Mexico’s Quest, Canada’s Talent, and Son Heung-min’s Last Dance?: Cup of Cups Preview 06/06/26

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2:01Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network, suboptimal radio. Mexico's developed this reputation and, to be honest, deserved reputation for always qualifying, always making it out of the group stage. Both good. All Mexico wants is to win a knockout game of football. I think we can expect to see Son, the leader of his country, Son, South Korea's greatest ever player, the chance to play in LA where there is that massive Korean population. You throw yourself at that one. They look like the most complete team of the North American sides, I think, Canada.

2:37Their form in the last couple of years under Jesse Marsh has been fantastic. They look like winners.

2:47Welcome to the Men in Blazers Cup of Cup previews presented by Camarena today. Alphabet hardliners will be elated. We're going right to the top. Groups A and B, Mexico and Canada, represent football NAFTA style. Joining me on this journey in which we'll plumb two of the three host nations. A man who knows the mole from the poutine. Loves them both in equal measure. The one and only, it's Mr. Rory Smith. Not sure I've ever eaten a poutine, you know. Raw, we've got to fix that. And once we have, your life will never be the same. No time for that, though. Group A, Mexico, South Korea, Chechia and South Africa.

3:21Let's begin south of the border, way down Mexico way. Nation hosting this incredible tournament for a history-making third time, 1970, 1986, 2026, the Astadio Azteca, that storied footballing fortress, best captured by the quote attributed to the stadium's architect, Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, 100 ,000 people shouted, and there was born the Azteca. I love true history documentaries. The only thing more synonymous with Mexican football than the Azteca is El Quinto Partido, the fifth game roar. Can you explain the curse of the fifth game and why it looms so large in Mexican minds? Well, it's become kind of their ultimate ambition, Rod, that Mexico has developed this reputation and, to be honest, deserved reputation for always qualifying, always making it out at the group stage.

4:08Both good. That's where you should be. Well done, everybody. And then as soon as the last 16 come around, they tend to run into one of the big powers, often Argentina, get knocked out, and there is no quarter-final. So I think Mexico will go into this tournament with that being... They might have the clearest aim of any team of the 48 entrants to this competition. All Mexico wants is to win a knockout game of football. The fifth game rule. How do you say bottlers in Spanish? I don't want to get into that, Rog. That might get me in trouble. Wise man. One of us is a diplomat. Before I get myself into trouble, let me say, this Cup of Cups preview presented by our great friends at Camarena Tequila.

4:45Wherever you're enjoying the beautiful game, be sure to kick off with Camarena. Rour, the man charged with guiding Mexico past that fifth game in his third stint with the national team. It's kind of like a Mexican David Moyes. It's manager, Javier Aguirre, nicknamed El Vasco, the Basque. Thanks for his great heritage for that managerial hotbed in Spain. manager known for pragmatic brand of football, loves his teams to show their ability to suffer, built a fascinating squad, built of veterans, trying to play with a sharp and stale 13 World Cup veterans, including curly-haired ageless goalkeeper Guillermo Memo Ochoa.

5:22Incredible sixth tournament. Fulham's canny finisher Raul Jimenez is back. They're on a seven-game on Bean Street. They have a strong back line. Edson Alvarez now with Fenerbahce prowling in front of the back four. but the star boy of the squad, the Chico Estrella, fearless teenager, 17-year-old Gilberto Moura, become the youngest player in Mexican history to play in a men's World Cup game. The club Tijuana kid is mostly played in friendly so far. It's going to be fascinating to see how he copes with pressure, if it impacts him. But when you watch him play, he plays with a tactical and awareness that belies his years, a fearlessness role.

5:56It's almost like a Mexican Max Downman. Yeah, it's interesting, isn't it, when you talk about kind of a manager of best heritage who likes his teams to suffer, and plays kind of very straightforward, quite direct football. It's fashionable, Rog. It's winning. Well, if he's got a dog, then he's definitely, then he's onto something. That is the future of football. Get a dog, call it Gennar, and off we go. But the squad that Aguirre's put together is really interesting. There is, as you say, that it's shot through with that experience. You've got Raul Jimenez, Santi Jimenez, the Milan striker as well.

6:25So you have a cutting edge, but then you've got not just Gilberto Moura, but you've got Brian Gutierrez of Chivas and Obed Vargas, who's now at Atletico Madrid. you have the experience the reliability of the two Jimenez's different spellings but the youth just to confuse the opposition it's vital you don't know which one it spells their surname which way I thought you meant the one with the G I might well exactly if you're marking them at a corner how do you how do you determine which one you you pick up you have to start spelling the names specify and at that point you've switched off Rog yeah once you're lost in etymology game's gone the I don't know how good the footballer's spellings spellings are to be honest that might be a tactical masterstroke.

7:03One that even Mikel Arteta's not thought of. And it's really important that as hosts that Mexico do have those players who will get the fans off their seats, that will draw them to the stadiums, that will make them dream. And I think in Vargas of Gutierrez and particularly Gilberto Moura who has this kind of this fearlessness. And there is something like uniquely exciting I think about that, about having a 17-year-old kid who could go on at the moment, it's all potential, but could go on to be kind of the greatest player Mexico's produced going into a home tournament. That does give you something extra, I think, as a team, to have that, just that promise, that untainted, unvarnished promise that lifts you going into it, I think.

7:41God, I've got to say, Jürgen Klinsmann always used to say, sometimes you're too young to know you're meant to be afraid. I do believe Gilberto Moura will be too young to know that Mexico aren't meant to wilt in that fifth game. Calci giving Mexico an 89 % chance to get out of the group alive. Almost certainly the sternest proctology exam they're going to experience in the opening three games will come from South Korea. Nation known by its nickname, the Land of the Morning Calm. I just love that. Calm app, get on it. The Teju Warriors, perpetually promising, not off-delivering. Yes, they reached the World Cup semifinals, which they hosted in 2002.

8:18A little bit of referee assistance in there. In Asia, they're a powerhouse and a fuel bike. Your favorite global megastars, favorite global megastars, Sun Hun Min. Roar, he's 33 years old, maybe line and winter in MLS, the end of a dazzling career, but he's still a player capable of taking over big games, especially in international football when his nation need them. Yeah, his quality's never been in doubt. And I think the thing with Son was that he was such a kind of hardworking, such a dedicated player for so long that maybe now the club season is a little bit kind of too much for him. But you can still produce over the course of a tournament.

8:55I don't want to say that Son's been saving himself for the World Cup, Rog. But if I was Son, I'd be saving myself for the World Cup, if I'm completely honest. So it might be that we just get a little bit of a glimpse of what Son used to be in this tournament. I know his form in MLS hasn't been great the last few months, but I think we can expect to see Son, the leader of his country, Son, South Korea's greatest ever player. Son knowing that this is probably his last tournament, although given the age of some of the other players in this tournament, maybe he'll be playing in 2030. He may have two more.

9:25Two or three. He might make it to 2038. I think for someone like Son, the chance to play for his country in LA, where there is that massive Korean population, I don't think that's the sort of situation where you kind of leave anything on the table, is it? You throw yourself at that one. It's been quite a curious season by Sonny's standard. A gold route throughout MLS so far, but then he silenced the haters like a Korean Christian Pulisic with a double in a friendly. Take that Trinidad and Tobago. A lot of speculation. This could be a swan song, but his supporting cast is pretty tasty. First Asian to ever win two Champions League.

10:04PSG's midfield technician Lee Kang-in by Munich's towering man-mounting Kim Min-jae at the back and the Gen all Premier League fans will be familiar with. from Wolves, the Korean guy, Hwangi Chan. Oh, they call him the bull. Roar, this team is more than just some plus 10. Undefeated in qualifying. Few injuries sprinkled in. It's unclear if they're going to play a back four or a back three, but how do you handicap this team? Are they capable of being the best thing out of Korea since Park Chan-woo? To be fair, there's quite a lot of stuff coming out of Korea at the moment that's quite cool, so I don't know if they can live up to that.

10:36I don't know where they stand on the BTS scale. Is Pulisic a 100 top 100 player? Korea, a top-handed Korea export. Korea is culturally a top-hundred nation, 100%. South Korea are always a threat at World Cups. They are, as you say, they're one of Asia's superpowers. They expect to qualify. They always have quality. My slight concern about them is that I think their quality is in specific areas. So, yeah, like Kim holds the defence together. They're really good out wide and son up front. I don't know if the core of the team is strong enough necessarily to go as far as the semifinals, but they should get out of the group.

11:09They are, as you say, the threat to Mexico. They are very much the second best. They are very much the other good team in that group, I think. So I expect them to get through. I'm not sure there's enough around Son to go much further than that. You've hinted at one of the great storylines of this tournament for me. And I'm blessed that we're going to be in LA when South Korea play that opening game. We'll be with 350 ,000 Koreans who live in that city, celebrating their team and their moment. And I do believe, Ro, this is going to be one of the most joyous parts of the World Cup in North America subplot.

11:43Yes, I'm looking forward to the world discovering Atlanta and lemon pepper wet. I can't wait for the Argentinian barbecue heads to come face to face with burnt ends. But it's also America's encounter with the world. In 1994, the tournament really blew up when Italy played Ireland in the Meadowlands. The whole of New Jersey turned up, half of them like Angela's Ashes, half of them looking like cast members of the Sopranos. And it gave Americans permission to reconnect to the origin story of their own identities and connect to world teams. I think that is what's going to make this World Cup so unbelievably special.

12:19And South Korea will be a great example of that. But they're all overage. There's the Haitian communities in New York. There's the Brazilian communities in Boston. I didn't know Boston had a big Brazilian community, but apparently it does. Obrigado. That I think will be the story of the World Cup. It's not so much the world coming to America, but it's the extent to which America reflects the world. I think that's what we will see over the next six weeks. And it's true in Mexico as well. There is a Korean community in Mexico City that will be very much supporting their ancestral homeland as much as their current homeland.

12:49Save her every second.

12:55Now to the team South Korea will open up against in Guadalajara, June 11, Chechia, who spilled tears into beers. The cross island when they eliminated Troy Parrott's mob on penalties in the playoff semifinals. Royal Chechia in their first World Cup for 20 years. Team built on experience, pragmatism, spin the yet sturdy shoulders of West Ham's midfield scarecrow, Thomas Suchek. Manager Miroslav Kubik has built his team to survive and advance, almost survive in advance. Other teams will bring in Epe. Cechi bringing that sledgehammer every time. Just going to be sort of swinging Thomas Suchak at corners.

13:31They do, to be fair. Just flinging them in like a dead horse off a trebuchet in medieval times. Well, I wonder if we could see the first ever, like, cheerleading pyramid at a corner, and maybe that is the natural next step. America. That's a little bit harsh. I'm being slightly harsh. They've got two really good strikers, the Cechs. They've got Patrick Schick, the Bayer-Leber-Tusen striker. I'm not sure I've ever seen a streakier football player. He's either banning form and one of the best strikers in the world, or he's not scoring at all. And Hoffenheim's Adam Klosek, whose name I'm almost certainly massacring.

14:00But that gives them a cutting edge. They've called up a 17-year-old kid called Hudo Sochereck from Sparta, Prague, who I will admit I have never heard of. I don't feel bad about that, Rog, because he's played six times in the Czech league. You know, you could have bluffed it and just been like, the one I've been watching a lot of game team. for our respect to you for honesty. No one's been watching a lot of game tape of him. There's not a lot of game tape. In one sense, that is probably a sign of weakness that the resources are relatively thin. He's a central midfielder, that they don't have a huge amount of quality there.

14:29But in the other, there's that, because it's a World Cup, there is this slim possibility that he might be the greatest footballer in the world and we're going to find out over the next six weeks. I think it's probably not that, but you never know. Thank you, Claude. It is one of the things I love about the World Cup. Names we do not know. It could be, in two weeks' time, kids on playgrounds all across the world. I am Soturek! All it takes is one moment. Another team returned to this competition after a painful absence. South Africa not appeared since they hosted 16 long years ago. I don't need this reminder of how quickly time passes, but this Baffina Baffina Collective is on the come-up.

15:07Under Belgian manager Hugo Bruch, who took over in 2021, led them to three successive major tournaments. two AFCONs. Now this beauty, my favourite fact about the South African team, they had to qualify despite forfeiting a match against Lesotho, game they played and won 2-0. They had to give up the three points because of Czech notes, an administrative error. They inadvertently fielded the suspended Tebahou McQuaena. However, they still managed to get out of the group despite that, like an international Everton. Roar, it's nice to know paperwork, hardest part of football in many ways, as it is in the rest of life.

15:38It's really nice when football is humanised, isn't it? They've messed up their paperwork, they've filed the wrong form, It happens to us all, Rog. We're not in a position to judge. And you can still make the big one. The team composed largely of players from the South African Domestic League, including Mamalodi, Sundowns, Midfield, Dynamo, Taboho Mokena, who'll pull the strings. Burnley's Lyle Foster up front, South African Rising Star, really, really fascinating character from your Orlando Pirates. Ray Boulay Mofokeng. One thing I can guarantee, no matter what happens on the field, South Africa will win the opening round of this tournament.

16:13Just an ebullient fan base. So happy to have them back in our loving armours' roar, which brings us to prediction time. Let's get to it. You know the drill. Quickfire round where we, spoiler alert, match of the group. I think it has to be the opener. It's Mexico, South Africa. It's the one that sets the tone for the tournament. We saw that happen in 2010 in South Africa, how it kind of unveiled what that World Cup was going to be to the world. And I think Mexico City will do the same this time around. I can't wait for Mexico versus South Korea at the Estadio, Guadalajara. a simply stunning setting.

16:40It will melt your heart and at 5 ,100 feet also eviscerate your lungs. Two for one. Player to watch rule. Who have you got? Moura. We don't see a lot of Mexican football in Europe. I can't wait to watch Moura properly. I can't wait to see Burnley's Lyle Foster. It's what I love about the World Cup to have a character actor from the Premier League. Like, well, I'll have the chance to star for their nation. One goal for him and he'd become just a national demigod. Group winner. He's going to be Mexico. Mexico looked well set to get through. I think South Korea will give them a good run. I'm not sure either the Czechs or South Africa will be much of a threat, but it will be a good start for Mexico, I think.

17:15I think Mexico too, and it could be a run into the round of 16 where they could meet, Czechs notes, England. Holy crap. I'd love my boldest take to be Mexico beat England to get to the quarterfinals, but I think it probably has to be that Mexico will, for the first time in a long time, Rog, win a knockout game, but still not get to the quarters. I'd love to see South Korea go on a darling dance into the semifinals just so we can see that sun. Camera Sally a few more times for old times' sake. I'm a nostalgic man at heart, but no time for nostalgia. We've got to go to Group B. Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

17:54That's five teams. Host first, we're talking Canada, our CONCACAF brethren, managed by none other than Racine, Wisconsin's Jesse Marsh. A gent who was so close to making it Facebook official with the United States, only to have the rug pulled out from him at the last. He's now on a personal vengeance tour to outdo the United States. And then, have Wisconsin become a Canadian province? Because I'm pretty sure that's how it works, yeah? Look, it's hard to view this journey to any other lens than Jesse. Let's start with him. He's a gent who made it through three Red Bulls, only to take out through the mighty Leeds United, endure 12 months of Ted Lasso jokes, keep them out of relegation for a poor run of form the following season did for him, survived that Premier League goal.

18:37He would say a wiser man and came into the international game with Canada. Just signed a new four-year contract extension to 2030. Truly loves it up there. And is trying to refashion this Canadian team, which is talent packed into his image as a really punishing unit who are willing to drop that Canadian nice. Yeah, they look like the most complete team of the North American sides, I think, Canada. Their form in the last couple of years under Jesse Marsh has been fantastic. They look like winners, not of the World Cup, obviously, but they are capable of winning games. Rory just checks himself.

19:07They look like winners. We're going to wear this at the air. Just not of the World Cup. This is going to get numbers. It's going to ruin your career. It's going to get numbers. Canada, they look like winners. But he has. He's done a brilliant job. And they go into the tournament, I think, full of confidence that they're not kind of the third host, that they're not the team that have only qualified because they are hosts. They look like a team that will be looking at the knockout rounds and thinking they can make it there. Jesse, who's going to come on this show before the World Cup, So managers always say, yes, we're going to win.

19:36Jesse's mine. They are going to win the World Cup. I have tremendous respect for him. I really do. I've gotten to know him really well over the past six years. He's a man who always burns with the heat of a thousand suns, demands the most from his team, has real talent, as you've said, at his disposal. It's a group of players who play their trade in some of the biggest clubs in the world, blistering full-back slash attacking menace Alphonso Davies, not played for Canada agonisingly since tearing his ACL against the US last March, suffered an injury setback in the second leg of the Champions League final for Bayern Munich, which has been an absolute agony.

20:11And it's now a race against time for him to be fit for Canada's opener June 12th against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Question for you, Roar, Canada without Fonzie, are they a bit like Wrexham without Robin Ryan? From a European perspective, Roar, we see Canada as Alphonso Davies, maybe Jonathan David of Juventus and like nine other guys. But once you look through the squad, That is not what this Canada team is. There is genuine talent in quite a lot of areas. I was at the playoff final a couple of weeks ago when Liam Miller was playing for Hull. Liam Miller is a good footballer. He will be a threat for people.

20:44Then you've got Tejon Buchanan, who is at Villarreal now, but was at Inter Milan. And the other one that I think people will sleep on, as the kids say, Alistair Johnston. I love that man. The Celtic fullback. He is going to... Someone probably in England will give Celtic quite a lot of money for him. Everton was so close. And he's a really good player. I loved the heart story in Scotland this year, as you know. If Alistair Johnson had been fit for the entire season, that story would not have happened. Canada have talent in lots of different places. So as much as Davies is the player who lifts them and transforms them, and he is the one who kind of carries the sword, if he doesn't make that first game, they will be okay.

21:23And that really matters, I think. I've got to say I love Alistair Johnston. He's like a cerebral pugilist. Also have Southampton's Kyle Larrin. They've got a lot of talent there. And I've got to say that the squad itself is such a dizzying, diverse, truly likable face of this nation. They truly have. And we obsess about what this tournament is going to do to change the game in the United States. Have an incredible chance to refashion how football is seen across Canada. Yeah, it's a sport that you don't have to wait for winter and then slip around everywhere to play. Think of the advantages, Rod.

21:55This here is the head of the marketing department for Canada Football. Soccer, there's no sticks. That's what they should be leaning into. You don't need any equipment, just get a ball. We need to workshop that one a bit more, but go on. But no, you've got a million registered players, soccer players in Canada. You've got this investment drive from Canada Soccer, $7 million. I don't know if that's US or Canadian, not sure, but a lot of money into facilities. It's encrypted. It might be in Bitcoin. I've got 7.1 million Ethereum. Let's see what we can do with it. That's probably quite a lot of Ethereum.