Spain held by Cape Verde as France + Argentina arrive at the party

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2:25Because when it comes to hotels, it's simple. Hotels.com. It's all in the name. Totally at the World Cup coming to you from Los Angeles. Here are the big stories on day five.

2:42Cape No Fear, signed from Atlantic Archipelago, stunned the Spanish. Out of Tunisia, manager Sabri Lamouchi acts by North Africans after getting beaten by Sweden. And topically enough, opponents of Iran have problems shipping loads in 2-2 draw with Kiwis. Plus Tuesday's action featuring France against Senegal. Hello there everybody, it is another edition of Totally at the World Cup in Los Angeles. Many thanks for joining us. Today on the couch we have Tom Williams. Hello James. Lovely to see you Tom. Likewise. Also very elegant looking Megan Faringa. Hi, James. You look elegant, too. Thank you so much.

3:19As does our little guest between you, which is a representation of our skunk visitor, who has actually made a real-life appearance, apparently, just behind me. He's playing around with the timings. He knows he's getting a sense of what a big deal he is, and he's started keeping us on our toes. But he's still wide outside, so this is quite nice. We actually really got to see him this time. We did. We did. and possibly you will too when the whole show is put together there'll be a lot more skunk content later on but we're also joined by maher mazahi who's actually where are you maher you're by a roadside somewhere yes i'm sitting uh by the side of a road off of one of the interstate highways in bethel vermont which i see according to a roadside sign is the birthplace of joseph Smith leader of the Mormon church all right there you go all right I should I should mention that I I spent the day in New England I'm on my way to Montreal to watch the match tomorrow with the Algerians where there's a big community that's why I am where I am okay huge game on Tuesday Algeria taking on the world champions Argentina earlier on today you caught another massive game you were with part of this massive Cape Verdean diaspora in New England I think to see their no-no draw with Spain.

4:39Exactly. So I got, in the morning, we arrived to Massachusetts, a place called Brockton. They call themselves the City of Champions. That's their tagline. Excuse the cars driving behind me. And it was a really great town. It was kind of run down. And the Cape Verdeans, it was interesting seeing the Cape Verdeans that I met in Brockton. And then later on in the day, I went to Dorchester and then later on to Boston proper. Brockton, it felt like the Cape Verdeans that were there had freshly arrived. And in Dorchester, it seemed like they were more established, and Boston even more so. And it was just really a day of speaking to them and asking them what it meant for Cape Verde to be at the World Cup.

5:20And, you know, Jimbo, sometimes we, I think, patronize these teams when we say they're just happy to be here and we don't give them their proper respect. But to be completely honest, that's what they told me was most important to them today. One guy told me, look, you see the score bug? You see where it says CPV and there's our flag right there. Like, I watch the World Cup every four years. I've never seen my country there. And for them to have their country up on that score bug and for everybody, the entire world, to be watching their country, it meant so much to them. And that really was the most important thing for them today.

5:47And best of all is what the score bug said at the end of the game when they'd managed to hold Spain, one of the favourites, to a nil-nil draw. All the games today did end in draws. Curiously enough, first time that's happened in how long, Tom? Since 1958, and it was a year to the day. that it happened. It was on this day in 1958 that there were last four draws on the same day at a World Cup. And if you told me prior to the start of the day that all of the day's games would end in draws, knowing the matches that we had to watch, I would have probably thought, oh, that's going to be a bit of a bummer of a day.

6:24But actually, it's been brilliant. Four really interesting matches. And I'm not just saying that. I genuinely do think it, just for the record. I believe you, Tom. Megan, what's been your moment of the day? My moment? It's a little bit away from the football, but there was a bong that was sort of destroyed because FIFA forced it to. So these guys at Cosmic Charlie's in Canada, they have this sort of like weed dispensary place, and they had somehow acquired this bong that is in the shape of the FIFA World Cup trophy. And they had it sort of on a pedestal trying to get people involved in the World Cup, and they received a letter from FIFA telling them to cease and desist.

7:04And they figured it was probably easier just to destroy the bong than to probably go at the lawyers of FIFA. So they destroyed it and then sent the picture as evidence to FIFA to let them know that they did, in fact, destroy the bong. But it's just funny because FIFA was all chill and relax, man. And this is very un-chill and relaxing. Not that kind of chill and relax. You can destroy the bong, but you can't stop people enjoying drawers. Isn't that right? There you go. There you go, Jax. What about your moment of the day? Lots of moments to pick from today, I'm going to go for New Zealand's second goal in their 2-2 draw with Iran.

7:38And Elliot Just, who became the first Motherwell player to score at a World Cup. Motherwell fans were hoping he was going to fly the flag for the club, and didn't he Just? He scored New Zealand's opener after a lovely bit of link-up play with Chris Wood. And then they combined again for the second goal. Lovely little one-two, very deft finish. not enough to give them all three points, but a very enterprising performance. Excellent. Meher, apart from pulling over at this somewhat godforsaken roadside for us, what's been your moment of the day? Well, it's not as funny as Megan's. I don't have the wordplay of Tom either, but I think just seeing the 40-year-old Cape Verdean goalkeeper, Virginia, who was very close to actually retiring from international football prior to the World Cup beginning, seeing him have that kind of performance, seven saves, I think 15 ball recoveries, and just burst into tears after the match, thinking about his grandparents that are no longer with him, thinking about his mother who's thousands of miles away.

8:38That's kind of what football's about. That's what tugs at all of our heartstrings, I think. Excellent. We'll talk a lot about Cape Verde's performance against Spain and indeed Spain's part in that match. Some other things we need to touch on. One is that not all African sides have been having such a good time. reports on Monday that Tunisia are set to fire their manager, Sabri Lamouchi, and replace him, Tom, with Hervé Renard. Is that correct? Of course. Of course. It is a truth universally acknowledged that any African national team that finds itself in a spot of bother must require the services of Hervé Renard.

9:17There he is in his magnificent white shirt. But yeah, Sabri Lamouchi, who was only appointed earlier this year, but had won just one of his five games at the helm. Shipped five goals against Sweden the other night. They'd shipped five goals in a pre-tournament friendly against Belgium. And he is on his way. And as Megan was pointing out to me earlier, Tunisia have previous for this at World Cup. Yeah, 1998. So there was three teams who did it. South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. And now Tunisia have done it again. So of the four times, Tunisia are two for four. But if they do get Renard to be the manager, He'll be the eighth manager since 2022 for Tunisia and the 21st permanent manager since 2002, I'm pretty sure.

9:59So they've got a track record for not holding on to managers. He's got a great track record. It was he who was in charge of Saudi Arabia when they had that opening day victory against Argentina at the last World Cup. Mahir, is this a surprise to you that Tunisia have taken this step or are taking this step? A little bit, because the second manager after one match in the World Cup is a drastic step. I think they wouldn't have done this if they didn't lose by five goals to Belgium, as Tom mentioned, in the final pre-tournament friendly. Of course, Sabri Lamoushe, I mean, his story at the World Cup, he was the final player that was cut from the French squad that won the 1998 World Cup back when he was playing.

10:35And then in 2014, he was coaching Côte d 'Ivoire. And if you remember, Giorgio Samara scored a 93rd minute penalty to send Greece through at the expense of Côte d 'Ivoire as well. And now this time around, I mean, he must be traumatized by the words World Cup. now Irving Renard I think is going to be a welcome appointment for Tunisia because as Manga just mentioned time and time again if I if I mentioned the names to you they all sound the same and they should all sound the same they're all regular Tunisian coaches making between five and ten thousand dollars a month not really Fawzi Banzarti could throw his name in there as well they all come over and take over the Tunisian national team for six to 18 months and under fire or Frenard is different.

11:18He's going to step in. Yes, he's more expensive. He's going to break the cycle. And he has the CV to really come on and lead the team. The players will look up to him. They'll respect him. He's not really subject to the kinds of influences and pressures that exist within Tunisian football and in the political spheres that surround the national team. So I think this is going to be a really welcome appointment. But is he going to be able to turn things around with just two matches left to play in group stages? I mean, we'll see. Okay. They've got Germany and Kurosawa coming up in the final two games as they try and turn this around.

11:46A lot of groups out there, a lot of teams involved. Anyway, all right, we'll focus very shortly on what happened in the Monday matches around the World Cup. One final thing I just want to mention before we get into the games taking place today. And this was a message we got from Markar Sakisian, who saw our Instagram post. We've been doing match day takeout, I think we're calling it, or World Cup takeout. And we had a Persian experience yesterday. that's quite the moment to choose from it. Tom, you were enjoying the yogurt drink and so was the floor. I mean, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as a yogurt soda.

12:27I do now and it was surprisingly tasty. I think we all enjoyed it, James. We very much did. A Bali yogurt soda. And the gentleman who makes it enjoyed it and he let us know. If you make a tasty foodstuff and would like us to experience it as part of our workup takeout, do let us know. anyway let's get on to some football conclusions about a day of draws we're going to start with group h and the big one between spain and cape verde when people talk about energy recovery and performance they usually jump straight to training protein or supplements but one of the most overlooked pieces is gut health if your gut isn't dialed in then everything else struggles to work the way it should and that's where momentous fiber plus comes in fiber isn't just about digestion it's a key driver of gut health which directly impacts nutrient absorption energy stability recovery focus mood and overall performance if your gut isn't being looked after then other supplements and training habits won't work as well you can be doing everything else right but without a strong foundation results fall short fiber is often the missing link momentous fiber plus is a complete three-in-one formula with soluble fiber insoluble fiber and a prebiotic resistant starch this combo is great to support gut health from start to finish by feeding beneficial gut bacteria improving digestion and helping stabilize blood sugar for steady energy without spikes or crashes i've been using it for a few weeks now and already feeling the difference in my energy levels and my mood right now momentous is offering all totally football show listeners up to 35 off your first order with the promo code totally football so head to live momentous.com and use the promo code TOTALLYFOOTBALL for up to 35 % off your first order.

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15:09With almost half a million customers and over a trillion dollars of secure payments, Bill isn't new to intelligent finance. It's the proven way to simplify Bill Pay and maximize cash flow. Want to learn more? Visit Bill.com slash proven for a special offer. coming into monday's action we hadn't had a goalless draw in this tournament we got one between spain and cape verde and it was the biggest shock of the tournament so far first of all maher cape verde how brilliant was their defending in this game yeah it was really good and they say styles make fights in boxing i think it's true to an extent in football as well cape verde are a side that they didn't stray from their 4-3-3 that they're used to playing, that they've played over the last 18 months.

15:58Usually at the AFCON, they're more brave. They look to carry the ball into the opposition's, their opponent's third. Today, obviously, it was a different story. They're playing against Spain, but they were extremely compact. This is a side that's been together now, I mean the players, for about five years now. So they know each other's tendencies. They know if this player likes to attack a defender, I need to slip in behind and cover for him. So, look, they were brilliant. Was it surprising? Slightly. I thought they would be good. I thought they would probably lose, but I thought they would still be good.

16:29But for them to do this, like inspiring, I don't know. I can't think of any adjectives right now at 11.30 at night. But, yeah, I think inspiring was the best one. They were mostly defending for 90 minutes. How many fouls did they commit? Remarkably, one. One. which is the lowest amount of fouls committed by a team since such statistics for World Cups became available, which is going back to 1966. That would be just incredible anyway. For a team that has spent the entirety of the match basically defending against one of the best teams in the world, the reigning European champions, is astonishing.

17:11I mean, the most incredible display of discipline in and restraint that yeah, I can think of. I think it also showed that the defense wasn't sort of like exhausted or sort of drastic. Like they were very measured in the way they were defending. And like he had said, the ability to mark the runners was really great. Like the fullbacks would mark runners and then immediately you have the midfielders drop in to mark the runs of people going in behind as well. Like they all knew what they needed to do. And so it didn't feel like, oh my gosh, they're on the ropes here. Something's going to happen eventually.

17:42It actually kind of felt fearless in a way, but also just very comfortable still at the same time, which I think that's the most impressive part of this. OK, Vosinia there, who you were mentioning his emotional scenes after after the final whistle. One stat that's been going around, I think he had about 56 ,000 followers on Instagram at the start of the day. He is now close to five million. How far are Cape Verde going to take this? Yeah. How far are they going to go, do you think, Bahir? Is there more from them? Yeah, look, I think they're definitely capable of beating Saudi Arabia with all due respect.

18:15Uruguay is a team that seems to struggle to separate themselves from their opponents. They've been drawing a lot of matches recently. I think Cape Verde can definitely make it to the next, to the knockout stages. Sounds crazy to say because I think people that don't follow African football are surprised to see a team of 500, I mean a nation of 500 ,000 sort of compete on the global stage like this. But like I said, they really do have, I think, unique team culture. The coach, Bubista, you know, was a player, was a captain, forces them all to speak Creole to sort of encourage team unity. And the thing about Cape Verde is that it's a country.

18:54When I was speaking to people today and when I've spoken to people that have visited the country in general, I think they probably have the healthiest approach to diaspora than any other country in the world. It doesn't matter if you leave the country. It doesn't matter if you come in. Like, they're completely open to the freedom of movement and to different cultures within the squad. I do think that's probably one of their greatest strengths, for sure. OK. The other side of all this, of course, is Spain, where they're having a bit of an inquest now. As a result of this, not the first time that they've had a bit of a sporting disaster, which is a very loose translation there of Tuesday's headline from Marca.

19:28Other headlines included Red Alert and Epic Fail there from Ass of Madrid. They have this curious thing. They've looked next level. They're certainly the last Euros. But in World Cup, since they won it in 2010, they've had 12 matches and only won three of them. What happened to them today, Tom? I think this can happen to Spain. If they don't score early on, they can get stuck into a kind of doom loop of possession. We know that the main thing that Luis de la Fuente has done since he became head coach has been to make them a more vertical team. and the two symbols of that at Euro 2024 were Lamin Amal and Nico Williams, both of whom were on the bench today because they went into the tournament with fitness stats.

20:14And when you don't have those two to supply that cutting edge in the final third, Spain can struggle to create chances. And there's that stat that has been talked about quite a lot, that Mikel Ollar's about the centre forwards, went 30 minutes without touching the ball once at the start of the game. But I think that speaks to the way that Spain play football. They don't lose faith in their way of playing. They're not going to start just trying to hit the centre forward with crosses from improbable positions. They want to carve out the perfect opportunity. They weren't able to do that. And it wasn't really until Yamal and Anika Williams came on towards the end.

20:48I mean, Williams didn't come on until, I think, the 87th minute. But, you know, it was Yamal's introduction that really gave them a spark. But, yeah, they weren't at their best. But, again, you look at the teams that they played in the group phase at Euro 2024. they kick off with a 3-0 win over Croatia and Croatia are not the kind of team who will defend like Cape Verde did and this is the kind of thing that can happen to a team like Spain when they come up against ultra-defensive opposition. I don't think it's a massive concern about their chances at the tournament. I mean, they won the World Cup in 2010 after losing their opener against Switzerland so I can't imagine they're going to be losing too much sleep about it but yeah, you know, a day to forget.

21:25We've all been in teams. Can you imagine starting a game and spending half an hour before anyone actually gives you the ball? Yeah, oh, I mean, there's that element. But to go back to the sort of idea of the diaspora, I mean, like a team that's harnessing this, Pico Lopez is the defender that kind of marked him out of the game. And he's the one that sort of was born in Ireland and got the LinkedIn message, and it was in Portuguese, so he ignored it for nine months. And then suddenly they resend it in English. And he was like, oh, cool, I can go and, you know, represent my country at Cape Verde, and now you've got this.

21:53I love the kind of, yeah, that story is wonderful. But, yeah, I mean, like Tom had said, I think Spain get themselves in a doom loop when they can't do it. And it's funny because when, in hindsight, when Spain do lose a game or they draw a game, it's always, well, Spain need to stop playing Spanish football. But then when it works, it's like, oh, well, of course it's worked because Spain are playing Spanish football. But ironically, at the Euros, it was the moment when they kind of maybe adjusted that Spanish football a little bit, played more vertically, and it worked beautifully. We were asking yesterday whether things were a little bit too serene for the Spanish.

22:25We talked to our friend, Paul Baluz, who was there at the training camp. He said all the things that have been a concern, fitness issues coming into this World Cup, were beginning to sort themselves out. What do you have to talk about? And they've basically been asking which players were going to get a tattoo of Luis de la Fuente when they won the World Cup. Surprise, surprise, the first game didn't go entirely too well. Did you think they looked a little bit complacent? Mahir, did you think they looked a little bit too relaxed in that first half of the match? In Algeria, sometimes we say that they're playing handball, even though we know they're playing football.

22:55But it's that thing, if you watch the handball match, They just go side to side, side to side around the box. And then somebody finally decides to jump in and take a shot from outside the box. And it doesn't really work. That's how it kind of felt Spain were playing until I think Tom's absolutely right. When Laminia Mal came on, actually, the lady that I was speaking to prior, her name was Kayla. Hello, if you're listening. She goes, we ain't scared. And I kind of said to myself, I'm a little bit scared, actually. And he came on and he was very direct. He definitely, you could see that he would attract, in American English, would say double team or triple team.

23:26every single time. So just moving that centre of gravity of the Cape Verdean block over to his side of the pitch, opening spaces for others. If Lamini Amal is fit and he plays the entire 90 minutes, I'm not 100 % sure that Cape Verde would draw this match. I think we all got really invested in Cape Verde getting a result from this game. So it was so tense those final minutes. How tense was it for the Cape Verdeans you were watching with? Yeah, it's one of those things. You know those kinds of matches when every single clearance elicits a cheer. You know, wayward shots that maybe from 30 yards out that go 10 yards wide feel like very close opportunities.

24:00Like, come on, you can do it. Just the smallest of actions in the game meant so much to everybody. Again, I do think the overall message that I took away from today was that no matter what happened today, they were going to be extremely proud of their national team. But for them to do this and to draw 0-0, you couldn't have written it up any better. Well, you could have if they won 1-0, but it's pretty damn close to being perfect. Absolutely. Well, see what happens next time out. The other two teams in Group H were Saudi Arabia and Uruguay. And later on, on Monday, they also had a draw. Saudis looking to repeat their opening day success of the last World Cup when they defeated Argentina.

24:37We're on their way through Al-Amri. As you said at the time, Al-Amri bells are ringing for Uruguay. It definitely looks better when it's written out, but it still works. Don't let us stop you, Megan. On this podcast, we take all puns. All puns. Bielsa then turned it around. Is that a fair summary of what happened? Yeah, I mean, Uruguay dominated possession first half without creating too many chances. And as we got closer to half-time, Saudi Arabia started to win set pieces and realised that there was potentially a bit of a weak point there. That's where Alamri's goal came from. Bielsa reacted by taking off Darwin Nunes at half-time, who had been very ineffective, bringing on Agostin Conobbio, who plays his football for Flamengo in Brazil.

25:22and he brought a real dynamism to the right-hand side of the Uruguayan attack and basically the entire second half was one-way traffic. The Saudi goalkeeper, Mohamed Al-Awais, made, I think, nine saves over the course of the game. It looked like he was going to keep them at bay, but eventually conceded with ten minutes to go. And I think it was a fair result in the end. Okay. Curiously, in the league table of the confederations, Asian teams are yet to lose a match unbeaten in five. UEFA's teams have had 10 matches and only won three of them. Scotland, Germany, and the other one. Sweden. And Sweden, of course, who had that mighty win over Tunisia.

26:07Colmebol, none of the South American teams have won. They've not even led in a match yet. It is quite remarkable. Well, anyway, that was Group H. Let's get on to Group G next. Monday evening at the World Cup, Group G saw Iran taking on New Zealand. We all know the many issues that Iran have been facing in the build-up to this opening game of the World Cup. They faced problems in the 90 minutes as well. Twice they had to come from behind against a spirited Kiwi side, but they got the point in the end, Megan. They just did, yeah, through Chris Wood and Elijah Just. It was such a fun game. And I think especially the two goals that New Zealand scored, they were both sort of beautiful in their own way.

26:50I mean, the Chris Wood one where he sort of takes it down, chests it, puts it on his foot. It was weird when he did the turn. It felt like it was in slow motion and you wondered, like, why no one was defending him. But he still managed to get the ball. And then Elijah Jess kind of just takes it off of him. And what a wonderful goal he scores. And then the second one was just an absolute beauty of a goal. And I think they deserved to at least get a point from this. but so did Iran. I mean, I thought Iran, both teams were equally fun. They were good. It was a lot of energy. You could tell by the end, all of them were spent and they were all on the floor just sort of gasping for air.

27:22And it was such a fun match. And at sort of full time, I kept thinking, it's crazy that this is the first group stage game and this much energy is being sort of expended. And it's what, I mean, this group is going to go down to the wire and it's very fun. I didn't realize there's such a big Persian or Iranian diaspora here in Los Angeles. Yeah, it's huge. what was the numbers that we had discovered because that's what we ate for our food not too long ago. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. We were enjoying the food here and the game was taking place here and a great atmosphere there at the SoFi Stadium. It was a lot of fun.

27:58Yeah, and I mean, I think regardless of the outcome, this will go down as one of the most remarkable games in World Cup history because of the context. You know, Iranian players stepping onto the pitch on the soil of a country that has been waging war against their country for the last three months. And we saw pre-match efforts by fans to smuggle in the banned Iranian flag from the former regime, and there were apparently boos heard during the anthem. So an extremely difficult context for the players who find themselves representing a regime that perhaps not all the people who were watching in the stadium today are particularly fond of.

28:40So, yeah, and then, you know, you add to that this very open, very engaging game which had, you know, momentum swings and moments of quality. Megan and I realised that the Iranian goal scorer and creator of the second goal, Ramin Reza Ayan, was the guy who'd scored the second goal against Wales, the 2022 World Cup, Megan being a Welsh football sympathiser, much like myself. He's our tormentor. That's it. And yeah, and he took his first goal beautifully and then teed up the equaliser for Mohamed Mohavi towards the end of the second half. Which was a glorious cross. It was, yeah. Did they maybe look the stronger side towards the end of the game?

29:25I think so. And again, I think this is somewhere where the context did have an impact on the game. We know that an awful lot of those Iranian players, the ones who play in the domestic league, they've not been able to play competitive football since February, so inevitably they're a bit undercooked. On paper, Iran versus New Zealand should be a bit of a mismatch. That wasn't the case. New Zealand took the game to Iran when they needed to, got what was a decent result. I guess the challenge now for Iran is to try and build on that and hope that the quality and the know-how that we know they have shines through in their two remaining matches.

30:02Poor New Zealand then, twice took the lead, still waiting for their first World Cup win. And it's a similar story for Egypt over in the other game in this group. They were taking on Belgium. They're still waiting for a World Cup win 92 years after their first appearance, despite the fact that they also took the lead in this game, Megan. Yeah, they did. They took the lead through Ashur. It's a great goal from him. And it was really exciting, too, because on paper, yeah, people expected Belgium. I know they're not the sort of Belgium of golden generation, but there's still a Belgium side that you expect to sort of dispatch Egypt.

30:35And that wasn't the case here, which has been the case sort of all day. I thought Egypt deserved a point. I thought they were good. I thought both teams were really poor in the final third. They didn't make the most of their chances. But if you look at the stats, both teams had two big chances. Both teams missed two big chances. They had a similar number of shots, similar number of shots on target. It was pretty even. And, yeah, I think he deserved it. I think the thing about Egypt that impressed me so much was there was a lot of cohesion. And if you look at the squad, eight of the players play for Al-Hali in Egypt.

31:05and four of those players started, including our goal scorer. So you could kind of see that cohesion and that synergy. And I think with Belgium, it was missing. And it was a lot of maybe more individual than the cohesion we maybe saw with Egypt. That was Meher's intangibles for you. A man, a sure shot to give Egypt the lead and set up. I sure was. Very nice. Set up by Mo Salah, who was celebrating his birthday and was fielded up the middle, Tom. in a brave move from the Egyptian manager. Yeah, I guess you've probably watched Liverpool a bit this season and thought, I'm not sure that he can be relied to do the things that he's done in recent years.

31:46And that is Egypt's great strength. I mean, you look down the starting XI, most of their players play in Egypt. And that's been one of Egypt's problems historically. The Egyptian league is one of the richest leagues in African football. So there's no enormous incentive for their players to move abroad. so the only superstars they have are Omar Marmouche and Mo Salah but I mean Mo Salah is one of the biggest names in the game Marmouche is playing for Manchester City so having those two associated in attack did make a lot of sense we didn't see a huge amount from Mo Salah albeit he did set up the goal but the goal was a lot more about the strike than it was about the pass Marmouche got in behind a couple of times there was one opportunity in the second half where he ran through got a bit of a nudge as he shot and put the ball over the bar But you could understand the thinking behind associating them in that way.

32:32Well, they were ahead until the 66th minute when the Belgian manager thought, this business of having Charles de Quetelaire up front isn't really working. I'll throw on big Romelu Lukaku. And my word, did that prove effective? Yeah, it worked. It wasn't with his first touch, which would have been the best. But it wasn't. It ended up being an own goal by Haney. But it was caused by Lukaku. That goal doesn't happen without him. And Belgium are such a funny team sometimes because you see them do such fun, wonderful, pretty things. And you're like, just do the thing to make this work. Just put the striker on.

33:06Just go ahead and do it. And they finally did, and it worked. And I think that's when you've got someone like Kevin De Bruyne and you've got Daku on the wing. You need someone to have a focal point, and that's what they were missing. And I understand not starting Lukaku. The man's played 68 minutes for Napoli this season. He's battled injury all season long, but this is what he provides you. He's your country's top goal scorer and you're at a World Cup. That's what World Cups are about, right? Sort of aging veteran stars turning back the years and showing us that they're still worthwhile. Bits of that golden generation still clinging on.

33:37De Bruyne there hit the post on a free kick. How was his performance, Tom? Yeah, I thought he was decent. I mean, he's still the guy who runs the show. He still works really hard. He's the player that everyone in a Belgian shirt looks for. Came very close to breaking the deadlock with that free kick. was heavily involved throughout. You did feel that if the goal was going to come from somewhere, it might come from him. In the end, it came from a cross from Tom Amurnier that was turned into his own net by Mohamed Hani under pressure from Lukaku. So, yeah, I mean, we know where Belgium are. They're kind of trying to manage this delicate transition between generations.

34:20I just want to say for the record, I know that Juri Tielemans isn't some young buck who's just broken through. I was kind of talking about the generation coming behind the golden generation. But, I mean, there are players on the Belgian bench who didn't get on today. Diego Moreira, who's had a fantastic season at Ers Hasborg. Matthias van der Espado at Lille, who did come on late on. So there are players who can give them more of a spark in attacks. I'll be interested to see how much we see of them in the two remaining group matches. Well, yeah, they'll be hoping that they have even more games than that to come, Will, Belgium.

34:55We shall see. Very good. That was Monday's action. Some pretty exciting fixtures coming up on Tuesday. We'll get into those very shortly, but just a quick update on skunk names, which is one of the major talking points here at this World Cup. We've had visits from the skunk most nights, actually. I think that's fair to say. A lot of people with names for our visitor. progression says might I suggest Florent Malouda does that work? I mean kind of yes maybe a more sympathetic reading real Boris Legasov as Martin Odegaard which works slightly better yeah how about Christian Pulisic from Hugh Keane or Jeff Haslett who offers Chrysentio Skunkerville a lot of work's gone into that so and Jed Sents anyway there was a flippant suggestion I hope yesterday that maybe we should take the glands out of the skunk no it was a query a genuine query as to whether it's whether it's possible it is possible to do it a number of people have written in a lot of big skunk fans out there and people who know their skunks a lot of people who have seen skunks with the glands removed some of whom have been paraded around in a pram dressed up as a baby I don't think that's a dignified way to treat a skunk.

36:15Danny Noel says that he used to take holidays in the Silly Isles in the late 90s. Very possibly bumping into Daniel's story there because he's always in the Silly Isles. And a regular at the Wayfarer pub on Hugh Town, if you're in the Silly Isles and thirsty for a drink, why not pop in, had a pet skunk which he brought to the bar at lunchtime and it could not spray. That was, it had been dissented. It was legal at the time but by now banned by law in the UK. Do you know what? I hadn't any intention of reading that entire post out, but it was just so fascinating that I went for the whole thing.

36:48It's the story of our tournament, James. You don't want to be talking about skunks the whole time, but they just keep popping up. They give people what they want. Well, Megan, you know what? I should have come to you straight away on this because you are not only our local but our wildlife expert. And after you said you didn't have any particular advice about skunks yesterday, your family got in touch. Yeah, there was great disappointment in my family group chat because clearly I should have known more about skunks. And I do apologize my upbringing. I've betrayed my upbringing. But yeah, my dad messaged in to tell me that you can, in fact, descend as skunk.

37:23This is very much a thing. He said a few other bits. I'm blanking on exactly what he told me. Okay, so he said, listen. Yes. Tell them, I can't do the voice, obviously. Tell them they love cat food. Skunks love cat food. You can descend and make a pet when they are young. sprinkle and this is really useful sprinkle cayenne pepper around the yard and they probably won't come back yeah but we haven't done that yet because we don't we don't know if we want him to to leave oh yeah yeah he's kind of nice we'll find out i kind of feel like by the end of the tournament he's going to be sitting on your lap james that's that's what we're sitting here that's the natural i'm going to be the one trying to get through a cayenne barrier anyway skunk made an appearance earlier on perhaps he'll be back hope you're going to stay with us though because next up we're going to get on to Tuesday's action at the World Cup

38:37All nine cups. That's the FIFA World Cup meal only at McDonald's. And participate in McDonald's for a limited time while supplies last. All rights reserved. 2026 McDonald's at FIFA World Cup 2026 is a copyright and trade.

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40:42Tuesday's action sees France taking on Senegal in Group I. The other match in that group is Iraq against Norway. Meanwhile, Group J will have Argentina, the holders, up against Algeria and Austria-Jordan. Let's go back to roadside in Vermont. How's it looking there, Meher? It's looking okay. Looking okay. Lots of, I think we call them June bugs in the US. You guys know what those are? Yeah. No, I do. Megan can tell you. Yeah, they're fireflies. Okay. Skunks, I know. Any of those? I haven't seen any. Hopefully, they stay far away. All right. Meher, you've got to proceed with your trip to Montreal.

41:18So quickly, let's get your opinion on France against Senegal, first of all. A match redolent of a certain game back in 2002. I guess one of the biggest days in Senegal football history. Yeah, I was going to say maybe the largest, that or winning AFCON. But this is when they defeated France, who were one of the favorites for that World Cup, 2002 World Cup. As they do this time. What do you think the prospects are for Senegal to spring a similar surprise? It's going to be tough. Senegal can do it, but it's going to be tough. I remember watching that French team against Brazil in March and Kylian Mbappe scored a chipped goal.

42:02And the speed at which they counterattacked, you know, with Dembele and with Mbappe and with Ulisse, they can score against anybody on any day. So I think to get a result against France, especially to beat France, you're going to need a little bit of luck to go your way. You're going to need them to be not, you know, clicking on all cylinders for you to get that result, which is possible. I mean, obviously, like I said, it can happen to any team. But this Senegal team, I think their greatest strength is they're very balanced. They have quality at all positions, whether it's the three goalkeepers are really good.

42:38All the defenders, all the midfielders, all the strikers, everybody's really good. And not only that, they also have a range of experience. You have the 18-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye, who is a star, an up-and-coming star at Paris Saint-Germain. But you also have 36-year-old Idrissa Ganagay, who is still playing very, very well for Everton. So they have it all. The one question that I have is that they didn't look great in pre-tournament friendlies. They lost to the United States 3-2. In that match, they had some defensive problems. And then they drew with Saudi Arabia 0-0. In that match, they had some attacking problems.

43:09So do you just chalk that up to it's a pre-tournament friendly. Who cares? Everybody was trying to – the coach was trying to give everybody a few minutes. That's what Paptio sort of said in his pre-match press conference. or were there real structural problems? Obviously, time will tell, but they can get a result over here. In my opinion, this is the best African team over the last five, ten years, and this is currently the best African team as well. Interesting. It's also the African champions, or at least the team that lifted the African trophy in the last AFKON, only to then have that decision reversed and pending an appeal.

43:44We'll see what happens about that. Whatever, they were probably the better team in the final against Morocco, and they're going to be tough customers for the French, you'd think. Tom, we'll come to you on France very, very shortly, but before Meher leaps back in his vehicle and heads up to Montreal, let's get a word on your nation, Algeria, who face a particularly tough-looking fixture against the holders Argentina, Meher. How are you feeling about that? Mitigated. Algeria doesn't inspire me with too much confidence, just simply because they haven't been battle-tested. They had a fairly, quote-unquote, easy qualifying process.

44:23And most fans believe, and I think I agree with this, that they're carrying too many of the older names, older players. Even the current captain, Al Ahli winger, Riyad Mahrez, former PFA Player of the Year, former UEFA Champions League winner, Premier League winner. He is not the Riyad Mahrez that he was, and that's fine. He no longer has the legs. but there's a very, very good player waiting in the wings. He plays for Fayanour. His name is Anishaj Moussa. And every time he replaces Riyad Mahrez, he puts in a much more dynamic display. But because Mahrez is the captain, because he is who he is and everybody looks up to him, he probably will start this match even against Argentina.

45:03So one of the big questions is, will he rely on the sort of old guard, which many fans don't have a lot of confidence in, or will he try to rely on the young players? Depending on who he lines up with, that will also increase or decrease my confidence. But whoever he lines up with, this Algerian team hasn't really been tested too much over the last 18 months. And when they have in the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations, they were completely overrun by the Nigerian Super Eagles. So not too confident. OK. Are we going to see Messi v Zidane in this game? Yes, we are. Luka Zidane. Excuse me.

45:39We will see Zinedine Zidane as well because the camera will pan to him. He'll be in the stands. But Lucas Zidane is the Algerian goalkeeper. He's not the tallest goalkeeper, unfortunately for us. But he was really brought in because he distributes the ball very well with his feet. And you'll see that Algeria will try to pass the ball out of goal kicks like South Africa did. Not to great results. But even at times like Cape Verde did today. So they're going to be brave with the way they progress the ball up the pitch. But he is going to be wearing a mask tomorrow. Not like the Victor Oseman mask.

46:09more like he broke his jaw and he had surgery. So it goes around his face like this. And we were a little bit worried that, you know, if you're a goalkeeper and you're getting shots, you know, taken at you that are obviously very hard, or you're going up for goal kicks, or sorry, corner kicks, and people are elbowing you, like wearing a mask and having a fractured jaw is probably not the best situation for you. But he looked very good in the pre-tournament friendlies against the Netherlands. So he's going to be starting. So both Zidane's against Messi tomorrow. Excellent. It's the Abraham Lincoln mask, isn't it?

46:41The one that Jed Spence was wearing at the end of the season. Quite the tribute, given where the tournament is. Indeed so. Meher, you've got places to be. Thank you so much. Sorry, guys. Not at all. Thank you so much for pulling over. Nice to speak to you. Hi, Tom. Hi, Megan. Hey, Meher. Great to see you, mate. Safe travels. Thank you. Stay away from the skunks. Sound advice as ever from Meher Mazahi. And always lovely to hear from him. All right, let's just circle back a little bit because that game, 2002, France against Senegal, one of the all-time upsets, certainly in the opening round of matches.

47:17And what a delight to have the exact same fixture in this one. How concerned are France about repeating that fixture? How confident are they feeling ahead of this debut game? Well, we know that there's huge excitement around France. There's a huge amount of hype. They're able to call on this phenomenally talented group of players. And all the positive signs have got Didier Deschamps a bit spooked. His messaging over the last few weeks has been, look, we haven't achieved anything yet. This could go wrong so easily. And there have been times when players within the front squad have been rebuked by Deschamps for talking with too much confidence about the team's chances.

48:01A couple of months back, Lucas Hernandez, one of the France defenders, said, you know, we've got the best attack in the world. And Deschamps went out of his way to say, look, you might think that, but don't say it. It's not helpful. They kind of do, though, don't they? They kind of do, but he doesn't like that being said. And then about a week ago, Ryan Cherky, in typical Cherky fashion, was interviewed after one of the friendly games. And he said, look, we're going to the United States to crush everyone. And there again, Deschamps was like, yeah, you might think that, but don't like, please don't say it.

48:31And I think he can see what might happen. He knows what can happen at a major tournament when a team arrives with enormous expectations, just as France did in 2002, when they were the defending world and European champions, when they were being tipped as co-favourites alongside Argentina and they lost to Senegal in their opening game and they went out in the group phase without having scored a single goal. So he's doing everything he can to just make sure everyone is on guard because I think he knows what a dangerous side Senegal are as well. I enjoy it. I think this is really fun. This sort of dichotomy of like, no, no, no, we're not that good.

49:06And then like you're having to sort of like pick your kids up and all the kids are shouting about how awesome it is. The mom's like, shut up. Like we can't do this just yet. I think it's fantastic. And Bappi, who you see there on the right, closing in on the all-time World Cup goal scoring record, currently held by Miroslav Kloza. You've got the reigning Ballon d 'Or with Ousmane Dembele. You've got Michael Alisse, the Bundesliga player of the year. They do look an astonishingly complete team. French goalkeeper, he put up the third best numbers of any goalkeeper in Europe's top five leagues. He saved, prevented 13 goals better than average.

49:43I mean, that's the kind of goalkeeping that you need at this tournament. We've seen some phenomenal goalkeeping at this tournament. So France can then have that on top of what would be a fantastic attack. And then so you've, like, your sort of, your centre-backs are Saliba and Canate. I know Canate, Liverpool fans will be questioned of sort of scrutinising some of his performances this season. But I thought Saliba was wonderful for Arsenal. And I do think if France can click, it is tough to think of another team that is as comprehensive or sort of as balanced as they are. So, yeah, I think they have a lot of hope.

50:15Maybe what happened to Spain as well today will be a very timely reminder for France of the dangers of presumption against a lesser side, in inverted commas. Well, I mean, it looks like France are going to go quite attacking. The main doubt concerns the configuration of the attack, and specifically the roles of Michael Alisse and Ousmane Dembele. Because in the last few months, one of the really exciting things about France has been that Deschamps has given Michael Alisse the responsibility to be the playmaker, to be the number 10, and he's been an absolute dream to watch in that position. But the suggestion is that it's actually going to be Dembele who plays in that central role, against Senegal with Alissé on the right, Desiree Douai of PSG on the left, Teo Hernandez, the most attacking of the two France left-backs on the left.

51:07But Deschamps does this sometimes at major tournaments and sometimes during qualifying campaigns. He will pick a very attacking team and then at the first sign that it's not working, he's like, well, look, guys, I picked all the players you wanted me to. It didn't work. And then somehow the next thing you know, France have got eight central midfielders on the pitch and they're just in full-on stifle mode. So I think they're going to try and have a bit of a go. But this, as we know, that is not Deschamps' natural disposition. So, yeah, we'll see how they get on. OK, France-Senegal on Tuesday. The other game in that group is Iraq against Norway, which is equally going to be interesting because a lot has been said about Norway, about Erling Haaland there, about Martin Odegaard, about the possibilities that they have of making a real run in this tournament as well.

51:52What do you think about Norway, Tom? Yeah, obviously haven't been at the tournament since 1998. Same time out of the spotlight as Scotland. Incredible attacking roster of talent. And the fact that they don't play France until their third game means that they've got a couple of games to get some steam up and find their form. I think we're all thrilled at the thought of seeing Erling Haaland at his first World Cup. So, yeah, it could be interesting. All right. There you go. Iraq against Norway. And we mentioned before Group J, Argentina and Algeria. The other game in that group is Austria against Jordan.

52:38Jordan, who will be enjoying their very first ever World Cup match. We'll be back at the end of Tuesday's action to review all of that. Look ahead, of course, to Wednesday. Any big teams taking the field on Wednesday, Tom? I don't think so. No, it kind of peters off a bit from now, doesn't it? That's pretty much it. All the contenders. Yeah, absolutely. Do make sure you join us then tomorrow for another Totally at the World Cup. For now, it's many thanks to Megan, to Tom, of course, to Meher earlier on, and to you for joining us. Have yourself a lovely day, and we'll catch up with you same time tomorrow.

53:12For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

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