World Cup Daily - Cabo Verde Shock The World, Leo At The Double, Goals Galore For France and Senegal

0:06Music

0:25Minnow's Cape Verde are through to the knockout rounds. To put in perspective how small the nation is, there are fewer people living in Cabo Verde than there are Manchester City fans. This is the Arsenal Vision World Cup Daily. Thanks for joining us, everyone. That's right, Cabo Verde, around 500 ,000 people. There may be more Manchester... No, you know what? I'm wrong. No. No, probably not. That's okay, though. They are an exciting story from this World Cup and one that I'm excited to talk about. We had a big France win. We had Leo Trossard playing well. We had Uruguay crashing out, Egypt surviving a fun day as the group stage gets ready to wind down.

1:02One more day of the group stage today, and then we're on to the knockout rounds. I read there have already been more games in this World Cup than have ever been played in a World Cup. So that gives you an idea of why it feels like a lot of football. It is a lot of football. And here to discuss the football with me is the man from CrabStats himself. Scott, hello, Scott. Yeehaw, how are you doing? Yeah, man, I'm doing all right. I said it before, I'll say it again. Timsey's been amazing, by the way, and I've loved working with him and talking to him and getting to know him, and I think he's a friend who's going to be a part of the podcast for a long time.

1:32But obviously, Miss Phil and his knowledge and his humor, and we wish him well. But the important thing is that we have you and your knowledge and your humor to trump them all. One big, friendly American podcast here between you and me, Scott, and I am going to default to you and let you go with the first headline from a fun day, I think an exciting day of World Cup football. Yeah, I think I'm going to kind of lean into the idea that maybe the expanded World Cup is turning out okay. I think that's kind of my headline here. I had some serious concerns and worries about how it might turn out. I was worried about the group stage.

2:10Like, would it still have stakes? Would this third round be kind of meaningless? I think there's been a few games that always are at the end of a group stage. And I think for the most part, the football has won and like it's turned out quite nice. The smaller nations, even if they haven't won any matches or if they've kind of been blown out, I think they've still had a lot of fun. They've enjoyed it. It hasn't seemed like their spirits are down overall. I think that generally, I think it's just been a plus for going to 48 teams. And I had some worries about it. And I think it's been good. And like you mentioned at the start of the show, So is it Cape Verde that we're going with the show styling?

2:46I guess Cabo Verde, let's be. Yeah, I don't know. That's how it's being said, and that's how we should say it. I never know what should be angle-sized and what isn't anymore, and it's always fun. It is tricky. I'm following the broadcasters because even though I don't trust the broadcasters much, I assume they have teams of people that have researched how to say this stuff, and they're saying Cabo Verde, so that's what I'm going to go with. Yeah, I think it's fine. That one's at least easier, right? I can't say Ivory Coast, right? Don't try to get me to pronounce French words at all. Cote d 'Ivoire.

3:14Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I don't know which ones I'm supposed to actually, you know, stress and, you know, or which ones to totally skip entirely. So. Well, some of them like that might cause you a problem like Turkey, you don't have to worry about cause. No, not anymore. They're out. Yeah. Um, well I, and I do really great story. We're, we're actually going to talk to a patron, um, before Cape Verde play, uh, Argentina. So Ron got in touch. He's a patron. He, messaged me in the discord and basically said he lived in Cabo Verde for two years and had lovely things to say about the country and wanted to share his experience and I think given that I think you know the World Cup watchers are falling in love with that story it would be really cool to hear from someone who lived there and and get their experience of what the nation is about and what it's like so I'm excited to to hear from Ron and hear a little bit more about Cabo Verde before they play Argentina I'll I'll give you my headline and you know what instead of making another headline about the same thing how about i just continue the conversation let's stay on cabo verde because you talked about the expanded world cup working out and i think we can agree that the the best story of this group stage is cabo verde and for them to achieve what they have is remarkable and candidly i i i don't think it's unlucky i mean they could have lost to uruguay they they played a game to score goals against uruguay and try to beat them but even when they went down they got goals um two goals in any game is good in in the uh low scoring sport of football that americans don't appreciate because of how low scoring it is but you know they got those two goals i think that they had plenty of chances to score against uh saudi arabia they were a bit unlucky they they had some good chances that went begging but they played some interesting stuff they had virginia's big performance against spain you know uruguay and spain those are big footballing nations that they earned draws with and i think they could have beat saudi arabia so this is this doesn't feel like a qualification where it was a dead group that they scraped past.

5:09This feels like a qualification that was earned through grit and good performances. And they're a great feel-good story. But I think beyond the feel-good story, we should be celebrating that they played good football that earned them, very much earned them a path to annihilation in the round of 32 against Argentina. I imagine though, if you're from Cabo Verde and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm going to the World Cup. And then you're like, oh my gosh, we drew Spain. Incredible. Oh my gosh, we might qualify. Oh my gosh, we've qualified. And now, forget whether you win or lose, you're going to play football in the World Cup in front of millions of people on the same pitch as Lionel Messi.

5:48Yeah, right? I mean, there's going to be hundreds of millions of people tuning in to watch your team play, which is absolutely fantastic and amazing. And I think you nailed it, right? Against the greatest of all time, right? Against the greatest of all time, yeah. most of those players would probably be honored to just meet Lionel Messi. You know what I mean? Like have the chance and they're going to get to play against him. It's remarkable. I mean, have you been enjoying that story as much as everybody else? I think so. And so I heard you guys and Tim talk about this the other day. And so kind of like Tim, I felt like I needed a bit of a break because it felt like there's just nonstop soccer on all the time, especially with Arsenal going all the way to the Champions League final.

6:26and, you know, being like fully deep into that, it really did feel like I needed a bit of a break. So I missed the first week of the tournament, going on vacation, camping, basically taking a full digital detox, you know, not having service, which was quite nice. That sounds amazing. I would recommend it to just about anyone. Yeah, I went and, you know, communed with nature with the big Redwoods, which is absolutely fantastic. So if you have a chance, go do that. Redwoods National Park is a wonderful place to go visit. But now I'm fully back into it. And I kind of wish that the, you know, the kickoffs were a little bit earlier because I miss, you know, being able to wake up early in the morning and have soccer on all day.

7:05But yeah, I mean, you can't beat, you know, a full day's worth of soccer. And now we're going to go into the knockout round and we're only going to get one a day. And I don't know how I'm going to, you know, be able to handle that. Yeah. I mean, I have to admit the kickoff times annoyed me yesterday because there was a three hour break between the France window and the next one. Now. yeah I was watching TV during that one and it switched over to uh was it the Drew Barrymore show and I'm like I didn't even know that show existed like wait why are there's just non-stop soccer here and I I have to confess I was so look I understand why they did it and I can't criticize them for it it's probably the right decision I was so frustrated though that Norway rotated because I was really excited for France Norway to see you know Holland and Saliba obviously Saliba didn't wind up playing in the sea you know that would have been an interesting battle a good test for Odegaard, but as it turns out, Norway rotated and they got hammered.

7:55So I will go with... Which is interesting because you kind of look at the chances overall in that game and Norway, even though it was the B team, had some pretty good chances to kind of scare, right? If they finished some, maybe that's a completely different game. And I don't know. I think I'm coming down a little bit on France coming out of that match because they, yeah, they scored well against it, but it's like you kind of like need to hold better against a rotated Norway. I think it is tough when there are no stakes and you're beating a team and everybody's like, I want to get my World Cup goal.

8:28And discipline goes out the window. I do think that it's very hard to evaluate. I mean, we had the same chat. Was it Netherlands-Sweden maybe where Timsey was saying like, I'm not convinced by Netherlands-Sweden had a lot of chances. But like they had a lot of chances when they were two or three goals down. And when that happens, I think players start thinking, oh, I'll get my World Cup goal. And the game kind of loses its discipline a bit. So hard to judge when the stakes are as low as it is, but I agree with you. France, we're quite open. Iowa headline. Hmm. I think my headline has to be Uruguay crashing out winless.

9:07This is not a vintage Uruguay team, but I mean, in four years, we're going to have the World Cup centenary. The first three games are going to be played in South America, including a game played in Uruguay. they are a renowned international footballing power for their history in this tournament and you know you can you can crash out of the group that like fine but when it's to these teams right I mean when you look at who they're who they're crashing out to I don't I mean like like spain fine you you can you can crash out to spain but to not be able to finish above is it the is it the egypt and iran group right so a not great egypt and not great it was the the copa verde saudi arabia right sorry sorry yeah and that's even arguably even worse i apologize um and and look they they had some chances against spain um i don't think spain were very good either but obviously the the um the goalkeeping mistake it was just a pretty drab game so this is one that i've just been bad yeah like i've watched all of uruguay's games and like candidly they've just stunk the place out they've been so dull so boring to watch it's been such a poor performance from them and like i not to pick on them but that that is a group that maybe it's wrong to expect more i you know i don't know that the talent suggests that they should be better you know darwin nunez is a player people laugh at me but that like i have i have rated at times um yeah but but obviously not not able to do it they managed two goals against cabo verde they managed one against saudi arabia none against spain uh musalera with three errors in the tournament just a sort of pitiful exit to finish to finish out of the knockout rounds in a tournament where really all you have to do is win a game and you got a pretty good chance to get through so So yeah, my headline is Uruguay out and don't do themselves any favors in terms of their reputation internationally.

11:06So you want to go with one more headline? Maybe a bullet point, something quick. I think the, man, I think some of the third, like watching the third place drama kind of unfold has been pretty interesting. So coming into the matches yesterday, I think was it both Scotland and New Zealand had pretty good like outside shots at being able to do it. I think Scotland knew they were probably screwed. But especially as the goals kept coming in in the Senegal match, and you could just see the odds dropping every single goal there. And it's like, oh, I feel bad. Because I mean, especially coming from America, the Scotland fans have been a massive story.

11:43And how welcoming everybody is to see them come into their city. So that is something that is cool. And I felt bad for them to kind of have their run ended that one. So that one's I think, but just watching some of this third place stuff. And again, going back to my headline of worry about would the group stage have any drama? And I think there's been enough to keep us all engaged overall for that. And, you know, seeing Uruguay drop, seeing Turkey drop out. So two still fairly big teams. Like they're not like a shock, like Germany dropping out or France when those ones got dumped out in the group stage.

12:18but still people that you would have expected given the group to be able to advance not be able to make it i think it's been overall a pretty good uh group stage aside for the round 32 here and since we're talking about that uh my headline i guess my last headline then will be because i agree with you i think the third place drama was pretty interesting yesterday my headline will be i think you have to you have to tip your cap to iran yeah iran may not make it bad that we haven't talked about that game yet because that was probably the most exciting of all of the games yesterday that that's the thing so so that's why i want to bring it up so a few things so one i think tip your captain they may get through they may not they're currently in i think they're fully eliminated right because they only have two points they have three they've drawn all three games yeah so they they currently sit sixth out of the eighth eighth third place teams but with no zero goal difference and three points they're in a precarious position i believe um we'll just have to see i i don't know for sure but what i will say is first of all given the circumstances of their tournament and their ability to even have like a normal day of preparation.

13:22I think they could have been forgiven for coming and just getting slaughtered and slinking away, but that's not what happened, obviously. They put up a great fight. They are in a group, you know, with two more favorite nations in Belgium and Egypt. They drew both of those teams as well as New Zealand. But in that game last night, if you did not watch that, if you missed the Iran-Egypt game, boy oh boy did they push to win that game and at the death they scored a goal that would have put them through and definitely through in second place and potentially have eliminated egypt um well i guess egypt would have been on four then uh so they probably would they would have gotten anyway but um the so it was 90 93rd minute yeah ball comes in it's it rebounds around it's put in And there is a very marginal, hard to spot offside, but the VAR does catch it.

14:17The goal is disallowed. But for a moment there, Iran were qualifying in second place, which would have been an incredible story. Now they sweat it out. I still think you have to tip your cap to them in a big way, Scott, because for them to do anything in the tournament is remarkable. And that was like the big drama moment of the day. And it was nearly there for them, and then it wasn't. yeah so i was over at a friend's house watching you know just having dinner and like having a couple neighbors over to be able to do that and i'm the the soccer guy in the neighborhood everybody knows me as that so like oh what game should we watch tonight and i was like oh let's put on spain uruguay but that was a bad decision because like you're trying to sell people on the sport of soccer uh the spain uruguay match was not really an advertisement yeah not the greatest one um but the Spain-Uruguay match wrapped up and they switch over to Egypt-Iran.

15:07So we got to watch the final few minutes of that. I got to give people a crash course on what actually offsides is, trying to explain why that call was correct. Because this is a weird one where normally you have that goalkeeper back on the line and you see the Egypt guy who's a full yard in front of him. and he's like, oh, he's got to be onside. He's got to be onside. But then you realize, oh no, the keeper came out trying to get it. So it's like you have that second. I find that confusing too. It's a player plus two defenders, right? It's two defenders. It's not one. It's just that the keeper is almost one.

15:43But we're just so used to that way, right? The last defender. But no, it's actually two defenders there. And so it's like, oh, and it was so close. Yeah, I mean, it is probably correct, right? It's about six inches. It's not like one of those toenail ones, but it's like, oh, you feel the heartbreak. but then they have the chances and they go off the post right at the very header i guess off the crossbar right at all yeah yeah crazy finish well all right i'm i think well one of my stock fallings will actually be related to some of the the drama there but let's get to stocks rising and uh i'll give you the the first stock rising who do you got um i mean this is this is tough i'm gonna go with the arsenal player i think you know landry chassard uh braced fantastic yeah right we didn't even talk about that game but um you know belgium being a potentially in that bubble of teams that are big-ish and, you know, kind of not playing well.

16:33But yeah, I think they really kind of came up really well against New Zealand. And everybody wants to count out Leandro Tressard. And like, every time he's doing it, he reminds you that he is a damn good player. So yeah, Leandro Tressard, really, really stock rising again, like not just for Arsenal people, but I think for his overall, like, reputation internationally. It's really good to see him go out there and perform and really really do well yeah i i'm i just adore that player i can't me to articulate exactly why there's something just about his his angry demeanor the fact that he looks tired the the tigerishness with which he attacks his tasks the fact that he's just sort of counted out and dismissed it reminds me that there's the the movie money ball or the book money ball there's the meme that's come up right it's like why do we like this player because he gets on base, right?

17:27It's like, why do we like Leandro Tessard? Because he scores goals. He just, he finds a way to do it. He got a brace. And it's not just a brace. Belgium had racked up a decent amount of XG, but through their first two games, they had managed a 1-1 draw with Egypt, where their only goal was an own goal, and a 0-0 draw against Iran. And then Tessard pops up and gets their first two goals in a game they really must win to get them started on their 5-1 victory they put 3.64 xg and 35 shots past new zealand by the way but it starts with trossard getting those goals the important goals that that break that challenge they've had of finding the breakthrough he was great i agree i i love the player i love the player and if he is in fact moving on from Arsenal.

18:17I think he goes down as one of my favorite ever sort of value signings since I've been supporting Arsenal in terms of a guy we didn't know what we were getting who's etched his name in Arsenal history. Yeah, right. Not quite at that legend status, but in that he's going to be a cult favorite for anybody that grew up watching this or had any sort of connection to this team during this era. If he ever comes back into North London, there's the classic, He'll never buy himself his own drink. He doesn't have to buy a drink in certain parts of North London. And to be fair, though, he should because he probably has a lot more money than most people.

18:50Sure, right? He should probably buy around the bar. He should buy everybody else's drink. But yes. Yeah, I mean, it's that. Yeah, it's just that thing with him. And the Anne Hathaway liking Troussard. There's a great little story there about Troussard that has just enhanced my enjoyment of Arsenal and of him. So kudos to him. I owe you a stock rising. And I mean, I guess like it feels a little silly that we're this deep in the show and I haven't done it. We haven't even spoken of it. So let's give Ousmane Dembele, your Ballon d 'Or winner and hat trick score, the nod. The man comes up with goals in the 7th, 20th and 32nd minute.

19:28The second fastest hat trick in World Cup history. France, you know, blow out back Norway backups. There could have been more goals. Mbappe put opportunities on plates for people Dembele could have scored again but was unselfish trying to set up his teammates France are a little bit scary because to your point Scott like yes they looked a little vulnerable at the back they were screwing around a little bit at the back you know great kudos kudos to them for screwing around they didn't have William Saliba who's nursing an injury as are a lot of the Arsenal participants at the World Cup right now which is a bit scary but like you know ultimately, when you have Dembele and Douay and Barcola and Olisse and Mbappe, they're just going to score goals.

20:15And it looks, watching France, at times it looks a little Harlem Globetrotters, like they're almost not super locked in and almost don't need to be. And I don't know what to say about this team because it feels like, will anyone even push them enough where they have to lock in the gear? I mean, imagine at some point in the tournament that will happen. But right now, this is a France team that just seems like they have the talent to do sort of whatever they want, I guess you would say. And I have to give a nod to a player I didn't know very well, Cuadio Cone, who's starting ahead. Well, he was starting ahead of Chouameni, started ahead of Rabiot in this game.

20:58The Roma midfielder, he's been linked with some big clubs, including Arsenal. and yeah he looked he looked really really good himself so yeah kudos to France man but but Usmane Dembele welcome to the tournament I think he now has four goals yeah right I think their round of 16 matchup potentially right as things stand right now could be Germany so that would be a really interesting so the BBC's site has it as Sweden oh the round of 16 The round of 16, yes. If Germany get past Paraguay and France get past. But even the Sweden matchup, like Jokeres and Izak, they didn't look good in their last game, admittedly.

21:36But that could be fun. I'd enjoy watching that. I think the big questions about France are the midfield and can they stop people enough? But maybe Kone there, Chiumeni together. I think Rabiot hasn't been the greatest. I don't know why Rabiot keeps getting picked. He's one of those guys. You know how international managers have their guys? And I think Dechamps is really that way as well. I think he has his guys. Rabiot's his guy. Yeah. Rabiot's just his guy. And I think the fullbacks are something you could ask a question about. They had Luka Dean starting in the second game. I think that's not where you want to be.

22:08Teo Hernandez was back in this game. So, yeah, I don't know. Saliba's in there. I think that obviously improves them substantially. LaCroix, I think he did okay in there. Yeah, I think there's a... LaCroix's the water. I think he's going to want to be called LaCroix, but I don't know. I mean, yeah, we're American here. We're back to the pronunciation thing again. By the way, to the people mad at you for calling it soccer, as long as the USA are still in the tournament, you're allowed to call it soccer, so it's fine. All right, that is good to know. Yeah, that is good to know. Do you have any other stock risings that you want to hit before we get to the stock falling?

22:40I mean, the bangers that we had in the Senegal match. Oh, yeah, good call. The goals of the day. I mean, basically all of those goals in that Senegal. They were having a goal of the day competition in the Senegal match. Yeah, I think that's going to be where the picks kind of come from overall there. But yeah, I think you could pick a stock rising from, I mean, again, there's the red card that definitely colors the overall match there. But yeah, I'm happy for Senegal, right? They're a team that needed to win there to be able to advance. And they did so, you know, putting their stamp on that one.

23:15yeah yeah i mean it is it is interesting in a way because senegal were like a candidate to be a stock falling because they you know they are the best or one of the two best teams from africa or along with morocco and you would say they really should go through well if you're in a group with france and norway i mean losing to france there's yeah no yeah no shame in that and norway senegal is like a good matchup of two good teams where whatever the outcome is you can kind of accept it I don't think Senegal had played great, certainly, but they got the goals that their talent suggested they could get in this game.

23:48They scored some bangers. They won 5-0. It's what they needed to do. They got a little help with the red card, of course, and at the end of the day, a plus two and three points is probably going to be enough to see them go through, and I'm glad. I think the tournament is better for them being in it because I think they're a really interesting team with a lot of sort of exciting and fun talent as it stands right now they are facing england um and as i have been reliably informed that is a game england won 3-0 in the last world cup so run it back is what you would say uh and then after that england get to go to the azteca if they make it through to face mexico and the azteca to celebrate the hand of god anniversary so good luck there Okay, enough about England.

24:31This is not their day, although it is about to be their day, obviously, as they play today. But we have to do stock fallings before we get to the England of it. So who is your stock falling? maybe bielsa um absolutely absolutely i think you gotta go yeah uruguay here they were we already talked about it but the team that you'd expect to be a top two team in that group um especially given the safety net of most of the third place teams being able to get through like not being able like i can understand like this isn't like the best uruguay team of all time but this is a team that should be significantly better.

25:14I think I have generally like high feelings on Bielsa to be able to max out his talent and to be able to get the best out of it. And it just seemed like he was out of ideas. It's like, is Bielsa ball like, you know, as everybody moved beyond that kind of, but it's also, it's like, right, his man-to-man marking is what's supposed to be like in vogue and to be able to do that. And it's just, it didn't work at all. And I just like, I don't think that this, this wasn't like really even like a Turkey thing where they like pounded teams and, you know, got people like saving, you know, the, them out of their skin to be able to do it.

25:50And it's just like, they did not play well at all during this tournament. I feel bad putting the boot in on, but like the goalkeeper, like, well, yes, sir. Go ahead. I was just saying, yeah, you just, yeah. Moussa, absolutely. Definitely a stock falling also. Right, hooked at halftime, like, very deservedly so. And, like, I mean, you feel bad for a player like that, but it's like, what else can you do? Like, I mean, it's just, you got to try to come back from that. And, yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, subbing your goalkeeper at halftime is bananas, right? And, like, I mean, I realize he's made three errors in the tournament.

26:22It's a disaster. I still don't know that you can do that or should do that, but so be it. you also just see the lack of discipline so there was a red card towards the end of this game for those who missed it and i saw it i i don't know that i think it's a red i think it's a bit harsh i don't know that matters it's 90 plus four so i don't know really what it changes but then canobio loses his mind he puts his hands on the ref he comes back on the pitch after full time like just a complete loss of composure there uruguay just a mess like a complete mess and by the way i don't think spain were great either i i think the shouts i think you could give i mean is this a spain rotated not super heavily but i don't know like how much you say rotated but rodri pedri marino lamin yamal or y or yath of all right like there's a lot of talent there right oh you thable that's it right um kubar see don't don't ask me how to pronounce things yeah i'm asking the wrong guy there laporte like i don't unai simon like that's pretty close to actually i'm gonna go i'm gonna flip that i think that is their their first choice lineup maybe with the exception of Marino but like this wasn't this wasn't good and they haven't been good candidly and do they have the talent to just turn it on I guess I'm not seeing anything from Spain right now that suggests this is the team that's going to win it all but that's just me um yeah I think that they could go for a stock falling here for sure right because it's like I expect more from them and yes Uruguay are a good team but with the attacking talent that they put out there just under one next year, I think, overall in this match.

27:57It was, yeah, not really anything. Yeah, they drew Cabo Verde. They pounded Saudi Arabia and then looked pretty poor against a very poor Uruguay. So we'll just have to see. I mean, obviously, the group stage isn't giving us a lot of information. I owe a stock falling, and I'm going to go meta here. I'm going to give a stock falling to the broadcaster, and I think it is the world feed, so I'm not going to blame any specific broadcaster. But other than watching Arsenal, I have not been as stressed watching football as I was in the last five or ten minutes of the Cabo Verde game while the Uruguay-Spain game was going up.

28:33And Cabo Verde needed to hold on for the draw or win and make sure that Uruguay didn't come back to draw Spain. I think it was during the Belgium-New Zealand match with the Cabo Verde-Saturno. That's what I meant. Yep. Thanks for correcting me. It was that they needed... No, no. No, this one I had right, right? Okay. Yes, this one I have right. Okay. Yes, Group H. Cabo Verde was playing Saudi Arabia, and Spain's playing Uruguay. And if Uruguay comes back to draw Spain, then they go to three points and zero goal difference, same as Cabo Verde, but they have an extra goal scored, so they move ahead of Cabo Verde and Cabo Verde would slip back to a third place finish.

29:19So basically though, my point, which I've wandered away from, is a very, very tense end of those two games happening at the same time. And Cabo Verde get their draw and time's ticking away in the Spain game. And what we all wanted, any of us watching, was for the broadcaster to stay with the Cabo Verde players, stay with them watching the last few minutes of the Spain game stay with their reaction similar to the the footage we got of Arsenal and the the Arsenal players at Colney right or sober whatever it was um celebrating when the when the final whistle went but sweating out those last few minutes of the city Bournemouth game right they they switch away they go to that dead miserable Spain game they don't then switch back and we only later get footage of the Cabo Verde players celebrating like you know when they're recapping what happened i wanted to stay in that moment with those players and experience their stress with them as they watch i think they they lost a really special tense moment of of emotion in the tournament that they could have stayed with if people wanted to watch the spain uruguay game that game was being broadcast anybody could have just switched over to it the people who are watching cabo verde clearly want to invest in the Cabo Verde journey that they're on.