Hour 1: World Cup Reactions with Taylor Twellman, plus LeBron James Warriors Intrigue

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0:56Rich Eisen:This is the Rich Eisen Show Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of The Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. This is the Rich Eisen Show Let me break it down for you again The Rich Eisen Show Spain has been the best team in the tournament From the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles The way they suffocate you is unlike any other team in this tournament Today's guests Apple TV lead MLS analyst Taylor Twellman ESPN college football analyst Josh Pate Actor Jake Johnson And now, it's Rich Eisen.

2:21Rich Eisen:He's going to join us for the third time in about a week to wrap it all up for us and with us. Josh Pate will be joining us on this program in the middle of the program to talk about what's going on at my institution of higher learning. Michigan's athletic director, Ward Manuel, announcing he's stepping down and stepping away at the end of the calendar year. Based on everything that's gone down on campus outside of the championship run by the basketball team recently, football team a few years ago, gymnastics and things of that nature. award manuals out uh also greg sankey spoke today and he's basically the the president of the united states of collegiate sports uh josh is going to join us in the middle of the show to talk about that and a delightful new ben stiller directed film called the dink on apple tv is coming out watched it last night um it is delightful it's old school ben stiller type fun and a mix a little mix of Caddyshack with a little mix of dodgeball and the star of said film, Jake Johnson, is going to be back on our show in Studio Hour 3.

3:24Rich Eisen:He's a diehard Bears fan, so we're going to have the old win-loss machine all riled up for him. I don't know if he's showing up in his old school Ditka buddy Ryan Bears sweater. He always comes in that. He does come in that. I feel like we've seen that so many times. He did it back on our old podcast day leading to this show. He's done that before. We'll see if he does it again. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. how are you rich i'm excellent how are you my dj mikey d is in these nuts good to see you sir good morning rich uh tj jefferson we already heard your falsetto what's going on over there what's going on what up though good what up uh all right he's showing off his range everybody uh 844-204-rich is the number to dial on the show uh headline that's coming out from of all people pat bev you sent this uh wow i saw it this morning yeah rumor has it braun makes his decision today So if Pat Beverly is on it, it's actually the case.

4:16Rich Eisen:Well, then we're going to we're going to figure that thing all out. And and in case you're wondering, does Pat Bev really know? We have a photograph of him showing off the evidence of what he knows to an official, which is really weird. There's no action. I can't believe we got a T for you. You got a photograph of he should have got a T for. No, we should. That is absurd behavior. Look, if he's pointing out something that was wrong and he wants it to be correct. You shouldn't get a T for that. He was wrong. Okay, very good. I'm behind Pat Bevers. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. Keep an eye on all of that.

4:49Rich Eisen:Congratulations to Spain. Yeah. The winners of the 2026 World Cup here in North America, Mexico. And what a performance it was in the New York, New Jersey stadium. Good job. Thank you. Where fans are used to seeing offensively challenged squads.

5:13Rich Eisen:I had to go there. Sorry. Well, bye. And Argentina fell apart. There's no two ways about it. If you're an England fan and watching them score six times against France in the third place game, an NBA all-star game type affair in the Miami Stadium, and if you're a fan of England watching Jude Bellingham come on and finish things up with a sixth goal on a run that was unbelievable. You're sick to your stomach. Like, we lost to these guys? Like, if we only had not played defense on a team that needs to pull things out of their orifice or is on the verge of being easily mentally toyed with. But that's for, I guess, another day.

6:05Rich Eisen:as for Spain we had Taylor Twelman on last week he's about to join us he said remember the Super Bowl that was played in MetLife that it was won by the Seahawks based on what? defense he goes that's the way it's going to go in the final and sure enough Spain was all over Argentina like the proverbial white on rice they were giving them no quarter no space no nothing i mean it seemed like argentina couldn't put three touches together without being harassed or turning it over and their keeper if it wasn't for the argentine jim craig spain would have won this thing going away spain would have won this thing going away but somehow some way it looked like argentina was playing for penalty kicks about 15 minutes into this game yep and the way it was being described by your guy stew holden was there were triangles everywhere yeah where the spaniards would just pen you in or up against a boundary or not even sometimes argentina couldn't even get it out of their own end And after a while, that's wearing on you and wearing on you and wearing on you.

7:30Rich Eisen:And then all of a sudden you look up. You're an hour plus, an hour and a half into this game. You're like, what? And you don't even have a shot on goal.

7:41Rich Eisen:But it was still nothing, nothing. Nil-nil, as they would say. And that's when the guy who scored the equalizer against England says, I'll pick up two yellow cards in a span of 10 minutes. You know, I guess, I don't know, was good old Enzo thinking, hey, we've been looking like we've been a man down all day. We might as well just go a man down. He gets a yellow card initially for a show of dissent is what it's called. You may not show dissent with an official. He barked at the official who yellow carded him and then good, luckily for him, turned around before Martinez. Sarcastically clapped at him, which is another show of descent.

8:32Rich Eisen:He could have picked up two yellows in 10 seconds, not 10 minutes. But then, you know, 10 minutes later on Coup Barsi. of spain he flipped he flipped that spaniard over like that buffalo did that poor elderly gentleman in in in suspenders wow i'm so that's what it looked like i mean he went he he's like okay elway you helicoptered you know elway you helicoptered parallel to the ground i'm just gonna go flip up over over tea kettle that's funny and that was an i don't know what Martinez is like waving his fingers like no no no no no no like dude you flipped them the whole team was doing that the whole world saw it a billion people just saw what you did no no no no no and then the replay showed he clipped them man red card now Argentina's really down a man and somehow some way they kept things going I mean weren't you thinking this was going to penalty kicks I did no doubt at the end of the day yeah absolutely i mean i was hoping for it it's the most exciting thing in sports really uh coin flip and you're just like all right let's get there zero zero let's see how it plays out but i i thought to myself that wouldn't be no it wouldn't be that that would not be fair but it is the way things go fair to spain yeah because they outplayed argentina Put the ball in the net, which they eventually did.

10:04Rich Eisen:Which Torres then did. Which Torres then did in the second period of extra time. And Spain could exhale. When that thing went in the net, it's just like, okay, Argentina down a man. They got no shot. This thing is a wrap. This thing is over. You might as well bring Shakira out one more time. You know? Shakira, Shakira. That's what I was thinking. I wouldn't be an opposing. Not complaining. Why do you think I was thinking it, sir? I was going to go make a sandwich during that. And I was like, wait a second. Let's watch this. Bieber being brought out by Ted Lasso and Coach Beard. That was a plot twist.

10:41Rich Eisen:Madonna kicking it off. Hey, and Madonna first came to prominence when Maradona was playing for Argentina. This is true. And then she handed it off to another group that was big when Maradona was playing, the Muppets. Yes. I loved it. When I saw Animal getting ready to play seven, you remember me? Okay. Animal with the soccer hair. They should have made Animal have the pomade with the soccer. Topknot. And then BTS. 106 minutes in, Torres with his first goal of the World Cup. And Spain deserved it. They were suffocating. What did the Fox broadcast was talking about all throughout? uh henry was talking about how what is his layer it's layers upon layers for spain like you get through one and they just couldn't they couldn't do anything messi couldn't do anything at one point uh messi tried to get cucurella sent off because cucurella went up to him and covered his mouth for a split second i think to tell him that his player his teammate is down on the ground because he got hit in the mouth and messi tried to send him off try to tell him try to tattle he turned Spain turned Messi into a tattletale.

11:57You know?

11:58Rich Eisen:I don't know how you say snitches get stitches in Spanish. Not so hooked on phonics, but look at that. Zero shots on goal for Argentina in the final. Zero. Jeez. So that means Lataro Martinez's header to beat England in the semifinal was Argentina's last shot on goal of the World Cup. Think about it. If I had told you, what if I told you that this header on the greatest assist we've maybe ever seen It was so sick. That was it. The high point of Martinez meeting Messi's setup, his cross, that's the last shot on goal for Argentina. Because Spain's just like, not today. Not today. Congratulations to them and their fans.

13:03And then the ugliness that happened afterwards. with Paredes, who was going at everybody.

13:13Rich Eisen:I mean, what was his malfunction? Hitting people, shoving people, didn't like it. Spain celebrating in his face. They just won the World Cup, pal. Get off the field. What is happening? Yeah. He was nuts. You know?

13:34Rich Eisen:Just crazy. What a classless finish to a tournament that otherwise was world class, first class. And is it possible that Spain's most difficult opponent in this World Cup for them was Cape Verde? Oh, wow. First match, yeah. And everyone's like, what's up with Spain? Looking back. There was a split hot minute where everyone's just like, well, Spain's not winning this thing. Yep. and then they conceded once the entire tournament. Once. You know? Argentina's keepers standing like an exclamation point and the Spanish keepers what, having some tapas? What do we got? Just hanging out. Just chilling.

14:24Rich Eisen:A little paella? Just chilling. Some Costanza paella in New York, New Jersey? Did they eat paella? Okay. They ever had paella? Yeah. It's kind of delicious. Yes, sir. So it was a World Cup victory. Yes, sir. That was so great. I'm going to miss it, man. I am going to miss it. I can't claim to have understood everything that goes on in soccer, but almost every game was on the TV. I was learning and watching and enjoying the whole thing. It was fun. It was a lot of fun. In that regard, I wish the final here in this country was the third place game as opposed to the final. where, you know, I'm sure there were a bunch of folks who were just like, I'm going to see what this World Cup mania is all about.

15:06Rich Eisen:And it's like, is someone going to score a goal? You know, like when are we going to see some action? Because some people don't see the action that leads to scoring chances or the smart defensive battle that was going on for Spain that they could immediately turn into a transition. You know, like that sort of stuff that I got into and began to see that everybody keeps calling the beautiful game. I don't know how many people didn't see that. And I understand not many World Cup matches are 6-4 finals. That game was incredible. That was a blast. 4-0 at half time. On Saturday. But so was the entire World Cup.

15:52Rich Eisen:I am going to miss it. I'm going to miss the whole damn thing. And it was incredible. and congratulations to Spain for winning it. Congratulations to them. They did it with class. They did it with joy and they did it with hard-nosed defense, man. They were just a smothering blanket. And, you know, I do believe this is it for Messi, right? The next World Cup, he will be 43 years of age. And we saw how Ronaldo looked at 41. Yeah. Yeah. Mbappe's going to be the ripe old age of 31. Wow. And, you know, Messi does. That shot of him at the end with the camera. Yeah, I know. Messi does leave this game on this stage in better shape when he found it.

16:49Rich Eisen:He is a magician. A true great. that unbelievably in this World Cup tournament, the all-time goals scored record changed hands twice from closer to him and then from him to Mbappe, who braced in the third place game to pass Messi for the golden boot and for the all-time mark. And the only question is, is when Mbappe is done, will he double Messi up? That's entirely possible. He might just be so far ahead. Erling Holland isn't going to need a motorboat, not just rowing to go get him. So that's our World Cup chat. We've enjoyed talking about it. It's been great. I'm going to miss it. Really enjoyed it.

17:40Rich Eisen:Like I said, as enjoyable as the games were, watching all the fans come over here and just enjoy themselves and watching all those videos of people just coming together and having fun, that to me is going to stand out too. because a lot of people had their impressions of what America was. And I think they left with a different impression. And we hopefully showed out for them and showed up and showed them a good time. It seems like we did. And then shown off the stage as well. In that part. To let others have their moment. And the two words that I think a lot of folks got stunned about with our world and our hospitality, free refills.

18:15Rich Eisen:Free refills. And ranch dressing. Yep. Ranch. Ranch dressing. That way. But well done, everybody involved in the World Cup and certainly to help us stay protected as well throughout for Canada and Mexico. Congratulations to all. All right. We still haven't talked about the Open Championship. Speaking of Fox, Ryan Fox of New Zealand. What a finish on Sunday as well as Bryson DeChambeau, the famed weed whacker of Europe. That was so wild. And Rory McIlroy, what he had to say. My gosh. That caused a commotion. That was indeed, sir. We'll talk about that. Brockman's Twitter was blown up about that and not LeBron for a day.

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20:52Rich Eisen:Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash eisen. Terms and conditions apply. The Rich Eisen Show podcast. Taylor Twelman here on the Rich Eisen Show. What does Spain do defensively? Can you break it down for those who might have just been tuning in um for one of the first times in the world cup and saw spain do to argentino what uh they did to france so on and so forth yada yada and yada what are they so good at defensively taylor i'm gonna date i'm gonna date myself a little bit rich but remember what was it early 90s what was it nolan richardson's arkansas razorbacks right 40 minutes 40 minutes of hell.

21:37Rich Eisen:Yep. Uh-huh. 40 minutes of hell. Right. It's kind of, there's a reference there for the non-soccer fan to understand what I'm getting at. It's 40 minutes is what the Arkansas Razorbacks were trying to do of to make your life miserable. What Spain does better than anyone around the world is simply when they lose the ball, which is very infrequently because they're so good with the ball. But when they lose the ball, their first reaction is immediately try to win the ball back. Immediately try to put you under pressure and try to give yourself the difficulty of trying to play out of that pressure, if that makes any sense.

22:18So the reality is, is they've done a fantastic job, is that right when they lose the ball, they go get it. Now, the best player in the tournament was Rodri. He was fantastic. but the general public doesn't know he was the FIFA player of the year before he tore his ACL and I'd argue I know this is going to ruffle some feathers but if and if you were building any team right now with one player I would probably take Rodri over Mbappe, Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi because he's 39. It's Rodri or Bellingham I mean these are two guys that really can change and tilt the game in your favor.

22:57Rodri is the best midfielder in the world, and he showed it. But what they do better than anyone is when they lose the ball, the next 8 to 10 seconds is pure hell for you, and they get it back. And it is everybody, not with one superstar lingering out over here not doing it. Everyone reacts, and it's in unison, and it's kind of similar to what a team would do on a basketball court in a five-man press

23:22Rich Eisen:of just making your life very chaotic yeah picking you up all 94 feet on a basketball court right and and that uh if you do win possession you lose it right away and that just keeps on you know yeah it's relentless it did seem relentless like there were times argentina couldn't even get it out of its own end you know and and that has to wear on you they're the first team in world cup history in a final to not have a shot on goal for not only 90 minutes 113 minutes that's insane that's insane now listen i'm so glad by the way great production here because my next point was passes completed i don't think people fully understand that number and i said this in 2010 it's like a death by a thousand cuts stains a death by a thousand passes those numbers aren't normal 700 800 passes completed 900 passes completed rich they don't care about putting on a show they care about playing the game the way they want to and knowing that it is the most effective they can and the only achilles heel to this team and kryptonite is themselves because oftentimes they have so much possession they have a ton of the ball they don't have a real killer number nine they believe in scoring goals in certain ways and we kind of saw that for about 105 minutes against Argentina 20 shots no goals they finally got one but they believe in everything that they do from ages 14 to the first team and they're going to do it their way and yeah it's boring for me it's not my favorite game to watch but my god it's it's really effective it's efficient and it's also you know it's still physical if you take a look at this the the statistics again uh not too much of a disparity in fouls against but no cards for spain i know seven cards for argentina i mean they got in their grill they got in their skulls they got in their head At one point, Messi tried to send Cucurella off by saying he covered his mouth, even though it was clear that...

25:38That's how desperate they were, Rich. They were desperate to get anyone out. But the last nine cards of the World Cup all went to Argentina. And by the way, what a disgrace the end of the game was. Yeah, what are your thoughts?

25:53It's just... It's a sore loser mentality. I hate it. I didn't know this when I was texting you, but apparently not a single player was made available to the media in the scrum afterwards. I just I don't love it. Spain's getting their medals. If you see the pictures for anyone that doesn't know what I'm talking about, you can search it. Argentina's players turn their backs to Spain facing with the great picture. I just I don't know, Rich. Maybe I'm old school. Maybe this is a part of my life where now I'm the old guy getting off my lawn. I lost many of finals. I'm one of four or five players in MLS to lose four MLS cups, three of them in a row.

26:34You still shake the hand of the opposition. You know, when I lost the American Century Championship to Joe Pavelski, he made Eagle on 18. You still take your cap off. I just, I don't, I struggle coming from that world. I'm not saying you need to go over and hug him and kiss him and all that. No. But after the game, Paredes, what are you doing, dude? It's just, it's a loser mentality to me. I struggle resonating with it. And I struggle with this image because Argentina was just so captivating throughout the World Cup with extra time goals and all of the heroics to keep Messi alive and to go to back-to-back World Cup finals, all of that, and yet that's the picture I got to deal with.

27:18If that was my teammate, if that was my team, I'd have a tough one standing by that. It really bothers me.

27:26Rich Eisen:Taylor Twelman here after the captivating World Cup, man. Let's review a couple things. The third place game. That was awesome. That was my cardio for the day. That was awesome. That was great. No one was playing defense though, right? I mean, that was kind of, was it just like a spaghetti against the wall? Screw it. You know, neither of us won. Let's see what we can do. Whoever is playing and who's not, obviously. most everybody came in except for Kane. Was that what it was? Yeah, Rich, it's a hard one for me. And bear with me on this because I put it out. I find it interesting that the golden boot is decided by a game between two teams that have been eliminated.

28:12So listen, England and France played for essentially$2.5, $2.48 million extra in prize money, okay? That's nothing to sneeze at. It's real money. However, all I'm saying is like the golden boot is decided on a game where two teams were eliminated. Now, as it stands, Messi wouldn't have won it anyways if Mbappe didn't score. So Mbappe still would be the golden boot. And I'm not saying it because I love Messi. It has nothing to do with that. But it does feel a little odd. And then I did research after I put it out on social media because I was like, wait a minute. How long has this been going on?

28:49the most goals scored in a world cup was by a player and i'm forgetting because it was like 1954 or 58 13 goals scored in a single world cup four of those 13 goals were scored in the third place game so this third place game has historically been around forever i just rich i just wonder it's 48 teams it's going to go to 64 teams like do they does people look at this and say hang on Third place game is still going to go. It's still going to be worth$2.5 to$3 million for the team. But the golden boot race cannot be decided on a game where two teams have been eliminated. Because in every other game in the World Cup, nobody's been eliminated.