WORLD CUP DAY 31: Bellingham drags England to the Semi Final

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1:17Hello and welcome to The Game, a football podcast from The Times and Sunday Times. This is day 31 of our daily World Cup shows and England are in the World Cup semi-finals. 2-1 winners against Norway after extra time. It was tense, it was tight, it was packed with crucial moments. But once again, it's Jude Bellingham who delivered. Two goals for him, taking him to six at this tournament. I'm Tom Clarke and joining me to discuss all of that, we have the former footballer turned journalist Gregor Robertson and the head of sport for the Times and Sunday Times, James Restle. but first our chief sports correspondent Matt Lawton he was there watching this one in Miami and sent me these thoughts on full time.

1:59Gregor Robertson: Well England have found a way once again this time via a spider cam cable but they're in the semi-finals they got lucky but my word with you Bellingham they've got some special player I've just done Phil Neville's last hit for our live blog and he's described him as the new Bobby Charlton I think Phil's right we were talking about it in the press box. He really is that good. The best England have probably had since 66. They move on now to Atlanta, possibly Messi and Argentina. Let's see. They find a way, this team. I think they can find a way again and get to that final on Sunday. Now we'll come on to TV wires and the performance in a second.

2:41And as Matt says, we are recording this part of the podcast before the final quarterfinal. But James, regardless of the opponent, it doesn't matter England are in a World Cup semi-final this is absolutely massive for Thomas Tuchel in this squad isn't it it's massive full stop I mean I I think back to like the first World Cup I remember 1998 being sent to bed at half time when England were drawing 2-1 with Argentina and waking up and getting knocked out in the round of 16 and then not getting to a semi-final until 2018 these are rare moments and they should be celebrated and it doesn't really matter how they've got here um it's been we'll talk about it it's been chaotic it's been um edge of the seat um heart in your mouth stuff the whole time this whole tournament feels like it's been one kind of roller coaster but England are in a World Cup semi-final we should not take this for granted yeah absolutely I mean it's a bit of a wild ride that is the theme of Johnny Northcross piece actually should I say on the Times website now and he talks also about this runaway train that is being driven by Jude Bellingham Gregor Martin Samuel also writing about Jude Bellingham this is the intro to Martin's piece on the Times website Jude Bellingham is delivering the greatest individual performance by an England player at a World Cup since Paul Gascon in 1990 and quite probably since Sir Bobby Charlton in 1966 that is his level now the names against which he must be measured the greats the legends and he's just turned 23 who knows where this ends now Gregor I've set you the challenge before in this tournament already to find some more words to describe Jude Bellingham I'm going to hand over to you now even tougher after reading out Martin Samuel's intro but I mean this guy is incredible isn't he he is uh you're right I mean like you

4:28Gregor Robertson: stole the words from my mouth there what more can you say about him all that was crossing my mind when I was watching this performance is that I must have written three or four profiles of Jude Bellingham since his emergence at Birmingham as a 16 year old so speaking to his teammates and people former coaches and things like that and I've watched lots of footage of him as like a 14 year old skinny little 14 year old playing against the under 18s and running ring round there's moments now in games where it looks like that where he does a little drag back and pulls away from someone and it looks like he's just a level above the opposition.

5:08Gregor Robertson: And that's the striking thing. But the reason I also referenced these profiles is the thing everyone always spoke about was what was between his ears. His talent was, you know, everyone knew about it from a very young age. But the thing that marked him out was what was between his ears and his mentality and his drive. but I still don't think anyone that I spoke to or anyone who's watched him as Rise knew that he had this in him that he could almost single-handedly drag his nation to a World Cup semi-final so it's extraordinary it's extraordinary and yeah I mean I'll try and find some more words if he produces another performance like this in the semis but it's getting difficult because that is the main thing about him It's like, yeah, the way he collected the pass, Anthony Gordon's pass on the move and just manipulated the ball to get a little bit of space to get the strike off his left foot.

6:09Gregor Robertson: It was great. Technically, it was brilliant. But it's all about his force of personality. That's the thing that is driving England forward almost single-handedly. It's really interesting. We are talking about running out of words to describe this guy. and you know Tom and I have just been in the office we've been putting the Sunday Times together and this is for another time we've had to come up with a headline and how do we sell Jude Bellingham's performance and it's the same with the headlines there are only so many times you can come up with phrases to describe a player being England's saviour a player who is delivering those absolutely crucial moments and I think Nick the Sunday Times editor came up with too hot to handle you know a play on England also surviving in the conditions in Miami but it's true this guy is just going taking England to new levels and he himself is reaching new levels.

7:18I should say as well for listeners I'm often here with you know very clever people like James and Nick who are coming up with clever headlines I'm always suggesting just put yes get in you know that because I think that's what a lot of readers and listeners are thinking a lot of the time James as you say there we've just come into the studios to record this podcast fresh from the editing floor we've just been hearing from Thomas Tuchel I mean I think for all of us and for England fans part of this kind of runaway train the chaotic runaway train is the England head coach because he's just stepped off the pitch after guiding this team to a semi-final and basically absolutely coated his players in the two some extraordinary tv interviews afterwards saying you know not happy with the performance it's all about mentality you should bottle the mentality but otherwise it's not great I mean we've only had about 20 minutes to reflect on it but I'd say he's probably right what do you think well I think I think it shows where he is and what his expectation levels are and this is something that's very new for England because if you think back to eight years ago when England beat Sweden uh and and uh in quite a comfortable two nil win actually and reached the world cup semi-finals um that was kind of when it's coming home mania took off um in the country here and and people because people couldn't believe that England were in a semi-final for the first time in uh in in 28 years uh and and whereas this time now that England have the expectation let's not forget it's Tuchel's mission is to put the second star on the shirt that's what he said when he took over um and so that's he's he's going to be he's ultra critical he's demanding of his players because reaching the semi-final isn't an achievement for him yeah he wants to get to the final he wants to win the tournament and so you know yes it wasn't a great performance in terms of the the quality England had very little control um even towards the end like you it was it was incredibly frustrating to watch that England from an England perspective that they weren't able to just put a foot on the ball and see out those those last few minutes it felt a bit basketball throughout that extra time so there's a lot for them to still work on and and they were talking about it in the coverage as well the fact that this is a good thing that the England manager is is not kind of settling for the last four he's he wants to keep pushing them yeah absolutely he sees a team that are unreliable

9:39Gregor Robertson: the only things that are really reliable are Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane and everything else is there's been some great defensive performance I think Esri Concent he was dead on his feet again we do have to remember the context to this performance is that they were dead on their feet from the Mexico game and they were playing in what felt like 40 something degree heat and humidity so it was tough and some of them just looked completely gone but he still, despite all that I think looks at his team and thinks, I'm not sure what I'm getting from a lot of these players. You know, whatever the context, it doesn't matter.

10:13Gregor Robertson: You're at a World Cup and the knockout rounds, you've got to know what you're getting. Do we think that's a bit harsh? Obviously, taking Kane and Bellingham out of the picture, I think, I wonder whether that's a little bit harsh on players like Elliot Anderson, for example. I think, you know, he's had an absolutely fantastic tournament, in my opinion. You know, I've said it before on this podcast, to solve that midfield conundrum. He's basically playing it on his own at times and he did so often in this game. Declan Rice coming off at half time of course all the tactical tweaks and changes that Tuchel made reached James into midfield then to right back then Bellingham dropping deep no we'd need Bellingham further forward like it is chaotic as James said earlier is it sustainable Gregor?

10:52Gregor Robertson: I mean it doesn't need to be sustainable I guess they've only got two more games to lift the trophy exactly it's a knockout competition like you've got to get through the match that you're playing in and there's every chance that you can certainly up until the final we've said this all the way even if England aren't playing well they have people who can win a game they've got people who can create moments out of nothing Saka created a few moments too when he came on and we keep saying this, he just makes that bit of difference in terms of the subtlety of his final product his end product is on a different level to anyone else he's not fit, Declan Rice didn't look anywhere near fit tonight Rhys James has been in and out because of injury so like there have been a lot of issues and I would say you're right Anderson was outstanding tonight he was like everyone was dying on their feet he looked like one player who wasn't feeling any fatigue at all it was extraordinary but I think back to the Congo game and he was really anonymous really until the last 15 minutes I thought in that game so even he's had ups and downs and I'm not expecting everyone to be like Jude Belling that's unsustainable but I think Thomas Tuchel looks at his team and he feels the frustration that they're not actually carrying out his game plans It felt with the substitutes today when you watch the Mexico game it felt like each substitution was very deliberate and very planned to react to the situation in the match and Thomas Tuchel got a lot of praise for the way he changed the system to a 4-3-2 and then a 5-3-1 after the red card this felt just watching it and it's hard to react in the instant as we are now.

12:37But this one following along felt a lot more chaotic and it was hard to actually keep up with the tactical changes that were happening. And then it almost felt that he alighted on something with Rodgers and Spence coming on who gave the team far more energy and gave them a bit more of a presence higher up the pitch and ultimately those were two telling contributions in extra time. and it was Roger's shot that was spilled for Bellingham to score what proved to be the winner and then Spence making that run into the box and winning a penalty which was then overturned after a VAR review. But it did feel a little bit more random this time.

13:17Spence almost encapsulates the England team

13:20Gregor Robertson: because Thomas Tuchel rants and raves at him sometimes. He's pulling his hair out of some of the things he does and then he looks like, you think, crikey, he could do something that will win you the World Cup. He could be the World Cup hero from nowhere, someone that people thought, oh, why is he in the squad? Kind of a bit like Dan Byrne as well, coming on again and just heading everything. It's wild. That header at the end and then going, yeah! I mean, it was like a kind of parody of an England, you know, it was like Mike Bassett or something, you know, the guy, big booting header and then like screaming.

13:49I was like, this is England in a World Cup quarterfinal. What is going on? I mean, from both of your points of view, James as an England fan, Gregor from the dispassionate outside, does it matter now? you know they're in a semi-final is does calm and control come into it at all or is this now England's way to win the World Cup chaos and Jed Spence coming on and being both pilloried and producing brilliance and tracking back and Dan Byrne heading the ball away in the last five minutes and Thomas Tuchel only ever praising his substitutes is this what this is now is this what England fans have got to get used to James I'll start with you I mean look at one of Thomas Tuchel's greatest triumphs in his career and it's winning the Champions League with a very imperfect Chelsea team that he picked up halfway through a season from Frank Lampard and managed to get them to find a way to win against a brilliant Manchester City side and helped get them through that competition and I think we he actually talked about this in in the build-up to this game about treating this like it's like an FA Cup run and it and it has that it has all the vibes of an FA Cup run and I think that is carrying them at the moment and you don't need to be perfect in an FA Cup run.

15:00You need to excel in the moment and you need to have the right players delivering at the right time and that seems to be happening and it's a different kind of fun. I think I was talking to a friend earlier today who was saying to me, wouldn't it be nice to be like France and Spain where you where where it's all they just win comfortably and it's not there's no drama and and I and I sort of I agreed with him at the time and and I and I do think it would be nice but at the same time I talk about it from it from a journalist's point of view that the narratives and and the the ups and downs of this run are just extraordinary and I and I think for as far as this will carry England that England England are now here for the rest of the tournament you know they're here for the final week of the tournament because they will have to play a dreaded third place playoff at the very least as a result of getting to the semis and that's all you can ask for yeah it's brilliant Gregor that's an insight into James's management as soon as England went 2-1 up he said look and we're here for another week we're here for another week we go on we party on for another week but Gregor just your thoughts on that idea that chaos reigns and chaos maybe wins for England yeah I don't think that's how Thomas Tuchel

16:16Gregor Robertson: envisaged it but we're here now aren't we? there are parts of it that kind of feed into his game not game plan, it's sort of the way he looked at moulding a team on a squad that was going to go all the way, he wanted to make it more like a Premier League team, he wanted to make it high intensity, dynamic have all those kind of attributes, be good at set plays be able to defend their own box and be big and powerful and athletic and all of things that the Premier League are renowned for and we're seeing aspects of that we are seeing aspects of that it's just a bit more chaotic than he probably would have hoped um and like when I was listening to James running through all the things you need there you need that you need that you need luck and you've had some you've had a bit of luck you certainly have had a bit of luck tonight I think is it time is it time to mention Spider Cam if we're talking about it is James but I am going to work in a little break because we're going to talk about Spider Cam and Norway in just a second we'll be back right after this

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19:19Welcome back to the Game of Football podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. These are our daily World Cup shows. I'm Tom Clark and I've got James Restall and Gregor Robertson with me discussing England's win in that quarterfinal. Let's talk, as James said just before that break, about Spider Cam. James, what are the more remarkable, I mean, another remarkable moment in this remarkable run for England. I mean, there might be listeners out there who have no idea what we're talking about. So just give us a summary of what we know as we stand now and what the incident was. Well, it's also some good insight into what it's like in a newsroom when one of these England World Cup games is going on.

19:55because we'd got to half-time, we'd got through half-time and one of our reporters in America who's not at the game but was watching the game on US TV, they were discussing the fact that in the build-up to England's goal, Nyland, the Norway goalkeeper, took a goal kick and it appeared to strike the spider cam mechanism, whether it was the camera itself or the cables, and drop out of the air into the path of the onrushing Elliot Anderson, who drove up the pitch and started the move that led to Jude Bellingham's equalising goal. This wasn't picked up initially on the UK broadcast, so we were unaware of it.

20:39And again, it was only alerted to us by Ian Whittle, who was watching the game in America. And so we looked into the incident. we spoke to a reporter and asked them to speak to FIFA to see what FIFA's position was and FIFA then issued a statement saying that the the motion sensor technology in the ball the snico for cricket fans hadn't detected any contact with the spider cam mechanism and they've put out a video subsequently showing this but of course VAR didn't pick it up the referee didn't pick it up the suggestions that had this been spotted, play would have stopped and there would have been a dropped ball and play would have continued that way.

21:26But it's an extraordinary, it's almost, you know, a goal fell from the heavens for England tonight, really. Good headling. Well, it may or may not have been debated, Gregor, as an option. But no, it genuinely was one of those bizarre moments which um how many times have you seen those those not not not exactly like this of course but but those kind of moments of bad luck not full for england in the past um but it does feel england have had a lot more luck at this tournament than um than in previous in previous world cups yeah and when i mean when we're ending up beating norway gregor i'm sat there going this is the peep show meme isn't it hang on are we the baddies england are the baddies all of a sudden Thoughts Gregor on this moment?

22:11I mean without pulling your hair out over VAR and intervention?

22:17Gregor Robertson: It's funny I know it's a factual matter as well so it should have ruled out the goal so that's one aspect to it but also what would it have taken for it to have been noticed? So if they're saying that the snickometer thing didn't show anything It would have needed probably a player on the pitch maybe to say something that didn't look right at the time. That doesn't look like it's happened. We needed someone watching it back to have a really eagle eye because I watched the footage and you see it, you know, the ball divert. It's not like jarring. So I kind of give them the benefit of the doubt if they're telling the truth about the stick-on-the-art.

23:01Gregor Robertson: Because what that makes me think is, paying for the thoughts of Croatia. Well, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. The faintest hairbrush denying them penalties against Portugal in that one. Snicko picked that up, didn't they? Anyway, I'm not starting on my conspiracy theories. People have compared me to Matt Letizia in recent weeks, so I'm going to leave it there. I'll tell you what it reminded me of. I think it was Eric Ten Hag's last game for Manchester United that he lost 3-1, I think, at West Ham. And there was a goal kick that swung out and swung back onto the pitch in the build-up to a goal. and I think you could actually, the manager on the touchline, the coaches on the touchline would all swear blind that the ball had gone over the touchline and kind of bent back in and it just wasn't picked up and there was no camera angle in the ground to determine conclusively whether it had gone in or out and it's just one of those freak things that we have so much technology now in football that there is this assumption that everything can be spotted and there are just sometimes freak moments that end up going for or against a team.

24:09Yeah, as long as we've not used up all our luck if we do end up playing Argentina in that semi-final. I'm reflecting on that. I think there was a real slice of luck for England in the Croatia game when they were allowed to retake the penalty in the first game, which does now feel like about two years ago, that match. But then obviously there's been, on the other side of the coin, all the injury problems they've suffered, which again it feels like England have had more injury and fitness concerns at this World Cup than any other. So maybe they haven't been all too lucky but it did fall for them quite literally tonight.

24:45Definitely and we should now have a moment of silence, a moment of reflection for the end of one of the greatest World Cup predictions that never was. Alison Rudd's shout for Norway to win this competition. It was so close in this game. They were excellent in parts. There was so much to love about this team. Ryerson at right back with his pink hair looking a little bit like an East London barber absolutely fantastic Sorloff though in the first half honestly running through two on one it's like his brain melted like he didn't know what to do anymore there was only one thing he could have done that would have definitely resulted in him not having a shot on goal and that was keeping the ball going in field and running straight at the England defenders one of the maddest things I've ever seen a footballer do at the very highest level just give the ball to Erling Haaland mate he's quite good he might score um but gregor how do you reflect on them in this game whether we talk about tv wires or not they will maybe feel a little bit like a missed opportunity in this one they could they could have beaten england here yeah um you just think back to the first half and

25:45Gregor Robertson: the kind of the remarkable shift in momentum after the the hydration break it's like they really turned up and um they were by far the better team um and you also think back to Ayers header off the bar and how brilliantly Consa did to lead into, I think it was Sander Berg I say lean, it was like an elbow to the back of the head but it was just on the right side of fairness and then head it away give him enough to push him out of the way that was a brilliant piece of defending so there was, and as you say that's all the chance it would have made it 2-0 there were periods of the game where it could have got away from England, he looked really ragged defensively and stretched but yeah, at the same time like this kind of lat cutting edge you look at the stats and like you both it was pretty identical in terms of like number of shots you had expected goals I think you both had 30-31 touches in the opposition's box it's like there wasn't that much in it there was Jude Bellingham and maybe the odd slice of luck and what what do we think of the Erling Haaland's push on Elliot Anderson as well that's one of the first it may not be the first but one of the first before the ball came in into play right?

26:56Yeah I think quite striking. I mean, it is obviously quite a big shove from a big guy and it's very dramatic. I think Elliot Anderson plays his part to perfection, I've got to say. I think there are other players who might have, you know, taken the fall a little bit less gracefully and less dramatically. That definitely helped. It is a push, isn't it? You know, really. I mean, in the same way that the Jets Spence one was a dive for the penalty, I think, and they overturned that one and got that right. So I think probably the decisions are about right. Gregor, just before I asked James for a final thought on England reaching the semifinals.

27:27James and I have got a deeply personal question to ask you. I don't know whether you've seen the clip doing the rounds of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham having a bit of a laugh when defending a free kick. Jude Bellingham, I'm going to say it, he tickles his bum. He definitely tickles his bum. And Erling Haaland turns around and goes, get off and they're having a good laugh. They're obviously good mates from their time at Dortmund. So the big question is, did you ever tickle anyone's arse playing football?

27:51Gregor Robertson: No comment, no comment. Oh, he's done it! There was another nice bit between them too, I think Jude Bellingham was taking centre or something and he kind of dummied to do it and Erling Haaland ran forward and he kind of gave him a little smirk because he was knackered, he was dead on his feet and he had to trundle back to the halfway lane again to take it. So that's another part of the Jude Bellingham sort of persona. He's like, even in these moments of enormous pressure, he can just have a bit of a laugh. Yeah, absolutely. And it is a great laugh. We'll miss him from this tournament. Erling Haaland what a brilliant character he's been and a brilliant goal scorer too James we're going to wrap it up now just before we add our extra bolt on finding out who England are playing in that semi-final but regardless this is massive isn't it and it's such a privilege there'll be England fans out there listening to this with hangovers after a big Saturday night on the booze I've already got mates in WhatsApp groups chatting amongst each other where are we watching it on Wednesday how are we doing this for us as journalists this is a real privilege isn't it that we get to build up to an England World Cup semi-final?

28:53These are the moments that we're all in this for, really. It's these big stories, these huge national moments where, as I said at the start, this is not normal. And I know England have got to two Euro finals now, semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018. I'm still getting used to and we've done Tom and I have worked together on major tournaments going back nearly a decade and yet this still does not feel normal that England get to these stages of major tournaments what's so unusual is the fact that the manager genuinely is tearing into the team because they didn't play well enough in a World Cup quarterfinal and I think that's a real shift I think it's going to be fascinating whoever they play.

29:47If it's Argentina, it'll be the first meeting between England and Lionel Messi. What an incredible story. And if it's Switzerland, England will take hope from the fact that they've played 2-1-2 when it comes to the dreaded penalties. So it's going to be fascinating. It's going to be a brilliant week of build-up. Perfect editorial tease there. He's put the England penalty thought in your listeners' minds. James Restall and Gregor Robertson and Matt Lawton, thank you very much for joining me. I'm off to watch Argentina against Switzerland and I'll be back to chat with Paul Hurst about who England are facing in that semi-final.

30:25The challenge is on for producer Neil to find us a perfect jingle to join these two parts. We'll see you in a sec.

30:40Well we all saw that coming didn't we and if you couldn't tell by that little jingle selected by producer Neil Argentina beating Switzerland in extra time 3-1 to confirm their semi-final clash with England. There was a red card from VAR for Briel and Bolo and extra time winners from Argentina's forwards. Our reporter Paul Hurst has been with this Argentina team for the whole tournament. He is the man in the camp and he was at this game. He sent me these thoughts after full time. Hiya, Tom. It's just gone half 11 local time here outside the stadium, Kansas City. You can probably hear the drums in the background.

31:24The Argentinian fans are still partying. I came here thinking that this would be an easy game for me. I thought they'd get through quite comfortably against Switzerland, but it was just like the Cape Verde match again, just like the Egypt game. They were so poor, but somehow they managed to find a way through. All credit to Switzerland. I thought they were the better team in the first half, even though Alexis McAllister put Argentina ahead early on with a fourth headed goal for Argentina in the tournament. Switzerland bounced back, played really well, threatened Argentina down their flanks. Again, the full-backs looked weak defensively and when Switzerland equalised through Dan and Doy in the, I think it was just after the hour, it's 67 minutes.

32:10They deserved it. If anything, they were the better team. They probably should have been ahead at that point. But then five minutes later, we had this controversial refereeing decision. It looked at the, originally, that Paredes had fouled Briegel Mbolo because he went on the ground rolling around quite a lot. And it was no surprise to me that he was booked. Then, obviously, the VAR had a word in the referees here. And on reflection, Mbolo did stick his leg out and sort of threw himself on the floor as well onto the ground. so if anything that that decision was it was a booking he was already on a booking I think I think it was a booking so yeah he was already on a booking from before so in that sense it is justified but I suppose the question is should you really be re-refereeing the match for something so minor as that like a tackle on the halfway line in front of the benches I guess FIFA would argue that yeah it was a it was worth doing that because it had consequences for the match and Bolo dived he was already on a yellow card so he should have been sent off but he was kind of hard on Switzerland I thought at that point and Bolo was crying he'll probably look back on it as a silly decision sticking your leg out trying to get a booking like that on Paredes but anyway the match continues Switzerland kept attacking as much as they could but it really did seem inevitable at that point that Argentina would go and win I thought that Argentina would do it in normal time but keep a save brilliantly from Messi to take it to extra time and then in the second half of extra time, Julien Alvarez with an absolute peach of a goal from 20 yards out into the top corner and then Lautaro Martinez rounding off the game on a counter-attack in added time.

33:58So, next stop for Argentina is Atlanta where obviously they'll play England and if you're Thomas Tucci, you look at this one or two ways, You look at it and think, my God, they look so poor tonight, Argentina. They look so tired. This is a team that has had an average age of over 30 years old. It was the oldest team to contest a quarterfinal since 1962 when Brazil played England. But the other side of the coin is that they still managed to win despite not being at their best, which has been the case in the last two matches as well. So, yeah, you can look at it either way. I do think though that if England recuperate properly, if they get their plan right on the day, if they keep Messi quiet, obviously a big, big if that is, then they'll be confident of beating them.

34:46But it'll be a highly charged match. I just can't see Argentina playing as badly against England given the history between the two teams, given the rivalry. So yeah, roll on Wednesday. It'll be an entertaining match of that, I'm sure. Argentina finding a way once again absolutely remarkable some of their games at this tournament Paul Hurst summing things up brilliantly there lots of questions from that game and plenty to dissect in the coming days Mbolo a red card probably yes by the letter of the law but once again where is that consistency with these decisions anyway no referee ranting from me on this occasion.

35:27But here are some stats. This was Argentina's record 13th extra time match in the World Cup. They have emerged as winners, including penalty shootout wins, in 11 of those 13 games. Talk about clutch players and clutch moments. Lionel Messi's assist for Alexis McAllister's opening goal was his 10th World Cup assist. Two more than any player since 1966. Sixth Maradona with eight is behind him. Fascinatingly, and I love this stat, Messi's 10 World Cup assists have set up goals for 10 different players. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that nice? So there we go. We've got France v Spain on Tuesday. We've got England v Argentina on Wednesday.

36:10The two semifinals that many had predicted and hoped for, including us on the game podcast. Listen, it was about time we got something right, eh? what a final week we have in store of this remarkable World Cup. This is only the third time that all four semi-finalists in a World Cup have been former winners of the competition. It happened also in 1970 and 1990. We will be back tomorrow at the slightly later time on Monday as we're back in the studio to preview those big semi-finals. We will see you then.

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