Joy for Jiménez and Mexico as co-hosts make ideal start: World Cup Daily

Summary

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Football Weekly: Joy for Jiménez and Mexico as Co-hosts Make Ideal Start

World Cup Daily – June 12, 2026 | The Guardian

Episode Overview

In this inaugural World Cup Daily episode, Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Barney Ronay, Jonathan Wilson (reporting live from Mexico), and Jeff Rutter to break down the opening matches of World Cup 2026. The team analyses Mexico’s emotional victory over South Africa at the Azteca, South Korea’s comeback against Czechia, debates refereeing controversies, provides tournament atmosphere insights, and delves into off-field political issues including visa denials and rising ticket prices. Lively panel banter and classic Guardian wit underpin all the day’s biggest moments and talking points.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mexico vs South Africa: Opening Match Analysis

[03:32 – 06:38]

• Atmosphere at the Azteca:
  • Jonathan Wilson describes the Azteca as retaining its historic character post-renovation with a "really good" crowd ("It really looks like the Azteca… Atmosphere was really good." – Jonathan Wilson, [03:43]).
  • Some demonstrations and protests outside, notably over disappearances and striking teachers, but "not too bad."
• Match Dynamics:
  • South Africa criticized as “terrible” and overly passive:
    • "This time around... they thought, ‘oh, we’re not going to do any of that stuff. We’re just going to sit in the back five... keep the margin of defeat down.’" – Jonathan Wilson, [04:13]
  • Raul Jiménez’s emotional first World Cup goal is “the moment” of the game; seen as a cathartic, essential moment after fans began booing at only 1–0, despite the numerical advantage.
    • "The Raul Jiménez header is, I guess, the moment of that game… a beautiful moment." – Max Rushden, [04:42]
• Assessment of Mexico:
  • Not a “vintage” Mexico generation, still seeking future stars, benefiting from dual-national MLS academy players.
    • "They looked more composed… than we saw throughout a lot of this cycle." – Jeff Rutter, [05:36]

2. Refereeing & Red Card Controversies

[06:38 – 09:59]

• Three straight reds in a single match, more than recent World Cups combined.
  • “We’ve just had three in 43 minutes.” – Max Rushden, [06:38]
• Debate over legitimacy:
  • Barry: Mostly justified ("The other two were fine." [06:49]); Barney/Barry banter about the new "Robo Ref" headset.
  • Barney: Calls two cards “soft,” laments "micro refereeing" and over-enforcement ("Nobody wants it… We need a light touch with this." – Barney Ronay, [07:47])
  • Wilson stands firm: "He slaps him around the back of the head. I think it’s an obvious red card." – [09:30]

3. World Cup Atmosphere in Mexico

[09:59 – 13:24]

• Local Vibes:
  • Wilson: Notable prevalence of “wealthy Mexicans” at matches, suggesting regular fans may be priced out, despite full stadium.
  • "All that side of things I think is pretty good. The problem is nothing works. It's complete chaos. I don't know if that's Mexico, I don't know if that's FIFA, but it's been shambolic." – Jonathan Wilson, [11:02]
• Logistics & Organization:
  • Major issues: broken Wi-Fi, expensive concessions, poor crowd logistics.
    • "It’s the worst... Wi-Fi at a major tournament since South Africa, 2013." – Jonathan Wilson, [12:38]
• Protests:
  • Explains symbolic displays for disappeared people ("faces... on what looked like panini stickers," [11:15])
  • Multiple concurrent demonstrations: teacher strikes, retired judges, families of disappeared persons.

4. Opening Ceremony Reactions

[13:09 – 13:59]

• Unimpressed by Andrea Bocelli ("thin and reedy voice… not fit to lace Pavarotti’s boots" – Jonathan Wilson, [13:36]), positive about the South Korean singer, brief confusion about Shakira’s actual appearance.

5. South Korea vs Czechia: Tactical Review

[17:26 – 23:18]

• Match Review:
  • Vital group game; South Korea mounts a credible comeback despite Son Heung-min’s subdued attacking play ("He is not the focal point of the attack" – Jeff Rutter, [17:26])
  • Barney hails Korean equalizer, "footballing justice," and admires Czechia’s long-throw goal: "Get it in the mixer. Real. I mean, that’s football, man." – [18:57]
• Hydration/Ad Breaks:
  • Panel bemoans intrusive mid-half stoppages ("a three-minute gap… don’t even stop the clock" – Wilson, [20:20]; "Not a hydration break, it's an advert break." – Barney Ronay, [21:27])
• South Korea’s Strengths:
  • "Everything I’d heard is that this is a really bad South Korea side. Well, they didn’t look bad there at all." – Jonathan Wilson, [24:03]
• Mexico’s Home Advantage:
  • "They don’t lose very often at the Azteca." – Barry Glendenning, [24:14]
  • "You favor them so long as the tournament stays in Mexico..." – Jeff Rutter, [24:19]

6. Host Nations: U.S. and Canada Preview

[25:00 – 26:41]

• USMNT Preview:
  • "They’ve all really bought into the cult of Pochettino… quiet confidence coming off them." – Jeff Rutter, [25:00]
  • Concerns over US goalkeeper pool ("thinnest... has ever been"), general lack of physical “big boys” in the squad, and center-back depth.
• Barney on Stadium Logistics:
  • Anticipation for USA–Paraguay; stories of accreditation queues and vast American stadiums ("impressive amount of concrete." – Barney Ronay, [27:38])
• World Cup Fever & U.S. Sports Distraction:
  • Basketball’s prominence in U.S. public life blunts instant World Cup hype ("The attention economy in America is just constant." – Barney Ronay, [29:30])
  • Expectation that local interest will surge if the U.S. performs well.

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Off-Field Drama and Tournament Politics

7. Visa Denials and Entry Controversies

[34:15 – 43:12]

• Somalian Referee Ban:
  • Omar Arton, top African referee, denied entry for “associations with suspected terror organizations,” widely seen as discriminatory grandstanding.
    • "This is just disgusting. I mean, it’s repulsive… obviously this referee is not a security threat." – Barney Ronay, [35:31]
  • Gianni Infantino’s downplaying response mocked: “a random Swiss lawyer… breaking his own statutes by cozying up to… divisive political movement…” – Barney Ronay, [37:17]
• Iranian Entry Issues:
  • Visa delays and denials for Iran’s national team staff.
    • US official: "We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists..." (Max Rushden, [40:16])
  • Community complexities: many Iranian–Americans are anti-regime; local support multifaceted.

8. FIFA, Infantino, and Tournament Accountability

[41:00 – 43:41]

• Infantino’s first press conference in years is staged and mostly hostile-press free, undermining FIFA accountability.
  • "No accountability and it’s... I wonder… whether the disgust that provokes cuts through." – Jonathan Wilson, [41:00]
  • "If the host is not prepared to [bend laws], they shouldn’t be bidding." – Jonathan Wilson, [42:00]
• Concerns that this sets a precedent for future tournaments, especially the 2030s in Saudi Arabia.

9. Ticket Prices and Empty Seats

[43:12 – 44:51]

• Reports of empty seats at both matches, blamed on pricing and visa issues.
  • "Ticket prices are outrageous… that’s going to be a recurring theme." – Barry Glendenning, [43:41]
  • Fans with tickets being denied entry, including British supporters disqualified with no explanation.

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Lighter Moments & Memorable Quotes

Flat Banter & Housemate Antics

• Ongoing jokes about Max & Barry living together for six weeks:
  • "Who's done the cooking, who's done the cleaning, and who's bought two packets of ham and gone to the pub?" – Max Rushden, [01:36]
• Panel cracks up over Barry’s laundry aversion:
  • "Barry bought 22 T-shirts with him, one for each day so he didn’t have to do any laundry, which I thought was so sweet." – Barney Ronay, [47:55]
• On meals and bolognese:
  • "You're only as good as your last dinner. Well, in that case, you're very tasty, with a distinct umami ness." – Barney Ronay, [18:37]
• On U.S. car culture:
  • "One thing about being in America is I always forget about valet parking, which looks like the most terrifying job in the whole of the world." – Max Rushden, [27:38]
• Misc. on hydration breaks:
  • "How hydrated do you need to be? Can you be too hydrated?" – Barney Ronay, [19:57]
• Misc. on sports attention:
  • "The attention economy in America is just constant… Like, Siegfried and Roy are being eaten by a tiger tomorrow." – Barney Ronay, [29:30]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "South Africa were terrible. It was really disappointing… hugely unsatisfying performance."
  – Jonathan Wilson, [04:13]
• "Three red cards in the space of 43 minutes."
  – Max Rushden, [06:38]
• "Stop playing the ball out from the back. You’re not good enough. Stop doing it."
  – Barney Ronay, [07:47]
• "He slaps him around the back of the head – it’s an obvious red card."
  – Jonathan Wilson, [09:30]
• "The problem is nothing works. It’s complete chaos… it’s been shambolic."
  – Jonathan Wilson, [11:02]
• "It’s... not a hydration break, it’s an advert break."
  – Barney Ronay, [21:27]
• "If Gianni Infantino was an incredibly complete and fully realized satirical construct, that would make more sense than the person he actually is."
  – Barney Ronay, [35:31]
• "No other organization has that level of executive power. It’s ridiculous when you look at the budget... that essentially one person... decides where those resources go."
  – Barney Ronay, [37:17]
• "Ticket prices are outrageous... that's going to be a recurring theme."
  – Barry Glendenning, [43:41]

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Important Timestamps

• Opening match, Mexico win/South Africa analysis: [03:32 – 06:38]
• Red card/VAR robo-ref controversy: [06:38 – 09:59]
• Mexico city atmosphere, protests, and trouble: [09:59 – 13:24]
• South Korea vs Czechia review: [17:26 – 23:18]
• Discussion on hydration/ad breaks: [20:13 – 22:23]
• USMNT preview and American sporting culture: [25:00 – 29:30]
• Visa issues and Infantino criticism: [34:15 – 43:41]
• Ticketing, access, and empty seats: [43:12 – 44:51]
• Housemate/laundry banter: [46:37 – 48:44]

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Conclusion

This kickoff episode showcases classic Football Weekly depth and humor, marrying sharp tactical analysis with urgent discussion of World Cup logistics, political controversy, and the everyday realities for fans and journalists on the ground. It captures the anticipation and absurdities of a co-hosted, continent-spanning World Cup—and the boisterous, bantering spirit that makes the Guardian panel a favorite, both for soccer obsessives and casual listeners.

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Transcript

[Barney Ronay]

This is the Guardian.

[Max Rushden]

Hi podfans. Max here. Football Weekly is supported by Contentful marketers. No matter what pitch you play on, a big win feels the same electric. It's that moment when you read the play before the trend even starts. Beat the clock on a campaign with a little help from AI and connect with customers in real time like you've trained for it your whole career. That's contentful. World class digital experiences, built fast, built beautifully, create and launch personalized content in an instant across every channel your customers are watching. No chaos, no limits, just open field. Take your [e-mail]. Hi pod fans. 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. Pro producer Joel does it.

[Barry Glendenning]

I don't know. Producer Joel does it.

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

What's a blackout date?

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

Superb.

[Max Rushden]

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. It's the World Cup 2026 D pods on every matchday, the football, the politics and whether Barry will kill me for putting butter in the fridge today. The tears of Raul Jimenez. His first ever World cup goal confirming a very easy win for host Mexico. South Africa gifted them the first had a man sent off, then had another red card. You couldn't hope for a nicer start and quite hard to gauge if Mexico are good or South Africa are not good. Czechia stuck it in the mixer to lead but a great comeback from South Korea. We'll do a bit of England, look ahead to tomorrow's games, including the other host, the US and Canada and then we'll discuss the Somalian referee refused entry Iran's delayed and denied visas, the Iraqi striker held for questioning, and the price of tickets for the tournament. What did the panel think of Infantino's responses in his press conference yesterday? And then to the big stuff. Me and Barry living together for six weeks. Who's done the cooking, who's done the cleaning, and who's bought two packets of ham and gone to the pub? Everyone, just chill. Just relax. It's Today's Guardian, Football Weekly, World Cup Daily. On the panel today, Barry Glendenning.

[Jeff Rutter]

Welcome.

[Barry Glendenning]

Hello, Max.

[Max Rushden]

I've thrown you under the bus already, but that's how it should be. Barney, Ronnie, welcome to la.

[Barney Ronay]

Hi, everyone. It's nice to be welcomed. Thank you.

[Max Rushden]

That's okay. Jeff Rutter, soccer correspondent for the Guardian, joins us.

[Barney Ronay]

Hi, Jeff.

[Jeff Rutter]

Hi, Max.

[Max Rushden]

Debut on the pod. How are you feeling? Good, Good and ready. And over in Mexico, Jonathan Wilson. Hey, Wilson, how you doing? I'm very good. And you can tell from that that Wilson is. Is tired. It's late in Mexico. How are you, Wilson?

[Jonathan Wilson]

It's not late. It's 20 past 10.

[Jeff Rutter]

It's just.

[Jonathan Wilson]

It's late in the UK and I'm still the UK time. And I woke up at 3:50 this morning. I woke up at 3:20 yesterday morning. And jet lag's not my friend.

[Max Rushden]

No. Well, the hearts of the nation who aren't being paid to go to a football tournament bleed for you, Wilson. But we'll start with you because you were at the Azteca for the opening game. Mexico 2, South Africa nil. What did you make of it?

[Jonathan Wilson]

Great stadium. It really looks like the Azteca. I was worried that the renovation might change that, but it hasn't. So that, that was all great. Atmosphere was really good. I think there were some protests outside, so I saw some, some. Some footage a journalist had shot on their phone of that. So it was. It was nasty. Ish. Without being too bad, I think it was a little bit smaller scale than it might have been. And then South Africa were terrible. It was really disappointing that I saw quite a lot of them. Two years ago at the Copper nations saw the game when they went out to Cameroon. This time around, the criticism of them was they were a bit too technical, a bit too flimsy. And then this game, it's just like they thought, oh, we're not going to do any of that stuff. We're just going to sit in the back five. I can't find last time we played a back five. We're going to be completely passive. We're not going to Try and do anything we're good at. And we're just going to try and keep the margin of defeat down, which I guess they did. But it was a hugely unsatisfying performance for them, I thought.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

So, as I said in the intro, well, it's not hard to gauge how good Mexico are, but. But the Raul Jimenez header is, I guess, the moment of that game. You know, his tears. It's a classic Jimenez goal, his first ever won in the World Cup. It was a really. That was a beautiful moment. Sort of a moment. If you're waiting for a moment in this competition to go, okay, we like football and this is good.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, it was. And it was necessary because the sort of ten minutes before that, they've been not like huge amounts, but they've been notable pockets of booing from Mexican fans. So even though they won nil up against 10 men, they clearly felt they should have been. Well, as Aguirre said, they should have been 4 nil up. It was a slightly strange atmosphere and so not just an emotional moment for him and a lovely moment for him, but actually I think quite a necessary moment in the game because specks can. Fans were starting to get frustrated.

[Max Rushden]

Jeff, I presume you've seen more of Mexico than most of us. What did you make of their showing?

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah, I mean, I would agree with Wilson's take. It seemed more like South Africa just wasn't up for it. And you almost wonder if they were trying to return the favor after 2010 and the Shebalala moment and trying to give Mexico their own sort of kickoff for the tournament. Look, it's. It's not really a vintage generation for Mexico. They haven't really produced, you know, the next Andres Gordado, the next Carlos Vela, the next Chicharito. They're still trying to figure out what. What the path forward will be for their development. And the. The Liga Mekis has also obviously, you know, done away with promotion, umbre, delegation. They're unrolling some of their old policies to not bring in players from outside the league, players who have developed. They've actually started to get the dual nationals who come up through MLS academies more often. When you look at Brian Gutierrez, who was in the lineup today, and then young Obed Vargas, who did not appear from the bench. So, you know, I think that they looked more composed maybe than we saw throughout a lot of this cycle. It's another one of those where a nation doesn't have a qualification to sort of figure out their routines, their patterns, who they trust and all these sorts of things. But, you know, I would imagine they'll take quite a bit of confidence from, from this performance and they'll feel like they can really control their group. That appears to be pretty wide open.

[Max Rushden]

Three red cards. Barry in 2018. Daniel story writing 2018 and 2022 World Cups combined, there were three straight red cards. We've just had three in the space of 43 minutes.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, there were only four in the whole of the Qatar World Cup. Four red cards with three in this game. I thought they were fair enough, to be honest. The third one maybe was questionable. I don't think it was given for violent conduct, but. But for preventing a goal scoring opportunity. It's possibly debatable. The ref was pretty quick to reach for his pocket on that one. I thought that the Brazilian ref with his headset, he looked like one of the Borg from the Star Trek Delta Quadrant. Resistance is futile. The third one was possibly questionable, but the other two were fine.

[Max Rushden]

James says, do we like the new Robo Rev headset? How long will the Sellotape hold in the humidity of Mexico? Will FIFA cell fans live feed of players berating the refs Chris, why have they got Lobot from the Empire Strikes Back to referee today? Who would be the best Star wars character to appear at this World Cup? Yes. What did you make of that whole game, Barney?

[Barney Ronay]

It was a good game. I mean, South Africa are terrible. I have some advice for them. Stop playing the ball out from the back. You're not good enough. Stop doing it. There's no point. You don't have to do it. Don't do it. But I thought the refereeing thing. Oh God, I'm talking about refereeing instantly already. That's the point. Like there's going to be a problem with micro refereeing in this tournament. We had a TV close up of the VAR Room on the feed beforehand and they kind of stood to attention. I mean, nobody wants it. There are two kinds of people who watch football. People who actually care about the rules and want them to be enforced and think that's what the game is. It's about the enforcement of rules and people who just don't care. And I'm one of the latter. And we have given the game to the former and those people are really enjoying it. But I think we need a light touch with this. I thought two of those red cards were really soft, particularly the violent conduct when I agree with the utterly baffled expression of the player concerned. It was a ridiculous call in my opinion, and I was sad to see it.

[Max Rushden]

You're frowning, Barry.

[Barry Glendenning]

Well, I kind of agree with Barony, but he seems to be suggesting we just don't bother having laws of football. Just throw a ball in and see what happens. Which would be great.

[Barney Ronay]

Amazingly, I'm not actually suggesting we. We don't have laws. The laws exist for a reason. They exist to make the game work, not the other way around like the laws are. They're just there to stop the whole thing descending, essentially, to stop it descending into a formless mess. And as long as it's not doing that, these aren't like strict liability, actual injustices that need to be corrected.

[Max Rushden]

I could see why they would get like. He does move his hand down. I don't know what you think, Wilson. The violent conduct one. He does sort of go in for an L. He doesn't really connect that much.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I think he slaps him around the back of the head. I think it's an obvious red card. I think Barney's watched, yeah, the Premier League, where you can do that kind of thing these days. I don't think he should be allowed to. He's slapped him, so it's a red card.

[Barney Ronay]

I'd probably just have a more. Slightly more. More robust, more muscular take than you on what. What. What the game is. I mean, if that to you is. Is a shocking incident, then I. I respect how you feel. I don't want to make you feel unsafe and. And, yeah, we must. We must stop people doing that kind of thing.

[Max Rushden]

Wilson, we've talked a lot about the US as hosts. We haven't really talked a lot about Mexico as hosts. How has it been in Mexico? You know, is there the World cup fever? What's the. The vibe? I'd heard. I'd heard from other people in Mexico, sort of, you know, real fans are being priced out of those games as well. Despite the Azteca being full.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yes. I mean, that, to be honest, is difficult for that size to judge, but it was notable. You know, I tried to get the media shuttle today, which is a daft idea. FIFA media shuttles don't work. I had to abandon it about half an hour from the ground and walk. And that walk. It was really notable how many box fresh Mexico shirts there were. I would say they were pretty wealthy Mexicans going, yeah, I'm not equipped to sort of.

[Max Rushden]

You didn't check the profession. They were the accents of every fan.

[Jonathan Wilson]

But the sense was very much this was a wealthy group of fans. But it was lively enough and certainly in the streets, it's been very lively. All that side of things I think is pretty good. The problem is nothing works. It's complete chaos. I don't know if that's Mexico, I don't know if that's FIFA, but it's been shambolic.

[Max Rushden]

In what sense?

[Jonathan Wilson]

The traffic is terrible in Mexico City, which I think has partly been worsened by these demonstrations.

[Barry Glendenning]

Sorry, Jonathan, you've mentioned these demonstrations. What are the demonstrations about?

[Jonathan Wilson]

A huge number of things. The main one was a teacher strike, which I think has now been at least partially resolved. Largely overpay. There's also retired judges. I didn't really understand what that was about. And other groups as well. The one that seems to me actually most disturbing is, I think I might say, 134,400 disappeared people. And there's a lot of roundabouts around where I am, just north of a centre have got photographs of people who have disappeared, which, if I understand it correctly, they've sort of been forced to work for the cartels. And the families of those people feel that not enough has been done to try and rescue them or to work out what's going on. So there was a specific campaign around this game of putting the faces of disappeared people on what looked like panini stickers. So there's a whole load of those outside the ground as well. So there's a whole load of different demonstrations all sort of merging into one. You have a thing with it disappeared seems horrendous. The other stuff, again, I don't feel that I've got any kind of handle on how justified they are. What I do know is that they've made the traffic much worse. But the traffic is part of it. You can sort of handle that. But it's the. I mean, from a journalistic point of view, the WI fi just hasn't worked at all. Here we go.

[Max Rushden]

That's what we're waiting for. Bingo. Ding.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, but I mean, like, it hasn't worked at all. You can't. You just can't do your job. I mean, it's the worst. This is the worst. I've known Wi Fi at a major tournament since South Africa, 2013. And that for the World Cup. That's outrageous. So you know the stalls to buy water and food, like, incredibly expensive. Huge queues, just not enough people there, not well enough organized. I mean, the whole thing is just shambolic. It's hard to express how disorganized it is. It's very hard to conceive this is a FIFA tournament.

[Max Rushden]

Can I. Wilson, before we let you go to sleep, can I take you to One of your favorite and a happier place, the opening ceremony and your music reviews of both Andrea Bocelli with Ajayi and Shakira with Burna Boy.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, yeah, I've seen Burnaboy before, of course, and I thought he lived up to expectations. Shakira, I have to say, I didn't actually notice her until she'd gone. Was she on with Bernard Boy at the same time?

[Max Rushden]

Yes, they came on. Yes.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, there was just a lot of costumes going on. It was quite confusing. But Shelley, I think. I don't. I think his voice is actually quite thin and reedy for somebody of that level. I don't think he's fit to lace Pavarotti's boots. And who was the other person?

[Max Rushden]

It was a Jai. A South Korean singer.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I was. Was she the woman who was singing with. With Pacelli? Yes. Oh, she seemed pretty good to me, actually.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I'm pro. Her. Yes.

[Max Rushden]

Big man, little woman, partnership. That. That seemed to work quite well. Very different styles. Shakira. This is Roger Sherman writing. Shakira has more World cup appearances than Gerard Piquet now four to three. It's an interesting stat. A full compliment with you in part two where we'll look at South Korea's win over Czechia and we'll do some England and some USMNC as well. Hi, POD fans. 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.

[Barry Glendenning]

I don't know. Producer Joel does it.

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

What's a blackout date?

[Max Rushden]

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. But there are no Blackout dates with Hotels.com rewards.

[Barry Glendenning]

Superb.

[Max Rushden]

Yes. So next time you're booking somewhere to stay, just book [e-mail]. it's all in the name.

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[Max Rushden]

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. We've got some live shows, Barry, in September over in that there northern hemisphere.

[Barry Glendenning]

Okay.

[Max Rushden]

Vicar street on 1st September in Dublin. Are you big in Ireland?

[Barry Glendenning]

I'm Asian stone, nearly. Max. I'm big everywhere.

[Max Rushden]

Okay, good. You were gonna start doing a jog up the incredible hill near our hotel, but you have an ankle issue.

[Barry Glendenning]

We have an incredible hill up to our hotel which is like Alpe d' Huez insofar as it's really steep. And then right near the top, it ramps up.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

And then it ramps up again and it's so steep at the top, there's actually a handrail to help you drag yourself. So I was hoping to start running project Kate Bush.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

Running up that hill. But now I've got some weird Achilles issue.

[Max Rushden]

I'm not 100% fit.

[Barry Glendenning]

I keep getting shooting pains up my right heel and I'm slightly concerned. I don't want to die ruled out of the World cup with a. A ruptured Achilles.

[Max Rushden]

Can we get someone from the long list? If, Barry, now you've made an appearance in the tournament. Maybe can't. Anyway, Vicar street on 1st September, the Soho Theater, Walthamst on 8th September. The show in New York is sold out, I'm afraid. So if you want to be as good as the people of New York, if you're in London or Dublin or near enough, uh, don't let us down. Theguardian.com footballweekly live for your tickets. So South Korea 2, Czechia 1 in the other game, 5,000ft above sea level. Jeff, what did you make of this one?

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah, I mean, I think it was a game where this felt like one of those pivotal clashes that not just was going to be who else is going to be in control of group A along with Mexico, but who is maybe going to be better positioned where if other results don't go their way, they're one of the more favorable third place teams. Just one of those groups that seems to have three teams that could feasibly advance through. You know, with son Heung Min, you. You saw a lot of kind of him pulling back from shooting in a way that maybe you're not used to with him in a major game of this magnitude, where you would see him looking to dish off even when he had advanced into the box or when he did have seemingly a pretty clear shot. There were a couple of times just before he had exited around the 69th minute, where he was just looking over his shoulder and just kind of doffing it off rather than just trying to put one on frame and see where it went. But that's been generally his league form since he came over to mls. He is not the focal point of the attack. It's a Gabonese winger, Denny Boanga. And yeah, that. That instinct still was very much a play for him, but, you know, credible comeback and be able to complete it with him off the field, I think actually bodes pretty well for them in this tournament.

[Max Rushden]

We all ate it together. Barney, with the bolognese. You described the South Korean equalizer as footballing justice.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, I know why you've mentioned the bolognese.

[Max Rushden]

Tell me.

[Barney Ronay]

Because it was really good and because you made it very kind of you. Yeah. No, you're only as good as your last dinner. Well, in that case, you're very tasty, with a distinct umami ness. Oh, thanks.

[Max Rushden]

This is the first time you flirted with me, Barney. Perhaps I'm in the same room.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, if you feed me, I'm okay.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Right.

[Max Rushden]

Okay. Good to know.

[Barney Ronay]

I. I thought this was. It didn't feel like a pivotal game to me, I have to say. It felt like a slow burn. I'm sure it's pivotal in the group. Second half was. Was good. I. I really enjoyed the. The goal direct from the long throw. Yeah. Get it in the mixer. Real. I mean, that's football, man. I agree with you. It was an incredible long throw because it was very flat and. And they have been practicing them, and it's incredibly hard to defend. And there was something exhilarating about that moment. I thought. And, you know, it made me think about the Premier League season and how much I enjoyed it. I know you all. Barry particularly enjoyed that too, but I. The right team won. You know, South Korea, they will improve, and they are a really good team. They have some real craft in that team, and I think that they could be dangerous team to play because they will just get better. And Czechs are a very aggressive, physical team, and they tried to press when they could, although that was difficult, despite the hydration breaks, which should presumably help that kind of thing. I'm for one, I'm a bit worried about the hydration. What's your fear? How hydrated do you need to be? I mean, can you be too hydrated? I saw players not drinking during the hydration break. How do you explain that?

[Max Rushden]

I can't explain that. You've got me. Your honor. What were they like in the stadium? Actually, Wilson, the hydration breaks, did they spoil it?

[Jonathan Wilson]

It wasn't hot in Mexico City. It was like 23 degrees, it was quite humid. But yeah, just suddenly there's a three minute gap in the middle of each off and they don't even stop the clock. So, yeah, the clock's always going to run to 48 minutes, which is just annoying. So I mean, it's when it is really hot, I accept the need for them. But 23 degrees isn't really hot. I don't think there's any need for it. And it does just break up the flow of the game.

[Barry Glendenning]

Well, I was just going to say that I think those breaks could be here to stay and that football will possibly end up being a game of

[Max Rushden]

four quarters because of all the adverts we saw in the US coverage.

[Barry Glendenning]

Well, we saw adverts in the US coverage. There were no adverts in the ITV coverage. There were adverts in the Irish RTE coverage, I believe. I presume it's up to individual broadcasters whether they take advertising money or not. I know RT or skint. So they will. It's no surprise that they showed ads. But I think once they realize how much money there is to be made from these advert breaks, they will be here to stay.

[Barney Ronay]

That's a real shame, isn't it? It is a real shame. I hate the hydration break, which is not a hydration break, it's an adverb break. One of the great paradoxes of football is that it's the world's most popular form of entertainment and yet it is long and slow and it can drag nothing. I love the bathos of the ridiculous wrestling style Countdown 10 to 1 with some sort of deeply annoying man bellowing over the. And then, oh, we're going to play around at the back for a bit, like nothing happens. It's football. You can't.

[Max Rushden]

Like the intense walkouts. You know the intense walkouts.

[Barney Ronay]

Ridiculous.

[Jonathan Wilson]

They started.

[Barney Ronay]

There's the Club World cup last year. I hate all that stuff. Yeah, I like the fact that actually this game Is refuses to bend to you. It is difficult and hard and long and it makes you concentrate and people obviously like it. It's incredibly successful. Why do we need to do this other than more revenue? But there is already a lot of revenue. Revenue is not the issue. We do not need more revenue.

[Max Rushden]

You're saying FIFA aren't making. Making enough money when it all goes

[Barney Ronay]

back to the grassroots? Well, of course, every single penny is accounted for.

[Max Rushden]

We'll get to that.

[Barry Glendenning]

Don't think we've given Hwang in Beom enough credit for his brilliant goal.

[Max Rushden]

Oh, yeah. Who doesn't like slow finish?

[Jeff Rutter]

Master of suspense.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

Ball comes into him, he chops inside, takes out the goalkeeper and the defender with one chop and then scoops it towards the far corner. We were watching. Is it going in, is it not? Is it going to go wide as a far post? Is it not? And it eventually made its way over the line and a sensational goal, I thought.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

And actually just from those two games, Wilson, so much has been said of our England will play Mexico in the Azteca in the last 16. But I didn't think Mexico looked that good. Or maybe they didn't have to look that good. I thought they looked quite open at times. Just South Africa couldn't do anything. I'd be more fearful of South Korea. I know I'm getting ahead of myself, Barry, but of South Korea than Mexico?

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, yes. I mean, I think the odd thing was that at least three of the four teams did not play in the way I expect them to play today. That South Africa, I thought, would be much more proactive. And I. I was expecting that Czech here against South Korea game to be. To be really a bad watch. And actually, even in the first half I thought was sort of quite open and engaging. And then second half, it was, you know, really good game. They were both better going forward than I expected. I thought South Korea, the way they got in behind the fullbacks were really impressive. You know, as Barry says, Huang, I think, was really good. Lee was really good. So, yeah, I think they are. I mean, everything I'd heard is that this is a really bad South Korea side. Well, they didn't look bad there at all.

[Barry Glendenning]

Mexico were as good as they needed to be today, and they were vastly superior to South Africa. So we don't know how good they are. But Jeff can correct me if I'm wrong. They don't lose very often at the Azteca.

[Jeff Rutter]

Not at the Azteca, no.

[Barry Glendenning]

Like something like four out of 60 they've lost.

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah. I Was gonna say that seems low, if anything. Like it truly has been such an advantage for them where you. You favor them so long as the tournament stays in Mexico, so long as they're able to play those games. But once they get to something that I suppose you would call more of a neutral site, that's where it gets a bit trickier for them.

[Barry Glendenning]

And you can get ahead of yourself all you want, Max, but I have filed away the laughter, the gales of laughter that greeted my prediction that England would lose it. Aesthetic.

[Max Rushden]

I don't think I laughed at that moment.

[Barry Glendenning]

Well, everyone else did.

[Max Rushden]

We have the tapes.

[Barney Ronay]

It doesn't seem a laughable suggestion. That's a really tough game.

[Max Rushden]

We'll see tomorrow. Canada, Bosnia Herzegovina and usa Paraguay. Jeff, you've followed USMT very closely. What shape are they in? How do you see this one going?

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah, I mean, look, they've all really bought into sort of the cult of Pochettino, right. Like, there's this quiet confidence kind of coming off of them. They're speaking of. This is the moment we trust our preparation, and that's all well and good, but at the end of the day, it still is the same players, isn't it? And you look and you say, this is not arguably the thinnest the American goalkeeper pool has ever been. So that is not going to be the same strength that maybe you would remember when you look at the 90s and the.

[Max Rushden]

Are they the thinnest, the US goalkeeper?

[Jeff Rutter]

They're pretty wiry.

[Max Rushden]

Brad Friedel and Tim Howard both had a bit of bulk about his true name.

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Keller was quite.

[Barry Glendenning]

Tony Meola was stocking.

[Barney Ronay]

He was a unit.

[Max Rushden]

And now they're little waifs, are they? Yeah.

[Jeff Rutter]

No. It's something that's interesting. Usually the Americans, there's. There's a big boy on the team, right? There's at least one who is going to be either up front or in the back and dependably going to be able to muscle off. There isn't really a big boy on this squad. Right. But there's also thinness at center back in general, maybe those are correlating. There's a very thin core of midfielders.

[Barney Ronay]

I'm really confused. Are we talking sizable big boys? Literal, literal thinness.

[Max Rushden]

Tim Ream's a big lad, isn't he?

[Barney Ronay]

Weston McKenna. He's kind of chunky, isn't he?

[Jeff Rutter]

He's slimmed up a little bit.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Okay.

[Jeff Rutter]

I think maybe he has finally adopted the Italian diet. Possibly. But yeah. No, with this group, I think that you're looking and you're saying, how is this thing going to funnel to Falair and Baligan ultimately? They're really struggling to find him up the central channel. They're trying to work often up the left from Tim Reams, sending it over to Anthony Robinson and up to Christian Pulisic and then, you know, we'll see where his decisions take them. So I think that they're feeling really good going into the Paraguay game and they want to avoid the start that they had in 2022 when they gave up a late penalty to Wales and then made the group much more difficult for them both on calculus and on form. So determined to put their best foot forward. But then again, I suppose every team in the tournamen is.

[Max Rushden]

You're going as well, Barney?

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I, I think because I just really want to be in the stadium, watch some football. I mean, there is a, there is a rumor that Donald Trump might be there, but that's come via the Paraguayan side.

[Barry Glendenning]

Right.

[Barney Ronay]

But I don't think, I don't think you can. I don't think you can. He's very capricious, you know, who knows? And he got quite a lot going on and he hasn't been to California for about five years and he got booed at a basketball game. So that's probably, he's probably very upset about that. I mean, it'd be interesting if he is there. It will make getting in the stadium incredibly difficult and everything will be delayed and impossible. But, you know, I'm really looking forward to. I went to the stadium today where there was a three hour queue to get your accreditation. The queue was a kilometer long, which, yeah, was not great. But yeah, it's going to be great. The stadium is fantastic. It looks fantastic. It's certainly got a lot of parking lot, really impressive amount of concrete. Actually.

[Max Rushden]

One thing about being in America is I always forget about valet parking, which looks like the most terrifying job in the whole of the world. These cars are all enormous and you're just handing your keys. I just never want to be handed some keys to park.

[Barney Ronay]

Someone has an enormous car.

[Max Rushden]

Who does?

[Barney Ronay]

Sid Lowe.

[Max Rushden]

Does he?

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah, yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Sid driving.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, he's rented a car and, and it's over here. Yeah, it's like a sort of Escalade or something. One of those things, you know, kind of like he's in Baltimore shooting people out of the, the, the, the passenger side window or something. I mean it's, it's a departure for Sid. Hugely impressive.

[Barry Glendenning]

You mentioned basketball There, Bernie, just. I watched a basketball game last night.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

And the New York Knicks are playing San Antonio spurs in the.

[Max Rushden]

The Grand Final.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

The playoff finals or whatever. And it was unbelievable that the Antonio spurs are even more Spursy than Tottenham Hotspur.

[Max Rushden]

Right. But if.

[Barry Glendenning]

But it was 30 point lead in the final quarter.

[Max Rushden]

Unbelievable game. But Jeff, the.

[Barney Ronay]

The.

[Max Rushden]

I've been asked, you know, on the radio, like, you know, is there World cup fever here? And I wonder if. Because that is going on and that is the first. When I landed and I went to. I just went for a quiet pint and I couldn't get into any bar because this guy. That was the second game, I think, and this was the third or something. But have you sensed. Is that impacting on World cup fever?

[Barney Ronay]

It is.

[Jeff Rutter]

And I think that generally there will be for the casual sports fan in the United States, there will be sort of a migration moment once that series wraps up. But I think that also there's. There's just so much entertainment going on, whether it is the sport or otherwise, where the attention span does need it to be front and center in order for generally the audience to come toward it. There isn't going to be that hype and excitement necessarily in early May because the domestic season doesn't end in the middle of May. Right. And so you don't have that natural sort of passage where you're thinking and switching from club to international in the same way. So in time, I would imagine that especially if the United States gets off to a good start, there will be plenty of enthusiasm. And if they don't, maybe there will be a different kind of a schadenfreude involved.

[Barney Ronay]

I think you make a really good point about what football means in this country. People don't often realize when you're not here, the attention economy in America is just constant. There is so much entertainment, there's so much content. Like this whole nation is built on just generating entertainment and noise. You're not. People wonder why they don't walk out of an airport and see kind of bunting and World cup stuff everywhere. It's because there's a billion things like Siegfried and Roya being eaten by a tiger tomorrow, you know, everything's going on. Elvis has been discovered again. This constant sport and football has to fit into those gaps. And that's just how it is. It's not. It's not a culture in the same way is where we are, where it's. It's the constant noise.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[Jeff Rutter]

And you've certainly got the content bug. While You've been here, haven't you?

[Barney Ronay]

I mean, you've made a lot of content.

[Max Rushden]

You get to publish.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, everything has always been content for me, but I'm just really glad to see that the people are catching up on that. And so I think Jonathan's falling asleep.

[Max Rushden]

I think he might have died. He might have died. Oh, there he is. I'll ask you a question, and will it, Wilson, about England. They beat Costa Rica, 3 0, which was sort of as you expect. It was fine. I don't know what you make of England at the moment and how you sense their tournament may go well.

[Jonathan Wilson]

It was impossible to watch a Costa Rica game here. I've tried to follow it as best I could. It seems like they played quite well. My thoughts haven't particularly changed since a week ago when. When they left. I think the squad is a good squad. I'm glad that Tuchel has been brave enough to leave out some big names. I think it's quite hard to win a World cup from a late group.

[Max Rushden]

Right.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I think you're better off having your games more spread out, but, I mean, I think the group's actually a bit harder than people give it credit for. I don't think Panama are anywhere near as bad as they looked last time England played them. I think this Ghana side are very erratic, very hit and miss, but on their day, they can be very good. And Croatia or Croatia.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, but they must be tired. I won't. I won't do that.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, I know I am.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah. You're channeling your inner loop.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I'd be terrible at Croatian midfield.

[Barney Ronay]

Oh, no, I. I agree. I think it's a good squad. I think. I don't think the problem is that they do have the shortest sort of time span of thing that gets the final, I think, of any team here, but I think that's the problem. I think the problem is two overseas semi finals ever in World Cups and. And what are they? Eighth. Probably the eighth best team here. Something like that.

[Max Rushden]

Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay was not on the team bus after he missed Thursday's training session because of an upset stomach and he had to travel on his own. Poor Scott's in solitary because he has the runs, but I think he's all right.

[Barry Glendenning]

Did he. Did they send him in one of those. What is it? Way more driverless cars that I keep seeing that freak me out completely.

[Max Rushden]

The ones that freaked me out of the little deliver sort of dogs. A little robot.

[Jeff Rutter]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Delivery things.

[Barry Glendenning]

They can't handle zebra crossings very well. As far as.

[Barney Ronay]

Have you ordered anything with one of those?

[Max Rushden]

No, I'm yet to order from a row.

[Barney Ronay]

I have to say, you two have really changed. California's changed you.

[Max Rushden]

Is that right? We've done a lot of.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, you referred earlier to your hotel and I was expecting something a bit more sitcommy like a sort of all the fun like Morcom and Wise are sort of are in bed together, that kind of thing. Like, and, and I've just been there and it's basically like Patrick Bateman's flat in American Psycho. It's all. We haven't had a lot to deck it out like hard surfaces and I, you know, I'm, it's, it's sad but, but I suppose people, people change.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

And there could be a murder in it.

[Max Rushden]

And we'll get to that. All right, that'll do for part two. Part three. We'll do all the stuff off the pitch.

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[Max Rushden]

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So look, lots of stories of players, officials and staffs being denied entry to the US the most high profile was the referee. Omar Arton. Somalian referee denied entry. Somalia is on the U S Travel ban list. He became a FIFA referee in 2018, was at Afcon in 2023, 2025, was named African Men's Referee of the year. He said in an interview with the New York Times, I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa. Adding, he'd also showed documentation from FIFA as well as photographs of his career over a decade as a ref. A Trump administration source said this individual was seeking admission to the United States upon Further inspection by the customer and border protection derogatory information, including association with suspected members of terror organizations, was discovered, making the Traveler ineligible for admission to the U.S. under the Immigration and Nationality Act. President Trump's administration will not allow any security threat to enter our country, full stop. Around the same time, Gianni was on Instagram posting with the streamer ishowspeed. And in his press conference, Gianni said, it's unfortunate what happened to the referee from Somalia. We don't control everything. We try. We will discuss, we will speak, we will see. Sometimes it's good to chill, relax. We work on everything. We try to solve everything. Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect of finding a solution. Barney, you've written about this.

[Barney Ronay]

Well, yeah. I mean, you know, you know me, you know, I'm chilled. I mean, you. When you think about the idea of being chilled, you probably think about me, obviously. Probably think about me a lot in between thinking about. But that's another. I mean, this is just disgusting. I mean, it's. It's repulsive. Like, it's grandstanding, it's performative. Obviously. This referee is not a security threat to the United States, obviously. And how it's. How it's been allowed to get this far, I would like to know a bit more about, because it's absurd that somebody gets this far and is then turned away. But this is. I mean, it's Trump speaking to his base. There are plenty of people who don't think this is disgusting and think it's great and think this is what should be happening. It's really, really sad that the land of the free and a place that prides itself on having basic freedoms enshrined in its constitution, is the only place in the world that is turning people away like this from these football tournaments. While the loathsome. Probably I shouldn't say loathsome, but what other word are you supposed to use? Sort of court goblin tells us that football unites the world. The level of doublespeak and triple speak and quadruple speak is laughable. If. If Gianni Infantino was an incredible, incredibly complete and fully realized satirical construct, that would make more sense than the person he actually is. It's actually bizarre that he isn't that and that this is a real person.

[Max Rushden]

But he has so much power, Right?

[Barney Ronay]

This.

[Max Rushden]

You know, we all look at this and think this looks embarrassing for Infantino. It is embarrassing. Infantino. But I don't know if he thinks that.

[Barney Ronay]

No, he doesn't care. But you're right, he has far too much power. FIFA has a ridiculous governance problem. Problem in that no other organization has that level of executive power. It's ridiculous when you look at the budget of that institution that essentially one person and his coterie decides where those resources go over this very, very long period of time. And you can gerrymander your own re election very easily. You essentially promise people more money. It's a totally dysfunctional organization with no regulation internally. And a random Swiss lawyer who never actually expected to be in this position, who looks startled to be in it, but has found that he really does quite enjoy it, is breaking his own statutes by cozying up to a single quite divisive political movement within that country. And there is effectively all we can do is stand and watch.

[Max Rushden]

UEFA posting referee announced for 2026 Super cup pleased to share that Somali referee Omar Artem will officially officiate the highly anticipated match between PSG and Aston Villa in Salzburg. Which is a tremendous appointment, you would say.

[Barney Ronay]

I just wonder.

[Max Rushden]

We talked to Alex Adnos when we were over in south by Southwest in Austin a couple of months ago about, you know, being an American football fan and having that dilemma of desperately wanting this to go well and sort of being desperately sad that this shit is happening at the same time.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah.

[Jeff Rutter]

And look, it's one with the other. Right. Like you can't really avoid that. But at the same point, I don't think many people's favorite parts of the World cup in the, in the, you know, kind of the bowels of their hearts are necessarily the ramp up and the pre tournament speech from the President and all of the litigation that comes with it. I think that it's going to be that sort of like fierce communal joy is going to be ultimately the thing that actually is going to be able to get things through. And that's where you do need the games to provide a little bit of sugar with the medicine. But it certainly has been a lot of medicine, hasn't it? And it certainly has been, you know, great to see him get that hero's welcome of sorts when he does return to Somalia. Right. And be able to have that sort of community that I think historically one would expect when they come to work a World cup, but you know, at least able to get on the other end and hopefully this is something that, I mean, to be fair, I don't really know where the, the tournament's reputation recovers from on this one.

[Barney Ronay]

Right. It's funny, I've a lot of people in America that have been apologizing.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[Barney Ronay]

To the rest of the world and saying we are, we are sorry about this and, and I, I kind of, I feel like saying don't, you know, yeah, stuff happens. But it's actually quite sweet and does give me a feeling of hope that people communicate like that, that there's a kind of sense that the executive tier in this country does not actually, despite being a democracy and being elected, an elected prison does not actually represent the attitudes of the majority of the country. And that I find quite reassuring.

[Max Rushden]

The Iranian national team experienced long delays having their visas granted. In the case of several of their staff denied altogether. The team captain has Safi said why so late in the last year we experienced two imposed wars in our country.

[Barney Ronay]

A U.

[Max Rushden]

S administration official did not directly address the matter of those whose visas were refused, saying only we will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the United States under false pretenses. Which is an insane thing to say. And there is a chance the USA and Iran will meet in the round of 32. Alex, Alex has written a really good piece about Iran in Tijuana and you know what, the people in Tijuana, because they only had two weeks to sort of realize that they were hosting a side. And it's also worth pointing out that there's a lot of Iranian fans in the U.S. in Los Angeles especially who are not fans of the regime in Iran. Right. This is quite a multifaceted, faceted situation. I don't know Wilson, if you have any sort of thoughts on Infantino and what he said at that press conference, it's just outrageous.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean this is the first press conference he's given in three years and from the very start he was filibustering. He hadn't, hadn't seen a question from a US based journalist until the very last question. And he, he asked that one because a journalist in the room messaged Brian Swanson, the press officer say you have not asked a journalist representing one of the, the host media. Very obviously the questions were going to people who were not hostile to Infantino. So this is no accountability and it's, I don't know. I do wonder whether what we've seen in the last few weeks, whether it, whether the disgust that provokes cuts through. It's obviously not as serious as several thousand migrant worker deaths in Qatar, but in some ways it's sort of more immediate. In the same way the party gate cut through more than other Boris Johnson scandals because it sort of touched something that was very personal to people that they'd had to follow these regulations and there's people who've imposed them, not following them. And so the idea of this referee being turned away and you see people, I mean, even FIFA's press people say, oh, you know, are we supposed to say that the US was supposed to put their laws on hold for duration of a tournament? That's literally what you asked other hosts to do. Yes, you are meant to do that. And if the host is not prepared to do that, they shouldn't be bidding to host a tournament. But I guess one of the problems is with the 48 team tournament, you can't really make any credible threat to move it. That even in 2017, when Infantino was having the discussion with Putin which led to a match ticket guaranteeing you a visa for Russia, it was just about plausible in a 32 team tournament that at the last minute, say, England and Germany could have stepped in, done half the games each. With a 48 team tournament, you just can't do that. And that gives the host more power. And I think the precedent this sets, I don't think it's going to be a problem for Spain and Portugal in four years. It might be a problem for Morocco in four years. But looking ahead to Saudi Arabia beyond that, I think it's really worrying just on tickets.

[Max Rushden]

There were empty seats in that second game.

[Barry Glendenning]

Quite a lot.

[Max Rushden]

Quite a lot.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, there was empty seats in the first game.

[Max Rushden]

Were there?

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah. I mean, not huge numbers, but I'd say a good two or three thousand, I suppose.

[Max Rushden]

Lucky for Gianni that the seats were red and so if you weren't really concentrating, it looked like lots more South Korean fans. Yeah, but he sort of talked about ticket prices as well and talks about, oh, well, Mandani's done so well on ticket prizes because he gave some cheap ones and I gave loads of cheap ones. No one said thank you to me, you know, which is sort of Trumpy in it, in the way it sounded.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, well, he's a Trumpian guy. He calls, he's up to Trump. We know that. He seems to be in awe of him. I think the problem with Trump and Infantino is neither of them seem to have any sense of shame or embarrassment. And so there's not much you can do to or say that will have any impact on them because they'll just secretly think you're stupid. Ticket prices are outrageous and we've seen evidence already. Empty seats, both games. That's going to be a recurring theme, I would imagine. And even, you know, some people who have tickets aren't being allowed into the country. The day I left. Come over here. I heard a Scottish fella on talksport. Yeah, his had been revoked and he was given no explanation as to why it had been revoked. And he was due to travel on Thursday. He said he didn't have a criminal record, but the US Embassy had told him that until he got one of those police certificates that says you don't have a criminal record, he would not be allowed to travel. And because he.

[Barney Ronay]

Those take 28 days, don't they?

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, I think you probably get them rushed, but three days, I'd say we'll be pushing. And he spent over ten grand.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barney Ronay]

When I came in the country, I was, I was questioned. The only thing they, they said to me was, can tell me about your trip to Turkey?

[Max Rushden]

Oh, what happened in Turkey?

[Barney Ronay]

Well, I couldn't even. And they're. Oh. And I said, wow. Well, man City, you know that, that, that was the Champions League final in Istanbul. Was it in Istanbul? Have I got that wrong? Was that the wrong game?

[Max Rushden]

Can't remember.

[Jonathan Wilson]

No, that's right.

[Barney Ronay]

Yeah. I said it was really tight, but, you know, in the end, Rodriguez, Rodri, you know, the quality really made. Made the difference. And that was really. And he sort of nodded and that seemed to be fine. And I was let into the country.

[Max Rushden]

He said, pep just didn't overthink it that night.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Barney Ronay]

I mean, if you overthink it enough times, you're eventually gonna. You're gonna hit one on the course.

[Max Rushden]

Well, it will cover off the field issues as much as on the field ones as well. And we know lots of things are happening, you know, in the Premier League, but we'll, we'll worry about.

[Barney Ronay]

Can I just ask, actually, now that this is an American podcast, are we all going to sit here for three hours and at some point a Rogan will be smoking cigars and talking about, like, weed gummies and things.

[Max Rushden]

We'll be saying that butter is poisoning everyone's mind.

[Barney Ronay]

It just goes on forever. And loads of young men are radicalized.

[Max Rushden]

Or it'll. There'll be some light music and I'll say, this is WKR zyc, and I'll start talking about a crime that happened in Minneapolis 15 years ago. Tombo says in a preview pod, Barry characterized himself as easygoing, but then followed up with some surprisingly strident views. Vis a vis laundry. How is this panning out? And can we get a regular update on the issue? Barry, are you enjoying living with me?

[Barry Glendenning]

Living with you is fine, but anytime I Raise any minor issues? You treated it as if I've thrown some sort of tantrum.

[Barney Ronay]

Right.

[Barry Glendenning]

But, yeah, I think we're getting on okay.

[Barney Ronay]

Sorry.

[Barry Glendenning]

What?

[Barney Ronay]

My. That doesn't sound okay at all. That sounds really terrible.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

What tantrums have I had?

[Barry Glendenning]

Well, you accused me of being far more upset about you waking me up by banging a spoon against a ball than I was.

[Max Rushden]

Okay.

[Barry Glendenning]

You ate an apple in my presence. I don't ever want that to happen again.

[Max Rushden]

I'm sorry.

[Barney Ronay]

Oh, my God. This is really.

[Jeff Rutter]

Hang on.

[Barney Ronay]

Was he. Was he banging a spoon against the bowl right next to your head?

[Barry Glendenning]

No.

[Max Rushden]

I had a radio show at 5am so at 4 I got up and ate some yogurt.

[Barney Ronay]

So you're in the other room just eating some yogurt?

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Jeff Rutter]

Thin walls.

[Max Rushden]

Thin walls. Anything else, Barry?

[Jonathan Wilson]

No.

[Barry Glendenning]

Pretty.

[Max Rushden]

I mean, you've.

[Barry Glendenning]

You're pulling your weight. You. You've made a meal.

[Max Rushden]

I made a meal. I've made a table.

[Barry Glendenning]

You've made a table.

[Max Rushden]

I've done the rubbish.

[Barry Glendenning]

You didn't make a table. You took a table out of a box.

[Max Rushden]

Fine. I took yours out of a box and erected it.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

It's been fine, I think. Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Okay.

[Barney Ronay]

Have you done any laundry yet?

[Max Rushden]

No, I've done two loads.

[Barney Ronay]

Barry won't do any laundry. So the Rio Olympics.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barney Ronay]

We. We were there for 22 days. I think this is a really sweet story. Okay. Really? It's lovable.

[Max Rushden]

Okay.

[Barney Ronay]

It's not a disgusting laundry story. Barry bought 22 T shirts with him, one for each day so he didn't have to do any laundry, which I thought was so sweet. It's like when the kid goes and stays at their granny and they've got like three pairs of. It's like your gloves are on a string. His gloves were on a string?

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barney Ronay]

On the back of his.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

I was wearing gloves of the cabana in July.

[Barney Ronay]

I remember you explained 22 t shirts. No problem. I thought that was very sweet. And I hope you've now got 40 T shirts or whatever.

[Barry Glendenning]

I had not too far off 40T shirts, but my luggage was too heavy.

[Max Rushden]

He had the long list and he had to cut it down to 26. And there was a mad phone in about the 26th

[Barry Glendenning]

in here for three days and he's already done two loads. How is that possible?

[Max Rushden]

I'm in the gym a lot because I haven't been in a gym for a year and a half and now I have so much time. Mrs. Rustin, I don't believe this is Football Weekly. Just, just to be just a check. This is a different podcast. Say I don't have the time that look three days in, 40 to go. We're all still alive. You can see all the behind the scenes action on Instagram, TikTok and Tic Tac, Reddit Blue sky. And we are posting more than we normally do because everything is content. So yeah, follow all of us. Follow the Guardian Football Weekly. And that'll do for today. Thank you, Wilson, you may go to bed.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Hey Kyle. Again, I have no idea what you said. Okay, fine.

[Max Rushden]

Bye, Jeff. Thank you so much.

[Jeff Rutter]

Thank you.

[Max Rushden]

Come again. Cheers, Barney.

[Barney Ronay]

Cheers. Thank you.

[Max Rushden]

Cheers, Baz.

[Barry Glendenning]

Thank you.

[Max Rushden]

Football Weekly is produced by Rory Simon. Our executive producer is Joel Grove. Back tomorrow.

[Barney Ronay]

This is the Guardian.

[Max Rushden]

Hi Pod fans. Max here. Barry's here too.

[Barry Glendenning]

Hello.

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

I don't know. Producer Joel does it.

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

What's a blackout date?

[Max Rushden]

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.

[Barry Glendenning]

Superb.

[Max Rushden]

Yes. So next time you're booking somewhere to stay, just book it at hotels.com hotels.com it's all in the name.

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[Max Rushden]

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