Round of 32 Concludes & Messi in Action | Day 23 Preview | Morning Cupdate, Presented by The Home Depot

0:00Hello and welcome to Atlanta. I'm Betty Glover and this is your Morning Cup day. Yesterday, Spain finally got a convincing win under their belt. One legend bowed out on the world stage while another finally scored their first knockout goal in a World Cup. Today, the spotlight is on a different global superstar as Lionel Messi hopes to help Argentina make it through to the last 16. Those final spots are up for grabs. This is the last day of the round of 32. Here's your ultimate guide to day 23 of the World Cup.

0:37Yes, hello and welcome to Morning Cup Day built by the Home Depot. 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. Right, how good was Portugal against Croatia, everybody? Well, not good if you were a Croatia fan, but it was a game that delivered a ridiculous amount of talking points and it eventually ended in Gonzalo Ramos scoring in the 94th minute to send Portugal absolutely wild.

1:13Those celebrations quickly turned to disbelief after Josko Vardyol thought he had equalised in the 103rd minute, only for a VAR review using a snick-o-meter to show the ball had brushed Igor Matanovic on the way through to rule Mario Pasalic, who got the assist, offside. Are you with me? Breaking Croatian hearts all over again. This was the first time snick-o technology, which cricket fans will know all about, has been used in the knockouts. Here's Rory explaining why the decision doesn't quite feel right on last night's nightclub.

1:48Roger Bennett:I think the fact that it doesn't alter the flight of the ball, to me, matters. Technically, it is offside. Q more pandemonium, Proact's very upset, Luka Modric almost in tears. It feels, it's one of those VR decisions that just feels a little bit kind of wrong. I mean, Croatia were eliminated from the World Cup on the brush of a ball over the side of a player's head, which was replayed 5 ,000 times pitch side by a very tired referee. Oh. Before all that drama, though, Ivan Perisic had given Croatia the lead shortly after half-time. Then Cristiano Ronaldo saw what he thought was his first knockout goal ruled out for offside.

2:26Would it ever happen was the question everyone was thinking. Oh, yeah! Yes, it did. Just as he was about to be replaced, he converted from the penalty spot after VAR spotted a foul on Renato Vega at a corner. Straight down the middle for that penalty as well from Cristiano Ronaldo, scoring his first knockout goal in a World Cup. A big moment for him, while it was a sad one for his former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric, who looked dejected as he left the pitch full-time in what will probably be his last time on the world stage at the ripe old age of 40. The end of an era.

3:01Roger Bennett:A World Cup final in 2018, a semi-final in 2022 where they were stopped by the kind of Lionel Messi destiny train. This is all late in his career and he's been central to all of it. has been incredible. And you can make a case that he's obviously not one of the two best players of his generation, but he is probably third. After the game, the Portugal team paid a touching tribute to their former teammate, Diogo Jota. Ronaldo put on Jota's number 21 jersey and pointed to the sky with tears in his eyes. Today marks exactly one year since Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, died in a car accident. Now, Portugal have set up a very exciting clash against arch-rival Spain after they beat Austria in the early kick-off.

3:41Yesterday, we mentioned the quite frankly unbelievable stat that Spain had not won a knockout game since they won the tournament in 2010. What? Yeah, you heard that correctly. Before the game today, Lamin Jamal said the World Cup starts now and it seems like he was right. To say this was one-sided would be an understatement. Austria didn't register a single shot on target. Spain won 3-0 thanks to a brace from Mikel Ojazable and a header from Pedro Porro. It means that Spain and Mexico are the only teams yet to concede a goal in the tournament, which is quite insane, really, isn't it? And you can imagine the absolute relief amongst the Spanish fans.

4:23Shout out for Mark Cucurea as well and his seemingly telepathic connection with Ayazable. He made two sublime assists for both of his goals, and that is a duo that I think we all need to keep our eyes on, for sure. Another shout-out has to go to Riyad Mahrez. He retired after his side Algeria, lost to Switzerland. Here he is, making the announcement after the game. It was my last game. I'm happy to have spent 12 years with my national team, with my country. I've done what I had to do and I'm happy to go out and to leave the new generation to play and to write their story. On Thursday's late kick-off, Switzerland won their first World Cup knockout game in 88 years.

5:04What? They cruised past Algeria 2-0 with an accomplished performance. Brühl Mbolo opened the scoring after 10 minutes before Nottingham Forest winger Dan Ndoy doubled their lead after half-time. Despite not getting on the score sheet, 20-year-old Johan Manzambi stole the show. He set up Mbolo for the opener, becoming the youngest player to reach five goal involvements at a World Cup since records began in 1966. The Swiss then will either face Colombia or Ghana in the next round. And finally, before we wrap up this section, we've got to talk about the TV viewing figures for USMNT's game against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

5:41A peak of 33 million viewers watched Wednesday night's game. What? This buzzer is getting a lot of airtime today. Shout out, Sam Mewis. That makes it the most watched football telecast in US history.

5:58That is seriously competing with the viewing figures of some of the country's biggest sports events. It's almost the exact same peak audience that watched Game 5 between the Knicks and the Spurs last month following the match. We spoke to a US fan about the growth of the game here. The sport itself is growing here, which is awesome to see as somebody that grew up playing it. So it's been awesome to witness an event like the World Cup in our host nation here. And if we're at this number for the first knockout match, I am expecting Super Bowl levels if the USMNT reach the final in New Jersey. Doesn't it feel like yesterday that the last 32 got underway?

6:37Now, all of a sudden, this round is completed today. It all begins in Dallas at 2pm Eastern as Australia play Egypt. All the build-up is around the fitness of one player and one player in particular. And we have got huge news to report from Egypt's head coach. Are you ready? Well, Mo Salah will be able to play. I'm excited! I love Salah! There have been serious doubts about his fitness after he was subbed off after 56 minutes with a hamstring injury in Egypt's final group game. This news will put a smile on the face of the Egyptians, but it will no doubt worry the Socceroos. Or maybe it won't.

7:14Let's be honest, Egypt and Australia are battling out the chance to lose to Argentina, so we're just going to have fun. Whatever happens, it'll be historic for whoever wins. Neither side has won a World Cup knockout match before. Actually, remember, the Egyptians had never won a single game at the tournament before their landmark victory over New Zealand. These were the scenes in the locker room after that famous day.

7:44A win today would be on a whole other level. Australia won their opening match against Turkey, but they haven't won since. Expect the Socceroos to sit deep and soak up the pressure whilst using their pacey players like Nestorio and Kunda to maximum effect on the break. Next, and will Cape Verde fans be celebrating like this later today?

8:10The African island, with a population of around 600 ,000, have been surely the story of the tournament. Three draws against Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia handed the Islanders a deserved place in the round of 32. They didn't even need to rely on being one of the best third place teams. Their reward? Well, a game against the world champions Argentina in Miami at 6pm Eastern. Can they stop the greatest player of all time? Let's dive into it.

8:42Today's drill down brought to you by Makita is all about how this unlikely knockout matchup between Cape Verde and Argentina came to be and the tactics the African Islanders will try and deploy to keep the 2022 winners at bay. Now the Blue Sharks are definite beneficiaries of the expanded tournament with double the amount of African nations compared to four years ago. Cape Verde's path to the World Cup wasn't an easy one though they had to out-qualify tournament regulars Cameroon to make it to North America. More than 50 % of Cape Verde's squad were born outside of the country as well. In fact, more players in the squad were born in the Dutch city of Rotterdam than in Cape Verde's capital prior.

9:19Their centre-back, Pico Lopez, is originally from Ireland and here's the crazy way he was contacted to switch his allegiance to Cape Verde. I got a message on LinkedIn and through that message I ignored for nine months because it was in Portuguese, which I didn't understand at the time. But thankfully, the Cape Verdean manager at the time, he wrote back to me in English. And when I realised what opportunity was on the cards here, I jumped at it. Cape Verde's coach, Babista, has managed to organise this collective of different players into a very cohesive unit. They play a compact 4-2-3-1, occupying the central areas and forcing opponents out wide.

9:57Spain struggled to unpick the lock, and even when they did, they were met by Fasinha. Kate Verde's 40-year-old brick wall of a keeper who plays in the Portuguese second division. Since that day, the senior's life has been transformed and his latest Instagram follower count is... Producer George? 17.5 million. 17.5 million. Not half bad. I noticed the other day that he's already got his first brand deal. What? But today they face their greatest challenge. Lionel Messi has scored six goals already this World Cup and it'll be down to Cape Verde's double pivot of Kevin Pina in De Rai Duarte to keep him quiet.

10:37If the African Islanders can win this one, it will almost certainly be the greatest upset in the tournament's history. The final match of the day in Kansas City is between Colombia and Ghana. Both of these sides were efficient rather than dazzling in the group stages, but both picked up admiral results against Portugal and England respectively. This game kicks off at 9.30 Eastern and this will likely be a game of attack versus defence. Ghana's game plan under Carlos Quiroz has very much been to sit deep and compress the space and it is very unlikely that the former Real Madrid coach will deviate from that now.

11:16Tonight we've got a special episode of Night Cut because I'm going to be back on the bus live with Rog. Rory Smith will also be joining us remotely to break down all of the day's action after Colombia take on Ghana in the final match of the day. As always, it will be live on the Men In Blazers YouTube channel. It is prediction time now and yesterday I took on Rory. Now, we both went for a Spain win against Austria and no correct scores were said there. We also both went for a Portugal victory over Croatia and I am smiling because only one of us got the correct score. And it was me. Bringing it back.

11:51It is a win for Morning Cup Day. Now it is 8-7 to the Night Cup. We are breathing down there next, everybody. So in order to get us level, I took on producer Kippo today. Guaranteed win! Kippo, hello. Betty Wynn. It's nice to have you back coming up against me on Predictions. Yeah, I'm acutely aware that last time I was here, it did not go great for the Night Cup team. So I was not surprised when the phone rang this afternoon. you know it's ultimately you guys got to get those numbers up I respect it I'm here to play the foil I'll have you know we're actually catching up it is game on you're going to be leading by the end of this if history is any indication okay let's start Lionel Messi's Argentina against Cape Verde I'm going to go 3-0 to Argentina yeah I think you're not going strong enough ultimately not a Vazinha guy wish him all the best I think his story's been lovely how can you not be happy for Cape Verde but it ends here 6-0 Argentina it's going to be a battering they will tell stories of this day in Cape Verde the the slaughter of wherever this game is being played you can edit that in post um get ready why don't you like Vazinha he hasn't done anything wrong sometimes you gotta zig when the world zags Betty um just just I'm just not I can't have a Zinnia train.

13:09I'm sorry. Right. Colombia against Ghana. I think this is going to be really tight. I agree. I don't think there's going to be a lot of goals in this. I'm going to go 1-0 to Colombia. And I'll go 1-0 Ghana just because ultimately we need to pick up some points. And, you know, look, Carlos Quiroz is the kind of manager who can frustrate a team. He's built a career on that. We've seen that, you know, a couple of times this tournament. I mean, I think it's going to be a late goal regardless. I think it's probably going to be not the most fascinating watch of this tournament. But yeah, let's go for Ghana.

13:41Why not? I believe. Black stars. Thank you, Charlie. I appreciate your time. Excellent work. You're welcome. You're welcome. I know you do, but 6-0. Book it. 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 Matchday 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. But 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.

14:20And let's celebrate this summer the way it's meant to be celebrated. Head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together courage.

14:35On today's finishing touch brought to you by Bear Paint, has Thomas Tuchel already found a way to beat Mexico? On Sunday, England faced Mexico at the Mexico City Stadium in one of the biggest games of the World Cup so far. It's one of the toughest places in world football to go, and not just because of the altitude, heat and the atmosphere inside the stadium, but also because Mexico's famous home advantage can start long before kick-off.

15:05That was the scene outside Ecuador's team hotel where Mexico fans spent the night blasting horns and setting off fireworks to try and stop them sleeping. Thomas Tuchel is well aware of these tactics, though, and he has come prepared. England players are being given earplugs, sleep masks, natural remedies and white noise machines. They're also trying to keep their hotel location secret with reports that Mexican journalists are trying to find it, raising fears fans could be tipped off.

15:38And with Taylor Swift's wedding today and talk of decoy locations to dodge the media, maybe Tuchel and England are taking notes for a good night's sleep. That is it for Morning Cup Day today, built by the Home Depot. 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. Don't forget to check out the Men in Blazers newsletter for coverage of all things World Cup, from game previews and recaps to all of the stories and videos that you may have missed, with Roger's thoughts at the very top. It's sent directly into your inbox first thing in the morning, seven days a week.

16:17The link to subscribe is in the notes below. We are going to be back tomorrow once again, but everyone, enjoy the last round of 32.

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