switzerland. So I'm a little bit kind of unsure now. I think they might be better than we thought.

15:09And Canada were maybe a little bit disappointing in that first game against Bosnia. but I think Canada take this. I think they win 2-0. I'm going to say Canada take this 1-0. Okay, and then tense. Next one, we have got Mexico against South Korea. Those fans are loving each other, by the way. What do you say? It's a friendship derby. No one wants the other side to lose. They're going to keep the ball. It's going to be like that famous game in 1982, the disgrace of Hee Hong, where no one tries to win because they're all just having such a nice time. This will be a good game. I think genuinely in terms of drama and entertainment, this will be really good.

15:44South Korea, I thought, looked pretty strong. It's the Czechs. They may be like a little bit of cutting edge because MLS has broken Son, but then Mexico have the home nation advantage. I think maybe a draw, but a high-storing draw. I'm going to say 3-all. 3-all? Thriller. Okay, I'm going to say that I think Mexico are going to take this 2-1 because I want Mexico to go really far in this tournament, so I'm fully backing them. A word from our friends at 1440. The 2022 World Cup final drew 1.5 billion viewers. It's 11 times this year's Super Bowl. To understand how football became the world's game and what drove it, listen to 1440 Explores with Financial Times journalist Simon Kuiper.

16:25It will give you the inside scoop into the depths of the tournament. Listen to 1440 Explores wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Match Day 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. It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube and let's celebrate this summer the way it's meant to be celebrated.

17:05Just head to the events tab on menandblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together courage.

17:17Today's finishing touch brought to you by Bear Paint is all about the World Cup's biggest breakout star. And that is 40-year-old Cape Verde goalkeeper Vazinha, who stunningly made seven saves and kept a clean sheet against favourite Spain in Atlanta on Monday. It was an insane performance. Now, since that moment, Vizinha's following on social media has risen from 50 ,000 to a ridiculous 13.1 million and counting. It's probably gone up by the time I've said this. Now, just for a little bit of context, Travis Kelsey has 7.7 million followers and Formula One world champion Lando Norris has 11.8 million.

17:55How crazy. Now, despite his new fans, Vizinha's most important supporter wasn't able to be present in Atlanta to watch his incredible performance. And that was his mother, as he explained to journalists afterwards. And also because my mum, she didn't manage to be here because the money you have to pay for the visa, we didn't manage on time. His mother, Anna Candida, spoke to Reuters through a translator about how she felt watching the game from home. My heart was almost jumping out of my chest. I was nervous, but very happy for everything he achieved in this tournament. By the way, I think I need to get Anna on predictions.

18:28She needs to help me. I think I need to give her a call because whilst the whole world predicted a comfortable Spain victory in that game, she went on state television before the game to confidently predict that no one would manage to score past her son. Now, we do have good news. Significant efforts have been made in order to get Vizinha's mother over to the US for the Cape Verde's second game against Uruguay in Miami on Sunday. Here's Congressman Hakeem Jeffries speaking to Rog about the strings behind the scenes that have been pulled to fast-track her visa. Picked up the phone, laid out the situation for Secretary Rubio, and he indicated graciously that he would get to work on it, dealing with FIFA as well as the Cape Verdean government, and was very pleased to make the announcement that his mom will be reunited with her son in Miami so she can watch the match with Uruguay in person.

19:19As they say, better late than never. Let's see if the 40-year-old brick wall can keep Darwin Nunez and Coet Bay as Cape Verde continue to make history here in the USA. That is it for Morning Cup Date today, built by The Home Depot. Thank you so much for joining us. Now, The Home Depot is your winning assist to host the ultimate watch party with fast free delivery to get your backyard match day ready, subject to availability. Now, tomorrow morning, right here in Seattle on Pier 58, directly before the US men take on the Socceroos, join us for the second stop on our Matchday Live Tour. Roger Rory will be taking the stage with a who's who of Seattle icons, including Ken Griffey Jr., Marshawn Lynch, DeAndre Yedlin, and an author, John Green, as well, to pump up the crowd before the iconic March to the Match.

20:07Find out more about this free event at the link in the notes below. We will be back tomorrow, but until then, enjoy your football.