World Cup Daily - Spain Deservedly Win The World Cup

0:00Michael Timbs:Hey, World Cup fans. If you want proper analysis, honest opinions, and plenty of laughs along the way, give The Rest is Football a listen. Gary Lineker is joined by Alan Shearer and Micah Richards throughout the tournament as they break down all the big games, the biggest moments, and everything happening on and off the pitch. They'll also be chatting with some brilliant guests along the way. Whether you've watched soccer your whole life or you're just getting into it, they'll help make sense of the drama, the tactics, the joy, and the heartbreak of the World Cup. Listen to The Rest is Football wherever you get your podcasts.

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2:00Spain are World Cup champions after Argentina planned for everything except getting a shot on goal. This is the World Cup Daily. Welcome to what will be the final installment of what has been maybe a more enjoyable journey than I expected, if not the most enjoyable World Cup final. But you know what makes a World Cup final enjoyable? If you're physically there for it. Or if you're rooting for Spain. Yes. And so we have a man who is doing at least one of those things with us now. It's Timsey. And Timsey, you were at the World Cup final. How was it?

2:32Michael Timbs:I was it was not a good game as I think most people uh probably know if they watched it but um it was a great occasion my third world cup final in a row I'm very blessed very lucky to be able to do those things and today I'm very happy football won simply football won so I'm happy yeah I I mean not the best game but I think it's fair to say that that's more the result of one team not wanting it to be a great game than the other. And look, we know this as Arsenal supporters. Your job isn't to entertain. Your job is to win. You have to approach the game however you need to to win it. I'll just ask you super quick, like, the halftime thing, the pomp and circumstance, the experience.

3:19Obviously, I'm not a big New York, New Jersey stadium fan or otherwise known as MetLife in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It's not a great place to see a game. It's not a great experience. But did this stack up okay to other World Cup finals you've been to? How did it compare in terms of the in-stadium experience?

3:33Michael Timbs:I would say it's what you would have probably expected in that it was one of the least football-y finals you could possibly get. Not that obviously I didn't enjoy it and you still had the tension and you could feel how important it was, but it had nothing on a sort of Champions League final, final game of the season. like it was just too, it was the hydration breaks taken to the Mth degree. It was a half an hour, half time break. And the fact that in these American stadiums as well, obviously the concessions and like food and drink or whatever is such a big part of it, that it means that everyone is just up and down the whole time.

4:19Michael Timbs:And actually weirdly in the Met life, the way the stand goes quite deep and shallow. And so when people are walking up and down or trying to get to the seats you can't see so everyone's constantly up and down up and down up and down and so as a viewing experience it's probably not up there with you know going to the emirates or go going to wherever some of the the best stadiums in the world it just it wasn't that but it was never going to be that um and luckily obviously the the the results still had the kind of narratives and and football that you would kind of want to see for the most part um but yeah it wasn't it wasn't really up there in terms of like a a spectacle it felt a tiny bit gimmicky a tiny bit um well okay so just quickly ranking things like top gun mission impossible magnolia where does this rank in tom cruise's performances is it one of the all one of the Alzheimer's it was it was one of the weirdest yeah lead up to a world cup I've ever seen so so so it was it was like a culmination of just America and the best sport in the world coming to fruition to create this like monster of an entertainment package like I I love Tom Cruise I'm sure he's a national treasure but halfway through his kind of rousing speech thing I thought we were going to get choppers and B12s and just I don't know it was bizarre I'm on a family holiday and I can tell you we did our part today because we went to Mount Rushmore so I had my slice of Americana we're doing some state parks and we're going to the Badlands tomorrow because our Superior trip got smoked out by the wildfires But they are presently at the pool where I was just at tolerating me doing this podcast.

6:19So let's get into the format.

6:21Michael Timbs:Sorry to take you away from the pool. Well, you know, I mean, let's see. Do I want to be dunked and splashed on in a lukewarm pool at a hotel? Or do I want to talk to Timsey about the World Cup final? You be the judge. All right. I will give you the pleasure of your headline can go first from the World Cup final. Spain won Argentina nil after extra time? I would say, as I said before, football won. But also, we might be looking at the, well, I guess we are looking at the re-emergence of Spain as the world football powerhouse. Because before the tournament, you're probably thinking, and I did certainly, they won the Euros, rightly so.

7:07Michael Timbs:they were the best team in Europe and I didn't have them down as we of course all had them down as one of the favorites but really if you had to put your money on it you're kind of thinking that they're not great France are probably going to blow people away Argentina are on a good run of form England looked really strong and I probably had them third ish favorite so to see them go all the way it shows that none of this is a fluke they conceded one goal all tournament which is freakish and they just looked so in control and they looked it was the right result they were the best team by miles not because as we say it's it's all about the result it's not that they were the most entertaining team and they got you off your feet it was just that they were the best team from defense all the way to attack and that was proven today as well like only one team was really trying to play football only one team really could win the game by playing football and um I'm really really glad Spain did do the job because not to say whoever wins the World Cup is ever an unworthy winner but I think it would have been so harsh if Argentina did somehow manage to keep it nil-nil and then score a last minute lucky goal there would have been no justice there really in my opinion Spain had a what I regard as perfectly good goal ruled out I know there was a slight step on a toe but I think it was wrongly ruled out having said that was ruled out by the ref on the field so i think that makes it harder to overturn because there is a slight step on the toe um argentina could have been probably equalized late i mean that's not a bad chance for simeon honestly i mean michael marino gives half of his face also to block a messy shot you you meant the the when it came out to simeon and he skied it i thought it was the one that got crossed in maybe by simeon and it was that was That was cleared by Marino.

9:02I was convinced that was a goal. Yeah, I mean, and it's crazy because they hadn't done much. And it does make you wonder, you know, sometimes these teams that just try to dark arts their way through a game, what would happen if you played a little more up-tempo and tried to push the game? But we'll never know. Spain managed zero shots after 105 minutes, two shots in the entire 120 minutes. After 105 minutes, they had two touches in the Spain box in the entire game. Spain, on the other hand, more than 20 shots, more than 30 touches in the box, almost two expected goals, well, well worthy winners.

9:35And my headline is simply Spain should be studied. Spain need to be studied because people need to understand why this works. Because I will tell you something. I don't regard Danny Olmo and, as I've said many times, Mikko Oyasabal or Alex Baena as the best of best players. I think Ruiz is a decent player. I think Laporte, Cucurea, Poro, pretty good. QBRC, one of the bright young talents in world football. It's kind of funny we talk about Laminya Mall as an 18-year-old going on 19. QBRC is just six months older or so, and he's playing center back in the best defense in the World Cup. But, and Unai Simon, I don't think is great.

10:13This isn't, in my view, a top three or four necessarily names of players, talented team in the world. And yet, there's something about the way Spain play football that they can control the game, dominate possession, good in tight spaces, great passing sequences. When they did up the tempo, they had an understanding of each other's movements. Their defending is done through control and possession, which is something that every team that wants to defend would love to be able to do. Mikel Arteta famously said, I want 300 ,000 passes. He is a Spaniard after all. And so I just think the Spain team, you know, God forbid they had Nimbabwe.

10:52Then where would we be? Nobody could even compete. You know, you better hope there isn't Nimbabwe coming through because I don't think they have a superstar attacker. And it wasn't even Laminya Mall's tournament so much. He was subpar, really. Yeah, this is the true definition of a nation winning a World Cup. It is a national footballing identity of players who know how to keep the ball and use the ball and winning with that quality, despite the fact that maybe the names aren't the first names you think of

11:21Michael Timbs:in world football as the elite talents. And I think that shows that that counts for, I guess, even more when it comes to winning a World Cup where we've spoken about this before in the last few weeks due to some results of maybe a bigger team losing or not getting the right result is that it's really difficult to be able to get that many players from different clubs singing from the same hymn sheet playing with this you know tactics that you want is kind of as we said it's like kind of simplifying things and it's a lot easier to simplify things when all of these players from when they were young have been playing the same way and it just I think allows it does give them an advantage and it showed today it showed yeah yeah and and by the way I just say like maybe yeah go ahead please after you I was saying no no no before I wanted to give another headline but continue please well I was just gonna say maybe you know as as Arsenal supporters who are constantly in a panic about, let me speak for myself, as an Arsenal supporter, who is constantly in a panic about whether we have the right level of elite attacking talent.

12:29I look at a Spain team that controls the ball, defends brilliantly, doesn't give up chances, and finds ways to win that way. And in a lot of ways, that's the Arsenal identity. There are days we can win 3-0, like Spain did over Austria. There are days when we control the game and get a 1-0. And actually, I think the best version of Arsenal under Arteta has been the one where we do have the ball more. Maybe not what we saw the last few months of this season. But fundamentally, Timsey, it's time to sort of re-evaluate how easily we just disregard a QBRC or a Saliba. How easily we disregard a Rodri or a Rice.

13:05How easily we disregard these players because there isn't an Mbappe up there. There isn't a Vinny Jr. up there. And yet it is these teams like Arsenal in the Premier League, like Spain in the World Cup, like PSG, well PSG has everything, but you know that can win the big things through control and possession and technical security and I think we're in an era where that can be celebrated and Spain certainly should be celebrated for it you know.

13:27Michael Timbs:Yeah yeah I totally agree I totally agree and on that note as well my extra headline and I guess stock rising would be Mikel Moreno, Martin Zubimendi and David Rea are all Premier League and world champions. And that makes me very, very happy. And Zubimendi even got to play. And he was great when he came on. I think he gave them much needed energy. He was really, really clean and smart on the ball. Kept the ball really well. And yeah, I'm so happy for all three of them. For maybe for slightly different reasons. David Rea, because of all the players, he's incredible. He's their best goalkeeper.

14:10Michael Timbs:He didn't play a single minute, but equally, I'm so happy for him because he deserves it. Mika Marino, because he's come back from a terribly annoying injury that kept him out for so long. Us as Arsenal fans know how key he is and how clutch a player he is. And so for Spain, and of course, Spanish fans know this as well, But for it to be seen as well on the world stage and now even in like my football group chat, people are joking. We're like, oh, Marino's coming on. He's going to score again. Like it is unbelievable his form and how key he is in those sort of like tight games. And Zubomendi as well, because he had, I would say, probably a tough last few months of the season where he wasn't in favour.

14:56Michael Timbs:basically I guess got dropped but to see him uh win a world cup and actually come on and I do think affect the game I think when him and Pedri came on they really really helped stabilize the game in a in not in a way because they were struggling at all they were they were always in control but I think just giving them giving them that added element of like calmness and just to reestablish that absolute domination over Argentina that they had. I thought both of those were really key substitutions and worked really well. So I'm absolutely happy for the Arsenal boys. They fully deserve it. Arsenal have basically won the World Cup.

15:39Yep, I think that's right. Was going to be right no matter who won. But well, probably not Argentina to be fair. I'll just give a final super quick headline. People hate, no, that's wrong. Some people hate the extent to which I am full of praise for Lionel Messi, but I will simply say this. We may have just seen the last really competitive game of football of the greatest player to ever play the sport we all love. And I, for one, feel incredibly fortunate to have been loving football for the entirety of his career. And whatever you want to say, if he's not your guy, that's fine. But if you love a sport and this player is unquestionably, in my mind, the greatest to ever play it, you have to respect and appreciate what you saw.

16:17I will and I thank Messi for just about everything minus maybe like the four goals against Arsenal that one time and some of the other stuff he did to us. But otherwise, yeah, it's been a pleasure. Leo, it's been a pleasure.

16:32Michael Timbs:Ta-ra. I'm slightly relieved he didn't win a second one, not because of him but because of his Argentinian teammate. That's it. And I will also say there's going to be a lot of people who put way too much stock in the World Cup and they're going to put that stock in players who played well and they will take that stock away from players who didn't have a glittering World Cup. And I will say, it wasn't a glittering World Cup for Lamin-Yemal, in my estimation. He came into it with an injury. I don't think he ever looked fully as sharp as he normally can. He certainly didn't have some of the trademark left foot delivery.

17:04There are going to be people that now tell you Lamin-Yemal is overrated, and we saw that at the World Cup. Like, this guy is coming. He's just turned 19, and he's a devastating player. So it'll be interesting to see the narratives that come out of the World Cup, like, for example, the one that is right, which is that Bakayo Saka is the best player in the world, as evidenced by his three goals the other day against France.

17:25Michael Timbs:Yes, of course. We didn't do an episode after the very cup of tea. We were like, we don't need an episode after that game. It's the best of best game ever. Great exhibition game. It's crazy. let's um let's get to the the stock section but before we do we must do the goal of the day and i'm gonna let you pick it you can pick the goal day but i need to tell you it is of course the salee goal of the day and the salee goal of the day is brought to you by salee uh brought to you by the people at nordvpn salee is an e-sim e-sims actually you ever experience something you use a product or service and you're like this is the way this has always needed to work eSIM is what SIMs always need to be.

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19:05Your goal of the day?

19:07Michael Timbs:What are you going with? I'm going to go with a disallowed... No, I will go with... I will go with the World Cup winning goal from Ferran Torres and it was a great goal. I thought he's a weird player for me. He's a weird player. But he did really, really well for the goal. It was so well taken. I was so relieved because they fully deserved it. And Nico Williams, again, a bit of an odd player because he came on and he's so dangerous, but equally he did some really weird things. He was terrible, except for the one awesome thing he did in the goal that they scored, which was really good. And obviously, yeah, just laid it off really, really well.

19:47Michael Timbs:And it was such a well-taken goal. And I was so happy from that point because they deserved it. And then to see Emi Martinez then stop time wasting and then rushing to get the ball back up, I was like, yes, this is what we needed. This is what my eyes needed. Emi is also the king of the save for the camera. He made so many routine saves where he decided to get himself horizontal to the ground to make it. Let me say this too because we did compliment Spain. This was a frustrating day of Spain players shooting when a pass was on or shooting straight at the keeper. Ojasabal had Lamin-Yamal on acres of space, took a tame shot right down the throat of Emi.

20:26Nico Williams could have ended the game but did some left foot, right foot trickery thing right out for a goal kick. No idea what was going on there. There were a lot of the few moments where Argentina did get caught out. Spain did not make the right final execution. We know the thing about football is most attacks fail, and that's how you can wind up losing a game you should win, but thankfully that didn't happen. So let's move on to our stocks rising and falling. And I will, Timsy, I'll give you the first stock rising. Who do you got?

20:55Michael Timbs:Oh, thank you. I will go with having a very brief think oh it's one of three I'm going to go with Rodri

21:09Michael Timbs:not because he won player of the tournament I guess he sort of has to win it in a way because as the tournament went on he was a lot better and became even more key of a player for Spain so I guess he deserved it but more just for for today like he he looked like the old rodri like him in the middle of the park just controlling it um he did have a shot when there was a pass on like a long shot from the edge of the box it was really poorly struck but then also in my eyes as well i was thinking like of all the players that i've seen do this thing as well it's him so um but he was just such a good uh deep lying just a player for them like shut down the space for for argentina They had nothing going forward because of their whole defense, to be honest.

21:59Michael Timbs:But equally, I thought he did a really good job in the middle of the park. And yeah, just looked like his old self. So I guess, and that old Rodri is very, very good. And he looked very, very good. As opposed to old Rodri, which is what we want him to look like. Yeah, yeah, of course. Not the old Rodri, but old Rodri. Yeah, yeah. Old, aging Rodri. Yes, aging Rodri. We would now love that. All we can hope is now having played consecutive summers, the Club World Cup and then this World Cup, and then played for City is that he finds himself shagged out for the season and can't give his all. Fingers crossed.

22:38So I don't know that there's a great other stock rising, but I'm going to give it maybe almost more as a tournament mention for not having been mentioned more to Pau Koub Arcee. And he, I mean, and I haven't checked this, so let me just confirm it. But, like, he is so solid. He's very good on the ball. He reminds me of Saliba in certain things he does in terms of the way he handles situations with a lot of comfort and confidence. So here you go. You ready for this? Yeah. 121 of 126 passes. Right? Wow. There just aren't a lot of center backs. And those passes aren't in his own box giving it back to Unai Simon, right?

23:22That's stepping up, putting the pressure on. He did wind up having a shot that was, I think, pretty well struck, if I remember correctly, actually. um you know he created a chance as well um but just you know he doesn't get he doesn't get beat very often he's he's 19 and a half years old and he is the anchor of barcelona and spain's defense the meanest defense in the tournament a teenager in that position which let's be clear that position is more for the late 20 somethings early 30 somethings than the teenagers even more than wingers wingers you do see them come in at teenage years so for a guy who can play 126 passes in a game and keep a clean sheet and defend the way he did.

24:01I think Paukou Barsi is a special talent, and given all the attention on the Minimal, it's sort of a shame that this 19-year-old flies. Maybe he doesn't fly under the radar. Maybe it's my radar's just off, but it feels like he flies under the radar.

24:13Michael Timbs:Absolutely. I would say he does, and I think that's probably one of the best compliments you can pay him as just a very accomplished and just solid center back is that he does fly under the radar because there's never an occasion where you're like, oh, terrible defending from Kubasi or he had to make this crazy recovery or any of that. It's just like he had a really solid game where he did the simple things really well and he did the slightly difficult things really well as well. So there were no dramas and it was easy for him to go a little bit unnoticed because he was just so solid. And that for someone so young as well, yeah, is definitely a, yeah, that would be a compliment to him.

24:58Michael Timbs:He's great. I would also add to that, and they were also kind of going to be my other stock rising. And I know we don't like them for 10 months of the year, but both Pedro Porro and Kukurea, I do have to give props to them because they have just been really good. Like, don't get it wrong. As Arsenal fans, we don't like it. Sure. No, they're really good. Well, Kukurea's gone. So we don't have to worry about him anymore. Okay, yeah. But he's done too much damage. He could be a Real Madrid player now. That's great. But it's more just like both of them have been so good, genuinely. Defensively, they've been really, really key.

25:36Michael Timbs:And they haven't really been done that much. And bearing in mind, we've seen, especially when we play them, both Chelsea and Spurs, the number of times we've seen Saka tear Kukureya to shreds is innumerable. Every single time. He takes the piss out of him. But then now watching him for this Spain team and how solid they are as a unit, especially at the back, he looks incredible. And the same with Pedro Porro as well. It's like, I'm watching him going, I swear you're rubbish. And he's actually been really, really good. So I do have to give them, for 10 out of the 12 months, we're absolutely slating them for being rubbish.