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Cape Verde’s heroics and it’s g’night Australia: World Cup Daily
00:40:58
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Archie Rhind-Tutt and Lars Sivertsen as Cape Verde take Argentina to extra time in the game of the World Cup so far
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- [00:00]
A
This is the guardian.
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B
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C
He's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price hikes. And cuts past him. Carrier contracts, tries to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the nonstop group chat, trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots goal. Unlimited data for $25 a month. Forever. Visit your local Boost Mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never change. Boost mobile after 30gb, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost $25 Unlimited plan.
- [01:18]
D
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. An extraordinary game between Argentina and Cape Verde. At the end, bodies were everywhere and Cape Verde kept pushing and pushing and pushing. Sidney Lopez Cabral with the moment of the tournament up there with with the great World cup goals. Arcing a glorious strike into the top right hand corner to equalize for a second time. It was absolute perfection. They were brave, good on the ball. Voisini was great. Again, Pico Lopez heroic. But in the end it wasn't quite enough. Messi with an exquisite touch and finish. Martinez banging one in. And then Cristian Romero in off the defender. And it'll be Egypt next for Argentina. After Egypt beat Australia on penalties, the Socceroos changed their keeper. Two centre backs missed spot kicks. The inquest down under started already. In truth, neither side were that good. And then Colombia beat Ghana. An early goal was enough. In a sea of yellow in Dallas. Ghana once again a hard watch. We'll discuss the England Mexico kickoff time. Almost but not changing. There's more fallout from Croatia. Snicko gate. We'll answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Archie Rintut. Welcome.
- [02:24]
A
Hello.
- [02:25]
D
Hey, Barry. Glenn Denning.
- [02:26]
E
Hello.
- [02:27]
D
And in Dallas, Lars Civiton. Hey, Lars.
- [02:30]
F
Howdy everyone.
- [02:31]
D
Howdy doody. For the YouTube viewers, we are broadcasting from our bedrooms again, because it is late again, but it will make no difference if you are listening, of course. Let's start then with. Let's start with Ghana. No, let's start with Argentina 3, Cape Verde 2. I mean, that was such a brilliant game, Archie and the Sydney Lopez Cabral goal. I mean, it's the most that we have all shouted watching a goal, including England games. It was just unbelievable.
- [03:01]
A
The thing that really caught me with it was a. I don't think I've reached that higher pitch in this tournament yet with the noise I made after that went in, I was very pitched.
- [03:13]
D
Let's be real,
- [03:16]
E
only Christine Quinn's dog could hear you.
- [03:20]
A
These are all things which are true. And the thing is, I was very excited with the first Cape Verde equalizer. And that was the whole point of why this second equalizer was so special. Because I think any football fan watching this game, even if it wasn't the most interesting game of football that we've seen, it was important because of the context of who these two teams were and that's what made it so engaging. And we'd all probably, in our minds, apart from the Cape Verde players and staff, had written them off. After that second goal from Lisandro Martinez, it seemed like things had gone wrong. But both times, in fact, all three times that they conceded, they kept coming back for more. And at the start of the second half, they had an excellent period of play. That first goal that they score from from Deroy Duarte is an amazing move. But this Sidney Lopez Cabral one, sure, we can talk about the finish. It comes from a move which is of at least 13 passes where they move it from back to front. But then the finish, oh, to die for. The way that you see it arcing into the top corner and there's that moment in your brain where you're thinking, this isn't going in. This can't be going in. It is going in. Oh, my God. It was glorious. And for hit to happen to him as well. Sid did a brilliant interview with him yesterday where he was talking about how he was freezing in the fifth tier in Germany, earning £850amonth using bin bags for curtains. But he had his big day, he had his big moment. It was just such a shame to see him in tears at the end. But look, I'm sure it was just overwhelming emotions because, yeah, sad that Kate Verde lost, but what a performance that they put in here. And, yeah, like the surprise team of the tournament.
- [05:11]
D
Yeah, I Mean, the finish, Barry was so good, the celebration, like he was desperate to hug. I presume it was Mrs. She didn't seem that bothered, but like he waited for hours in the stand.
- [05:21]
F
Yeah.
- [05:21]
E
In his match report, Barney said that she was probably his girlfriend or at least wanted to be his girlfriend. And he's probably his girlfriend now. But it was an incredible goal. It's one of the all time great World cup goals. It will become as iconic as any, I'd imagine. And the thing is he's a left footer and he hit that with his right foot. It's just astonishing. And what an addition Cape Verde have been to this tournament due to various issues we, we mentioned but probably don't talk about enough. And due in no small part to FIFA and Gianni and Trump. This tournament, certain aspects of it are shameful, they're embarrassing, they're tawdry and they're tone deaf. And it's heartwarming to see that quite a few, that most of the teams involved and most of the players involved are all doing their damnedest to drag what could be an aberration, a sporting aberration, kicking and screaming out of the gutter. And this match, there's been some super matches in this tournament and this is, I think, in my opinion, the best of them. It was just. This will be remembered for years.
- [06:49]
F
So on the goal, I think we all have types of goals that we favor above all others. I know, Max, you're partial to a shot where the ball stays ball. Famously. Barry, I would imagine very long range headers have a special place in your heart. For me, it's always a case of. I love it when you can see someone line up a shot and you have time to think, no, don't do that, that is a very stupid idea. And then they do it and it goes in. That is one of my favorite things because I, you know, contrary to what I think, I really like it when I'm wrong about this stuff. And I definitely had with this goal. You have this moment of like, absolutely not. Your left back should not be doing this. Like this is what you got inside there. Utter foolishness to attempt this. And I think that makes it obviously spectacular. But for me, the fact that there was this little pause, you can think, no, don't be doing that. I know you're thinking about it, but you're not doing that. And. And he did. And it was glorious. I just thought the last hour of this was, was pretty glorious. And it came at, you know, the, the tournament fatigue. Max, it hits Us at different times. I've been doing radio shows six days a week. You go, you, I guess you've been doing every day. And I have to admit, I've watched everything, by the way, like there's been a couple of games where I've had to watch 20 minutes in my car. But I've been, I've done every game this tournament and somewhere through Australia, Egypt, I was starting to think, you know what, running low on energy now, this is. I'm not entirely sure I'm up for, you know, if this is a boring sort of. Messi scores a couple of goals and Argentina pass themselves to the end of the game. I'm not sure I'm, I've got 90 minutes of that in me. But then of course, that is the magic of football. Just when you're like sagging a little bit, it serves up an all time banger of a game. And the last 60 or so and just the way Cape Verde kept going. Just think, because we tend to think when you get deeper in the tournament, then that's the teams that have depth and you know, the underdogs are supposed to get tired, but they kept going. And I did actually say, I have witnesses for this. I did say to my broadcasting partners here in Dallas that I'm not sure this game is over in an extra time. I kind of thought there was this sort of drive in Cape Verde. I didn't quite expect that, to be honest. I didn't expect. But yeah, what a game. So much fun.
- [09:08]
D
Yeah, you need games to remind you why you love this game. I mean, I presume Assassin's furious that they let in three, but, but for the rest of us, and, and Archie, they like, they play good stuff, right? They, you, you know, you can look at games and go, right, they'll have the ball, they won't, that'll be a low block, et cetera, et cetera. You know, we'll get to Ghana in a bit and you know, Argentina and Egypt both sort of, I mean, Australia and Egypt both sort of played a. They played, they came to play, they didn't. And, and they're good on the ball. They pass the ball through the lines and, and as we've alluded to, they never stopped. They never, ever, ever stopped. And I just think, I, I don't, I don't think it's patronizing because look, how small is Cape Verde, how, how short is their footballing history compared to the reigning World cup winners and Argentina and Messi and all of that. And to go toe to Toe with them I think is just so brilliant.
- [10:05]
A
It tells you something, that after the quality of goal that Lionel Messi scored for the opener, that this is the conversation that we're having, that they came back and played so well after that, that Virginia once again was a shining light. I think he doubled his tournament save tally during this game as well. And also it was the way that Vicinha sold Lautaro Martinez not one but two dummies in the first half. And there was a moment, I think it was in the second half where Lionel Messi is the one coming up to him and you just see him think, am I going to do it? You know what, I'm not going to
- [10:40]
D
push my luck here.
- [10:41]
A
I think this might be a bad call. And that's the thing is they were not phased at any moment of this tournament, which is, look, yeah, I was starting to go down the patronizing route and I had to stop myself. But that's the thing about a World cup is having expectations of a team and thinking, okay, but what can this team really get up to? And it's great when you are proven completely wrong. I'm intrigued to see what happens with Argentina from this because they are usually the team that can handle things very well when they are not the best team in the game and then they put together a move and boom, boom, boom, they score, which is what happened in the first half. And sure they faced a warning sign in their 2022 World cup win against Saudi Arabia, against Netherlands as well when they were two nil up. Look, the final you could say as well was not exactly a clear thing either. And I just don't know how much margin for change there is actually for Lionel Scaloni because they have one style which suits their best player and it's actually quite a low tempo style. Only Qatar made less sprints in the group stages than Argentina. So I think he can't really change much. He's going to have to tweak things. Maybe it is Julian Alvarez for Lautaro Martinez in the next game. Martinez pressing in moments didn't look great, but yeah, that I, they, they had one hell of a scare in this game.
- [12:23]
D
Yeah, there's a, there is a stat doing the rounds. I haven't checked it a Calc fc, one of the boys saw it. Voisini has completed more dribbles in the knockout round of 2026 World cup than Cristiano Ronaldo. So
- [12:37]
F
if that, if that goes sufficiently viral, I will bet any amount of money that Cristiano will go out with the strong intention of making a couple of dribbles in the next game. Like whether that is something he can still do or not, that cannot stand. It's like how Mbappe has apparently. Mbappe has apparently been given some grief by friends and stuff about how he doesn't do any work off the ball, which I'm guessing is because of that octopus that went around about how just no one does anything. These things. The players pick up on these things sometimes. As to what Archie was saying, I thought the Irish sportswriter Gavin Cooney made a very good point during the game, which I want to steal and repurpose for. She made the point that Argentina are good when Messi is walking. They are not good when everyone else is walking, too. I do think there was a real tendency of that going on. And I guess part of me thought they were just playing with their food for a lot of this. Part of me thought that they were just, okay, we've got the goal. We're just gonna slow the tempo down. It's a long tournament. We don't want to burn off too much steam. But it very nearly did cost them. And again, Cape Verde, they nearly scored at the end again. Like, Emi Martinez had to come up with a great save. Like Cape Verde's ability to just keep going and never accept that they were beaten, I thought was, dare I say, inspirational. And they are a team. Like, they got to the quarterfinals of the 2023 AFCONs. They finished above Cameroon in their qualifying group. They were in a group of Libya and Angola as well there. This is not a total fluke. Like, there's some football here. And I remember looking it up because the island is so small or the archipelago is so small, you're assuming they're all diaspora guys, but that's not true. There's a bunch of guys in the squad who are born in Cape Verde. So it's just really terrific story and just. Just great stuff.
- [14:15]
D
The word spaz on Pico Lopez, who could have been playing, what was it, Sligo away today instead.
- [14:20]
F
Yeah.
- [14:21]
E
If he hadn't answered that LinkedIn message, he'd have been playing at the Show Grounds at Sligo instead of in the World cup against Argentina. He's got a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday. I don't know if he'll make it back for that. That's in Malta. Shamrock Rovers trying to qualify for the Champions League. He had another massive game at the back for Cap Verde. He. He had one interception from across.
- [14:52]
D
Amazing.
- [14:53]
F
Was so good.
- [14:55]
E
Sensationally good. I thought he put it in his own net and he, he didn't. And it was a remarkable. He has had a remarkable world call Vazina as well. I thought Vizino was massively over praised for doing quite routine goalkeeper stuff in the game against Spain, but tonight he was immense. Like just a guy who's had this massive celebrity thrust upon him and is just determined to enjoy every minute of it and make a while. The sun is shining and of the five goals in this game, four of them were outstanding. Yeah, the. The winner was somewhat fortunate. I think Romero's header was good, but it did take a big deflection on its way in. But I, I just enjoyed this game so, so much.
- [15:45]
D
Yeah, absolutely brilliant. And it's a shame that we can't spend the whole podcast talking about this game and we have to talk about the other two. The other two.
- [15:55]
F
Why I was going on for a very long time with my answers. Absolutely no comment whatsoever.
- [16:02]
D
Anyway, taking some time off the clock. Game manager actually obliged. Yeah, we will talk about Australia, Egypt in just a second. Hi, Pod fans. Max here. Barry's here too.
- [16:14]
E
Hello.
- [16:14]
D
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- [16:38]
E
How does it work?
- [16:39]
D
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- [17:15]
E
Fantastic.
- [17:15]
D
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- [17:28]
C
He's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price hikes. And cuts past him. Carrier contracts, tries to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the non stop group chat trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots. No unlimited data for $25 a month forever. Visit your local Boost Mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost mobile after 30gb customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost $25 Unlimited plan.
- [18:09]
D
Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Australia won Egypt 1. Egypt going through 4, 2 on penalties. Before we chat about it, I caught up with our man Jack that full time. Okay then Jack, how was that for you?
- [18:22]
G
Ah, wasn't quite good enough really. Pretty sad that the socceros couldn't convert this opportunity, right Chasing this first world cup knockout victory. And they got close but not close enough in the end. Very frustrating that they're going to sit on this for four years now knowing that. Look in the round of 32 next time up in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, I don't think you're going to get a much better opportunity than, than Egypt to get through the last 16. So yeah, definitely a missed opportunity today.
- [18:56]
D
Yeah, I mean the criticism from Australia, Popovich is getting hammered actually about how defensive they were and how they didn't like take the game to Egypt after they equalized. It's wise after the event I guess
- [19:09]
G
there was concern, right? Halftime soccer is 1 nil down. Their best player, Jordy Boss has gone off with, you know, what looked like a pretty bad knee injury. You're thinking gee, how the hell are Australia going to work their way back in their game? They haven't SC scored since the first game against Turkey. I was pretty much pre writing my, my match report, you know, one nil defeat. But the socceroos, where do they turn? They turn to the set piece and sure enough they, the big bodies got into the box and there was an own goal. But yeah, under a lot of pressure from the socceros defenders. So yeah, they got, they got that opening and I think it kind of reset the match a little bit. But yeah, Tony Popovic and his socceroos, they're not set out to impose themselves on the other teams, right? They're well organized, relying on certain moments and so one all as fatiguing legs into extra time. I don't think it was any surprise that Australia didn't take the game on more. And look, I think if the penalty shootout had gone the other way, we'd all be saying, hey, he played it pretty well. Ultimately though, that's not what we're saying.
- [20:19]
D
From my experience of living in Australia, football, the whole footballing world is in like a permanent existential crisis. And, and, and, and I guess this will add to that.
- [20:28]
G
There is going to be a lot of rage unleashed on Saturday brunch across the breakfast table or across the lunch table as they come to terms with this defeat. Tony Popovic will be briefly public enemy number one, particularly that decision to take off Patrick beach, an informed goalkeeper who's, who's really done nothing wrong during the tour for this make or break shootout. But, but also the decision to start the shootout with Harry Souter, who I'm not sure has ever taken a penalty. Number four, Lucas Harrington. This guy's 18. He certainly hasn't. Obviously the players have a choice in whether they take the penalty or not, but to put pressure that, that 18 year old I think is one that Popovic would like to have back. Certainly when, when the ball hit the crossbar, I think it's, it's one that he can't disagree with.
- [21:23]
A
Yeah.
- [21:23]
D
And I guess from the people that I've chatted to back home, if you look at that squad, there aren't. It's not filled with elite players, but it's filled with elite potential. Perhaps you mentioned Harrington, you know, in Kunda could push on. Jordy Boss could push on. There is a, there is hopefully the nucleus of a young squad that could get to the next World cup and play slightly more progressive football and actually have a chance of unlocking defenses.
- [21:46]
G
Yeah, I think there's a real positive in Christian Volparto, his integration in the Australian team. It was pretty much a key attacking outlet today, particularly operating between the midfield and the Egyptian defense. He felt like he was really important and he's a player that we don't have a lot of in Australia. Skillful, can take the game on and so I think he's really important. But Tony Popovic, his system is very solid. Three central defenders, two protecting defensive midfielders and relying a lot on the physicality and speed of the wide players and forwards. That is probably good enough to get to the round of 32 every World Cup. But you're right. Let's, as the Australian football community dream a little bit and wonder how we can get the most out of players like Iron Kunda to push on and maybe develop a style that can take us a little bit further.
- [22:40]
D
Safe trip home. If you see Mrs. Rushton and the kids, give her an hour off, would you?
- [22:44]
G
Will do. We'll do. See you back in Melbourne, Max. Enjoy the tournament.
- [22:48]
D
Jack Snape there and thanks to Jack for all his work, he's flying back to Melbourne now. Look, it's, it's agony for Australia this. We have a much bigger Australian audience than an Egyptian audience. So we will get to Egypt and the inquest has started. Baz about the penalty shootout and Popovich changing the keeper, bringing on a much shorter keeper who died the wrong way as it turned out. And the center backs taking the penalties and I, I think hindsight, you know, it can be so black and white after the shootout. But none of it worked.
- [23:21]
E
No. And yeah, I'm very much a Monday morning quarterback here but there was always a very strong possibility that this game would go to penalties and it did. It wasn't a good game. It's not really worth Talking about the 120 minutes that preceded the shootout. And it seemed to me that Popovich and, and his Australian team weren't even familiar with the concept of a penalty shootout. So thoroughly ill prepared did they seem to be for it. He decided to replace Patrick beach in the dying moments of extra time despite beach having had a really good game with Matt Ryan who has saved 12 out of about 70 penalties he's faced in his career. Matt Ryan is shorter than Beach. Beach had been playing well. Egypt immediately went to look at some Matt Ryan penalty saves, apparently one that Kylian Mbappe took against him and deduced in a few seconds that, oh, he just dives early, you know, before you've even started walking from the halfway line to take your kick, he's away. And so it came to pass he didn't get near saving any of the penalties. And then Australia's penalty taker, you'd Harry Susher, center back and captain, he took the first one, which is some say the most important one. That was the first penalty he's ever taken in his life. And then when they had one that they had to score to stay in the match, Lucas Harrington, an 18 year old center back, took one. His wasn't terrible to be fair, but it did hit the bar and Egypt didn't miss any of theirs and Matt Ryan didn't get near any of theirs. So it seemed, and obviously I'm talking with the benefit of 2020 hindsight, but it seemed very poorly organized by Popovic and his players.
- [25:15]
D
Yeah, I mean I would, I would say that he's not guessing right. He, he must have known before the game starts that he's doing this. If he is guessing then it's mad but he's not guessing. And there resident to, you know, Australia doing it took Matt Ryan on a bought on Andrew Redmayne. I think he's called in a shooter. If he's not guessing he knows and like sometimes keepers aren't told so Patrick beach didn't know that he was coming off. If he is guessing then it's completely mad. And in, in 05 Australia, one of their greatest moments. They beat Uruguay in a shootout to get to the World Cup. Aloisi scoring. But in that, you know, two center backs, Lucas, Neil and Tony Vidmar scored. So like I don't know, I sometimes think Lars, when we look at these things we look in, you know, as Baza said, you know, it's all hindsight and those his, his decisions did not come off and sometimes they don't and then we decide well they were definitely wrong and if Sute gets over the penalty then maybe it's different. I don't know.
- [26:10]
F
Yeah, no, listen, I'm assuming they subbed on Matt, Matt Ryan because they've been practicing penalties and he has been saving more of them in practice. That would make more sense to me. I'm assuming that young Harrington took one because he's been making them in training which he said after the game. I believe I'm looking at quotes here where the coaching side of the team had my back. They believed in me. I made my penalties during the week we practiced it. I was confident. You know, maybe I'm guilty sometimes of being too, of deferring too much to the expertise of the people involved. I mean our job is to discuss things and have opinions and whatever. But I tend to think like the coaching staff just generally speaking know this stuff better than we do. All that being said, yes. Putting up an 18 year old center half to take the fourth one as well, which I think is statistically the one that's the most likely to be important. Seems that is a pretty wild decision. Like even if he has scored a lot of them during the week and
- [27:07]
D
also like Matt Ryjish looks so small. I mean like they would, they would be an optical.
- [27:14]
F
It's like Jordan Pickford's tiny hands that aren't actually that tiny. It's just kind of the shape of his body. You know, I don't think comparing it
- [27:20]
D
to the Paraguayan keeper who's 25 foot tall.
- [27:23]
C
Yes.
- [27:23]
A
Archie, defend Tony Popovich for having Harry Soutar go first on the evidence of the game that we'd just watched. If we're talking about Patrick Beech's form in the game and that he should have been allowed to stay on then, I think you could actually make a similar argument for Harry Soutar and how he was feeling. I think the only problem is if you'd wanted it, if you'd wanted him to take it with any part of his body, it would have been his head, because there was no. There was no thing that came his way that he could not head away. Producer Joel just kept on going fadum for dum and it was just this kind of dull thud that you felt every time he was putting an art into his heading in a way that I was just thinking he's almost making heading look like Federer does when he's hitting a forehand. Like there was one that was down by his knees and he was like, yeah, you know what? I've headed the last three, so that one's going away too. And so with all of that, when he was stepping up, I was thinking, oh, you know, he's going to thump it in. But I think, as Barry alludes to the first penalty, has that thing of you are setting the tone for the team. And when the guy who's been your best player in the last 120 minutes misses, I think that that makes you all go, oh, no, oh, no. And then even more so when what happens with Matt Ryan, who I think went the wrong way on three of the four penalties happened. So on that decision, I'd. I'd give Tony Popovich a bite. It's just that there's so many other things which are difficult.
- [28:55]
D
Also, Barry, the criticism of Popovich is. Is not just that. It is that this is a game Australia could have. What we've talked about how Kate Verde took the game to Argentina, right? When Australia equalized in this game, they kind of shut up shop and Egypt, Salah couldn't run. Mahmoud wasn't playing well. The criticism is that Australia, even if they don't have like a brilliant set of elite players, could have taken the game to Egypt. This was their. This was a great chance to win a knockout game.
- [29:24]
E
I think it was a brilliant chance. I don't. I think if Australia made it more of an effort, it wouldn't have gone to the penalty shootout because, as you say, Salah did next to nothing. Omar Mamush was virtually anonymous. And there, obviously, the two players everyone talks about when we discuss Egyptian football, they're the. The star turns and they didn't show up today for whatever reason. I did notice Mo Salah just waited for Matt Ryan that his penalty was quite good, even though it was really bad because he just waited for Matt Ryan to dive and they drove down the middle, not. Not even waist high, wasn't even a panenka. And burst out laughing. I don't know whether that was at his own ineptitude and he hadn't hit it the way he wanted to, or if it was because he knew Matt Ryan was going to be gone for a hot dog by the time he kicked the ball. So Australia will never have a better chance of advancing to the quarterfinals or they had a great chance here and even the corners they were taking, they had a big height advantage. They were taking short corners. Why? What are you doing? I just. I was baffled by their approach to this game. All the more so when it became apparent that Salah and Marmouche were not delivering the goods for Egypt.
- [30:47]
D
Quick one on Egypt, Archie.
- [30:49]
A
This was a huge deal for Egypt. They had not won a knockout game at a World cup before. And for a team which has had the continental dominance that they have with seven AFCON titles, I think it had always got to them that they've never been able to go further in a World cup. And particularly in the time that they've had Mo Salah and now they finally have a bit more of a support cast who can be there for him. Sure, Obama Mush missed that chance just after half time where he can put the game out of sight, but it's something to have somebody with his potential. I was listening to African football expert Ali Howas before the tournament and he was picking out Imam ashore who has really turned up in this tournament so far. Real flare. His celebrations have a lot of main character energy to them. He's a bit of a maverick who struggled to adapt to life in Denmark. So he went back to Egypt. He's looked promising and I think can also cause Argentina some problems in their next game. But look, this was a huge moment for Egypt and I think that also just needs to be noted.
- [31:55]
D
Yeah, totally. And that'll do for part two, Part three. We'll begin with Colombia's win over Ghana.
- [32:03]
B
You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank. Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining al fresco or relaxing poolside? Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to 70% off during Wayfair's 4th of July clearance score. Huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs and more. We're to talking thousands of products for Every style and budget plus surprise flash deals. July 6th. Don't wait. Shop Wayfair's 4th of July clearance now through July 6th at Wayfair.com Wayfair Every style, every home.
- [32:33]
C
He's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price hikes and cuts past him. Carrier contracts, tries to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the non stop group chat trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots.
- [32:45]
E
No
- [32:48]
C
unlimited data for $25 a month. Forever. Visit your local Boost Mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost mobile after 30gb, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost $25 Unlimited plan.
- [33:13]
D
Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Columbia 1, Ghana nil. John Arias's goal after 14 minutes. For the tape, we're recording just after full time and we were delighted that it didn't go to extra time. We are objective, but when, guys, I'll
- [33:26]
E
be honest, I don't think delighted even begins to describe how pleased we were. Garner didn't equalize as soon as Ghana
- [33:34]
D
had the ball and let's face it, they didn't attack much. There was a lot of no if Semenya ever got the ball, like no, no, no, thank you. Yeah, you talk about game fatigue, Lars. And look, Colombia are good, Colombia are fun. Ghana are tricky to watch. And I, I think it's not harsh to say unless you're Ghanaian, you're not going to miss them from this tournament.
- [33:53]
F
Lars yeah, so the slight sidetrack maybe, but I did a piece for the, for the Guardian on Norway before the Brazil game and it caused me to revisit Norway being dumped out by Italy in 1998. And the reason I mentioned that, because the, the quirk of that game was even at 10 down, we still sat back like in the 90s, during our golden period in the 90s. Egil Olsson, our genius coach, I don't actually mean that ironically. He was a genius in his own way, but it was very much about direct football. His core belief was that you have the best chance of scoring when the opponent is not in balance, as he would say, when the defense isn't set. So you need to attack very quickly and you want to tempt them onto you so you can get them. And this is what Kairos is doing. Right, I get that, but it was still farcical to watch Ghana still be really well positioned and set up in, like, this sort of stubborn block well into their own half when you're already a goal down. And I swear to God, there were moments where, like, Davinson Sanchez was passing the ball to a teammate, looking at like, are they not gonna press? Like, what's going on here? We're in the lead. Why are they not doing anything? And I completely understand, like, the tactical rationale for this. This served them well in the group stage, is what got them here. This sort of Keiros suffer ball thing that he does. But it is nonsense to go out of a tournament like that. Like, when you're a goal down, you have to try to do something, I think. And they were very stubbornly refusing to do that.
- [35:19]
D
Yeah, I mean, I guess the logic is you. You do that until the 80th minute and then you. Then you get it launched. But they didn't really do that either, Archie, did they?
- [35:27]
F
No.
- [35:28]
A
Four shots on target during this whole tournament. Given that they came into it 1.
- [35:34]
D
Hey, won a game, Won a game, you can't knock that.
- [35:37]
A
But given that they came into this tournament having changed their coach in March and pressed the Kiaroge button, I think it's a pretty underwhelming performance. They will not be missed. Exactly. And the thing you said to me during the game was, look, at 1 nil, they're just going to keep the same approach. But I think we were expecting, look, okay, but at some point they will go for it. It just never really came.
- [36:02]
D
Yeah, yeah. And for Columbia Baron, Mark Langdon said, you know, they were an outside shot of reaching the final. It's quite hard to gauge them with this performance. They were good. I mean, Lewis Diaz could have had a hat trick and then it is. Then it's a really comprehensive win. But even at 1 nil, they did not. At no point did it look stressful as a Columbia player. And normally in a 1 nil at this stage of this tournament, you just go deep and get nervous. There was none of that.
- [36:25]
E
No. Look, teams like Ghana can be hard to play against, as we know found out last week.
- [36:33]
D
Yeah, we did.
- [36:34]
E
And Colombia made very short work of them. I know it was only one nil win. They never looked like conceding. And but for a couple of tremendous saves by the Ghana goalkeeper, Lawrence ATI Zigi, the scoreline would have been considerably higher. There were also a few narrow wides and whatnot. I think Ghana had one shot at early doors that fizzed wide, but I don't think any of the four shots and target came in this game. It was a pretty dismal effort, but more or less what we've come to expect from Carlos Kira sides. No doubt he'll rock up into the next World cup with another team and we'll all be going, oh, crikey, here we go again. But I think the scoreline here very much flattered Ghana in a way that they weren't flattered by the scoreline of their match against England.
- [37:33]
D
So tomorrow's games then. Canada, Morocco, Paraguay, France. Archie, you wanted a quick mention of the Paraguay manager.
- [37:39]
A
Yes. Gustavo Alfaro, Argentine and somebody who is renowned for being very poetic in in his quest to describe the beautiful game. Even if, as one Argentinian friend of mine put it to me, he is not looking to play the beautiful game. If he could play 10 defenders, he would. But I just like the turn of phrase that he used before this France game where he was talking about, I'm a country boy. In Raffaella, when a thunderstorm was coming, we didn't have to take cover because there were no lightning rods. France is like a thunderstorm and the lightning strikes the center of the goal. So you know, a thunderstorm is coming. So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing what he will do. Exactly. Because look, they were excellent against Germany. Whether they can weather this particular storm. Not too sure.
- [38:32]
D
You mentioned thunderstorms.
- [38:34]
F
It was, yeah, the weather.
- [38:35]
D
Yeah, it was thought that England, Mexico is going to be moved from 6pm to midday in Mexico. So from 1am in the UK to what, 7pm the best reaction was a guy called Chris going, going to record the England game and watch it at 1am Regardless, I haven't put Monday off for nothing. Turns out it wasn't to do with thunderstorms, it was to do with safety for fans because of what happened after Mexico's win over Ecuador and four people who lost their lives in those sort of extraordinary celebrations that we saw. But the English FA were stunned that the move was under consideration so close to the game, as were the Mexico FA managers and players were like, well, okay, we'll deal with this if it has to happen. And the. It all transpires that it's gone back, Barry, to one o' clock in the morning in the uk. So for a small moment, people who worked and ran pubs and the police were absolutely delighted. It got to 7pm and now they have to work until in the middle of the night.
- [39:28]
E
It was all very strange because FIFA never really actually made a statement. I'm not sure they have even yet. They were sort of briefing journalists on the side unofficially. But there was no actual FIFA announcement that this game has been moved. This game has been moved back. This game, we're thinking about moving this game. It was all being drip fed. No one seemed quite sure what what was going on. That was certainly the vibe I got watching the BBC news earlier. The cynic in me thought if it was being move back, it was because it would be better for FIFA if it was shown on prime time in Europe rather than in the early hours of the morning. But that's entirely down to me being a very cynical man, I'm sure, and not due to any real reason why it might be moved. I.
- [40:22]
D
That's the first time I've known that you were a cynic, Barry. So it's good to learn. It's good to learn something. I mean, it is worth saying it caused a lot of panic for fans who were, you know, due to land at sort of midday and go, well, hang on, what am I meant to do? We paid, you know, extraordinary amounts of money for flight and for tickets, et cetera, et cetera. So I imagine, and I don't know, but I imagine some people did rebook onto crazy early flights and things to make sure they get there and are now going, oh, now I have to get up at three in the morning or whatever to fly to Mexico City.
- [40:51]
F
Yes, Lars matters for players as well because with a kickoff potentially that early, like you would have to, you have to get up very early to eat the food that you need to eat at a certain amount of time. I mean, Wayne Rooney mentioned this, I think, and also typically teams will want to adjust for that a certain number of days in advance and try to get the players biorhythms over onto the track that you'll be at for the game. Which I guess is why the teams really hated the idea.
- [41:15]
A
The only thing I was going to say, Lars, was that I saw that Wayne Rooney tweet about it's not good to be wolfing down pasta at 9am the great thing about it is that he said this in 2011.
- [41:26]
D
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, before we end a lot of discussion in the WhatsApp group about the Croatian disallowed goal, Barry, you're so invested that you read the FIFA handbook, so that's how excited you got. Where have you got with this since then?
- [41:45]
E
Well, it would be a lie to say I read the FIFA handbook, but I did see an extract from the FIFA handbook.
- [41:53]
D
Or is it being serialized in the Daily.
- [41:59]
E
And well, it basically says that if the ball brushes against your hair and doesn't change trajectory, then it doesn't. That shouldn't be factored into any offside decision unless you have particularly voluminous hair or, you know, a top notch or
- [42:22]
D
something that, yes, massive hair that the
- [42:25]
E
ball could deflect off. So going by their own guidelines, that goal shouldn't have been dislodged. I, I think there's something very funky about that goal being disallowed. It just, it doesn't sit right with me at all. And even if, if big, if the correct decision was made, that is, this is not what we should be doing with regard to football. And I know there's all these weirdos out there who say, oh well, you know, it's the rule. If, if you. No, sorry, this is not. It might be the spirit of the rules and pedantry. It is not in the spirit of the game.
- [43:03]
D
I was just thinking, I was just wondering coming from a pedant, but I don't disagree. I don't disagree with you at all. Actually, it did lead us to a good discussion about the perfect hair you need as a footballer now, because clearly you can't. You need to be bald so that you don't have issues with Snicko, but you also need to have long hair so your hair can be pulled and other unopposition players can be sent off. So we, we came up with comedian Mick Miller, Bill Bailey circa 2008, the BBC arts editor, will Gomperts and Terry Nutkins up top and that if England, if England start with that as a front four, then there's no way as long as, as long as they've acclimatized the altitude. Nutkins is no longer with us so it has to be a sort of weekend at Bernie's style.
- [43:54]
F
A lot has been said about the ticket prices in this tournament, but I probably would pay what FIFA are asking to see that for as long as they'd be able to. But you don't want to read like for the benefit of the YouTube viewers, like this is the hairstyle I'm gradually moving towards. I mean it's very much at the back with some life hair. You are nearest things happening at all.
- [44:15]
D
You're absolutely right. You are the nearest to not the expected nuts is high and you've been holding. And you've been holding a tarantula this, this whole episode which obviously means nothing to you, Lars.
- [44:28]
F
Gotta live in things up a bit, you know.
- [44:31]
D
Totally. They're the really wild podcast Anyway, that feels like enough for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Barry.
- [44:37]
E
Thank you.
- [44:38]
D
Thanks, Archie.
- [44:39]
A
Thanks, Max.
- [44:40]
D
Cheers, Lars.
- [44:41]
F
Thank you, Max.
- [44:42]
D
Football Weekly is produced by Rory Simon and Matt Bentley Viney. Our executive producers are Joel Grove and Danielle Stevens. And we'll be back tomorrow.
- [44:53]
A
This is the Guardian.
- [45:02]
B
You want to get your backyard summer ready, but you don't want to break the bank. Wayfair gets it. Planning on dining al fresco or relaxing poolside? Wayfair has everything you need to prep your space. Shop now and save up to 70% off during Wayfair's 4th of July clearance. Score huge deals on outdoor furniture, area rugs and more. We're talking thousands of products for every style and budget. Plus surprise flash deals. July 6th. Don't wait. Shop Wayfair's 4th of July clearance now through July 6th at Wayfair.com Wayfair Every style, every home.
- [45:32]
C
He's dribbling the ball with everything on the line. He's driving down the pitch. He's facing price hikes and cuts past him. Carrier contact tracks tries to block him. Oh, he leaves him in the dust. He's at the edge of the box. He cuts past the non stop group chat trash talk. He clears on goal. He shoots. No unlimited data for $25 a month. Forever. Visit your local Boost Mobile store today to get unlimited data with a price that never changes. Boost mobile after 30gb, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers will pay 25amonth as long as they remain active on the Boost $25 unlimited plan. Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan. Fellas, I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson. And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball, but you can call me the Smash Daddy. And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before. That's right. Hey.
- [46:25]
A
Hey.
- [46:25]
C
So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter. And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert.
- [46:35]
D
He'll be wrong. Newsflash.
- [46:37]
G
I'm never wrong.
- [46:38]
D
Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you
- [46:40]
G
can find Fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts.