WORLD CUP DAY 7: England and Kane deliver in style

0:02Checking out online? Apple Pay makes it simple. When you tap the Apple Pay button, you can review your card information and shipping details. Need to make a change? Just tap to update your details before you pay. Then, all that's left, simply authenticate your purchase with Face ID to check out in seconds. Make online shopping a breeze with Apple Pay. At PwC, we optimize the systems that put your data to work so you can scale your AI from proof of concept to competitive edge and accelerate your tech evolution so you can redefine what's possible. From blueprint to breakthrough, we take you further with tech so you can outthink, outpace, and outperform.

0:53PwC, so you can. PwC refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity.

1:28Tuchel's side. 4-2 winners against Croatia thanks to a brace from Harry Kane and brilliant goals from Jude Bellingham and Marcus Rashford. I'm Tom Clark and I'm joined today by the senior sports writer and Sunday Times columnist Alison Rudd and the former footballer turned journalist Gregor Robertson to discuss that win. But first let's hear from Matt Lawton. He was part of the Times team in Dallas and he sent me this note with a verdict on what he saw. Well I'm just about to head down to Thomas Tuchel's press conference. But that was a terrific opening game of the World Cup for England, I thought.

2:01Yes, there are some concerns with the defence. Anthony Barry summed it up at half-time with his interview when he talked about anxious periods of the game, confusion, definitely issues that need to be addressed. They did seem fragile at times but going forward I thought England was terrific there Kane looks every bit as sharp as he has been all season for Bayern Munich brilliant goal from Bellingham and similarly terrific finish from Marcus Rashford I just thought that was a really good opening game for England and wonderful start cheers guys Matt summed it up nicely there talking about England's performance maybe a little bit nervy in that first half but good goals in the second half to show that maybe as an attacking force that is England's strength.

2:51Alison, what did you make of it? First of all, I think historically I've been pretty negative about England mainly on the basis that they're never equal to the sum of their parts. They dip below what they should be. I felt in the second half, certainly the first period of the second half, England looked like a Premier League team, A good, a top six Premier League team, which is actually all I've ever wanted England to look like. To look like a team that understand relationships, that they understand each other, that they understand how England football works and express themselves through that and feel confident doing that.

3:32So where they had been tentative in the first half, I felt, Croatia got back into the game because they exploited a certain nervousness and just lack of confidence, I felt, from England. They didn't believe in what they were. Must have been a pretty darn good halftime team talk because they came out looking swaggering. And like I said, they actually look like a team. They looked like they knew each other, had faith in each other, and there was fluidity, intelligence. And that's basically all I've ever wanted to see from an England team. And it wasn't for the full 90. It wasn't even for the full second half.

4:14There were periods where England got very deep, I felt, and it might have gotten lucky. But after your first game, what you do is you really just do focus on the positives. and the positive was it was like watching the Premier League and it rarely is with England. Yeah, really lots to enjoy, particularly in that second half. You mentioned, as did Matt Lawton there, the kind of half-time team talk. It was quite striking listening to Anthony Barry, England's assistant coach on ITV, talking at half-time. Gary Neville and the various other pundits picked it out. But just in case you were watching in a pub, listeners, or maybe didn't spot it, he said, overall a complicated and confusing first half from us.

4:54We played long when we should have played short. we played short when we should have played long we were not playing through the gaps uh he also added a quite interesting line that it led to fearful patterns gregor that was quite striking for a coach to be saying that at halftime during a game it's quite striking that they're doing these conversations with tv companies either at all but as allison said and as we could see kind of on the touchline they'd clearly got a bit of a rollicking at halftime and it worked yeah i think that was

5:20Gregor Robertson: kind of like coach's talk for we were playing tippy-tappy football at the back when we shouldn't of being, we should have been sticking it long and other times, maybe there was a gap to exploit, we weren't taking it. So, yeah, it was a bold kind of half-time, by an assistant manager, half-time kind of admission to the TV. I thought the first half just had spells. He started really shakily, kind of invited Croatia on, which seemed like a ploy. You know, Jordan Pickford was standing on the ball but Croatia were really good in the press and they gave you some hairy moments then you got the luck with the penalty and the retake and then there were some moments where he started to take control and there was some really quick, incisive play there was a couple of moments involving Madueki in the first half who looked a threat, particularly when Kane dropped deep and he played him wide and one time he ran at Guardiol, there was a cross for Bellingham as well so he thought this is good and then I mean Chris's goals were really good in fairness but I didn't think they were bad in the first half I thought there was just you were playing against a good team you were playing against a team, you know Roy King described them at half time as warriors and they are they just don't know when they're beaten even if they are ageing and they've been together a long time and no one's quite sure how this feels like a kind of last final hurrah for them, they're a very good experienced team so yeah I mean to go in at half time at 2-0 was like wow this has been fun but maybe not for Thomas Tuchel as we soon learned and yeah the rocket worked because the first 10 minutes or first 15 minutes in the second half was some of the best football you've seen from an England team I can remember really and I exactly mirror what Alison says it was about the speed and the sort of energy and the dynamism just like the purpose the purpose and everything that they did and Jude Bellingham was a big part of that again you just think, like we said beforehand his personality is something that when it's in the team and in those moments when you're a bit under the cosh he steps up and he did it again Yeah, he scored seven goals for England four of them have been in major tournaments, the highest ratio of any player to score five times or more for England at any time in England's history.

7:45Speaking about Croatia being a good team, you know, we're going to talk about Portugal in the second half of the show and their draw with Congo. Spain obviously drew with Cape Verde. I thought this stat was interesting. This is England's first World Cup win against a side ranked inside FIFA's top 15, Croatia 11th since 2002 when England beat Argentina. So it ends a windless run, two draws and seven defeats, which shows that a lot of Gareth Southgate's achievements, you know, when it came to the crunch, he didn't beat these good teams. So to score four goals and to win this game is a really good start.

8:17Alison, you and Gregor have highlighted there some of the kind of tactical things that we saw, liking seeing that they played, like a Premier League team, intensity. Gregor quite rightly picked out Drew Bellingham there. Which players particularly impressed you? Jed Spence when he came on. I suspect there are a lot of England fans who thought, really? A, that he was in the squad, having been part of a team that nearly got relegated and not always a part of that team. and be just coming on in a game that wasn't quite definitely won. There was still a threat from Croatia. And he just, he has, I love his attitude.

8:57I like his flexibility. I like his bravery in moving up the pitch. To come on and immediately get the rhythm of the game and the pace of the game was extremely good. And all with his still having to wear his jaw protector. That was excellent. I think I liked overall the vibe of the substitutions. It felt like it's a PR exercise in one sense to say, we've got, you know, Tuchel said before kickoff, I'm not worried about how players feel about not being in the starting 11. They understand that everyone is going to have a part to play. It's about the full squad. And sure enough, you get someone like Marcus Rashford.

9:42I mean, he couldn't have illustrated the point better, could he? These are players coming on off the bench, not an ounce of sulkiness, keen to A, be integrated quickly. They've clearly worked very hard at what you're expected to do when you do come off the bench. so I would say if I was England manager I would be most proud of how those substitutions went because they came in a flurry they could have caused a bit of worry as well you know is Declan Rice carrying a slight injury was he limping wasn't he limping what does this mean for the rest of the campaign but you weren't given time as a supporter I suspect to worry about the implications of who came off because who came on did just as well if not better.

10:28yeah Gregor what about you I mean Allison picked out some players there I mean I thought all the subs going forward I think Marcus Rashford has maybe made a good case to replace Anthony Gordon in the next game potentially as a starter but maybe that's the whole point maybe the whole point is to have to terrify opposition with players off the bench this whole point about Thomas Tuchel saying he's got finishes the idea of having Morgan Rodgers and Marcus Rashford running at you with 20 minutes to go is probably not what most opponents would want what players did you think, Coatleyi?

10:58Gregor Robertson: Like I say, I thought Madureki in the first half was a threat. As I've said a few times before, he just fits the profile of a player that Thomas Tuchel really likes and wants in this England team as he sees it. I agree that Spence was brilliant and I think he's sort of made a claim to have some significant involvement going forward because he's so, so fast. He's got so much energy. As Alison said, he is flexible, he can play on either side. It was funny though I mean there was a stage in this like when some of the subs were made I was looking at the team and thinking my god if you said this 12 months ago you know you had Rhys James playing in midfield Jed Spence right back even Nico O 'Reilly left back like Ellie Anderson who's only got his debut I think nine months ago Morgan Rodgers at number 10 you know Rashford's going to rehabilitate it like it's it's all there has been a lot of change but it has all been with a purpose and as Alison said, it's about everyone being a happy camper.

11:58Gregor Robertson: And even when you come down to thinking about when Tino Leveramento was injured and again Trent Alexander-Arnold was overlooked. I'm sure he'd be a perfectly good kind of tourist or whatever, but it's like it'd just be a distraction. He's a big personality. I think he wants players who are going to be good citizens for him and he knows his team and he knows the kind of three or four players who will play a part in probably every game and beyond that it's about being really supportive and ready when and ready and willing when they're called upon. I would just reiterate actually I think probably the unsung hero of the performance was Elliot Anderson.

12:43Didn't do anything spectacular but boy did he work hard. He covered a lot of yards and was in the right place at the right time. I thought that was proper, even the sort of performance maybe you'd expect from Declan Rice. I felt it was Elliot Anderson who dominated that position.

13:04Gregor Robertson: I'd say Nico O 'Reilly too, I mean, given the year he's had, first game in the World Cup, and he's still doing all the things in the first minute where he's standing on the ball and doing little drag backs in his own defensive third in the corner. he just moves like a number 10 playing at left back and there'll be moments where that carries risk and a bit of anxiety probably as the tournament progresses but he offers something, he can kind of wriggle down the line he can roll inside and then even Saka's involvement in the goal when he kind of turned the left back just like in a way that no one else really can it's completely dummied him to catalyse that attack you've got a lot of competition Yeah, brief mention of Tino Liveramento there Gregor gives me a chance to thank all the listeners who got in touch to point out that I mentioned Nathaniel Chalabar in yesterday's show, not Trevor Chalabar, I think we'll put that down to the sleep deprivation in the early hours, quite striking that I've managed to work in a mention of Trevor Chalabar and you two have mentioned basically everyone in the team and the squad and none of us have said the two words Harry and Kane, the bloke scored twice, twice for England.

14:14Missed the first pen, scored another one. He's level with Mbappe and Haaland. He's on the chase for Lionel Messi. The guy's one of the best players in the world. And we're just so used to it. We're not even giving him a look in. Alison, it was another... That is because... Go on. Explain yourself. Explain yourself. There is a logical reason for that, I think. I don't want to speak for Gregor, but he did disappear for the final sort of 20 or so minutes. So he's not in your head. when he was at his most effective seems like an awfully long time ago now and yes we do take him for granted and if he did get I don't know who got man of the match if he did get man of the match that is absolutely fine because he played well when England was stuttering Yeah absolutely it also makes me look good because I did our football newsletter that's been going out throughout the World Cup in daily fashion talking about my amazing light last night watching those superstars score the goals and I ended it by saying Messi three goals Mbappe two goals Haaland two goals over to you Harry so thank you very much for Harry Kane for making me look clever with that newsletter and we've done the positives and there are lots of them and we can come back to them of course but we should talk about the fact that at half time it was 2-2 and lots of England fans all my mates on WhatsApp groups which are always a good barometer of fans around the country were going oh crikey we look a bit nervous at the back and bringing our defensive expert Gregor Robertson here what do you think it was about England's defensive display in the first half I was slightly worried about Rhys James looking a little bit he's a wonderful player, wonderful footballer but again I was looking at it thinking this is why Kyle Walker's played so many games for England and why he was always first name on the team sheet in a big tournament Stones and Konza at the back instead of Mark Gahey what did you make of England's defensive performance and potential frailties?

16:03Gregor Robertson: Yeah I mean again something that crossed my mind in the first half watching the game was like I wonder how many times this back four has played together and it can be many particularly because of the stones so you're right these relationships are all pretty new I think they also caused a lot of their own problems like there were kind of moments where they're trying to build out from the back and even the first goal was just like just a slightly loose kind of exchange of passes I think involving Andersen and Madu Eki and Croatia pounced got the ball into the little half space and then they started to move that led to the goal, it was a great finish could Pickford maybe, I don't want to get you angry at this time of night Tom but could Pickford maybe, because he got his hand to it, it wasn't like he got his finger to it he got his hand and it went, clipped the top of his hand and went in, I thought he could have possibly by his standards, his very lofty standards could possibly have stopped that anyway, moving on, the second goal was like, yes it was a clipping behind and you know should Perisic have been, the run have been followed better probably but after that, if he does anything other than what he did, I think someone gets in there to make a recovery but his cushion header was just sublime and then the finish was pretty clinical so I don't know, I'll probably need to watch it all back again to analyse a bit better but I think those goals were of really high quality by Croatia and I think a lot of the problems that England had in that first half in particular they caused themselves and set plays were a big part of this game too I mean for England they looked a huge threat but they also looked a bit shaky at times too I mean you were talking about Harry Kane there what about his block at the end just like falling to the floor and taking one in the abdomen so yeah that's clearly the one thing that Thomas Ducco will be slightly worried about and I think in fairness he might have been slightly worried about out of his entire team I think the defence would have been the one thing he would have been most worried about going into the tournament.

18:09Alison, either picking up on that point from Gregor there, the other one I was pondering as the game went on, as much as the finishers, fantastic, Rashford and Rodgers and Spence flying forward from substitutions, I did think it was quite striking that off comes Declan Rice and this whole idea, two for every position, no Jordan Henderson, no Cobby Mainu, in drops Jude Bellingham initially and then Jude Bellingham comes off and Rhys James shunts across. So, you know, this whole idea of, well, we've got 22 and three wild cards and there's two for every position. You're taking off to one of your sitting midfielders and there's no Cobby Mainu, there's no Jordan Henderson.

18:45Anything worried in there or you think more of the defence? Any worries for England fans? Defensively, I don't think we're quite ready to entice the press as we did, to be honest. We're just not quite slick enough. I get why you do it. and um but it we I would say England over over did the oh come come and come and have a go hello we're here I I just felt that was overdone slightly I mean you know we are England after all and you can hoof it sometimes and uh so there were there were just a few passes that were unnecessary and dangerous and I felt that Pickford looked um the more nervous I've seen him for a while actually but you know you're allowed you're allowed in the opening game to feel the weight of the occasion and everything that's fine that's fine it's absolutely fine you just you just work these things out as for the choices for midfield I wonder if Thomas Tuchel has a bit of a soft spot for Rhys James you know because he managed him when he was I would say at the peak of his powers as a player post-injury, I don't think Rhys James is the player he was.

20:02I think in harsh terms, what would have made sense would have been to rest him. For club, he doesn't have 90 minutes in him that often. So I don't see why for country, he suddenly should be the sort of player that is given the responsibility of fullback and then midfield.

20:25He's not the player he was and I don't think he takes control of midfield the way he used to and I think having played in defence I think he would have been a little bit knackered and probably the sensible choice would have been brought on fresh legs in the midfield the only explanation I have is I just suspect that Thomas Tuchel knows him so well and feels he can trust him to relay his message on the pitch but I just have some doubts whether Rhys James has the legs for that amount of burden and responsibility to be honest

21:04Gregor Robertson: I think it was all quite, it felt quite freewheeling in that kind of from that hydration break or whatever you call them now onwards, from those substitutions there were still only three too I remember you could actually see Tuchel just before that as well I think kind of having a word with Bellingham saying I'm going to put you to number eight with his sort of hand over his mouth until he remembered you shouldn't be doing that now and and and then as you say it was like I think I think he still wanted to go for it I think he still wanted to go and push on and not try and like batten down the hatches with 20 20 odd minutes to go and try and hold on for dear life he still wanted to go out and and and go forward and attack so I think kind of keeping players who had a feel for the game in the team and on the pitch was probably in his thinking there as opposed to maybe putting on a Kobe Mino or a Jordan Henderson to shut up shop.

21:55Yeah, but they would be fresh pairs of legs, wouldn't they? Alternatively. Come on, we know Rhys James doesn't really have 90 minutes in him, does he? Do you think he does? Really? At top level? Ideally not, particularly not over

22:11Gregor Robertson: an entire World Cup. I'm sure there'll be time in the next couple of games to give him a rest. Really interesting comments from Harry Kane just coming in and going on the Times Live blog now as we record this, just as we head towards midnight, talking about Thomas Tuchel's half-time rollicking, as Paul Joyce has quite rightly called it. He says that Kane has said, we're really disappointed to concede in the way we did, the way we dropped off. Credit to the manager. He gave us a speech at half-time and said, look, if we lose, we lose, but we lose in our way. And I think that you saw that with the way we came out in the second half.

22:44We went full gas and they didn't live with it. And that's the level we have to set for every game. So that comes back to the final point then. Alison and Gregor, What's the big takeaway from this game? Is there one big takeaway, either playing style, player positions, tactics? What's the kind of big takeaway from this game as England start their long preparation for game two? I think, well, my big takeaway is that we're allowed to hear about what's happening behind the scenes and how they're a camp meant to embrace their Englishness and be a team above all else. There is evidence from that performance that there is some truth in that, I think.

23:33The fact that the halftime team talk didn't backfire, that they were able to be cohesive as well as changing their attitude, that isn't easy sometimes. If your manager is cross, well, if the whole of your coaching staff are cross with you and you feel you've not lived up to expectations, some managers will say you need to be more cajoling about it and not give a big speech at that point. But the fact that England players very quickly realised what they'd been doing wrong and were able to correct it, I think that bodes well because there will be harder obstacles to come. And if that requires rejigging formations or personnel or attitude, at least there is a clue there that England can do that.

24:29Gregor Robertson: My main takeaway is it's going to be fun. It's going to be good fun. Like, you know, I've slightly, you know, hearing, I heard that Harry Kane quote and it's, you know, if we lose, we're going to do it our way. The thing is, I haven't seen that way. I haven't seen that, we don't know what that England way is really, we know he knows what it is and the players seem to know what it is but I don't think really in Thomas Tuchel's time, partly because of the opposition you've had to play a lot of the time really seen what that is and I think probably we've got, you know, the Serbia game is the one that everyone kind of harks back to but Croatia are a big step up on Serbia and I think one thing we came away from tonight knowing is that it's going to be kind of fast incisive like quite brave football a lot of the time and that's you know kind of following from Alison was saying like Premier League style football and I know he's talked about that but we haven't really seen it we saw it tonight and I think that's going to be exciting and good fun and there's an omen of course because that's the first 4-2 World Cup win since 1966 oh come on stop Alison she's done it she's gone early she's gone so so early but listen I'm still Alison to be honest never mind that I think Thomas Tuchel will be as delighted with the three points of the year with winning Gregor Robertson over fun football has got Gregor Robertson the great Scott enjoying England's performance at the World Cup we're going to take a quick break we'll come back and talk about Cristiano Ronaldo next

26:10Checking out online? Apple Pay makes it simple. When you tap the Apple Pay button, you can review your card information and shipping details. Need to make a change? Just tap to update your details before you pay. Then, all that's left, simply authenticate your purchase with Face ID to check out in seconds. Make online shopping a breeze with Apple Pay. at pwc we optimize the systems that put your data to work so you can scale your ai from proof of concept to competitive edge and accelerate your tech evolution so you can redefine what's possible from blueprint to breakthrough we take you further with tech so you can out think outpace and outperform.

27:01PWC. So you can. PWC refers to the PWC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Hey, I'm Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad and I want to talk to you about Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter because when it comes to fighting cat odor, they are the champs. Like, what smell? The litter box was my biggest fear when I got my kitty Daphne, but since I started using Arm & Hammer Cat Litter, I don't notice any cat smell. I always feel confident about anyone stopping by, whether it's my friends or my family or even people in my building. So for my fellow cat parents, be guest ready with Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter.

27:37Find it now at Walmart or Amazon.

27:48Welcome back to the Game Football Podcast from the Times and Sunday Times. This is day seven of our daily World Cup shows. I'm Tom Clark and I've got Alison Rudd and Gregor Robertson with me. It's time to talk Cristiano Ronaldo. A poor performance in Portugal's draw with a brilliant Congo side. Tom Allnut was there for us and he sent me this note on Ronaldo's woes. Hi Tom, yeah this wasn't a good game for Portugal. If you can hear the background noise here, it's sort of the lawnmowers going across the pitch here at the NRG Stadium in Houston. They are very noisy, but hopefully you can hear me alright.

28:24Yeah, it wasn't a good game for Portugal. I mean, the result, obviously, like, you know, with Spain's result as well, you know, with this format, the results don't matter too much at this stage. Right. But in terms of the vibes test, the performance test, this really didn't look like a Portugal side that is going to go the distance, you know, on this evidence. They were, you know, they started quite well first 20 minutes, but just so ponderous, so predictable. and obviously it's impossible to kind of separate that from a pretty ponderous and predictable performance from Ronaldo up front you know I mean it's you're sort of loathe to think that all of Portugal's problems are about Cristiano Ronaldo but the way they play it just seems that it's so kind of wired around getting the best out of him and then you look at the rest of the team Bruno Fernandes, Vettinia, João Neves, Pedro Neto, Bernardo Silva like they've got so many good creators, you know, Champions League, two-time Champions League winners there, Premier League champions, you know, the Premier League Player of the Year in Brida Fernandes.

29:22And you think, why? Why is this whole style and tactics of this team designed around getting the ball basically into the box for Ronaldo? And the result of that is that how does Ronaldo score? He wants crosses. So Portugal have to play the ball wide to get crosses. But the opposition know that, you know, DR Congo basically stopped the crosses and they doubled up on Ronaldo in the box just so that he could never really get the space to head in. You know, he had a couple of cutbacks, I think, but, you know, he had always had players around him and he just hasn't got the speed now to kind of make the space.

29:53And what you end up with, I think, is a sort of a very predictable Portugal team where everything just happens in front of the opposition and they can defend it pretty easily. And you kind of think, well, what do they need to do here? Like either the sort of Ronaldo aspect of the team has to be reduced, you know, either in terms of minutes or in terms of style, or they have to go for something different. Because I think if they play like this, it sort of reminded me of England in the old days. You know, everything was very kind of pass and pass and careful, and they just sort of ground themselves down.

30:26And I can't see this team on this evidence, you know, going really far in the tournament. So it's obviously early days. In a group with Uzbekistan and Colombia, you know, you still think that Portugal are going to be all right to get through. but this was definitely a worrying performance. And you know what, like being here live, you could see the players on the pitch. The body language wasn't good. You know, you could tell the way that the front players, after sort of 20 minutes had gone, you know, towards the end of the first half, before DRC had scored, you know, hands was kind of being tossed in the air, you know, sort of heads were being flicked.

31:02It was those kind of gestures that just, you know, suggest that players are not happy, that they're kind of frustrated already and irritated. and you think, guys, it's 40 minutes into the World Cup. There's a long way to go here. It's suggested to me that maybe there's not a real conviction in the plan. There's not a real kind of togetherness in the camp. They don't look like a happy team. And that looks like it's a problem. Gregor, Tom, summing it up pretty nicely there. How did you assess this game? Ronaldo to blame, Portugal poor, Congo pretty brilliant. What do you think?

31:33Gregor Robertson: Yeah, I don't think it was all on Ronaldo. though. I think there were a lot of the same hallmarks from the Euros, where he's making runs into the box all the time, and there's no synergy, never seems to be getting anywhere near being on the end of a cross. And then you're just looking at a sort of embarrassment of riches who don't really look like they have much energy or purpose. Tom said as earlier it didn't seem like a happy team I think that summed it up I don't know I think Roberto Martinez is quite fascinating as a manager as well, he's been a manager for a decade in international football now with Belgium and Portugal two of the most interesting and you know jobs full of potential in Europe and yeah they got to the semi-finals of the World Cup with Belgium I think they finished third and there was a time there where it looked like it was working but it's not really looked that way for a while, I know they had the Nations League success but I don't know just I'm not sure I think a lot of people in Portugal will be paying for Roberto Martinez even more after this and you know he's not the only manager of the only nation who's trying really hard to kind of figure out how to get all your best players onto the pitch and look like they're playing in sort of a coherent fashion and he's you know he's got a unique issue and problem with Cristiano Ronaldo like because you know if he leaves him out imagine the imagine the attention and the and like how often the camera will be panning to Cristiano Ronaldo sitting looking gloomy on the bench like there's no easy option for him the easiest option would have been not picking him but that would have been he probably would have got the sack so it's not you know well Roberto Martinez as I say is someone who I'm not you know his career in international football puzzles me a little bit I have some sympathy for him here but the upshot is they were they were really really poor like they had I think they had seven shots in the game and Congo had eight and they were they are Congo were fantastic I mean you look you look through the squad and they've got they've got like three players who play in Ligue 1 with Lille they've got their front two play for Newcastle and Real Betis they've got Wan-Bissaka Twanzebe Noa Siddiqui from Sunderland came on I thought they've got some good players and that's been the case with quite a lot of the new teams we're discovering in this tournament you could say the same about Kate Verde some players who play at a really decent level so I thought they were outstanding and their defence is structure their discipline their organisation all those things and then the energy they showed when they won the ball back to kind of really go forward.

34:32Gregor Robertson: And Wissler was excellent. Wissler's had a tough season with Newcastle, but he was excellent in sort of carrying the ball forward and getting them up the pitch. So they deserve a lot of credit, but for Portugal, I mean, they need to be a lot, a lot better than this moving forward. Or as I say, I think Martinez's days are numbered. And let's not, let's not overlook the fact that DR Congo have the best names of any team in the universe. They are all rhythmic and magical and hilarious so my favorite two are charles pickle i mean come on it's like it's like a dickens character fantastic and moo cow i mean we were devastated when moo cow came off but a fantastic performance as well are they getting the flag on the on the house with that in mind allison do you think i think that i don't actually own it i'm gonna have to buy another yet another flag.

35:24The thing has got to be done. It's a great kit as well. Great kit, great performance, great names, great infuser. It's an amazing kit. I also thought there are fans in the stadium as well. There's been some amazing fans in the stadium, but oh my God, they were dancing the whole way through. Dancing, singing, chanting. You'd go to them and it'd be like a throw-in and they'd be like, yes, come on. The stadium was just erupted with

35:45Gregor Robertson: joy when the goal went in and it was a great header. Great, great header. Absolutely. Really, really good. 1974 was the last time when they were known as Zaire that they were in the World Cup and they lost by an aggregate of 14-0 so like this is big and this is something that's emerging in the first week in the World Cup is like we were all so scornful about the expanded format and you know that's a lot that's to do with FIFA but there's not you know everyone's put up a good show in and there's been some brilliant moments for some of these nations so and this was definitely one of them Yeah definitely Well, if DR Congo's final ball was as good as their defending, you'd say they were likely winners of the World Cup.

36:29There you go, Alison. Well, speaking of likely winners of the World Cup, I wanted to quickly ask you about Norway. Everyone's dark horse, but your outright favourites from our final preview show. Bang on dead cert winners, I think was how you kind of phrased it. And listen, I watched this game. Lots to like. Actually, lots to like about Iraq's performance in this one as well. A great goal for them. Another great moment, as you say, Greg, so many great moments for some of these smaller nations proving their worth on the biggest stage. But I did find so much joy, as did James Gearbrand from the ground in Erling Haaland's performance, Alison.

37:02But the Norway Dark Horse bandwagon is very much off and running, isn't it? Yeah, well, I was there first. Let's not forget that. I don't think you were quite first. I think you were definitely first to say that they will definitely win it. I think I'll give you that. In the Times World Cup pullout, we were asked for our winners and I said Norway. And the deadline for that was months ago. I'll dig out there. I'll tell you what, dig me out the email when you sent it and then we can establish whether you were, in fact, the first to say that Norway were dark horses. I'm happy to provide the evidence, Tom.

37:36Well, I know that their match against Iraq, it made me happy because it vindicated my position, actually. I've never seen I've never seen Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard who we see a lot, I'm picking out those two simply because we see them a lot in England they're just there all the time live football highlight shows they're always doing something I have never seen them look or play like they play for their country Erling Haaland he looked I've never seen him look as passionate there's a certain irony to his his demeanor when he plays for City you know a sort of shrugging I can't help being the best striker in the world look about him but for his country he looks like he looks like it's the first time he's played football that he's he feels blessed to be allowed to play the game he plays with absolute passion he was he was he was covering every inch in the way we often criticize him for not getting involved in Man City.

38:44He was chasing the ball down. His demeanor, everything about him was a step above that I've ever seen before. And if you think one of the best players in the world is upping his game. Often we say, when it comes to international football, when we look at smaller nations and we think, God, look at those players who play for Watford or Torquay or whatever, and look how they lift their game for their country. We don't often see the best players manage to go into a different stratosphere. And I felt Haaland did in that. And I think there's more to come, actually. So they're going to win it. Honestly, Gregor Robertson enjoying England and Alison managing to compare Erling Haaland to a Torquay player.

39:28You really do get it all on the game podcast, especially during a World Cup. Gregor, just a final word from you before we wrap up. a couple of days since we chatted on this show lots has happened since anything you've spotted, anything you loved particularly teams, action, players moments, fans in the crowd what have you enjoyed?

39:46Gregor Robertson: I was going to say the Iraq moment too actually, Ayman Hussain has another brilliant header some good headers Iraq's first goal for 40 years in the World Cup he's got some personal story as well, some kind of tragedies along the way and yeah I mean look they've got a tough France and Senegal to come but you know these are pleasant surprises seeing these teams play so well and obviously the Cape Verde story was the I checked in on Bosinha's Instagram following earlier he's up to 12.5 million now 12.5 million from 50 ,000 so that was a great story I really like and it was a while back now but I had to catch up with a few games and I really enjoyed Turkey-Australia I still think Turkey have got something to give I think they had 30 attempts on goal I love their energy I love their energy They played well in that one My only worry with Turkey is that they've Remember at the last tournament where everyone went Oh Arda Gula, he's amazing Oh wow, he's amazing The trouble is now, everyone knows he's amazing As do his teammates And they all just give him the ball and go Arda, we'll sort it out with you There was a bit too much of the Man United, Bruno Fernandes about it and it all looked a little bit easy to stop.

41:00But listen, I think they could still come good as well.

41:03Gregor Robertson: Yeah, yeah. And then obviously, I mean, the kind of the player who stole the show in that game as well was Nesteri Rencunda. So something we spoke about a bit on the AFL podcast last year, Watford, he's left really brave to leave Bayern Munich like a year ago. And this was the purpose. It was to get playing football so that he would make the World Cup squad. And, you know, he was a refugee, I think born to Burundian parents moved to Australia as a kid he's another great story so yeah there's been some good stories some really good stories so far and we're only a week in yeah only a week in who do we think is the coolest looking manager so far I think it's Pap Chow of Senegal in his white linen shirt yeah it was very cool yeah it was good although if Herd Renard comes back there's a lot of there's a lot of I'd say there's a bit I could do an entire column on managerial attire on the touchline, Alison.

41:59There's a lot. I think the Belgian manager at one point had a cap and a suit on. He looked a bit like a kind of dad on a sports day. You know, I've just come down, but it's a bit hot. Wait, I'll get my golf cap out of the car. Julian Nagelsmann's outfit, one of the biggest stinkers of the tournament. I think he changed his top at half-time. Absolute shocker, and quite rightly so. Anyway, we should wrap it up because otherwise I'll keep chatting for hours and hours. We will be back, though, with another show tomorrow. I am off to watch Ghana, Panama and Uzbekistan and Colombia at 3am so tomorrow we will do a roundup of the opening round of fixtures of the World Cup because we will have seen every team at least once or at least I will anyway but thank you very much to Gregor Robertson Alison Rudd Tom Ulner and Matt Lawton for joining me on this bumper show we will be back tomorrow but England are off and running we'll see you soon

42:54At PwC, we optimize the systems that put your data to work so you can scale your AI from proof of concept to competitive edge and accelerate your tech evolution so you can redefine what's possible. From blueprint to breakthrough, we take you further with tech so you can outthink, outpace and outperform. PwC. So you can. PwC refers to the PwC network and or one or more of its member firms, each of which is a separate legal entity. Hey, I'm Paige DeSorbo from Giggly Squad, and I want to talk to you about Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. Because when it comes to fighting cat odor, they are the champs.

43:33Like, what smell? The litter box was my biggest fear when I got my kitty Daphne. But since I started using Arm & Hammer Cat Litter, I don't notice any cat smell. I always feel confident about anyone stopping by, whether it's my friends or my family or even people in my building. So for my fellow cat parents, be guest ready with Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. Find it now at Walmart or Amazon.