Norway-France face-off on Friday after Ecuador’s escape against Germany

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2:37Day 15. Ecuador beat Germany to stay in the competition. Japan book a last 32 meet with Brazil. There's revenge for Thanksgiving as Turkey beat Americans. and shockaroos, nil-nil between Paraguay and Australia, Hill v Beach in the Summer Holiday Dilemma Derby. Thursday night in LA and Friday morning in other parts of the world. Hello to you wherever you are. Thank you so much for joining us on Totally at the World Cup. Here with us today, delighted to say we've got Tom Williams. Hello, James. And also his penultimate... No, you've got three left, including tonight, assuming everything goes well, Duncan Alexander.

3:18Yeah, hello. A lot of people saying, Duncan, why? Why are you leaving us? Well, there's another big sporting event on the horizon called the Tour de France. A little thing called the Tour de France. People, you've heard of it. Cycling over football. Well, if I could clone myself, and God knows I've tried, then I would divide and conquer, but sadly, yeah. The machines will just churn out a replica Duncan, and the replica Duncan can stay. Maybe they already have, Tom. Maybe they already have. Maybe they already have. Tom you you went to you played football today you went and enjoyed a game of a scratch game with local talent we had ourselves a pick up game a pick up game it was genuinely lovely wholesome fun went down there with producer Jesse and Max and Laurie of the athletic fame to a park just round the corner from us here in Van Noys we rounded up some locals and we had ourselves a full pitch game Six on six of thriller for the neutrals.

4:17That's so nice. Yeah, it was a very wholesome moment. All right. Laurie appears to have misplaced his sleeves. He'll be with us, actually, on tomorrow's show. On tomorrow's show, we're previewing England, of course. A day this in which we saw three more sides exit the competition. More will follow. But Turkey, Curaçao and Tunisia playing their last in this particular tournament. Duncan, do you want to lob the flags over the back of the shoulder? we're not using the word lob we're gently and respectfully right smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup they picked up a point they scored goals Tunisia who didn't do so well and Turkey the dark horse right they finally came good when it was too late you just needed three more games I know I know next time next time we look forward to that hey tell you what we'll hear more about how they got on but how about a moment of the day before we get stuck into the six matches today Tom Well we complained about Ecuador being Equasnor it turns out that they're actually Equascore Equascore I was just about to say Equascore they've turned up at long last, they were many people's dark horses pre-competition lost in stoppage time in their opening game against Ivory Coast battered Curaçao but only drew 0-0 tough assignment to finish against Germany fell behind but immediately equalised and then in the closing stages corner gets flicked on at the near post it looks like it's going to land on a platter for German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer but he doesn't count on Gonzalo platter, he's been on the field a matter of minutes, hooks the ball into the roof of the net, two on Ecuador and the story continues.

6:12Incredibly He takes it out of his hands almost with his boot. Manol Noir did not cover himself in glory today at all. And he looked a little bit like a robot goalkeeper. Nothing like robots. Just kind of, you know, ball will land in hands. Must say, goal. Where is ball? 58th World Cup. Yeah. Plotter just snuck in. It reminded me of a hand version of the Iraqi goalie against Norway when he was waiting for the ball to come in Erling Haaland and just ran in. Goalkeepers have got to be more like Pat Beach. step up man like he was carrying a platter and he was done by one nice what about you duncan what stood out for you today well there were a lot there were six games today but i'm staying staying with this game um because i very much enjoyed after the game obviously ecuador with with a lot of fans there um what are we seeing there well we're seeing the manager sebastian becca cheche right or should we call him boris becca cheche or more accurately pat cash because it was very life.

7:08Remember when Pat Cash won Wimbledon in 1987, which many people won't, fair enough. He scrambled up into the stands to see his dad, I think. And it was, yeah, I mean, it looks quite rough there. He's been hauled up, but we assume that's his family. Looks like he's being rescued during a rodeo. Yeah, it looks like a scene from Jackass. For anyone not watching. Anyway, this was actually the heartwarming scenes at the end of Ecuador finally coming good at the composition. Dark Horse in the rodeo, charging through the thing. That's a game we're going to be talking an awful lot about, clearly. Can I offer us a moment of the day, probably the team goal of the tournament so far?

7:47Japan. What a goal it was. It was only the first of a 1-1 draw, but it was absolutely amazing scored by Dyson Maeda, but the 1-2s before it, a back heel. I think it broke the ranch record for people standing up when a goal went in, that goal. because it was such a constructed beauty. Yes. Sounding up and oohing. Japan continuing the competition. As I mentioned in the intro, they'll be up against Brazil. But let's check through the results on this day 15 of the competition. We had Ivory Coast beating Curaçao 2-0, while Ecuador were 2-1 winners against Germany. So to paraphrase Paul McCartney, Germany and Ivory finish first and second in the group.

8:31Ecuador go top of the third place teams. and will continue in the World Cup. In Group F, it was 1-1 between Japan and Sweden, while Netherlands beat Tunisia 3-1. That all means that Netherlands win the group, Japan are second, Sweden are certain to go through among the third-placed teams. And this evening, in Group D, Paraguay-Australia was 0-0. Oof. We watched it, so you don't have to. It took place, we can confirm. While the other game, which was the deadest of dead rubbers, USA, the group winners already against Turkey, already out, was an absolutely thrilling 3-2 match. We'll be hearing from Austin Green about that and generally the whole thing around USA.

9:17Sorry, Duncan. Well, I was just going to say it was Turkey A beating USA B. Enjoyable for some. It's good. It's good. Well, oh, club goals. A lot of people have been asking about this. which club has had its players school the most goals at the World Cup and this followed actually Nilsson Angulo's strike for Ecuador against Germany the first of their their goals in that 2-1 win Nilsson Angulo's spot on yeah as you know don't get it as they would say in the Sopranos Germany Nilsson Angulo sure okay anyway anyway why was I saying this oh yeah because he is the fourth different Sunderland player to score in this tournament, which means that they are behind only Paris Saint-Germain in the number of players that they have provided who've scored goals in this World Cup.

10:14You correct me then, Duncan. They are level with Paris Saint-Germain. It's basically Europe's big four at the top, as you'd expect. Real Madrid have got nine players who've scored. It's Real Madrid. Oh, they've got nine players who've scored. PSG have got six. PSG. European champions. And then it's Crystal Palace and Sunderland. The big four. The Europa League challengers from our league. Yeah. So, fair enough. Real Madrid, Paris, Saint-Germain, Crystal Palace and Sunderland. Boom. There you go. Last we'll hear about those teams, but plenty coming up on Ecuador and Germany as we get stuck in to Thursday's results.

10:55thrilling scenes at the met life in new jersey at the final whistle of ecuador germany ecuador who'd been heading out of the competition just 13 minutes before came up with the winner and there was much rejoicing tom there was great rejoicing i mean we know that fans of the south american countries tell tend to travel in significant numbers despite their prohibitive costs associated with this tournament in particular. So the stadium was awash with yellow shirts. And, you know, Ecuador had a pretty tricky tournament so far, but they finally had their moment and they were worthy victors. I mean, we've said, going back to Germany's opening game, when they put seven goals past Curaçao, that we thought they looked a little bit flaky.

11:39They looked a little bit flaky again today. On one hand, you would say, well, they're already through as group winners. There's nothing riding on the game for them. So does it really matter? But they picked a very strong team, only two changes in defence. And the more the game went on, the less you felt they were in control. And even before Plata poked in the winner, they had a couple of really big chances. And yeah, fantastic scenes at the final whistle. Bekhecheche climbing up to celebrate with his loved ones and lots of emotion. Lots of hair as well. Lots of hair, yeah. Afterwards, in the press conference, he said that he asked Ecuador to stay united, as in Bolivar's dream.

12:24He says, we never feel like we're in hell, nor do we feel like we're in heaven. Our feet are on the ground on earth, and on earth you feel. There's EFL managers. The layers to that. But EFL managers love saying never too high, never too low after games. That's just a fancy version of that. Well, works for me, and it worked for Ecuador. The whole country, by the way, have got the day off. The Ecuadorian president decreed a national holiday in honour of them qualifying for the knockout stages. That's not good for the GDP, Tom. Sometimes you've just got to let your hair down. Something more important.

13:01Yeah, exactly. Thank you. Questions for Germany then. So Ecuador, who came in as one of those highly touted teams, have they finally clicked? Are they now showing what everyone was getting so excited about? they are going to be probably facing co-host Mexico in the last 32 there's a strong chance that if they get through that game and England get through theirs they could be facing England so what do you make of them now Tom? I mean I wouldn't say that they hadn't clicked previously I just think things hadn't really come together I mean the opening game against Ivory Coast was you know fairly level I think we thought that Ivory Coast probably just about deserved it on balance but there wasn't much between the teams they should have comfortably beaten Curaçao that That was the Eloy-Room game.

13:4415 saves. When Eloy-Room entered the room. But they hadn't scored a goal. But they hadn't scored a goal. And that was the concern pre-tournament. He knew that they were extremely solid defensively. The worry was, with Ena Valencia creaking his way through matches, were they going to score any goals? And actually, he was taken off prior to the winner, which was set up by Kevin Rodriguez, the guy who came on to replace him. Gonzalo Plata had a very good game. you know even Wizes Coisado who we think of as a fairly destructive player he contributes in the final third for Ecuador and when you are that solid defensively it always gives you a platform so yeah they're not the kind of team you'd want to come up against and they do feel like they're playing their way into the tournament.

14:25Okay very interesting Colin Miller contributes a remarkable fact about Ecuadorian football about 50 % of all their World Cup players since 2002 last 24 years have all come from one region of the country esmeraldas up there a little arrow for you if you're not watching this that's basically up on the northwest pacific coast of the cumbria i would say right yeah tropical landscape yeah yeah again the relaxed beaches yeah it all says anyway the weird thing is back to colin's point that region only provides about three percent of the nation's population, yet 50 % of their World Cup players have come from there.

15:09What's going on? We simply don't know. We simply don't know. We mentioned that Ecuador could play England in the last 16 if they progress as expected. Obviously, England played Ecuador in 2006 in a terrible game, settled by a scrappy David Beckham free kick. So let's hope for a better game than that. All right. Germany will be going through probably to face Paraguay, yet convinced Tom, certainly fully. The loss of Nico Schlotterbeck has probably not helped their chances, but hey. The other game in this group saw Curacao, they of the 15 saves against Ecuador, taking on Ivory Coast. Ivory Coast winning this game 2-0, and by consequence, reaching the knockout stages of the competition for the first time ever.

15:56The goals were from Nicolas Pepe. Were you watching this game, Duncan? Yeah, I was keeping an eye on it, and yeah, Pepe looked good. Good. should be snapped up you know arsenal need a wide player why not why not gamble but yeah no i mean curacao kind of they were good they were kind of solid um they've ended the the group stage having conceded 30 shots on target which is the most since north korea in in 2010 but they only conceded three in this game and you know every case didn't look in trouble at any point but it was a competitive match and i think for curacao i think that's a you know par they've got through yeah the 7-1 will sting but I think they can leave with their heads held high they gave us that equaliser against Germany, what a moment that was their first goal at the World Cup the Eloy Room show Room of the View they're calling it they're not, but yeah Ivory Coast, we said didn't we at the start of the tournament that this group yes Germany have finished top of it but I don't think Germany are the best, the standout team I think Ivory Coast and Ecuador are probably as good.

17:00And it'll be interesting to see how all three of them progress in the next few weeks because they've all got different skill sets. Ivory Coast are going to play either France or Norway in the next round. And I think they can pose problems for either. I mean, Diamandi was on the left today, looked good. Yeah, I'm impressed with them. And overall it's been a pretty solid Greek stage for African teams. And they are a good example of that. Good. As you say, it is France or Norway next for Ivory Coast, depending on who wins in the clash between those two nations, which is coming up on Friday and looks a bit of a sizzler.

17:38Norway, of course, probably the only one of the many fated dark horses coming into this tournament that has actually delivered so far on its promise, winning both of their games in good fashion. To hear a little bit more about them, we've dialed up a pretty top Norway fan. And we'll be speaking to him next.

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19:37Right, everybody, let's check in on Norway. We're joined now by friend of the show, Martin Sleepness from the Enkel Severing podcast, who's out on the road in the United States. Martin, hello. Good evening to you. Hello. Good evening to you too. Where do you join us from? Right now I'm in an Airbnb in Rentam. It's a 10-minute drive from the Gillette Stadium. Okay. And I'm gearing up for tomorrow's big match against France. Wow, indeed. A month or two ago we were talking with you and at the time you were following Norway's big club miracles, Bodo Glimt as they tore their way through a succession of mighty sides, Man City, Atletico, Inter in the Champions League.

20:23And now here you are with the national side aiming to do something similar. This, for me personally, this has been an incredible year being able to follow Bodo Glimt and now Norway as a job. Bodeglimt I followed as a fan but this is a job so I think Norway has started really well and they kind of took Bodeglimt's momentum and they would have done it either whatever Glimt had done but they took the momentum and they showed that they had qualities in the World Cup and that's amazing for us Norwegians to be able to see we haven't been in the World Cup for nearly 30 years. So we are a super hungry football people, as you know.

21:16You've been on the road with the Enka Severin podcast bus. We're just seeing it on our little screen here. It looks magnificent. Yeah. It's a 12-meter long car. Here in America, you only have to have the regular standard car driving license. I think it's insane that I'm allowed to drive that monster of a truck. You've been driving the truck, Martin. Yeah, I picked it up on, it waited on me after we landed in New York and we drove up to Boston. And the roads, you would imagine that they are good, but they are terrible until you get out on the super highways. and it's one of the worst things I've done I think because it's so scary and it's so heavy and the cars, they don't care about what you're doing, they're just darting in front and back of you all the time so it's been a challenge but New York, Boston Boston, New York and now back to Boston Okay, if you're out on the road and you see the anchor severing bus, honk and stay well clear I think would be the advice It must be a bit like Erling Haaland bearing down on a goalkeeper.

22:33Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Duncan here making the point that your centre forward is of a similar stature and poses a similar danger to neighbouring objects. Producer Charlie wanted to know if you, Martin Sleepness, have been to Seattle yet. No, I haven't. Okay. How come? Well, there was a film called Sleepless in Seattle. Yes, of course. Of course. should go there and take a picture right um yeah you've been enjoying yourself the driving not withstanding the fans have really been enjoying it too can you tell us what is the row all about um i think um the role is uh as i've understood it it's uh it it comes from rosenborg uh one of the former big teams in Norway played in Champions League, the last Norwegian team in the Champions League.

23:31The guy who invented the chant sat there and the chant goes, Ro, Sønn, Borg! And he kind of just took the start, Ro, and thought, we are Vikings, we roll to countries and we invade countries, or at least used to. So he gathered up a bunch of people and they started rowing. Okay. So that's the story about rowing. And the best part about rowing is that the Swedes hate it. So if you go on X and watch Swedish pundits write about the rowing or anything about Norway, they hate the thought of Norway beating France. and Sweden meeting Norway in the next round. And we crushed them and we just row and row and row.

24:29And that's my main goal. Good Lord, Martin. This Viking business, of course, the team dressed up for their official pre-World Cup squad picture as Vikings. And they've taken that spirit very much into their opening games. The 4-1 win over Iraq. Senegal was a 3-2 victory. Again, in our video version, you can see them. Well, they do look like a friendly bunch there. What about France in this final game? Can you win the group by taking France? Can you do it, Martin? I think that my impression is that both teams will rotate and save players. So I think the second string of France is obviously better than the second string of Norway.

25:16But still, it's one game. everything can happen. And we still have good players to come in and finish the game. I think Holland would obviously love to score against France. So I think the Norwegian team will be up for it. And I think there's a chance, but they will need luck on their way, I think, to beat France. Okay. Whoever finishes runner-up in the group will be up against Ivory Coast, who we were just talking about admiringly. But the winner of this group will be, I think, definitely or very likely Duncan, up against Sweden, which is the thought that Martin takes with him to bed every night and wakes up with every morning.

26:00Yes, the only thing, if we lose to France tomorrow, we will be going to Dallas next. Okay. And that would be a long drive. Yeah. From Boston to Dallas. I think that's 30 hours. So I'm not sure if we'll make the game. Okay. We'll see tomorrow. It should be a terrific match anyway. It's very late where you are, Martin, and you probably have a bit of driving to do with your giant bus tomorrow anyway. So we'll salute you now. But I do hope we can catch up with you again on the roads of America. And many thanks for joining us today. Thank you. I will be here as long as Norway is here. So there, just ring me.

26:42Excellent. Thank you very much, Martin Sleibnus. listen to Enka Severing remarkable Martin Sleepness I mean I think people have been sleeping on the prospect of this Norway v Sweden mega clash in the last 32 they have to beat France for it it's more likely France win the group let's be honest but should Erling Haaland pull off something magical tomorrow I mean now we know from Martin that the Swedes absolutely hate the row I wasn't a big fan of it but now I'm super invested in seeing it so bring it on alright that's part of Friday's line up lots of other games coming up too we're going to touch on this very very shortly we're also going to get a quick word on what happened in Group F today that's all next

27:28Group F saw Japan and Netherlands vying for top spot with Sweden a point behind any one of them at the start of the day could take top spot Netherlands played Tunisia and beat them Japan and Sweden faced each other we touched on this before it ended up 1-1 with a couple of magnificent goals. We detailed a little bit how Japan came up with theirs, Daizomeida, but the answer almost immediately from Sweden in terms of an individual strike was even better. Yeah, Anthony Lange getting his second goal of the tournament and a lovely goal, picking it up on the right, drifting across the box and curling one in bottom left with his left foot.

28:09And we discovered after the game via Graham Potter that he was crestfallen. Anthony Langer was pounding the turf in frustration because he thought Sweden had gone out, didn't realise that they had not gone out. They had had big chances as well to win the game, which would have taken them into second place. He didn't realise that they were through anyway as a third place side. He did not. He did not. He was coming out with a brilliant couple of phrases. He said, bless him. We did tell him. Yeah. Which is just like a dad, which is kind of what you want to manage it to be, right? Yeah. Arm around the shoulder.

28:43There you go. Netherlands beat the already out Tunisia 3-1. They're going to take on Morocco in a bit of a Diaspora Classico, which I'm sure is a boot. Canada gets South Africa, which doesn't really seem fair. The reason I mention that is totally random fact. It's just Netherlands-Morocco, when you win a group and you get Morocco, it doesn't seem fair if, say, Canada gets South Africa. But that's not... It's quite a quarter, finally, Netherlands-Morocco. It does, isn't it? quality. We'll preview it more when it rolls around, but a word on Tunisia for anyone who was watching, who was watching? That was you, Tom.

29:20I've seen them build as the worst team in World Cup history. That seems harsh. I know that they lost all their games and fired a manager and conceded, what was it, 12 goals and only scored two? How does it rank? Kicked off today with a calamitous own goal scored by their captain, Elie Neskiri, his name is El Yes, his defending was El No. That was three minutes in. And so you think, well, you know, that's probably that. Equalled the World Cup record for own goals. So they're equaling records at least, just none of the good ones. In decades come, people will be like, who equaled the own goal record at the 22-foot World Cup region?

30:00It must have been decent. Then fell 2-0 down, Brian Brobby, reduced the arrears through Hazem Astori, but then Netherlands immediately scored a third. And that was that. And so they go out with a minus 10 goal difference, zero points, a very forgettable contribution to the tournament. Well, they contributed lots of goals, just they didn't score any. They played their part. I mean, they scored two. Anyway, that was them and that was Group F. Group D we haven't touched on yet, but let's get on to that because it includes USA and Turkey. USA were already through and Turkey were already out and they faced each other here in Los Angeles on Thursday.

30:35Paraguay, meanwhile, were up against Australia and those two teams were battling it out for second place. Or were they? Battling is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that team. The disgrace of Santa Clara. Was this... Tell us some stats about this game. So Australia came in second. Yes. And Paraguay third. Yes. But Paraguay, a draw. Paraguay had three points. They knew a draw would pretty much get them through. And let's just say neither team over-exerted themselves. What was the XG? The XG was 0.84 combined. Is that the lowest of the tournament? It's the first game at this World Cup to go under one.

31:11And there were a couple of chances in injury time at the end, but they both knew it was fine. Pat Beach wasn't tested. He did one incredible overarm bowl out in the first half. And he did some skills in the second half, but even Paddy Beach, our new hero, couldn't save this match. On the subject of Patrick Bleach, Snappy Staps says, As much as I enjoy saying, Patrick Bleach, along with Tom, as this summer's new daily routine. I'm still waiting to hear the original. I'm not sure it can live up to expectations at this point, but the curiosity's starting to become unbearable. We can't, for copyright reasons...

31:49We want to. We want to, but we can't. Well, we can't put it on here. We can put it on social media. But you know what the other thing we could do? How's about we dial up the man who says, Patrick, bleh, it's Ramsey Sandoval of Telemundo, because he's now a friend of the show. So we're going to try and get him on and do it for us live. Anyway, back to the actual football. So we were talking about the Australia-Paraguay game as little as possible. And Paraguay will now be taking on Germany. Is that confirmed in the round of 32? Paraguay have got an over 99 % chance. There's one mad scenario where a load of teams can end on four points and with certain scorelines and Paraguay finish the ninth best third place team.

32:35but you're saying there's not a chance i'm saying that won't happen and that paraguay can now plan for a game against germany okay now if you're curious to know how it is that duncan keeps up with all the possibilities and probabilities then let me introduce you to my little friend over here this is the athletic it's just the athletics incredible workup bracket tracker you can keep track of and this is an infomercial but it is genuinely a phenomenal uh little tool this You can keep track of where all the different third-place teams are and their possibilities of going through. Scotland, for example, started the day at around 40%.

33:12It's dropped right down to 16%. It's climbed back up a little bit. But on this bracket here, you can see who's already confirmed and who they're going to be playing. And if we don't know yet, it gives you the teams a little sidebar with their percentages. It's excellent. And, of course, it's free. I wouldn't be doing this otherwise. It's free on the Athletics app for the duration of the tournament. That bracket. There's no racket. at that bracket they're saying. There you go. That's the official slogan. Anyway, from that I know that Paraguay are probably going to be taking on Germany. As for Australia, their likely opponent is Belgium.

33:46However, if New Zealand beat Belgium in their final group game... Which you can't rule out looking at Belgium thus far. And New Zealand thus far. If that happens, Australia against New Zealand in the round of 32. Go on. Wood v Beach in the how are we going to start a fire late at night on our trip out Classico. I mean, I'm up for it. Me too. Me too. Anyway, that was a turkey Thursday night. The US played one. Let's hear about that game next.

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36:29With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55 % off your Babbel subscription right now at babbel.com slash acast. spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash ACAST. Rules and restrictions may apply. Thursday night, USA took on Turkey. Very much a B team offered by Mauricio Pochettino and they duly lost 3-2 to the departing Turks. We're joined now by the Athletics' very own Austin Green. Austin, you were following this game and have been following Team USA pretty closely as well.

37:15I wanted to get a little bit of your perspective, not so much on this match, which didn't ultimately mean that much, but also on the whole situation, the incredible enthusiasm which has been building around Pochettino's side. First of all, though, this game, five goals, even a dead rubber with this USA team is exciting. Yeah, you know, I think one of the things that was really cool to see is just the amount of intensity that a lot of the rotation, you know, kind of squad players play with. I think Sebastian Berhalter, who scored the second goal and that spectacular shot outside of the box into the near post, really kind of exemplifies that.

37:53And just also his rise where he's kind of a little bit of a late bloomer. He's kind of scraped his way up to being one of the better players in the MLS league as a whole. He plays for Vancouver Whitecaps right now. And it's just really cool to see, I think, even though the result was not what obviously the U.S. wanted, even in a dead rubber game. Just to see that intensity and that hard, especially after going down, that was the first time the U.S. had trailed in this World Cup. And to see their response after that was really cool. That said, you know, I think this kind of confirmed what everyone kind of around the team who's been watching the team closely knows, which is once you get past kind of those first choice center back, that first choice back line, it goes downhill pretty quick for the U.S., and that's their big weakness.

38:39Okay. Big A-listers in the stands at the SoFi there. There was Will Ferrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Somebody captioned this picture with Edward Norton talking to himself. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Edwin Norton. I don't think we have the picture, but Edwin Norton's reaction when USA took the lead three minutes in, Tom, can you give it a... Briefly looked completely terrified. Yeah. He kind of did this. Wow, it was quite the moment. And there is so much enthusiasm. A sellout crowd tonight, tickets going in, thousands of dollars. There's been so much enthusiasm building. And it's kind of weird to think back that only a couple of months ago, people were so down on Pochettino and this team.

39:23Yeah. I mean, you know, just talking to people who have been around the team, I've been following this team, my colleagues, Paul Tenorio, Henry Bushnell, Tom Boger over at The Athletic, who are doing a brilliant job kind of chronicling this team and the ins and outs every international break. You know, it's kind of amazing. I mean, and they've said this publicly. They've written it. They've done videos about it. Like, it's a little bit astonishing just how much energy this team has and how well this team is playing. I think this result was almost a little bit more of, I think, what was kind of expected coming in, which is where they do have some energy, they do have intensity, they play that Pochettino very up-tempo, high-pressing style, very aggressive, but they don't really have the defensive chops to really support it.

40:09Whereas, you know, they have had that. Granted, against Paraguay and Australia, but they have had that. I think one interesting thing to note is, you know, in this window, If you go back to the friendlies before the World Cup, the tune-ups against Senegal and Germany, they've conceded two against Senegal, two against Germany, and then three tonight. And so other than that one kind of fluke goal against Paraguay, they have not conceded when Chris Richards has been on the field. He is by far the best center back that they have, obviously, Premier League stalwart at Crystal Palace. and it's just kind of like going into the World Cup.

40:49There were some concerns about his ankle. Obviously, he's played, I believe, 90 minutes, if not most, for the first two games, the first two wins. He has looked phenomenal. As long as he still looks good, he sat tonight just because he was on the yellow. As long as he looks good, I think this team is still in really good shape. You've been down to the training camp south of Los Angeles. And while enthusiasm and over-enthusiasm perhaps builds around the team, and talk of USA winning the competition, what's the mood been like among the players? Yeah, I think among the players, you know, this is a very tight-knit group.

41:25This group kind of literally grew up together. Christian Pulisic and Weston McKinney have literally known each other since they were teenagers. A lot of these guys have known each other since they were kind of coming up through the youth system back in the day. And they were kind of anointed from a young age after the qualification, you know, the qualification disaster happened. lean up to the 2018 World Cup, they were kind of tapped as, hey, this is the golden generation meant to bring the team back and get the team to this moment where they've got a home World Cup and they have a chance to really raise the profile of soccer even further in this country as it's already been growing.

42:02And I think just watching that all kind of come together, but also the genuine friendships that are on this team and the genuine, like there is a genuine, in very tight-knit closeness among this team. And I think Pochettino has done a really good job of fostering that, and we've seen him do that at the club level as well. But it also predates Pochettino by many, many years. And so to see that come together and then also to see, you know, Mauricio Pochettino foster that I think has been really cool to see. But, yeah, these guys, I mean, they love each other. They'll, you know, they're very, very close.

42:36They very much enjoy hanging out, being around each other, you know, even kind of newer additions like Florian Balogun. Okay, which can count for a lot in a tournament like this. Pulisic came on the field today. He was slightly surprised inclusion among the subs and made it on the field, which is good news for the matches in prospect. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's nobody on, again, we talk about kind of the lack of depth in the back line, but also there's nobody on the US team that can kind of do what he does in just terms of creating chances really all by himself down the wing. I mean, if you go back to that first game against Paraguay, he basically created the first two goals, the own goal that was sent in.

43:21It was a pass where he created that chance by himself, passed it to McKinney. McKinney was trying to cross it in and deflects off. And then the second goal was just him setting up Balogun in the perfect spot. That is what he brings. That is the element where he brings, where he can make something out of nothing. And it was cool to see Fuller and Balogun kind of fill that role a little bit against Australia, but there's nobody who does that. Obviously, Balogun's more of a natural number nine. There's nobody who does that quite at his level on this team. And so to have him back is massive. Okay, with Bosnia-Herzegovina now confirmed as the round of 32 opponents, I believe USA are winless in 11 matches against European opposition now.

44:07Yeah, I think it's also, I mean, it's definitely going to be a challenge. I think, you know, we saw how Bosnia kind of ground through qualifying. They're obviously superb on penalties. They took out Wales. They took out Italy. Thanks. Yeah, you're welcome. But, you know, I think it will be, it will absolutely be a test. I do think that they've really challenged themselves in the past few windows, have played not just UEFA sides, but elite UEFA sides in the March window, They played Belgium and Portugal. How did those go? Those went disastrous. Those went utterly disastrous. And I think that's why I went back to kind of the shock that I think long-time fans of this team was like, wow, everything kind of snapped into place at the right moment because of how dismal that window looked.

44:51Right. But, yeah, I mean, it'll definitely be a challenge. Nobody's going to overlook this. Nobody's going to write them, pencil them into the quarterfinals or the semifinals by any stretch. But do I feel confident in saying that the U.S. are the better side and should handle business? Absolutely. What's the target, do you think, for a successful World Cup finally? I think right now the way the bracket's shaping up, I would say quarterfinals. And, you know, if they get to the quarterfinals, they end up facing, you know, a Spain or a Portugal, which is possible. Then it's like I feel like losing.

45:25There's a little less shame. Hopefully they don't get humiliated, but there's a little less shame in losing to a Luminium Mali, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes side than there is going out on penalties against Bosnia, not even reaching the round of 16, which they reached in 2022. Bosnia can't school goals away from the penalty spot with your favorite player, Karim Alebegovic. We'll follow Wednesday's game with interest. Thank you so much for being with us, though, Austin, this evening. it's um yeah good to get a bit of perspective on team USA because you hear a lot of bold claims about that a quick run through the other games that are coming up on Friday let's have a look there's groups G H and I in group I the aforementioned Norway against France will it be Haaland and Mbappe or a lot of rotation we simply don't know the other game in that group Senegal taking on Iraq who've used two different keepers in their two games so far neither has worked out A hat trick.

46:25Listen, Michael Higgins has done the work for us on whether any team has ever picked three goalkeepers in a World Cup before. It's happened how many times? Eight. Eight times. Extraordinary. Most recently in 2018 when Brazil fielded Alisson, Edison and Weatherton. Do you remember that? It's usually like national coaches generously sharing out the minutes. Right. Not just like desperately rifling through their rolodex of goalkeepers to find one who won't throw the ball into his own net. but it's more like the Memo Ochoa like moment of like hey we'll get you some run yeah in Group H meanwhile where Spain lead Uruguay and Cape Verde are both two points behind it will be Uruguay against Spain which sounds like an absolutely terrific game Cape Verde meanwhile who are still yet to lose in this competition will be taking on bottom of the group Saudi Arabia so you could see Cape Verde easily go through as runners up in that group crikey Group G meanwhile all four teams can go through that's Egypt, Iran Belgium and New Zealand Egypt are currently in front two points clear of Iran and Belgium New Zealand are in last place but they can also still make runner-up and a meeting with Australia if they beat Belgium crikey all right Duncan one final thing for today which of those results need to go which way for Scotland's current 16 percent chance to grow just a little bit well we know that We need Cape Verde to struggle.

47:50Okay. And Belgium and Congo and Senegal, really. Quite a long list. Yeah, essentially. That's why it's around 20%. But there's still hope. Okay. Excellent. Of course, in 24 hours, we will know more when we return for a brand new Totally at the World Cup with all of those exciting Friday fixtures and England and other teams to look forward to on the Saturday. For now, it's many, many thanks to Tom, to Austin, to Duncan and Martin Sleepness, who joined us earlier on from Boston, and to all the production crew. Thank you as well for being with us. We'll be back in 24 hours. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

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