England kick off against Croatia, as Messi, Mbappe + Haaland shine

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2:25French look dench and so did their bench and a 3-1 win over Senegal Mbappé with a brace the Norsemen looked every bit dark horsemen with a 4-1 Iraqi Haaland show and then Messi with a tripleta más fina for Champions Argentina look out though world next up it's Harry Kane you're welcome Tuesday night in Los Angeles and Wednesday morning in the UK it's totally at the World Cup who's on today why it's tom williams not tom williams why it's well why it's tom williams hello james how are you doing tom yeah good good what a day we've had today yeah what's that shirt you're wearing tom well there's a lot of english people in this here studio so i thought i would bring a bit of equilibrium to our preview of the england croatia game right this is already Wednesday morning in the UK, the day that England begin their World Cup adventure.

3:20But Duncan, it's also been Tuesday night here in Los Angeles when we just witnessed one of the great World Cup stories, eh? Terrific Tuesday. They're not calling it, but maybe they will. Because, yeah, I mean, it started off with a brace from Mbappe and then a brace from Harland. What could Lionel Messi do? Maybe get a hat trick. A hat trick. And how special was the hat trick? Give us a stat. OK, well, he's gone to 16, so he's equaled the long-standing Miroslav Closer record. It's also 20 years exactly since he scored his first. Today? Yeah. Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. Incredible. And? It's his first ever hat-trick at the World Cup.

3:54He's the oldest player ever to score a hat-trick at the World Cup. Another stat, please. And he scored nine times at the World Cup since Cristiano Ronaldo last did, which is just one of those things. and as fortune will have it, Mr Ronaldo's got a chance tomorrow to hit back. If selected. And nobody knows if Roberto Martinez is going to select him. But, I mean, the chances, I think it's fair to say, of Cristiano Ronaldo emulating what Messi did today are probably quite slim looking at Ronaldo's recent form. But if he scores, he'll do something that Messi has never done and probably will never do in that he will have scored at six different World Cups and he will be the first ever player to have done that.

4:36So is it as good as what Messi did today? No. Will he pretend that it is? Yes. If he does it. If he does it. One word of caution. We thought the last World Cup was Leo's last World Cup. This is true. And here we are. All right. Lots to discuss today. A moment of the day, would it be Messi-related for you, Duncan? Yeah, I think Rodrigo de Poole's through ball for his first goal was, I mean, it took out so many Algeria players. It was like an Indiana Jones Some people sliding in And just not quite getting it It was absolutely perfect Yes Messi then Set himself And bent it in Although you could argue That Zidane Didn't cover himself in glory You know A second successive World Cup game Featuring a Zidane With a mistake Well yeah Fair enough That's such a nice From yourself actually During the game The second successive game In the World Cup Featuring a Zidane Well there's been a mistake That's probably cost his team Something thing.

5:34But yeah, it was obviously then Messi just took over and said, I'll score a hat-trick. Tom? Yeah, I mean hard not to go for Messi because he was incredible. I'm going to go for something from the France game, but not something specifically about Kylian Mbappe. The thing I enjoyed the most from that game today was Michael Alisson's performance. Started on the right, France were terrible, Didier Deschamps moved him into the number 10 position at half-time and it was like someone had switched a light on and there was a moment in particular, it was still nil-nil and he kind of spun his marker just inside the opposition half, headed towards goal, played this exquisite through ball for Mbappe that he just couldn't quite get on the end of.

6:22It was like, okay, Michael Alisse has turned up at this World Cup and shortly after he ends up creating the first goal for Mbappe and France were up and running. What day for through balls, eh, Tom? I mean we were saying quite the tournament for through balls great tournament so far for through balls dinks and great headers and we've had a bit of all of that again today have we had a dink today? we'll have a think about that no pure dinks no dinks but yeah what we haven't had yet is an appearance from call him Clarence Spredorf call him Spremar call him Pepe call him or I tell you what let's get some fresh suggestions from You lovely listeners and viewers.

7:03Skunk News. Here's Ade Reynolds saying, Can't believe no one suggested Florence Cinema Pongole. Nice. Yeah? Tom Evans. As tempting as it may be to exploit the rich and aromatic scene of skunk-related world plays. Surely the answer has been there all along. Pepe. But you know what? I think the winner of this particular competition, at least for today, might be Martin McDonald 5608 with Tino Asprey. Good. Good. Tino Asprea. Yes, because it works in two levels. He literally sprays it, Tom, from his ass. Yeah. Well, it's not, is it? We know that now. It's not quite from there. But, I mean, maybe Clarence will arrive and not perform quite as well as people wanted.

7:49Right. We need to sprinkle some treats leading to different names and let him pick his own name. Cat food, as we now know. But not cinnamon. Not cinnamon. Cayenne pepper Don't get much cinnamon Catfish anyway So Cinnamon Anyway Well Cinnamon Pongole Yeah Nice KendoStick 34 says I'd like less football chat On this skunk podcast please You're right We'll move on Quick check on the scores On what's been Match day 6 Of the World Cup France beating Senegal 3-1 A brace from Kylian Mbappe Norway Defeating Iraq 4-1 A brace From Erling Haaland And then as mentioned already Lionel Messi with all three goals as Argentina become the first Commie Bowl team to win a match at this World Cup 3-0 against Algeria there's one game that's still going to be taking place this Tuesday night that's the Austria-Jordan game that won't be kicking off until 5am UK time so you'll have to excuse that if we cover it in tomorrow's show because if we waited for it there's no way we'd get this time this podcast out in time for you anyway one more stat before we move on to the first of our match reflections and that is from the Athletics World jeans Will jeans there have now been more matches at this World Cup than there were at the 1934 tournament isn't that amazing solid stat yep I mean we should give a big shout out to Will because he's in the UK and he was still knocking out elite stats about Messi in the middle of the night in the middle of a very empty office very empty office a machine yeah there's been well there will have been when austria and jordan do their thing there will have been 20 matches at this tournament and fully 84 still to play which is terrific news because it's been brilliant fun so far and if they may just remind you and if you've enjoyed the athletics world cup coverage or would like to sample it but are not a subscriber the athletic have made every world cup feature free through their athletic app and that's for the duration of the tournament.

9:55Great stuff. All right, then. Let's get on to Argentina's clash with Algeria. Argentina 3, Algeria 0, Combo team finally gets win. That's the big headline. Right, Tom? Yes, that's the main thing to talk about. All right. I'm just kidding. Leo Messi. 20 years to the day since he scored his first World Cup goal. What can we say about this fellow that hasn't already been said, Tom? Well, I mean, if you think back to where things stood in 2018 there was a very strong feeling that the world cup just maybe wasn't for him he'd had a load of goes at it he'd got to a final and lost he'd been knocked out in the last 16 uh by france in 2018 and a lot of people thought that we might not see him again at a world cup and now i mean he is he is increasingly the boss of the world cup he's equal miroslav closer's all-time scoring record he will probably go on and break it he would be in an entirely fitting holder of that record as...

10:56Better than Miroslav Klose? For me, yes. For me, just about better than Miroslav Klose. And, you know, I think something that stood out for me watching Argentina today, not just Messi, was this sense that they just really enjoy playing together. You know, this is a very similar group of players to the one that lifted the trophy in Qatar in 2022. One real change, I think, Di Maria, no? Yeah, yeah. and there are no horrors anymore there's no sense of we're never going to get over the line here they've done it they're the defending champions there's very little pressure on them and I think you see that in Messi's performance this is his stage now he has conquered the World Cup and he's doing it every time he shows up They won the last one Duncan record show are you feeling positive now about their chances more than you were perhaps earlier today?

11:48Possibly I mean you could argue they've started too well I mean, obviously they lost the first game last time and came back. But like Tom says, they look like they're having a lot of fun. I do wonder whether when they come up against the more elite opposition, whether their sort of freewheeling style might come unstuck a little bit. But yeah, I mean, it's a huge blow for people who spent most of 2022 saying this was Messi's last dance because the lights have gone off and the disco's still playing. Isn't it, though? let's have a look at his moves then in this clash with Algeria take us through the first goal please Duncan well as I said Rodrigo de Paul's who's basically like Messi's friend and bodyguard the Andrew Ridgely of their affair yeah very much so similar hair but he put as I said an amazing through ball Messi controlled it and then just stuck it to Zidane well it kind of went through Zidane's hands which is not ideal for a goalkeeper as the ball passed Lucas Zidane's hands his feet were both still on the floor, which for a goalkeeper who gets beaten by a high shot is generally not a great look.

12:52I mean, he already wasn't a great look because he had the full Abe Lincoln shin strap on. And his performance for the first goal did not help. The second goal, you might feel he played a part in as well. Yeah, Argentina attacked down the left. The ball pops out to Alexis McAllister, who pings in a really well-hit shot. in fairness to Zidane but he pushes it sounds so weird doesn't it fairness to Zidane Zidane the goalie do you think Zidane minds their sons a goalie I mean you'd have to ask him LA's son plays as a goalie as well curious my son plays as a goalie but makes the thing at the same level anyway pushes the ball out in the way that Messi does he manages to look what for a lot of other players would be a very simple finish look extremely special because there's a moment as he converges upon the ball where you think he's going to put it one way and he just kind of relaxes and puts it the other way with his right foot and it's 2-0.

13:51You know that thing you can get on social media where they blank out a player and they say who scored this goal? You can just see the movement. I think you could immediately tell it was messy. Because of the height yeah? Yeah. But also he does this sort of Jedi body movement that just completely sends it down the wrong way which from he was probably what? A few metres away from him. Did he not used to have a bit of a Padawan hair thing at the back? Maybe, yeah, at some point, yeah. I mean, there was a question mark about De Paul going into this because he's playing in MLS. Is he going to be at the same level?

14:22You know, this fella's playing in MLS and people had question marks about him too. He pitched up at the Club World Cup and everyone went, you know, thanks for being here. But there was nothing to suggest that this was in the pipeline. But I think he looks like a new man. He looks, you know, slimmer, stronger, faster. He was charging around in the first half. closing down I mean to the extent that he committed a foul another player might have walked you've seen him given but the ref said I don't want to send off Lino Masi in the first half of this game Big Chris Ronaldo had two games of suspension rescinded because he's Cristiano Ronaldo so one could understand a referee going trying to do that again that I think might be, well that's one of the moments of ovation that he received from the crowd And it was a, we see a lot of football and we're going to see a lot of football, but this was something pretty remarkable tonight.

15:18Yeah. And I mean, you know, he has done everything that he has ever wanted to do in a World Cup. But one thing that he hadn't done prior to today was score a hat-trick. So that's just another thing ticked off. And both he and I suppose Ronaldo are at a stage in their careers where they've kind of done everything. I mean, Ronaldo hasn't won a World Cup, but they've won pretty much everything they wanted to win. and now we're getting down to the real minutiae, like the slightly kind of like peculiar records. Like you've got a list of kind of 100 demands and you've had the first 92. So now it's like, oh yeah, put that one on there.

15:52How did I get a World Cup? And yeah, now he's got one. I think badges on an app. They're just down. They're really obscure ones. Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's the completionist in him that is just keeping him going. Have you scored two goals from outside the box in Kansas? No, I haven't. Wow. Here you go. The third goal then, Duncan. Yeah, I mean, technically the best goal of the three. And it's very rare. I mean, Messi picks the ball up on the edge of the box and just absolutely bends it into the bottom left corner. But, I mean, it's very few players when they're in that position. I think everyone I was watching with, including Tom Williams, as soon as he got the ball, I thought he was going to score.

16:32And you know exactly how he's going to score. And it is incredible that he manages to find that space. like as a mere mortal that zone kind of in the D on the edge of the box when the ball is being cut back from a wide position that is where Messi always is you'd think that every single player on the pitch and certainly the defenders would be thinking right whatever we do don't let that guy who's really good at scoring from that exact position pick up the ball in that exact position when there's no one around him and yet he manages to do it do you know who's going to be in charge of thinking those very thoughts ahead of their next game, Ralf Ragnick.

17:09Because Austria are up next for Argentina. I mean, a tactician. We know he's a tactician. He'll have something up his sleeve. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what happens there. Austria, of course, are in action this Tuesday night, taking on Jordan in the other match in this group. What a magnificent start then for Argentina. Leo Messi. Anything else you want to add before we get on to the other matches played today? Which are pretty good themselves. No? I think that's... Moving on. Next up, we're on to Group I, France, Norway, Senegal and Iraq. France got their World Cup campaign underway on Tuesday against Senegal in a game which some people, Tom Williams, were talking up as a potential repeat of the banana skin which befell them back in 2002.

17:55Same opponent, Senegal. Didn't work out that way. That's L 'Equipe's headline Wednesday morning. You speak French, Tom. What's going on there? Yeah, it's quite a tricky one, but it says Captain America. So basically a play on him being in America and being the captain, I think, is the meaning there. Oh, yeah. It was a glorious second half for France. They took a while to get going, though. A, Senegal in the first 45 minutes, arguably the better side. Yeah, and we weren't that far away from looking at a 2002-style scenario. you had the Nicholas Jackson shot that beat Mike Mignon, hit the post, came off the post, hit Mignon on the back and almost went in for an own goal.

18:37And then just before half-time, Sadio Mane scuffs a pass into the middle. Ismail Assar turns up six yards out from goal and side-foots it over the top. 0.42 chance. Which is a biggie. And I think had either of those gone in, particularly when you look at how stodgy France's football had been in the first half, you might have feared for France. And as it turned out, second half, they managed to turn things around. And in the end, 3-1, I think, was a pretty fair reflection of the gulf between the teams. But I mean, Senegal will come away from that game with regrets because they more than matched them in the first half.

19:12Right. Well, that was what I was going to ask. How bad will they feel about this? They were heavily beaten, but they went toe-to-toe with one of the best sides in the world. Yeah, well, we had Maham Azahi on the pod last night and he was saying that for him, Senegal are one of the best, potentially the best African teams of the last five to ten years. They go in as kind of moral reigning Africa Cup of Nations champions. They've got quality and experience in practically every position. Lots of really exciting young players. And they will have fancied their chances of doing something at this World Cup.

19:45But I'm sure they still do. So, yeah, I think there will be a sense of regret. And even when they managed to halve the deficit at the end with that goal from Ibrahim Mbati, and Mbappe then goes straight back down the other end and adds another. So, yeah, it wasn't their day. Remember when this game was played way back kind of midday on Tuesday? We all got really excited because the number of goals he'd scored. He was closing on and Miroslav closed his record. He does, though, walk away from this day of action with two new French records. Yeah, so he's overtaken Olivier Giroud as France's all-time leading goal scorer and he's also overtaken Just Fontaine as France's leading goal scorer at World Cup.

20:22Fontaine, who famously scored all 13 of his World Cup goals at the 1958 tournament. Very much the Oleg Selenko of the 1950s. Very much so. And Mbappé has now gone past him with 14. So he's not overtaken just Fontaine, but every other French scorer as well. Indeed, he has. Indeed, he has. What a week for players with the word just in their name. Yeah, very, very true. What was the other one called? Elijah. Elijah just. OK, so he got off to an absolutely terrific start. He didn't get a hat-trick. Might he have had the chance with a different referee and a penalty called on this moment here, about an hour into the match, Duncan?

21:03Yeah, an extraordinary moment. I mean, Sadio Mane sort of defending like a forward just slides in. It's not the biggest contact you've ever seen, but Mbappe, we've all seen players when they kind of trail their leg and kind of make the most of it. He didn't do that at all. He was just taken out. And you don't need to make contact, I believe. No, it needs to sort of impede the player and stop his progression. The referee's explanation of why he hadn't given it was that Mbappe had sought the contact. But the movement of his legs was very kind of normal. He sought the contact in the sense that he plays for France at the World Cup.

21:36And he would like to win a penalty if he can. Also, I did respect the referee came away from the VAR monitor with the best dummy I've seen in modern football. because he basically points as if it's a penalty. And everyone was like, oh, he's changed his mind. But instead he gave a freak kick, a goal kick for Senegal. Goal kick for Senegal, yeah. Should France have walked off the pitch for 18 minutes in process? Well, we know what that can lead to, so probably best for them that they didn't. Okay. Dembele continued his extraordinary World Cup record of not scoring at the tournament and was replaced Bradley Barcola, who immediately got one.

22:15Yeah, I guess that would be one disappointment for France. And, you know, as we said on the preview pod yesterday, the dilemma that Deschamps had was what to do with Alisson and what to do with Deschamps. And Alisson has generally played as the number 10 during the qualifiers and been excellent. But Dembele is now the Ballon d 'Or and he plays through the middle at PSG. And I think, you know, Deschamps deciding to pick him in that central role was him kind of sort of trying to find some way of allowing all of his attacking players to play in the roles they play in for their club teams. But obviously Dembele being a false nine and leading the line for PSG and having complete liberty to go where he wants is very different to being a support striker behind Mbappe.

22:59And yeah, it didn't really work for him. Elissé coming into the number 10 position was what completely changed things for France. And then yeah, Bacola came off the bench and scored a lovely goal. Yeah, actually we did have a dink. That was the dink of the day. Oh, yeah, yeah. And a lovely through ball. Adrian Ahabio playing it through. Boccolla run through. Little dink. And that was 2-0. Excellent. Senegal. Sorry, Duncan. Sorry. I said dink of the day. Dink of the day. The only dink of the day. I mean, by definition, therefore. Still qualifies. Unless Jordan Austria are about to serve us up. Dinkfest.

23:29A dinktastic. Dinkfest. The dinkfest. As it will be known forever. Tom, you were concerned yesterday that Didier Deschamps would throw all his attackers on at the start of the game, then quickly whip them off at the first sign of danger and go, look, lads, I tried. Get set for some gritty nil-nils. But no. Yeah, I think he realised that the most logical thing to try was to put his most creative player, Michael Alisse, in the position on the pitch where he would have the most opportunities to create things. And lo and behold, it worked really well. You would assume that Alisse will now keep that position for France's forthcoming matches.

24:07This being Didier Deschamps, we can't ever be sure. you'd like to think that that's what he'll do anyway but I think looking at the way that France played in the second half it was night and day between the performance they put in in the first half so I think that has given him now a kind of blueprint for future success at the tournament Okay, Senegal A blueprint maybe That's the French word for blue for anyone who's unsure Is that what they call a blueprint? Do they call it a blueprint? Yes, definitely Do they though Tom? No Senegal got a lovely goal tell us about that yeah so Teo Hernandez started a left back for France got the nod over Luka Dean because he's slightly better going forward he's not quite as good doing the defensive stuff and we saw that a little bit in the Ibrahim and Bai who had a really good Africa Cup of Nations for Senegal picks the ball up on the edge of the box throws a couple of step overs Hernandez just kind of falls over and Bai breezes past him smashes in a shot pretty much straight at Mike Mignon that somehow still goes in.

25:13So yeah, I mean, fantastic moment for Mbappé. Not such a great moment for Mike Mignon. And then very briefly, there was this period of suspense and then within, I think about a minute, Mbappé picks the ball up 30 yards from goal, takes a touch and just spanks one top left and that was that. Another great day for the Trionda. Yeah, Duncan's ongoing obsession with the Trionda. I just think it looks really good. It does look good. It does look good Senegal next up will take on Norway Who on Tuesday did Iraq To the tune of four goals to one Two of those goals scored By another fellow that we mentioned in our scouting reports Yesterday Erling Haaland Erling Braut Haaland In World Cup mode Haaland He scored two He didn't assist the other one Well one of the other ones but he kind of did Because it was his header that led to the own goal which was I think the fourth goal fourth right and what else did he do he pressed intensely yes that was very noticeable I mean his goals were very Erling Haaland the first one from across and he does that sort of karate you know taking it with the wrong foot but just getting there and putting it in and then the second one I guess biggest howler of the World Cup so far yeah I think so and like most VHS yeah was Nick Hancock coded power of the tournament so far and it came at a crucial time because Iraq had been decent first half they'd equalised with a lovely goal another fantastic header Eamon Hussein who scored the goal against Bolivia that took them to the tournament leaping like the proverbial salmon and heading it bottom right against Norway of course well I mean they would find that particularly annoying as a nation of salmon lovers and it looked like we were going in for you know for half-time at 1-1.

27:06And then back pass to the goalkeeper. Yeah, Jalal Hassan, the Iraqi goalkeeper, who dwelt on the ball a little bit too long. Can't be doing that when Erling Haaland is in town. Well, he waited for the ball to come to hit. A Iraqi horror, Tom. A Iraqi horror. Yeah, a Iraqi horror. Yes, indeed, very much so. But it was one of those moments, you could see Haaland closing in, and you're like, Erling Haaland's closing in, and he was waiting for the ball to get in within range. Don't do that. A Iraqi horror part two was Hussain, the player who scored the own goal at the other end. Yeah, scored the OG, yeah.

27:37Okay. They look good for a bit in Iraq, but all in all, Norway, did they live up to their big dark horse billing, do you think? Yeah, I think so. I mean, we know that they are a formidable attacking side and we saw what Erling Haaland can do even when he's not being presented with massive... Okay, I suppose the first goal looks like he's just tucked it into an empty net, It was quite a difficult chance to convert, particularly when you decide to go with your left foot, even though you could have gone with your right. But his ability to just create chaos constantly, that shone through. I think Martin Odegaard was a little disappointing.

28:15Like he was busy. Did he not get an assist? Yeah, so he set up Leo Ostergaard for the third goal. So statistically, he's off the ground. And it does very clearly set France and Norway up as the favourites now, I think. so I think that Senegal Norway game is going to be quite a big one it's huge I mean we keep talking about third place teams going through but obviously four of the groups will only have two going through and I don't know this kind of feels like it might be one of those but we'll see okay they're underway then in Group I on Wednesday we're going to get the last two groups starting their World Cup campaigns featuring England we'll talk about all of that and much more next Wednesday's a big day at the World Cup we've got the last two groups getting underway so the end of the first round of matches we've got England and Portugal both taking the field we've also got us doing an ask me anything with the Athletic you can get in touch with us from an hour before kick-off in the England game on Reddit and I think that's already up and running you can find a link in the description for this show on YouTube probably in the episode description or on your podcast platform to and across athletic social media.

29:32Ever wanted to ask Tom Duncan, perhaps myself, a question? Well, now you can. Woo! All right. And then after all... I want to ask Tom a question. Do you? Yeah. I'll put it in the Reddit. That's how it works, mate. I could wait. You don't get first dibs. You just happen to be sitting on the same sofa as me. Well, I think I do. Why are you wearing a Croatia shirt? I explained for the purposes of balance, so that this doesn't become a jingoistic, flag-waving, England free-fall. Me and James are known as it so frequently does. For the purposes of banter. Above all. Above all. The service is too. All right, yes, Croatia are going to be facing England tomorrow in Group I.

30:13Duncan, how are you feeling? Confident. Okay. England have played Croatia a lot. The most recent time was the 2020 Euros when England won 1-0, I think. Yeah. obviously the the standout one would be the the semi in 2018 but um for your Croatia supporters yes yeah yeah but um I think England's preparation has been pretty good I mean obviously they've only had one ball to practice with and no boots one ball one dream one team right this after the daring heist that was practiced on their on their boot room in Kansas City yeah the great training kit robbery very nice but yeah I think everyone you know well look there they are laughing so prior to the World Cup and with memories of what happened in South Africa there were suggestions even on this Auguste production that an extended period locked up in a hotel somewhere outside Kansas City with Thomas Tuchel might prove slightly chafing but Duncan you've been all over England's social media where they've been telling a very different story and there are completely objective reports yes um they have but i think it's been corroborated i think i think the fact is that they mentioned i mean jude bellingham said it harry kane said it that euro 2024 wasn't a happy camp um i think they went into it there were a few big names left out harry mcguire being one of them which has happened again but this man jordan henderson right club 18 to 30 rep par excellence he's back in and Jude Bellingham's been very open about how important that is for the squad Jack Pitbrook wrote a good piece on The Athletic today talking about how Henderson is able to sort of speak to Bellingham and get him to do stuff that other people can't which is, you know which maybe isn't you know it says a few things about Bellingham but I think it also shows how sensible Tuchel's been at building a squad to get the best out of players like Kane and Bellingham and yeah I think they're in a reasonably good place right now.

32:19OK. 17 days after first arriving in America, they will finally take the field for their opening fixture against Croatia. They won't have Tino Livramento available, though, because he's been ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury, which is a rotten luck for him. Thomas Tuchel making the slightly curious, is it, decision to replace him in the squad with Trevor Schalber. Yeah, who is a centre-back who occasionally plays at right-back as opposed to a right-back. the centre-backs who maybe were surprised, non-inclusion in the... Well, we mentioned him a minute ago, Mr Harry Maguire. Obviously, he and certain family members made a slight fuss when he wasn't in the original squad, which may have counted against him.

33:04So, there's a lesson there for everyone. I mean, Tuchel said that it allows Gerald Konza to then play either left-back or right-back, obviously play right-back at various points people might ask was this a chance to bring in Trent Alexander-Arnold it was a chance and it's one that's not been taken so I've got the same first three letters so he's step in the right direction if anything Trevor yeah maybe tried forming the name in his mouth when he was asked for the replacement and he just couldn't yeah so he had to switch I mean he could have called up a middle-aged Trevor Stephen which would have been decent so much worse Yes, content you simply won't get anywhere else.

33:45We saw the England lads running there. Running, they're smiling. They were running and smiling. Putting out smiley videos. They've won this thing, haven't they? I think that's the only conclusion we can draw. Anthony Gordon was lagging behind in the picture, but ahead. Is that right? Ahead in terms of selection chances. Is that the big selection headache for Thomas Tuchel? What do you think his team's going to look like against these Croatians? I think it would be pretty much the same team that played against Costa Rica. So that would be, yeah, Gordon on the left, Madueke on the right, Kosaka's probably not fit enough to start, Bellingham behind Kane, and then Reissin and Anderson.

34:23You were impressed with the performance against Costa Rica because it came on the back of an underwhelming 1-0 win against New Zealand, games against Uruguay and Japan that weren't victories, but Costa Rica showed you an England side on the right track. Yeah, I thought they were really good. I thought you could see what Tuka was trying to do. I mean, Kane was dropping deep. You saw both Gordon and Maduweki making runs beyond that he likes to pick out. Bellingham was really inventive. I think Nico O 'Reilly and Rhys James, potentially the best full-back combo in the tournament, are both able to sort of step in to the middle of the pitch.

34:56Obviously, Nico O 'Reilly can step up top as well. So I think, you know, if we think back to year 2024, the criticism was that they were so stodgy and they just turned up and stood there really and waited for something to happen. Whereas I think this team have an identity. They feel a bit more like a Premier League All-Stars team rather than a kind of just collection of England players. And obviously it could all go wrong. But right now, I'm pretty confident. Tom, a big airplane going overhead. Yeah. No idea what you just said. That was one of the things that Tuchel said when he took over and he was quite critical of how England had played at Euro 2024.

35:36He said, you know, I didn't see the identity. Right. And this has been a problem for England going back decades. Loads of talent. How are they going to play? Yeah, they'll figure it out kind of thing. It was a slight exaggeration, but not that big an exaggeration. I think it's very clear how England are going to approach this tournament, how they're going to go into their matches, what each player is supposed to bring to the table. but now we just need to see whether it's going to work. Anthony Gordon said an interesting thing this week, and he was on a thing with Declan Rice, and they said that he, Nico O 'Reilly, and Declan Rice went off together and talked about how they like to receive the ball, what sort of runs they want to make.

36:16It sounds like basic, right? Like you're a professional footballer, but to Tom's point, I think a lot of previous England teams just sort of turned up and were like, we're England, we'll be all right. Did they? I don't know. Tom, make a case for Croatia, a nation who have been to six World Cups, and this is a remarkable statistic, finished in the top three of half of them. Yeah, incredible. I mean, beaten finalists in 2018, semi-finalists in 2022, having knocked out Brazil en route, probably going to be Luka Modric's last hurrah. We talk a lot about Belgium's golden generation. This is probably the farewell for Croatia's golden generation.

36:56and they've shown in the past that they've had England's number. We know how they play. They tend to want to dominate the ball. Could that play into England's hands given the speed they've got in wide areas, particularly if it's Madiwaki who starts possibly? But I think they are one of the most settled teams at the tournament. The coach, Latko Dalic, has been there since 2017. I think Luka Modric has been there since forever, as have Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric and, you know, all the rest of them. I mean, to put it into context, Modric is older than Wayne Rooney. So, and I don't think Wayne Rooney was in with a shout of getting into this England squad.

37:40Another remarkable statistic. Okay, that's coming up Wednesday, 9 o 'clock UK time. And of course, that's right, 9 o 'clock UK time. Yes. Yep. can confirm 1pm here in Los Angeles we were going to go and watch it in a pub but turns out it's a bit rougher than we thought so we're not a little inside out not this time Tom also on Wednesday the other game in that group is Ghana against Panama that's taking place in Toronto Ghana who are borrowing Iran's manager Carlos Kiros for this tournament they won't have Thomas Partey because Canadian authorities won't let him in because of his ongoing legal issues of a very grave nature they will be able to field the third top scorer in the Premier League last season there he is Antoine Semenyo so dangerous, dangerous side and that's who England will be facing in their second game as well so pretty interesting to see how they get on Panama are actually ranked 34th in the world I didn't expect them to be that high, but they have actually been to the final of the last two tournaments they've featured in, the CONCACAF Gold Cup and also the CONCACAF Nations League.

39:00I'm all out of Panama facts with that. Do you want to add anything to the fire or should we move on? Yeah, I mean, you know, that's why they're in the hat, with that kind of tournament experience. Yep. Ooh, their manager is former Leeds boss Thomas Christensen. So there you go. Now, look forward to seeing them in action tomorrow against Ghana. will conclude today's show with a look ahead to Group K, which features the last of the debutants at this World Cup, Uzbekistan. Fabio Cannavaro is Uzbekistan. They're taking on Colombia. And the other game in that group is Portugal against DR Congo. Very interesting.

39:36This Tuesday night, one man in Houston. He's been up late. Thinking about the match ahead of him, He's seen what Messi did today against Algeria. What is he going to do if he gets the chance against Congo? We'll talk about that next. Wednesday, along with England, another of the tournament favourites will be beginning their campaign in the Jeep of Portugal to find out what the big talking points are for their national side. We spoke to David Novo, the executive editor of Portuguese sports paper Record. I guess the big talking points for people outside of Portugal are, one, what an insanely good midfield you have.

40:18And secondly, is Martínez actually going to drop Ronaldo this time? Well, first of all, the midfielders, yes, of course. Vitine, Bruno Fernandes, Joanevš, Jeff to mention three of them. If you put Bernardo Silva as the midfielder, not as the winger, because he can play as a right winger, but also as the midfielder, He played a lot in that position in Manchester City, also in the national team. So just to mention four of them. And come on, it's World Cup. It's Man United, it's Man City. But well, Bernardo is going to be a Real Madrid player. But Real Madrid, PSG, is one of the best midfielders that Portugal ever had.

41:04And of course, one of the best here at the World Cup. But about Ronaldo, I think that's the question that everyone asks. I think that he's going to start again against Congo tomorrow. I think he's going to start almost every match. But I think, of course, the physical condition is going to be a key part of it in terms of he may play as a starting lineup every match. I think it's going to happen. but of course the management that the national team manager has to do, Roberto Martinez, has to understand. I think he does it quite often. I give this example a lot of times. Last year in the Nations League, the final against Spain, Ronaldo left the pitch, I think, before the extra time.

41:57and Portugal played extra time and penalties without him and Portugal won because Ronaldo, Martinez they all understood that the best thing for Portugal at that game was to switch Ronaldo for another player because, well, that's the decision and, of course, Portugal won it doesn't mean that Portugal is going to win always without him but it doesn't mean that Portugal is going to win always with him. Absolutely. You mentioned the game against Spain which was of course also the final appearance on a football field of Diogo Jota. How much does his tragic story hang over this Portuguese side? How much is it something that they carry with them into this World Cup campaign?

42:48All the time. They speak about Diogo all the time. And it's normal. I can't imagine the tragedy, of course, that the world got shocked with the news, of course. But for those who knew him, of course, the players, the teammates, I can't imagine the pain they felt. And they feel still with something so fresh. Jogo left us one year ago in July. and of course in every press conference his name is mentioned we saw for example when he left the plane here in Miami in the United States he left the plane and he was carrying Diogo Jota's biography he read the book about Diogo Jota in the plane from Portugal to the United States so of course it's more than a football player they lost a friend especially for example Rubanev they were really really close and I know and I'm sure they say that all the time of course Portugal the players they want to win the World Cup and they want to win the World Cup to honor Diogo Jota because Diogo wanted to play the World Cup and to win the World Cup so it will be incredible and something truly amazing to see Portugal winning for the first time, of course, because we love football, we are Portuguese but to honor Diogo I think that will be the best part of it.

44:33We know that he's not going back. The tragedy is what it is and it's awful but I think he deserves that from the Portuguese national team. David Novo there's another of the Portuguese front pages on Wednesday morning, a baller with Houston we have a dream what do you think about Portugal then Tom, Duncan? I mean, Portugal are fascinating because they are going into this tournament with probably their greatest ever squad, I think most people would agree and yet there's a question mark as to whether that greatest ever squad might be fundamentally undermined by their greatest ever player. Because you kind of feel like if anything is going to go wrong for Portugal, it could be Ronaldo dependence.

45:24We had this chat four years ago, didn't we? I feel like we've had this chat quite a lot over the last four, five, six years. Do you remember when he got that red card against Republic of Ireland? Yeah, and he was going to be suspended. And they had one game without him. They won that 9-1, admittedly against Armenia, but still. But he hasn't scored in the knockout, so he needed the group games, you guess. I mean, I think a lot of people are going to be tuning into this game to watch. You know, whether you're hoping he rattles in a couple of goals or three like Messi did today, or whether you think he might not be able to do that.

46:00I think it's a super fascinating element of this World Cup. It's something a lot of people have ringed in their planner. as Tom says I think when you saw Messi today he kind of yes he's not as mobile as he was but he kind of brings the best out of his teammates I'm not sure Ronaldo does and we don't really know but like there must be a level of frustration sometimes when through balls are made dinks are made even and he's not quite there but he surprised us many many times before yeah I mean the fact that he now it's taken off, even during big matches, is something that probably wouldn't have happened four or five years ago.

46:45So I think that is a sign that things are evolving a little bit. And there are other options in that part of the pitch. There are options everywhere on the pitch for this Portugal team. So I think if Martinez can manage that correctly, Portugal could go really far. Because you look at the players that they can call upon. I mean, the midfielders who are going to end up on the bench tomorrow. It is a depth of talent that very, very few squads at this tournament can compete with. In a way, it's kind of like a... Do you remember in the 2000s when Portugal again had many good midfielders? And it was always like, why can't they produce a forward?

47:21Well, they did. They just... That's the one. They're still going with them. I would say also keep an eye on DR Congo because per the Athletics projection model, which you can find on the site and the app, and it's very good, Congo are the most likely last 32 opponents for England Most likely last 32 opponents for England Assuming England get through to the last 32 of course, we can't A lot of familiar faces in the DR Congo team as well Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Noah Siddiqui of Sunderland Johan Wisser coming off the back of a slightly disappointing first season at Newcastle There you go, that's another one How about their manager, Frenchman Sebastian de Sabre De Sabre?

48:03De Sabre. De Sabre, there he is. He's nicknamed the florist. Tom, we asked you to find out why. Yeah, my research proved frustratingly inconclusive, which I apologise. The suggestion seems to be that at some point early in his career, perhaps during his playing days, he helped out a florist slash garden centre. Very credible story. And then he became known as the florist. It's not really a nickname, it's a little description of what you do at the weekend. Yeah, maybe his mates aren't very inventive. cut them some slack maybe that's the best they had well if he likes invention he should check out the Portugal midfield magnificent you'll be seeing it up close on Wednesday the other match taking place on Wednesday is Uzbekistan against Colombia here's a stat don't worry we're almost at the end of the show there are three managers at this tournament who reach the World Cup final as a player and two of them are meeting in this match Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro of course the Italian World Cup winner in 2006 the other one do you know Nesta Lorenzo yes the Colombia boss alright anyway Colombia looked good he's there Hamet's still going I saw him score his famous brace against Uruguay oh yeah at the Maracanata in 2014 one of my favourite football watching memories of all time and he's got a banging form Luis Suarez alongside him not that one but yes not that one but the other one Luis Diaz who had an incredible season with Bayern Munich beating Finest at the Copa America in 2024 so yeah look out for Colombia big dark horse energy big dark horse energy have you got any familiar names from Uzbekistan?

49:47Kusanov yes a man who we sent one of our reporters to Tashkent and I think we obviously see David Beckham on a lot of adverts here while we're watching Fox, but I think Kusinov is on everything over there. Really? He is on posters, magazines, papers, adverts. So, yeah, I mean, he's a brilliant player. And I think they're definitely a bit of a random element in this group. We'll find out what happens on Wednesday. And, of course, we'll be back straight after that with a brand new Totally at the World Cup. That wraps it up for tonight's edition, though. So many thanks to Tom and Duncan and David Norville earlier on and everybody in the production team here.

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