World Cup Daily - Subs Steal Win for Germany, Netherlands Makes a Statement

0:00Music

0:25After Turkey crashed out with 62 shots and no goals, Ecuador said, hold my Eloy room. This is a World Cup daily. My name is Elliot Smith. Yeah, Eloy, Eloy, Eloy room with 15 saves, I believe, almost four expected goals for Ecuador. And yet they managed no goals, just like Turkey went out with 62 shots and no goals themselves. Ecuador now no goals through two games. Thanks in large part to Eloy room, who to the moon is not just for stocks. It's for Eloy Room's Instagram followers. He put on a proper display. And I am, for one, very happy to see it. I thought it was a beautiful thing. One of the things about the World Cup is just following these players you've not heard of and watching them have their moment.

1:15And it's a beautiful thing. So Eloy Room, the star of the night in a game that I'm going to go out on a limb and say wasn't watched by all that many people. but we do that for you.

1:28Michael Timbs:I did not manage to watch it. Yeah, Timsy, I did not expect you did, but he pulled a Vosinha from Cape Verde, those who remember that from this tournament. By the way, we'll check in with Timsy now and say, how are you, bud? How's San Diego treating you? Yeah, it's great. It's an amazing city, and the weather is stunning. The NASCAR is NASCAR-ing. It's loud. You made it down to the beach yet? Seen the Pacific? no no i've been i've been i've been hosting a weekend so yeah um yeah same again tomorrow but the main thing is i've been able to keep up with the the tournament because luckily there's there's quite a few uh football fans about so um yeah americans starting to catch on i which i which i like they're kind of like oh what's the scores today it's like yes we can we can talk yeah there's always this promise of of the game growing because of the world cup and then i think it's sort of hit and miss on whether people stay with it but um you know frankly i'm perfectly fine with the amount of following that this game has in this country where arsenal is concerned um you you should make it down to the beach so the the oceanfront san diego quite beautiful worth seeing i've been there before though so i don't need i'm flying straight back to new york tomorrow evening so less beautiful oceanfront in new york yeah less beautiful but more uh just crazy football fans which I need right now.

2:49Michael Timbs:Yep. Well, you'll be able to re-inject that once you reinsert yourself into New York. So good to be with you tonight. I will let you know that Lewis Ambrose and I got together and did a director of football episode where I hate to tell you, listener, he sold your favorite player, but you have to listen to find out. It's over on the Patreon. You can use code Saliba50, by the way, and get, for a couple of quid, access to our Patreon and listen to Clive's scouting videos and everyone do the director of football episodes and eventually in July, transfer daily. So that's all coming. But for now, I think we had a five-star day, Timsy, at least for a couple of these games.

3:19The only thing I'll say is that, full disclosure, as we navigate the schedule of time zones and where Timsy's going to be the rock star that he is and when we can get recorded, the Tunisia-Japan game is getting ready to kick off. We're not going to cover that today. We'll cover that when we cover the next day. So we'll go back to our morning US time recordings on Monday, which means the Japan-Tunisia game will be covered then and we'll we'll have a predictable schedule moving forward from there it looks like so uh it is predictably time for the headlines timsey and i will throw it to you

3:52Michael Timbs:for the first one well talking of uh talking acknowledging the japan tunisia game tomorrow do we do we need to give a little shout to turkey paraguay the fact that we obviously didn't finish that game well so so this is i got pretty lucky because if you remember i gave turkia a stock falling it was it was a brave uh some might say hubristic move on my part to do it with about 20 minutes card as well yeah that was brave that was brave turned out to be absolutely true they have dumped themselves out of the the world cup in spectacular fashion and anything you want to say about that before we get to today's slate just um i am a bit disappointed just because they are they do have talented players and are a talented team and for them as well they're a very traditional footballing side compared to for example that the other three that they're in obviously USA doing great Australia seem good enough to to go through um but you'd expect them in in other years and with the players they have to put on more of a fight than they have so I know they'll be dis and Turkey fans as well are as passionate football fans as there are on the planet so I I don't envisage it's going to be a very um peaceful and happy place uh in the immediate aftermath but uh yeah massively disappointed because they're they're a they're a fun side to to follow and they just yeah didn't perform yeah yeah at all i i think also i mean it's sort of a reminder of how tournament tournament football works because with 62 shots even though there was some chucking going on i think there's a lot of hero ball being played players trying to do it themselves but there was some snatched at finishing and like finishing runs hot and cold you know in another tournament with those shots one bounces in off someone's ass you know another one goes in off a keeper doing a poor job a little bit more composure in front of goal and those are two or three goal wins for turkia so uh that's not going to help them sleep at night though they're out so um how about a headline from the ones today though so the headline from the ones today i'm gonna go with a maybe you're not really expecting this one um netherlands i'm happy they they performed because this was they played really well good value and looked super threatening and really really played well but i was actually oddly impressed with sweden and another sounds weird what about sweden for all the goals they conceded or something else not not the girls they conceded sure that's this and we've said throughout this whole tournament like whoever has the best defense is probably going to get the furthest in this tournament so that was not on show but selfishly looking as an arsenal fan at gocarez really like just impressed by his his play he looks sharp they they actually did create a lot of chances and it was like a it was a great game it was a proper like hunting or of a world cup game they they weren't i don't think they deserve to lose 5-1 they could have scored a few and Giocares looked sharp like he he did I think I think this is what um we've seen from him obviously maybe not enough in his first season for us but still like it's actually really nice going into next season and questioning whether we're gonna reinforce our front line seeing him play like that and go like he can play like that like that's not just a thing that we've imagined like he is sharp he's a handful he's dangerous he can link up really well um so i was actually weirdly kind of impressed with sweden but i guess the the headline will be um netherlands total football is back sweden shouldn't be too disarmed that's the headline yeah well the problem is it depends this is where clive would accuse you being me because if you only look at the way sweden attack there's a lot to be impressed by defensively they were at sixes and sevens and how many times do you have to allow overlap on the wing cross to the back post sleeping at the back post player taps in and brian brabby had a great game obviously but like you know with the goals but it was the same goal for goal one goal two goal three for the netherlands i do think with joker's the thing i would observe is he's such an interesting player because at a certain level of opposition he really does look elite when that level of opposition just goes up that next notch he can all of a sudden be totally neutralized and in this game he did the kinds of things that we don't even associate with him in his best game in first know he had a sensational cross that probably should have been controlled and turned in with his left yeah with his left and things that maybe you know we've we've wanted him to do but I will say I thought he finished the season pretty strong for us so maybe he's growing into this next level of football which is what we'll hope for but um yeah I was I was impressed with the way they attacked are you are you um a buyer of netherlands futures now based on what you saw i don't know i don't know sorry that i don't have a better answer but i'm still maybe the best maybe that says everything is that i'm still undecided and they've just netted five and there was some like sharp finishing today and um obviously brian bobby looked great it's the best name to say ever and Cody Gappo looks a handful they just looked obviously more solid but definitely freer going forward and actually dangerous like obviously especially down the wings so many balls just like crossed in front of the goalkeeper flashed across the box and like on another night they could have scored another three or four um but still not convinced just because that i don't know hey well it's interesting if you look at them i mean if if you look at it they're an 88th minute equalizer against japan away from having six points and being through topping the group i think a decent japan team and then you know in that game they only allowed 0.59 expected goals this this game they allowed more but i i do think game state comes into it they seemed happy to let the game open up but even still with the 16 shots Sweden had only about one expected goal to the 2.61 for the Netherlands so I mean if you want to go to underlying metrics and look at the circumstances around the Japan draw maybe maybe maybe there's there's more to the Netherlands than meets the eye here they um they were pretty convincing today I thought yeah I still I still think that if you bring Memphis off the bench something's not quite right if you if you know he's not he's not a bad player but he's not the guy he used to be and if you're if you're kind of if you're still doing that i don't know what like the maybe the the england or the france or the spain equivalent would be but i don't think there is one because they just don't do it and i think that's that that level is just not where they're at even though they have obviously started to play much better now yeah so i'll bite i'll dig into this a little bit yeah i'd say first of all you know there's more to football than obviously just the attacking and defensively van de van van dyke van hecke and dumfries like yeah that with the bruggen and goal like that's a pretty good defensive unit and then you look at midfield and i think there's a lot of people that that think frankie de jong when fit is one of the best midfielders in the world uh graven birch you know he would he disappointed i i think a little bit at times for liverpool having to try to play lone six in a team that didn't seem to want to defend but i think he's a good player and reiners can get between the lines and cause problems so like that group is good if braby can get the job done up front and give them a focal point and you can bring someone like crescencio somerville off the off the bench to add injection of pace and dynamism late in games between gackpo and malin like i don't know i like i look at that team and i say what what's the weakness there what's the the weak link especially if braby can get the job done i i think going forward they looked they did look much better and I think they gained in confidence and then were obviously very yeah a lot more confident in front of goal even just when it came to the shoe like the finishes were like very sure and um Cody looked a handful but I would say I don't know I think even just maybe defensively the fact that Sweden caused them quite a lot of trouble and I'm saying myself I was quite impressed with how Sweden attacked.

12:13Michael Timbs:Me too, by the way. With that back line, I think they should be able to deal with the Sweden attack. And I don't think they did that well. I think second half was better. But even then, I just think they conceded a lot of chances. Maybe they weren't absolutely clear cut, but Sweden were incisive enough to drag the defenders out of position and like Van Dijk at times was um kind of just out of position when yeah usually you just think you wouldn't be and yeah and there's not to say like it's Sweden are a good opposition their attackers are very good but like I don't think that should really happen when you're when your defense is that strong um so maybe it's that i'm not sure maybe maybe i'm definitely undervaluing and underrating netherlands maybe they are a threat to to to go much further but i i i feel like the quality will will will shine through against a better opposition like they will they will come unstuck it's possible and i look i mean i don't want to overstate how good the netherlands were sweden got in and had joy and could have had more goals in this game i mean maybe it was a game where the Netherlands got a big enough lead that they were happy to kind of have a little bit of fun going back and forth.

13:35The game did get a little stretched. And look, one player who seemed to cause them all kinds of problems was Anthony Alanga. And I've just got to editorialize here for a minute. This is a player that drives me nuts because he used to give us fits with Forrest. Like I was, that was a player I was terrified of facing. He has not kicked on at Newcastle. And he's got a bit of that Nani Madweke about him because you feel like he can get in anytime time he wants but the number of times he could not execute you know the the basic next move was yeah was the reason he maybe isn't the player that his pure speed would lead you to think he

14:08Michael Timbs:could be you know yeah i mean it was frightening like the the impact that he had when he did come on it's just it's so different to to what they have and then to be able to just bring him on and then him actually it was cut it was a little bit sad for me to see him run through for his goal which was great really well taken but the run there it's there's very few people in world football where you can see the run happening from 20 yards before he's like got to kind of the actual line to break through and you're like well if he plays the ball at the right time there is no way anyone's catching him and watching poor van dyke like for virgil trying to like run after him and it was like it's a bit painful to see the difference in pace obviously van dyke he's he's a little bit older he's a center back anyway so you're not going to be as quick but like even van der ven struggled to to get back to within like touching distance of him it was just yeah crazy well it's it look it sets up an awesome final day in in that assuming japan beat tunisia and i i think they will if they beat tunisia like you're in a situation where sweden will have to beat japan probably to to secure qualification to be sure that they're through and i mean maybe not maybe a draw would get them as one of the third place teams but they're probably going to go out to win and then do they start with a longa you know how do they attack do they play the open game that cost them against the netherlands that that could be a fascinating game and we'll see how that shakes out i think i owe you a headline and yes i think we're not we're not about that game but it's a good game my my headline i think is going to be germany prove a a squad is still important in a tournament.

15:51You know, Denis Andov may not be a guy that a lot of Premier League watchers know, but he has lit up the Bundesliga, been very, very good in the Bundesliga. He is a player who kind of developed into that guy a little bit later in his career. Andov, you know, 29 years old now. But if you look at it, I mean, this is a guy who I think a lot of people in Germany want to start, Kai Havertz starts ahead of him, and I think that is the right choice. I think Kai Havertz is still the better player, but you can't argue with what he's done in the World Cup now. Three goals, two assists. Not a huge surprise when you look at what he does in Germany this season.

16:31He had, what was it, 19 goals and six assists for Stuttgart. And yeah, just the way the subs gave them a directness when they were trying to play a lot of very short-passing, possession-oriented football, and Ivory Coast seemed like they were very comfortable being compact. I think I read, and forgive me for whoever posted this and hoping it's right, that Ivory Coast didn't allow a goal in qualifying getting into this tournament. So obviously know how to defend. They were very compact. Germany didn't really seem to be able to pass their way through. And then the subs came on and gave them a directness and Undov's the hero.

17:05I think Nemetha looked really, really good in his assist for Undov's second goal to get them. The win was really good. Yep, Nemetha really stood out. So I don't know, Timsey. I think Germany have that nice alchemy of a lot of quality in the starting group, some less heralded players in the squad. And while there'll be big calls now for Undav to start games, and he may start the next one because I think Germany now have topped the group. But I think it is a case where Nagelsmann can afford to keep these players in reserve and have them be game-changing subs. And that's worked for Germany so far.

17:41Michael Timbs:Yeah, I also think it's, like Nagelsmann, obviously, I think he's got a great record. He's a good manager. And I think it's kind of starting to prove a trend. Maybe it's because I'm just older and my - Please don't say that to me. Is failing me. But it seems like now, and maybe this kind of blends into stocks rising. You want to hit yours? I guess because I'm giving them a compliment. is the trend of elite domestic managers, like club managers, making the move to the international stage, which I think in the past, they've obviously been relatively hesitant to do that just because they know the pressure that comes with it.

18:27Michael Timbs:It's like, unless you win it, you're not going to succeed really, unless you take a minnow and help build them up. But even seeing, obviously, Tucci with England and Pochettino, what he's done with the USA at the moment, Nagelsmann with Germany. And I guess Ancelotti, we're waiting to see what he does with Brazil. But I do like this trend because now I think it's going to be, football is, I think anyway, gotten rid of that, the old guard of just having international managers. I'm thinking like when I was younger, like Del Bosque and these sorts of players, these managers, sorry, who were like just come with and uh not deschamps sorry but the one uh the previous to that in was it laurent blanc who was uh no it was the netflix documentary about how how do i not remember his name france manager was it dominic oh yes rudy dominic is that it yeah but basically just having these older managers who are just stuck in their ways and they're a legendary figure but they're they're they don't have that same maybe level of detail and just uh experience that these like hardened club managers do and now seeing them make the step up to uh to the international stages is a lot of fun and i genuinely i'm excited to see how how those managers do as well so i guess my stock rising as well headline and stock rising would be those those managers yeah and i was it Raymond Dominic was one.

19:59They had Laurent Blanc. Yeah, sorry. I'm trying to, now you've got me stuck on this.

20:05Michael Timbs:Yeah, but I think you're right. I mean, you look at - Yeah, it was Raymond Dominic, sorry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mad. Picking his players based on their star signs. And you're going, you know what? Club managers don't do that. No, and you see styles and you see tactical concepts in these games that make it better football. and whether it's Nagelsmann or Tuchel, I don't know, Tuchel? Tommy Tuch. Tommy Tuch. Obviously, Pochettino for the US. I mean, the level of management in international football has definitely gone up a notch. So I owe a stock rising, that means. And you know what? I'll take the emotional one first, even though it's probably not the biggest one from a football standpoint and say Eloy room.

20:5337 years old, a nation of 150 ,000 people, the smallest nation ever in the World Cup to gain a point. The kind of thing that is why you can watch, you know what it does? It's that little moment where a World Cup can feel almost like an Olympics, right? Because the Olympics is about these unheralded stories of adversity and overcoming them and people that you've never been familiar with before competing in a sport you'd never heard of before and suddenly they're cast into the world stage this way. Nation of 150 ,000 people, you know, there's more people than that live in, you know, just about any town or city that most of us live in.

21:31They're here, they're on the big stage and Eloy Room, 37 years old now, is over whatever it is, a half million Instagram followers because he was the man of the match in this game and he helped his nation secure a historic point. Ecuador managed three expected goals on 27 shots. none of them got past LOI room so uh he and Ecuador pardon me and Curacao a a stock rising

21:55Michael Timbs:for me yeah I did totally great and also it's in keeping with a few of the stories that we've had so far obviously with with Cape Verde and um it is I guess this is one of the benefits of of having these expanded tournaments is like history is going to be made just for any of these little nations the fact that never been to the world cup and just it's it's just nice to get these stories where yeah unknown players incredible backstory coming up just clutch and just maybe i'm sounding american now but you know having having having a game of their lives and just fully embracing the fact that they are on the world stage and then the world cup doing what it does and bringing the world's fans together and uh everyone focusing and giving this this person all the love and um that they deserve.

22:42Michael Timbs:So yeah, I'm all for stories like that. It's great. Yeah, yeah, I think it's great. All right, give me another stock rising real quick. What do you think? I think we got plenty today. Stock rising, I will say, and maybe I am a bit too drunk on America right now, but general World Cup hospitality, but US hospitality in particular, especially with the Scottish fans. Obviously, as I said, I think yesterday or the day before, I really hope they do go through. but even seeing just the them collectively rolling out like an army out of boston and them getting it's almost like the scottish fans and the nation of scotland has got the keys to the city because boston has just been fallen so in love with what they've seen of is the best of fandom that you can get it's like we know in england and in europe especially south america like a lot of this football fandom can spill over and it's just nasty and just not what we want this is the absolute best of it where they're just you want your team to do well you support them through thick and thin but also you just you're there almost on a holiday and just trying to have the time of your lives and fully get involved in the local culture and then the fact that that local culture also gives back and they just fully embrace it um it's incredible to to see there's been my favorite story throughout so far has has been yeah there's usually one fan base right or or a couple of fan bases in a tournament that kind of takes over the story that tournament and becomes like the the mascot or the the story outside of the football i think there's a couple of things going on obviously whether it's in uh mexico city or guadalajara or vancouver or toronto or any of the u.s cities hosting because of the distance between them and because it's not going to be so easy for fans to go from one location to the next necessarily.

24:30I think there's an effort to really overrun that one city and make that city their special place. And you're seeing that throughout the tournament. And look, I think it's important, at least for the sake of balance, because I do think the tournament is going well and I do think the vibes have been great, is to make the point that there are obviously fans that would have loved to have been here celebrating with their country, who were not able to come and be a part of their celebration and have been denied entry into the country. And there've been players speaking about that. And a lot of them come from African nations And obviously there's a referee from Somalia who has not admitted.

24:59So it is that tough thing of like celebrating the goodness of people who are trying to make this a great event while recognizing the challenges that structurally exist that make it from being flawless. And I think, unfortunately, when it comes to FIFA and it comes to governments and it comes to the last several tournaments, including this one, that is just a part of the reality. With FIFA, there is always a bit of having to decide if you're willing to squint to see the good parts of it. But I definitely admit that I've been caught up in some of that positivity, and I'm glad that it's happening because it restores a little faith in the goodness of the individuals rather than the organizing bodies involved in this stuff.

25:37So I will – gosh, I'll pick another stock rising, and there are a few. I mentioned Nemecha. Nemecha was really good. um i yeah i mean we mentioned undav mentioned to mecha i i think there are a couple out you know

26:01Michael Timbs:i'll say brian broby i think yeah he really good you know great story for sundell in this season led the line well i think the netherlands need that focal point i think malin looked good in support of him and they can bring somerville off the wings but probably has that robustness and i there's been a lot of direct football in the world cup and you need that player i mean i love that you picked on jokras i had him in the stock rising category i i can't pick him because i feel like you already covered him really well but these hard running direct players i think are causing a lot of problems and maybe braby and undav for germany which may be an issue for kai um can can create that that focal point that directness that seems to be so important unlocking um success in this tournament so yeah and and it's probably from from previous times as well that i've seen with uh with the netherlands sorry is that they've they've they have lacked that because they've had in previous tournaments i think was it valveghorst oh gosh he's yeah valveghorst is still with the team by the way uh he was on the bench today but yeah but just like as their guy he was almost there like they saw him as their like good luck charm getting 22 sorry and it's like ultimately we know like he's not he's not a world beater you can't rely on this guy or you can rely on him for a certain group of like attributes but really when you're playing this like kind of free-flowing dynamic football it just doesn't it's a bit counter to it and i think having yeah brian bobby there just yeah they just look far more dangerous and far more of a problem going forward.

27:36Michael Timbs:Yeah. I second that. And, you know, I have to say, like with Germany, they probably have less expectation around them than you normally feel like a German team would have. But they've topped the group now. You know, they're there. And I think this comeback win was a big moment for the tournament because if Germany can get on a roll, it'd be interesting. I think, what is it? They hadn't qualified from a group since 2014. Is that right, I believe? I think it was how many years? 2014, I think, right? It was a lot. 12 years? So two tournaments, basically. For Germany. Yeah, by their standards. All right, let's hit the stocks falling.

28:15And I've got a couple. I think I'm prepared to go with a couple. All right, so I'm going to give my first stock falling. And I admit it's based on hype and transfer news. But I'm going to give Jan Diamande a stock falling. And I realized very, very harsh on a 19-year-old who was involved in Ivory Coast goal. But I thought he had some really loose touches. I thought he was wasteful. He snatched at some shots. I don't think technically he had a clean game. I think he was up against Kimmett. And that's a player he can just really go at and cause problems. And he did early and he kind of went away from it.

28:51And I think the only reason I say it's a stock falling is he had big hype after the opening game. he's going to get a big, big money move, maybe to Liverpool this summer. And so my eye was on him because he came into this game as the guy. And, you know, I do want to be clear. Great story. If you haven't seen it, he had a very touching and emotional article in the Players' Tribune about the loss of his sister, tragically taken from what looks like a wrongful death, something put in her drink. She passed suddenly. A devastating heartbreak for Diamande. And his story, you know, was heartbreaking and really well written.

29:27So, you know, on a day when that came out and surfaced, I feel a little bad doing this. But I'm just saying we do this with players, right? They come into view. They become the hot commodity. He has a good opening World Cup game. And suddenly it's he's the young star and we're ready to anoint him. And I just thought after a bright start to this game, I thought he struggled a bit. I think at 19, that's fair. But I said it was going to be controversial. So there you go.

29:52Michael Timbs:Yeah. And also it could literally be the next game. he could have an absolute stormer and then suddenly we're back in being supporters and thinking he's the best one to get against they're going to play what Curacao next so with all due respect to Curacao who got a draw today he's going to have a chance to get right back on a hot streak I'm excited to see Ivory Coast in the knockouts if they obviously deliver on the final game which I think they should I'm also a little bit can I add Frank Kessie to this? And he scored, but he also got in so many good positions and just like, well, actually, Ivory Coast in general got in a lot of very good positions, which are so wasteful.

30:39Michael Timbs:Well, if you want to pick on someone, what about a Dhingra? Because Nicolas Pepe came on and Pepe had a beautiful driving run up the right and slid the ball right to a Dhingra. All he used to do was hit it first time. And I don't know what he's doing there. You can see it from a mile off. and then he took that touch which was the ball was so good he had so much time that one you could take it first time it's probably the best option the second option is you still have enough time and space to take a touch and if it's a decent touch you're going to have enough time to shoot it was such an awful time he chose the option c which is the worst thing possible which is i'm going to take a touch which i shouldn't the touch is going to be horrendous and then you look at all of his other teammates and pepe just look at him after when he took this what were you doing why have you done that but I say Kessie because he's the captain and even though he did score I think he just yeah there were there were so many opportunities where he broke into the box and had some really really enough space to cause more of a problem than he did and just it was either a poor shot or a poor touch or a poor decision and it's just yeah you in those moments you need to to make more of them if you're going to get something out of the game yeah and I thought Ahmad was poor too and I will say like to that point that's a team Ivory Coast that should I would think beat Curacao and get out of the group maybe they want to look at Niklas Pepe starting off the right over Ahmad who I don't think was super impressive so it'll be very interesting to see how they shape up for that next game so some some profligacy today in general Sweden very very guilty of that I think for a stock falling I could go another one and there's a lot of Sweden players that I think would be worthy of it defensively they were all over the shop and basically if your name isn't Jokeres or Izak I think you're deserving of one but I'm going to go with another one a little closer to home one of my favorite players in all of world football and that's Kai Havertz I don't think Kai was bad today like candidly I don't think Kai was bad today but I'm giving him a stock following for this simple reason I think reading around people felt he wasn't very convincing he was part of that issue that Germany seemed to have with wanting to play everything to feet and just play these little three yard balls back and forth between one another he did have a header that I thought was pretty good that was down and nearly there he had a chance to start with I mean I think he had the first three shots for Germany but he didn't influence the game much and given uh Dennis Undov's influence I mean I think there's going to be pressure to give Undov the start in the last group game and see how he does and if he does well he will feel he's done enough to be the first choice of that position going into the knockout round so it's not a stock falling because I don't rate Kai who's one of my favorite players and it's not a stock falling that I think he even played that poorly but I thought he had a relatively quiet game and the guy who came on you know didn't have a quiet game for the second game running.

33:35So I would think that that's going to be one to watch for the next few games.

33:39Michael Timbs:Yeah, there was also another, the header was good. Obviously he scored that, I say scored that goal that wasn't a goal. But there was also a header at the back post as well where like usually you think you do better than that as well. So maybe it was just he slightly off it today. But obviously we still team fully in the Kai's camp. We love him, but yeah, not his best. Can we go one more, just a quick one? of course Eloy Room great wonderful amazing but Ener Valencia had five shots worth 1.65 expected goals and just kept hitting them at the keeper like it was a dreadful dreadful night for him in front of goal and he's gonna he's gonna want some of those back I mean that's about as poor a demonstration of finishing as you could ask for so Ecuador are we just I don't know what to think about them are they should they be doing better than they are like after the first performance you obviously give them the benefit of the doubt have you seen their manager by the way he comes out of like central casting from a surfer movie yes yes yeah i don't know what that's all about but yeah but like they maybe got a little bit unlucky with the the the first game obviously with the last minute uh conceding the last minute goal and they did they they played well created chances but again it's like but you can't keep doing that you can't at some point we're not going to feel sorry for you and actually you just fully deserve what you get i don't you know um well they've had the turkey tournament right like they've had their chances they haven't taken them and if you don't take your chances in a world cup your world cup can be over now the interesting thing for them is they they need a win in the final game to go through as my presumption they will be playing a germany team with nothing to play for so could could they do it i mean it's always hard to know what to expect to these big clubs because you're gonna have a lot of squad players for germany out there wanting to prove they deserve more playing time does that make it harder easier i don't know well that's the thing i think also germany has strength in depth anyway so it's it's regardless it's not going to be easy you've you've missed the games where you should have you should have got the points um so the fact that you've lumped all this pressure on the last game and against the hardest team in your group who's already won two and scored nine goals it's uh yeah it's not great it's not ideal it could be worse but it's not ideal so we'll see i i hope they i hope they go through it'll be nice to to see them go through but uh yeah so far they've they've they've been a bit of a letdown yep i think that's fair um okay so let's look ahead to tomorrow shall we um so we've got the japan game that i'll kick off in about 20 minutes and we'll cover that as part of the next uh world cup daily but spain saudi arabia spain obviously obviously need to win that game uruguay cape ferrari um belgium iran and new zealand egypt and it is a really interesting day i think timsey because it is a day where countries that i think would have big aspirations have a lot to prove, right?

36:45Because Belgium is coming off their draw with Egypt. Egypt equally would want to do something in this tournament, I think. So they're coming off a draw. They will feel they need to beat New Zealand. Uruguay coming off a draw. They are going to need to show something against the Cape Verde team that's coming off the remarkable performance against Spain. And Spain, of course, coming off the draw against Cape Verde has a lot to prove against Saudi Arabia. So Spain, Uruguay, Belgium, and Egypt have a lot to prove and less favored teams have a lot to gain on an interesting day.

37:14Michael Timbs:Yeah. I'd also like to ask you, what are the chances that all four teams in Group G and H, all eight of those teams, by the end of play tomorrow, are on two points each? Yeah. It's just still deadlocked, and it's just a straight shootout in the final game day. But also, I think it's, yeah, it is a weird one. Obviously, we know Belgium, Egypt, Spain, and Uruguay, there's more pressure on them, and you know they should be able to separate themselves it's it's a it's a slightly weird scenario for me anyway with those two those two groups where it's almost like do or die tomorrow where whoever wins like you've you've secured because instead of it being you win the first game and it's a great stepping stone but you're not through whereas this one now everyone's on one point and it's almost like this next game whoever wins it you you're you're pretty much there so it's it it maybe that motivates the likes of iran new zealand saudi arabia okay but even more to be this is if there is a game to win if we win tomorrow like we're there boys yeah saying that i expect uh spain to to come back and put in a much better performance because they were just flat and just unimpressive um and again almost the same with yeah belgium egypt and Uruguay yeah it's a it's a weird one where it's just eight teams and all of them are just even well I mean it could you know how it is it could be a day where we say like why did we ever doubt Spain it was just a weird situation with Cape Verde and they've won six nil against Saudi Arabia but these are the times when pressure can be really interesting right because Spain has to win they really have to win you would think um because after this it's Uruguay and if you haven't beaten Saudi Arabia like you're genuinely in trouble and you know if you're Belgium for example playing Iran like you really have to win because after that it's Egypt and you could be in trouble so there is the chance that by the end of the day tomorrow we're saying a Spain or a Belgium are in big big trouble to get out of their group and that would be a very interesting situation and and and weirdly there's a part of me that really wants that to happen not because I I don't like Spain or I don't like it or Belgium or anyone.

39:30Michael Timbs:But I remember being in Qatar in 22 and it was the group with Germany, Japan. I'm trying to think. And there was one other big team in it. And like it got down to the third game and all of them could qualify depending on what result and how many goals and stuff. And it was electric viewing. So just the fact that that could become to the last game of the group stage and it's just a straight showdown for these like gigantic teams would be amazing. I have to hit you with this because obviously it's going to change, but it's just funny as it stands. Because as it stands, like if you're the USA, for example, your group in the bracket all the way to the semifinal is, right now we'd play Ecuador, then the winner of New Zealand, Czech Republic, then one of Congo, DR Congo, Ghana, Austria, or Uruguay, right?

40:27That's all the way to the semifinal. Meanwhile, if you're England, cover your ears, it's England, Portugal, then Spain, then one of France or Brazil, most likely. So, I mean, you're hoping this changes a little bit only because you don't want all of the best teams paired in the same quarterfinal bracket. So, we'll just have to see. I actually saw that today. I think it was today I saw that on Twitter. BBC's got a great website for it that literally updates as it stands who would play who.

40:53Michael Timbs:So, it's a good like it. Literally a live bracket calculator by the goal, by the minute. I could do it in my head, but it's so much easier to just go to the BBC site. Oh, it's so much fun. And you watch it as well. You're like, this is, I want this. Everyone stop. I want this future World Cup. Well, if you're USA right now, you don't want anything to change, but I assure you it will change. It doesn't matter, guys. You're riding high, man. All of you. Yeah, yeah. You lot are just confidence through the roof. Yeah, confidence will get us there, I'm sure. All right. Well, look, let's leave it there.

41:23But before we do, we're recording this on Saturday night. Sunday is Father's Day. So I want to say Happy Father's Day to Clive. I want to say Happy Father's Day to Tim. I want to say Happy Father's Day to Paul. I want to say happy Father's Day to my dad, whom I love dearly, and to all the fathers listening. I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope you're celebrated. I hope you get to spend time with family and you get to have the support and appreciation that you richly deserve. So I don't know if you want to give a Father's Day shout out to your dad, Timsy.

41:51Michael Timbs:Well, is this a U.S. Father's Day? I think it's U.K. as well. Is it a Father's Day in England? Yeah. U.K. as well. But in which case, I would love to hop on that bandwagon and wish a Happy Father's Day to my brother. And to my dad as well. And all my mates who are dads. And also you, Elliot, and everyone who is a dad. I love all the dads. Yeah. Love the dads. Happy Father's Day. Some of them will be playing in the World Cup tomorrow. And hopefully their sons and daughters are very proud of them. So with that, I think another great job by you, Timsy. And we'll talk to you on Monday, actually. because we'll go back to a Monday morning recording schedule for the slate tomorrow.