Vinicius inspires Brazil on bleak day for Scotland

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1:47From Los Angeles, it's totally at the World Cup. Day 14 as groups A, B, and C come to a close.

2:01Wednesday, saw Mex flex and cash out the checks in football mecca named Azteca in Miami. Brazil fans chant, Neymar please, and so does Scottish ones as their team slumps to a 3-0 defeat. There's a big win for Switzerland, several gold of the tournament contenders. Wilson Isidore Haiti out the door, South Africa in the knockouts for the first time ever, and much more in this Totally at the World Cup. Wednesday evening in LA Thursday morning in the UK Welcome to our latest roundup of events From this wonderful World Cup We've got Duncan Alexander with us Also Phil Hay And yes, Tom Williams Hello to you all Hello James And goodbye Tom, goodbye Bye Group A in particular And also B and C Although elements of those groups of course will continue Possibly even Scotland Phil We shall see Possibly Yeah As Steve Clarke said I think we're going home So yeah, hope springs eternal.

2:54What a positive man he is. I know, just the message we were all looking for. That post-game interview after the 3-0 defeat to Brazil. He hates them, doesn't he? Absolutely hate them. I mean, I don't think he loves interviews generally. Well, it kind of gives the vibes of hating everybody, but particularly the post-match interviews. Yeah. Brushes them off. All right. Well, anyway, we arrived at the final set of group games, and that's the end of three groups, A, B and C, as mentioned. Duncan, you're particularly sad to see Group A go. Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of Group A. I should be more specific.

3:24I'm not a huge fan of the Czech Republic or their performance at this World Cup, which I found profoundly depressing. It's so much so that I refused to watch their game in Mexico and tucked in instead to the Southern Classico between South Korea and South Africa, in which South Africa surprised quite a few people and got out of the Greek stage for the first time in their history. Which is terrific stuff. Absolutely terrific stuff. We'll get on to what happened in all the groups. But yes, three groups were in action today. The matches of each group were played simultaneously, which led to some tough, tough choices for all of us.

3:59Before we get on to the results, yes, moment of the day. Tom? I'm going to go for Wilson Isidore's Thunderbolt for Haiti against Morocco as Haiti scored their first ever World Cup goals. That's a great pick. That is a great pick, isn't it? Yeah, beautiful. If you're listening on the audio version, Phil, what's so great about this picture? Oh, it's like caught in time, isn't it? Look at the goalkeeper. He's not so much a rare aerial shot. Yeah, the overhead shot. The keeper isn't it, Phil Stretch. He's sort of arched like a fish, isn't he? I can see the ball. It's there. Yeah. Wonderful. It's about to nestle in the net.

4:37So that was Wilson Isidore's goal, which was a thunderous strike. Yeah, so Haiti went ahead, got pegged back. and then just before half-time the ball falls to Sunderland man Wilson Isidore on the edge of the box who lets fly with a beautiful shot that arrows its way into the top left corner. And as someone pointed out on social media, one of the remarkable features of this goal is that his standing foot doesn't move. Like, it doesn't shift off the ground as you would expect. It doesn't move at all. It's just he just swings his foot and then just kind of stands there admiring it. I mean, you can't do better than that.

5:13That's glorious. or can you do better than that goal because your moment of the day Duncan was another I mean look at that if you're talking about standing feet again if you're on the audio version get across to YouTube because that's a lovely picture I mean the shape of the man Alubegovich the trionder look at the shadow of the trionder like the first picture of earth from space in some ways in other ways it's actually a lot like that not it was an unearthly goal as well tell us why Duncan well I think it was my goal of the tournament so far because it combined an absolute pile driver which we've seen quite a few of but it also involved him weaving his way through a couple of defenders before he hit it and up until now Alubegovic was how I'd describe goalkeeper scoring in the Premier League but from this moment on I'm going to respect this 18 year old who is a tremendous talent and will be in the Bundesliga next season Alubegovic I get that we have to celebrate these things because we won't have Duncan for much longer much like some of these you know group teams your Czech Republic I'm very much the Czech Republic on the same flight home sorry lads that might be hard going I can confirm that Donk has been moaning about the Czech Republic all day I don't think there's any way back for them ever it's not even a bit it's a real thing how good would they have to become in order to forgive them I'd merely say but you're Czech here you're not the Czech Republic so plausible deniability Phil what about your moment of the day Moment of the day So if it was football It would have been Neymar And the mad frenzy around Like a faded star Who just seems to Like they love Neymar in Brazil Like absolutely adore him But what happened today was Before we came up here to the ranch We went to the Hollywood sign Or at least went for a walk Well yeah The Runyon Canyon I think Which is in It's kind of off Mulholland Drive You can see the Hollywood sign from it You can see it It would be wrong to say It's right beside it It's actually about 10 miles away Or it feels like it But anyway we were scrambling down the slope and this guy came up to us in an Arsenal shirt and he said yeah that was us this I believe was after the the encounter and he said can we see there he is yeah that's the man so who is he well so he said um can I get out of here and I said yeah man I said just up that that slope so off he toddled Charlie producer said something to him as well as we walked down the path Charlie came up to me said do you realize that was Rob Delaney of catastrophe fame comic actor well known um which i said i had no idea no right but so my colleagues were duly mortified there was kind of three rival groups from from a not to suggest that we've all fallen out or anything but we did somehow find ourselves all doing all doing the same hike in three separate that's how bad it's got and all three of us bumped into rob delaney in his arsenal training top straight up I had no idea who it was no I've realised who it was not a clue and to sort of honour it you watched a catastrophe this afternoon aka Scotland's Defending that is indeed it yeah Scott McKenna doubling up Scott McCourt red handed more like well no skunks then for the last week but we have had a Hollywood celebrity of sorts somebody asked him was it you Tom are you an Arsenal fan then no that was producer Jesse who is himself an Arsenal fan and who was attracted by the training top.

8:36It's the training top that is inspired by the seat pattern on the Piccadilly line for any training top connoisseurs out there. And they had a good old chinwag, but producer Jesse didn't recognise him either. All right, well, I want to dwell on this reflected celebrity a little bit longer, but I'm going to have to move on. I am sorry to Rob. You know, I do apologise, but I don't think he should base the scale of his celebrity on the basis of whether I know who he is. I'm not the oracle on those things. Did he recognise you, Phil? No, no, certainly not. Or if he did, he didn't say. Results then.

9:10Six games played today. Mexico beats Czech Republic 3-0. That was one of the two evening games in Group A, which also saw South Korea defeated 1-0 by South Africa, who, as Duncan mentioned, goes through to the knockout stages for the first time ever. Group B, there was a shootout for first place in Vancouver. That was won by Switzerland, who beat Canada 2-1. Bosnia, meanwhile, taking third spot in that group with a 3-1 victory over Qatar. Bosnia now very likely to face USA in the round of 32. And in Group C, yes, Brazil beat Scotland 3-0 in Miami. They top the group. Morocco, who are 4-2 winners against Haiti in quite the banger of a game, will take second place.

9:59Crikey. We're going to begin, I think, with the Scotland-Brazil thing. Oh, joy.

10:08Wednesday afternoon in Miami, Scotland-faced Brazil. Phil Hay. Hmm. Oh, dear. Good for six, seven minutes. Yeah. Outstanding for six, seven minutes, in fact, yeah. And then less good after. Yeah. I seem to remember saying that after the Haiti game, that once you let Saibari and Vinicius Junior loose at this defence, there might be problems. And it is basically the issue for Scotland. They don't have a huge amount up front, but they have absolutely nothing of any world-class merit at centre-back. So, Grant Hanley came out, which seemed like a good idea to me. Scott McKenna went in. First thing McKenna did was lose the ball, ship a really, really simple goal.

10:51And from that point, you knew it was curtains. And it got so bad that I felt in the second half that Scotland were basically playing for 3-0 because they were trying to weigh up how the table was going to look. Do we push for a goal? Do we avoid a fourth? It was not very flattering. I said in the briefing, this is basically summed up as Vinicius Junior is very good, Scotland are not very good, is it? Well, that's certainly one summary. There's maybe some other nuances we can get, but the table, Scotland finishing in third place in the group, a 3-0 scoreline. Where does that leave them, Duncan, in terms of the third-place teams who are going to go through?

11:30Yeah, so we mentioned to me that like a one-goal or two-goal defeat was not too bad. I mean, they're kind of seventh of the eight at the moment, but as you can see, a lot of teams have yet to play their third game. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. There's quite a few groups where the third-place team might finish on two points, so I think that's kind of what Scotland have got to hope for, or some big wins elsewhere. Currently, the beloved machines back at Athletic HQ, and this figure has been falling steadily all day, unlike the temperatures, is down to 38 % for Scotland to get through. 38 %?

12:06Which is not bad. It was incredibly at about 84 or something mad this morning. And then even when they were 1-0 down to Brazil, it was sitting at a high 70. But this year it has bombed. I mean, it's rare to watch a football game where it going from 2-0 to 3-0 is such a huge blow to the team losing. But it did feel like that. Since the days of the away goal rule, I suppose. Yeah, I guess, yeah. But I think the machines might have picked up on the vibes from Steve Clarke. I mean, Della Mitri did once sing, don't come home too soon. And actually, that is quite good advice, because Scotland won't know for three or four days whether they're through or not.

12:38Right. Do you think they heard Steve Clarke and the machine just said, right, just cut it to zero and gone? Yeah, I mean, I wonder if we went up to Steve Clarke now and said, what do you think about this prediction model, what his reaction would be? Probably punch you. I think. Let's get some more positive vibes and talk about Brazil, who have now had back-to-back 3-0 victories, admittedly against Haiti and Scotland. Are they clicking? Are they resembling an Ancelotti team? Is Vinny Jr., is this going to be his World Cup? Tom? I mean, they are starting to move through the gears with the caveat that they've done so against relatively feeble opposition.

13:17I still think the most telling performance... My apologies, Phil. I still think the most telling performance that we've seen from them was their opening game against Morocco when they were caught cold. And Morocco were basically, you know, passing the ball around them with their eyes closed for most of the first half. But they will have picked up confidence. And I think Vinicius Junior turning up is a very good sign. We've talked a lot about all the superstar players who've shown up at this tournament so far. He clearly has four goals already. So he's one off top scorer, Leo Messi. He's already doubled his best previous tally at a major tournament.

13:51And for all that Vinnie Jr. has been kind of, you know, the coming man of Brazilian football for the last four or five years, he's never really done it for them. He went into this tournament having made more than 50 international appearances, but scored fewer than 10 goals. So he's not yet had his moment in the national team. And maybe he is having it here. Four in three in this tournament. As you say, the third goal coming, Bruno Gimaraes, who said it won. Oh, lovely goal, yeah. Bruno Gimaraes gets played through, kind of dances through, and then waits for Mateus Cunha to come running around him on the blind side, slips the ball to him and he stares in.

14:28And they did play some nice stuff, and then Neymar came on and it was a bit of a party. So how was Neymar when he came on? Rusty, but the interesting thing about Neymar was the massive, massive clamour for him. They were chanting for him early in the second half. This guy, I'd forgotten exactly how long it was, but it was October 2023 when he last played for Brazil. So two and a half years now. He hasn't been fit. He's missed the first two games with this calf problem. They were chanting for him early in the second half. When he appeared on the screen and it looked like he was mobilising to come off the bench, this huge cheer went up.

15:00And then Scotland decided at the wrong moment to put on a bit of pressure, basically delay his substitutions. The crowd started to boo, you know, get this guy on the pitch. And when he came on, they were just absolutely mad for the fact that he was involved at all. They completely worship their superstars in Brazil, but he's evidently one of them. I think, on reflection, I've probably completely underestimated his levels of celebrity and popularity in Brazil. He kind of walks on water. But he did look really rusty, I thought. He did. He ran like he was walking on water a little bit. The turning circle was quite big, I thought.

15:37He nearly created a goal for Cunha shortly after coming on, But then there were other times when the ball came into his feet and he looked like he might be about to trip over it. Hendrik also came on, who's the other player who there's been a lot of clamour for, which meant that I think at the end, Brazil had Hendrik and Vinny Jr. and Neymar as a kind of generational portmanteau. There's this amazing thing going on with Brazil, isn't there? Brazil Twitter, and you may have spoken about it on the show before, about the assumption that's being made that Ancelotti hates Hendrik. And I suspect that's not really true.

16:08I reckon Ancelotti would rather use Hendrik than he would Neymar. I feel like he probably won't use Neymar that much, despite, you know, he's kind of having to resist all the love from back home. But yeah, the Hendrik-Ancelotti thing has definitely become an event online, for sure. One of the questions before the game was how Brazil were going to cope without Rafinha, or Rafinha if you prefer, who's going to be out for a while with a calf injury. Ryan, or Chaian if you prefer, started in his stead and became in the process the first teenager to start a workout game for Brazil in over half a century.

16:44Big things expected of him. Bit more Scotland though, Phil. Why not? Why not? So Steve Clarke during the game wasn't projecting Alegria. At the end of the game, even less so. There's been, I think, a fair amount of criticism of his handling. Of this game, of the tournament, indeed every tournament they get to, What's the stat here? I was doing the numbers earlier. So he's taken them to three major competitions. Yep, three major tournaments. They have played nine times in those competitions. They have won one game. One game. In those competitions, they've taken five points. Got a 0-0 win against England.

17:21They did, yeah. Yeah, you know, memorable. They've taken five points in those games and they've scored four goals. So I think it's kind of reasonable that people who've paid loads of money to come over here would get a bit of an explanation afterwards about... And I know it's immediately after the game. People hate these flash interviews and they're a bit pointless. But it's not that forthcoming. They're not that pointless, though. And, you know, I think there's such a thing as common courtesy for me. Absolutely that. Yeah, no, definitely. It's just that I think when you've had 20 minutes, half an hour to reflect, you can speak a bit more thoughtfully in a press conference.

17:55That's true. Give a bit more. But you don't tend to get a huge amount out of him there either. And I think there seems to be this total resistance to the idea that he's done anything wrong. You know, he did say they didn't play well today, which they didn't. So, given the squad that he's got, and you mentioned the issues with the defensive talent that's in the squad, you mentioned the midfield, and a lot of people would point maybe to the midfield as being the area of strength, but I'm not sure what they've provided. Scott McTominay seems to have gone completely missing in this tournament. How much of it is his fault?

18:26Has he been too cautious? What do you think? I think that there's multiple factors. So, defensively, through the middle and goalkeeper, I said on a previous episode that the goalkeepers have two league starts between them in the season just gone. And they were both Craig Gordon at the turn of the year. He hasn't been playing. It's been Angus Gunn. The centre-back options are just not elite. So you've got a definite weakness there. And once you get up front, you do have kind of finishers like Shankland and Adams. But they're not, you know, not really, really very top level. McTominay's been massively off form.

18:56But weirdly, the chances started to come in the second half and he couldn't finish any of them. Decent header, didn't he, at one point? Decent header, chance right at the very end that might have nicked a goal back, which could have been pretty helpful. Could have been huge. But they are super defensive under Clark, and they've almost... They kind of nailed the knack of getting through qualifying, but then they come to these tournaments, and they're a sort of completely pointless presence because they don't really do anything, and they don't take any risks, and, yeah, it seems strange to me. I think they'll go out now.

19:28I think it's quite likely that they'll go out. But the good news is that Clark got a new contract before this tournament, so it's another four years, four more years. That's two more tournaments. Yeah, definitely. No more wins. How many goals by the end of those, do you think? Six? Maybe two. I mean, you'd think a team bringing a gun to a tournament in America would be a massive advantage, but sadly not. Not sure what to say to that, Tom. Just let it linger. Let's do that. Let's take a quick moment, and then we'll come back with the other game in the group, which was a storming clash between Morocco and Haiti.

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22:25Just one more thing on Brazil. Tom, a great stat that we heard on Fox Sports. A remarkable stat. No Brazilian player has scored a hat-trick at a World Cup since a teenage Pele at the 1958 tournament, which is incredible. You think of the players that they've had since then. your Zicos your Ronaldo's your Romario's all those ones your Neymar's not one not one wow what's that they had that on your TV at home there you go amazing stat anyway now while Brazil were doing Scotland 3-0 there was another game going on in the group which none of us watched such was our fascination with events in Miami however luckily our friend Mahir Mazahi was across Morocco's 4-2 with Haiti and he joined us a short time ago to tell us more.

23:16Mahir, not too much expected of this game by some, but it turned out to be an absolute screamer. Some of the goals you saw in this 4-2 win for Morocco. Great, great goals. Particularly Isidore's goal from Haiti to sort of tie the game or to take the lead 2-1 against Morocco was a screamer from outside of the box. But I do think Morocco were the better side throw and I do think everybody expected them to win. And I do think they also took Haiti a bit lightly. They made four changes to the starting lineup, dropping Nusser Mazraoui, Raheem Diaz, Ayubouadi and Issa Diop, all of whom started the first two matches of the group stages.

23:53Now, part of that was because in Issa Diop's case, for example, he had a yellow card. But also because I think they realized that they could rotate and come away with a victory, which is exactly what happened. Indeed so. A lot of people wondering about Morocco. Are they going to be as strong as they were at the last World Cup? So far, we've had a 1-1 draw with Brazil, a narrow win over Scotland. And then this game, which saw them struggling against the Haiti side already out. Where do we stand on Morocco? Where do you stand on them? I still think that their peak is going to be in four years. I think they've obviously changed their style of play.

24:31In 2022, they had a very clear identity where they were the more passive side and they were exploiting weaknesses on the counterattacks and on set pieces. now they're on the ball much more often which leaves them exposed um and they're playing very young players you know the average age of midfield at times is in 20 years old 21 years old so i really think that the finish line for them is that 2030 world cup and they want to sprint right through um but i do wonder you know if they come up against the netherlands who i read that statistic about them not losing in 90 minutes since 2006 um and they're probably going to come up against the netherlands in the round of 32 i don't think they're going to be favorites there Well, in the meantime, let's enjoy this game here, which saw Saibari scoring for the third time in three games.

25:13Also saw Haiti getting their first World Cup goal for 52 years. What was your favourite bit? The Saibari goal was interesting because he became the first African player to score in every single one of the group stage matches. And considering he's not really a striker by trade, he's more seen as an attacking midfielder. Of course, he can play across the front line. I think it's been great for Morocco because for a long period of time, they had searched, they'd been experiencing with Ayub El-Kabi, Sofian Rahimi, who also scored today. And they were kind of trying to find this number nine who would finally establish themselves.

25:46And if Ismail Saberic can be that player, that'd be great. But for me, the moment of the match was Isidore's goal. And again, when I talk about Morocco being lackadaisical, if you watch how that goal came to be, at one point, Brahim Diaz is in the 50-50, which I forget with which Haiti player, it might be Experiense. And he just completely pulled out. And it's one of those where, okay, you know you're going to qualify as a second-place team, and Morocco will, no matter what the result of the match was, even if they had lost. He pulls out of a 50-50 ball. He doesn't get stuck in. Haiti wins the ball.

26:18The ball comes out to Isidore, and he smashes it in. That, I don't think, would have happened if Morocco were less lackadaisical, a bit more sharp mentally. But that goal, yeah, that was brilliant. Bono couldn't do anything about that one, but he was able to pull off one of the saves of the tournament late on in another thunderous Haiti shot. Yeah, I think some Moroccans are finding him at fault for the first goal because the ball came across inside the six-yard box. And usually they say the goalkeeper, that's the cardinal rule. The goalkeeper is responsible for whatever comes into the six-yard box.

26:49So he didn't come out, he didn't collect that one, and it ended up bouncing off of him and it counts as an own goal. But yeah, late in the match, he was tested again from outside of the box. And he came up big. Best goalkeeper in Africa by far, in my opinion. Edward Mendy, clearly second. But if you're going to beat Bono, it's going to take an effort like Isidore's, which was the second goal for Haiti. I don't think you can beat him with a tame effort. You keep downplaying Morocco's chances and they keep rolling along. Is there an element of superstition behind this? No, honestly, for me, I think in Africa in general, we, because I always thought that Morocco were more respected outside of Africa than in Africa, because we had seen them go to Côte d 'Ivoire and lose to a South African team in the quarterfinals.

27:41We had seen them, you know, at the previous African Cup of Nations, in my opinion, be outclassed in that final against Senegal. And then in the qualifying matches, they usually played like 70 % of them, 80 % of them at home. and so we never really felt they were tested. They hadn't really gained that respect on the continent so I think this is a continent-wide thing about Morocco. Okay, well we'll get some answers when they face whoever it is in the round of 32, very possibly the Netherlands. Meher, safe travels and we'll catch up with you again soon. Meher Mazzahi. Well there you go, that's the Group C table and we'll find out what happens in the days to come, whether that performance is good enough for Scotland to make it as one of the eight best third place finishers.

28:24Next up, though, let's move on to Group B, which saw the big game in Vancouver, Canada taking on Switzerland to see who would finish in top spot and thus stay in Canada for the round of 32 match. Didn't go well for Canada. Tom, you were watching this. What happened? So Switzerland were kind of rescued in their previous game against Bosnia by the introductions of Johan Manzambi and Ruben Vargas. This time around, they started and they were Switzerland's saviours again. They scored the two goals that gave the Swiss victory early in the first half. First one was Manzambi crossing from the right and setting up Vargas.

29:11And then Brilin Bolo drove forward, laid it off to Manzambi. he had a shot that the Canadian goalkeeper, Maxime Crapo, Maxime Pancakes, should probably have done slightly better with. You accidentally pronounced it Crapo, Tom. That was definitely a mistake. Crapo. But the best goal of the day was actually scored by Canada. Beautiful goal with about 50 minutes remaining. Nathan Saliba, no relation, brilliantly brings the ball down on the right-hand side and puts across the box and promised David, who just came on. Also no relation. Outside of his right foot volley, lovely goal, but too little, too late.

29:52Too little, too late. Was that because Canada knew they only needed a draw in this game and played for that in the first half? Not really. The first half was quite open, but Switzerland had the better chances. And then in the second half, they kind of went through the gears and Canada didn't really have much of a response. They did put a bit of pressure on at the end, but it was too late. Okay. Well, as mentioned, So that means that Switzerland win the group. So they will be playing their round of 32 match in Vancouver, I think. In Canada, certainly, which is kind of what Canada themselves wanted to do.

30:21Canada instead, Jesse Marshall's boys, they'll have to come down to Los Angeles for their first knockout match. And the other thing about it is that rather than have a full week to prepare for it, a full week between the two games, they'll only get three days. So that's a bit of a knock. Any idea who they're going to be facing, Duncan? Oh, sorry, I was going to say, it's definitely going to be South Africa. Is it going to be South Africa? Unexpectedly, yeah. I think before the game this evening, we were thinking it would be South Korea. So it's interesting you mentioned the gap between the games was really short for them.

30:55Obviously, they lose what you would term to be home advantage, not being in Vancouver and down in Los Angeles. And I think it would have been Algeria. There are lots of moving parts with the algorithms and everything else and the group standings. But I think it would have been Algeria in Vancouver. South Africa and Los Angeles doesn't seem like that bad a fixture Although I was, I'm sure we're coming to them But I was super impressed with them against South Korea I thought they managed 1-0 really well Excellent We should take a moment This is officially the first confirmed last 32 fixture What a moment We've looked at that bracket for months I can't work it out Why is this team there?

31:33I personally would say that I can't work it out either And thank goodness for Shiny Machines because they've been doing a sterling job. Yeah, they have. God bless them. How accurate do you think it's been, the prediction bracket? Pretty good. Yeah, very good. I mean, so the way that the third-place teams have worked out, I had a look at this earlier. FIFA have got an appendix in a document with 485 different combinations of how you allot the teams. Really? And the people at The Athletic, the clever people, had to programme all that in. And it's been very reliable. Okay. If you're not across this, you can access it for free on the Athletic app for the duration of the tournament.

32:13All World Cup content is there available gratis. No, Alphonso Davies for Canada. When do you think they're going to be breaking the glass and releasing Alphonso? Well, Jesse March was saying that he had successfully fooled the Swiss by saying that Alphonso Davies was fit. That worked. But obviously he wasn't. So I guess we will wait to see what he says at his pre-match press conference ahead of the next game and then not believe whatever he says. He did say after the game that he will be playing in the last 32. Maybe that's just another one of his crazy ruses. We simply don't know. I don't know what to believe anymore.

32:52Definitely not fit, of course, will be Ismail Kone, who had his leg broken back in Game 2 against Qatar. He did make an appearance, saluted the fans. The fans, he wears the No. 8 for Canada. they duly applauded in the eighth minute of this game. But in related news, it's nice to see him, I mean, not up and around, but at least kind of getting out there and enjoying the fixture. The player who was involved in that tackle, which saw his leg broken, Asim Madibo of Qatar, has received a five-game ban. Which I think we all agreed seems very arbitrary and very unfair. It wasn't a bad challenge. It was a very innocuous challenge.

33:28He clearly wasn't trying to injure Kone and he was just unlucky. he's obviously being punished for the injury that his opponent unfortunately you know was left with rather than you know the gravity of the challenge Switzerland top the group Bosnia-Herzegovina meanwhile taking on Qatar in the other game this was Wednesday morning Duncan last night you said I'm going to watch the Qatar game and it's going to be the game of the tournament yeah I did say that how sagacious that proved to be I mean I'm not saying it was the game of the tournament that's for other people to say but it was featured one of the goals of the tournament well we've already talked it's a game of this tournament yeah it was I mean we've talked about Alebegovic's wonder strike yeah there was another round goal from across Edin Zeko man in his 40s right another theme of this World Cup okay so basically you had Alebegovic yeah half an hour in dribbles past a couple of players seems to be heading in the wrong direction but then turns bang boom yeah there on the score sheet five minutes later a player more than double his age because Albegovic is what?

34:3318 and Zekko's 40, 41 yeah there you go the maths that checks out old enough to be his grandad he shoots in he fires the ball in it's hard to know whether he's trying to knock it back across the six yard box or shoot I think it was a cross but he's in his 40 he put it in an area you watch a 40 year old at Power League and that's probably a shot I'm saying anyway and he did actually take the half didn't he when he was substituted Zekko I think Yeah It hits the defender Who's the defender? Can't remember Al Brake Bracket probably Oh yeah Put a break on Qatar's hopes of Getting through to the knockouts So that was 2-0 And then after that Weirdly for about 20 minutes Qatar were really good They actually ended up with more XG in the game than Bosnia I mean neither team got to one So maybe getting the tournament Is stretching the thing a little bit But they had more big chances They actually looked decent Al Hedos pulled one back just for half time.

35:31Okay. And then the second half was, yeah, competitive. Okay. Bosnia got a third goal. Ermin Mamic, who in modern football news, has scored two goals in four caps for Bosnia since he made the decision to switch allegiance from Austria all of a month ago. I mean, good decision. Yeah. And I think you can see the fans there. If you're listening, there's a picture of some fans. But the Bosnians were all over the city. they were marching around there's a big diaspora of them in the US and Canada we saw them in LA yeah they were marching through and numbered the Swiss comfortably there's a lot of switcheroo going on isn't there with Nations Canada have been doing it a lot with players who are playing for other countries and bringing them in I think I might have read recently that Poland have or had a policy of we only only use players who were born in Poland I think or something like that but even they are starting to think do you know what everybody else is active former World Cup top scorer, Miroslav Klesa, Germany, was born in Poland.

36:34That's so true. Even some Welsh people have turned up in this World Cup. What? What's all that about? And that's just Finn Sermon. Maybe Scotland could have a search for a country that produces defenders. That is the future. Let's do it. Well, no, seriously. Yeah, however, one other thing. The trouble's going to be persuading them to play for Scotland, really, isn't it? Well, you've reached tournaments. Back-to-back tournaments. Yeah. another thing that has been a lot of at this world cup is own goals we're now up to 11 now the record is 12 in 2018 the last world cup in qatar featured just two so now that we haven't even finished the group stages we're already up to 11 why what's going on i think i mean a few of them have been defensive howlers that's always going to be part of football but i think a lot of them have been a little bit like the Zeko incident today where sort of crosses to the back post or cutbacks from the touchline and defenders running onto their own, you know, facing their own goal.

37:39And it goes in like that. I think probably of the 11, maybe six, five or six have been like that. So it's kind of an increasing amount of football. We've seen it in the Premier League as well, another league. So, I mean, once upon a time, an own goal was a source of great shame but now it's just part of the game part of the game it was great shame that's part of the game there's a famous story about a club in Scotland called East Stirlingshire who always used to finish at the bottom of the lowest league in Scotland and there was a book written about them called Pointless for obvious reasons and the highlight of it, the biggest stat was that at one point in the season their top scorer was a central defender with two own goals

38:21we laugh that happened to France at Euro 2024 they got to the semi-finals thanks to Mbappé penalties and own goals so it you know if you can figure out how to harness it it can take you far it can take you far and if you create enough confusion in the corridor of uncertainty exactly that yeah I mean it doesn't happen by chance sometimes it does but sometimes it doesn't Tom what's own goal in French a butte contre son camp oh that's good a goal against your own camp or you can abbreviate it to un CSC he's called a CSC a boot oh that's better it's quite a mouthful though I feel for French commentators having to suddenly do they never say auto boot no they do when they run out of shoes but yeah anywho this evening Group A we discussed that a little bit earlier on should we cross the T's and dot the I's on that one absolutely because first of all a lot of beer flying at the Azteca as Mexico did the Czech Republic, Czechia three goals to nil this Mexico side, did I mention the stat before?

39:37they've won all their group games haven't conceded a single goal only the sixth team in World Cup history to do that in a four team group they're actually pretty good aren't they? Mexico. And yet going into the last World Cup they were desperate to shake off this run of seven consecutive eliminations at the last 16 which they'd become completely sick of and they did successfully do that by being eliminated in the group phase. So they actually came into this World Cup I think slightly chastened by that experience. You look through their squad list there aren't that many recognisable names. Raul Jimenez is probably their most well-known player but he's now in his mid-30s.

40:15Ochoa as well. So this is not the new generation. Yes, they were drawn into a relatively unchallenging group, shall we say, but we expected a lot more of South Korea. We expected a lot more of Czech Republic. I think South Africa have surprised everyone. Three wins out of three, three clean sheets and home advantage as well. Wouldn't want to be heading towards the Azteca. Why? Who would be doing a thing like that? Well, I wonder. well yeah could be England in the last 16 if England make it through the last 32 pretty much nailed on they would be facing Mexico if they equally survived their first knockout game could have been Scotland in the last 32 but that boat seems to be sailing well we don't know yet Phil we don't know yet but the last time to Tom's point the last time that Mexico did get beyond the round of 16 was in 1986 in their home World Cup so there you go all the All the sliding Mexican doors are sliding.

41:12Half of the players seem to look at about 12, apart from the aforementioned goalkeeper, who they just threw on for the hell of it in the second half. A 150 third appearance, yeah. The crowd loved it. The crowd thought it was great. I think, I mean, along with Neymar, that was one of the great crowd-pleasing gestures of the day. Terrific, wouldn't it? And one of their players... Oh, look at that. He's now appeared in six World Cubs. He's been to six World Cubs. He's only played at four. I mean, fair play. Yeah. But they actually had a 17-year-old. Gilberto Mora I think is the youngest player at the tournament he started today so the next generation is coming through and they scored some really nice goals they played some good stuff so one came from the left back Mateo Chavez he opened the scoring yeah that was a lovely goal so the left back popping up on the halfway line gathering a pass from Luis Romo hurdling a challenge cantering into the box and steering it home he was quick as well wasn't he yeah you would not have thought that he was a left back After seeing that, the Czechs decided not to do any more challenges.

42:11So when Julian Quinones came up, they all ran away. They downed tools. They were sick of Duncan's moaning. They said, right, do you know what? Let's get out of here. But the second Mexican goal was the absolute low point of the entire Czechia tournament experience in that it came from Tomáš Holes, the Czech defender, clearing the ball against an opponent and allowing Quinones to score the second. and then they added another at the end and yeah it was all pretty one sided on that before we came here to do this Duncan was saying oh do you know how many players have scored more than one goal in this World Cup and I said seven and Tom you said yeah it was around the same eight I said eight as well I think which I thought was a pretty fair guess what did you say at home Duncan it's 28 what that's mad stuff Which is genuinely quite mad, yeah.

43:08I mean, there's tons and tons of players on two goals. And you've got, obviously, your Undavs and your Siberis and Manzabis and Jonathan David and Kunja are now on three. And then your big guns on fours and fives. So it's a goal first. It's almost like it's a really high-scoring World Cup. What are they averaging? Over three goals a game? Mad to think that anyone could have predicted anything but that. But it's a long way to go. There is a long way to go. The other game in this group saw South Africa beating South Korea 1-0. And that's bad news for Scotland because it means that South Korea now feature in the potential third place teams that make it into the knockout stages.

43:45I did say earlier they were good, South Africa. I saw them in the first game and thought, oh dear, early flight home. But yeah, as you're saying, the way they managed 1-0 was really impressive. We were talking about it. They were unlucky that they were in the actual opening game. A lot of pressure, the globe watching. Scotland? No, South Africa. Oh, South Africa, right. And then they had to play our old friends the Czech Republic. And no one can, you know. So this was their first chance to show what they can do. And they did it. All right. They make it through to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time ever.

44:17That's Zappelo Maseko, who scored the only goal on a lovely counter-attacking move. Very good. Well, that's what happened on Wednesday and Thursday. We go again. We've got another three groups. We're all going to have their last set of matches played from each group simultaneously. Before we get on to that, very, very shortly, Jamie in Sydney, and hello to you if you're watching or listening in Australia, says, g'day crew, he genuinely does, I recommend catching a Waymo self-driving taxi while you're in LA. It's a very strange experience, and I, for one, would enjoy hearing your take on it. Loving the Daily Pod, says Jamie in Sydney.

45:00content idea we'll take them all well i've been in a way oh there we go i've been in a way mo i went last year in san francisco now in san francisco they have these extraordinary things that are not waymos which are essentially pimped out or machined up uh jaguars with you know a driving i mean a steering wheel as they're known but nobody sat there that's the disconcerting thing you get in and how do you get it going did well so you have an app you have an app and if you've been in a way where this is going to get terribly dull you have an app you book it like people need to know like a like a new like a minicab or a taxi service and what was curious about the one that i got was that i was stood in kind of a supermarket car park there was a lot of traffic and i could see the way i'm up there because i got a big thing on the roof and the the robot brain went i'm not sitting in this traffic so it pulled into the supermarket car park and did a maneuver and then came and picked me up and then i'm there and it's like kit and i open the door and i get in because i've it's recognized my you know code it's my kill and i get in and the thing pulls off and now i'm sat in the front seat because there's people in the back seat you know companions and we're driving off and it is seriously disconcerting I guess in the back seat You might kind of Look out the window Whatever But when you're sat In the front seat And oh my word It's like one of those Paranoid dreams That we all have And wake up sweating Because they've got The Terminator 2 Storm drains in Los Angeles In Los Angeles I went specifically Looking for them Like a massively sad case And found them There you go So yeah Terminator 2 Rise of the Rebel without a cause Rise of the machines Oh Rise of the machines And literally That was number 3 though Wasn't it Duncan Was it?

46:44Yeah I thought Terminator 2 Was right No no Judgment Day and then rise and rise. All right. It's the basics. Machines are good, right? We'll edit that, Duncan. Don't worry. Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Thanks, Jamie and Sydney, for your question. I was going to mention that in San Francisco, there are all these new ones that are basically, there's no driver's compartment at all. It's just four seats like a little saloon with like four posts on either end, little radar posts, and it just kind of goes around. Anyway, sorry, Duncan. No, nothing. Nothing. All right, on we go then. What awaits on Thursday?

47:21Let's find out next.

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49:34Still waiting in line? Again? special moment now at this world cup as with the conclusion of groups a b and c we wave goodbye to three nations haiti respectfully farewell okay qatar and czech public now there's a lot of flags here on the table which of these to which of these will a similar treatment be meted out tomorrow well because turkey are out already all right then groups D, E, and F are going to be taking the field. In Group D, let's have a look. USA have already won that group. Turkey are already out, as Tom mentions. Australia and Paraguay are level and battling over second spot. And you know what?

50:20Australia and Paraguay face each other. Australia's goal difference is plus two, well, compared to Paraguay, so they just need a draw. USA, meanwhile, take on Turkey in the deadest of dead rubbers. On to Group E then, where Germany have already taken first place. Ivory Coast just need a point to secure second spot because they've got a superior head-to-head with Ecuador. Ecuador and Curaçao two points behind Ivory Coast. Ecuador will be facing Germany, while Curaçao face Ivory Coast. One more group to go. And it's F, where Netherlands and Japan are tied on top. Same points, same goal difference.

51:00One point behind them is Sweden. who in the final group game will be facing Japan, while Netherlands get perhaps the easier task of taking on Tunisia. Hmm. Well, we decided to have a bit of focus on Japan because they've been quietly building a bit of an international following as many people's second team. What is it about Samurai Blue and how far can they go? Well, early today, Ben Mabley, the Japanese football journalist based in Osaka, joined us to tell us more. Japan Ben it's kind of hard to put your finger on it but they're not a normal side how would you define what they're doing they're not a normal side they don't have a lot of stars but they have an awful lot of very good players and and more important than that they've got a a team that really knows what they're doing I think throughout the group stages of the teams that I've seen so far there may be plenty of teams that have bigger star names better quality up top perhaps but I'm not sure there's a team that functions as well and knows what they're doing and are so coordinated as this Japan side I think it's fair to say quite comfortably that it's the the best and most confident Japan's side in its own skin than we've ever seen at a World Cup before I think competing with the Netherlands in the way that they did they were able to compete on their own terms they didn't they didn't have as much as the of the ball perhaps but they didn't approach the game in quite the underdog mindset that they approached the Spain and Germany games that they won four years ago and then it was a completely different challenge to play against Tunisia in the second game because unusually Japan with the clear favourites and that's where they slipped up against Costa Rica four years ago so there was a little bit of a mental block there or fear that there might have been the game starts and there clearly wasn't they played extremely well in that one and are looking really good at the moment I think.

52:54Ben lots of countries have tried to build of football culture but how how have japan actually done it they haven't mimicked other nations so what have they done well i mean japan was starting almost from scratch when the j league began right in 1993 because it was a company league before the only really truly professional team sport in the country was was baseball so they were starting with about a hundred year disadvantage to to england and some other european countries the the thing they did then was to ensure that the teams were rooted in hometowns and represented hometowns as opposed to businesses, corporations.

53:30And then they built up their league, they built up the local roots in football through that. Over the years, that's contributed, not just through the J League, but also with high schools and universities to a fantastic development in the level of coaching. And so Japan is exporting an awful lot of players these days. And there's a stereotype that persisted within Japan, I think, as well that Japanese people don't tend to be as big as Europeans or South Americans and so they have to prioritize the technical attributes over the physical. Now that isn't really the case anymore. You know the Japanese players on average are just under six foot I think about 180 centimeters they've got a six foot three strike on the bench and now there's a lot more diversity amongst the the Japanese squad.

54:18In terms of the tactics, they've got a lot of quick players. Everybody is hardworking, but the tactics that's been introduced by the manager, Hajime Moriasu, are similar to those that he basically inherited from the Serbian manager, Mihailo Petrovic, when he became Sanfreti Hiroshima manager back in 2012. The 3-4-2-1 system that can become five up front, can become four at the back with one of the midfielders dropping in and with plenty of rotations on the side. So you've got a player like Ritsu Doan now who came through the Gambar or Saka Academy as a wonderfully gifted attacking player, playing wing-back and contributing just as much in defence as he would in attack.

54:56And so that's sort of the self-sacrifice for the team. But the interplays that they managed to do within that and the readiness that they have to pounce on any opportunities to press or counter-press and then link very quickly in attack is a very highly developed and successful version of this 3-4-2-1 system. Well, on Thursday, they're going to be facing Sweden. Japan can afford a draw. However, if they go through in second place, they're going to be up against Brazil in the round of 32. For all that they developed, for all the progress they've made, is that a winnable game for Japan, Ben? I don't think Japan will think they can't beat anyone.

55:37I think they'll go into any game confident that if they play their way, whether it's with the ball like they did against Tunisia or without the ball like they did against the Netherlands and like they did in March against England, they don't tend to concede very many goals in this new system against anybody. And they're very, very good when they do win the ball at breaking behind into space. And so if Brazil get caught upfield, Japan will exploit that. Ben Mabley there in Osaka. Very interesting stuff. Of course, before any potential clashes with Brazil, Japan do actually have to get past Sweden.

56:09A draw will be enough, but Japan have been piling up the injuries. Endo, Mitoma, Minamino, and now Kubo as well. Doesn't look like he's going to be available for this. Sweden did get taken apart last time out by Netherlands, but we shall see. Any machine wisdom there about Japan, Duncan? Yeah, I just hit the machines up, and they're actually quite interesting, Japan, because that group is slightly unusual with two teams on four, one team on three points. there's actually six different pathways they can go into it brazil is the most likely one um but they also have a pretty like a 20 chance of playing france probably right which ben mentioned yeah okay but um and then they could even play mexico they could play morocco they could be up against switzerland um even mexico you know so it's uh it's something to look out for tomorrow.

57:02A bit of permutation fun for anyone who likes that. Machines have been busy, haven't they? Do you enjoy a bit of Japan, Tom? Yeah, very entertaining. First game against Netherlands was a slow burner that suddenly burst to life towards the end, finished 2-2. And then they were fantastic against Tunisia. Again, a Tunisia team who have had this extremely difficult tournament, sacked their coach after the first game, have shipped a ton of goals. But some of the football that Japan plays, some of the combinations, particularly in attack, were really, really impressive. we were in a Japanese restaurant at Izakaya funnily enough we were the perfect we should go back yeah maybe maybe we're responsible for Japan doing so well you wouldn't want to have that on your conscience if they went out if only I'd eaten more ramen I don't know if there's a rival Swedish eatery in the neighbourhood that we could visit you know for balance but let's move on anyway that's one game that's going to be taking place on Thursday I mentioned a whole raft of other ones there's no time Phil no time to go through all of them but is is there another fix you'd like to pick out of there?

58:03Well, the game that's really shaping up in the last 32 at the moment is Netherlands against Morocco, which I would say, going through it, looks like the pick of the ties as it's going to wind up. And you would assume that the Netherlands will give Tunisia a good pace in. Tunisia look like they want to go home as soon as possible, although they were warned by their new coach about what might happen at the airport when they get back, so who knows really. But the sooner it's over for them, the better, really. A bit like the Czech Republic, just be good to get rid of them but the Netherlands should top that group and if they do then that is going to be a tasty tasty game.

58:35Netherlands, Morocco and Tunisia echoing Delamitri's words, don't come home too soon Ecuador, Germany is one that a lot of people are looking out for, Germany of course already through but it does have that interesting angle of the two most extravagantly dressed managers Non-Union, Herve Renard back good to see, I think that game's quite interesting from a Scotland point of view because obviously Sorry, that's Sebastian Bickard's shit Yeah, that's him That's the joke Oh, what did you say? The non-union ever and R It's actually my joke originally Oh, right I didn't hear you say that I just thought you said Good to see her written an R back Yeah, but then I applied it Alright, I'll pick it up again But sell it more That would be my thing Other games include Ecuador, Germany which Germany already threw Ecuador with no other games include Ecuador Germany which producer Charlie was flagging up because there's the two most extravagantly dressed managers probably Julian Nagelsmann and Sebastian Becache Becache very much the non-union Herve Renard so and I think this game's quite interesting because Ecuador have been alright so far but they're just not very good Don't score goals No And From a Scottish point of view If Germany Turn up again And you'd imagine Like Denis Undov Will get a start And he's in Red hot form Then And Germany Get a draw At least That seems realistic Yeah Then That means Scotland Will be above Ecuador In the Battle for third So Yeah I think I just want to see Another Steve Clarke interview At this World Cup So I'm absolutely Hanging out for that And they're on the ropes Ecuador Aren't they big time.

1:00:28I don't really know how they've got themselves there. They were so good in qualifying and I thought they'd be really good in this tournament but it's all ground to a halt really quickly. Well, it's tough to cut us out but just didn't score any goals. And you kind of need to. You've got to score goals at this level. Paraguay and Australia will be trying to score goals but Paraguay will have their work cut out for them because they're facing a young fella by the name of Patrick Bridge. So that's another game to look out for. Also, because this is in USA's group, the group winners but Paraguay and Australia are second and third Australia have the better goal difference they just need a draw in this match and they've got the goalkeeper to get it do you reckon another sort of Instagram overnight sensation although speaking of that the other day I feel really bad saying this I do feel really guilty I was one of the people who got sucked into following Tim Payne at the start when his social numbers went huge and then obviously has been Vecenia and there's been Eli Room as well.

1:01:27Tim Payne popped up on my stories the other day and like I say I feel guilty about this but I thought I'm bored of you Tim Payne in fact more than that I'm going to unfollow you Tim Payne and it made me think in two months time will Vecenia be back to 90 ,000? Will Eli Room have about 50 ,000? I don't know it maybe depends how much he posts because if he doesn't post then no one's going to know and then he can just, he didn't strike me as a big poster type guy. No, maybe not. I'm just, I'm massively fickle, that's what it is. Right. I got caught up in the buzz and then got tired of it. Your time is your time, Phil.

1:02:02You're right to be choosy with it. Phil doesn't like, and that's it, you're dead to him on social media. So watch out, all of you. Just on the subject of goalkeeping and not conceding goals, Australia with Patrick, Paraguay, pretty good defensively as well. Against Turkey, they faced 32 shots but didn't concede once. That's the most that any team has ever faced without conceding since North Korea against Italy all the way back in 1966. I did say rename Turkey as Duck if you're in the stands and they're shooting and a lot of Turkish people on Twitter did not find that very funny. So apologies to them.

1:02:41They're fickle as well. But accurate. Anyway, big action on the way with six matches on Thursday. Totally at the World Cup. We'll be returning straight after all of that. A little bit later than usual actually because the game's finished late and we're going to stick around for them because they're important. So I hope you'll be joining us as well. For now, it's many, many thanks to Phil Hay, to Tom, to Duncan and all the production crew, and, of course, Mahir and Ben earlier on. We'll see you in 24 hours' time, I hope, for now. From all of us here, it's goodbye.

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