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Scotland scrap past Haiti for winning World Cup return: World Cup Daily
00:40:55
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Alex Abnos, Jeff Rueter, Jack Snape and Ewan Murray to discuss the latest action
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- [00:00]
A
This is the Guardian. Hi pod fans. Max here. Barry's here too.
- [00:11]
B
Hello.
- [00:12]
A
Football Weekly is 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.
- [00:20]
B
I don't know. Producer Joel does it.
- [00:23]
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 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.
- [00:45]
B
What's a blackout date?
- [00:47]
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.
- [00:57]
B
Superb.
- [00:58]
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. Hi pod fans. 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, 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 shot@contentful.com. Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Scotland win their first World cup match since 1990, their first goal since 98 and they top group C above Brazil stop the count. John McGinn's deflected strike enough to beat a spirited and attacking Haiti side. But blimey, it was tense at the end. Who knows if it'll be enough by the end of the group stages. But Scotland don't win often and a win is a win. Brazil. Morocco started like the game we hoped it would be. A glorious Brahim Diaz pass set up a glorious Saibari finish with before Vinicius Jr. Decided a world cup just needs a Brazilian to pick it up and do something brilliant. But after that it kind of petered out. Qatar stunned Switzerland in injury time to Take a point. And we don't know the Socceroos Turkey result yet, but you do. And we'll have a report from our man Jack Snape edited in at a convenient moment. We'll look ahead to tomorrow. Germany's campaign begins and Netherlands. Japan looks fun. There's plenty of aob, the England chef Wilson in shock, music knowledge and the many diagnoses of Barry's ankle problem. All that, plus your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Week. On the panel today, Barry Glendenning. Welcome.
- [02:53]
B
Hello, Max.
- [02:54]
A
First port of the tournament for the Guardian, US Soccer editor, Alex Abnos. Hi, Alex.
- [02:57]
C
Hello, Max.
- [02:58]
A
And back again, the Guardian US Soccer correspondent, Jeff Ruder.
- [03:01]
D
Hi, Max.
- [03:02]
A
Right, worth noting, we are recording before the Australia Turkey game, as I said in the intro, so in case that finished at 9, 8 and you're wondering why it's not leading the pod, our man Jack Snape is there. We'll leave us a match report. Come on, the Socceroos. But let's begin in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Scotland 1, Haiti nil. Scotland's 3 fifth ever win at a World cup, their first since beating Sweden in Italia 90. Joining us for part one live and direct from the jazz bar over there, Ewan Murray, our Scottish football correspondent. Ewan, how tense was the end of that?
- [03:30]
E
More tense than I would have liked it to be. It's a strange situation because it's, as you said, Scotland's only fifth foot to a World cup proper. First since 1990, first appearance here since 98. They're at the top of the group, but I think we wanted and probably needed more from that game, including simply in goal difference terms, in terms of trying to get out of the group with three points. I thought it was a nervous performance at times, thought it was pretty ragged. And again, you know, on the big stage, that's the third time in a row a big tournament. I just think they haven't quite played as well as they can and I think, you know, they're now going to be clinging on over the next two games and I fear that winning only one nil in this game might prove quite damaging.
- [04:10]
A
Yeah, I wonder if you. It's quite hard to know, isn't it? Do you have to recalibrate? Because Haiti were good in this game and so by the end, and the fact that Scotland didn't really have the ball for the last half hour, that getting away with three points is pretty fantastic. But at the same time, I totally hear what you're saying.
- [04:25]
E
That's what I mean. It's tricky and I don't want to diss a team who's come to the World cup and won. I just think it's difficult to ignore that bigger picture. And Wes and Hairy did have their moments. I didn't really feel they were going to score. You would. You will tell me that they could have done and of course they could, but I just thought Scotland got slack when there was a chance to build not one nil lead and do more in the game. They. They didn't do it. They didn't. Didn't put foot down, they didn't press on their advantage and you know, I feel a little bit down and sound a little bit down because I fear that may welcome back to haunt Scotland given the, you know, pretty ferocious two games I've got coming up. I think this was the game to. To make hay. And listen, by the way, you watch the game as I did, these are not teams who are going to trouble the judge in this competition. But I think Scotland could and should have had proper ambitions of winning this game, even 2 0. Actually, I would have felt pretty differently about it. I think they would then be in a decent position, whereas now I think it's going to be trickier than it needed to be.
- [05:25]
B
Ewan, do you put Scott. And I like you feel a bit bad about pissing on their chips, but I think they needed to score more goals in this game. Do you put their. They sat back a lot in the second half. Is that down to Steve Clark's conservativism or is it down to the conditions? I believe it was pretty brutally hot there.
- [05:48]
E
No, I wouldn't blame Steve Clark. In fact, actually, I think playing two strikers maybe caused them a bit of a problem because they couldn't get a proper control of the midfield. And Scott McTominay, was pretty anonymous during the game. That obviously is a big problem for Scotland when that happens. I didn't think McGinn was influential enough. Besides the goal. I wouldn't blame the manager, although I do think the next two games, the two strikers thing may disappear. They may put as many midfielders on the pitch as they can. I just think they couldn't get an adequate grip of the game in the middle of the pitch. I wouldn't blame the heat and I wouldn't blame the manager. I just think some players, and notably McTominay I think didn't perform as they could.
- [06:23]
A
I'd love them to play 4, 4, 2 against Morocco and Brazil. Just say, you know, we only. Only two in the Middle there. I mean it was. I. I asked my mate Martin Huntz Hunter was at the ground like, what is the over? Because I was wary that we were going to have this discussion and sort of sound pretty morose after Scotland who don't win at World Cups. And he said, yeah, amongst the fans it's basically relief after the end of that game and when you look at the start of the game and okay, Haiti just attacked and attacked and attacked and they didn't stop doing that. But Scotland had their moments and it was all through Ben Gannon Doak who. Who looks so crucial to this whole team.
- [06:56]
E
Yeah, that's right. That's true. Yeah.
- [06:58]
C
Yeah.
- [06:58]
E
The fans, I think the fans celebrate celebrated at the end and they should celebrate the end. They haven't been here for a long time. They've won a game. Yeah. And again, I don't want to use Barry's phrase, piss on their chips. That's not. But. But I think there was a balance here and I think it would be unwise to ignore the ramifications potentially of this result. Now listen, they might, they might go and defend brilliantly and play a lot better in the next two games. Maybe there was nervousness attached their first game back at World Cup. It could be extenuating circumstances, but I think supporters in the cold light of day of tomorrow morning might think maybe we needed more out of this game. That's just the sense I can't quite get rid of. And also those supporters, I think visibly have far, far more to drink than me today. So their mood will be very different to mine.
- [07:47]
A
I was going to say when you said in the cold light of day tomorrow morning, you might say in the cold light of day tomorrow afternoon or perhaps tomor evening, I suppose you. And they did like, if you try and look at the positives, Ganond do was great. They did defend their box. They defended the box incredibly well in that game.
- [08:01]
E
I mean, he's not played a lot of football, so you can't rely on him play 90 minutes in every game. But he has that electric pace and he's so direct that he scares teams. He. He's a real asset. Scotland, I agree with you. I thought the, the center backs were good. I thought Lewis Ferguson was good in the middle of the pitch. There were encouraging bits like that, but I. I just think they didn't have enough control the game didn't create enough chances, didn't impose themselves on the game enough from a position of 1 nil up. But I thought they should have relaxed. I thought they actually went. They went the other way and got a little bit scuddy and a little bit nervous.
- [08:30]
A
We come into this game. I'm. I came into this game thinking, well, Haiti or park the bus. And I. That's not how you park a bus.
- [08:39]
C
They. If they. If their goal was to park the bus, they did a terrible, terrible job. And the game was all the better for it, I thought. I thought they put forth just an incredible performance. I think they should be really proud of themselves. They went out and attacked Scotland the same way that they have went out and attacked countless CONCACAF teams over the years. I mean, let's remember this is a team that hasn't played any home matches at all since 2021 due to just all the unrest in their country. And they won their qualifying group that featured Costa Rica and Honduras, two teams that have qualified for the World Cup a few times from the CONCACAF region. So, you know, my heart actually kind of breaks for Haiti a little bit. I felt like they really deserved something out of this game. They had that close header at the end of the game from. From Pierrot. It was just, you know, it seemed like he made just good enough contact on it, and I was envisioning the net rippling and, oh, my God, what's. What's going to happen next?
- [09:29]
A
And one of you said, I can't remember. You know, Piero does sound like Aguero. Like, you can really scream that. And like, are we. Are we guilty of underestimating Haiti? Jeff, in this sort of commentary of Scotland needed to do more, is that. Or can both things be true? Right.
- [09:46]
D
Both can be true. I think that when you. When you're looking just at the group draw, this was the game that Scotland would look and say, right, if we're going to expect to be on the wrong side of it against Brazil, Morocco, we really need to be on the right side of it on this one to an extended extent, like, you know, like Ewan is saying. And I just think that they. They really did. Haiti did compote themselves quite well. It was just. You could see the struggles were often just in the technical execution of what they were doing, but you could tell that they were seeing the passing lanes available to them, they were winning the fouls in dangerous areas and understanding where they wanted to get it to. It just couldn't quite get to the targets it needed to. But, I mean, generally, it was a really respectable performance from Haiti. I think it was one that did a lot of their fans proud. And keep in mind they had to change jerseys Just a few days ago.
- [10:29]
A
Right.
- [10:29]
D
So, yeah, that certainly throws a spanner in the works in terms of your preparations to a minor degree. And yeah, just never really seemed to catch breaks on the field or off.
- [10:39]
B
Sure.
- [10:39]
A
The final ball, I guess is.
- [10:40]
B
Yeah, I think Shan Rickner Bellegarde's set piece delivery really let them down. It was dire and I think, don't think I'm mistaken, but I think that was quite noticeable during his time at Wolves this season, that he took a lot of corners and free kicks and they weren't very good. So maybe time to change their. Their set piece. Man.
- [11:02]
A
I'm Ewan. How much do you think? I'm always wary of saying, you know, history puts pressure on these players. Of course they can't avoid hearing about this kind of stuff, but because Scotland don't. You know, Scotland's last win was in 1990. Right. It's such a. It's just such an extraordinary amount of time ago. Like, however much I want, you know, their last goal was in 1998. I watched it. Quite a good finish from Craig Burley as it goes against Norway. But like, that's so long ago. And I just wonder if that puts pressure on. Like that puts pressure when you know you're one nil up, when you know you can get a win for your nation. Or is that giving them an excuse?
- [11:36]
E
No, I'm not sure a lot of that means much to players who were born when these Scotland players were born. It doesn't mean much. It's like saying there's Costa Rica and Peru and Zaire and Iran. I don't think that means anything. But what I do think is the scale of the build up around Scotland, the scale of support they have, the scale of noise around them. It's all positive. But I think that does apply. That does apply pressure. You know, there's no doubt about that. They're not used to that kind of thing. So I think that is a. It's not an excuse. I think it's a reasonable extenuating circumstance. Absolutely.
- [12:05]
A
And Gilmour missing is. I mean, is that crucial, do you think? Like you're talking about like control in the central midfield?
- [12:11]
E
Absolutely, yeah. And I felt that was noticeable tonight. I thought before the game maybe that wouldn't be a thing in this game, but I thought it was. I thought that was keenly felt. I think that's definitely a fair point.
- [12:23]
A
I don't barter Jim texting me with friend of the sheer panic as the game continued and just saying the Scottish commentators on the BBC are doing a great job job of keeping us humble by reminding us every few minutes of our fuck ups in previous tournaments how you. And how do they approach the next two games? Like it is a step up, right? Morocco and Brazil and it's, you know, it's hard to gauge. It's a different game but like do they park the bus? I mean that's, that's the only way they can play those games, right?
- [12:51]
E
Yeah. Looking the upside, that might suit Scotland. It's completely different. There's not this huge expectancy on them to go out there and win two or three nil from the likes of me. That might suit them. The expectancy is that Morocco and Brazil certainly will take the game to Scotland. The expectancy is that they will win. Different attitudes, different kind of games and they've got that first game out the way, they've got the three points. So maybe that's a difficult hurdle, you know, over now. But I, I would be amazed having seen that. I would be amazed if the two up front continues. I think they need more composure and need more control in midfield. So I think there'll be a tactical switch. And listen, maybe this is the kind of game that this team, the kind of games that these team can excel in where just different situation completely and maybe they just had to get this game out of the way. But again, I'm coming back to. I can't get away from the sense that this was a bit of a missed opportunity that's going to, that's going to cost them from the end of this group. I hope I'm completely wrong as I often am, but I can't get away
- [13:47]
D
from that saying we have no idea how the third place rank. Assuming of course that Morocco and Brazil are going to respond to their results and be looking at their next two games and saying we need six points each of us, right? We just don't really know what to expect from that table of third place teams. Whether it's the cutoff or the goal difference and frankly things like moment building into tournaments. We talk about trying to find the team that's in form as you get into the bracket and if you have your win in the first one and then you have two tough results and suddenly you're the third place team facing a first place team in a different group. That's just such a difficult sort of way to just snap back into it. And so I really wonder how curious that round will look overall.
- [14:21]
E
The people who did modeling of these things thought three points and minus two was certainly borderline that's kind of what I've been looking at in terms of how you would do it.
- [14:30]
B
Anything worse than three points at minus one and you're on the precipice. But we, we are presuming Scotland are going to lose their next two games. They might not.
- [14:39]
A
They might not. They might. And actually you and expectation is so different. Like I don't think I've ever gone into a game with Scotland at a major tournament where people are saying, you know, they really need to put three or four past this lot. Like it's not, it's not a conversation I've ever really had before. And I guess that filters down to the manager.
- [14:54]
B
We said in the build up match they're wasting their goals in the warm
- [14:58]
A
up against Bolivia or whoever.
- [15:00]
B
Eight goals gone to waste.
- [15:02]
A
So that will change, right? Expectation changes everything.
- [15:04]
E
Absolutely. Steve Clark is about to appear. Chap. So I'm going to have to run.
- [15:07]
A
You can't tell him you're doing Football Weekly. Does he want to come on? Does it not work like that?
- [15:11]
E
Probably not tonight.
- [15:12]
B
No.
- [15:12]
A
No, that laugh was. No. Max, you idiot. Thanks. Thanks, Ewan. Good man.
- [15:17]
E
Thank you. Thank you.
- [15:18]
A
Ewan Murray, our Scottish football correspondent. I think that's a sort of fair summation. I, you know, you first mentioned it after the game going, I don't want to be Barry Buzzkill. And I was like, ah, we should just be like Scotland at one. And this is amazing.
- [15:29]
B
But yeah, I am aware people are probably going to have a gold on Scotland despite the fact that they won and they're top of the group. But they need more goals in that game.
- [15:41]
A
Yeah.
- [15:41]
B
And that's just a fact. I think I'm working on the presumption that they're going to lose against Morocco and Brazil. They might not, but I think they will. They certainly will if they play like that again and keep giving the ball away. Yeah. As they did against Haiti. And this, you know, Morocco and Brazil are just different gravy to Haiti and Scotland.
- [16:02]
A
I think Christopher says another slight fact check for Barry on the pod. There are two ex Oldham players in the hate. So that's not really a correction, that's just a sort of augmentation of your original fact. I would say Johnny Placid, the Haitian Higita and Duckens Nason, who put two past David Raya in a 22 draw at Ewood park in 2018. So there I was on David Reyer's Wikipedia learning that he played for Blackburn for a bit and Spencer asked quite a good question. We should have asked Ewan, do bagpipes count as carry on?
- [16:31]
C
Which.
- [16:33]
A
Because otherwise, you know, there are a lot of them, you know, just waiting at the carousel. It's sort of. It is a bag, ostensibly. Do you have knowledge of this?
- [16:40]
D
But could it be a personal item? I suppose it depends on the size of the sack, doesn't it?
- [16:44]
A
Yeah. I mean, it is a rucksack. It's a rucksack of sorts, doesn't it? Yeah. And producer Joel says, how do you identify your own bagpipes on the carousel? It's just a whole load of bagpipes.
- [16:54]
B
I presume they all have individual tartan, don't they?
- [16:57]
A
That is true.
- [16:58]
B
And then a Sporin is also a bag. So does that count as one of your two bags? One of your two bags.
- [17:05]
A
These are questions that we need to ask Ewan after the next game. All right, that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll do Brazil, Morocco. Hi, POD fans. Max here. Barry's here too.
- [17:16]
B
Hello.
- [17:16]
A
Football Weekly is 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.
- [17:25]
B
I don't know. Producer Joel does it.
- [17:27]
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.
- [17:50]
B
What's a blackout date?
- [17:51]
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.
- [18:01]
B
Superb.
- [18:02]
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.
- [18:15]
F
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [18:44]
A
Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly live shows in September, 1st of September at Vicar street in Dublin, 8th of September. Soho Theatre in Walthamstow. Go to theguardian.co.uk footballweeklylive it's great if we sell out early, then I don't have to go on a relentless social media campaign to bore myself and everyone and lose thousands of followers. So Brazil won, Morocco won in New Jersey. And we touted this Barrist, kind of the first big game with big heavyweights in the tournament. And it kind of threatened to be a great game. The first half was really brilliant, I thought, but I don't know if it turned into that by the end.
- [19:17]
B
I think it was very much a game of two halves. A very good half. The first half and the second half, not much happened, really. I thought Morocco were the better team. I thought they should have won. They were certainly the better team in the first half, I think, and I say better team. And Brazil were kind of overrun in midfield by Morocco. So Bruno Guimaraes and Picasso Miro had had a very poor first half. Casemiro was taken off at halftime. He was on the booking and he wasn't playing well. And Brazil needed a sort of moment of genius from Vinicius Junior to get back Equalize. And I would imagine both sides would be delighted with the point. But I think Morocco will probably think they should have won.
- [20:10]
A
Yeah, you're on the minute by minute, Jeff, as we established more good minutes in the first half than the second. Like, the goals were both brilliant. Like the Morocco goal. The pass from Brahim Diaz is brilliant. And the finish from Siberia, he made that look so easy.
- [20:23]
D
And you can really see what Morocco was going for with their kind of contentious coaching change that they made before the tournament. Wanting to be a team that could be more than just sort of difficult. Right. And actually be a team that could maybe control things. And you could see the way that they were trying to use wit. It was really clever, I thought, at the start of the game especially, I suppose we'll say the first quarter before the hydration break, where that is a
- [20:42]
A
phrase we're going to use now, isn't it?
- [20:44]
D
We have to.
- [20:44]
C
Unfortunately, yes.
- [20:45]
D
Commercial breaks and everything feels like it's your fault.
- [20:47]
A
Americans, I conceive it is.
- [20:49]
C
It literally is.
- [20:50]
D
It really is. It is. But cleverly, when you look at, you assume it's going to be the right side, right, Whether it's Brian Diaz or Kimi. And to be operating up of the left, I think kind of threw Brazil off. I don't think that they were really expecting that to be the area of emphasis and they looked really overrun, I thought, over the first 10 minutes or so. And, you know, eventually it balanced itself out a little bit. But I, I just. I don't know, there was just something about that Brazil performance that was just so timid. And I know that we talk so much going into these tournaments and Fox certainly needs to find some new synonyms for sexy whenever they talk about Brazil, because I think that there was a hit where they said it about 10 times.
- [21:22]
C
They do say sexy a lot.
- [21:23]
D
A lot, a lot, a lot.
- [21:24]
A
Terrible phrase for anything, I would suggest.
- [21:26]
C
Well, it's used in football quite a bit for. For some reason, but. No, I. I agree. I mean, Brazil is just one of those teams that, you know, even when things aren't working out for them as they were today, you know, they still have players like Vinicius who can just take the ball and given not that big of a window, but a window nonetheless, just cut inside and rifle in the goal that he did. I want to just, you know, shout out the central midfield of Morocco. I thought they were really, really top class today, both players. Ayub Bouadi, who is 18 and I believe making his competitive debut for Morocco, crazy in the World cup, he was really just controlling proceedings, keeping possession, making the right pass at the right time. And I thought Neil Al Ainoui, sorry if I pronounced that wrong, was also really good. He had a really nice interception and several of them, actually, that led to chances. He was breaking up plays. He was really all over the place and enabled Morocco to build all the attacks that they did. And in addition to all the good work down the left side from Masrawi and Al Kanous that you mentioned, I
- [22:30]
A
mean, the Vinicius junior was very kind of, this is the World Cup. Just a Brazilian going, I'll just do something brilliant. Takes me back to, you know, 86, etc. I want, I don't know in the second half, is that because qualification of the group is different? Like a draw isn't a bad result for these two teams, Barry, is it? Hydration breaks which, which, you know, they don't like, make me furious, but they do affect the flow of the game so much. Or was it Ancelotti making those changes and shirt up the midfield and it just got a bit.
- [22:58]
B
I think it could be a bit of all three. And Ancelotti's changes certainly helped Brazil play as more of a unit. I mean, Casamiro was really bad in that first half and Bruno Guimara's wasn't much better. Casimiro looked like he was pulling a caravan and he has had games like that for Manchester United as well.
- [23:21]
A
He occasionally does attach the caravan.
- [23:26]
B
The hydration breaks, I don't like them. I have to say I appreciate there is a need for them if it is extremely hot and humid. But like we had an incident in the Guitar Switzerland game where there was a hydration break called just before a corner was about to be taken. I think I found that extraordinary. And then they have to last exactly three minutes. There is a suggestion that referees are being told you have to wait because there's still ads being shown on Fox or RT or whatever and it obviously disrupts the rhythm of the game. So. But I think they are here to stay like Var as far as major tournaments are concerned anyway.
- [24:09]
A
Yeah, I mean there was a couple of moments in the. I think it was the Qatar Switzerland game where everyone was ready but like the Qatar keeper had to wait for Whitney Houston to stop singing I Want to dance with Somebody. And then I think in the Scotland game they played and Annie Lennox hadn't finished for her Eurythmic song so they had to go back and play it again.
- [24:26]
B
Brazil and Morocco are both going to go through. They're going to finish first and second in whatever order. I'd say draw suit of them. I think it was almost as if they'd decided between themselves at halftime. Look, lads, we'll just play out draw here.
- [24:42]
C
I'm looking at my notes right now and I have, you know, just like little plays and then I have a big note after I think the 63rd minute and it just says game dies here. It was really after that point it was pretty clear both teams had just said the risk of losing this game is much, much more than any sort of desire we have to win it. I think they will feel pretty comfortable about their next two games, even if it's not like there are any pushovers in that group and I think they made a business decision. And by the way, it was pushing 90 with a pretty healthy amount of humidity at that game and Carlo Ancelotti was in a full three piece suit the entire time. Did not appear to be sweating at all. Props to Carlo Ancelli.
- [25:29]
A
There was that kind of Alison double save late on where the first save wasn't brilliant and the second save was excellent.
- [25:34]
D
Yeah, and it was one of those rare moments where he looked tested and I think that that's going to be the thing that moving forward will be very interesting to see with Brazil is Morocco was very good at generating chances. They were just really bad at putting them on frame. I think they only had about three shots on goal and you're just not going to advance deep into a tournament. And so I think that that's going to be the next step for them to work on. But for Brazil, they've just really got to figure out that midfield, don't they? I think it's just going to be very difficult with the personnel that they have. I think that wide areas will become incredibly important, but they don't really have the wide defenders necessarily to maximize them. There's just such clear strengths in some areas and such obvious deficits in others where they're. Maybe it's a beautifully flawed team, but they're certainly flawed.
- [26:11]
A
Nice to see Fabinho again. Staggeringly. He's only 32 and I did enjoy his bloodied mouth. It looked like he'd eaten someone. But anyway, hope he's all. So Qatar Switzerland in the Bay Area won a piece and, and that was my first involuntary noise of the tournament, Barry. When Qatar equalized in the 94th minute, which I thought was a brilliant bullet header by the Qatari player, but it turns out it was an own goal by a Swiss.
- [26:35]
B
Yeah, I, I also thought it was a brilliant bullet. I didn't discover it was an old goal till about three hours later. This was a funny old game. The start was pretty good the first sort of 20 minutes and then the crowd started doing a Mexican wave, I think, on the half hour mark. And when the crowd is doing that, you know, the game is dying or there's not much going on and Switzerland will. I was thinking to myself, granit jacket will have gone into that dressing room after at full time and I shudder to think of the rage that he will have felt at Switzerland, allowing Qatar to steal a point off them. But I think Switzerland got exactly what they deserved because they had enough chances to win three or four games of football. They didn't take them. Dennis and Noy of notting Forest was particularly profligate. He wasn't alone. And you could start to see these lads are sailing close to the wind here and they got punished deep in injury time and you have to say they deserve to get punished because they had what, 26 shots to Qatar? Seven. And no, Qatar were delighted with the draw.
- [27:56]
A
I mean, that was a really brilliant moment, Jeff, wasn't it? Just to see like that first point in the World cup, but just, you know, tears and the whole squad, every single high vis subs vest just pouring onto that pitch.
- [28:08]
D
You just have to appreciate, you know, Qatar really has Become sort of the punchline of World Cups over the last couple of cycles here, where it's, you know, at first it's, it's them getting awarded it under a completely fair and justifiable bidding process. And then obviously in this one here you have the expanded field and. And they've been testing themselves in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. So I've actually, weirdly, Alex and I have seen quite, quite a bit of.
- [28:30]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [28:31]
D
They're. They're very comfortable in North America. And so I suppose there maybe is something that is nice about them, the home away from home that they've sort of forged.
- [28:37]
C
The feel good story of the World
- [28:38]
A
cup is that what we're calling them feels a stretch, doesn't it? Goes against quite a lot of our
- [28:45]
B
reporting, I would say.
- [28:46]
A
But for these players and for, you know. Yeah, Julian Lopetegui just, you know.
- [28:49]
D
Yeah, well, for him as well. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, being able to sort of correct the record a little bit in terms of his World cup participation as a manager, I suppose would also be a moment for them. I just think overall, when you look and you think, especially with how Scotland approached that second half, you just. Teams are too used to breaking down low blocks these days. This is something that a lot of teams have just had to get used to. Right. Is okay, we're up one nil and we're just going to park it and that's fine. But it's going to leave you very susceptible to these sorts of chances if you eventually you get complacent. And I think Scotland was much more guilty of that, certainly than Switzerland here. Switzerland, of course, putting in the number of chances that they did have. But I think even when you're looking at these teams that are theoretically at a talent deficit, like Haiti and Qatar, they at least want to take the initiative. There's absolutely no glory in just being cowardly in a tournament like this. Right. And so I think that these late games, if they left 1 0, it's going to be open for anything.
- [29:40]
A
The penalty for Switzerland was slightly controversial because it did look offside in the build up. And it may have been just the angle that you see on the TV is not the same as the actual, you know, line that the VAR use, but as yet. What time is it now? It's three minutes to nine in the evening, which is quite a long time after full time. I don't think FIFA have shown anyone that it was offside. Gary Neville on ITV said it's like a dictatorship. This the idea one. I mean, He's. It's not that. It's not the issue that I would have suggested FIFA dictatorship, but I don't necessarily disagree. The idea that they hold this evidence internally and don't show fans of countries who are playing in tournaments is absolutely ridiculous. To not show the evidence of an offside, prove to us that it's offside. Show it straight away. Why not have transparency? And he's right, isn't he, Barry?
- [30:27]
B
I think so, yeah. I can't disagree. To the naked eye, it looked like Remo Freiler was offside as the ball was crossed to him and before the goalkeeper and bonuda smashed into him. We are assured that the technology decided he wasn't offside, but I want to see evidence because he looked offside.
- [30:55]
C
This is the slippery slope we're on, though. Shows once you add all this technology, then you just become increasingly reliant on it, and then we're just right back where we were before, where some calls are right and some calls are wrong and it changes nothing. We're spending all this money to have all these tracking devices and all these cameras and all these different places, and we still can't get calls right 100% of the time. So I say, fuck it.
- [31:22]
B
I do.
- [31:22]
A
Like, you know, they're sort of showing these. I don't know who. I don't know if it's a broadcaster or who it is is showing these kind of 3D, you know, like computerized graphics that look like they're worse than Emlyn Hughes International Soccer on the Amiga.
- [31:37]
D
It's like a Dire Straits music video, doesn't it?
- [31:39]
G
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [31:40]
C
It's really weird.
- [31:42]
A
Anyway, yeah, maybe. Maybe we'll one day be shown this. I don't know. How long would it be? Like, we'll have to send a Freedom of Information request and they won't show it just for 50 years.
- [31:51]
C
I don't know if those work. In a dictatorship, you need a functioning democracy to have a foia.
- [31:55]
A
No, no, it's a good. It's a good point. Anyway, that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll get a report on the Australia Turkey game.
- [32:04]
F
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.
- [32:40]
H
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- [33:27]
A
Welcome to Part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So, yes, so I know we have a lot of listeners in Australia itching to hear our views of the Australia Turkey game, but it's about to kick off and for various reasons we can't record that late. But we do have a report on however it's gone. If Australia have won, if Turkey have won, if it's been a draw. Jack Snape, Guardian Australia's correspondent is at the ground and he sends us this report.
- [33:51]
G
Just an extraordinary night for Australian football here in Vancouver. This was historic, taking us back all the way to Kaiserslautern in 2006 when Tim Cahill scored two extraordinary goals late to turn that game around and secure the result for Australia. Tonight it was Nestere Irancunda, the electric forward who plays for Watford, bursting through to score the opener. He celebrated like Tim Cahill boxing the corner flag, adding a heap of symmetry to this match. This was a new generation of young players for Australia, proving that they can compete on the world stage. Coach Tony Popovic, he selected a lineup at the average age of 24.6 that's about a year younger than any other team that Australia has filled at the World Cup. The big selection shock was dropping captain Matty Ryan before the game a couple of days ago, Popovic told Patrick Beach, a 22 year old goalkeeper who plays in Australia in the A League men that he would instead be playing. He was brilliant Tonight, save after save in the second half, but probably none better than his first half effort to parry a shot onto the right hand post. He kept the clean sheet. Australia all of a sudden looking up and round of 32. Here we go. Maybe we can go even further.
- [35:13]
A
We will of course talk about this game on tomorrow's pod and Jack is with us throughout the tournament. The next game is against the USA at a reasonable hour, so we will discuss it.
- [35:21]
B
Can I just say, without the game having kicked off yet, I expected more from Australia and I thought they really let themselves down.
- [35:31]
D
But I'm glad that Jack brought up that moment. Right. Because it was such an inflection point for the team.
- [35:35]
A
I actually think they defended very.
- [35:37]
C
That young Turkey playmaker really just really made it happen.
- [35:40]
A
You saying the Turkey could be the dark horses in this competition. Having seen that games that definitely haven't happened yet. Germany, Curacao, Netherlands, Japan, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Sweden, Tunisia and Alex, I think Netherlands, Japan is. It's sort of the next of the. After Brazil, Morocco of. Okay, these are two big guys.
- [35:55]
C
Yeah. This was the first day of the World cup that really felt like it's, you know, capital W, capital C, the World cup, like it's. All the countries are happening. You're getting all sorts of different playing styles and you look forward to matches like Netherlands versus Japan because it's just going to be such a pleasing contrast of styles. You know, you have a lot of really technically gifted players on the field that can make a lot of good things happen. What you hope is that it's technically gifted players shining all the way through for all 90 minutes. Unlike what we saw today with Brazil, Morocco, where everybody just kind of shut down. But this is where I think you'll see the impact of the 48 team expansion really coming to play and, you know, teams making those sorts of decisions late in games. I hope it doesn't happen. I hope they really, really go for it.
- [36:36]
A
How do you see it, Beth? Alex, you're sitting next. Could you just turn him off and go on again? It's day three. He's had to live with me for a week.
- [36:51]
B
Yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. I'll be honest. I'm looking forward to Ivory Coast, Ecuador more. Okay, that's a good one. That's the one I have highlighted. Well, mega highlighted in green tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to that kind of dark horse derby.
- [37:05]
A
Right.
- [37:06]
B
And as for who will win, I don't know, but I, I fancy Ecuador to do very well in this tournament. Which means they almost certainly won't.
- [37:15]
C
Two very different games, by the way. Netherlands, Japan and Ivory Coast, Ecuador.
- [37:18]
D
I think we'll.
- [37:19]
C
We'll get every style of football that there is.
- [37:21]
A
Yeah. How much Curacao have you guys ingested?
- [37:25]
D
Not a ton. Big moment, obviously. Getting Dick Avocat back, like, I think that's just generally going to be very good for the team. I think that the players will rally behind that. But, yeah, I mean, Germany was very comfortably in control for large portions of their final friendly before against the United States, and the United States would generally expect to be faring better than Curacao.
- [37:45]
C
It's funny with Curacao because, you know, unlike Haiti, which have been around CONCACAF since its very inception, Curacao is new even to concacaf. They have not been in international footballing country for that long. And part of the sort of, like, amazing thing that's happened in the region is that not only have they arrived and exist, started existing, but they've been like, pretty much immediately really good. I really hope that they give a good account of themselves tomorrow and if they can get. We were talking before this about which CONCACAF team is most likely to get a result that is not a host nation. And I wonder if the best chance has already passed with Haiti versus Scotland, but Curacao might be able to pull something off. We'll see.
- [38:31]
B
You reckon?
- [38:32]
A
Not necessarily against Germany.
- [38:33]
C
Not against Germany.
- [38:34]
D
Okay.
- [38:35]
A
But at some point, real head turn.
- [38:36]
D
Yeah.
- [38:38]
A
Who knows? They could be great.
- [38:39]
C
I don't know. I enjoyed the total silence that Sweden.
- [38:44]
A
Tunisia is.
- [38:44]
B
We don't know him well enough to laugh at him.
- [38:49]
A
Producer Joel praying that Graham Potter is still wearing the cowboy hat that he's been wearing in training in Dallas. Sweden played Tunisia.
- [38:58]
B
I think that has the potential to be truly terrible game. Everything, I hear. But Jonathan Wilson is very down on Tunisia.
- [39:05]
A
I mean, he's down on quite a lot. Or they did actually apologize for being so tired on the first.
- [39:08]
E
Did he?
- [39:09]
A
Yeah.
- [39:09]
B
Oh, he didn't apologize to me.
- [39:10]
E
No.
- [39:10]
A
That's okay. Well, I sent him a note, which we'll get to in just a second, that he liked. Set blatters weighed in. To say, a FIFA World cup host country must guarantee two fundamental principles. The safety of the country, the unrestricted entry of all qualified teams, officials and referees. The case of referee Omar Aten from Somalia is against one of these obligations. FIFA must never compromise on the universality of football. FIFA, Somalia, Gianni Infantino, caf. Omar Aten, Donald Trump Hashtag married at first sight. No, he didn't do that. Last one, but hashtag. Hashtag. Yeah, exactly. But it is a strange world where kind of hankering for the return of set platter. It's very strange. Now, the VAR ref mistaken identity thing we discussed yesterday was wrong. I mean, we all realize the ref wasn't getting Tim Ream and Miguel Amelon muddled up yesterday, but I thought they'd use a loophole. It turns out, Barry, that they haven't done.
- [40:07]
B
No, I said to you yesterday, this is a mistake in identity. It's a mistake. It was quite obvious.
- [40:15]
A
Could they just do that var and it just says checking a mistake. That could be like.
- [40:19]
B
So I'm not sure. Was it a bad graphic?
- [40:22]
A
No, no, it was a mistake because
- [40:24]
B
it was clearly just a mistake.
- [40:26]
A
But now it means, I think when any dive happens that will people want a mistaken identity case whenever there's a mistake and that's not a mistaken identity.
- [40:34]
C
I wonder if they've accidentally happened upon something that could be really useful for the game. I do think being able to use VAR for cases like extreme cases of simulation might actually be useful in the future. It is one thing that basically nobody really loves about the game unless it happens to win your team a penalty. But, you know, if I don't, like, even though it was a mistake and even though it was like a misapplication of the rules, I don't think anybody's complaining about the result. It was a clear dive and the appropriate player got penalized for it. I don't know. Like, it's okay.
- [41:06]
A
And this other thing with VR where if a corner is given but it's not a corner, VAR can say, no, no, no, that's a goal kick. But if a goal kick is given, they can't go, no, no, no, that's a corner, which is. I mean, it's mad to have one and not the other.
- [41:19]
D
Jeff, this sounds like a riddle. Like, it sounds like you're trying to ask me, like, how many are there in the jar? Like it's. I just don't think that I understand. You want to get these calls right. And I understand speaking with Joe Dickerson, who is one of the VARs at this tournament, ahead of the tournament, he had said that the bar is very different when you're at a World Cup. It is a right and wrong is what they're going for rather than clear and obvious in the same way. And I respect that and I understand that. But I really don't think that that is necessarily what people viewing it, people playing it, participating in it, are hoping gets litigated, because I think that that is the sort of thing, and I understand why the Premier League voted this down to not be part of its suite of VAR reviews. It's the sort of thing that really does risk slowing the game down even further. And it's the sort of thing that feels almost like an overstep of litigation.
- [42:02]
A
Oh, I don't mind if it takes one second, but you're right, it takes ages. Anyway, I do like it when the camera then pans to the VAR and they all have to look down the barrel of the camera awkwardly before they can get on with their day. Good news, everyone. England's stolen kit has been recovered. They will have more than one football for their opening game when they're warming up. Bad news. Their chef was stopped from boarding a train because he had lots of cooking knives. The mail reporting passengers forbidden from carrying sharp objects. The chef was stopped at a metal detector. The situation was resolved amicably and the squad arrive at their hotel for a welcoming party. David says. David Hext. Hi, Max. Barry and everyone. Just listened to the June 12 podcast and was mightily impressed to hear Wilson's review of the opening ceremony of the World Cup. As a professional classical musician with some 50 years experience, I have to say he's bang on about Andrea Bocelli. He does have a thin and reedy voice and also uses far too much vibrato. Completely overrated. Regards, David. So there. I messaged Wilson that and he was delighted. Got something about music. Correct. And now on to your Achilles pain barrier. We've some more emails about this than perhaps anything else.
- [43:10]
B
Yeah, I mean, I appreciate everyone's concern and advice, but I'm getting so many conflicting bits of advice. Yeah. That if I followed them all, I'm pretty sure my leg would just fall off.
- [43:21]
A
Yeah, well, Matthew says. Turns out I've basically done the same thing Barry has. Underneath the big toe, there's this tiny joint that likes to pretend it's the plantar fasciitis. Dramatic cousin. And when it kicks off, it feels exactly like that kind of pain. What he needs is an insole. But here's the trick. He should only wear it for a couple of hours a day. Otherwise the foot throws a tantrum. It just helps take the pressure off. Especially if he's been marching up that big hill like he's training for the Tour de France. After a few pints. Thanks to Martino Cosmos.
- [43:48]
B
This is in my. It's not my tool.
- [43:51]
A
No, I know, but that affects the heel. Apparently that's what Matthew says Martino cousin wears Alex and other Alex, Matt, Neil, Fay, all suggested Achilles tendonitis. And a lot of people on Instagram who say you have gout. So, you know, I don't know. And I haven't been feasting on boar,
- [44:09]
B
port and mead since we got here. No.
- [44:13]
A
Yeah, there's every chance. And now, just on news that may have passed you by, Barry, did you. Here's a. Here's a headline that I saw that I was like, this is a lot of information. I didn't know Kieran Trippier wants to leave Wolves because Rob Edwards has been fired.
- [44:28]
B
Didn't know Kieran Trippier had gone to Wolves. I did know Rob Edwards was fired, but I found out yesterday morning. I think I announced in the. Has Rob Edwards been fired? I got an affirmative. Apparently it happened a while ago and,
- [44:45]
A
yeah, so Therehere we are, 50% of it.
- [44:47]
C
You knew.
- [44:47]
A
That's fine. So welcome, Kieran. Tribute to Wolf. Hope you have a lovely time and
- [44:52]
B
good luck at your next club.
- [44:54]
A
Exactly.
- [44:54]
C
Yeah.
- [44:55]
A
We'll find out where he is tomorrow maybe. And that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Alex.
- [44:59]
C
Thank you, Matt.
- [45:00]
A
Thanks, Jeff.
- [45:00]
D
Thank you.
- [45:01]
A
Cheers, Barry.
- [45:02]
B
Thank you.
- [45:02]
A
Football Weekly is produced by Rory Simon. Our executive producer is Joel Grove. And we'll be back tomorrow.
- [45:11]
C
This is the Guardian.
- [45:19]
A
Hi, pod fans. Max here. Barry's here, too.
- [45:21]
B
Hello.
- [45:22]
A
Football Weekly is 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.
- [45:30]
B
I don't know. Producer Joel does it.
- [45:32]
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.
- [45:55]
B
What's a blackout date?
- [45:57]
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.
- [46:07]
B
Superb.
- [46:07]
A
Yes. So next time you're booking somewhere to stay, just book it@hotels.comhotels.com. it's all in the name.
- [46:21]
D
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- [46:53]
F
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