Germany battling bad vibes while Canada make more history

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2:25Oh, Canada. Yes, Maples don't leave as Canadians beat South Africa to reach the last 16. Who will join the men from Marsh in Monday's action? We'll be looking at that. We'll be hearing about why Germany might need a Neuer keeper. And we'll be getting the inside scoop on the weirdest game of this tournament so far from Raphael Honigstein. Sunday afternoon in LA, Lord knows what time it is round your way But it's a totally at the World Cup with the knockout stages underway And Tom Williams here with us, how are you doing Tom? Hello James, yeah, all good thanks, all good, how are you? I'm very well as well, would you like a little treat?

3:05I certainly would How about Daniel's story on the big screen? Just like the good old days, alright Daniel? Howdy all, how are we doing? Very, very well, how did you two? Where did you join us from, Daniel? a town called Pleasant View, Tennessee. Well, that sounds nice. Yeah, it does. I mean, my view is very much Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts, gas station vibe. Pleasant. But I'm sure the town is lovely. It's only 5 ,000 people. It has four different marquees selling fireworks, which has kind of blown my mind. But that's a Tennessee welcome. I had some Tennessee barbecue earlier today. We are looking good.

3:45All right. Would that count among your favourite memories of your trip so far? I was saying to Tom before we started recording, I have learned very quickly that you can just add state name and then the word barbecue and pretty much get what you want all the time. So in the last week, I have had Oklahoma barbecue, Texas, Kansas, Indiana, and now Tennessee. So, yeah, we're doing pretty good. Excellent. What's been your favourite moment, though, Daniel, of your trip so far? You've been travelling all over the States, no? Yeah, I think my favourite time was, so I went to the hill in St. Louis, which is this kind of Italian-American neighbourhood where there's a trattoria called Antonino's, which does famous toasted ravioli.

4:31So I sat at the bar, watched the football, had some toasted ravioli. They've got a mural on the outside of the Trattoria, which is five players from the USA team who beat England in the 1950 World Cup. So five players in that team were raised within about half a mile of Antonino. So they're all from that neighbourhood. So they're very proud of that. It's a new mural that they're showing off. And that was kind of, yeah, perfect World Cup road trip fair. Why did it say Hill 2 Brazil? Oh, because then they went to Brazil. They went from the hill to Brazil. What a movie that is, by the way, Game of Their Lives.

5:07Toasted ravioli work. Yes. Yeah. So it's like a, it tastes almost like a pastry because you've deep fried it. It's got that crunch and then it has meat inside, in this case, beef inside. And you get it with the hot marinara sauce to pour over it before you eat it. It's really good stuff. That's decent. And the whole thing barbecued. so that must be absolutely brilliant. Brisket on the side. Brilliant. Well, that sounds amazing, Danny. I think your next stop is Atlanta for England against Dr Congo on Wednesday. Yes, so I've got the kind of long drive down, so I'm staying one night in Chattanooga, one night in Kennesaw, just over the border into Georgia, and then, yeah, Atlanta on Wednesday for the game.

5:53Wow. Georgia on your mind very much. We like to start with a moment of the day, Danny. I'm not sure what you've been up to there in Tennessee, but while you think of that, Tom, what's been yours? Well, I think the personal highlight today was getting to chat to Telemundo commentary legend Ramzes Sandoval, who not only gave us a live reenactment of his now viral Patrick Beach commentary moment, but gave our own names the same treatment. So that was pretty special. We'll hear that later on. That was great. Anything else? On pitch, we've only had the one game. We've only had the one goal. So I will very unoriginally pick that as my moment of the day.

6:34Stephen Eustachio's 92nd minute winner for Canada against South Africa in the first of the round of 32 ties. The biggest goal probably in the history of Canadian football. Canada march on, march on to the round of 16. Very nice. Do you want to hear an amazing stat about Eustachio's goal? Please. Okay, this courtesy of Colin Miller. I hope you're well, Colin. Colin says Stephen Astakia was the first number seven who has represented Portugal to ever score a goal in a World Cup knockout game. See what he's done there. See what he's done there. Amazing. Amazing. All right, then, Daniel, what stood out for you?

7:13I mean, the goal was really good. But the moment of the day was the lady in the crowd going for the Mexican wave and dropping her phone. And for me, the best moment or the biggest moment, not because the reason everyone else said, which is, oh, God, she's lost her phone. I thought it was this really interesting judgment on late stage capitalism that everybody's reaction was, oh, no, she lost her phone. Not, oh, God, there's a guy sat underneath her who's going to get a phone in the back of his head. But no one really, no one even mentioned the possibility that she was not on the front row of the lower tier.

7:46Luckily, it didn't take place in a country renowned for its litigious culture. because if it had, we might not have heard the end of this. Indeed. Daniel, what a caring type you are. Thank you for that moment of the day. It was very thought-provoking. Only one game today, as the round of 32 got underway, it was Canada against South Africa. Let's start off then with a bit of a review of that.

8:17Canada 1, South Africa 0. Canada who came into this tournament let's recall having never amassed so much as a point in their two previous World Cup appearances, winning the game and going through, winning its first ever knockout game and Tom as you call it, quite possibly the greatest goal their team, their men's team has ever scored there was much rejoicing, not least because it meant there wasn't going to be extra time but wild celebrations there on the pitch and no doubt north of the border after Stephen Ataccio's stoppage time winner yeah I think a combination of jubilation at this historic moment in the history of this team and in the history of Canadian football more widely but also a lot of relief because for all that Canada are plowing new terrain at this tournament had they not got past South Africa a stubbornly unadventurous South Africa team I think the level of disappointment would have been enormous.

9:19And as we inched seemingly closer and closer to extra time and the spectre of penalties starts to loom, you did feel that anxiety starting to creep into the game and into the ground. So yeah, probably equal parts jubilation and relief and a deserved win because they had a lot of chances, chances from set pieces in the first half, chances from open play in the second, and then they finally made the breakthrough. And I don't think South Africa can have too many complaints about it. Daniel, what did you make of Canada? I thought they were the team in the first 60-odd minutes that were trying to play football.

9:53South Africa weren't really doing that. I think we've all spent most of the last two days in the build-up of this game, working out how South Africa was still in the tournament and then spent most of this game wondering how they were still in the tournament because they were wretched in the opening game and they were really poor here. They looked like a team playing for penalties. And to be fair to them, And goalkeeper Roman Williams is one of the penalty-saving goalkeepers in world football. He used those exploits, famously at an AFCON, to take South Africa through. But yeah, they aren't a great watch, South Africa, it's fair to say.

10:28They were good in this tournament when they were getting players sent off for comedy reasons. But other than that, not a brilliant watch. I did think that Canada sort of ran out of ideas. and I think it took that introduction of Davies for the first time to sort of give everybody a lift. It also slightly felt like a Canadian game being played not in Canada. There was a moment in the first half where the commentators over here said if this was in Canada, they'd be giving the team a lift right now and I completely agreed with that. It felt like the game felt a bit flat because the crowd weren't quite there as they were at the Canadian group games.

11:04Well, this was the first ever match involving the host nation of a tournament not to actually be played inside that nation's confines. So that's one statistic that's interesting. Another one, their keeper, sorry, South Africa's keeper, Ronwen Williams, made 77 successful passes in this game, which is the most on record by any World Cup goalkeeper since they started tracking these things in 66 in a match at the World Cup. That's not a great sign, is it, if your goalkeeper is making 77 successful passes? It's not a great sign, but it was something that indicated South Africa's approach to the game.

11:44They clearly felt that the only way they could get at Canada was during moments of transition and turnovers. And so every time they had the possibility to try and play through Canada, they just refused to do it. And as Daniel said, you felt like they were playing for penalties right from the get-go. The number of times Williams would pass the ball out to one of the full-backs and then get it back immediately, play it to a centre-back and then get it back. The crowd were getting on their backs very early on. And there were moments in transition, throwing their phones, etc. You did see moments around the Canadian box when there were phases of transition where you saw opportunities for South Africa, but there was very little ambition to their play.

12:29And that's why I think ultimately they can't have too many regrets about the manner of their defeat. Okay, well, come the final whistle, Jesse Marsh was caught candidly by a conveniently nearby camera giving an impassioned speech, an impassioned speech to his team. You are Canadian heroes, he said. He'll be annoyed that that's got out, I think. Well, who put that camera there? Don't tell me there was a microphone as well. Oh, God. Luckily, he kept it clean. Daniel, they're going to be facing the winner of Netherlands and Morocco, which is one of Monday's really stellar line-up of last 32 clashes.

13:07Canada will have an extra day's rest, and they'll also have Alphonso Davies now with 15 minutes or so in his legs. I'm curious what you made of his performance. He looked lively to me, but that does look like a game in which whichever side, Netherlands or Morocco make it through, will be heavy favourites over the Canadians. They absolutely will. But it does allow Canada to play more of that on-the-break football, particularly if Davies is fit to, if not play all of the games, certainly maybe just play the second half or, you know, second half plus extra time if they get there. And that is their only real chance, I think, hitting teams on the break.

13:46Yeah, it was interesting with Marsh. Like, I am prone to wince whenever he comes on screen, but I think there is an argument that he's more suited to international football in that he can do the motivational stuff. He can absorb the pressure and the focus of the media. He is the kind of, other than Davies, he is a kind of standout personality within that Canada set-up. That suits him, I think it's fair to say. I think it probably also suits the squad because it is a workman-like squad when Davies isn't playing. And he has squeezed quite a lot out of them, I have to say. So, yeah, there will be massive second favourites, but that underdog mentality can really help as a host.

14:27What do you think then, just to finish off this part, what do you think about Netherlands against Morocco? I know you've seen Netherlands twice, the wins against Sweden and Tunisia as they racked up, what, eight goals between those two matches? Yeah, they look incredibly fun. They look like England in the second half against Croatia, but all the time. So they've been playing a back four, but a centre-back at left-back, either Van der Ven as first choice or Nathan Ake in the second game I saw, which means Denzel Dumfries just gets to do everything on the right. So he's just flying forward and they're playing with three defenders, basically.

15:03Brian Brobby is the, I can't call him a breakout star, given his age and that he's already playing in the Premier League. But he's been the kind of most surprising success story of the tournament so far. And they look really good just playing the ball into Brobby's feet and then loads of runners around them. So I think they'll be great fun. It will be really interesting because that's kind of how we thought Brazil would play and Morocco completely nullified Brazil in the first half of that group game. So that's their blueprint, Morocco. Try and nullify the Dutch, get them to overcommit and then hit them on the break.

15:32Robby's got three goals from his first three shots in the competition. That's remarkable, isn't it? Mind you, Morocco also have a three-goal scoring threat up front. Yeah, Ismail Saibari, who again has been one of the stars of the tournament so far, scored one of the goals of the group phase with that lovely run through and dink past Alisson in the draw against Brazil I feel like we haven't really seen Morocco with the handbrake off yet and I suspect that's probably because that is a version of Morocco that doesn't exist but they were really impressive in the first half against Brazil took the lead early on and were running rings around Brazil in midfield and looked by far the better team ended up drawing scored very early on against scotland saibari again with another fantastic goal that rocket into the roof of the net from a narrow angle on the right and then kind of you know saw out the game reasonably comfortably slight scottish rally towards the end but again you felt that they were the better team and the most entertaining morocco game was the final one against against haiti when they fell behind twice had to come back from behind ended up winning 4-2 having picked their second string.

16:43I suspect that we will see a kind of cage-ier Morocco. You would expect that the Netherlands have the ball. I think that Brobby is the ideal kind of centre-forward to come up against a team like this. And he strikes me as a very untypically Dutch centre-forward. You think about the great Dutch centre-forwards of yesteryear, you have Marco van Bastens, you know, you're Ruud van Isteroys. They tend to be quite mobile players. Dennis Bergkamp, they're not these big physical players. capable of dominating opposition centre-backs. And that is something that Brobby brings to their football. And so far, it's been very effective.

17:18OK. Morocco against the Netherlands is the evening game on Monday. It's taking place evening over here. It's taking place in Monterey. These two teams met when the World Cup was last in the United States, Daniel. USA 94. Netherlands winning 2-1 on that occasion. Who scored the winner, Daniel? I'm guessing the fast you've asked me, it means it's Brian Roy of Nottingham Forest Hall of Fame. Yes, enjoy Brian Roy's football. Don't go too far into his personal life since then. He's got some interesting opinions. Oh, no. I mean, he played in the 90s and he's a footballer, right? So, you know, he'd throw a dart at the board.

18:00So true, so true. Let's move on then. Further previews to come. But next up, ahead of our chat with Ramesses Sandoval, let's get a little bit of World Cup news.

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20:25Tom? Yeah, he hadn't really been linked all that closely with PSG. There seems to be a rare example of a player picking his club almost rather than the other way around. But I think it's a sign of how much interest in him there is. PSG are refreshing their attack this summer, having not done so 12 months ago. It's refreshing, doesn't it? Yeah, I mean, yeah. You look at that attack on paper. I mean, how are they supposed to compete when you've only got Dembele and Kvaric-Skeliar and Barcola and Duey? So where would he fit in? Well, I guess he would enter the rotation in the wide areas. So we know that Gonzalo Ramos is on his way to Milan.

21:02Lee Kang-in, who generally plays on the right-hand side, is also on his way out. I suspect Bradley Bacola might end up leaving too because he, in each of the last two seasons, has played a very big role, but then towards the end of the campaign has found himself playing second fiddle to Desiree Douai. So if he were to leave, then Diamande comes in, can play on both sides. Fantastic dribbling ability. We've seen at this World Cup how effective he's capable of being. and the fact that PSG play without a centre-forward, this just gives or would give Luis Enrique even more variety in those attacking positions.

21:38Okay, well stay tuned for further info on that. Norway will be the next opponent for Diamandia and Ivory Coast. That's on Tuesday in the round of 32 in Texas. Poland international striker Robert Lewandowski, who's not at the World Cup because Poland are very much not here, will be heading to America though. He has signed a deal with Chicago Fire, who are also hoping to add former Bayern teammate Leon Goretzka under the former US MNT's boss, Greg Berhalter. Oh, and you may have seen South Korean manager Hong Myung-bo has resigned amid outrage over that nation's early exit from the World Cup, hailed as a golden squad competing in what they reckon was the easiest World Cup group in the country's football history.

22:23and hard to call that a wrong take. They ended up coming third. Hong, a national hero for his exploits in 2002, was described by the president of the republic, no less, as incompetent. And pictures have appeared of shops and restaurants with signs saying, no entry for Hong Myung-bo. If you want the signs of... Sorry, Daniel, yes. I was going to say, I don't know if you saw this, but on Korean television, they showed his final press conference and they blurred out his face and body on the footage and left everybody else there, which, as Korean reporters pointed out, is what they usually reserve for criminals and people on trial for serious crimes.

23:06So it's fair to say they've given him the full Beckham 1998 treatment here. Well, I thought replacing a head with a turnip was as bad as it got, but this is pretty savage stuff for an admittedly disappointing performance. But... It does seem a tad excessive. It does indeed. All right, well, we'll get on to Monday's other games in a second or two. But before we do that, one of the delights of our World Cup, and possibly yours as well so far, has been enjoying the Spanish-language broadcasters Telemundo, not just for their excellent dramas like El Señor de los Cielos, but also their coverage of the World Cup itself, which has been a lot of fun.

23:43One moment in particular, perhaps you've heard us mention it, when Chalinoglu was lining up a free kick and he fires it. but who's there to stop him, the Australian keeper? And the commentary goes, Tom? Patrick Beach. It certainly did. The man who was at the mic that day was Ramzes Sandoval, a teller Muldoon. He makes every game a real treat. At halftime of this afternoon's match, he joined us to tell us more. Ramzes, thank you so much for joining us. Have you been enjoying this World Cup? It's been great. You know, I know you guys have been following. I know the Australia call was a viral one with Patrick Beach and that team that beat Turkey.

24:26But it's been great because, you know, when you think about Telemundo and the fan base, really, you're going to get massive numbers from Mexico, for USA, for Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina. But, man, if you guys catch some of the stuff on my socials, you know, I hit big with Australia, South Africa, the Iraq goal. You know, their first goal in 40 years since 1986 in Boston was amazing. It's been amazing because if you told me at the beginning of this World Cup, you know, I was the voice or, if you will, my calls were going to trend in Australia and Iraq and Iran and South Africa, I would have said, what are we talking about?

25:01It's a really different approach to commentary, certainly than one we're used to. And maybe the fact that it's known as narración, narration in Spanish is a key to your approach. You mentioned Tom's favorite moment of the World Cup so far. Tom? Well, the Patrick Beach save. He didn't say it like that, though, Tom. Well, if Ramses doesn't mind me doing an impersonation of him, but it was Patrick Beach. And we were already slightly obsessed by Patrick Beach and his performance in that game. So when you soundtracked it in that fashion, it was the perfect moment. And I cannot now hear Patrick Beach's name on TV or see it written down without hearing it in your voice.

25:42So thank you for that. Yeah, and it comes up a lot, doesn't it, Patrick Beach? We're hearing that all the time. Phil Hay on The Athletic wrote an entire article about your calling of that game and described, I think he said that you made Patrick Beach sound like Mozart or Ramses. Yeah, yeah. It was funny how I ran into that article because so much stuff is being written, but they started tagging me on social. And then I read it and it was such a nice piece from him. And then I went in, of course, because he tagged the exact moment of it. For me, it was interesting because the Conor Metcalf goal is what was catching a lot of traction with me on my socials.

26:18And then I'm like, you know, you call so many games and I'm like, I got to go. I got to go listen to that Patrick Beach. And he is a Patrick bitch. You know, it's holding it like that. And you start you turn beach into an art. And if it was, you know, you know, Johnson or if it's Hussein or anybody scoring those goals that I've gotten the opportunity, you sort of grab that last name and you just, you know, Molderich, Molderich! And you take it, you go like that with it. And with Patrick Beach, it was sort of, it comes to me in that moment. It's a great save, keeps his team in it. It was an unbelievable story coming in.

26:55As I said, prepping that game, I didn't believe he was going to start. And it sort of just happens, you know, but it was awesome to see. And the response as well was amazing from Australia, as it is, which the commons are great. You can't get enough of it. You take them to another level. And in fact, for that reason, I was just wondering, a little favor, could you possibly announce us? So could you do Tom Williams, first of all? Bueno, acá señoras y señores está Tom Williams!

27:30Oh, thank you so much, Ramses. And now, could you do James Richardson, but really roll it? well you know richardson man you get a lot you're taking me back to goodmundson and richardson

27:50damn wow rams says that was magnificent one to rebajo and we'll catch up with you again again soon i hope thank you for uh for entertaining me uh uh and and and really for sort of this is what's beautiful about the game you guys have been exposed to a different a complete different play-by-play there's some unbelievable play-by-plays obviously on the English side of things and in both the United States and Europe um and it's this is what's beautiful about it that the connection there can be when when sometimes you don't even understand what I'm saying which by the way a lot of the best comments are like in any of these goals be it Australia, Iraq, Iran or South Africa I don't know what this guy's saying but I'm you know I'm here for it and I I heard South Africa and I heard one of my national team's players' name.

28:34I heard Patrick Beach. I'll just keep it on here. So it's been unbelievable.

28:41Ramses Sandoval. What a lovely chat. Daniel, on your travels, have you caught any of Telemundo's output? Yeah, Southern California and New Mexico stint, definitely. I actually started Spanish lessons a couple of years ago and the best advice, because I obviously wanted to learn football Spanish, was to basically watch it with the subtitles on. So that's what I did the other night as a kind of call back to my Spanish lessons is got the Spanish subtitles on so you can tell what excitement is coming. But, yeah, it's good stuff. Well, Fergie wrote that piece. One comment underneath says, if you want to fall asleep during a game, watch it in English.

29:17If you want your blood pumping and your excitement level at 10, watch the game in Spanish. A bit harsh on some of the English commentators, but it's certainly true about the way they bring that whole fiesta vibe, the festival vibe, which we really appreciated in this festival, quite literally, of football. Daniel, we'll hear more from you in a second or two because we've got Monday's action to preview. Netherlands, Morocco, we mentioned before, but Brazil and Japan and Germany, Paraguay. Ooh.

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32:37Japan, and this is a remarkable stat, who have still never won a knockout match in the World Cup, in the Men's World Cup. Daniel? Yeah, that is mad. I mean, they are by such a distance the best team from their confederation at the moment that it's embarrassing for the rest. I know they didn't win the last Asian Cup because Cotard did and can't quite work out how that happened, but they are a phenomenal football team. We worried that the lack of Mitoma and Endo might slightly dampen things, but not at all. Their performance against Netherlands was a joy. I think they're a joy to watch because I know they're really good, but I could also see them getting beaten 3-1 quite comfortably by Brazil.

33:23I think this is pretty comfortably the tie of the round in terms of watchability. I think Brazil can't play any other way than trying to get those attackers involved to trying to get Vinny running at players. And that's exactly how Japan want you to play because they want to be able to soak up pressure. And then the quickest counter-attacking team in world football, I think, even without Mitoma there. So yeah, this is going to be absolute basketball football. It's going to be brilliant. They have got injuries piling up. Mitoma out, Endo out. Minamino, who scored last time they met, is out. Kubo isn't training after he picked up that knock in the first game.

33:58That last meeting, a lot of people have cited this. last October it was, that in Tokyo, Japan hosted Brazil, went 2-0 down, but promptly came back and beat them 3-2, which suggests that this could be an absolute sizzler tomorrow. However, as Natalie always points out when we mention this, there were a couple of big things. One, it was a friendly, and Carlo took off all his biggest hacking players when they were 2-1 up. And the other thing is the names of the back line for Brazil that day, who were Carlos Augusto, Beraldo, Fabrizio Bruno, and Paulo Henrique, with Hugo Souza in goal. So not their first choice defence.

34:34That's the message I'm drawing. It wasn't, but I think for Japan psychologically it will still count for something. I think for a country of that level, who, as Daniel says, have been one of the powerhouses of Asian football for decades, pulling off a prestige win like that counts for a lot. They beat England in a friendly in March. They beat Germany not too long ago. We've seen their quality every time we've watched them at this tournament. and I worry slightly for that Brazilian midfield. We saw how much they struggled against Morocco in the first half of their opening game, Brazil, to such an extent that Casemiro, who was dreadful, had to be hooked at half-time and replaced by Fabinho and from the halfway point in that game, Brazil basically stopped taking any risks in the middle of midfield because they were so worried about Morocco swarming all over them.

35:24Japan can do that and you look at the midfield that's likely to be aligned at kick-off by Brazil, It's likely to be Casemiro again, Bruner Gimareich, Lucas Paquitar, who was the extra pair of legs who's been added to that. Fantastic footballers, all of them, but there's not a huge amount of energy there. Gimareich brings a lot of industry, but he's not particularly quick. Quick is possibly the last adjective that would come to mind when you're thinking about Casemiro, and Paquitar is not very speedy either. So you can see Japan causing them problems. And again, as Daniel said, when Japan turn the ball over and start counterattacking, They are a fairly terrifying prospect.

35:59I think this will be a really big test for Brazil. Well, that certainly sounds a great way to start the day. And you know what's also good is that we can follow that almost immediately afterwards with the game taking place in, let me see, Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Germany will be taking on Paraguay. Who can we ask about Germany after that surprise defeat in their final group game, 2-1 against Ecuador? Why, Raphael Honigstein. Hello, James. Hello to you, Rafa. Welcome back. How have you been? Been very well, thank you. Mostly in California. I've been traveling to see Austria play. Been to the fairly eventful games.

36:40You were there at the crazy, probably the strangest finale of the tournament so far, the Austria. But James, I'm not in Kansas anymore. Oh, he went there. He went there. Boom. That's all we got you on for, Rafa. But, you know, since you're here, let's ask you about, well, I actually would be curious your take on Austria-Algeria later on. But first of all, Germany. Congratulations. You've made it to the knockouts around the 32 of Italy, but it's the knockouts. Yeah. And it's a big improvement on the last two World Cups when we got knocked out at the group stage. But things are not great, James.

37:22The atmosphere has really suffered, both in the camp and back home because of that Ecuador defeat. And it wasn't so much that the defeat changed anything because we could afford to lose the game. But the manner of defeat brought home all the concerns, all the problems that people discussed at length before the workup. They were all crystallized in this particular game. So people now feel quite bad in a way that you could see all this coming. and Nagelsmann doesn't seem to be willing to change anything. And this might not make that much of a difference against Paraguay. I think we'll be okay. But we have France next in all likelihood and that's when things will definitely be over if we play the way we played against Ecuador.

38:10Rafa, when you talk about the issues that people were discussing before the tournament, what were they? And was Manuel Neuer one of them? Manuel Neuer was being discussed not so much in terms of should he play or not because I think a majority of supporters, stroke experts stroke journalists still kind of understood Nagelsmann's decision to bring him back because his form had been quite good the second half of the season Oliver Baumann's form, the number one hadn't been that good for Freiburg for Hoffenheim, sorry he was at Freiburg before But now that Neuer has sadly looked his age and conceded goals in every game and hasn't really made the kind of saves that we expected him to, it's not a question that people want to get necessarily rid of him and want to get him out.

39:06But it was Nagelsmann's big decision and it hasn't been vindicated. So that hasn't helped him. But the bigger talking point is Joshua Kimmich as a right back. Nagelsmann made up his mind, I think it was one half years ago, that Kimmich would definitely be his central midfielder. And then he made up his mind six months ago that Kimmich would definitely be his right back. And he also said in the same interview that Leon Goretzka would be one of his main men in midfield. Nagelsmann changes his mind quite frequently. That's what I'm trying to illustrate with these one or two examples. And people are hoping that he will change it again.

39:50Both Luzer Mateus and Philipp Lahm have come out and said, Kimmich has to play midfield because, A, we don't have control in midfield. Pavlovic and the matcher have looked good in spells, but don't exert the same kind of authority and degree of dominance in possession. And at the same time, Kimmich, and this is the thing we knew all along, really struggles against proper attacking wingers. He doesn't have the pace to defend against real class opposition. He was horribly exposed by the Ivory Coast. and you fear that, again, if I just think about, you know, Dwey or Dembele or even Olisse, if you maybe switch his flank momentarily, running at poor Kimmich, it's such a mismatch.

40:46So Paraguay, maybe they can get away with it. And Nagelsmann has basically kind of almost angrily denied the need for any change there. but I can't see this being a winning recipe to go deeper into competition. Wow. All right, well, we'll find out in the middle of Monday's fixtures. Meantime, Rafa, I just wanted to ask you as well about that game on Sunday night, because it was an incredibly dramatic finale. Tom was watching it here, and the way that the two final goals were presaged by this remarkable period of Algerian possession, when they put together 110 consecutive passes over five minutes of possession.

41:32You were there watching this, yeah? Yes, I was. And we have to tell our listeners and viewers that I work with the Austrian FA, so my account might be colored somewhat by specific bias. But you had a sense that after a pretty eventful and entertaining sort of 60 minutes when both teams scored two goals and there was a bit of jeopardy involved. Algeria, first of all, had sort of agreed that, you know, this is it now. We're quite happy with the draw. Algeria had an even bigger incentive not to win the game than Austria because they had Switzerland next, whereas Austria had Spain. So it was clear at some point that something like this might organically, I would say, emerge.

42:19And it didn't feel as if it was pre-scripted or both teams had agreed verbally or in any kind of real sense that this is it. But Algeria just stopped playing. They started passing it amongst themselves, as you said. And Austria kind of understood the hint and didn't push them anymore. And that's why for five, six minutes they were just playing down the clock. But then something unbelievable happened. certainly unbelievable to the Austrians that Algeria whether it was a spur of the moment thing always by design suddenly played that through ball and Austria were completely unaware and switched off and Mahrez came out with some really interesting statements after said look I had to score, I have to play football, I respect football I cannot not score so then Austria was suddenly out and the feeling I had in the stands watching this thinking I mean Austria would have been the laughing stock back home because they would have managed to get knocked out by a team who didn't really want to score a goal that's how I felt luckily they scrambled really really quickly and managed to score a goal and I have to say to you James I've been to Barcelona in 99 I was in Istanbul in 2005 but I have never experienced this kind of seesaw of emotions within 90 seconds as I did last night to be first out and the butt of jokes and recriminations and you know you really messed us up to suddenly being the heroes of the piece and the whole country celebrating all in the space of a few seconds and an injury time it was just and it was an unbelievable experience.

44:15Yeah, it didn't end well, of course, for Iran. Their supporters who were watching, who for that brief period found themselves back in the knockout stages, but then back out again. But I can imagine there must have been absolutely furious on the Austrian bench, having stood off the Algerian team who clearly wanted to run the clock down, only to get to the, what, 93rd minute? The 4th minute. 94th minute, when it was too late for anyone else to do anything about it. And, oh, whoops, we scored a goal. or it seemed a very unusual way to end the game. Yeah, I mean, look, the Austrian bench didn't have time to get angry.

44:48They had to figure out what can we do. And luckily, the substitute, Sascha Kalajic, who had a long history of struggling, he had three ACL injuries and has been in and out of the team and had never really delivered for the national team, I think it's fair to say, came up with a goal that made him immortal, I think. and you know because Austria yes these are more extended and easier knockouts than in previous editions but they haven't been in a knockout in the World Cup since 1954 so that is it's quite a long time to be to be involved at that stage and I saw although it was Huawei because I was sitting with the Austria fans behind the Austria goal I saw in the half in the center circle that Sabica was having a bit of a go at Mahrez, saying, really?

45:41Really? That's what he did? But, I mean, what can you do? You cannot really criticise your opponent for having a go and scoring. Is there any suggestion that this was in reference to events of 1974? 82. 82. 82, sorry. Yeah. That this was in relation to events of 1982, Rafa? A lot of people read it that way when it transpired, but Maris was very clear that it was nothing to do with it. And I mean, if they planned it that way to pretend they're not attacking for 10 minutes or so or 20 minutes and then twist the knife at the last minute, it was a genius way of doing it. but it seemed to me that not everyone was on the same page that some of the Algeria players were just as stunned that they had scored that goal as Austria was so I think only this kind of format only this kind of very unique setup produces a game as dramatic as this but yeah it was a privilege to be there and I think something we'll remember for a long time indeed Rafa thank you so much for being with us today you've got Spain next for Austria Spain yeah Spain all right yes it's quite scary I think um I see I saw various projections that make or make Spain 80 % favorite and I think that sounds about right it is quite a lopsided tie but then again 20 % in one game is not nothing and Austria I think might find it easier in a way to play against Spain the pressure will be off you could sense that going into the Algeria game especially after the whole week had gone in a way that every time they fought you know three points would be enough then everyone started winning and suddenly it was clear that a defeat would knock them out and I think psychologically it was quite a difficult game for them whereas against Spain, everyone thinks Spain will go through so they've got nothing to lose and I'm looking forward to it.

47:58I'll be watching it again with the Austria fans behind the Austria goal. Oh nice and you might well see the opposition keeping the ball for five minutes in this game as well. We shall see. We shall see. Rafa, enjoy the game and thank you so much for being with us and look forward to speaking to you again soon. Anytime, James. Thank you so much, Rafa. lovely stuff. Thank you. Raphael Honigstein. Well, there you go, Tom. Daniel, that's been a pretty illuminating window on Germany, but also that crazy game in Kansas. Crikey, well, Germany up against Paraguay then, and that with Morocco's clash with Netherlands and Brazil-Japan makes up our Monday line-up.

48:39Where are you going to be this time tomorrow, Daniel? I'm going to be in Chattanooga, which is very much the border town between Tennessee in atlanta it's in the appalachian mountains apparently beautiful walking territory so i'm gonna try and sneak out of a hotel very early get down there go for a hike and then watch the football magnificent the chattanooga choo-choo that's a train i thought it was a dance no no pardon me boy is that the chattanooga choo-choo unless he was observing a group of people doing a dance but I don't think so because the boy replies track 29 that does suggest more train than dance I've got a Chattanooga tutu and then a midnight train to Georgia things are looking up Daniel, magnificent look at you diving head first into American culture, will we ever get you back

49:32do hope we'll be seeing you again soon on Totally at the World Cup Daniel but thank you so much for joining us today amid what appears to be an atomic conflagration in your hotel room. It's bright. It is quite bright. That brings us to the end of today's show. So many thanks to Rafa and to you, Daniel and Tom and all the production crew and you there, wherever you're enjoying this totally at the World Cup. We'll be back with another one in 24 hours time. I hope you'll join us for that. For another though from all of us here, it's goodbye.

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