World Cup Daily - I Guess It’s Called “Soccer” Now?

0:00This podcast has been brought to you by It's called soccer. This is the Arsenal Vision World Cup Daily. Thank you for joining us, everybody. And I am sorry. Look, we know it's football. We know it's football, and it is definitely not soccer. And by the way, that's the thing we should get big mad about. But sadly, unfortunately, at least for the next few days, it is now soccer. So we relent. We give in. Millions of Americans introduced to the worst concept in football last night, hope. It is the hope that saves you. Is that the expression? I don't think that is the expression. So we're going to kick this off.

0:59with a long podcast on Arsenal's interest in Solis, the Greek winger out of the Belgian League. No, I'm kidding. But Clive has pinged. Elliott, he said, let's do the scouting video. So Barkala, you'll have to wait. Kruppi, you'll have to wait. Solis, if that is how you pronounce his name, maybe Timsey has a thought on that. We will be doing the scouting video. So check out the Morgan Rodgers scouting video, but check out the Solis scouting video, which might be dropping as soon as this weekend. It's an interesting one. And I think this is a great chance to actually not just purr over talent, like with a Morgan Rogers, but to say, do we want to go after a 24-year-old who's in the Belgian league and, you know, played for Norwich and was in the second division of German football, despite the fact that this is a player who broke the Belgian league statistic.

1:45I think it was 17 goals and 23 assists. So an interesting one. And you may say, Elliot, trust in Berta. And I say unto you, you're probably right, but we'll see. So we'll have lots of that coming up. if you want to join us to leave a 50s a code couple of quid and you can check out the patreon but for now you are at the world cup daily which means usa usa we're going to be talking about that and canada as well here with me now of course it's timsey hello timsey hello hello hello how are you man i gotta tell you uh just when i thought i was out they pulled me back in my whole thing and you may have heard in the preview that i said maybe the u.s could get grouped my thing is self-protection like arsenal arsenal is a team that i support and i love and i do my best to really get behind arsenal with any other sports team that I have any investment in my standard practices assume they're going to let me down and and and they pulled me back in Timsey the the US have pulled me back in so we can dive right into headlines and I imagine that game over the Canada game will take your headline but what is your first headline from yesterday's football the for the first soccer yes uh the first headline has to be uh USA being having the best performance basically of the World Cup so far.

2:54They were super, super impressive. But as we said before yesterday, there is obviously a very good feel-good factor about the US team, a lot of high hopes, and they really did deliver. They've looked the most sharp, the fittest. Paraguay looked shattered. And Pochettino's just got them playing like a proper football side, and not to maybe sound I'm so surprised, but they were really good. Like they're super threatening, lots of overlapping. Like Robinson was great. Sergino Dest was finding a lot of joy as well. And just, they looked like a proper side. Like they've looked the most comfortable and it didn't look like an opening fixture, really.

3:42It looked like the sort of thing you would see in the second or third games for these countries. So, yeah, I would say, as the Americans say, no notes. I'm guessing that's what the kids say nowadays. So no notes. I mean, you'd know better than I would. My kids are still at an age where the things they say are largely related to things like Bluey and Minecraft. But so my first headline, I think, is going to be Arsene Wenger has done it again. Arsene Wenger has done it again. We brought him back. Flo Balogin. um i mean i think we have to start it is flo galigan better than victor yokeress and she would no i'm kidding i'm kidding but flo galigan um shows what happens when you actually have some genuine sort of european club class talent in attack i think pulisic did as well um and yeah it is the case that flo galigan scored two goals he had a third ruled out for two offside let's be clear but it was a wonderful performance from flow and easy for us to root for obviously coming from arsenal I think a lot of people were worried when we sold him we got good money for him he really hasn't kicked on in his club career but the international game is different and what he showed is that he can finish and if you can finish at the international level that makes a big difference I mean just ask some of the players who haven't finished their chances so far at this tournament i mean son could have had a couple of goals didn't hasn't scored in mls came back to bite south korea jonathan david couldn't quite get it done for canada but in this in this situation we saw the benefit of of flo ball again having that class and that quality and i have to say timsey like uh you know it's it's probably a day to praise arson wenger again i guess it's just where we're at with this huh yeah always praise praise the father um and he saw this he saw this coming I think he obviously saw the potential and I think like a lot of Arsenal fans we we were saying last night over text like I think he's always had this in him it's just maybe finding an outfit where he felt comfortable um like he's always been looked like he's been a good finisher like quite obviously deadly around uh around the box um but yesterday was seemed like a quite complete performance really where he he ran the lines really well i think the the wingers especially like pulisic and anthony robinson like finding so many gaps in but in in behind was largely due to him being able to drag defenders and like them uh bringing the fullback out of out of position and just finding a lot of joy down that left and right hand side.

6:24And yeah, it was a really good performance from him, deserved two goals, could have had more as well. And yeah, I always like these, I'm sure we'll get onto it as well with the Bosnia and Herzegovina match as well. But I always like it when ex-Arsenal players get a lot of joy and a lot of love because, you know, I've still got a soft spot for them. So it was the sort of performance that we were crying out for when there were calls from the Arsenal fan base to, I think, a few years ago, when we were sort of toying with the idea of, we need a striker, Eddie's not quite doing it. It's like, let's give Flo a shot in the League Cup or something.

7:05And this is what I think a lot of Arsenal fans would have imagined if we did play him. It's like, well, he's definitely got two goals and one of them is going to be an absolute rocket. So, yeah, very, very impressed by Flo. Super fun. And it's why I think you have to hold two contradictory ideas in your head, like enjoy international football for what it is. Enjoy Flo Balogun scoring those goals if indeed you were rooting for the USA and enjoy seeing that performance. you know and if you like Flo Balgan obviously as an Arsenal supporter I imagine that'd be someone you'd want to root for but also it's a reminder not to conflate international football with club football and why I think clubs make big mistakes when they let major tournament performances from players influence transfer decisions because fundamentally this level is one where a Flo Balgan can look really really good but we know what he is at club level and he's probably not at the elite tier so i think do celebrate what players do at the tournament do enjoy what they do at the tournament do enjoy it in its own way don't then relate it back to or conflate it with club football that would sort of be my takeaway so i mean do we want to do any like quick hit headlines super quick before we move on to the stocks uh maybe from uh as you were saying the the stan colliemore muddying the waters with uh oh that was the worst performance yeah for people who don't go on social media and imagine not wanting to know what stan colliemore has said on social media there is a variant of this though he said the paraguay performance is the worst he's ever seen in any world cup he's ever watched which there was a worst one yesterday but let's let's ignore that go ahead timsey sorry yeah no i was just saying like they were they weren't great but I also don't think they were they were like shockingly bad like they had they had a few chances and obviously the U.S.

8:55was was dominant but they at least kind of kept themselves together like kept relatively disciplined and he must have Stan must have just not watched the Mexico South Africa game because that that was shocking um yeah so just that was an aside yep yeah I think that's a good aside and I guess if I was going to do just another super quick headline um it would be probably just good managerial moves making the difference I think Jesse March Jesse March deserves credit he took Jonathan David out of the game which was a big risk he brought Kyle Lahren in Kyle Lahren rewards him yep super sub I think the subs made a big big difference promise David looked bright.

9:38He also brought in a really bright, right-wide attacking player. And I need to look it up because I want to get his name right. I think he does play in Europe. So let me get this name right. In Canada. Yeah. He came on for Buchanan, I think, who wasn't having a very good game. It's Ali Ahmed. Yes. And he plays for Norwich, actually. There you go. so championship fans will be familiar with him but I thought he was really bright and changed the game too so kudos to Jesse Marsh who I think got his sub spot on and was able to get Canada their first point in I think 40 years so big for them yeah I would say as I guess a headline from that as a final point would be that they've kind of obviously made history in that regard where they've finally got some points in a World Cup but I think they're going to feel quite deflated after that like we were saying I think it was in yesterday's show that Bosnia obviously had no pushovers whatsoever and with the size and kind of physical presence of them they're literally not pushovers but they should probably have won that game and will just be ruining their missed chances so it may be a bit of a bittersweet result for them because now the next two results there's a lot more hanging on them and a bit more pressure than there maybe should have been the dynamics of this tournament obviously though mean getting a draw gets you on the path to qualification quite solidly i mean the u.s has almost certainly now qualified for the knockout rounds as crazy as that sounds but with four goals and a plus three goal difference and three points on the board it's impossible to see a scenario where they fall out of qualification now so that's that's really what happens one game can turn your tournament hopes given the number of qualifiers from the third place position so let's head into the stock section i'm going to jump in here first timsey my first stock rising is elite club caliber coaching, and it would be Mauricio Pochettino.

11:40And it gives me no pleasure to praise Pochettino. I acknowledge that, but he's going to come in for flowers here. And the reason is, I'm going to say something. I don't watch the U.S. men's team very closely, so apologies to those of you who do and think I'm wrong here. I suspect Greg Berhalter is not an elite global football manager. I suspect maybe that when you have a buffoon who does not have that elite coaching CV running your national team, that you are going to be worse. And I think the principles of elite club football were on display for the USA. As much as I don't like Pochettino and I don't like to think about his time at Spurs where they, let's remember, won absolutely nothing, despite having Harry Kane and Prime Youngman's son and others.

12:25I think you could see the pressing. You could see the counter pressing. You could see direct win second balls, second man runs. I mean, McKinney and Tillman just killing Paraguay with second man runs into the box. There were principles of play here that were very much on display. And you saw it in the high turnovers. And Paraguay, who I think wanted to try to play out, caused a lot of their own problems because they kept getting caught on the ball. But as Mark Stats posted on social, and mark.stats is a great place to get your stats, 10 high turnovers for the USA. Paraguay had 40 losses of possession in the danger zone leading to five shots it was it was potch ball and and it was fun to see a USA team that had principles of play where I enjoyed watching they attacked they had the field tilt I think it was like 75 percent field tilt for for the USA in this game um you know for so long I've thought of the USA as the team that doesn't have the talent and so we'll sit we'll defend we'll be physical we'll hope to catch someone on the counter this was totally different and I think it starts with the coaching of Mauricio Pochettino and we will see Tuchel you know with England Ancelotti with Brazil there's some elite coaching the international game has often been highlighted by managers who make their career in international football but can't cut it at the club level and I'm very excited to watch some of these elite managers go to work in this tournament and Pochettino off to a flyer yeah I second that 100 % like it's Pochettino obviously has them so well drilled the the biggest compliment I can probably give Pochettino and the US team is that that was very reminiscent of just club football tactics and a club football performance where like the patterns of play it did at certain times and obviously I know with Anthony Robinson playing and those sorts of like they've had obviously Premier League players but it did just look like any sort of just Premier League side was playing against Paraguay the way they yeah the press the intensity like they just Paraguay didn't really have any answer so that is the probably the biggest compliment I can pay them and on the back of that I guess the stock rising for me would be fire away the US men's national team and the US getting to see their nation at a World Cup and it being just a proper introduction to World Cup football, as you were saying, for maybe the slightly more casual fans who were like, right, well, there's a World Cup on home source.

14:56So if ever there's going to be a time for me to get into football, it will be now. And instead of it being a bit of a nervy, cagey, oh, we won 1-0 or 2-1, we got a bit lucky, or that was kind of people who don't quite get football would maybe think it's a little bit of a boring game. It's like, okay, they kind of scored a crap goal. It was a proper performance, super entertaining. And so I think for a lot of the US fans to have watched that, it would have been amazing. So I'm very happy for you and your people, Elliot. It was, yeah, just a very nice day, I'm guessing, to be a US fan. Yeah, and to your point, I mean, what could bring more people into the game in this country than not only the USA winning and being good, but doing it in a game that was entertaining to watch, that runs against a lot of the stereotypes of football in this country.

15:54I mean, it is funny. Do you find this, Timsy? There's this weird tension between sort of the football, I don't want to use the word snobs, but I'm going to use the word snobs. The football snobs who like, on the one hand are like, it'll be great to see the game grow. Let's grow the game. But then on the other hand, they're like, lol, look at this TV coverage explaining that a red card means, and it's like, you can't have it both ways. If you want to bring new people into the game, you have to make the game accessible to new people. And like, I'm not saying we should be shooting for that with coverage of the Premier League and the Champions League.

16:25But I do think with international tournaments, you have to allow a little bit of room. We, you know, we hammered the broadcaster for all the things they're doing wrong, and they're doing a lot wrong. But you have to leave a little bit of room to bring new people into the game, especially young people, because there's going to be a lot of young people where they're being exposed to football here and learning about sorry soccer here and um you know and that's a good thing for me anyway i think there's there's it's it's uh the offering has been quite varied which is nice like there's a wide wide i guess breadth of you have the slightly more basic stuff that can be explained as you say like the rules of the and i remember i saw a thing pop up of like why the the red cards for south africa were were a bad thing and like Like, oh, this means that, you know, for anyone who watched football for more than a few weeks or months, shut up.

17:15Just, it's fine. It's a red card. I get it, right? Yeah. But then also on the kind of, on the other side of it, it was amazing to see even just like the atmosphere and the crowds. American soccer obviously gets a lot of bad press when it comes to some of the chants and, you know, week by week in the MLS, for example. the the the support is going to be what i guess european people would think of as just a bit naff and a bit bland and a bit soft whereas this time it was like the the the atmospheres were almost european atmospheres especially in in canada as well toronto uh but also the u.s game like the sofa stadium is so so impressive it was packed and it was just the the the celebrations for every goal and it was a proper atmosphere and i think that is as good an introduction as someone can get like a u.s based person for example to get to football they're like wow what is this we actually don't get this yeah in other sports unless it is for example the nba finals at the knicks yep well and it was it was great to all the knicks fans listening i i know it's it's a big moment that could be very special it's a big moment yeah yeah you're in new york at the right time timsey let me tell you you got to be in london for scenes of of arsenal's title win let me tell you we do it a little different in the states uh we're more the psg variant where after a title win there's there's a lot of flipping of cars and and lighting them on fire i've seen that i've seen enough videos where i feel like the you know my the the arsenal scenes were so pure and just the most london thing where it was just everyone from any background is just there and it's happiness relief this i think will just tip over the scale where it turns into just absolute chaos yeah it'll be as a as a visitor i'm here for it i'm all right that's the right towards the msg towards manchester square gardens just if there is a the right result and they win it we win it um but i'm gonna keep a safe distance i'm gonna use the eight time zoom on my phone and just as soon as the first car gets flipped or the first kind of fire erupts i'm out so see this is the thing your people are willing to go all over the world and throw cafe tables in paris but you're not gonna stick around for flipping cars in new york come on man i'm a boss gentrifier there you go i love it um okay so uh i'm gonna give you another stock rising yes go for it um

19:46he's not not you know we already talked about flo balligan we talked about pochettino i mean I don't think this was necessarily about individuals so much, but I will say Christian Pulisic probably is a stock rising for me. I know he only played a half, but you see the high-end talent that promised so much when he was younger for the U.S. men's team. And obviously injuries derailed his career, left Chelsea, went to Italy, been pretty good there, but struggled to stay fit. Not always the most likable personality too, I will say. But setting that aside, the football talent still shines through at times.

20:18And, you know, when he split those two Paraguay defenders and slid the ball through that led to that opening own goal, he saw the talent. They really couldn't live with him. I loved the way, you know, you talk about the red arrows when Arsenal used to attack. It was like the red, white, and blue arrows at times where they were just firing up the pitch. And Pulisic collapsing the defensive line meant that Tillman and McKinney just had so much space to run into. So I think he's a clear stock rising. They say it was precautionary that he was taken off at halftime. And I think if the USA has any hope to go deep in this tournament, and by deep, you know, I'm talking round to 16 or quarterfinal, which I think is realistically what we're shooting for here.

20:58You need your top end talent that can turn a moment into a goal. And I think Pulisic is certainly in that group. So yeah, a quick question on that as well. I know he's been lauded as this, obviously, Captain America for quite a while. But is he really seen as the, if we're going to do anything, he has to perform? Is he actually like that guy? International football is weird, right? So first of all, no, I think this team has more talent than maybe it's had before. That's what I was going to say, yeah. I mean, Balogun might be that guy in the sense that I don't know that we have anyone of European club class at center forward if we don't have Balogun.

21:39I mean, Ricardo Pepe is not. I think, you know, I rate a lot of the more attacking-oriented players that are in this team. I know they started with Serginio Dest as a wide forward, almost in that, I guess, frimpong role that maybe like Liverpool would use a wingback. I prefer Timothy Weah. you know I think McKinney can cause problems Tillman looked good there's other players coming Gio Reyna obviously scored a stunning goal back to front stunning goal and I kept thinking the ref was going to blow up because it was sort of past full time but but the USA get their their fourth goal thanks to a really nice Travella outside of the boot right um from just inside the box but quite central but still the key yeah yeah yeah keepers should get there but by international standards it's a good goal but I guess what I would say with Pulisic is it the The USA realistically is not going to a World Cup final or winning a World Cup final.

22:31But if you want to dare to dream, then what you're saying is there has to be a player who in a tight game, in a tight moment, can win you the game. And I think he's in that class. So for me, it's not like, look, if Pulisic were injured and out for the rest of the tournament, we're still going to get to the round of 32. And depending on who we face there, maybe the round of 16 anyway. um but i think if you want to go deeper than expectation you need the players who can turn a game in your favor and and i don't think we have anyone 1v1 that's as as capable of doing that as he is and like i said look i get club football is very different sometimes players when they pull on their national team shirt have a different level of confidence and security in their role and belief in their stardom than they do when they go play club football um or just the international game you know maybe a little slower a little more time suits them better i think at his best still has that that level okay yeah yeah sounds sounds about right you want to i mean and let's be clear i'm not hyping him up to me more than he is i'm just saying i think he he's one of the few usa players that if you want to win around a 16 game where you're not favored you want him in there because he can turn the game in your favor so anyway uh yeah who's your next stock rising uh stock rising would have to be oh is there going to be another one i guess i think maybe jesse marsh but then i can't help but think think that canada as a team is a stock falling.

24:07So I'm not... Well, we kind of hit Marsh in the quick headline of managers making good game-changing substitutions. Maybe it would be instead of the team in general, I guess specifically like Weston McKinney. Weston McKinney, obviously. See, I asked that question about Pulisic because I see Weston McKinney as almost that guy who's almost more proven or kind of to have... He's played at a higher level domestically uh and i think talent wise as well certainly he's he's he's up there so i would almost say say him for stocks rising because i see him as almost the the the guy yeah in that team that that if he performs and especially obviously i think he did so well as part of a larger obviously the midfield was very solid anyway but i i feel like he is the the linchpin in that that american midfield um and so i'd say him for sure just because i i guess him and his he's obviously done well domestically but again like maybe questions or stuff that i've read about like his his attitude and that's just like he's maybe a bit of a uh up and down character so uh it's good to see that that he's kind of running it in midfield there and and i think um yeah he he's going to be key to to a deep american run as well yeah i thought he and tillman were both axon and just the space they had to run into in the box i thought potch's system really gave them the opportunity to to make really interesting runs either when we stretch the pitch horizontally they were able to run in space between fullback and center back or when the defensive line got collapsed they just found space at the top of the box so be interesting to see how that carries on um so as before we go on to stocks falling a mini stocks rising just to bring it back to arsenal because we should uh say a kolasinac who i think is just beloved by by all arsenal fans yeah part of a really special time at arsenal i really hold him hold him dear in my heart let me tell you um and we know how good he is at defending uh one among muggings in london but also uh that goal line clearance was genuinely one of the best i've seen in in a really do you think he means it because because they're absolutely not no okay because most of the time that goes in the back of the net it's a horrific own goal i mean i guess you have to intervene there but yeah but because he got tipped he got tipped onto his leg shin foot and then off the bar but i i watched that and i just said to myself like that's my boy there you go that's that's arsenal doing their bit um so that's a mini stock rising that's yeah i think that's a good one we can shift to stocks falling i'll just say about paraguay by the way in their conmo bowl qualifying is probably the most brutal of all the qualifying campaigns and they beat brazil they beat argentina they beat uruguay they beat chile on their way to qualifying at a conmo bowl along the way they committed the most fouls and picked up the most red yellow cards i believe a lot of set pieces yeah they are very physical and aggressive team and you could see that in their game plan and i I sort of wonder if that played into the USA's plan only in the sense that as they contested those duels, right?

27:26As the duels were contested, it gave the counterpress an opportunity to create space. I'll be curious to see what happens if Australia, for example, decide to sit off a bit more and defend a bit deeper if the USA has an answer. Because I might have a stock falling quickly about the USA team as well, but we'll see. So who's your stock falling? uh stop fooling i hate to say it but canada just because i had the nation or their team uh no just their team okay because it's a lovely nation lovely oh i've been there once i went to vancouver and i thought it was literally idyllic it was stunning that when you get to as an aside totally pointless but i got to you know when you get to u.s immigration anywhere it's a nervy experience for Brits because you know they're there they're very serious why are you here I will tell you it's a nervier experience for others but please carry on yes obviously yes but I went to Canada and the guy asked me no questions apart from so we're like what are you up to this week I'm just here to I didn't want to say work and he's like oh have an amazing time and he gave me recommendations I go this is the nicest country in the world uh but no their team their team uh i would say is is fits into the stock stocks falling at the moment just because beforehand i i predicted them to be able to qualify and i think like i saw this as an easier uh one of the easier fixtures obviously i know like qatar shouldn't be too hard but i just feel like with with how many chances they had they were just a little bit sloppy and maybe it is what we talked about that kind of first game lack of sharpness uh but even then like on home turf home support and home support i think does count for a lot especially in this world cup uh yeah it was just it was a bit deflating to see them not win so yeah say say them i think it's fair i will say losing alphonso davis is huge like you only get a few global superstar talents in your national team if you're lucky if you're lucky and theirs is out so you know i mean jonathan david didn't have a great night my my stock falling i'm gonna pick a controversial one just because we praise the u.s so much i'm gonna give a stock falling to the u.s central defense i'm a little nervous i i do think that obviously tim rehm getting towards the end of his career and I rate him.

29:57I think Tillman... Chris Richards? Richards, thank you. Like, not great. And, you know, second to some balls in the air, missed some jumps, just a little bit panicky. I didn't like, for Paraguay's goal, just a complete switch off, and that wasn't from the central defense, to be fair. But the game even opened up with Paraguay just going right to the byline, and I think Almiron having a chance to cut it back early. And so it's not that Richards was bad. I mean, obviously from a passing standpoint, I think he completed, yeah, 100 % 84 of 84 passes. But I do think that there's vulnerability defensively.

30:40I think that Tyler Adams is going to carry a lot of the burden to protect that central defensive pairing. I think if Dest is going to play as a wide forward, I don't know if we, you know, the best right-hand side of the defense overall. Yeah, I don't think he's great. yeah so so i well you know i mean because because again it's just it is the case that paraguay were pinned in their defensive third almost the whole game but every time they went forward we you know the u.s did look a little bit vulnerable and i guess what you could say timsey as well that's in part because the strategy is to press and if you're going to press yeah you know then then richards and ream and freeman and robinson like sometimes are going to be caught and that's the trade-off you make when you're a pressing team yeah i just don't know if i trust ream and richards to defend in space if we're going to press and they may be exposed yeah i i would agree i think like in in true pochettino spurs fashion i think the u.s showed that they they can be kind of like quite trailblazing going forward but at the back it's it wasn't I guess impressive but as we say they're not the complete outfit as they were never going to be going into this tournament just score four goals every time it's more just have some sort of system going forward you want to score goals, you want to entertain the crowd and just ride that wave of home support just do it and it's going to get you further than you would have otherwise like they're they were never going to be the best at the back um and going forward they look good so uh yeah i would say obviously yeah their defense has been amazing either but kind of not surprised yep i'm gonna hit one more quick stock falling tims even though i i just did one just very very quick not to bring people down but the scenes at sofi were amazing but they were also highlighted by the camera constantly panning to celebrities and of course celebrities are going to be at the game in LA but seeing the USA win 4-1 and seeing what a sensational night it was for the national team it's just a reminder that there are not a lot of people who may want to fall in love with the game and stay with the game long term who are going to have access to go to these games because of the price of the tickets and it is unfortunate I think you know it's one of those situations where if the game is going to grow you'd like to see the average person have a chance to go to a game like that and experience it and I just you know it's a shame because and and look there'll be watch parties in fan parks that were heaving with people and i'm sure there were great experiences and like i said i don't want to bring it down but just um it's a night like that that makes you wish tickets were more achievable so that more people could have a chance to be exposed to something like that yeah i agree it's a weird it's a weird one where the the broadcast i'm not surprised obviously that they pan to the celebrities and i think if it's like it's a soccer game in america and it's an americanized broadcast so and it's in los angeles it's in holly exactly so there's gonna be lots of footage of all the different celebrities and maybe that is a way of reeling in the the the casual fan or the kind of the the beginner fan who's just been first exposed to to football and they're like okay well if celebrities are involved and they're interested maybe i'll stick around great but i agree like it's I think the the beauty of the World Cup outside of the like when it comes to on the pitch obviously we everyone knows about how amazing it is like all of the countries either in their home nation or when they're actually at the host uh nation watching together and all those fan scenes and everyone coming together is amazing but actually on the pitch like we can't forget that what what also matters is the stuff that happens in the stadium on the pitch and actually like it's I think it's hard for maybe a fan to truly fall in love with the game if they haven't seen a game live like because that's when you realize this is what it's all about like the atmosphere in the stadium and what happened the magic that happens on the pitch is is what keeps you keeps you around so yeah I'd agree it's it is a shame that they don't just have some I mean there's been big reports of there's a lot of unsold tickets so hopefully the prices start to tank and then more people can go swept up by by normal normal fans look let's agree on this if they just show uh infantino less we'll all be happy uh okay so so so happy if that happened let's each pick one thing we're looking forward to from today four games cutter switzerland brazil morocco haiti scotland and australia turquia the australia turquia game starts at midnight eastern time uh but i guess you could say the upshot there is 5 a.m uk time 6 a.m european time so maybe people will wake up and catch that game.

35:23I think the showpiece game obviously is the Brazil-Morocco game, but go for it, Timsy. What's the thing you're most looking forward to from today's football? It would be easy for me to say Brazil-Morocco, but I'll leave that to you because I want to say Scotland. Scotland back at a World Cup and obviously our neighbours. Our mutual friend, Mark Bright, definitely going to be fired up for that one, for sure. and uh it's just seeing them at a world cup they are so much fun man like them at the at the euros i spent like five weeks obviously traveling around germany recovering the the euros in 2024 and wherever i was there were scotland fans and they're just so much fun because they know like they it's not they don't deserve to be they definitely deserve to be there but it's like They know this isn't normal for them.

36:15They don't qualify every single time. So they're going to make the most of it. And I just hope that they deliver on the pitch. Obviously, it's a great first game for them. They're among the most fun fans to have at a tournament, for sure. Scott McTominay, one of the best players in world football, obviously, and one of the best glow-ups in world football since moving to Italy. What I will say is I think they will probably lose to Brazil and Morocco. Not necessarily, but that's my guess. but a win can get you through as we've been talking about all these world cup daily so this is their game of the tournament they should be able to be competitive and beat haiti i think and if they beat haiti and especially deliver a reasonable goal difference in doing that they could already be on their way to qualification so a big day for scotland i think that's a great call out i'll just do mine quickly and say brazil morocco not going to get a much better opening group game i think both of those teams will massacre haiti and and likely be favored against Scotland, but you never want to get your tournament off to a loss, as Argentina proved last time by losing to Saudi Arabia and then winning the tournament.

37:16But Morocco, I mean, Hakimi, Brahim Diaz, Bilal El-Khanous, Ismail Saibari, right? They've got real players that can really hurt Brazil. Brazil's identity right now is probably more defending than attacking. Morocco will test that with Brahim Diaz and Hakimi, you know, rushing up and down the touchline i think it'll be fun to watch gabby get the tournament underway maybe martinelli gets on the pitch neymar is uh injured so will not be playing but i think everyone's excited to see what brazil could be under enchiladi so a game i'm i'm really looking forward to there excuse me there are i'm getting choked up there are a couple of i am quite emotional uh no i still have the the illness from uh budapest if you can believe it but there are really a couple of games like Senegal, France, a great first game in a group.

38:05And I think Brazil, Morocco could be a great one as well. I might be able to go to that game. If I do, I'll let you know because I can film some stuff. Yep, that'd be amazing. Okay, well, I think that's it. There's four games today. Enjoy them. We'll be back tomorrow with a recap of that. We'll be back with a Solis scouting video and a main pod. There's lots to go. Hope you enjoyed this. And for the time being, thank you for caring about soccer, the world's game. Timsy, thank you. Thank you very much, Elliot. Thank you. How about this as an outro? Someone suggested it, and I think it's a decent one.

38:34We love you. And we will talk to you after Football 10, Infantino 0. How about that? Or FIFA 0. Should we go with FIFA or Infantino? Which do you like better? No. Infantino. They're both FIFA and Infantino. Let's do FIFA. How about that? Football 10, FIFA 0.

39:00I love you.