USA go through as Scotland’s hopes hang in the balance

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1:09This episode of The Totally Football Show is brought to you by Hotels.com. When you book in a hotel, here's a simple question. Why wouldn't you use Hotels.com? It really is all in the name. As a member, you save up to 20 % on hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world and earn rewards on every single stay, which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. And unlike some other places, there are no blackout dates, so when you want to travel, your rewards are ready to go. So whether you're following your team across North America this summer or planning a well-earned escape to make up for being glued to the football for weeks on end, make sure you book on Hotels.com and start earning rewards.

1:48Because when it comes to hotels, it's simple. Hotels.com. It's all in the name. From the Totally Studios in Los Angeles, it's Totally at the World Cup. Day nine, have a bang on these.

2:07Friday, USA beat Oz in the Emerald City. The Socceroos clean sheetless in Seattle as the hosts go through to the last 32. Meanwhile, Scotland come up empty like a Boston brewery as Morocco win 1-0 at Foxborough and in Philly. Brazil, Haiti, Cunha and Vinnie Jr. And Haiti are heading home soon. It's Friday evening in LA, quite possibly Saturday morning in the UK as we bring you a fresh new Totally at the World Cup. Joining Duncan and myself, it's the returning Phil Hay. Hello, Phil. Thank you for having me back on. Very kind. We've missed you. Yeah, I wondered if you might have ditched me completely.

2:45No, no. And quite fairly. Have you travelled up to Boston for a few months? I wish I had been putting fairy liquid in the fountains. Right. I would say no major tournament with Scotland starts until you've got fairy liquid in the fountains. But no, I've been in my apartment typing away. I say from a little trip down to Santa Monica Beach, which was very nice in the summer. Okay. Santa Monica Beach is nice. You've also been searching for Buckfast in Los Angeles. Yes. I will get some of this either before the end of the tournament or before Scotland go out with the tournament. But I went looking for it this morning and no dice, unfortunately.

3:16And I did go to an off-licence called the Robert Burns liquor store, which didn't have any and should have been shut down instantly for that reason. Quite so. A disappointing day for you in many ways then, Phil. I'm sure there have been some good bits as well. We'll get on to those very, very shortly. It has, though, been a great 24 hours for the hosts, Mexico, Canada and the USA. Canada on Thursday for us with their record win, their first ever win at the World Cup, 6-0. Mexico also on Thursday becoming the first team to qualify for the knockout stages and USA Today joining them there oh look there's the day 9 so far scorelines, USA definitely through to the round of 32, we'll find out later on after the Paraguay Turkey game whether it is as group winners already or not but 2-0 there up at Lumen Field in Seattle, in group C meanwhile, Scotland losing 1-0 to Morocco and a 3-0 win for Brazil a little bit later on in Philadelphia against Haiti.

4:17Moment of the day. I think, Phil, you go first. Yeah, it was referee Felix Zvaier. Is that how you pronounce it? In the USMNT Australia game, pulling up towards the end of his added time and needed Australia player to stretch his leg out. Then I think Balogun came and did the same. And Duncan spotted that he got a little sachet of pickle juice as well to try and get rid of the cramp. So they keep pickle juice nearby in case of what they call... Do you not? No. I mean, two things here. One, I didn't know that pickle juice was the remedy for... Same. Second thing, what the Americans term a charley horse.

4:56Yeah, I find that harder to cope with, that a cramp can be called charley horse, which sounds like a, you know, a CBeebies series. Why is it called charley horse? Your listeners, viewers are really good at answering these questions, like the skunk. Yep. Let us know. I mean, pickle juice is very popular in sports for that very reason, particularly in sports like cycling, where they hand it out of a car window and you down it, and about five minutes later, the cramps is a bit. But it's very unbecoming, I thought, for a referee to get cramp. It looks a bit bad. It's quite surprising as well that a Bundesliga referee was like that at the end of the game.

5:32I think they pushed through, no problem. Did he bonk? No. Well, that's when you go hypoglycemic and run out of sugar. They would have given him an energy gel instead of pickle juice. You can mix them. I wouldn't recommend it. Do you know what did get bonked? The ball in your moment of the day. Yeah. Yes. I mean, I'd already said that my goal of the tournament was Saibori's opener against Brazil. But this one, I mean... Phil, can you point it on the screen? Because it's a little bit blurry there. Oh, great there. It's hit so hard by Saibori that it goes to the top corner of the net and stays there.

6:05It's scared to come back out. We don't have to give you, do we? Otherwise, you'd see it. Yeah, all the league. And it hangs there for a couple of seconds. So that's what was really cool about it. I mean, normally a ball hits the back of the net and either bounces out or drops down. But this kind of, a bit like in pinball, where the ball gets stuck at the top of a pinball table, it kind of rattled around the net for a bit and immediately turned it into one of the most unusual goals I've ever seen. And also the earliest winning goal in World Cup history. Also true. Why? Good news is that Scotland didn't go into tilt.

6:35We'll get on to that game very, very shortly. We're going to begin, though, our roundup of Friday's action with events up in Seattle. Midday up in Seattle, the USA booked their place in the last 32 with a 2-0 victory over Australia. This was a game which people have flagged up as a much tougher test than their opening day victory against Paraguay. And a game that they also faced without their number one player, Christian Pulisic, as it's pronounced over here. USA showed that Paraguay was no one-off, Phil. Yeah, and no Pulisic, no dramas. I was reading some of the stuff from US writers earlier and they were saying that it's the first time Pochettino has ever gone with two up top and brought in Pepe.

7:18And it actually worked really well from the off. I've noticed this afternoon that there's been quite a lot of chat up in Seattle about can the USMNT win the World Cup? Why not us? It's the same test. I wouldn't want to suggest that that's quite an American trait, but it seems slightly premature to me, I would say. Played well for a good hour against Australia, deserved to win, got a bit leggy in the second half but like you were saying, they're through and into the knockouts already and going along quite nicely. But I think win the World Cup might be pushing it slightly. What we should see, stranger things have happened, arguably in the context of world sports.

7:54It's the first time they've won their Open 2 games since 1930, a World Cup in which they did pretty well in. How many teams were in the World Cup in 1930? 48 no fewer than that so yeah alright easier then I believe it was was it 8 teams or 16 it went straight to the semis didn't it I mean people were travelling by boat which probably helped if you were able to go by land we digress but yeah I thought I think what was important about it was it kept the momentum going and the crowd are very excited and the players are excited and Pochettino has come out and said that certain factors have to come together to win a World Cup, but yes, we believe.

8:34So, you know, if he says it, then why shouldn't we? I mean, personally, as someone who was advocating for Australia, and particularly Pat Beach, it was slightly disappointing. Didn't have a good day at Pat Beach, did he? We still love him. It was a rainy day on the beach, yeah. Right. Can we say that Beach didn't look sure against the United States? But you want, if you're a US fan, you want your team to believe that they can do it. Yeah. The question is, why not us? And a bit of a play on us there but so why not then what do they lack i think more than anything what's really good is in in a country where you're trying to pick up new supporters and and you know increase the pockets of support for the team and people who are genuinely interested if you get on a roll then then it will be a bit of a magnet for people to to latch on to and and to follow and it is undoubtedly better a tournament if the hosts do well and hang around for a while and i think we'll see all three well we're certainly going to see two go through but canada are going to go through at this rate as well.

9:31And it's no bad thing at all. The thing about the USMNT is they do have decent European-level talents. They've got Pulisic, obviously, but they've got McKinney, they've got Pepe, they've got Balogun, they've got others. But I think the moment of reckoning is going to come when the defence gets scrutinised by a team like France or Spain or something like that. I think at the back and their goalkeeper is where the weakness lies. And I just don't think they've got it to go all the way. But, you know, stick around. Okay, so Fries, the goalkeeper, Yeah, that could be the weak point. Duncan? Possibly.

10:04I mean, I think what you can say is that Pochettino is using his squad in a way that gets the best out of them. He's gone with a back three, which is a relatively new thing for him. That obviously allows Tim Ream's slowness to be covered by the likes of Richards and Freeman, who obviously scored today. Their wing-backs are better going forward than they are defending, and that gets the best out of them too. I think they could easily get to the quarterfinals. I think that's probably about it and I think that's about part, I think that would be you know, a good World Cup, obviously getting beyond that, we all remember South Korea in 2002 on home turf helped by a few other factors but yeah, I mean I think the positivity, you can feel it, I mean on the way here today I saw a guy in the street in that exact shirt, the striped shirt and that's the first time I've seen one in LA since we've been here.

10:55Really, in the wild? It's a good point actually I haven't seen any at all. He didn't look really happy but he was wearing it why not i'm not sure but maybe there's stuff going on for it i'm not sure i would say that you are hearing a lot more when i think when we all turned up here there wasn't much sense of the world cup happening but now turn on the radio and all you hear about is the world cup and not in a curiosity sense more you know this is part of our kind of day-to-day lives and the other thing is that the u.s national team i think are on a bit of a mission to disprove people's notions about them and they've already done that to a large extent with the two performances there might be one or two other conventional wisdoms that fall by the wayside as well and i must confess in game one i did hear our neighbors over the fence cheering when some of the goals went in yeah yeah they were up and at it yeah excellent i mean i think the fact that um that freeman scored you know his dad was a is an nfl legend and it does feel like there were a lot of nfl um icons at the game today that they kept cutting to perhaps a bit too much during games but it does feel like soccer is kind of, you know, it's not going to catch NFL and basketball but it does feel like it's just solidly cementing its place as the third sport.

12:03Paul Tenorio yesterday on the show was saying that a win in this game would effectively really push not just the excitement about this tournament but the following of the sport forward in quite a major way. We'll see how long they can keep it going for. It is true that they've only played Paraguay and I put only in air quotes, It's their only Paraguay and Australia. But there have been other teams who've played supposedly weaker teams and not come away with the win. So, yeah, we'll see. Australia, Duncan. You were expecting big things. SBW wrote and said, Duncan is an honorary Aussie, the only one to give us any credit.

12:38What do you want to say about their performance? I think you should say that Duncan has got the look of a bowler who could open at Lords for the Aussies, definitely. Especially with that moustache. It's going Merv Hughes. It's got a way to go. but you know on the way yeah I mean I'm happy to accept both those missions to be honest but yeah I was a bit disappointed they dropped the two goal scorers from the first game which what was the thinking I don't know Tony Popovich went full Guardiola but yeah they were very passive in the first half I think America's shape did sort of flummox them a bit it basically stopped the wing backs from progressing which is what was the sort of strength of the team against Turkey they did turn up in the second half they brought on Niran Kunda, they looked a lot more aggressive.

13:21I mean, the last 10 minutes threatened to be too aggressive, slash quite far aggressive. There were a few tackles. Balogun got in a bit of a scrap at one point with Big Suta. But I think if they'd shown that sort of energy the whole game, maybe they could have got something out of it. But, you know, they went to Tuna down quite early and it just felt a bit dead. But, you know, with three points on the board, they've got a really good chance still of getting through to the knockout. so it wasn't a disaster They had a lot to say about the game beforehand it was quite niggly quite a bit of beef and it all seemed to stem from a comment from Mike Grilla who was a player that I saw at Leeds forward for a while not big name by any stretch, we'd called them a lay up in that group by easy win so they were talking big beforehand Australia and they didn't really show up but you're right there was almost a big scuffle towards the final minutes of the game and I'd be lying if I said that we weren't sitting there going, oh, go on.

14:16Yeah, go on. This could be good. There was a friendly, the last meeting before today was a friendly in Colorado, which saw the Americans certainly felt that the Australians had been targeting Pulisic who then went off injured. And then there was a bit of a a Churchillian half-time speech from Pochettino who said, we're Americans, we don't take, and insert your own thing. And they didn't today. And they're through to the last 32, possibly as group winners. If Turkey, in a game which is going to be kicking off very shortly, but won't finish until too late for us to get this podcast out. If Turkey don't beat Paraguay, USA have won the group, correct, Duncan?

14:53Correct. All right, good day's work for the US of A. Next up, let's head from Pat Beach to Group C as we find out about Scotland and Morocco and all of that. This episode of the Totally Football Show is brought to you by Hotels.com. When you're booking a hotel, here's a simple question. why wouldn't you use Hotels.com? It really is all in the name. As a member, you save up to 20 % on hundreds of thousands of hotels around the world and earn rewards on every single stay, which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. And unlike some other places, there are no blackout dates, so when you want to travel, your rewards are ready to go.

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16:58Foxborough, Massachusetts on Friday in front of the watching okay, sorry Group C on Friday and in front of the watching Pep Guardiola in Foxborough and Phil Hay similar figure here at the Every Bit is Bold Totally right, very much so very much as every bit as tactically sharp Well Yep Scotland anyway lost 1-0 to Morocco Phil a difficult beginning to this game after 71 seconds Scotland were down after 4 minutes the Morocco fans were already ole-ing however after going a goal down the kind of killer punch didn't really come and by the second half was Scotland actually the better team? Yeah it's kind of twice Morocco have done that they did the same against Brazil looked great and they are lovely to watch when they get into the flow but I think somebody else was making the point that it's almost like Morocco are kind of caught between the new form in Morocco and the old form in Morocco and haven't quite moved from one to the other.

17:59And Scotland were probably the better team for the latter half hour, I would say, without being great across the whole game. I mean, I read beforehand Steve Clarke saying that the training sessions had been electric, his word. And he must have been going at Grant Hanley with a taser because two minutes in, there's a big dog leg in the defence. Hanley is out of line with everybody else. Saibari goes through and scores. And against Morocco, you did think, well, that's probably curtains. And you're right, Ole's around the stadium after four minutes. That must be a record as well, you would think.

18:32World Cup record. Not terrible. I thought McGinn, the foul on McGinn in the second half, was probably a penalty. I wasn't so sure about the one on McTominay. But all in all... There were two big penalty shots with another referee, quite possibly. Well, the referee, we should mention. Yes. There was a 1990s video game called Kick-Off 2, which had 24 refs and there was one in it that was incredibly lenient. And if you ever got him and you realised, you could just get away with anything. And basically, he was the ref for today. Because for both teams, to be fair, but the ref let everything go. And like you say, the McGinn foul was a penalty.

19:13Yeah. It was. He gets barged over. I'm not sure it was. What? I'm not sure it was. I think there wasn't contact. But where I think there was contact was on Scott McTominay later on. Interesting. I didn't think there was enough on McTominay for that one. But I thought with McGinn, stepped across him, bumped his hip. I was a bit disappointed with McTominay today. He kept getting in the way of other players. Cristiano McTominay. The way you put it, he was going full on Ronaldo, really, wasn't he? Yeah, there was a shot near the end where he kind of, he had a shot, it was all right, but he could have laid it back, I think.

19:48And it's understandable, you know, he's a great player and he's been in great form, but he felt like he was trying to do too much. And I mean, really, it's not a disaster for Scotland in this format. They escaped this game, you know, 1-0, which means their goal difference is back to zero. And our calculations, in association with the machines that we have working for us at The Athletic, even a goal difference of minus two and three points gives you around a 72 % chance of getting through pretty good so 1-0 defeat against Brazil 1-0 will almost certainly see them go through even 2-0 and they've got like a three quarter chance of getting through what if they get a point against Brazil we saw Brazil this evening you can have them can't you Phil?

20:32yeah why not Rafinha's injured as well he looks like he's done a hamstring which is actually a mega blow for them if it's a problem I think Ancelotti can quite easily cope with an injured Neymar. They seem to bring Neymar along for the banter more than anything I felt. But Rafinha's totally different. That's a hefty headache with that. Yeah, we could take them. But then I think about that Morocco goal today and I just put Vinicius Junior or somebody else in Saibari's shoes and I think that's probably going to happen again. But that was the saving grace when I spoke to Donk earlier was that when he did the maths, he was saying, actually get beaten again and go through anyway.

21:12The slight problem is that Scotland play quite early. Obviously, they're in an early group. So they will have completed their group stage before a lot of other teams. So other teams will kind of know what they've got to do. And in the history of Scotland in tournaments, you can kind of imagine a late third goal for Brazil that turns out to be the one that condemns them. But we've got to hope. We've got to go out, find butt fasts and build hope. Yes. Yeah, it will be done before the next game. I'll make that happen. Definitely. Ben Gannon-Doke as well should feature more heavily in the third game for you, Phil?

21:46You would think. I do understand why Clark went with one up front today. I thought he would. It didn't work brilliantly. Yeah, the thing about Gannon-Doke is he just causes a bit of havoc and he's hard to mark and he's hard to track. And there's nobody else who... McGinn's got a lovely burst of pace on him. McTominay, when he plays well, really good. We've spoken about the midfield before. There is talent in there. but Gannandok is the one who is hard to defend against and does make a difference. I thought Ross Stewart was decent when he came on. He won quite a few headers which no one else was bothering to do.

22:17The Loch Ness Drogba. The Loch Ness Drogba we were told earlier. Yeah, that's a great nickname. That was his nickname at Sunderland. So get that going again. But yeah, I'm still hopeful. And to Phil's point that Morocco keeps scoring a goal and they're not being entirely sure what to do with it. have we a lot of people felt that their performance in the first half against Brazil in their opening game was one of the best we'd seen at the tournament are we beginning to revise that downwards at all? I don't think so but they just they don't quite have the killer instinct they have some lovely rotations you never know who's going to pop up in the number 10 position even Hakimi from right back can get there and as we said they've scored two absolutely beautiful goals but both by Saibari by the way it seems likely we're going to see Saibari lining up for Bayern Munich next season which I think him alongside pretty much got that in place or at least agreed in principle or whatever it is classic football fan fashion Stafford Bloor reported earlier I think that a lot of Bayern fans when he was initially linked were a bit like and now they've seen those two goals they're like yeah it's good that's really good classic tournament football yeah I don't think I'd be revising opinion down of Morocco I feel like they're kind of moving towards clicking quite nicely Top of the group though Group C is currently Brazil After their 3-0 win over Haiti All the goals coming in the first half But it's Cunha who's back in the side Ahead of Igor Thiago With a brace And Vinny Junior with the other one Yeah Vinny Junior gets himself in What is a red hot golden boot race That's two I think for the tournament So he's in there with Haaland and Mbappé And Messi and Kane Going to be fun and games It's pretty difficult Endric came on, which will placate people to a degree in Brazil because everybody seems quite humpty about the fact that Ancelotti just will not use him.

24:09Quite difficult to draw big conclusions from the football because Haiti had little spells, but they were well outmatched. Like I say, I think the big thing from that game tonight is the Rafinha injury. I haven't seen anything from Ancelotti yet about how severe it is, but it's not exactly a rarity for Rafinha and it would be a big problem for them if he wasn't fit. Okay, nice to see Cunha back in. and scoring. What's something of a mystery why Igor Thiago started ahead of him in the first game? Maybe Ancelotti had just watched Brentford's end-of-season video. We simply don't know. But yeah, I mean, Kunia did his, obviously, surfer celebration for both goals.

24:45The second goal was, as Phil said, very good. The first one was kind of hit onto him and looped into the net. So, you know, slightly overboard, which you don't want to do in your surfing, I guess. But yeah, it was, I'd say 3-0 against Haiti was par. They didn't look amazing. Casemiro, again, at points in the second half, was getting run around by the Haitians. So I don't think we learn much about Brazil in this game. I think the Scotland game will be really good because I think Scotland can get at them. Well, Scotland's second half against Morocco, and beyond the refereeing decisions, the number of chances that they created, if they could find a centre-forward from somewhere.

25:23And they're quite mobile and they've got a lot of energy. and I think if you get about Brazil's midfield, which as Duncan says, you really can, then that's probably where they're going to get some joy, I think. All right. So Scotland to take Brazil in the final group game? Yeah, definitely. Comfortably. Why not us is the phrase. Exactly that. I mean, Vinny Juni, obviously, as we said, scored, which now means, as it stands, Real Madrid are the top scoring club team at the World Cup. Good Lord. Much like the second Death Star, this space station is fully operational. we thought Spain having no players until they signed Cucurella from Real Madrid would stop that but you can't suppress an institution like Real Madrid Haiti are going to be leaving us after the third group game it's nice of them to come along and I hope they've had a good time at the game this evening all sorts of things going on in the background but at the game this evening was Ronald Gino I think we'll see him that's actually an Italian newspaper headline Why?

26:25Because while he was enjoying events there, alongside the original Ronaldo, news was breaking that he's actually just signed for third division Italian side Ravenna. I can't wait, he says there. 46 years of age, hasn't played for 11 years. There's a little bit of doubt about what exactly he's going to be doing in Ravenna. It's one of two things I'm sure we can all imagine him doing in Ravenna, but officially for the club. he's apparently coming on board as an investor but he says that he's going to be suiting up he's going to be doing the training camp and will be there for the manager Andrea Mandolini for the new season as one of the players So if it was League One, the third tier in England I would think he would struggle a lot given the sort of level and fitness of players how will it work in the third tier in Italy?

27:12He'll come out and he'll dazzle August, September he'll disappear I was telling you beforehand about the time that I saw Socrates played Garfurt Town on the edge of Leeds. This was back around about 2005. And somehow Garfurt Town, who once had pretensions of being a Premier League club in the future and will never be and have never been, managed to convince him to come over. He was about 50, 60. It was the middle of the winter, so it was minus five. It's a five and in, so good value. But he stood in the dugout smoking in a big heavy coat until the second half when he came on, almost scored with his first touch, almost stuck it in the top corner, but not quite.

27:47and then looked like he was genuinely going to drop dead for the rest of the game as he ran, sort of lumbered about the field. So I think Ronaldinho will probably cope better than that, but I can imagine that one game of playing with him would probably be enough for the players there. Possibly he's seen Ancelotti calling up Neymar and thought, you know what? You never know. I might get back out of there. See what I can do. All right, well, lots to look forward to then for the fans of Ravenna. We've got a look ahead to the action on Saturday coming up very, very shortly and some other wild and weird things from the World Cup on today, day nine of the competition.

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30:46In many parts of the world, possibly your part, it's already June the 20th, in which case it's a happy Panenka Day to all who celebrate because today's the 50th anniversary of Antonin Panenka giving Czechoslovakia, don't look for them, they're not there anymore, the European Championship against West Germany, ditto, in Belgrade. with only the most audacious thing anyone's ever done on a football field. I mean, still is audacious, but to do that back then when no one had ever done it, boy. He must have had a clue, though, because his name was Penenka. So, right? But anyway, did we know that four years later, Czechoslovakia were in another penalty shootout at the Euros and he stepped up to take one and he absolutely smashed it into the corner, which I respect because it kind of embeds his legacy of the first one.

31:33and also he probably thought, I'm not going to get away with this the second time. He felt under pressure to Penenka every time. So, yeah, like you say, you know... If your surname is literally Penenka, there's an expectation. Do you think there's somebody in Lithuania who actually was Penenka-ing back in the 1940s, but because there was no social media, couldn't intervene and say, you know, this is not his penalty? You said nobody had ever done it before. I don't believe that. I think somebody would have done it somewhere. I completely bought into that whole narrative. Big Penenka's got a whole year, and it's quite sad to see.

32:03Get to that again. Get in the comments. Let us know. Good news about, I mean, better news about Ismail Kone of Canada, who we saw go off in such terrible circumstances against Qatar. He's already had surgery. Three surgeons operated on him for an hour and a half and apparently sorted his leg out. He's not going to be back for a while, of course, but he's on the road to recovery. Best wishes to him. We had somebody writing in asking for some random stats. If only we had someone here. famous for I was told that there was going to be a Scotland stat at some point which Duncan neglected to hit me with yes there is Phil and it is that with Scotland's sad failure not to win today they still haven't won consecutive games at World Cup since the invention of the Commodore 64 which really I think puts it into stark flagging the ground yeah what was your favourite Commodore 64 game Duncan there was a really good one called Pirates was there?

33:02yeah and you kind of sailed around the Caribbean being a pirate. It was good. Yeah. I've got a random stat for you. Yeah. On Tuesday, Erling Haaland scored a brace on his World Cup debut. He was the first player to do it since, Phil? Wow, no. No chance for my great matter. Since New Zealand's Elijah Just, who did it on Monday. And he was the first player to get a brace on his World Cup debut since Sweden's Yasen Ayari on Sunday. See where this is going? And he was the first player to do it since the USA's Folloran Balagun, who'd done it way back on Friday. This is like batting passing, isn't it?

33:42So who's going to be next? Does it mean something, though, that you have all these players coming in on their debut and doing so well? It's a high-scoring tournament, but what else does it point to? To be fair, they're all really good players. I've seen quite a lot of just that Motherwell this season is really good. And I think he'll get a good transfer from there, which I'm not pleased Motherwell, but he is good enough to play elsewhere and higher up. and Balogun is decent, Haaland's half decent, you know, good players there. Right, some of these players, I guess, whose nations might not have been represented, were not for the expansion of the World Cup, that might be part of it.

34:13Speaking of transfers from Scottish clubs, I know also that Derek McInnes has done one from Hearts. Yes, there is a definite exodus going on from Hearts, including Lauren Shankland. I'm not that bothered, will you know? No? No, no. I think different coaches will suit the recruitment more, it's really my personal opinion, and absolutely not knocking what went on last season, but I'm quite zen about that. And I'm also quite zen about Shankland leaving in a way that I'm still not zen about what happened on the last day of the season. Indeed. All right, we'll move on from that. Duncan, any other stat that you want to throw out?

34:46I don't think so, but I feel the assignment and I'm going to get beavering away. So look out for them. Very good. A couple of comments from listeners. Eats Japan says, Konnichiwa, Jimbo and all. Many games not shown on TV in Japan, so thanks for the daily updates. I can sound like I watched all the games and know what I'm actually talking about. Arigato. Really, could you come on, actually, then? Because we need somebody who can do that. Dan Kalejski, meanwhile, writes to Duncan, and only Duncan, and he says, Duncan, your biggest cognitive tension is that you're trying to over-rationalize and sanitize a game that is inherently chaotic and emotional and warm.

35:24You're brilliant, but you omit elitism while attempting to bend the beautiful game to your cynicism. but then again you're British I told my mum to end that burner account but yeah here we go I feel seen Glorified Parsnip says with that performance against Canada and the injury to Ghana's first choice goalie I think we can put to bed any chances that Ziggy plays Qatar apparently Ziggy's this is Lawrence Atty Ziggy did you know this? No a fine wordplay anyway and Jeff finally says oh I've got a long-standing pet super hate and need your help. Here we are, Jeff. Jeff wants to know, why do TV cameras switch to the manager celebrating the second the final whistle is blown?

36:07It's true. They do that, don't they? Latest evidence for discussion, says Jeff, is the Ghana win. Full-time whistle goes. All he says, Carlos, it's all about me. Kieros, running across the pitch. It's 43 seconds before we cut to a Ghana player. I can't believe that's true, but the gist of it is very, very credible. It's upsetting him a lot if he's timing it. yeah well i mean we all have things that make us boke when we're watching football good word now when don't use that word earlier i was saying i haven't had anybody south of um or south of edinburgh south of berwick they use that yeah but anyway this is jeff's particular yeah yeah stone in his shoe well maybe you can get together with thomas tucker because he obviously has complained about the number of photographers in front of him he did indeed so yeah maybe it's an american thing I think NFL coaches get a lot of focus after victories.

36:57The manager is, I guess, the figurehead. Yeah, I mean, I think with the USMNT, everyone wants to see Poch. That's a lot of people's pet hate, by the way. Yeah, I know. That's why I like saying it. But there was a good shot of Pochettino at the end of the game. Right. Shouting, USA, USA with the crowd. Right. In his nice Hugo Boss blue shirt. Was it a nice Hugo Boss blue shirt? Well, it's a Hugo Boss blue shirt. Okay. that he's added the badge to. How close is he to Russell Crowe now? It's like a sort of day-by-day morphing, isn't it? Yeah, he's kind of midway between... What was Harry Enfield's teenage character and Russell Crowe?

37:36Yeah, I feel there's a... The two of them have got stuck in... Kevin the gladiator. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, we'll move on, eh? Because Saturday brings more action at the World Cup. What action is that? Well, in Groups E and F, we'll be seeing Germany up against Ivory Coast. We'll be seeing Ecuador against Curaçao. That's all in Group E. And then in Group F, Japan take on Tunisia. Netherlands, meanwhile, we'll be taking on the surprise group leaders of Group F, Sweden. Sweden. Our friend Frida Fagerland of Aftonbladet is out here in the USA, so we spoke to her about Sweden earlier today. How about this?

38:16the team that didn't win a single World Cup qualifier atop of the group. Yeah, absolutely amazing. And I don't think anyone, well, no one expected us to actually be here at World Cup. But I don't think anyone expected us to do what we did in the opening game. I mean, absolutely incredible to score that many goals. And yeah, the confidence is very high going into this game against the Netherlands. Now that we look at Sweden's team again, maybe we are beginning to expect something with the likes of Isak and Jokeres and playing so well together. Yeah, that's definitely the strong side of this team, the attack.

39:01In terms of the defence, I think quite a lot of Swedish people were slightly worried when they were just 2-1 up against Tunisia because the defence looks shaky. but as long as we can get the ball up to Jörg Ress or Isak, it feels like we do have something, we do have a threat going forward. So yeah, I guess we just have to rely on the attacking face of the game rather than defending. Meanwhile, Graham Potter is 3-for-3 with the Swedish national side. What's been the reaction back in Sweden to the opening game and indeed with the Netherlands matching prospect? I think we were basically just enjoying ourselves, I think, after the game against Tunisia, because the mood after the friendlies against Norway and Greece weren't great.

39:53Against Norway, we didn't play our best team, so that could explain why we lost that game. But against Greece, it took them a while. I don't think that Jörgis and Isak looked particularly in sync, but they definitely were against Tunisia. And I think that is basically what everyone can tell that, well, if they start gelling, if they start playing well together, and then we have Yasin Ayari and, you know, all of these other players that can perform as well. It looks like this could be a really fun summer for the Swedes. All right. They haven't played that much together, so it's going to get better the more they play, said Potter in relation to Isaac and Jokere.

40:37So maybe it's not just the Swedish defenders who need to worry in this next game against the Netherlands. Another question. Has it made much news back in Sweden, Zlatan Ibrahimovic not going to the opening match, missing the Tunisia game because he went to Donald Trump's UFC gala at the White House instead? Yeah, that was definitely a thing. I'm thinking, though, because the kickoff time wasn't ideal for anyone, it seemed. I mean, back in Sweden, it was four o 'clock in the morning. I think maybe that played a part in him not being part of that game. Well, of course, I mean, if he wants to attend that event, that's one thing.

41:21But I also think it wasn't like, yeah, it wasn't the best kickoff time. But I'm looking forward to hearing his thoughts on Sweden because I'm enjoying him as a pundit so far. Zlatan is working for Fox Sports in the USA on the World Cup but one game that he didn't feel able to attend was indeed that famous Swedish victory Alright, what's your expectation then for the Netherlands game, Frida? I think it's very difficult I mean, the Netherlands, they're a very strong team, obviously and as I just mentioned, with the Swedish defence not being the best there is a part of me that is slightly worried that it could, yeah, this could be a defeat and it could also be a heavy defeat.

42:03But at the same time, I think the fact that we do have great attacking players also means that the Netherlands can't be too proactive. They actually have to make sure that they don't give too much space to players like Juergens and Isak. I think Isak was absolutely incredible against Inizia. He was the best player on the pitch. And it's so nice to see him playing like that. He was almost a bit emotional because he's been through a lot over the past season at Liverpool. So, yeah, if they can just keep performing like that, I think they could cause the Netherlands some problems. Frida Fargeland.

42:41Wow, what a story this has turned out to be for Sweden. And, of course, Graham Potter. We did a big piece with Frida in our preview show about the incredible turnaround both for the national team and Graham himself. There he is. There he is. He's the one on the right, looking not unlike Chuck Norris in his bounty hunter days. They are pictured. Well, who's this Seb Larsen with him? So they're pictured at Fort Worth, part of Sweden's ongoing summer in Texas. I mean, if you can remember Graham Potter at Brighton before he had his Chelsea glow up, he looks so different. I mean, he's really embracing the cowboy life.

43:19Remember when he left Chelsea, he went to the Falkland Islands. Ted Lasso. Nice, nice. He went to the Falkland Islands for a bit. So maybe he is actually some sort of... He went to the Falkland Islands. Yeah. When? After he left Chelsea. OK. I didn't know that. I don't know why. Well, presumably, to look at livestock. Penguins? Well, they've got a lot of sheep as well. So maybe he's kind of pivoting from cows to sheep, sheep to cows. OK. I've got a quiz question about Graham Potter and Ronald Koeman, the manager he'll be facing in Saturday's Group F clash. Which club links these two managers, Phil, Ronald Koeman and Graham Potter?

43:56Which club? I have no idea. I'm going to pass to Duncan. Duncan? Club that links Graham Potter and Ronald Koeman? Yeah, I can't think either. Producer Charlie says, Southampton. Koeman managed them, Potter played for them. I was going to get Southampton, but I couldn't have told you what else Potter had to do with them. I didn't think there were any sheep down there, really. No, not many. There's little horses in the New Forest, but even Potter couldn't wrangle those. I reckon he could. However, the more immediate and topical question is exactly how he's going to get on against Koeman's orangey outfit.

44:33And what is only the second all-European clash of this World Cup, remarkably enough, Netherlands had a 2-2 draw with Japan last time out. Sweden had that whopping 5-1 win against Tunisia, which is why they are top of the group and why Tunisia now have a new manager. But Graham, brilliant. I think it's three official matches, three competitive matches and three wins. Yeah, I might have been slightly down on Sweden last time I appeared on here, but they were good. Tunis here were absolutely dreadful. It must be the easiest team in history to get down the side of, I think. So obviously, sat the manager immediately under new management, which is pretty fascinating to me that you get thrown a squad with about three days to prepare and two games to get yourself through the group.

45:23and the man in question I was watching the video of him basically well he wasn't saying this but he was almost implying to the players that if you went home now after that you'd get a kick in at the airport he pretty much did say it he said do you know what would happen if you went home yeah it's a bit menacing that isn't it yeah well people in Tunisia are unhappy with the team's performance they brought in Herve Renard they're going to be taking on Japan Sweden up against the Netherlands Frida was saying they've got great players going forward one or two issues at the back what do you think about the game against Netherlands?

45:54But I think that's kind of the theme of the World Cup so far, right? A lot of teams have good players going forward and some issues at the back. And I think Sweden, Izak and Gokere is a great partnership. And as we remember, last time the World Cup was in these parts. What happened, Duncan? They came third. They were the team that everyone forgets. Everyone remembers Bulgaria from that tournament, but not Sweden. But now they've got a manager with a cowboy hat so people will remember. I guess we'll see those games coming up on Saturday. as are the ones in Group E, which features Germany, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, which rhymes with Barndor, ironically enough, and they are facing Curaçao.

46:33That game's occurring in Kansas City. Duncan? Ecuador, who are managed by the non-union version of Renard, aren't they? Looks sort of similar. Ah, yeah, Sebastian Beccaccio. Yeah, if you can't get Renard. Yeah, well, Ecuador have been on a terrific run and were touted by many as dark horses and were perhaps a little bit unlucky to lose their opening game. They were great. Definitely, yeah, played really well. They hit the bar three times, the woodwork three times. They were really good. I mean, that was one of the best games so far. I mean, it was 1-0, but it was a really high-quality game. So I think they should have absolutely no problems against Curacao.

47:15They might even, you know, do what Jeremy did. I think probably the best game. It was the most intensity in any of the games, I think, that one. They're both excellent. And I think they'll be dangerous, Ecuador. Not the sort of team you'd want to randomly stumble across in the last 32 or last 16. A dark horse. Yes. And Graham Potter will, you know, lasso them. Right, if they cross paths, being in different groups and that. Group E, the other match on Saturday, Germany against Ivory Coast, both of whom won their opening games. so Ivory Coast just 1-0 against Ecuador right at the death but Germany as mentioned 7-1 winners against Curacao Duncan you were saying after that game that you thought Germany had possibly it was Tom it was you you thought that for all the magnitude of the scoreline that there were defensive issues there and I guess Ivory Coast the kind of players they're going to be bringing to the party could exploit that yeah there was a lot of room behind the German defence again very good going forwards not that tight at the back so I think this is a massive test for Germany again I think this game could be a high scoring match yeah Nagelsmann I don't know I'm never quite convinced by him but yeah I just I don't know Phil's calling this the game of the tournament so far I thought Ivory Coast Ecuador was this would be good I think in prospect that this would be the matchup and it's definitely game of the day without any doubt.

48:48I think Germany have probably been the main beneficiary so far of the hydration break providing a bit of a break of impetus because they were definitely wobbly at that point. They were always going to win that game but it did make a difference. If you want to be a hipster in like three years you definitely want to refer to the two minutes before the first hydration break in Germany, Curacao and Curacao are briefly on top. I'll make a note of that. People will be like well you really love the 2026 World Cup. But the interesting thing with Ivory Coast is that the There's been this story this week, it was Jacob Whitehead ran it for the Athletic of the Striker.

49:20Why he was arrested in France before the World Cup on suspicion of match fixing. He's not been charged with any crime or anything like that. He was denied entry to Canada by the border officials, like Thomas Partey was, but then that was reversed. And so he goes and he will play, and it would be quite interesting to watch him, really. With Thomas Partey, by the way, the key thing there, Canadian authorities were keen to point out, It wasn't the fact that he'd been charged with something, however serious the allegations. It was the fact that he'd actually lied on his visa application because there was a section, have you been charged with anything he put?

49:55To which he said no, yes. Ah, okay. By the way, I'm not sure this is true wherever you're hearing or watching this podcast, but over here in the States, hydration breaks no longer exist. They've been replaced with match breaks. All the TV graphics now refer to match breaks as of, I think, the last day. Well, that should definitely stop people booing them. Yeah. It's like sticking a pair of dark glasses on it, really, isn't it? These are not hydration breaks, people. These are match breaks. Yeah. Well, the mask slips. Just call them quarters. It's fine. There you go. I'm all in. There you go. We'll have another 16 quarters of action coming up tomorrow.

50:38Is that right, Duncan? Yeah, it is. Is that live maths? Yeah. Brilliant. Well, four games anyway, taking place on Saturday. And, of course, that will be followed with a brand new Totally at the World Cup. For now, though, I think that wraps it up here in Los Angeles. So many, many thanks for joining us for this edition. Many thanks to Phil Hay for returning on the sofa. I hope you're going to be back soon. I will be back tomorrow. Well, there you go. Yes. Brilliant. Duncan, thank you as ever for your participation. And everybody here on the production crew. We'll be back in 24 hours. see you then

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