USA dispatch Australia and now we're going to win it all with JJ Watt: Night Cup 6/19/26

27:48I do adore them. On this incredible day for all who love the game in this nation, I'm elated to welcome back. It's my friend, it's Mr. JJ Watt.

27:57JJ Watt:What's going on? Some applause for the JJ. What's going on? Nick, how are we feeling on a scale of one to Kenny Powers in terms of what we're watching? Oh, we're winning it all. I mean, it's Curtis. Kurt, Christian, take a break. Just go take a break. Relax until the knockouts. Maybe even take a knockout round out because we're going to be fine. Just get that calf good to go and we're good. No, the boys look good. It's a lot of fun. I think you guys have hit it all. The energy, the excitement, you can just feel it reverberating through everywhere. Group texts and through the country. It's what a time.

28:37JJ Watt:What a beautiful, beautiful time. It is. It's a day we've dreamed of. one of the great atmospheres, I think, on the men's side in U.S. soccer history today. You played in Seattle. You've done battle in front of the 12th man. Watching that today, it felt next level, man. Oh, yeah. I mean, you look at all these stadiums and the way that people are packing them and A, the shine that they're getting and the love that they're getting when sometimes we here forget how incredible we have it with all these beautiful stadiums and we like to find things to complain about. But then you pack them like today with a crowd of Americans who just have so much love and passion and everybody's rooting for the exact same thing.

29:20JJ Watt:That stadium is incredible the way that it keeps in sound and it directs it all down onto the pitch. So it had to be unbelievable to be out there on that field as those players today because it goes straight into your eardrums. Bro, you have been to some of the great stadiums in the game. You've been to your signal Adunas to Dortmund, you've been to your Stardew Monumentals, your Turf Moor, your Hill Dickinson. Where does this rank, this experience? I mean, there's no Turf Moor, Rog. Just half the crowd. Nothing is, baby. Nothing is. Yeah. Half the crowd didn't leave for a cigarette at halftime.

29:57Proper football. Proper football. Yeah, it is, man. I think JJ's hit it exactly. So I was in Kansas City for the Argentina-Algeria game, which was a great atmosphere because it's full of Argentinians. And the sound drifts out because there's no, it's completely open, Arrowhead. And it was noisy and it was bouncing and it was raucous, but it did kind of filter out. Whereas that stadium today seemed to bounce everything back in. And it's funny because we look at these stadiums in the US, the beautiful stadiums, as JJ says. I look at them as a British person and think, well, all right, in 10 years time, we'll start building stuff like this.

30:30We look to America for these things to learn from it in terms of entertainment. I spoke to some architects this week who said that one thing that they're looking at now in the US is how do you get a yellow wall? How do you get the really steep stand at the Hill Dickinson? How do you get that sensation of fans being right on top of a team? You know who's done that is Northwestern with the new Ryan Stadium. They went and looked at the European Stadium. They've got a standing only. They made it out of tin.

30:58JJ Watt:The Clippers have one as well with their big wall behind. The safe standing is something that's really interesting and that hasn't made its way over here yet. And I'm curious to see how that goes. It kind of goes against the American vision of the corporate seats and the expensive PSLs because everybody likes to sit. But safe standing is something that truly could revolutionize the sound because that makes it incredible as well. It's hard to have the beer, the hot dog and the nachos. and that's what makes the safe standing not safe to be candid America I want to get back to the influence of the two in a minute um but JJ I'm old enough to remember Landon Donovan the player I'm old enough to you know when Clint Dempsey comes on for his show the juice it feels like yesterday we watched Clint destroy all comers our audience today at match day live so many of them were so unbelievably young, talking to them on the march to the match, they've not seen American men's joy.

32:00The 2002, which is like the benchmark, we got into the court, they weren't born yet. You know, our best World Cup feels closer to Noah's heart than it does to this moment in time. This moment, this new belief, this new hope, this new happiness, I mean, this is generational.

32:17JJ Watt:Yeah, and it's going to inspire an entire new generation of kids, hopefully, I mean, obviously, we're slightly putting the card ahead of the horse, but hey, we're out of the group round, so why not? Let's do it. But no, there's going to be so many kids out after the match tonight playing with a ball in the backyard and getting their friends together in the cul-de-sac to just kick a ball and get a scrimmage going. I think it's beautiful, and they have something to aspire to, something to look up to. And it's, I mean, I watched Tim Howard have 16 saves or whatever it was, and that was an incredible experience.

32:50JJ Watt:And everybody has their own story. Kaylea tells me the stories of hers all the time. And we've had the women's team who's inspired so many generations as well. So it's good now that we have a team at the current moment that is full throttle ahead, everybody's proud of, and is hopefully inspiring another generation. That thing about the generations is really interesting to me because I've been thinking a lot about 2002, which is obviously the best performance I've had in the World Cup. But maybe it was my birthday this week, Rog. That's quite a long time ago. You've got at least one, if not two generations of fans who've grown up who haven't seen the US have a run.

33:26And for them, this is such an exciting moment. This is a thing that has never happened for them before. And that's really important. We're going to talk about the coaching in this moment because it does seem transformational. You know a lot of coaches from your time in the NFL. You know a lot from your time with Burnley Football Club. Pochettino, the fit, the flow. What do you make of Pochettino's ability as a leader?

33:51JJ Watt:I mean, clearly he's figuring it out right now. Clearly he's got things rolling. He's got a way to inspire the guys to get his tactics and his way in. He is an Espanol man at his heart and his core, so I give him a lot of credit for that as well. Always be selling. I love the... Papa Pagos. I love the Russell Crowe comparison. I think that's fantastic. His outfits, I think we could... I understand he's like an Americanized thing. I do think we might be able to tighten that up in some places, but I like the flow. The work shirt is like a big thing now, isn't it? Is he not on trend? I don't know.

34:30There's an English journalist.

34:31JJ Watt:I think he's very on trend, but I also do think that there's certain things that are on trend that I can't pull off. Yes, it's on trend, but I don't look good in it. And I just think that sometimes we've got to bring the trend to the person and match it up. But hey, you win the World Cup, I'm buying a work shirt and putting that sucker on. I love you. By the way, I'm buying one. This hair is going to come down. This hair is coming down. The Pots wins the World Cup. This hair is coming down. I'm going full on London Donovan if the United States win a World Cup. That's what I'm telling you now. What I like is that he's like, do we have the pedigree and the history to have a not back down where the bullies were?

35:14JJ Watt:Do we have that? No. But I like that he's like, who cares? At some point, you have to build it. At some point, you have to be the one to blaze the trail and create that. And I like that he's trying to instill that in our guys, and I like that they seem to have taken that to heart. What is possible with this US team? What does the heart say? What does the head say? I mean, the head and the heart do say two different things, Rog. They do say two different things. Don't they always, JJ? I mean, the heart knows sports. The heart knows that on any given day, Cape Verde can go out there and pull off an incredible feat.

35:50JJ Watt:And so the heart says that it's a game of one. It's a, it's a, now that we're into the knockout phases, it's a tournament of one match at a time and anything can happen in any given match. So the heart says we can win the damn world cup on our own soil and do one of the greatest things in history. The head says quarterfinals. I love your heart, JJ. I've always loved your heart. I mean, this has been an incredible world cup for me. watching the world descend upon America, putting their passion for football on display. And so many Americans meeting them right there with open arms, our own sense of football culture, you know, our own sense of culture, culture.

36:30Bucky's doing the heavy lifting. Waffle House doing the Lord's work. Pop-up bagels. Yeah, pop-up bagels right in there. At the end of the day, when they lift that trophy, the captain is just going to be like, pop-up bagels. It is amazing. in our own terms of football culture is really radiating what's it been like for you to watch as a gent who loves this game and believes in its potential in this nation so so deeply

36:56JJ Watt:i think i think it's twofold i think what you're speaking to and seeing all the foreign fans come to america and the light and everything that we have and we take for granted i think obviously some of it's gotten a little out of control and is playing to the act. But I do think that we so often take for granted how many incredible things and how many beautiful freedoms we have in this country. And it is a good reminder for everybody to come and kind of shed some light on how good we do have it and for us to appreciate that some more. But then from a footballing standpoint, it's a beautiful thing to watch so many countries who are going to compete for the same trophy get together and share their cultures whether it's scotland fans bringing their drinking and their food or it's mexican fans and what they have or it's people from japan like it's just so fun to watch the cultures mix and this is what it's supposed to be this is what sport is sport brings people together from all different cultures all different backgrounds all different religions and races and everything there is nothing better to bring people together than sport and so far this world cup has done exactly that marshall lynch on stage today said there's going to be a lot of babies with different parents from different countries in nine months time and i love it i do think about 37 of them are going to have scottish parents marshall lynch went into quite a lot of detail about that very early in the morning i love it man marshall lynch is a knower a ball knower is all i'll tell you by the way quick aside scottish fans how sad is Boston going to be when the last Scottish fan leaves that city?

38:31It's going to be like the bluest.

38:33JJ Watt:They're going to be drained dry of all alcohol in the area, and they will have reordered far too much to supply. That's so funny. They've ruined the projections forever now. They're going to have too much back order. They're going to have to have a Scottish friendly scheduled next year.

38:55the sales the sales on fear are going to be amazing after thanksgiving what do you think of the waterbakes jj soccer has become like the nfl it's a four-quarter game now

39:06JJ Watt:it's it's so interesting i i came uh i went to the bathroom uh during the first half today and i came back and there was a there was a commercial on tv and i was like why is there a commercial on it's supposed to be the middle and then i quickly remembered the waterbakes and even having seen it a few times this tournament i mean none of us are oblivious to what's going on here like we've just created a four quarter match we got more commercials in there's a whole lot of money on the line and it is financially smart while sportingly unpleasing but that's also just the way that it goes and yes you can use it as a momentum flipper yes you can use it as a complete tactical switch you can do everything um but it there is no question that it changes the entire strategy and game completely and they're doing it in indoor stadiums when it's 72 degrees i don't know i mean it's ridiculous as a player i i i'm in a sport that stops and goes so i'm used to that i'm fine with it for me yeah but it is a as an athlete you guys can speak to it it's very it changes everything about the way that you've always played the game so first of all i jj's got massive arms so i'm not going to be criticizing him but i would say that his his key learning for today yeah should probably be that you wait for the hydration break to go to the bathroom that's the one advantage of the hydration break i forgot we had it that was my that's true actually you've not kind of internalized it that he's got to learn tactically that's the right approach yes yes i think the really big thing he's totally right the really big thing is it's making it much more of a coach's game that's the there are instances we've seen them already i think that the water break kind of killed curacao in that first game in it's germany that coaches are using it to kill momentum that is going to happen but what it's doing is giving the coaches more influence over get over the game that's a it's a trend we've seen the last 20 30 years you see it with guardiola on the sideline every little movement of every player is pre-programmed they had vincent company at burnley burnley were playing football in the championship that was straight out of vincent company's head It was, you are my pawns, you will move around in the set patterns.

41:13I think football has always had a degree of spontaneity and ingenuity about it. And the more the players look to the coaches to run the plays effectively, the less we have that. And I think that might be the biggest negative about allowing the coaches time to do that. In the NFL, JJ, do they not bring the water out to you? Or do you all get together on the side and have a tactical challenge?

41:35JJ Watt:So we have TV breaks almost every single drive. So you go over to the sideline then, or they bring it out to you. But yeah, and we also have headphones and helmets so that they can hear. So it is what you're talking about to the 10th degree, where it's constantly every single thing is in the game, or are you a purist and like the freedom and the players to be controlling things? That's so true. This third quarter break is brought to you by Pop-Up Bagels. Live the dream. Very quickly, I have been really fascinated by how global football will be changed by America, but also how America is going to be changed by global football.

42:22Who will be the first SEC school to play freed from desire?

42:27JJ Watt:constantly just it's gotta happen i can't believe that song hasn't come over yet i've been i actually been trying like when we even when we were playing i was like gonna try and make it a thing but it hasn't caught on it is the best like goal song game winning song you can play the weirdest thing is gonna be when loads of mlb teams start playing no scotland no party that is gonna be the weirdest thing texas tech when they score a touchdown it's just gonna kick off my next season it will be magnificent i need to ask you quickly before you go you are one of the few human beings in the world to have interacted with the true star of the world cup the german fan known as freddy la7 tell us how that went down what's he like it was uh it was back in the early days i guess you could call it when we first interacted because he had shown that he was going to end up in houston in about 10 days time.

43:19JJ Watt:And so I caught him on that first day of that. So we had plenty of time to kind of plan and prepare it. But over the course of those 10 days, it just got bigger and bigger and grew and grew. So while I was like initially planning, like, yeah, I'll get him a little barbecue or something. And then I was like, oh shit, like the expectation has risen quite a bit here. So I had day by day, I had to start making more calls. And I'm like, I can't just get this guy a meal. Like, I got it. We got to call NASA. We got to call the best hotels. We got to get everything. But the thing I'll say about Freddie is he was unbelievably gracious and thankful.

43:56JJ Watt:And he is fully appreciative of the situation that he's found himself in and how unbelievable it is. And he has his head is squarely on his shoulders despite everything. And he understands that this is not normal. This is not real. This is this is an unbelievable life. and there's also tons of people trying to rip him and take him down. And he's seeing a full movie star or musician's career in terms of popularity jammed into a two-week span. And he's getting the highs and the lows and he's getting the haters and the doubters. But he really is just appreciating it all. And the biggest concern has been, how is he going to get all this free stuff back to Germany?

44:44yeah because he came with like he's got one he came with like one bag yeah like he's carry-on

44:50JJ Watt:only yeah when i when i talked to him i was like all right where are you staying in houston i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna change i'm gonna fix you up and they were he was like we're staying an hour away we can't afford it we're staying we have a car and we're staying in like this little airbnb and all three of us are in one little room you know and so i was like all right we can change that like he was actually doing this just as a legit road trip on the most economic budget you could and it turned into i think he's gonna go to the white house it seems so jj just two things really quickly so one i mean i'm going to houston in a few weeks if there's anything you want to sort me out with that's fine yeah pop up the other thing is like the the long haul flight over to europe if he's only booked a carry-on only ticket yeah they're gonna absolutely rinse him for the for checking your bag so someone's gonna have to sort him out with that he's never leaving he's to just live in the corner of some waffle house in tallahassee for the rest of his eyes he's going to be so happy when you said his head is really i think you're going to complete that sentence if like his head is really an emoji it's unbelievable when you facetime and it's rinaldo so yeah yeah is that what it is is that why he's coming is is that why christianos is playing so poorly yes he's wandering around walking around the united states he's walking around the pitch in the united states it's all that smothered and covered he's been goblin By the way, what are the odds that, like you, he loves pop-up bagels?

46:12That is just... Such a coincidence. I find that very healing.

46:14JJ Watt:What a coincidence. It's tough to believe, Rog. I mean, pop-up bagels cannot be defeated. Pop-up USMNT and pop-up bagels, those are the things that bond all of us. It's like air, water, fire, pop-up bagels. Last question for you. Well, two more, actually, quickies. which player in this tournament i mean it's been lovely to watch them reveal themselves to us like stars in the firmament which player reminds you the most of jj what what which one screams jj what to you wow that's a really really good question i don't know one that really is not good at soccer would be the answer um yeah i don't know who's got the most red cards that's the person that else here is somebody i'm trying to think if there's been any like really bad tackles yet oh sure that sounds good do you mean did you see virginia do you see the goalkeeper the cape verd goalkeeper oh yes yes yes yes now he's got more followers than wendy and the homes i just saw a big uh tifo that they had for him down in cape very it looks unbelievable i mean it's so cool and i believe he got his mom to come watch now which is the best it's the greatest i mean it is It's crazy that no one knew his name.

47:34Now everybody knows his name and there's now a gigantic mural of his face. The Tifo is AI by the way, so be careful. Thank you. God bless. Why can't we have nice things like haggis being legalized in Scotland? I wonder how they made it that fast.

47:50JJ Watt:I'm an idiot. You should see my inbox because nobody knows how to get hold of Freddy. So everybody's just sending every offer for Freddy to me. Are they really? It's unbelievable. I have millions of dollars of offers within my inbox because of Freddie. It's insane. It is crazy. It is crazy, man. I mean, this will come. Like I said, he has his head on his shoulders. I'll send him. We'll talk about a couple of them and I'll be like, hey, I'm only going to give you these couple because these are the best ones. And he'll be like, I appreciate it. We just don't have time or I'm not interested. Like he really does.

48:24JJ Watt:He's turning down tens of thousands of more dollars of things. I like the idea that because of J.J. says, like he had to get like the hotel had to get better. The tour of NASA and all that. I like the idea that as Freddy goes around the States, it just becomes like competitive. Like he's in Oklahoma now, right? He's in Oklahoma City. They're going to be like, well, J.J. Watt did this. So we're going to have to get better than that. I like that. By the time he gets back to New York, they'll give him like the Empire State Building. It's like, this is all yours now. That's fine. he's got private jet flights on offer at the moment he's got everything it's incredible he's just doing it for the love and the bagels okay let's hear it who's winning this whole thing last question for you jj you beautiful human being who's the united states of america raj i will not give you another answer one answer the hometown team united states of america all the way united states of the america i'm hammered USA Cape Verde final, Flo Balogun versus Vazenia.

49:29I don't know if I want Cape Verde.

49:31JJ Watt:I don't want that. You don't like that. You don't like that matchup. Do you fear Cape Verde, JJ1? Do you fear the Verde? I'm more worried about if you're going to make it to the end of this tournament, Raj. That's my fear. You know what? I woke up this morning. I'm trying to tell myself we're nine days in. I think I've slept for about three hours over the course of these nine days. and I'm just telling myself, we've almost had a third of the games in those nine days. That's what I'm telling myself. We're at games 32 at the end of today, but who's counting? This is what we live for, JJ. We have worked towards this.

50:05We've dreamt of this. If the US get to the final, it's going to be you and me and Freddie sitting together, Freddie with his beautiful emoji face, just smiling at his people. It will be genuinely amazing. We're going to get you an IV every day to get you there, Raj.

50:24JJ Watt:Is that what I should be doing? You need an IV person on the production staff every day. Just say, Aline, you don't need anything crazy in it, but just get yourself hydrated and ready to roll. I love you. When the IV person offers Freddie three IVs, can you just send that email to me, baby? Just say you're Freddie. They don't know what his face looks like. Yeah, yeah. I like Ella. Ella. I'm an Ella fella. That's what I'll do. I'll give you a crazy one. like this is just a random weird crazy one a guy reached out as a restaurant reached out and they were like we want to give freddy a 24 000 shot of glenn levitt 80.

51:02JJ Watt:and i was like i didn't even know that existed one shot 24 000. what are you serious that's i'm dead serious did this is my inbox i brought it to teddy i brought it to freddy he's like sorry down by jj or did you know i brought it to him because i was like i'm not i was like i don't know if you can keep it and resell it to get pay for your bags on the way home i don't know um i don't know what the black market for glenn levitt 80 is um but no i he said he said i appreciate the offer but we're not going to be able to fit it in and then uh the other one yeah there's obviously everybody's been trying to interview him and i'm the biggest of the biggest shows have reached out asking if if freddy would be on and he was like i don't want to do any publicity i don't want anything so i have much is he really german yeah yeah they're breaking news i'm just relieved that he's real what he is yes yeah that was that was the big thing at the beginning was like all right let's let's make sure this guy's real and i can confirm he's a real human he's not a nigerian scammer he's not he's not ai breaking news freddie tweeted 29 minutes ago he's at the airport he tweeted crow it's a mess We have way too much luggage.

52:14My suitcase alone is£11 over the limit, threaded tweet. We had to throw some stuff away and managed to get one of the suitcases under the weight limit. Now we're only paying$100 extra instead of$300. I am annoyed at my agent, JJ. What? I just made that bit up for JJ. Can I just tell you, I know you're on vacation. You took time to be with us, which means so bloody much to me. Time away from your beautiful family. time away to talk about pop-up bagels the only bagel that i like that propels me through my day iv companies please be in touch with my agent jj water aol.com um you're an incredible human being man my face is red as it looks on my screen does my face look very red no no you don't you don't look like declin rice after a couple of days of training you look good man you look by the way you look amazing we got to work on potch in the outfit i'm going to email you we'll get some new looks for him yeah um burnley how we feel yeah are we on all right terms

53:14JJ Watt:are we on all right there's yeah every time we're going there's a legal battle oh you and me yeah yeah no but me and you we're always on good terms i mean i have i i love i mean we have no money so you're never going to win the case you're just going to drive the thing i love into bankruptcy but we're on okay terms would they be able to pay in toyota land cruises we're going to pay you in yeast for the baby we'll have freddie pay we'll have freddie well freddie covered for you guys ready money how we feel just give us that last blast before we go tell us mate we're uh we're we're we're we're moving through the managerial search very quickly um i would imagine that that will be finished up with that here in the in in short order um so we're looking forward to that we've got american games we've got american matches this summer so we're going to cincinnati columbus and salt lake city so i'll be attending a few of those i'm very excited for that so come out and see burnley play and then aspanol is doing well as well we ended up in a good spot and now we've got monchi running things we've got manolo coming back as our coach and we're looking full steam ahead can you imagine jj what a munchie this is the world i adore this this makes me so unbelievably happy i don't want to break news for Burnley, but then new manager, his name rhymes with Occhettino.

54:33It's all I'm going to say. You heard it here first. JJ, I'm going to let you go and be with your family. You are a king of kings. Huge love to everyone. A great day to be an American. Big, big love, man.

54:43JJ Watt:Thanks for all you do. Oh, wait. Look what I got. I'm rocking this everywhere. I forgot about this all the way till now. JJ told me if I mentioned Pop-Up Bagels over under 13 times, he'd pull that out. He's a man of his word. I can tell you right now that everybody in the Caribbean knows Men In Blazers. I can tell you that. I love you with all of my heart. You beautiful man. Big love to your family. Enjoy. We'll see you at the final. You, me, Freddie. Yeah. Big, big love. Courage.

55:14What a man, Ron. Always be selling.

55:20Oh, I'm exhausted. He's, uh, the news about Freddie, that is almost as good as the US winning. What? He's not AI. Everything could be AI these days. This whole World Cup, AI. Mate, I wish I was AI. I've got one more question on America very quickly, and then I want to break down tomorrow. Next match could end up essentially being a dead rubber. If Paraguay draw Turkey tonight, we'll have clinched the group. Should Poch rest some of the boys against Turkey? Or when a team is this hot, do you need to just let them cook? Yeah, that is my instant, I've got to admit. I think they'll have so much energy, they'll have so much enthusiasm, so much sort of zest for the tournament.

55:57If there's players with little kind of injuries, maybe you let them sit out, regardless of the result between 13 Paraguay. Maybe you let them say, I don't know, if there's someone who's got, yeah, a little bit of a tweak, then they have a rest. Because you need your substitutes to be hot as well, don't you? You want them to have the miles in the legs, but you don't want to sacrifice that momentum. What will get the US through this tournament as far as possible is the backing of the crowd and the self-belief of the players. You need to maintain both of those things. And look, I know they lost the first game.

56:26Given what we saw today, I think that might have been just a bad day at the office. Turkey are the best team in this group on paper. They have the strongest squad. They've got Ardegoula, they've got Kenan Yildiz, they've got real genuine threats. Some of the best players in the world. It's good that there's nothing riding on it in terms of qualification, but it's a genuine test for the US. Let them cook. We're going to break down tomorrow. First, can I just say the sea of red, white and blue today. Stunning. and the passion the hope um i actually saw in the crowd it was beautiful to watch again whenever they cut to the crowd see fans with our why not a scarf was really moving to see our unofficial third first kit so many men in blake just kicked in that march to the match brought me so much joy to see so much of our merch out here in the wild if you haven't looked at it yet go to the men in Blazers shop, new designs coming out daily.

57:20The link is in the notes below. I think we've even got our music shite t-shirt going up today. I'm determined to make that happen. Right now, Scotland's playing Morocco in Boston. The Massachusetts governor is making haggis legal. Turns out to be a joke. A crap you're not. Boston and Glasgow, as we said yesterday, are becoming sister cities. I love it. Bonds forged. It will last many a lifetime. time. Great grandkids will say, why are these two cities connected? We'll say, 2026 World Cup. Your granddad vomited all over Boston. What? Could the New England Revolution join the Scottish Premier League?

57:57That's a natural next step. That's a deep, deep, deep question. Why not? And we can send Heart of Midlovian over to... No, we're keeping hearts. The Brazil versus Haiti game. Last of the day, check out the USA's new opponents, Turkey, against Paraguay. Tomorrow, we're in the stage of the tournament where games are telling us a lot about the progress of the group's Germany Ivory Coast. If there's a winner, one of them will get through to the knockouts which will be a first ever for Ivory Coast. This is a World Cup of Africa. I'm loving it. Just snapped Ecuador's 19 match on Beaton Street with a gutsy gush of a performance.

58:31But Germany exists to ruin dreams, Rob. They do, but I think the Ivory Coast are one of those countries that we didn't talk about enough coming into the tournament. They've got a really good crop of quite young players. Yandiam Andey, if you've not read his beautiful letter about his sister on the Players' Tribune, it's well worth your time. Reminder of what these players are driven by and what they're motivated by. They've got Ahmad Diallo, who stored that knife blade swipe in the 86th minute, I think, to beat Ecuador. They have got talent. They are a really smartly coached team. No one mentioned them before the tournament.

59:08We know that Morocco and Senegal are the two-bid African sides. Ivory Coast are not to be taken lightly. More visa issues in that one. Initially, Eli Wahi denied entrance to Canada for betting scandal with his League One club, Nice, since joined up with the team. I'd just say this World Cup, the only winners are really immigration lawyers. They're really making the big bucks. Other match in this group, Beacon of Joy, smallest nation to ever qualify. Curaçao against Ecuador, charter playing of fans, London and Kansas City ahead of this one. I think 99.8 % of the population there will be tuned in.

59:43One fan said, everyone, all the countries now know Curacao. They know who we are. And I've got to say, when I hear that, you just stop blubbering like a 78-year-old beautiful dick advocate. Two minutes in. Morocco scored. Scotland down 1-0. Just don't get humped. In the other playing group, Group F, Graham Potter will pander to us with his cowboy hat once again as his adopted homeowner Sweden takes on the Netherlands. It will probably bring their spurs to this one. The Dutch haven't lost in regulation time since the 2010 final in Spain. Stat that sounds made up, but it's true, Roar. It's really quite incredible.

1:00:20Yeah, and they've got a little bit of work to do after that draw with Japan as well. That's a really interestingly poised group, especially now that we've got Herve Renard back. Yeah, thank God. He's swooned. Yes. All they've got is Virg van Dijk doing the headers. who's going to score the goals for them we will find out tunisia japan and the other one hervé renard back on the sideline in that crisp freshly iron linen parachute no doubt trying to salvage tunisia's tunnel wouldn't it be amazing if he turns it around i mean he could though couldn't he swore that wafting bottle of aftershave in human form um it feels like a world cup now he's back with us yeah he needs to be here they should be it should be written in fifa's statues that Herve Renard has to be in charge of some team.

1:01:05It's a big job. This man, if you've not seen him before, he's allergic to shirt buttons. How many buttons should you do up? Not enough is the answer. Lionel Messi scoring bangers, Shakira's age of hips, Carlos Kiroz getting his group stage exit. And this man just, just mogging all of us off. But imagine if Herve Renard turned up in one of those potch works shirts. It would just be... No, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't work. Let's go to more serious things. It's time to look at what everyone suddenly thinks. Our nightly look into the percentages. I don't need to look at this chart because, spoiler alert, we're winning the whole tournament.

1:01:43But it shows how far any host nation will advance, looking at the Calci percentages. The US coming off a second win. Canada, the 6-0, I think it's called a humping, isn't it, of Qatar, Mexico, have won the group, despite being booed roundly, constantly throughout their games. We'll look into your crystal ball. which one of us three will go furthest in this tournament it depends a lot on the draw obviously which i know is kind of hedging a little bit i think if the us win the group that then should get them to the last 16 fairly not comfortably but they you know they have a pathway to the last thing yeah probably through i think the us will go the furthest of the host nations i think they i think they will make the quarters and i don't think either mexico or canada didn't do that i'm up to king you don't need my answer america do you seeing the energy living the energy feeling the energy i'm not really feeling the energy look at me in seattle it's just i mean my dreams are so real we're coming all the way etc etc which means we celebrate with the food it is the european mind cannot comprehend seattle style we're finding out that rory loves america but hates sesame balls that was not very nice i thought the sesame balls were amazing there was a sesame ball that i didn't try before scoring oh look that was nice voila we're trying twice baked almond croissants and blackberry vanilla croissants for bakery nouveau just to clean the palette famous one i like how seriously you take it just swiggle it around and spit the water out baby that's the way we do it here this is amazing a little birdie you hate nuts so you don't have to go almond croissant but i'm trying to do it vanilla don't do it into the microphone no one bakery nouveau let's go here we

1:03:32Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. This is life changing. I've got to go on Jake Tapper's show in a minute. I've got bloody croissants down the front of my shirt. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. This is where we lose all our viewers. Raw, get your number up. I'm going to guess your score. That was so unbelievable. good. I feel like you've just feeding me wife cake, but better. Guess away. I think he gave it 11 out of 10. It's an 8.9. That was delicious. That was really, that is great. This man destroyed a restaurant yesterday. I think it's probably, oh, it's gone out of business already. God bless you. The incredible, the incredible Bakery Nouveau, which I'm wearing all the way down the front of my shirt.

1:04:20Get that on CNN. It is time. At Jack O 'Lanter 984 said, Avoided a sensitive kitchen into them for another day. Well, that's a great callback, bro. Like that. That is a very great callback. By the way, my pits are so sweaty. There's no air in here. So let's move it along. Jake Tapper is going to be way pissed off. Turn up a sweaty mess with half the bakery down the front. I'll be like, where's Wolf Blitzer? So let's read the letter. Remember, we always want to end with one of your letters. Share your World Cup feelings, your journeys, your memories, your experiences. MenInBlazer.gmail.com. or smack them in our Discord, which I'm loving this World Cup.

1:04:58So many new members of the community. It is really buzzing. Today's letter comes from a GFOP, Jay. Man of mystery. Raw, do the honours. I've been watching the Night Cup every night. I love it. Well done, Jay. Wanted to send you a fun World Cup story. My six-year-old son had never watched a soccer match in his life until the Paraguay opener. Saturday after, we went to local Statesville NC. Is that North Carolina? I hope so. FC match. And he was a mascot on Sunday. I'm going to change it a little bit here There's one American word I refuse to use. On Sunday, he wanted to get new soccer boots. Now we've gone to the soccer field by our house nearly every night this week and watched a lot of group matches.

1:05:35So beautiful. Monday morning, I found him watching the Emi Martinez. My son watches that as well. Does he really? Yeah, it's deeply weird. You've got to be careful. Your son may grow up to be a right little prick if he gets hooked on that. There's some weird gestures at the end. Needless to say, he is hooked. The World Cup fever is high. Keep up the great work. MIB is such a creative inspiration. Pure class. Fly, baby eagles, fly. Jay, I'm worried about your son. Can we talk about that? He's going to turn into a shithouser if you're not careful, man, just watching that stuff. The thing I miss most about the World Cup as an adult, Rog, is that sensation of watching half a match and then going outside and playing football with your friends.

1:06:12There's nothing that makes you want to play football more than watching it. And I still have that now. It's still part of me. Even if you're at a game, that it gets to half-time, you think, I could have a kickabout. I know, we do. By the way, at the end of every day these are long days people we are working like 80 90 hour days the loveliest part of my day is when we go outside my bus and we get out a fifa football and we just kick the world cup football around everyone on the set i mean it is like it's probably the worst but bottom four rondo in world i would imagine but it just feels so unbelievably freeing and i've not pulled an acl yet so it's doubly good by the way jay emmy martinez is probably telling people about the same thing uh don't let your kids watch mib night cup that's the right prick so what comes around goes around um god bless you the story of your son is beautiful i mean so many i met a little girl today that started to watch football purely she was like six or seven here with her mum going to this game it's so unbelievably moving it's meeting so many young kids who have been turned on to football by this spectacle more more more it's what america needs Hey, LA, we're coming back.

1:07:21Oh my God, we're waking up early. We're back to LA. This big orange bus. Woo, woo. We're going to the Santa Monica Pier again for a very special episode. We're going to do a live taping of this show tomorrow. And we're only going to be on stage after Ecuador and Curacao and Germany are playing. We're going to have former US men's coach, Jürgen Klinsmann. Jürgen. To come on and talk about all of this, man. In a way, he's like the biblical patriarch. He's like Noah in the Bible, right? Maybe. I don't know. He's a friend of the pod. He's a really fascinating man. Come be with us. Come and have a couple of these in person in LA.

1:08:00And then for the next US game, we're going to be at Union Station doing another Match Day Live. I cannot wait. It was something today. Jürgen loves the croissants. He gave them 8.9. to end today I want to thank all of you who came out to our Match Day live experiences in Seattle I can't thank all 10 ,000 of you but it was just a lifetime experience I'll never forget that it was incredible genuinely incredible it was profound man and out of body the support, the love, the community the memory making we've had dark days we've had shattered optimism but tonight I raise this to you I hope we're all part of just a giant that's awakening in this nation, shaking itself off and dreaming that anything's possible.

1:08:49Listen to Marshawn Lynch this morning. He spoke from the heart about this US team, spoke beautifully. Roar, you said the most beautiful thing of all. What did you say at the end? You said, this is the moment that kind of your, the rest of the world waits up to American soccer culture. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it was that, that is the sort of, not just the performance, but the noise will have gone around the world. The rest of the world will say the word, but Roar, he wouldn't cleat. I won't, I won't ever say that right. This is what I'm saying. Take a moment. Hug your family. Hug your friends.

1:09:19Hug your kids if you've got them. Hug your parents. And let's never take a moment of watching football, this football for granted. Big love. Courage. Here's Marshall. If the Knicks can win an NBA title and the Indiana Hoosers can win the football championship. Anything is possible. You know what I'm saying? You gotta believe. You gotta believe. You gotta believe. You funny as hell, bro. You funny, bro. I can't see. Um... USA! USA!

1:09:59JJ Watt:USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! You hear me? Oh, I hear you. You hear me? USA! USA! USA! Yeah, they gonna keep it lit.

1:10:13Thank you.