Spain Hunt for First Win | Day Eleven Preview | Morning Cupdate, Presented by The Home Depot

0:00For nearly two decades, almost as long as Tim Ream has been in the US Men's National Team, Allstate has backed the growth of this game in every corner of this great footballing nation. From grassroots pitches to the biggest stages, they've been here, believing in it, protecting its future, because supporting soccer, it's not just about match days. And that's why Allstate offers affordable coverage at personalised rates, so you can spend less time worrying and more time watching. Check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. Visit allstate.com or call a local agent today. Allstate, you're in good hands.

0:36Potential savings vary subject to terms and availability. Allstate North America Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We are delighted to bring you the Men in Blazers City Guides presented by Visa. A joyously assembled guide to the best places to eat, drink and explore and watch the beautiful game across the country. It's a guide aimed at helping fans experience the city as a local. It's built by you, our listeners, recommending some of the best small businesses in your communities. Like the finest Viet Cajun in Houston. Yes. The best burrito in San Francisco. Yes. Where to savour lemon pepper wet in Atlanta.

1:16Yes, yes, yes. A massive shout out to our sponsor Visa, who's made this guide possible. Visa gives local business owners the tools and support to be ready for moments exactly like this one, welcoming you to enjoy the games this summer. Start planning your journey at meninblazers.com backslash cityguides. Lays, an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026, is also the official sponsor of all bandwagon fans during this euphoric summer of footballing wonder. And this summer, they're inviting all of us to jump on because come kickoff, hope springs eternal. My cold, dark heart grows three sizes every FIFA World Cup.

1:55The ebullient Moroccans, the splime Spanish, you can't help but fall in love again and again. So ask grandma if perhaps you'll won 16th French, Brazilian or Japanese. Adopt a new anthem, borrow a new flag, embrace that bandwagon. Because when your team goes home, the party doesn't have to. Grab a bag of leis, gather some friends and cheer for whoever you damn well like.

2:42day 11 of the World Cup.

2:48Oh yes, welcome to another Morning Cup update 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. Now, we are back in LA after a magical few days in Seattle. Everything about that place is incredible, from the coffee to Pike Market, the beautiful waterfront, the scenery as well. Do you think it comes across like I like it there? It is a proper soccer city though and all of that love for the beautiful game was seen in Friday's epic march to Seattle Stadium. I just loved it.

3:24But anyway, moving on, it was another busy day of football on Saturday and the early game was Netherlands against Sweden in Houston. It meant an early alarm for the Orange Army but no matter what time the kick-off is, there is always time for a little bit of Lynx Rex. This time, it was led by legendary goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.

3:52You've got to say, Edwin van der Sar and his massive arms is the perfect person to point out which direction the crowd needs to go in. A perfect date for the Dutch fans as well as their team smashed Sweden 5-1. Sunderland, Brian Brobby scored two goals within the opening 17 minutes to put the Netherlands in full control. You could say it was a daylight robbery. What a chaotic start for Sweden, though. They've won and lost both of their games by the same 5-1 scoreline. Now, a little bit of trivia for you. Which player has the most goal involvements at the World Cup so far? we put some of the men in blazers team to the test go on involvement i'm gonna go it's gonna be someone who's had two games so far it's got to be messy surely incorrect charlton david incorrect i'm gonna go flo ball again not correct oh nope all of those utterly incorrect they're all useless i can tell you the answer that you are looking for is dennis undav yep The former Brighton striker sits above Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and even Flo Balogun, can you believe it?

5:02After his two goals, won the game for Germany against the Ivory Coast in Vancouver. The Ivory Coast looked impressive once again and took the lead. Barton Dove's clinical finishing gave Julian Nagelsmann's side a narrow 2-1 victory. It's turning out to be a pretty decent tournament for him so far, isn't it? As it stands, the best substitute at the World Cup, I'd say. Do you agree? Yep, it has to be. Anyway, that win means that Germany are through to the knockouts for the first time since they won it back in 2014. Later in the day, it was Ecuador against Curaçao. Now, this definitely won't win any awards for match of the tournament, but it was one heck of a match for Curaçao keeper Eli Ruhm, who made a record 15 saves to keep the Ecuadorians at bay and protect a 0-0 draw for the Caribbean nation.

5:50Their first ever point at a World Cup. World Cup! Incredible for a nation with a population of 150 ,000. Vibes were high in the Curacao locker room, and after the match, they were even joined by the Dutch king and queen.

6:12And once again, the quickest way to get a big Instagram following seems to be to put in a miraculous goalkeeping performance. Eli Room now has 800 ,000 followers and counting. it will definitely go up by the time this goes out after his incredible performance. Not quite for seniors, 15 million, but he is getting that. Then in the late kick-off, Tunisia took on tournament Dark Horses Japan in Mexico. As we mentioned yesterday, this was the 1 ,000th ever World Cup game. Japan absolutely blew their opponents away with a 4-0 win. The result means that Tunisia are out. Nine goals conceded, two different coaches.

6:48Up next, only the Netherlands. Day 11 of the World Cup is here. It includes three big teams hoping to get their campaigns up and running after disappointing starts. Spain, Belgium and Uruguay all drew games that they would have expected to have won. It all starts with tournament favourites Spain, who are in Atlanta at noon Eastern. They face Saudi Arabia in a Group H clash. And the big question here is how much Lamin Jamal will be able to play in this one. The 18-year-old only played for the last 20 minutes against Cape Verde. and he said he's still not ready for a full 90 after recovering from a hamstring injury.

7:26Spain's difficulty against a low block is the subject of today's drill down.

7:35Today's drill down brought to you by Makita is all about what Spain coach Louis de la Fuente can do to overcome the side's issue of beating a compact defence. Against Cape Verde, Spain were thwarted by 40-year-old keeper Vicenia who made a string of brilliant saves. But Saudi Arabia keeper Mohamed Alouez was equally as impressive, making even more saves during their draw with Uruguay. But Cape Verde's keeper wasn't their only issue. Centre-back Roberto Lopez made 11 clearances and Cape Verde's discipline off the ball made it very difficult for Spain to find the space they needed to create chances.

8:10After the match, Cape Verde's hero goalkeeper Vizinha explained to Rog about how they'd prepared for Spain's game plan. We know Spain have a lot of possession and then they have a lot of cut back. The cross, they always cut back and this was one moment and I have to be very focused because sometimes the players just want to follow and the space is always behind. But I think we did a great job. He just makes it sound so easy, doesn't he? Spain's struggles against a compact defence is nothing new. Four years ago in Qatar, the Spanish had 77 % possession against Morocco in the last 16, the highest recorded by any team at a major tournament since records began.

8:53And they were knocked out on penalties without scoring a single goal. Di La Fuente looked to have fixed that issue at Euro 2024 by bringing in Nico Williams and Lamin Jamal's pace into the side. Di La Fuente said, you don't have to have so much of the ball if you're a team like us with all of that pace. Williams and Jamal were that pace. But both have been struggling with injuries, and without them in the team, it seems Spain may have reverted back to their previous struggles. They couldn't break down 10-man Egypt in a friendly in March. They also drew 1-0 with Iraq shortly before the tournament started.

9:25And without Yamal and Williams against Cape Verde, the team did look pretty pedestrian. Saudi Arabia are set to deploy a similar system, and given how effectively they did it against Uruguay, it seems essential that the nation's two bright wingers play as many minutes as possible to avoid a repeat of their opening day blank. 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, who will give you the inside scoop into the depths of the tournament.

10:04Listen 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. 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. but let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated.

10:41Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football, to more together, courage.

10:51Then at 3pm Eastern in LA, Belgium take on Iran. The Belgians managed to rescue a point against Egypt in their first game, mainly thanks to the introduction of Romelu Lukaku off the bench who gave Egypt's defenders a torrid time in the heat of Seattle. Meanwhile, Iran showed great resilience to come back from behind twice against New Zealand. Once again, US authorities will require Iran to only enter the USA within 24 hours of a match and leave the same day. On Friday, the Iranian football team said they'll lodge a complaint with FIFA over the travel restrictions and their head coach, Umir Ghalanoy, said that they are the most oppressed team in the tournament.

11:28Then at 6pm Eastern in Miami, it is time for Kate Verde to bring the noise once more.

11:44One of the big stories of the World Cup so far is Cape Verde competing in their first World Cup, holding the mighty Spain to a nil-nil draw. For context, Spain are ranked second in the world, Cape Verde are 67th. Today, they travel down to Miami to face a Uruguay team that is getting heat from back home for its ineffectiveness against Saudi Arabia. Coach Marcelo Bielsa was furious with what he saw, and he is set to drop former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez in order to spice up their attack a little bit. Kate Verde kept clean sheets in seven out of their ten African qualifiers, as well as that game against Spain, and I just have a sneaky feeling that they might make life difficult for Uruguay here.

12:24Finally, at 9pm Eastern, New Zealand, they're back in action, and before a ball was kicked, all the attention was on one player. We need to talk about Tim Payne. Tim Payne. I'm just supporting Tim Payne. Insta-famous Tim Payne was all anyone was talking about before this game. But Eli just became the true superstar. The Motherwell winger scored a brilliant brace against Iran to give the All-Whites the lead twice in LA, only for the team to be pegged back. This evening, they face Egypt in Vancouver, and the Egyptians have never won a World Cup game before in their history, a source of much national turmoil.

12:56You can see why. The Pharaohs will surely never have a better chance, given that they're playing the lowest-ranked team in the tournament. Egypt looked good against Belgium, but were left to ruse some brilliant chances to make it 2-0 before Belgium drew level. Night Cup is back tonight, of course. That will come as no surprise. The nightly recap show will kick off right after the Kiwis of New Zealand take on Mo Salah's Egypt, right here on the Men in Blazers YouTube. Roger Rory will be joined by comedian, podcaster and Arsenal supporter Adam Friedland to talk through another action-packed day of football.

13:31This one will be very fun. you should tune in. Throughout the tournament, I am going head-to-head with a prediction challenge against one of the night cup team. Yesterday, I took on John Green, the famous author. We both predicted a Netherlands win in the day's opening game against Sweden, so all square there. But John predicted a two-all draw between Germany and Ivory Coast. Well, I went for a Germany win. So that means it is very much a needed point for morning cup dates. It puts the scores back to a respectable 4-3 to night cup. We are breathing down their necks, guys. Today, I took on Rory Smith.

14:10Rory, it is prediction time. It is. Are you ready? I am. Lovely stuff. Okay, we've got Spain who yet to get a win in this World Cup.

14:19Roger Bennett:One game, one draw. Yeah. Coming up against Saudi Arabia. Yeah. What are your thoughts? Spain need a performance. They need to win, obviously, but they need to kind of show a little bit more. Just Cape Verde, as much as Vizinha was an amazing story, it was incredible for them to at their first point of the World Cup. Spain were kind of the main character that day, and you don't want to be the main character. You want to kind of get through the group, ease through it, build up a head of steam. So Spain need to impress. They look like they didn't really have any cutting edge. I guess he'll lose their love once.

14:46Roger Bennett:He'll have to throw Laminio Mal in now. He'll have to sort of go for it, maybe a little bit earlier than he wanted. So I think Spain will win, but the key thing is how well they win, I think. Give me your score. I'm going to say 2-1, unimpressive. OK, I was going to go 2-0, so I'm going to stick with 2-0. OK, next game, Belgium against Iran. You're going to that one. I'm going to that one. I'm a big Iran fan, obviously. Two games they've played. I'll have been to both. Belgium, I'm looking forward to seeing Atzel Witzel. He's played in every tournament since football was invented for Belgium. He's the oldest man in the world.

15:19Roger Bennett:He's got those long finger nails, that long beard. Belgium, I think, are like a sleeper story here, the way they've committed so much to that golden generation. The fact they've not been able to move them on, they've not been able to develop. I think they could be on for quite an embarrassing tournament, Belgium, I've got to admit. Don't really like Rudy Garcia, the manager. I think Iran could... I think they'll definitely take a point. Part of me thinks they might beat them. You're going to go for a win? I'm going to go for an Iran win, a 1-0 Iran win. OK, I was going to say an Iran win as well.

15:49I'm going to mix it up. I'm going to say Belgium are going to get the job done. I think they're going to look very unimpressive when they do it. So I'm going to go 2-1 to Belgium.

15:57Roger Bennett:But very slow. We're very slow 2-1, yeah. Very slow. Geriatric footballers sort of walking around trying to remember how to play. Well, you're in for a classic then. I'm not expecting a warm welcome from the Belgian fans now. Thanks, Rory. Thank you very much.

16:14Today's finishing touch brought to you by Bear Paint is all about one of the latest conspiracy theories that's doing the rounds. Everyone is going a little bit Mikel Arteta because there's a problem with the ball. I think we kicked a lot of the balls over the bar. and it's tricky that this ball flies a lot. Would it be a World Cup without some complaints about the ball? Surely nothing will ever quite top the Jabalani at the South Africa World Cup. But this year's Trionda is starting to generate some similar heat. This year's problem, while the ball is coming on to the keepers a lot faster than they feel it is off the foot.

16:47I'm noticing it with the higher balls in this game. I honestly feel like this ball is coming on to the goalkeepers a lot faster than they feel it is off the foot. Former England international keeper Johar is claiming that shots that are high up in the air are moving faster than goalkeepers are used to. He pointed to goals against England's Jordan Pickford, France's Mike Mannion and Senegal's Edouard Mendy, which under normal circumstances you'd think they'd usually save. Joe Hart is obviously the expert, but at the same time with less household named keepers such as Cape Verde's Vosinha, Curaçao's Eli Rom and Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Alawiz, all having standout games.

17:23Is this just Joe doing some stellar work for the goalkeepers union? 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. If you haven't yet, head over to the Men in Blazers shop to grab some tea, some hats or even a scarf if you're feeling a bit chilly. The unofficial third first kit is really the star of the show, which pays tribute to the retro look of the 94 kit. The link is in the notes below. We'll be back tomorrow, but until then, enjoy another day of soccer.