World Cup 2026: Highlights from the first weekend

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1:38Musa Okwonga: hello and welcome back to study podcast i'm iso konga i'm ryan hun ryan how you doing i'm doing all right thanks man how are you very well indeed very well indeed rested hydrated this is our first monday podcast of the world cup we did our first world cup podcast on patreon on friday if you want to go and sign up for that and listen to every single episode ad-free through the World Cup. We're doing three a week. Go to patreon.com forward slash stadio and sign up as a podcast member or if you want to jump in to the Stadio Social Club Discord as well, you can sign up as a Stadio Social Club member.

2:12There's a World Cup channel in there that is popping off. Apart from that, we hope everyone's staying safe and well, wherever you are, enjoying the World Cup. Today, Moosa, you and I are going to do, Moosa and I, like you're not here, you're right there. You and I are going to do just, we're just going to pick out some stuff that we've enjoyed so far. Teams, performances. On Friday's show, we touched on a lot of the stuff that we didn't like about the lead-up to the World Cup. Do we need to do any other round? Oh, quick shout out for anyone in London. If you want to come and see us at the South Bank Centre in July, it's the Thursday after the World Cup final.

2:48Musa, myself and Nish Kumar are going to be there. Tickets are on sale now. The link is in the description and because it's getting closer, the tickets are starting to shift. make sure you go and get them. It would be great to see you. And I think that is all the admin. So, Musa. Yes. Before we get into the football, I have a theory. What's that? So, Arsenal won the title for the first time in 22 years. The Knicks won a championship for the first time in 53 years. Congratulations, Knicks fans, by the way. Amazing, yeah, yeah, yeah. Could we just say, Zoram Amdani on an all-time opening match six or seven months.

3:30It's generational. Also, the Carolina Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 20 years.

3:37Musa Okwonga: Wow, yeah. Lots of long runs coming to an end. I have to say, there are some countries that haven't won in a while that are still not going to win in a while based on some of these. It's been a while. It's going to stay a while. Yeah, yeah. It's been a while. Exactly. Yes, some teams are definitely at this World Cup for a good time, not for a long time. I think it's fair to say. Today, let's pick out some stuff that we're we're enjoying. So, I mean, should we shout out Germany first because it was kind of a big result yesterday. We have the same moment. You mentioned it in connection with this game.

4:10Musa Okwonga: So why don't you go first because I think we share it. Well, I think so. First of all, I think Germany's performance was quite interesting because it felt very Germany at a major tournament where they take a lead. They look good. Curacao, I think Curacao's goal, their first World Cup goal, the noise, this is a separate one that I want to touch on because they were like, one of the things that has been so great so far have been some of the noises for certain goals. Kurosawa was one. The Japan equaliser against the Netherlands was wild. Like wild. And also the Brazil-Morocco game just in general.

4:50Musa Okwonga: Can I say the common answer goal for Kurosawa, I want to say actually on this game, first of all I was very impressed by Germany I was very impressed by them because here's the thing a lot of talk about you know the population of Curaçao being like 150 ,000 a lot of players in the diaspora playing for like really quite good teams I would say that in terms of their quality level I think it's best to look at them as kind of a mid-table championship team in terms of quality. Like they're a good, they're a good side, right? They're a good side. Players for PSV, Volendam, like they're not, they're a good side.

5:29And so what was impressive about them,

5:31Musa Okwonga: they actually started, I think, Curaçao very well, actually. And I think what was impressive was the goals that a lot of people were joking about, like kind of the 4-1, a lot of people were joking about Germany 7-Brazil one and Germany 7-Curaçao one. Actually, no, because if you look at each of the Germany goals, the exception, perhaps the last one, they had to work extremely hard to score them. And the thing that was most impressive about Germany was all the goals were primarily came from like just higher execution, like speed of execution. The opener set up by Wiers, Metz's goal, and this is the thing to talk about.

6:02Musa Okwonga: So Usman said an interesting thing in the discord about, it was interesting how Nagelsmann was using Metz arriving from deep. This is what he did with Angelino Leipzig, RB Leipzig, right? Where you have a player who has a defensive brief, but who arrive so late in the box that you can't pick them up because you're busy with nothing else. The amount of goals Angino scored as a left back who ended up often the most advanced of all the players and it's brilliant. Nagelsmann loves this. It's the run you can't track and Germany had to be that good to unlock a team like this because actually when Kurosawa got the chance to turn the ball over and break especially on the left they were really impressive and they could have hurt they could have hurt a more complacent big team.

6:41Musa Okwonga: Can I just shout out I'm actually quite disappointed that this game didn't take place in New York, New Jersey, which is the official name of the stadium because Julian Nagelsmann rocked up very much like a character in season four of The Sopranos. That fit was extremely Sopranos coded. Yes, absolutely. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I was slightly sad. I know we're not going game by game, but I was a bit sad that the scoreline went as far as it did. Yeah, I know what you mean. Because I just think, you know what it was? even if it was at 4-1 I think the goal in the half time was I think it would have got to 4-5 anyway there was something about going to 6 or 7 that I was like this doesn't really feel fair in terms of the game that's been played like people look at this and be like oh actually they didn't equip themselves particularly well they caused Germany some problems man they caused Germany some problems and they had a classic it was almost a stadio classic goal before the thrashing but I don't know it's rare that you see them as an equaliser Germany has six different scorers that is how good yeah only have it they had to do right they had to get goals from a variety of places this wasn't some simple this wasn't like Germany 8 Saudi Arabia 0 no where it was basically like a kind of an absolute pummeling this was an opposition which had the tools to hurt them but which the tournament favourite and I think Germany funnily enough their stock is higher after this result some might go actually no they might look at it and be like mid-distance no big deal no this was really cohesive and key players players in this team, including Schlotterbeck, and I have to say Havertz, most of all.

8:19Havertz's finished for the seventh was...

8:21Musa Okwonga: Kai Havertz is turning into... He's turning into something like the finished article. He's approaching it. He's not there yet, but he's approaching it. The Kai Havertz of four years ago was not doing that. And he's done it, a Champions League final, first game of a World Cup. Some might say, oh, it's just the World Cup. No, actually, it's like, it's momentum, it's poise, it's presence. He went through on goal and you weren't thinking, oh, goodness, I hope. No, no, it was like, it was, it was done actually. So yeah, really, really impressive from them, but impressive from both teams, I think. And the Curacao support was amazing.

8:56Like the noise when they scored was so good. And I think that's one of the things that, you know, we talked quite in the second half of Friday show on Patreon, just about all of this, the really icky stuff around the world cup. And I use that, you know, I think we talked about it in terms much stronger than, you know, like a term like icky, but it's stuff that we've you know I mean I remember we did an episode probably over a year ago now when we were asked if we had a hot take about the World Cup and my hot take was that it would actually go ahead because there was so much going on that it just felt so it felt like something massive was going to trigger some kind of you know moving of the tournament or something like that it felt really big at the time and this is the thing that you know I said I'm not going to repeat fully what I said, but it's moments like the Curacao goal when the football actually gets going and people like Infantino can't affect that.

9:54They can't actually affect the proper moments that happen. And that will go down as an all-time World Cup moment.

10:05Musa Okwonga: Yeah, totally, totally. Because it was just amazing. It was amazing, man. and I think that look the fact that they're even at this World Cup even with the expanded format

10:19is wild and I think that yeah maybe maybe the seven felt a little bit kind of too mean but at least they are getting that to me shows actually Germany felt like right we need to really put the foot down here because they caused them some problems and actually one of the things that is interesting is that we've seen again this has happened a few times already the hydration breaks causing issues for teams who were actually in the ascendancy like Kurosawa had Germany wobbling a little bit and the hydration break just killed it and I don't look we know why it's not a hydration break it's an ad break yeah totally of course they've turned it into four quarters it's an ad break everyone's talking about it

11:07Musa Okwonga: they referred to it on TV is the third quarter. Everyone's talking about it. This is everywhere, right? We know what's going on here. And I'm in London for most of the tournament. I'm actually doing some stuff with TIFO as well. And the good thing about the coverage in the UK is that even ITV, which is a commercial channel, they're not showing ads in the hydration break. So I think Joe from TIFO said something that it might be an Ofcom thing. But still, that's a commercial channel that isn't showing. Yeah, you know, see FIFA, of course, didn't find Fox, didn't penalise Fox for overrunning the ads.

11:39Musa Okwonga: Of course they didn't. Well, the thing that's really annoying is that we've seen hydration breaks take place in really, really hot games. You know, for example, in the Premier League. Well, like the last World Cup, World Cup 94, the last World Cup in the US was like that. Yeah, but like, for example, when the final round of Premier League games got really hot, remember it was that really hot weekend in the UK. And yeah, you stop it for a bit, but you stop it and then you get going. There was, I think it was Qatar, Switzerland. The players were ready to go and they were waiting for another 30 seconds.

12:05But yeah, anyway, that has been a big negative on the tournament so far I think.

12:10Musa Okwonga: Yeah, ad breaks. Yeah, yeah, totally. It's gross. But anyway, that was, yeah. So Germany, I think Germany's performance, it's quite common for Germany to go into major tournaments and for it to be quite difficult to figure out where they actually are or how good they actually are. You know, I don't think in 2014 they felt like... Do you know what? They know what? 2014, no one knew how cooked Spain were. So Spain, everyone was expecting them. These guys could go back to back. and Brazil were kind of in the mix. If people thinking the home team advantage and Scolari, I mean, that was overinflated, but basically it was the conversation with Spain and Brazil.

12:45Musa Okwonga: Germany were like in the mix. Okay, so I've just pulled up, I'm not a betting guy, but I just Googled the odds. Apparently they were third favorite behind Argentina and Brazil, slightly ahead of Spain. Yeah, that's as I remember it. That's as I remember it. I remember it kind of being that conversation of them being in the mix, but not being the main. they were like on the kind of outside they were in the peloton chasing back but then actually when they went through the tournament they just felt kind of a level above everyone else while not being super spectacular until the Brazil game they sold all the problems I think that's the key wasn't it they were quite but then in 2018 super disappointing right hangover World Cup hangover and they did their Yogi Love contract pre-tournament do you remember and they looked they just looked a million miles off in that tournament it immediately felt four years too far this one feels different I'll tell you why it feels different because if you look at like there's a parallel with Germany in 2014 in the sense that the previous tournaments had come a little bit too early 2010 World Cup you saw exciting like flashes as you did at the Euros you saw quality of the Euros but it wasn't quite there the last Euros Germany I thought were I thought they were I thought they were the best team actually in the Euros I think Spain squeezed past in that game I think in that game I think Spain I think the Kai Havertz, the way he's finishing now, if that Kai Havertz was in that Germany team, then I think they win because I think he gets...

14:10My hot take is that I think Germany might win the next Euros because they should have won the last Euros and Spain won it, but Spain should have won the Euros before that. So that's my path. This is incrementalism.

14:20Musa Okwonga: No, because the way that Germany build is tournament by tournament, incremental approach. Everyone's totally bought into Nagelsmann now. They didn't have the best qualifying campaign, but at the same time, Nagelsmann, as we know, as a coach, he's very much someone that likes to like trial and error, working things out and then optimizing what he's got. And this team has totally bought into his methods and they looked dangerous. Vietz was absolutely locked in. Vietz was locked in. And if one more of them catches fire and they're solid too, they've got goals in them. They just have a range of goal scorers.

14:52Musa Okwonga: They have experience. They have everything to win this thing. Everything. Yeah. Yeah. They're a joint favorite in my opinion. They're a joint favorite. I did that predictor and I had Spain-Germany final. Solid. And I had Spain to win it. Solid. While every other channel is fighting for your customers' attention, podcasts are where they've already given it. No one accidentally listens to a podcast for 45 minutes. They choose to be here. They trust the voice in their ears. And when that voice talks about your brand, it doesn't sound like advertising. It sounds like a recommendation from a friend.

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15:47All right. Speaking of solid, can we shout out Australia? Another highlight. Oh my goodness. Because this, what a tactical masterclass. This is a serious masterclass. from Tony Popovich

16:01Musa Okwonga: Turkey actually Turkey actually are like Turkey are look we know they got I think people got a bit waylaid by the fact they got cooked by Spain in the qualifier but then again that Spain playing like that would do that to anybody on the planet pretty much anyone on the planet Turkey qualified second to Spain in that group and they were really good other than that and so for Australia to come through and do this to them and just control like you know this thing about having a team exactly where you want them the quality and Chalunolu and Ardugula like you're and especially that Turkey have gone deep on the bench and he didn't get on the bench he didn't get on the pitch this is a this is this Turkey team is quite deep this is a strong side and Australia absolutely handled them the whole thing was typified by the Australia opening goal Eran Kunda's goal everything about it absorbed the shock and within 30 seconds the moment the ball gets saved for Turkey it's like you're already dead because the gap has appeared higher up the pitch and that and Aaron Kunder whose transfer value is going to explode now obviously just the composure and like the time between the goals it's about like 50 minutes between the two goals in that time Australia base just have the ball as dead space and Turkey just can't make anything out of it and they tried they really tried plenty of the ball but just couldn't break loads of shots but just not really it was all like kind of I mean the XG from Turkey was 1.36 off 30 shots so it's just that that's just like I don't watch enough Australian national team football to rank this in a victory but I'd be very surprised if this is not like an all-time top 10 in terms of what this is in terms of like opening statement of a World Cup showing your evolution showing your threat your attacking threat I mean like two goals in open play of the highest quality I mean the thing is that just opens up that second place that because I think beating Turkey you'd look at now you'd look at Australia being favourites to qualify out of the group along with the USA you know and getting straight into the round of 32

18:10just not having to worry about you know are you a best place third finish or not just getting straight in there I think is

18:16Musa Okwonga: and no one enjoys facing Australia the World Cup no one Italy way back then in 06 was it and I love this for Australia because again like I said like these are two goals from open play and that's a real threat this is a team that could hurt anyone and actually on the 06 that was a last minute penalty from Totty like injury time from the eventual winners I mean this team Australia has a tournament team in the World Cup horrible matchup for anyone yeah I agree so disciplined so smart defensively sound and they've got threat so yeah yeah can I also just I'm really happy for Conor Metcalf because I think it's been a bit of a tricky couple of years for him at St.

18:55Paulie he was so he was so prominent so important in the team that came up and I think that under Alexander Blessing he maybe he didn't really feel like he featured as much as he probably should have I know there was some injury issues as well but I'm just yeah really happy for him to I think it's his first World Cup goal and I think they're going to give the USA a game and I think that you know the USA were very impressive against Paraguay some really good goals and they go oh my god Gio Reyna's goal I know that Balagoons was so good in the top corner but Gio Reyna

19:26Musa Okwonga: goal that's the prince that was promised can i say this actually i said this in the chat but um in the discord but i'll repeat it here because i feel it bears repeating because i felt it strongly it is the first time i've seen a team look like a poch team since poch left spurs yeah you know in terms of like the identity everyone buying in even some of the player profiles and i think there's something about this team i think the us the mesnato team they've been kind of humbled a bit, actually. The last tournament was difficult for them. And I think there's, and some have had difficult, you know, individual seasons.

20:02Musa Okwonga: It's no secret. And I think that builds by into Poch's methods. There's a lot of talk before the tournament about like, oh, how he addresses players. But look, the US is a nation. It's about winning first. And a lot of that talk just evaporated. You weren't hearing any of that at the final whistle. Spain took apart Paraguay, who aren't the strongest team. That's clear. But you still have to be operating at a high level to do what they did. I'm still fascinated by the US-Australia matchup because that is a very different proposition. This is a team that basically, like, it kept, it kept Leo Messi mostly quiet.

20:37I mean,

20:41Musa Okwonga: that's what we're dealing with. It's a very different proposition. So I'm looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. I have to say that SoFi Stadium looked unbelievable. Incredible. incredible the whole complex is just wild if you think that's a whole generation of you know if 94 was formative or before they were born or they were too young to remember it for example this is the thing that has been you know the early mornings a lot of these fans will be fans of european clubs as well as clubs in the us they're getting up at 4 a.m or they're getting up at 3 a.m or the the weird time zones the kind of like the distant fandom and then all of a sudden you have this home World Cup and people we knew were at the game and it meant so much to them to witness A, not just a US men's national team game on home soil in a home World Cup and a home men's World Cup but also like a team that they kind of like on the whole and are pretty good and you know they're like oh shit actually they're playing some really good stuff.

21:39Musa Okwonga: The thing I like about this team yeah I think that's great the thing I like about this team is you know they're the closest to me they remind me most of the 2002 World Cup team because they had the same kind of technical profile. I think, you know, US teams, obviously men's national teams have gone through different iterations over time. They've gone for different approaches, the more sort of scrappy approaches, the bruising approaches, the physicality, and they've lent more into that. But I think this team has, it has a certain guile that reminded me of the 2002 team. yeah they had physical strength oh too but they also like were tactically just brilliant I mean they just completely outfoxed Portugal Portugal didn't know what to do with them the entire game they're like how these guys revolved it's wild from the previous iteration and I think this World Cup team the thing I like most about them is there's multiple playmakers there they can carry the ball over large distances sharp on the counter the team spirit seems great actually they seem really energised and some of the football was thrilling and I like I love that it was Rayner that scored the last one even though I saw an incredible Gladbach meme someone's like hmm Gladbach fans watching Rayner do big things yeah I was like oh interesting well where is this?

22:55Joe Rayner's still only 23 years old. Plenty of time to do it and

22:59Musa Okwonga: look how many look if you look at footballers elite talents right football's elite talents right now you look at Ousmane Dembele and the last two seasons he's had and that is a lesson to anyone, it's never too late to like add the tools. It's never too late to add the tools. I think it can be quite easy to forget how good Gio Reyna looked coming through at Dortmund initially. And how good he still is. And how good he still is. But like, if that talent can be unlocked and the consistency can be increased, man, I would love to see him get to close to that early level. Because we were saying that this could be the greatest men's American player of all time.

23:39He's a wonder kid. Seriously. He was that good. He laid the ball off for Haaland for the Dortmund goal against PSG in the Champions League that time. And it's unbelievable.

23:49Musa Okwonga: You look at the divergence of their careers. I know. It's wild. And don't get me wrong, in terms of the skill profile, and it bears repeating, let me put it differently, imagine what a Gio Reyna would have done under Pep at a certain point. It would have been some adjustment because the style of player, but he would have been probably, at some point he would have been used as a kind of eight right um you know like the way that pep was trying with fodan but fodan doesn't have the kind of control inside to do it and that's fine it's not judging just the way it is but i there was a path for a player like giorena in that kind of setup to absolutely thrive but he has he has the quality it's still there and it can be and poch poch knows that poch had it with ericsson like ericsson got criticized a lot by spurs fans but poch was like yeah the thing about eric about ericsson without him our ceiling is like 10 lower and ericsson does things that nobody else in that squad could do and the same is true for for reyner reyner does things reyner provides one thing for the us they have not had in years which is fantasy and every every god every world cup winner needs it you cannot cope without fantasy it's dude dortmund had Dortmund had Haaland Sancho Rayner and Bellingham all at the same time it's like when Thanos had the infinity stones all the infinity stones were in New York that that was and they were all brilliant to watch I remember I remember writing a piece for the ringer about yes there was a whatsapp group and just being like please please stay together and they just didn't but it would have been so good if they had torn apart by the forces of capitalism yeah do you want to hear a fun stat what's that well first of all quick shout out to Ivory Coast's win over Ecuador this game was the vibe vibiest game this felt like going into this felt like taking a playoff game on the road for Ivory Coast right of the death buzzer beater this felt like hanging out in Green Lanes this was like football equivalent football equivalent of hanging out in Green Lanes on a Saturday evening just the vibes everywhere all like Dalston like the energy about this game was like that's like Dalston Nick Volper I think that's how you pronounce his name who is a wildlife guy so I saw someone share this I think Cal shared it in the Stadio Social Club Discord Ivory Coast became the first team in this World Cup to win while having fewer bird species than their opposition

26:16Musa Okwonga: Send me that I've got a friend who's actually an ornithologist I've got a very good friend in a football group who believe it or not this is a small crossover he's like like he's like that's his profession he's like a bird guy so he'll I'm not going to fact check that and I love it I'm sending it to him there you go and if it's if it's not true I won't reply that's incredible also they can I say also just shout out to them they've been through it because like a ton of their visas of their supporters visas were denied so even more impressive they got it done without that obviously big diaspora there supporting them but it's a total nightmare from their perspective but yeah they look great actually and just Ecuador looked good too to be honest we'd worked twice so yeah great game well that one goal well that end that Ecuador shot towards in the first half and Ivory Coast shot towards in the second half that goal afterwards I think that goal would have come up being like oh man I need to put some ice on these some aloe vera on the joints put some ice on the crossbar

27:16yeah I mean there's some it feels like the visa stuff is getting really it's kind of been worrying for a while but if you look at Iran for example who they were allowed to fly in the night before the game can't leave on the same match they have to leave that day and I just feel we talked about this with Omar Atan on Friday about how you know if something like that happens then FIFA need to step in and just kind of flex a bit because you know you can't you can't you can't go through all of this thing I'm not going to repeat too much but you can't go through all of this whole charade and then just be like, oh, hey guys, we can't, oh, sorry, it wasn't me kind of thing.

27:55But it's a classic, it's a classic kind of thing of, it's a classic trope of those kind of people.

28:01Musa Okwonga: Yeah, totally. I don't know how you feel about it. I feel like there's either going to be a massive relaxing of it for the tournament just suddenly out of nowhere because these administrative stuff's like, they always feel like they happen at the 11th hour, right? Or something really bad's going to happen. Like even like not that really bad stuff hasn't already happened you know what I mean? Like something else quite like drastic is going to happen. And it's just a horrible it's just a really horrible thing to have hanging over like any tournament let alone where it is. Yeah I think I always work I always when it comes to tipping points at World Cups stuff threatens to get really really bad and often doesn't quite and i think it could be that again i think look just because of the sheer weight of goodwill around this like it's still a world cup the goodwill i think at street level like on match day it tends to prevail people just find a way to fill stadiums i don't think the visa situation is going to get better actually i think it's but it's already far far worse than i thought it would be i'm not going to lie in terms of how i imagined it would be i'd be like ultimately common sense will prevail but the way they're treating people around the teams team photographers travelling fans Ryan it's already far far worse to be honest than I mentioned well even just the contrasting arrivals between was it Senegal and Uzbekistan in the US and then teams that are arriving in Mexico yeah yeah the way that Senegal players being searched on like the runway I mean just yeah African champions man wild well in my eyes anyway listen come at me Caff you're too busy to come at me you've got too much you've got too much just ask good questions just ask good questions

29:52Musa Okwonga: any shout outs for Sweden Tunisia just great to see Sweden just playing with swagger we haven't seen it feels like we've a while since we've seen the EZAC get it out of here yeah listen the dirt was coming off the shoulder the dirt was coming off the shoulder wow like Sweden just all round Tunisia not at the their best and that they they weren't great at afcon either to be honest um i think the challenge they've had is a bit they can't quite work out what they are if you're going to be defensive and play the basics then do that if you're going to be defensive team then don't play out from the back hit it long have a low block hit people on the counter but to play out from the back you don't have that many attacking options which they do i mean it's the hostage to fortune and actually feel for their defenders because your corporate in two places like if you want us to invite pressure we're limited in that sense I just don't get what the tactics are I don't get them what Lamushi was thinking so really but Sweden that's nothing away from them Ayari was spectacular chemistry between Isak and Jokeres again it's the classic thing of just two forwards just get out of each other's way they just don't occupy the same space which is a big problem for like let's say Brazil for example which is why you have the kind of Olrafena Vinicius problem struggling to accommodate players that don't directly fit I mean do you want to transition on to Brazil because I thought yeah let's do it I genuinely think Carlo Ancelotti might have had the biggest recorded deja vu in the history of humankind yeah I'm still coaching Madrid I'm still coaching Madrid Vinicius just scores a like a wonder goal to kind of Get him out of trouble.

31:36Musa Okwonga: The problem is the cost of, yeah, that's a great shout, but also the problem is, and this is just a quick one on Brazil, Morocco were very impressive, but, well, Morocco were very good, but I think Brazil made them look better than they were. Because this Morocco is not substantially different from the team that we saw in the AFCON final, right? And the problems they presented, Brazil was shockingly open. There was a lot of criticism of Casemiro, but I'm not that critical, not just because he was at United, it's not that. He was placed on an island. You have him in this midfield, which is completely disjointed.

32:12Musa Okwonga: I thought the weakest player in that three was actually Paquita, who conceded the ball in strange areas. And I thought, actually, if you're going to have a player like that, have someone press aggressively, then have Kunia there. Have Kunia in the mix. And this isn't new for Brazil to start with a midfield that doesn't last the tournament. They did it in 94. They did it in 2002. They swapped out Rai for Dungren 94. They swapped out, who was they swapped out in 2002 for Cleberson. And Cleberson came in and was spectacular. They swapped out like a high profile play. I don't know if it was Janninho.

32:46Musa Okwonga: I think it was too early for that. But they basically have done these adjustments before and I think they need to make an adjustment again. I know they're light in midfield, but I think someone like Acuna has to come in actually. And they have to be a bit bolder with a couple of their forward choices. Yeah, Brazil can still do it. But you will not get past the first knockout round with the midfield like that. It was an absolute mess. Buradi was having his absolute... I'm glad you mentioned him. I was going to shout him out. He was feasting. He was feasting. What a World Cup debut. Totally. 18 years old and just wondering, having his absolute run of it.

33:20Musa Okwonga: They weren't clearly, Brazil were not ready for him to step out like that. He was ready. I mean, he's been at Lille, you know, like Liga is one of the hardest running leagues. You're going to have an open midfield like that. the Brazil midfield had no chemistry and are going to put an 18 year old who's got like a head of steam, who's confident who's playing on the front foot against that it's a mismatch. Liga might be the low key those who know league for midfielders actually. Totally, totally. When you develop a midfield through Liga recently there just feels to be, there's been a few kind of like oh oh shit okay.

33:59Musa Okwonga: Especially when you have to play to adapt to the league winner and so everyone is watching Fabian Ruiz Zia Emery Vittina Joao Nevers and going that's the profile that's the stuff that you have to unlock that's what you've got to go after so you know iron sharpens iron and Uwadi is put it this way whoever was tracking him before the tournament is going to have to pay three times what they were going to pay prior to that because that guy is going places very fast he was spectacular another shout out Scotland and Haiti fans after the game Pure vibes man What a vibe Scotland beating Haiti 1-0 made hard work of it to be honest I think Haiti were very very good and I do wonder if Scotland switching to being such overwhelming favourites kind of just it was weird because it didn't seem they didn't seem to play that way I do wonder if they'll actually be maybe the performance will be better against Morocco and Brazil because they are truly underdogs in that so it will suit the way that they've it feels weird I know they've had a couple of warm-up games but even still it felt like yeah it felt like there were opportunities to really put the foot down against Haiti and I think the fact that they couldn't capitalise on that Haiti really did Well you talked about Ligue 1 Haiti are basically a mid-table Ligue 1 team low mid-table Ligue 1 in terms of like profile in terms of quite a few of them play in France in terms of their quality they're like lower mid-table liga and if you turn up not at it a team like that will turn you over and I think Scotland maybe didn't expect that level of intensity because even the possession split the possession split the XG they're all quite even and actually I know Scotland are the overwhelming favourite but you look at that I think maybe they shouldn't have been actually maybe this is there was a thing I was talking about a few years ago when you have like you know like you have like stock because it's overvalued in the market.

36:00Musa Okwonga: Then you have the market crash. And this was happening in the 2010 World Cup when you had teams like Algeria, for example, that people come in and go, oh, like, God, Algeria, like England turned them over. And actually, Algeria, as it turned out, very good on the counter. There were buildings that turned out, the generation of like AFCON winners and the generation that would threaten Germany at a World Cup 2014, just four years later. And I feel like Haiti, they went under the radar in the sense of, oh, it's Haiti. I think a lot of people still had like the 70s in their heads. but this is a team that's been around that's got you know they've got a player from Sunderland there like they're not it's not a clown show so I think Scotland may be the victims of like you say the expectation and maybe maybe maybe underestimating a little bit look out of the group I think yeah yeah I think so yeah again and again look here's the thing as well all of that being said nothing wrong with having like an early tight skirmish in the World Cup no you've got to like have that I mean look what happened hey look look what happened to Argentina in the previous World Cup Spain Spain, Switzerland.

36:57Yeah. We talked about Mexico's opener at length on Friday's episode, if you want to go and check that. But we haven't talked yet about Canada.

37:06Musa Okwonga: Hey, listen. Bosnia and Herzegovina taking the lead against them, which was a vibe. I don't know. I mean, I can't imagine the scenes like back home. That must have been absolutely wild. But Canada were loud, man. The crowd was loud. Good game, this, actually. Just a good game of football. And not, I think, vastly against former expectation. This is kind of what I'd expected from the opener, like a draw. I think Bosnia quite resilient side. I would have expected Canada to win, but I think that, yeah, it's like you mentioned before, right? I think the first game of a World Cup can always be a bit of a tricky one for people.

37:43Musa Okwonga: Just get, honestly, especially with three games in the group, just get the draw and get out of there. Yeah, they missed an Alphonso Davies still. He was on the bench, but he's not fit enough yet. And I imagine that he will probably come in at some point. I think that'll be fine. Not the worst result, that. Not the worst result, that, I think, for either team. No. No. We didn't really talk about the Netherlands-Japan as a game because we talked about the highlight, but I think, you know, probably a better result for Japan than the Netherlands, that. Because it's a real shame for Japan because missing Endo and Mitoma for the tournament...

38:15Oh, God, they're huge absences. They would have been... But I think they could have been on for being, like, one of the all-time Japanese sides.

38:22Musa Okwonga: I mean, that is dark horse energy. like if japan had had mitoma particular because again it's it's the fantasy we're talking about the game breaker you can imagine that guy scoring some breakaway winner in like the 95th minute you can imagine it like it was set up for him i think this world cup where so much is chaotic with travel with discourse everything else like unfamiliar uh climates mitoma was placed to thrive like footballers that thrive in chaos are absolutely a premium this tournament is a real really gutted he's not there. Yeah, that was a great game. One of these like minor classics, I think, it's fair to say.

39:00Yeah, also, I'm not sure if we talked about it, but Jürgen Timber's missing the tournament. He's still with the squad, I think, for a few days before he goes back to rehab. But yeah, I think he had a flare-up with a groin injury that kept him out for ages before the Champions League final.

39:12Musa Okwonga: Injuries have been so cruel to that man. People roll their eyes, and I say this, but I'll say it. If he is not injured, Arsenal have one more trophy. I'm not sure which one it is but I think they have one more trophy if he's not injured he's that significant for them absolutely just an absolute unicorn of a footballer yeah I think also as well we just we talked about this a lot this season but I think it's just more not just having those individual players it's having those players and allowing them to rotate with people like Ben White and then maybe stopping them both from getting injured and keeping them both fresh and yada yada we always talk about when Luke Shaw got injured for Manchester United and how it affected Memphis Depay because they had this incredible chemistry and the moment Luke Shaw was gone Memphis Depay couldn't like sit in that pocket that Desiree Dwey like inside left pocket that he loves to occupy and his career didn't fully take off and before the Luke Shaw injury was in the Champions League Memphis was flying at United so yeah this stuff is a chemistry is everything yeah yeah yeah real thing any other World Cup stuff you want to talk about uh no i just think that i've been oh just a quick shout for the way in which um algerians have been embraced in kansas that's lovely oh yeah yeah that's lovely great vibes everyone's hype um and just generally for like the support who've been making their way in difficult circumstances from different countries just really made yeah so this match atmosphere has been superb so despite everything um it's been great and again i know i'm biased towards our own listeners but like the vibes in the discord.

40:50Musa Okwonga: It's just great to, it's great to see so much mutual congratulation and encouragement, right? Because a lot of people don't like football from the perspective of like, oh, look, I'll give your team credit. Like, and there was a lovely thing someone posted about Ivory Coast and Ecuador fans after the game in the car park that Noah's going home. I feel it's the same energy like among our listeners. So I want to give a shout out to you as well because I appreciate that. Someone wrote a very nice thing about the World Cup in Qatar being quite draining. And I made the point in response, I was like, look, it's never going to be as draining as that because having a community to like bounce stuff off is really important.

41:28Musa Okwonga: And the spirit of every World Cup, really, the best World Cups is the community spirit between the fan base. So, yeah, that's my final shout out. Get briefly emotional.

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43:00Let's do some non-World Cup stuff very quickly, just check in. Marco Correa is off to Real Madrid.

43:07Musa Okwonga: yes apparently Bernardo Silva made an agreement to go there too on a free transfer Canate's on his way there Kukurea is that's happening happening I mean that someone made a good point someone's like yeah it's the Laminia Marle thing because he played well against him in the the game of Stanford Bridge I will say that that was not the full Laminia Marle if you're if you're signing someone to be a Laminia Marle stopper then good luck with that. I think he's been signed for other reasons. I think it's because, look, I think Mourinho just really likes him as a defender, fits the profile of what he's looking for.

43:42Musa Okwonga: I think it's a good signing for Madrid. I think that, you know, Canate, Bernardo Silva and Cucurea represent really good business. I think there's a fourth one as well going there. Billy Carpenter. Oh yeah, Dumfries. Dumfries as well. Dumfries is gone. Yeah, pretty much, I think. Good business for Madrid. Yeah. Billy Carpenter said, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's the highest fee for a 27 plus year old defender ever. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me think. When did Van Dijk go? Did Van Dijk go at 27? No. Is he 26? Well, he signed on the 1st of January, 2018. So he was 26.

44:21Musa Okwonga: Okay. Right. Okay. Okay. He turned 27 that summer, but he was 26 until he became 27.

44:32Musa Okwonga: Yeah, that's funny. I mean, those stats of that always interest me because I do keep, you know, do keep an eye on like when players move. But yeah, I think, I guess it bugs the trend. It's a very high fee. It's a very high fee. I'm not entirely sure about that one, to be honest. Can I say this though? Barcelona have made them desperate. Barcelona have made them desperate because they had this like golden generation and all of a sudden they've got to retool. Dumfries and Cucuraya are players that you buy if you want to win now. Canate, injury issues, and obviously stuff with his dad, and grief, you know, just going through grief.

45:07Musa Okwonga: He is the right player if he gets the injuries sorted. I hope he does. But Ardo Silva, again, is somebody you're signing to win now. Will it work? As good as those signings are, I'm not sure they raise Madrid's... They raise Madrid's floor, but I don't think they raise Madrid's ceiling, actually. I don't think they raise their ceiling. A couple of responses to it say that it was, I think previous, the previous one was Kyle Walker. Look how well that worked out. I mean, that's one of, that's an incredible, Kyle Walker's consistently, sorry, Kyle Walker's consistency was so high that we're going to like just, he's going to be like Ashley Cole.

45:47Musa Okwonga: We're just going to like forget that he existed because he was so good for so long that it's going to be like he won't even register in the collective consciousness. But yeah, Kyle Walker was a great, a great get. I don't think, I don't think Kukuro's legacy will be the same just because Walker was so good. but I think it's still a good signing. It's a good signing. Any other non-Football, any other non-World Cup stuff? Ruben Amorim looks like he's going to Milan. I find your lack of back three disturbing. Interesting. Amorim at Milan. Will he get the investment in his ideas? Do you want to do a wait and see on that one?

46:22Musa Okwonga: I think it's a wait and see. All right. I think it's a wait and see. All right, man. I think that'll do us for today. Yep. looking forward to Spain Cape Verde later oh very much looking forward to that and also Belgium Egypt kind of feels like a clash of post Premier League Titans yeah yeah it does absolutely absolutely yeah heritage or current or current you know like or current like but it's like when Blur Oasis came back isn't it it's like watching I don't know Oasis be on a bill with like Fontaine's DC you know you got a bit of the modern you got some heritage I like that match up Clips doing something with like Clips and Tyler the Creator Tyler's too experienced now he's too wise you can tell when a musician is an uncle when they start giving wise interviews about the state of the industry he's like yeah okay Tyler we get it through the looking glass but yeah all good looking forward to it if you want to sign up for Stadion on Patreon and you will get two more episodes this week.

47:29And if you want to sign up as a Stadio Social Club member, you also get access to the Stadio Social Club Discord and loads of other perks. So yeah, until then, we're going to play out on a little tribute to the hydration breaks. We're going to play out on a tune called Heat by Larry Bright. Make hydration breaks hot again. Wait, hang on, that sounds weird. No, hang on. Whoa, I mean, temperature-wise. whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

48:03anything you'd like to add nothing further all right everyone much love back with you on Wednesday see you then

48:27Thank you.

48:57Thank you.

49:27Thank you.

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