England frustrated by Ghana and Ronaldo is 'back'

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1:26This episode of the Totally Football Show is sponsored by BOSS, businesswear provider for the U.S. men's national soccer team. Long before kickoff, the performance has already begun. For the players, the crest is not simply worn, it's earned. BOSS understands what it takes to build something worthy of a crest. Constant refinement, precision in every stitch. And as the USMNT steps into the spotlight on home soil, BOSS is outfitting those who wear the badge, empowering them to step forward with confidence express their individuality and be their own boss in relaxed, lightweight and breathable tailoring from boss performance and soccer fans boss has you covered too whether you want to look and feel as sharp as your heroes in boss performance or show your pride from the stands in jerseys, polos and jackets in national colours and badges own the moment with confidence discover the boss performance collection as worn by the US men's national soccer team and the fan capsule of jerseys, polos and jackets in national colours.

2:25Wear your passion your way and be your own boss at boss.com or at your nearest boss store. From Los Angeles, we're totally at the World Cup, day 13 and here's your headlines.

2:42Portugal played Uzbekistan and guess who's back? Ronaldo off the mark at last. Meanwhile, Gordon, Jordan and Boredom as England played Ghana. We'll get a word on that. There's the day's other games, Congo, Colombia and Croatia, Panama. And we preview Wednesday's six matches. Lock up your beer and buckfast, Miami. Scotland are coming to town for the game with Brazil. Tuesday evening in LA. Wednesday morning in the UK. And it's brand new totally at the World Cup with Duncan Alexander. There he is. Hi. And that makes you Tom Williams. Hello. All right, Tom. All right. Did you have a good day? I did, yeah.

3:20Not the goaliest day. It was a lot of bickering. Well, we've been here for a couple of weeks now. Well, we have. Also, one of the games dragged a bit, and there was a bit of unrest. You know, you've got lots of kids on the back seat of a family vehicle travelling somewhere. That kind of vibe. Good news is we've got Megan Ferringer joining us later to talk about Congo against Colombia, and Natalie Jedra will be joining us very soon as well. I'm not going to hang around, listener stroke viewer. You're a busy type. And we've got a lot to get through as well. So let's launch straight into a moment of the day.

3:55Tom, what have you got? Cristiano Ronaldo. Oh, yeah. We mocked him a little bit after his non-performance in match day one. We enjoyed highlighting the stark contrast between his performance level and the performance level of many of his celebrated peers. Right. And in the build-up to Portugal's game today, we were wondering whether he was ever going to show up and finally he did Portugal, Uzbekistan squanders a chance early on you're thinking oh is it going to be another one of those days but then with six minutes on the clock Joao Cancelo gets to the byline on the right cuts it back and who's there at the near post to finish in trademark fashion Cristiano Ronaldo himself first player to ever score at six World Cups adds another goal just before half time this being Ronaldo he made sure not to focus all the attention on him and to flag up the performances of his teammates.

4:4941 years of age. No, no, I mean like genuinely in all seriousness. Incredible. It's good to have him back. It's good for the tournament, good for the game. Thierry Henry apologised on the American coverage after that comment about the team needs to score. Yeah, I feel like Henry had generally been kind of applauded for what he'd said and I didn't think it was out of order but I guess he's kind of maybe seeing the way the wind is turning now that Ronaldo is back. Yeah, I think when Henry called him out was perceived to have it It was seen as another stick with which to bash Cristiano, who took those words and rammed them right back down his critic's throat.

5:23Something like that, against Uzbekistan, admittedly. Yeah. All right then, Duncan. We'll talk more about that game, of course, later on. But what was your special moment? Well, we just talked about a man scoring two goals. There was another man who scored two goals the other day, Harry Kane. He didn't score today, in fact. How close did he come, Duncan? Well, he's professed that he wants a career in the NFL after football and putting an inflatable object over a bar at Foxborough seems to be a pretty good start, I'd say. I'm going to say, for those watching on YouTube, I think that is possibly the worst photograph of Harry Kane that has ever been taken.

6:03Out of context, it's a terrible photograph, but with the context of knowing what this image represents, But that's not going to make it into his... 0.32 XG chance. 0.32, is that very high? It's quite high. He should have scored. It was a huge chance in England's game with Ghana, which we'll be getting on to very shortly. We'll be apologising, no doubt, to Harry in future episodes after he scores a brace in a key match. But for now, let's get straight on to the results from day 13. In Group L, it was goalless for England and Ghana, while Croatia beat Panama 1-0, making Panama the third team knocked out of this competition along with Haiti and Turkey.

6:45Over in Group K, Portugal were 5-0 winners. Big CR7 got two of those against Uzbekistan. Colombia, meanwhile, against Congo, still going on at the moment. So we'll be getting the update on that at the end of today's show. We are sticking around for the result this time on that. Oh, yesterday's late game, which we very much didn't because it took place in the middle of the night. Jordan, Algeria. That saw Algeria come back from a goal down to win 2-1. That means that Argentina win that group because they'd beaten Austria 2-0 earlier on. And Algeria will now play Austria for the second spot in the group.

7:28Whoever wins in that game is probably going to be playing Spain here in Los Angeles in the round of 32. So that should be exciting. Anyway, that was the late game on Monday. Today, Tuesday, we'll get on to the Tuesday action next, starting off with England.

7:48England 0, Ghana 0. Celebrations from the Ghana players and fans and many viewers too when the final whistle came. You can see England saluting their supporters. after the whistle had blown her, what was a fundamentally really poor game? I think it's safe to say. Was this, for England, classic second game stuff in a tournament? Well, statistically, yes. England, if we look at their recent results in second games, without going full swimming pool attendant, in 2020, 0-0 with Scotland. 2022, 0-0 with the USA. In Europe, 2024, 1-1 with Denmark, and then 0-0 again. Obviously probably the most famous 2010 against Algeria.

8:30Nice to hear your own fans booing you. I don't think that was the case today. No. It was just, we said last night that Ghana were going to set up in a deep low block. And my goodness, they did. They did. It was the sixth goalless draw that England have had in the group stages of the last seven major tournaments. How bad was it? A couple of statistics. It was the first match of the 2026 World Cup not to have a single shot on target in the first half. England, meanwhile, finished with the highest possession ever recorded by a team that didn't manage to score in the history of World Cup records, i.e.

9:05since 1966. 78.8 % of possession. Why were they not able to score, Tom? Because they were up against a team who defended very well, generally in a low block, but not always. often when England were trying to build up from the back Ghana's wingers stayed wide and quite high up the pitch so they didn't just retreat and defend the edge of their penalty area and it's the kind of assignment that most elite national teams would struggle with and invariably in this kind of game you either score early and then the complexion of the game changes and space opens up or you don't. England didn't and consequently they laboured for the entire game I mean they should have conceded a penalty towards the end of the game I think we're all in agreement that Esri Concer I mean didn't just get away with one he got away with several with a kind of you know knee-high challenge from behind on Prince Adou who was bearing down on goal and like as the sort of resident anyone but England member of this podcast I kind of want to say that the alarm bells are ringing and this isn't good enough but this is what happens at major tournaments, you get matches in the group phase that are really difficult, I don't think it's anything to worry about Spain have been there, England have been there doesn't change a huge amount As you say, this very possibly could have been 1-0 Gana this was the moment when Concer cleared out Prince Adou King of Comedy versus Prince Adou there yeah nice Carlos Quiris afterwards saying is VAR still working there's a penalty they should have given there was also a clear red card he felt some people agreed that was when Jordan Pickford came racing out and cleared out that self-same player there you can see it possibly given that I don't think Prince Adou had control of the ball at the time that was more of a I think our feeling was that it was it was a bit of an accidental collision Pickford definitely tries to stop he set up for the impact I think more than anything yeah anyway that one wasn't given and didn't even seem to be looked at particularly.

11:10The penalty looked a lot more like, indeed, a penalty. As Carlos Kuros continued, if VAR hadn't gone for coffee, he would have awarded the penalty. So there you go. Carlos Kuros, this is what he does. Didn't work out last time he faced England with one of his World Cup teams, the infamous 6-2 for England against Iran at the last World Cup. This time, though? Yeah, but to Tom's point, England scored relatively early in that game and it changed the complexion. I think he is Carlos the shackle. He can create a football match that isn't really a football match. And Garner have now got four points from two games and are pretty much certain to go through to the knockouts.

11:52He's doing a brilliant job. He's doing what he is paid to do. I don't think anyone can complain about it. But I do think that, as Tom said, to extrapolate vibes for a whole tournament from this game is probably foolish. It is traditional though In games like this To make it the England manager's fault So I put it to you That he got his squad selection Entirely wrong And he should have brought Cole Palmer And Trent Alexander-Arnold So they could have Unlocked this game Cole Palmer's not Been very good this season As has Trent I'm just quoting off the internet I know I know the internet Would you know It's very easy You know why Where were Baudelain Barnes You know He should have A bit old now Oh back in the day Yeah Well even now Do a job Still do a job But I mean I think of the players he has taken to the World Cup, I guess his selection was a little bit curious today in the fact that he put in Jed Spence, who was a right footer playing left back, which immediately transported everyone back to Kieran Trippier at the last tournament.

12:49And Anthony Gordon, once again, didn't have a great game. So that whole sort of left side for England was a little bit underwhelming. Elliot Anderson wasn't that good again. Declan Rice picked up an injury. Harry Kane barely touched the ball. Sakaib was good when he came on. and we said last night that possibly it was more game for him than Maduiki. But he would probably respond, maybe privately, this wasn't a squad built for the game against Ghana. Yeah, that's it. There is a shortage of lock pickers, players like Adam Wharton, for example. Very few left-footed outfield players today, which kind of robs you of certain passing angles in certain areas of the pitch.

13:24And Cole Palmer is someone who could perhaps have contributed that. Well, Harry Kane's miss was with his left foot. There you go. Who won't be using that foot in the NFL? They certainly will not. But yeah, the chances are, I mean, we don't know what to expect from the game against Panama. Is that an actual photograph? It certainly seems to be. Remarkable. I mean, yeah, it's hard to call the Panama game in terms of how they're going to approach it now that they've been eliminated. But beyond that, in the knockout rounds, chances are England will not come up against teams who just refuse to play.

13:57So in the long run, it probably won't matter. Okay. the Kane miss you talked about it before but it was an extraordinary moment late on so the header had come from Nick O 'Reilly a left-footed man who came on and immediately improved the team I'd say um yeah great header crashed off the crossbar back to Kane who was what eight yards out yeah just outside the six yard box onto his left foot and he just leant back and he said after the game that you know as a striker you you miss those sort of chances now and again I mean it's one of those It's one of them. But, yeah, he, you know, get him out of the system now.

14:35That's a very good point. I'm just going to ask about Declan Rice's injury, the extent thereof, before we come on to other issues. Duncan? It looked like he got a whack on the calf when he was challenging in the corner late on. Sort of thing you can recover from in the space of a couple of days? Well, we've seen Christian Pulisic not recover from a kick on the calf. So, I mean, he might, I guess, might miss the Panama game. We don't know, but I wouldn't think it rules him out for any longer than that. OK, Tom. Yeah, on Harry Kane, describing it as one of those, I thought that was an interesting evolution in terms of his stock post-match interview phrase, because I think of Harry Kane as having been very much in the vanguard of making it is what it is or it was what it was, one of the most ubiquitous phrases in modern football.

15:23it's good to see that he's you know he's now mixing it up with other similarly anodyne phrases to express the same fundamentally meaningless point yeah true just on Pickford we obviously mentioned the red card potential well friend of the pod Benji Lanjaro actually wrote in and said somehow up until now the fact that Jordan Pickford is a I'm going to paraphrase a little bit here is a mad person hasn't hurt us too badly but once again we experienced a whiff of his mad personary today. Is this the tourno? Question mark, question mark, question mark. Benji's thinking there's a ticking time bomb at the heart of England's events?

16:02Yeah, he hasn't been great in either game, I don't think. I mean, England do have a habit of hanging on to goalkeepers for one tournament too long. You think Peter Shilton back in Italia in 1990. David Seaman. David Seaman. In 2002, watching Ronaldinho's free kicks sail over him. Now, I'm not saying Pitford has plumbed those triangulation depths but it's a slight concern lobbed in career ending fashion well I am saying that Tom yeah crikey bit of a downer then after a draw which no no I mean England only once in 27 group stages in their history initial group stages have they won all three games or won all the games there's a couple of groups with two matches and that was in Spain 82 82 and that was a competition where the team that went on to win it didn't win any of their group games.

16:53Well, exactly. And England got through to a second group stage and drew both games 0-0. So it means nothing. It means nothing. It's one of those, James. It's one of those. See? It's catching on. Very good. All right, England and Ghana are level on four points. In the final group game, England will face Panama, while Ghana will take on Croatia. We'll hear about Croatia's clash with Panama very, very shortly. As it stands, if England stay top of the group, they will likely have a meeting with Mexico at the Azteca. Is that right, Duncan? Yeah, that's the way the bracket is shaping up. Although, obviously, we'll find out more tomorrow.

17:31But as it stands, Mexico's most likely last 32 opponent is Scotland. So imagine Scotland pull off the mother rule shocks against Mexico and England proceed as expected. It would be England v Scotland at the Azteca 40 years after Maradona. In the round of 16. Good thing that England aren't going to be facing any teams that come to defend in the knockout stages. Anyway, that all depends on, well, lots of things. True. How Scotland get on against Brazil, which Natalie Jedder will be talking to us about a little bit later on. But Panama-Croatia, that finished 1-0 to Croatia. That means that Panama are out and Croatia are very much not out.

18:12Tell us about the goal. Yeah, so, I mean, Panama were decent again, as they had been in their opening game against Ghana. And in that game, they held out until deep into stoppage time before conceding the only goal. This time, they conceded early in the second half. And Croatia, lots of possession, didn't do a huge amount with it. But sent on Ante Budimir, the veteran Osasuna forward. Great to see him branching out from the Fellowship of the Ring and trying to steal the ring of Frodo. but yeah, good finish. Surely, anti-Budemir would be Aragorn, not... No, he's got another niche character in mind.

18:50Boromir. Yeah, the anti-Budemir would be... Yeah, you see where I'm going with that? Reference within a reference. Anyway, he came on and actually Croatia's goal was a beauty. Built up down the right-hand side, backheel from Ivan Perisic into the path of Josep Stanisic, who was overlapping from full-back, puts in a low cross that evades the goalkeeper. Budimir taps it in at the back post. Should have made it 2-0. Marko Paschalic was sent through one-on-one. And at this dinkiest of tournaments, he attempted a dink, but he misdinked. Worst dink of the tournament. Worst dink so far. Really? And then blazed the rebound over a la Harry Kane.

19:32When he could have squared it to two teammates. Could have squared it. So it finished 1-0. Croatia unconvincing, but first win on the board. But Luka Modric played his 200th game for them. Yes. And got some special merch. Right. Well, his teammates gave him the bumps afterwards, if it's still known as that. Probably one of the easier footballers to do that to. Fair. And then a special shirt. Now, that one's got slightly squared zeros. But the other ones, you can see in the background, Infinite Legacy have got the infinite symbol with the 200. Isn't that what? Didn't Barcelona do that with Andres Iniesta, who used to wear the number eight at Barcelona?

20:07And it was like a sideways eight. right so yeah Croatia I mean as much as I like Luka Modric yes I'm not sure he's got infinite legacy I'm not sure in like two million it's a legacy yeah but infinite you're saying in two million years post you know the universe has changed people will still be talking about Luka Modric I'm not convinced the only fragment clip that up of our time that will survive clip that up yeah I'm gonna get roasted on a you're gonna get cryogenically reanimated yeah hauled onto a podcast hosted by robots roasted how do you feel now put back in your chamber we still talk about Modric alright he became only the fourth player in international football history to reach that milestone after Cristiano Ronaldo Lionel Messi and the one that may surprise you Kuwait's Bada Almutawa well done to all of them Croatia will head into a head-to-head really for second place with Ghana in the final group game they'll enjoy that game against the Black Stars well we don't know that if England do we not know that no if England bore draw again then Croatia or Ghana can win the group.

21:11So it's a pretty exciting, well, relatively exciting final day in the group. We can't say Group L is very exciting. OK. All right, Panama going out, though. And it is a shame for them because they did come close to getting a result in both games. What does that mean for their game against England now that they're out? We just don't know. Are they going to be demob happy? Probably. But what will that mean for their football? Will they defend with even more determination than they have thus far? Will they throw caution to the wind? Given their industrial history, do they want to deny England a passage through to the knockout stages?

21:50We simply don't know. All right, well, those questions will be answered in the days to come. Up next, though, let's turn our attentions to Group K and Portugal and him.

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23:41Portugal 5, Uzbekistan 0 on Tuesday morning. So he's back. There he is. That was him shouting as he left the field at the end of the game. I'm back. I'm back. A game that he should actually have been suspended for, but wasn't. As he explained afterwards, just so they don't forget, always 23 years like this. and we touched on this at the start, first player to score in six World Cups, a run that goes back to 2006, and it is just amazing. Did it answer his critics? It was against Uzbekistan. It was a good performance and definitely a step in the right direction? Yeah, I mean, he played well. Portugal played well.

24:26Yes, they were up against limited opposition, but they'd been spectacularly overwhelming in their opening game. They had 75 % of possession against DR Congo and only managed one shot on target, having gone ahead early on as well. So not only was Ronaldo under pressure, but the whole team were under pressure because as we've said before, this is arguably the most talented squad that Portugal have ever sent to a major tournament. And you sense that in the way they went about the game. They created a glut of chances early on. Ronaldo puts them ahead in the sixth. Yes, there was a very early on. Nuna Mendes got down the left, put in a really inviting cross.

25:08And Ronaldo kind of stumbled onto it and just got his foot to it. And you kind of thought, oh, man, like old Ronaldo, young Ronaldo would have snapped that up. But moments later, a cross comes in from the other side. And he really did roll back the clock. It was a very classic Pedestree Ronaldo finish. The second goal was also interesting from his involvement in it. It's a free kick and he sets up doing the breathing exercise. Does the whole thing. Like he's going to take it. It fooled me. Yeah, it fooled the whole stadium. Instead, it's Nuno Mendes who has it in his locker, who scored free kicks for PSG, curls in a low free kick with his left foot that the goalkeeper probably should have done a little bit better with.

25:44But he was too busy looking at Ronaldo's breathing exercise. As we all were. Ronaldo made sure that his role didn't go unnoticed because as the players run off celebrating, he made sure... You weren't allowing him to enjoy anything. Come on, you've got to flag that stuff up. It's Ronaldo. It's Ronaldo. All right. Well, the other thing we should flag up was that I was today years old when I discovered that Austin McPhee is the set-piece coach for Portugal. That was a set-piece routine. He'll take a McPhee from anyone, won't he? Sorry? He'll take a McPhee from anyone, be it Aston Villa or Portugal.

26:19Very nice to that. I'm so sorry I ruined that moment. Anyway, that was a goal. There were two more routines, one of which very nearly led to a goal when Ronaldo again sold a bit of a dummy, runs up to take the kick, but steps over and keeps on running just in time for Bruno Fernando's dinked pass to reach him. But unfortunately, the keeper gets there first, but that would have been good. And then the third goal, was it the third goal? No, the fourth goal. Looked like a mishit corner. by Fernando. I think it was a routine. But I think it was deliberately played like very low and as close to the goal as possible.

26:55Right. And there's a bit of pinball and it flicks in off a defender. Into the corridor of uncertainty. But all fine work from Nani's brother there. Yeah. I mean, you imagine Nikola Jova, the other set piece icon, is somewhere on holiday right now looking at his phone going, just fuming. The biggest stage of all. And McPhee is dominating the set piece scene. Back to the beach, plotting routines in the sand. Just marking them out. McPhee can't win. Pushing kids over to try and get, you know, he shouldn't be doing it. Anyway, it was a hugely enjoyable game to kick the day off. And Natalie Jedra was actually there to see it, I think, joins us now.

27:33Hello, Natalie. Hello, boys. I'm happy to be here. Excellent. Where exactly are you, Natalie? I am in Miami right now. I just flew in from Houston because I was following Portugal. today against Uzbekistan. I was in that match. And what do you make of the performance in the game? Oh, just day and night compared to the first game against Congo, which I also covered. Just a lot more dynamism, more intention on the ball, and just a lot more movement, more bodies close to the box. So they were really way more effective. And, you know, all the Ronaldo things that you heard and already discussed, and he delivered indeed.

28:19But overall, Portugal was much more recognizable, completely different. And you were talking about the beach. You know, there's a big discussion, you know, amongst the Portuguese press with the with the beach, because before the Congo game, they went to the beach. They're staying Palm Beach, close to Miami. And it became like a huge thing. I couldn't believe it. I was hearing them talking about it became a huge thing. No, the players went to the beach. How can you go to the beach during the World Cup? And then they draw with Congo. And obviously, it was because they went to the beach, you know.

28:56I mean, Australia went to the beach. But that paid off, didn't it? Yeah, there we go. What's his name? Beach. There we go. Niche content. Did you speak to CR7 afterwards, Natalie? No, he gave very selected interviews. He gave a super flash on the pitch and player of the match. and he did a mixed zone, but he's a tough guy to get. Okay. He performed well, got two goals. We talked a lot about the first one. Scored a second. Was against Uzbekistan. Colombia will be a bit more of a test. We'll be talking more about Colombia later on, of course. Wanted to talk to you, though, Natalie, about what's coming up for Brazil.

29:41So hang around for a second or two and we'll get into Wednesday's action next.

29:52A little bit of news from World Cup land. First of all, best wishes to France manager Didier Deschamps who's had to return home from the World Cup briefly after his mother passed away. Deschamps will be missing Friday's match France against Norway in Boston. In happier news, Jeremy Doku is also travelling home but that's for the birth of his first child. He missed the Iran game. Originally, that was billed as respiratory problems. So I think he's already gone home under the cover of a pretend illness and will be shortly returning, having become a father in the meantime. Excellent. OK, Friday, Belgium take on New Zealand in that group.

30:31In other travel news, the US has eased restrictions on Iran's World Cup team, allowing travel two days before Manchester. So that'll help them a little bit. They face Egypt. That's also on Friday. Many thanks to everyone who wrote in. We'll get to your questions a little bit later on. But as Natalie's standing by there in Miami, let's get into what awaits on day 14, which is Wednesday, as we head into the final round of group stage matches. So all the games are going to be played simultaneously. It means six games on Wednesday as the action concludes in groups A, B, and C. in a mexico already through as group winners there's only two points between the other three teams so mexico are going to be facing the checks while south korea who are two points clear in second place face south africa in group b canada and switzerland are level on four points three points behind them are bosnia and catar but everyone in that group can still go through this This is the one for the permutation heads, this group, I think.

31:41Okay. It could be a lot of chopping and changing as the day goes on. All right. Canada and Switzerland will be facing each other on Wednesday. And in Group C, Haiti are out. Scotland are third. But they're only one point behind the two leaders, Brazil and Morocco. Now, on Wednesday, Morocco will be taking on Haiti, while Brazil in Miami will be up against Scotland. Crikey. Natalie, you mentioned night and day for the Portugal performances. Would you characterize Brazil's two games so far in a similar manner? Oh, yes. No, I would definitely. Especially the first 30 minutes against Morocco. It was just really, really bad.

32:24And against Haiti, it was just, they had more fluidity. It looked more like a team. And I think that's a problem that Brazil is going to face. And Ancelotti mentioned many times that he wants the team to progress during the tournament because he didn't have much time to, one, form a team because he's been with Brazil for one year, and two, because he had important injuries that kind of disrupted that structure that he was trying to build. So against Haiti, it looked more like a team, but again, it's Haiti. I think Scotland will be more of a test. Of course, you can only play who's in front of you, but it will be interesting to see, especially now that we know that Rafinha is really out.

33:05He's not playing, not available. He should be out for a couple of weeks, but he's not going home. There is still hope that he's going to play this World Cup. But Ancelotti didn't give many indications of who's going to play. He mentioned Rayan. Rayan was the player he chose to substitute Rafinha during the Haiti game. And he said, no, but Rayan did really well. So maybe it is Rayan. there are other couple of possibilities. But yeah, that's one question mark for Brazil. Okay. Haianu became Brazil's youngest World Cup player for 56 years when he came on against Haiti. What are they saying back in Brazil?

33:46I saw one headline, which looked very beautiful. Let them know the Brasila here. Is that the kind of overall feeling? Have I translated that right? Can you say that? Avisa-la aqui, Brasil. Let them know it's Brazil. Fair? Yes, exactly. Yes, yes. I think in general, there's still a bit of a suspicious feeling, you know, a bit of we're still trying to figure out how far Brazil can go in this World Cup. But of course, the Haiti performance was a boost. And especially with the youngsters, you know, there's a big appeal in Brazil around Henrik. People are going crazy over him. Every press conference with Carlo Ancelotti, he has to answer about Henrik because people see him as being too resistant.

34:35Henrik needs to play more and needs more minutes on the pitch. And Ancelotti is being very cautious with him. He was already cautious with Henrik when he was at Real Madrid. So there is this big appeal for Henrik to have more minutes. We'll see if he gets it against Scotland. It makes a change for Angelotti answering questions about Neymar, who I believe could finally be ready to take the field for the game against Scotland. And again, the Brazilian press talking about the dream of having Vinicius and Neymar in the lineup together. What do you think? Yeah, well, he did have to answer questions about Neymar in today's press conference.

35:16And he was actually asked how many minutes could Neymar play. And he said, well, I could play 90 minutes walking. So that was basically his answer for Neymar. But it's very, it's almost impossible that Neymar will start. But he said he's fit and he's very happy with Neymar. There is an excitement, especially amongst the players. all of them when they get asked about Neymar in the press conferences they are so complimentary of him and to be fair to Neymar in the past few years that I followed the national team he was always a positive influence on the group. The players really like him so there is an expectation from the players to see him there is a bit of a fear from the fans to see how Neymar could perform because of his physicality or lack of physicality in this case.

36:08He just came back from a calf injury that took him off of playing a month more or less, you know, so not ideal, especially when you're at a World Cup, but, you know, it's Neymar and it's always going to get him on the pitch, it's always going to get defenders worried and the Neymar fans, they are very hardcore fans. So there is the excitement part as well. Excellent. Kind of apt to be playing against Scotland, because it's also what they would say if you live just for your dad. Neymar.

36:47Natalie, have you seen much of Scotland? And how concerned are you for this game, which could determine whether or not Brazil win their group? Yeah, I'm a bit concerned, because Morocco will be playing Haiti, and it's going to go down. it could go down to go different in case Morocco obviously beat Haiti and Brazil beat Scotland. Brazil's challenge is obviously bigger, and they do have quality players. You know, if you look at that Scotland team, and in the press conferences leading up to this game, the players and Ancelotti, they mentioned these players. They mentioned McTominay. They mentioned McInn.

37:30Yeah, they mentioned McInn. And Robert Sontirny. all these players that are well-known in the Premier League. But there is a bit of a concern in terms of how many goals Brazil can score. Because they scored three goals against Haiti, but there is a feeling that they could have scored more as well, to be a little bit more comfortable with the goal difference. And because Scotland could get a point. you know it is it is a team that showed quality in the qualifiers and in the World Cup and they are very much I've ran into Scots already you know I've been in Miami for like 30 minutes and I met some of them at the airport so the atmosphere is going to be amazing I'm very much looking forward to this game it's going to be a good one excellent Natalie listen get a good night's rest enjoy yourself and I hope we can catch up with you again soon on Totally the World Cup always a pleasure guys really nice to talk to you you too natalie gedra so brazil looking to pile on the goals which is worrying news for scotland duncan they can lose scotland this game and still get through give us the give us the permutations about their prospects yeah we pointed this out a few days ago like even a one nil or two nil defeat isn't a disaster for scotland they've obviously got a goal difference of zero as it stands um and per the athletics uh machines right now um a two goal negative goal difference on three points would be around an 80 chance of getting through even a even a three goal deficit is 63 so more than one in two in that case so just have a party yeah but a brazil team looking to pile on the goals i mean it would be very scotland to be like a 3-0 defeat or a defeat by three goals would have got them through but they let in a fourth in like the 96th minute or something but that condemns them we hope that doesn't happen we do we'll find out on Wednesday now still going on on Tuesday as Colombia against Congo we'll be on to that very very shortly with Megan Ferringer just to wrap this part up though a couple of people writing in Flo Vudur says geez guys how can you think that England gets more rain than Ghana which is a West African tropical rainforest which boo came oh that's right it was me yeah fair point I think collectively we did you yeah did you assent to them well I said that Rome got more annual rainfall than London and I believe that's correct you actually got got around to checking it today and turned out you were right rain hunch the best sort of hunch okay Jerry etc says quirky question suggestion any culture shocks from the Brits time in North America we're going to get onto this once we have had a proper thing, but I would say delivery robots.

40:28I've not seen a delivery robot yet, so I refuse to believe they exist until I've seen one. I had a nice line bike ride the other day, and everyone was very polite. People are very polite. Much more than London. I was telling Duncan I went for a run the other day, and I had to run through a large group of quite burly construction workers, and they parted. Did you have to? Did you choose to? No, there was, it was that, they were blocking the full pavement and they parted like the Red Sea. It was lovely. Yeah. Yeah. In response to Jerry's question about quirky, any culture shocks, Robbie Peter H says, not having four seasons in one day, which is a bit of a London weather joke, I think.

41:09Yeah. Let's see. Oh, one other. We're in a crowded house, so it sort of makes sense, right? Hmm. Robbie Peter H says I worry that as the tournament progresses the crowded match calendar will prove too much for Messi last World Cup Argentina were able to protect him so he could still do his magic but as they get deeper into the tournament I fear teams like France and Germany will prove too athletic for him will be able to thwart him and then he's looked alright so far hasn't he and you would have thought he'll get the odds breather but it is curious how he stayed on the field for 90 minutes and Ronaldo too today and Harry Kane like Oli Watkins hasn't been brought on.

41:49It does seem like managers are like, no, they're my guys and they're playing 90 minutes. Well, Kane less so because England hadn't actually scored a goal and you'd be a brave man taking Kane off. Two years ago, the Euros, he was regularly taken off for Watkins. That's true. That's true. All right. We'll keep those questions and comments coming. And next up, let's conclude today's Totally at the World Cup with news of Tuesday's last game, Congo against Colombia.

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44:10Excellent. Megan Ferringer joins us now. Hi, Megan. How are you? Hi, James. I'm good. How are you? I'm very well. And how was Colombia against DR Congo? For 75 minutes, it was just really boring, to be honest. Well, Colombia dominated and they were the better side. But golly, like they just could not get the final pass. It was constantly and lose to yes was, I mean, just every time offside. And it was so frustrating. In the 76th minute, Daniel Munoz sort of shows up and does what he needs to do. It was a moment of redemption, actually, because in the first half he had had a really good chance and sort of screwed it up.

44:44But it was a good bit of play from Colombia. They'd held the ball up. They'd had a good bit of possession. And the ball sort of rolls into the path of Munoz, who comes in from the right, runs in, takes a deflection off the Congolese defender, sneaks into the bottom right corner. But it was a good goal. And they could have been 3-0 up, but Luis Diaz gets in behind. He's sort of putting the ball over the top. He's a judge to have fouled the defender, so it doesn't count. but he does get the ball under the back of the net and then the next time it's a wonderful finish from him but again he's offside when he ends up collecting the ball.

45:15Tom wanted to see him receive a yellow or red card or even more. And this is a slightly boomer complaint but players who wag their fingers at the referee's assistant when they are offside I think should be immediately ejected from the stadium. This comes from the incident in the first half when he thought he'd scored was flagged for being offside. Yes, he had a shot that the goalkeeper palmed into the air and then he followed it in and headed it in But he'd been offside when the ball was played through. He'd done a bit of finger wagging. It was a good day for finger wagging because Decton Rice made a tackle in the England game and won the ball.

45:49And as he rose, he started wagging his finger as if to say that wasn't a foul. Don't you dare think of blowing your whistle. And also, not just finger wagging, but finger pointing with Ronaldo's little subliminal message. What could he have meant? Finger Tuesday, they're calling it. It's a digital age. It was also a good game, this, for iconic spectators because we had Lumumba Vea, the incredible, there he is, man paying homage to a former Congolese president who's been doing this since 2013. Yeah, he's been doing it for a long time. And I think for 76 minutes, it was probably pretty easy just to stand still because there wasn't so much happening.

46:25Right. But then towards the end, actually, I think if I were him, I would have been compelled to start to make some, like get excited because they actually, like the final six and seven minutes was really frantic. And Congolese finally had their first sort of two shots on goal. Vargas finally had to make two saves. So there was a bit of frenetic energy in the end, but I don't know. They didn't pan to him, so we don't know if he was sort of moved at all. Maybe the camera operators tip him off when they're about to show him. He can just kind of sit there. He must regret starting that as the thing.

46:56He must have been like, why can't I be the guy that occasionally... Dresses up as a big bird, perhaps, like his Colombian counterpart, El Goli, who was there and has been doing it since... 1990. Well, is he the guy that, because there's a famous bit in Italian 90 when he's hanging off. Yeah, yeah, I think he might be. Because he followed them, I mean, this is his sixth World Cup because Colombia haven't always made it, but he's been there through all that, through the glory days of the 90s and then the Hammers Rodriguez days. And yeah, anyway, he was there tonight. Where does this leave, Duncan, Colombia and Congo in the group?

47:30Well, Congo, despite losing, is still in a fairly good position because of that draw in the first game. if they can beat Uzbekistan and based on what we saw today they might have a chance they've got a more than 99 % chance of getting through to knockouts and as it stands Congo are the most likely opponents for England in the last 32 Are they now? Are they now? And what about Colombia who look good for first place in the group but will be taking on Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal in their last match What do you think Megan? I think it'll be good I mean for them I think they're just going to want to kind of rest easy at this point but I don't know that's what I would do they just they just need they need to figure out how to score it was so frustrating for 76 minutes like they just could not figure it out and even after Munoz's goal they just every single time the final ball was missing Diatsu was offside they were taking shots when they clearly had a defender in front of them I think that was what was most frustrating is if you could just kind of shift the ball just a little bit faster they would have been fine so I don't know maybe use the Portugal game to finally figure out how to score and just kind of make that more regular Cristiano Ronaldo, one imagines, will be lining up for Portugal in that game.

48:38Will James Rodriguez, based on his performance tonight for Colombia? I mean, if I were Colombian, I probably would hope not. He was a bit slow. I mean, he was subbed off in the second half, and I thought they looked a little more dynamic without him. Once he went. But I think it's just a matter of pace, really. But he was still really influential. I'm not saying he wasn't. There's still moments where he was pretty solid in midfield, and he still was making good passes. But I don't know. I just thought Colombia kind of opened up a little bit more, like in terms of attack when he went off. But that might have been because in terms of timing and desperation, they start pushing forward.

49:13Excellent. All right. We look forward to that then. Colombia against Portugal should be a cracking game. In the meantime, the third round of games for the group stages will get underway tomorrow with groups A, B and C, as we detailed a little bit before. So six games for us to talk about when we return tomorrow on Totally at the World Cup for now. It's many, many thanks to Natalie, who joined us earlier on, to Tom, Megan, and to Duncan, to the production crew, and to you. Do join us again tomorrow for now. From all of us here, it's goodbye.

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