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Football Weekly
England’s second game syndrome and Ronaldo joins the party: World Cup Daily
00:38:56
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Lars Sivertsen, Mark Langdon and Jacob Steinberg as England fail to break down Ghana
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A
This is the Guardian.
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B
You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings by $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
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A
Hi Podfans Max here. Barry's here too. Hello, Football Weekly here, supported by Hotels.com now Barry question. When you're booking a hotel, do you use hotels.com? actually you're probably just going to say I don't know. Producer Joel does it.
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C
I don't know Producer Joel does it.
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A
Well, I think you should give it a try for yourself. Obviously it's a massive summer of soccer and loads of our listeners will be traveling to watch the tournament and needing to book somewhere great to stay. So it's good to know that when you're a Hotels.com member, you can save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels. Plus you earn rewards on every stay. So each trip you take helps pay for your future trips. Just use those rewards like cash. And importantly, there are never any blackout dates.
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C
What's a blackout date?
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A
Well, it's a date where you can't use travel rewards, frustratingly, usually on or around major holidays or other peak travel periods. But there are no Blackout dates with Hotels.com rewards.
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C
Superb.
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A
Yes. So next time you're booking somewhere to stay, just book it at hotels.com hotels.com it's all in the name. Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Let's pop the England enthusiasm balloon. An agonising watch. The first half up there with the least eventful 45 minutes in living memory. The second, not too much better. They just couldn't break down Ghana's low block. A masterclass from the great entertainer Carlos Quiros. They kept their shape headed every set piece away and thoroughly deserved a point. If anything, Ghana had the best, if slightly chaotic chances until Harry Kane ballooned over a glorious opportunity with five minutes left. It's not a disaster, but it also isn't good. Quite how Thomas Tuchel expects the podcasters to get 20 minutes out of that Pray for us. Croatia saw off a spirited Panama Ante Budomir at just 34, Croatia's youngest ever player with the winning goal. Also today we suggested Uzbekistan might be the perfect opponent for Cristiano Ronaldo to score a couple and he duly obliged. Decent finishes and the first player to score in six World Cups. Despite what some podcasts told you yesterday, Portugal's highest ever scorer, the opposition weren't up to much. We'll look ahead to tomorrow. A big food idea, some new Football Weekly inspired music, your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today with me in la, Barry Glendenning. Welcome.
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C
Hello.
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A
And Mark Langdon from the Racing Post.
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D
Hi, Max.
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A
And over in Dallas, Lars Civiton. Hey, Lars.
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E
Howdy, Max.
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A
Let's begin then with Group L, which looks like this. England are top with four points. Ghana have four, Croatia three. Panama are out of the World Cup. George says, how many times have we watched this exact performance from England at a major tournament? Jdk, can we get the overreaction out of the way early and just admit it's difficult to break down a low block and hair free? Carefree says, with England being diabolical against an average team, has the World cup truly started? Barry, what did you make of England? Nil. Ghana.
- [03:34]
D
Nil.
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C
It was a tough watch. It wasn't a very entertaining game and I was surprised by how poor England were, to be honest. I thought they'd win this fairly comfortably and they huffed and puffed a great length and could not blow the Ghana house down. And in a way, I think they dodged a couple of bullets because I think Ghana should definitely have had a penalty for an ESRI Consa foul on Prince Edoux. And I remain undecided as to whether Jordan Pickford should have been sent off or not for that collision he had with Prince Adoux, where he was award where Pickford was awarded a free kick. Inexplicably, I think there's a case to be made that he might have been sent off for that. So in that regard, England were a bit lucky, but yeah, they didn't really create any decaying chance. And the Nick O'Reilly header off the bar. So we'll chalk that down as one chance between them and because one led to the other and then they had a flurry of corners right at the end and didn't do much with with any of them. So Saka had a shot as well that was well saved by the guy and a keeper. But apart from that, England did very little. I don't think they deserved anything more than they got.
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A
We watched it with Archer in Tutt Mark, who described that as a legacy performance. And he's right, isn't he?
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D
Yeah, absolutely. We've seen it from a number kind of down the years. We was actually during the. Was it the first and the second half we were going through the worst ever games. Yeah, indeed. And it's quite some catalogue really of drear England performances. It is difficult to break down a team that was in like a 5, 4, 1. It's even more difficult when you play as slowly as England did in the first half. The left hand side didn't create much. You know, Jed Spence was a more defensive selection than Nick O'Reilly. Anthony Gordon, that's now two games where he's failed to impact any kind of sort of attacking influence on the England team. But I think as you read out one of the kind of messages earlier, it's not time to panic. Still top of the group. But you do get these type of performances in a tournament. It's a. It's a long old tournament and I would say whoever wins it is probably not going to put in seven great performances.
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A
No, it's good to do two in a row.
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D
Don't peek too early.
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A
Maybe England have got it out of the way. Lars.
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E
Yeah. So I actually have a question for you guys. When you were watching it, the England band, were they very active or was I simply hallucinating that? Because I was just kind of thinking, it's a hot summer day, I'm sat here, I'm watching England sort of put in quite a slow, turgid performance against the low block, kind of passing the ball around, not going anywhere. And I feel like I just hear the sound of the Great Escape going over and over again. But I'm not entirely sure if that was just memory from having seen this exact scenario so many times on so many different continents that that just kind of came into my not entirely clear thing to be aware of here. Like you were up against a Carlos Caros joint and this is not Carlos. Carlos. His first rodeo is this is his fifth consecutive World Cup. He's done this before, usually with Iran, of setting a team up in this sort of indestructible low block, making it intensely unpleasant to play against them and genuinely difficult to open them up. And I think I want to not give England a pass, but just have some grace for the fact that when you come up against the team that's really committed to that way of approaching the game and you don't get lucky. You don't get a goal that goes off on someone's backside or a set piece or something and you keep like chugging away. It becomes a little bit difficult and I don't think it's something the England squad is very well set up to do. I think there's a lot of physicality and running and athleticism in that team. We saw they just kind of bowled Croatia over in that second half. But maybe there's a slight shortage of like guile in these little tight spaces. That was the only thing they had left to operate in. And yeah, you are of course, right, Barry, I completely agree with you that that should have been a penalty. So they got lucky there. But also on most days, Harry Kane will score that volley. So, you know, it wasn't a good performance. They were stopped by a coach who is extremely good at turning football bad. And good luck to him for achieving it yet again.
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F
Yeah.
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A
And I suppose the guile is Barry. Players like Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. I'm so reluctant to talk about players that aren't in the squad, but is the idea that when we play against teams, if we play Spain or France, they are not going to play the Carlos Quiros way. And so then you do want pace, which is what Madawake and Gordon have. And they can't really use their. They can't usually use what they're good at in a game like this.
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C
England were just sort of constantly passing the ball, horseshoeing the ball around in front of Ghana. They needed to move it quicker. They needed to get it to the wings. The crosses need to be better. And then you can always have Harry Kane doing that thing we often criticize him for doing, where he drops a bit deep, but then have runners going through and get the ball forward to them. So to try and do some damage or get pullbacks in from the byline. And the players in England squad should be more than capable of doing this. But they didn't do it today.
- [09:11]
F
Yeah.
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A
But I suppose the idea is if there aren't. You can't have runners if there's nowhere to run. Mark.
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D
No. And you know, Ghana were very deep at the first hydration break to put the stats up and they'd completed 25 passes Ghana. So they know one a minute.
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A
Carlos says you have one pass a minute and that's it.
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D
And so they were just hoofing the ball back and, you know, doing what Carlos Kiros team would do. I agree that when you pack the defense and midfield, I think you do negate Kane's ability to drop deep because there was just no space and there's no space to run him behind. So I think I would like to have seen Thomas Tuchel be bolder and try something different. He made some substitutions and Saka definitely helped on the right hand side, but it wasn't anything sort of dynamic in terms of the changes. And you know, you maybe think, well, if you're, if you're not going to pick Ivan Tony in that kind of scenario, when you could get the ball wide and start putting crosses in, then maybe you know, he's only coming, coming on if it comes to a penalty shootout, you know, so he did have other options. He just chose to keep doing the same thing and hope to get through.
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A
Love.
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E
No, I enthusiastically agree. I was sat. It's a very new sensation for me. I've never been sat in a sofa and just thinking, I want to see Ivan Toney right now.
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C
Where is he?
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E
That's never really anything I've felt before, but that really. If you're bringing the guy, surely this is the exact scenario. Well, this and a penalty shootout that you really want him for because yes, it was clear that they weren't able to pick their way through that defense and it's really, really difficult. So I guess plan B, get someone who's a really good header on the ball and a difficult customer to deal with in the box and fling some crosses in at him.
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A
I suppose the interesting thing, Lars, is you need to be patient to break down a low block, right? Because you've got to. It's making the right pass, but at the same time we want England to play quicker. So it's a kind of. That is a difficult situation. And that pass, if they're deep, that, that, that through ball is actually incredibly difficult to do.
- [11:14]
E
And this is, I'm loathe to do. Like you said earlier, talk about people who aren't here because that's a little bit pointless. But I am just surprised that in the run up to this tournament that there didn't never seem to be a real case of looking at Adam Morton for this, like a slightly different type of passer in that midfield. Elliot Anderson's a brilliant footballer. Declan Rice is a brilliant football, but they're, but they are kind of all action box to box guys who, who like it when the games are open and there's a lot of run. But this lack of a more of a cultured midfield pass guy, this goes back decades for England. Now we've been talking about this for as long as I've been on the pod, I think, and before that as well.
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F
So this is.
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E
This is just. Just a permanent fixture, I think, which is why maybe just kind of embrace the fact that you don't really have that and instead, like inject big man and go into hoof mode.
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A
Since 2018, all the tournaments since 2018, England have drawn the second group game, nil. Nil. Against Scotland in 2021, USA, 2022, Denmark 1:1 in 2024. And they also drew the third group game in that one. So no time to panic on your Barry, on your fearometer. Do you feel a lot better now?
- [12:20]
C
No. Look, England, Baron, an absolute disaster. Were always going to get into the knockout stages and they are in the knockout stages. So while this performance was pretty stodgy, the result was fine. And they still have to play Panama and will, well, should beat them. Although I was pretty impressed. We'll get to them later. I was pretty impressed with them today. So, yeah, it's fine.
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A
It's fine. If. If it was just a bit. It just felt so. Muscle memory, that's what it felt like. But also kind of nostalgic. I get to see that. Anyway, I caught up with Jacob Steinberg just after full time and this is our chat. Jacob, what did you make of that?
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F
It was very. Carlos Kiros. It was the typical England second tournament game. You know, we saw it under Gareth Southgate. Saw it at the Euros in 2020 against Scotland. Saw it at the World cup in Qatar against usa. Saw it against Denmark two years ago at the Euros. It felt very familiar. Felt like it could have been Southgate on the touchline. To be honest, it felt like that kind of from the start that it wasn't quite the same kind of energy and flow as we saw against Croatia and perhaps as well, just looking back to those tournaments, maybe less so the Euros in 2024, given how badly England played across the whole thing, maybe not to panic because England did do well in those other tournaments. And I think Thomas Tuchel has gone and said that he saw this coming as well against a very determined. I think he called him courageous Ghana team as well. And you know, they defended very well. It was a very different game to the one against Croatia, to be honest. I'm not sure how much it actually tells us about how England would do against the better side because Ghana was so deep and defensive and negative. They really just didn't want to play kind of until the second half when they. They came out a bit more, had those couple of moments where they got behind England. And a lot of people will talk about the. The concert challenge and whether that Pickford one might have been a foul as well. So it's quite a hard game to exactly work out what England's level is, because when they play against the better side, it's not going to be like that. They're going to have more space and the strength they have in the wide areas probably become easier to exploit because they'll have the ability to use that speed. But I do understand why people will be quite down on it, because it was a hard watch.
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A
It was hard. We've had games like this in the past, right, where the England fans have been, you know, have booed the players and stuff. I just wonder in the stadium, we couldn't really tell the atmosphere. Did it feel. Did they feel like there was negativity or the England fans sort of with the team for the whole thing?
- [15:05]
F
Not really. I think you probably have a different kind of England fan here. I'm not sure how many might have traveled. I don't really know. But I think you'll have a lot of people who. A lot of expats over here who might not have the same kind of vociferous reaction like the one we saw in Cologne after the Slovenia game, where I don't think there's any chance that Tuchel's about to get pelted with empty beer cups, put it that way. And also, the Ghana fans were fantastic as well. This is a huge result for them, keeps them level with England. And to be honest, at the end, the real takeaway was how they were celebrating the draw.
- [15:43]
A
Yeah, I find it sort of quite nostalgic just watching that and being reminded of England games. Did you see anything from Tuchel on the touchline or anything that we might not have seen from watching on the tv?
- [15:54]
F
I think, you know, around the hour, you could see him starting to get more and more, I think, agitated. I think he wanted more incision, more pace, more intensity to England's passing. I mean, I saw this drill on Saturday, open training. You don't often see that much at open training. And it looked like they were really focused England on the drill. They were carrying out on accelerating the play, opening the play up. He was really focused on what foot each player was taking the ball on when they got the ball, and you just didn't really see that. Halftime, I thought was quite interesting was that John Stone seemed to be having a very, very long chat with Mark Gay. Obviously, Gay had come in for Stones and Big Part of that is going to be how they pass out from the back. And I think ultimately that's going to, that, that's, that's going to be one of the big things for England is that they just seem to struggle to play through the lines. And that maybe comes down to partly the sense back to was it perhaps a little bit too cautious to play Jed Spence at left back? Was that a bit. Kieran Trippier of the Euros, right footed left back playing in that position instead of Nico O'Reilly who obviously gives you that, that attacking intent and almost scored at the end when he hit the bar with that header. I'm gonna guess that there's going to be a lot of people who are going to come away from this and say he should have picked Cole Palmer, he should have taken Phil Foden. I feel like that's almost just asking the wrong question because I don't really feel like this is something where individuals is going to, are going to change the way that England play as a team. I think those two players, they haven't had great seasons. They've not really done it for England over a sustained period. Tuple has picked creative players. It feels more to how England play as a team off the ball, not the kind of movement that you see from maybe France or Spain, not the same kind of passing the wingers. I feel like England really need to get to a point where Saka can start because Madawake does a lot of good stuff. But that, that, that reluctance that he's got to go down the outside is quite frustrating and I feel like Saka, when he gets going, it just gives you a little bit more. I don't feel like it's been a great couple of games for Anthony Gordon as well. But then I always feel like what Rashford when he starts for England, I'm not sure you get the same kind of consistency as you do when he, when he comes off the bench and he has more space to attack. The Bellingham Kane connection wasn't really there as it was in the first game as well. I think Bellingham's come out and said that he doesn't deserve the man of the match award. Should have been one of the Ghana, one of the Ghana players and Kane again, you know, with three touches. I think inside the box is quite unusual for him as well. But this does happen to England in tournaments and it's happened to other teams in this tournament as well. Spain drew with Cape Verde, Portugal drew with their drc. So maybe people don't have to panic too much just yet.
- [18:35]
A
The message is don't panic, don't panic, don't panic.
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F
Almost more than the way they played with the ball is that I think I was worried about the defense coming out of the Croatia game. And I think against night, the few moments they were under a bit of pressure, it looked a little bit ropey against, against that Ghana attack, Semenya, when he went on a couple of runs, I think it's almost actually think France or Spain, Argentina, they would have scored in one of those moments. Ghana weren't quite good enough. I think the undoing is probably going to be that it's going to be the defence. I don't think it's good enough.
- [19:09]
A
All right, thank you, Jacob. Appreciate your time, pal.
- [19:11]
F
Cheers, guys.
- [19:12]
A
Jacob Steinberg there. Just to note, there was a lot made before the game about whether the England players would shake the hand of Thomas Partey. They all did. Declan Rice embraced him. Jed Spence was the only one who chose not to. Partey is scheduled to go on trial next year at Southwark Crown Court after he was charged with five counts of rape and one of sexual assault last year. He was later charged with two further counts of rape. Parties denied all the charges, with his lawyer insisting that he welcomes the chance to clear his name. Thomas Tuchel was asked about this and said he couldn't comment for legal reasons. And that'll do for Part one. Part two will begin with Croatia's win against Panama. Hi, Podfans. Max here. Barry's here too.
- [19:49]
C
Hello.
- [19:49]
A
Global Weekly is supported by Gradient fc. Now, Barry, with the World cup underway, we know player performance will be under a microscope, from superstars cementing legacies to upstarts vying for big summer transfers. But with 48 teams and up to six matches a day, it's hard to catch every moment. And that is where the Gradient FC app shines. Their player rankings update daily during the World cup so you know whose performances are trending up or down on the world stage.
- [20:14]
C
How does it work?
- [20:14]
A
Well, Gradient's rankings use the same grades trusted by clubs across Europe's top leagues for player recruitment. Each match is graded by a team of experts who evaluate over 2000 actions per match, not just by outcome, but by execution. So, for example, a completed pass that leads the receiver into danger is graded negatively, while one that puts the receiver in on goal is graded positively. Now, I know you hate making match predictions, Barry, but maybe all that could change at the World cup with Gradient FC with head to head player comparison tools that show who's best across more than 100 grades and metrics. It's easy to build and defend any prediction. And here's something else that will appeal to you, Barry. It's free.
- [20:50]
C
Fantastic.
- [20:51]
A
Explore it for yourself@radientfc.com or download the Gradient FC app from the Apple Store or Google Play. This episode is supported by Boss formal wear provider for the US Men's national soccer team. For soccer's biggest event this summer, the US Is playing on home soil and Boss will be dressing the US Players and coach Maurizio Pochettino in Boss Performance businesswear for their off pitch appearances. Boss and the USMNT share the same values discipline, precision and the confidence to perform under pressure. US fans can look sharp too in the Boss Performance collection and wear their passion with special fanwear capsule and embroidered badges in national colors. Own the moment with confidence. Discover the Boss Performance collection as worn by the US Men's national soccer team and the fan capsule of jerseys, polos and jackets in national colors. Wear your passion your way. Available now@boss.com or at your nearest Boss store. Be your own boss. Welcome to Part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Croatia beat Panama one nil and I agree with you Bas. As you mentioned at the end of Part one, I thought Panama were great in this game. I think they're really unlucky in those two games to go out of the tournament.
- [22:09]
C
Yeah, well the problem is they didn't score any goals and I thought they were pretty unlucky to lose that last gasp Ghana goal and today it was a really good counter attacking performance from them. They caused Croatia all sorts of problems down the right side with Murillo and Christian Martinez. Christian Martinez had a great game. I wasn't really familiar with his work. He plays in the Israeli Premier League. Dominik Livakovic made what I would say is the save of the tournament so far from Rodriguez header. But unfortunately they conceded after half, not too long into the second half and were unable to score an equalizer and I think they, they deserve more from this. But you got a score?
- [23:02]
D
Yeah.
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A
What did you make of it Lars?
- [23:04]
E
No, I completely agree with Barry. I was really impressed by Panama over both games. Really they've been better than I was expecting and I think they're very unfortunate. I think with Croatia you see moments of like high quality in the things that they do, but overall it's a little underwhelming. The goal they scored I enjoyed just, just because of what a classic football goal it was. It was like a fullback overlap who sends into the middle for, for a big striker, you know, this is, this is football, you know, this is, this is what we like to see. But overall you do get the sense that Croatia are kind of between two generations here. The, the, the, the, the sunset or that golden generation that, that we've enjoyed watching, whereas the new one hasn't quite come through yet. Though I did think Martin Butterina of Como, who played as kind of a number 10 in this game, is a lively customer and someone who I think can grow into becoming one of the more. One of the better playmakers of the continent.
- [23:56]
A
Yeah, good energy, I thought. Batarina, Croatia aren't vintage, are they? I mean, you got to say 200 caps for Modric. Made his international debut against Argentina in a friendly match in 2006. That's extraordinary.
- [24:09]
D
Yeah, it felt like a changing of the baton kind of game, really, because definitely Batarina was probably like that modric of 15 years ago at times, but I just, I think we should just celebrate Luka Modric, you know, the heart of a lion. He's got like the finesse of a ballerina. First time I saw him was, do you remember the Wally with the brolly night? That was the first time I can remember seeing Modric. And he played exceptionally well on, on that occasion. Then he then moved to Tottenham in the kind of April signed, you know, Euro 2008. He played really well. Then he moved to Real Madrid. He's never that player that gets the goals or the assists, but he was always delivering the pass before the pass that, that gets the goal. And he's never going to lose that ability to like just ping one with the outside of the boot with his left foot. But he struggles to get around the pitch, as, you know, most people would at his age, you know, so it's still a delight to see him. There's even talk that he might just call it a day completely after this World Cup. But when, you know, we know we've got at least two more matches of watching Luka Modric and that's never a bad thing.
- [25:18]
A
Swansea fans thinking, oh, go on centre mid with Snoop next season. Just saying on this game, Ian Crocker was doing the International cup commentary and not all the commentators are dear to our hearts, I think it's fair to say. But I love Ian Crocker. I mean, it's amazing hearing him doing again isn't hearts for y Aberdeen, but he's got such real enthusiasm, genuine. You feel the enthusiasm and you totally believe it. Speaking of struggling to get around a pitch. Portugal 5, Uzbekistan Nil so the Columbia Dr. Congo game is happening after we record, so we'll talk about that tomorrow. But Ronaldo. Cristiano Ronaldo has 975 career goals, the most goals for Portugal ever, overtaking Eusebio, the first player to score at six World Cups. We gave Messi that accolade yesterday, but we were wrong. And, Baz, we might not be the most positive Cristiano fans, but that is an extraordinary record. His finishes in this game were great. He was very close to getting a hat trick, so I guess we do owe him some credit.
- [26:23]
C
I thought you were going to say we owe him an apology.
- [26:24]
A
No, no, no. I'm not going that far.
- [26:27]
C
No, we don't. No. His two finishes in this game were very good, and I suspect he will end that game being obviously pleased that he scored his first, I think, big tournament goals in 11 games. And he'll also be furious that he didn't score several more because he had quite a few chances that he didn't put away. But the ones he did score were excellent. So fair play. He also took immense credit for the Nuno Mendez free kick. That where he shaped to take it, and then Nuno Mendez took it instead. I would suggest Austin McPhee was the man of the match in this game.
- [27:11]
B
Oh, yeah.
- [27:12]
C
Good shout, because he is Portugal's set piece coach, I think.
- [27:17]
A
Yeah, he is.
- [27:18]
C
And he. They had that free kick routine which worked. Another one that nearly worked, which also involved Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. If that had been pulled off, that would have been a sensational, very clever goal. And the Bruno Fernandes corner from which Uzbekistan scored their own goals. So a very big tip of the hat to Austin Maxset piece for his work there. I did say yesterday Ronaldo will probably go and score a couple against Uzbekistan. He's done exactly that, and he deserves credit for it. But Uzbekistan's defense was atrocious. Oh, he also had one hooked off the line, I think, didn't he, by Kushinov?
- [28:00]
A
Yeah, he dinked one. Yeah. I mean, among nations with more than one goal scorer, there are three players to be both the youngest and oldest scorer for a side at the World Cup. Messi, Ronaldo and Michael Laudrup, which is quite an achievement. He stared into the camera and said, I'm back. I'm back. When asked about, he said it was only so they his critics. Don't forget, 23 years like this, I'm very happy. The most important thing is the work the team did and the confidence it gives us. Obviously, Personal records are always nice. My goal is always to help the team achieve its objectives. There was on our commentary, Mark, sort of. Well, I covered it. I had Ledix on the UK coverage when he scored his first goal saying, everyone who loves football will be delighted he scored. And I was thinking, I'm not. I'm not sure. Everyone who loves football thinks that Darren Fletcher did the sue celebration, which is a. It's a step too far for me.
- [28:49]
D
Mark, you also called him CR7 or more than one occasion, which.
- [28:53]
C
Oh, no.
- [28:54]
D
Which was slightly uncomfortable listening. Yeah, I just. I mean, I don't know. Was Ronaldo calling out Barry directly there in the post match? That he's been getting a lot of stick even in back in Portugal really is almost unheard of. Been question marks in sort of, you know, big daily newspaper pieces. Should. Is this the time to drop Ronaldo? And I know that kind of been having that discussion maybe six, seven years ago over here, but in Portugal, he is a God. And so, you know, it takes a lot to. To question his ability. And I think he was aiming it. You know, he's domestic critics. I thought he played well. I thought Portugal played well against a team that was completely out of their depth defensively, that she put together some lovely sort of moves going forward.
- [29:44]
A
That screamer that was disallowed would have
- [29:46]
D
been one of the goals of the tournament that was ruled out correctly for a foul. But just from Portugal's point of view. Only one change, really, from the team that struggled against Dia Congo, and that was Joao Felix in for Bernardo Silva, a more attacking move. And Joao Felix does get on particularly well with Cristiano Ronaldo. They play together at club football. They're. They're friends as well off the pitch. So I just wonder if Roberto Martinez is just trying to do everything to, you know, to make sure that Ronaldo's in the best shape possible.
- [30:19]
A
Just imagine that phone in of should Renault in Portugal, if, you know, should Ronaldo start or not? Could you just go 24, 7, couldn't it? Yeah. And that. That disallowed goal, it was. Feels like it was the first foul that's been given in the last, like, six games, doesn't it? It had a real Mexico 86. Just whack it in the top corner vibes. Any more thoughts on this, Lars?
- [30:39]
E
Just I think we need to congratulate FIFA on their moment of glory here because, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo shouldn't have played this or the last game. He received a straight red before the tournament and should have been banned for these two games. FIFA went against all president and just kind of spontaneously unbanned him, presumably so that they would have this moment of scoring in front of a packed house in the US in the first game he very much did not oblige, but here he did so. So FIFA had what they wanted.
- [31:07]
A
So yeah. Columbia Diacongo kicking off late kickoff over here, so we'll cover that tomorrow. We are live at Vicar street on 1st September, Soho Theatre, Walthamstow, September 9th. Tickets are selling well. It still says in the script. Have we checked that? Is that a rewrite or we're still going with that. Well, look, please come along. Guardian.co.uk footballweeklylive it will be lovely to see you. And that'll do for part two. Part three will begin with the late game from last night. Algeria beating Jordan. Hi, this is Ben Green from the Athletic fc. The podcast you're about to listen to is brought to you by Hotels.com as a Hotels.com member, you save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels and earn rewards on every single day. Which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. And unlike some other places, there are no blackout dates. So when you want to travel, your rewards are ready to go. So the next time you're planning a work trip or a getaway, make sure to book it at hotels.com and start earning rewards. Hotels.com, it's all in the name.
- [32:14]
B
You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings by $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
- [32:59]
A
Welcome to Part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Group J looks like this after the Algeria Jordan game. Argentina have six points there through Austria on three, Algeria on three. Jordan out with naught. It's a shame for Jordan this Barry, you know they took the lead. That was a great moment when they scored.
- [33:15]
C
Yeah, Riyadh Maher is a Made a hames of a good chance earlier to put Algeria ahead. And then he was denied by an excellent save by the the Jordan keeper. Layla and Nor Jordan went ahead. Nisar Al Rashton into the bottom corner after one of his teammates had sort of miskicked a pullback. But it skewed into his path and he slotted at home. Lucas Zidane got a big hand on it but couldn't keep it out. Hasn't looked the greatest goalkeeper in the world now in the two games I've seen him play.
- [33:53]
A
Must be hard being Sedan.
- [33:54]
C
Yeah, Oh, I guess. Well big. Maybe that's why he's a goalkeeper.
- [33:59]
A
Possible. Maybe he's amazing out pitch but just not quite as good as Zinedine.
- [34:04]
C
And then Jordan conceded from two corners. Sloppy goals.
- [34:11]
A
Keeper's questionable, I think for both, isn't he?
- [34:13]
D
They were dodgy from set pieces in the first game as well. This was a game where I think jet lag had kicked in slightly when I was watching the second half. So I may well have missed one or two decisive moments. But Algeria, you know, their tournament was on the line at half time and they came out and were much, much better in the second half. And they can now look at it. Well, we lost to Argentina and Messi scored a hat trick like that can happen to better teams than us and they've now got three points and they go into a game against Austria where there might be a handshake before the game.
- [34:49]
A
Well, Lars, this is quite interesting, isn't it? Because they could play out a draw and both get four points which will get you through to the last 32. So Austria could make up for the Disgrace of Gijon 44 years later by having another disgrace. Yeah, having another. If you one disgrace outweighs that, it's like carbon neutral. If you have a disgrace, you should go back to Munich, Barry, you could. You could undisgrace your disgrace. It does seem a bit.
- [35:15]
E
How exactly would Barry do that? I'm curious.
- [35:17]
A
You don't need to go into this
- [35:19]
E
how you undisgrace that, especially disgrace.
- [35:22]
A
Is this a flaw, Lars? You know, because you've got this Australia Paraguay thing. You've got Austria, Algeria. There may be others by the time everyone's played twice.
- [35:29]
E
I just think the 4018 format is stupid. It's stupid for a lot of reasons and this is one of them. Like the, the. It's a bad format. There are too many games. Having a. Having a certain number of third place teams go through is stupid. I don't like it.
- [35:43]
A
Fair enough, Mark.
- [35:44]
D
Yeah, I agree with.
- [35:47]
C
There's definitely too many games.
- [35:50]
A
You feeling it? We've got 27 days left, Barry. We're at breaking point.
- [35:54]
D
We're about to go into six a day from, you know, we were discussing
- [35:59]
C
before the pod how, you know, we, we can't complain. It's like you said, it's like Groundhog Day, but we can't complain about it.
- [36:06]
A
It's sunny, we're watching football, get an hour off to sit by the pool, etc.
- [36:10]
C
Someone said, you know, at least we're not sweeping the road. You know, it could be a lot worse. And I, I just sort of went. I take a day on the bins now. Just, just one.
- [36:20]
A
If anyone in LA is listening and we could. He wants to swap in for Barry for a day and Barry can do your day on the bins.
- [36:27]
F
Absolutely.
- [36:27]
A
We are.
- [36:28]
C
We're all here. I've always wanted to ride on the back step. Have you been.
- [36:31]
A
Laurie?
- [36:32]
C
Okay.
- [36:32]
A
We could make your dreams come true.
- [36:34]
C
Or a garbage.
- [36:35]
A
Imagine if you love it so much and you stay in LA as a refuse man.
- [36:38]
C
Well, I don't think I'll be allowed.
- [36:41]
A
But you never know. But you could. Well, hang on. You've got your friend, haven't you? Okay, you marry her, you get the green card. Could be a brand new life.
- [36:53]
D
I'm sure Christine Quinn could have a word.
- [36:55]
A
Chris, the new star of this podcast, Christine Quinn from selling Sunset, although she's not aware she's such a star of this podcast. But the amount of people who are excited or whose partners are so excited that we're all living next to Christine Quinn, she came in today wearing an amazing selling sunset outfit, sort of full leather in this weather. It was so quite extraordinary.
- [37:15]
C
Isn't leather quite cool?
- [37:16]
A
It's leather cool. It doesn't seem. I don't know, I'm not an expert. I don't wear full leather often. I like to find out I'm just
- [37:22]
C
going back to my gimp things.
- [37:30]
A
I don't know.
- [37:31]
C
But anyway, I seem to remember being anxious but cool.
- [37:38]
A
And then you realize it wasn't for you, was it? You couldn't murder a day on the gimps.
- [37:42]
E
Is that a thing?
- [37:43]
A
I don't know. Anyway, tomorrow's games, right? So it is the culmination of groups A, group B, group C. Blimey. We'll talk about tomorrow. Is that okay? Does anyone have anything that jumps out from them in these. In these groups? Mark.
- [38:02]
D
It's a handbrake turn there. Max. No. You know, Scotland against Brazil, of course, my apologies.
- [38:09]
A
That is a massive game and I'm very excited about it.
- [38:11]
D
I was at Heathrow on Saturday, there were so many Scottish fans. It must have been a flight to Miami around about the same time. There's just so many, many of them that were clearly, you know, going over for that game. Like the fans are having an amazing time already playing Brazil in a World Cup. Just add to it.
- [38:29]
A
David Nary, don't scare him. What year was that? 86 or 82. David Neri puts one in the top right hand corner and then Brazil were like, I'm not happy about that.
- [38:38]
D
Yeah, well, this Brazil team is not that.
- [38:40]
A
No, true.
- [38:41]
D
So, you know, Scotland, I just feel like they need to believe in themselves a little bit more. It does feel to me, you know, the fans seeing no Scotland, no party and it just feels like they're having a great time. But actually against Morocco, they didn't feel like they believed that they kind of were going to do anything in that game. And it wasn't until the last couple of minutes when they started to, to go forward and maybe the floor in the format means the load scoring defeat will be enough. And so, you know, it's a clever thing to do to just, you know, if you can lose 1 nil, then so be it. But I do feel like this Brazil team is capable of kind of not winning matches like this and, and Scotland need to, yeah, like I say, repeat myself, but to just believe in what they're doing and to be more aggressive, I don't mean that in sort of kicking lumps out of them. Although, you know, it is maybe against sort of Vinicius. There might well be, you know, Patterson there on the right hand side might get involved in a bit of that, that.
- [39:41]
A
But Vinicius B Grant Hanley feels worrying to me.
- [39:45]
D
Yeah, it does. But you know, we'll go back to that Haiti game. You know, I, I expected Brazil to win that against Morocco. They were really poor. They were so average in midfield. And the big thing for Scotland is do they actually genuinely believe they deserve to be on the pitch with Brazil and it's that kind of just playing against the kit as much as inspirational detail.
- [40:07]
A
Marcus, just believe in yourself.
- [40:09]
D
Yeah, well, Steve Clark would be the opposite of that, wouldn't he?
- [40:13]
C
Do you think Scotland are better than Steve Clark gives them credit for? I do, I do as well.
- [40:19]
D
That midfield, McTominay, McGinn, Ferguson is a very good midfield. Robertson at left back. There are issues up front. They haven't got that quality and even in defence, they can't really pass the ball out, but there is a midfield that could compete against sort of better teams and they didn't do that against Morocco.
- [40:42]
E
I mean, I had this really. Just from a tactical perspective, I totally agree with Mark. I think because of the strength of Scotland's midfield up against that Brazilian midfield that hasn't quite settled yet. I think it actually matches up quite well. The problem is the venue. For me, the problem is that they're doing this in Miami where, I mean, a friend of mine made this lap that you can go in and check the weather conditions at the next game at any venue in the tournament. It's very, very useful and I'm looking at it now and it's forecasted to be 31 degrees, but with 63% humid humidity and the sort of wet bulb comfort which is like in for how it's going to feel is set to dangerous.
- [41:15]
A
Right?
- [41:16]
E
And the description is hot with oppressive humidity, bring water, wear light clothing and take breaks in shade. Dangerous conditions for those not acclimatized. It just doesn't feel like the right time for John McGinn to beat Brazil.
- [41:27]
C
No, they should wear leather.
- [41:29]
A
I was gonna say it doesn't sound like leather.
- [41:32]
C
Curtain.
- [41:33]
E
Save us.
- [41:34]
A
Was that your specialty, was it? What an app that would have been. Ben says, Dear Barry and Max, I'm sure I'm not the only listener who's noticed the various mentions of intimate panel member dinners you've been hosting. I must say, my cynical mind first went to Geez, are the Guardian overlords such cheap bastards? They all have to eat at the flat together. My Nia society thought they're just simple homebodies in a foreign land. Then it hit me. Every mention of Max's quite nice Bolognese is just laying the groundwork for the upcoming Guardian Football Weekly cookbook inverting the food pyramid, edited by Jonathan Wilson. You sly dogs, Ben. Well, we. It's every man for himself the last couple of nights. People are interested in your vegetable count, Mark, where you. You tried to get strawberry milkshake in late doors yesterday. What's happened today?
- [42:18]
D
Today, Honey Nut Cheerios again for breakfast while I was watching the Portugal game. Lunch was a sad Margherita pizza.
- [42:26]
A
So tomato?
- [42:27]
D
No, but I went for the cheese one instead. Right, okay, so I had that and a lemon meringue pie, which I've not eaten.
- [42:33]
E
Some basil on there.
- [42:35]
A
Lemon?
- [42:36]
D
Yeah, I've not eaten it yet and we've not had dinner, but I would imagine that It'll still be zero this time tomorrow.
- [42:44]
A
Excellent. Liam McClair, our friend has been in touch. Excellent musician said I heard on one of the preview pods a possible loopable moment. I gave it a go. Presumably so much football's been played at this point. You have the answer to who is fresh and who is rusty. But nonetheless, here you go. As you are in la, it's only a matter of time before one of the major labels will sign Barry in after this vocal performance. Cheers for the pod. All the best, Liam. Got a nice. It's got a nice beat to it. I'm sure Tone Locke could have done a good version of it. Anyway, that's it for today. Exactly. Yeah, we're all off to get suited up in leather and have a great evening.
- [43:20]
F
But
- [43:22]
A
what happens in la anyway? Thanks everybody. Thank you. Lars out in Dallas.
- [43:26]
E
Thank you. Have a good day, everyone.
- [43:28]
A
Thank you, Mark.
- [43:28]
D
Thank you, Matt.
- [43:29]
A
Cheers, Barry.
- [43:29]
C
Thank you.
- [43:30]
A
Football Weekly is produced by Rory Simon and Matt Bentley Viney. Our executive producer is Joel Grove and we'll be back tomorrow. This is the Guardian.
- [44:02]
B
You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you might not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions and you'll get a quick quote with discounts that are easy to come by. In fact, 99% of their auto customers earn at least one discount. Visit progressive.com and see if you can enjoy a little cash back. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings by $946 by new customers surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2024 and May 2025. Potential savings will vary.
- [44:38]
F
Hey, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo
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D
Torre finds out and today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile. In sports, there's always pressure to chase the next big thing.
- [44:45]
F
But sometimes the smartest play is sticking with what's already working for you. Boost Mobile gets that if your phone
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D
is running fine, you should not have to buy a new one just to
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F
get a better deal.
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D
Bring your phone to Boost Mobile and
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F
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E
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D
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- [45:10]
A
Hi, this is Ben Green from the Athletic fc. The podcast you're about to listen to is brought to you by Hotels.com as a Hotels.com member, you save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels and earn rewards on every single stay. Which means the trips you're taking now help pay for the ones you're already dreaming about. And unlike some other places, there are no blackout dates. So when you want to travel, your rewards are ready to go. So the next time you're planning a work trip or a getaway, make sure to book it at hotels.com and start earning rewards. Hotels.com, it's all in the name.