Spain are world champions - World Cup Daily

Summary

Football Weekly: Spain are World Champions – World Cup Daily (July 20, 2026)

Episode Overview

In this World Cup Daily edition of Football Weekly, host Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson, John Bruin, and a post-match call with Sid Lowe to dissect Spain’s gritty but deserved 1–0 victory over Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final at the Meadowlands. The panel scrutinizes the match’s drama, the ugliness of Argentina’s approach, Spain’s team storylines, Rodri’s tournament dominance, memorable moments from the final’s halftime extravaganza, and England's third-place playoff. The conversation balances sharp tactical analysis, irreverent wit, and an insider's sense of football culture — perfect for both diehards and casual fans.

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Spain Crowned Champions: The Final Decoded

The Match Recap

• Result: Spain 1–0 Argentina (Ferran Torres, ET)
• Venue: Meadowlands, New Jersey

Tournament Context

• Spain claim their second World Cup, described as “thoroughly deserved” despite not hitting their absolute best on the night.
• Argentina’s negative, fouling, and "shithousery" style is heavily criticized by panelists: “Even Messi tried to get Cucurella sent off. Hopefully Paredes will get a big ban for throwing punches afterwards. What a bunch of shit. … Thank goodness they lost.” (Max Rushden, 01:27)
• Argentina register no shots on target in 120 minutes; Spain dominant but wasteful until Torres’ winner.

The Winning Goal (03:12)

• Scorer: Ferran Torres (Spain)
• Assist: Nico Williams (deep cross, header assist)
• “What a moment for him to score... I like that it’s someone like him. … Maybe people didn’t always rate him.” (Sid Lowe, 03:17)

Key Statistics

• Spain: 1.94 xG, 30 shots
• Argentina: 0.17 xG, 2 shots
• Martinez (Argentina GK): Most saves in a World Cup final

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Key Talking Points & Analysis

Player Arcs and Vindication (04:04)

• Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal: Both battled injuries but made impacts when fit. Williams’ semi-fit cameo produced a match-winning assist.
• Ferran Torres: Story of personal redemption after a tough season, echoing the squad’s narrative of overcoming doubts.

“You can go through the team and say this is a tournament of vindication.” — Sid Lowe (04:09)

Rodri: Player of the Tournament

• A midfield general, praised for his consistent, calm dominance.
• Guardiola’s prediction: “Do you know when he’ll be good? He’ll be good at the World Cup.” (Sid Lowe, 05:38)
• Raises Ballon d’Or debate: “I wonder if this puts him back in the frame now, being seen as the best player in the world.” (Sid Lowe, 06:01)

De la Fuente’s Culture & Management

• Spain’s manager credited for fusing together a team over egos, emphasizing “family” and selecting “good people first."
• “He doesn’t want to make it about him, but I think he knows it is about him because he’s created an environment.” (Sid Lowe, 06:30)
• Tactical tweak highlights: Dropping Pedri, bringing on Olmo shifts the team balance.

“It’s more than tactics... He's tried really, really hard to create that identity...” — Sid Lowe (06:30)

Argentina’s Negative Approach

• Lamentations on their “cynical,” anti-football strategy: “Argentina seem so hell-bent on shithousing their way through games, they seem to forget...they're pretty good at [actual football].” (Barry Glendenning, 08:07)
• Refereeing and tolerance of fouling seen as a persistent problem.
• Contrasts with their entertaining squads of 1986/2022.

Messi Dependency and the End of an Era?

• Messi’s minimal impact (54 touches, none in penalty area), last minutes spent up front “like he's Dan Burn.” (Jonathan Wilson, 14:04)
• Argentina’s struggle to transition from Messi-centric play, despite proven ability without him (e.g., “beating Brazil when it could have been 8 or 9–1 without Messi,” 15:01).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I don't think I've ever seen a 1-0 victory be quite as deserved as that.” – Sid Lowe (02:54)
• “What a bunch of shit. They did nothing … Thank goodness they lost.” – Max Rushden (01:27)
• “When Argentina play, they're really good… for some reason, they decided to try and brawl their way to victory.” – Jonathan Wilson (10:54)
• “This is a tournament of vindication … an opportunity to rise again.” – Sid Lowe (04:09)
• “Being more Busquets” — Jonathan Wilson on Rodri’s evolution (18:01)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:27] — Raucous opening, summary, and Argentina slating
• [02:54–07:26] — Sid Lowe reports from the field, discussing Spain’s win, squad stories, vindication theme, and the manager's impact
• [08:07] — Studio panel reacts: Spain's performance, Argentina's negativity
• [15:01] — Messi’s role, Argentina’s dependency, and changing team dynamics
• [18:25] — Praise for Spanish fullbacks Cucurella and Poro
• [21:02] — De la Fuente’s calm leadership and continuity in Spanish football philosophy
• [22:21] — Olmo and squad depth impact
• [22:50]–23:26 — Final as a “stinker,” comparisons with other all-time dull matches

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Halftime Show & Off-Pitch Razzmatazz

Showbiz Highlights (25:54–32:34)

• Opening ceremony: Robbie Williams (and mistaken for Kevin Pietersen, to amusement)
• Halftime show: Madonna chauffeured by Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, Muppets performing “Seven Nation Army,” BTS, Shakira, Justin Bieber, and children’s choir with Miss Piggy and Kermit.
• “I’d like to see the Argentinian set about the entire halftime show, Paredes going in on Miss Piggy.” – Barry Glendenning (31:41)
• General consensus: Entertaining spectacle, but would enrage if it interrupted a nerve-wracking England final.

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England’s Third-Place Playoff: France 4–6 England

Main Points (35:51–41:35)

• England win a wild, high-scoring, “soccer aid” style 3rd/4th playoff: “It wasn’t really football, it was something slightly soccery, slightly disgusting, but sort of fun.” – Jonathan Wilson (38:43)
• Saka scored a hat-trick, raising debate over his absence in the semi-final: “He was fit for the semi-final and the semi-final wasn’t good.” (39:46)
• Game as deeply unserious defense, but a cathartic, enjoyable watch for England fans.

Southgate/Tuchel Post-Mortem (41:35–44:44)

• Debate over blame for semi-final collapse: player panic vs. managerial inability to adjust.
• “I think he got some of his substitutions wrong and I think...he made a mess of it.” – Barry Glendenning (44:01)
• Reference to football media and public “meltdown” in the UK, with appreciation for the entertainment value.

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World Cup Legacy, Spanish Blueprint, & Final Thoughts

Spanish Continuity & Success (20:09–22:43)

• De la Fuente’s journey from youth teams proves the value of coaches embedded in federations, echoed in Spanish and (to some extent) Argentinian success.
• Spain’s continuing evolution from Aragonés to Del Bosque to now, blending patience, possession, and tactical flexibility.

Reflecting on the Tournament

• “It’s a shame that what was quite a good tournament… one of the games that stank it out the most was the final.” — Barry Glendenning (22:50)
• Panel shares affectionate and humorous memories, thanks to the staff and audience, and anticipates a needed rest.

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Closing Notes

• The episode ends with heartfelt thanks to production and listeners, and hints at a forthcoming Football Weekly live tour and further Guardian football content.
• As always, the panel’s mix of expertise, comic relief, and honesty makes for an unmissable conclusion to a memorable World Cup summer.

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For a full analysis, listen from [01:27] for the match breakdown, [25:54] for halftime show discussion, and [35:51] for England’s third-place playoff.

Transcript

[Max Rushden]

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[Max Rushden]

Acast do. Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Spain win the World cup for the second time in their history. Has the team ever deserved it more? Ferran Torres scoring the winner in extra time. A deep cross and a great header back across goal by Nico Williams who made the difference off the bench. They were the best team in the tournament. They weren't brilliant tonight, but they were infinitely better than the opposition. The Argentinians were awful. They didn't have a shot until extra time, but Uno Simon made no saves. Argentina were filthy. Enzo sent off stupidly. Paredes, Taglifico and co never stopped fouling. Even Messi tried to get Cucurella sent off. Hopefully Paredes will get a big ban for throwing punches afterwards. What a bunch of shit. They did nothing. They weren't good enough. And thank goodness they lost. We'll do a bit on the showbiz. Tom Cruise bringing the world together Is Jon Bruin a Belieber? Find out later. We'll do a bit on the Harlem Globetrotters Soccer Aid mash up between England and France yesterday. And as we gather for one final chapter, let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together. Let us celebrate each other. This is football. This is unity. This is greatness. This is the Guardian Football Weekly. On the Panel today. Barry Glendenning. Welcome.

[Barry Glendenning]

Hello, Max.

[Max Rushden]

Jonathan Wilson.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Hello.

[Max Rushden]

Hello and welcome. John Bruin.

[John Bruin]

Great intro, Max.

[Max Rushden]

Thanks so much. Not all my words before I chat to you lot. I caught up with Sid Lowe after

[Sid Lowe]

the game, coming through the. Through the Lincoln Tunnel, back into Manhattan from, from Meadowlands. And you know what, there was a moment, wasn't it, right at the very end when Messi went across the front of the penalty area and I thought, oh, we go, this is going to actually happen now, Spain, about all the chances, but Messi's going to get the goal. I don't think I've ever seen a one nil victory be quite as deserved as that.

[Max Rushden]

Ferran Torres, what a moment for him to score the winning goal in a World cup final.

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah, I mean, I've been writing about this day because I was doing the Spain sidebar and in a way there's a. This. I quite like the. The fact that it's someone like him. And in fact, Luis de la Fuente said after the game that he was very pleased that it was him. Pedro Borro said how pleased he was it was him. And I think that's a symbol of the, of the group, because if you go back to the game against Saudi Arabia, Spain have cornered up and Ferran Torres scores a goal to make it 5 nil. And it gets ruled out by Var. And the cameras catch Ferran Torres muttering to himself, please be a goal, please be a goal, please be a goal. And I think you saw there the pressure, the sense that maybe people didn't always rate him that says that maybe he wasn't always valued or didn't feel valued, and maybe also the sense that felt like somehow fate was against him and it turns out that fate was actually saving one up for him. And, and the, and the, you know, the second biggest goal or the biggest goal in Spain's football history.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

And also Nico Williams, right, who wasn't fit for almost all the tournament but made such a difference.

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah. And I think actually you can go through the team and say that this is a tournament of vindication. So Nico Williams, who's been injured, came back from injury, then of course had that injury against Uruguay, which he thought was going to put him out for the rest of the tournament. And he described it as the. One of the worst days of his life. So he was difficult one Lamin came into the tournament injured. You had. Laporte had a difficult season. Unai Simon had doubts about him all the way through the season. Rodri had come back from an injury Fabian Ruiz have been injured a lot, so you've got a whole load of players who, I think, came into this tournament. And it actually raises a question, a kind of a physical question, which is whether it's not a bad thing to come into a tournament having missed a lot of season for injury. But I also think it creates a psychological, emotional thing about the tournament being an opportunity to be vindicated, or at least an opportunity to kind of rise again.

[Max Rushden]

Luis de la Fuente and others, did they talk about the Argentinian approach to the game, the basically being violent shits for the whole thing?

[Sid Lowe]

Well, Pedro Porto was asked about this, and the question was obviously designed to try and get him to say pretty much what you've just said. But, you know, bear in mind, at that point, they won it sort of, you know, that one is long enough after the game that they're not angry anymore. They've won it. They're absolutely delighted. So Federal Pono did, I think, the right thing and just sort of said, well, you know, they play their way, we play our way. It's fine. And, you know, it's. It's almost the best response, isn't it, to say to Argentina, very good, but we're the world champions.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Max Rushden]

And a word on Rodri, who won the player of the tournament. He was magnificent again.

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah, absolutely. And so it's really important this. I think we talked about this the other day, Max, that Rodri had reached a point in the autumn when he thought the process of rehabilitation wasn't quite going right, and essentially had a conversation with Guardiola about managing this. How do I come back in the right shape? And remember that quote from Guardiola, when will it be? Midway through the season, where people saying, well, Rodri's performances are okay, but they're not consistently very good. And Guardio said, do you know when he'll be good? He'll be good at the World Cup. And I think there was a real sense of preparing for this, of this being his everything, of this being the thing that would kind of re. Put him, if you like, at the very forefront of everything. And so much so. And I hate to do this, because, you know, what matters, they just won the World cup, not the other thing. But given that you asked me specifically about Rodri, I wonder if this puts him back in the frame now, being seen as the best player in the world and a candidate for the Ballon d' or again?

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, quite possibly. Word on the manager?

[Sid Lowe]

Well, I. Word on the manager is that this is his success. You Know, you look at the way this has happened, there hasn't been an outstanding superstar. This has been about a team. There's lots of very good players there. He's a manager that has constantly talked about recognizing their qualities, constantly said, these are the best players in the world. After the game. Actually saw him on the way out of the stadium and he was like, nah, it's these guys. These guys are amazing. These players are amazing. And he doesn't want to make it about him, but I think he knows it is about him because he's created an environment. And I think it's more than tactics. In fact, I think it's not even tactics, although he's got his tactical decisions right as well. I think it's about the group and what he keeps using the word family. And now I know that's a bit of a cliche. I know lots of managers do it. Lots of players do it. They always say, oh, we're like a family. But he's tried really, really hard to create that identity and he keeps using that. The other phrase he's uses a lot is to say that I choose good players, but I choose good people first. And he's even said explicitly if there's a really brilliant player, but he's not a good person, he's not coming.

[Max Rushden]

Did you enjoy the halftime show?

[Sid Lowe]

No. Although I must confess, if you're in a game and you're writing and you get 27 minutes to write at halftime instead of 15, it's quite handy.

[Max Rushden]

Hey, listen, Sid, thanks so much for taking the time. I know it's been a very busy day for you and it's pretty late, so we appreciate your time. Now back to me, Wilson Bruin and Barry in the studio. And we've just been lazing about all day.

[Sid Lowe]

Thank you, Sid, very much. A pleasure, enjoy.

[Max Rushden]

So for the tape, I've chatted with Sid, but that's after I'm having this chat with you. But hopefully that all makes sense. Time travel. Exactly. So Spain win the World Cup 1 nil. I mean, thank God, Barry, they did.

[Barry Glendenning]

I enjoyed your intro. I thought was slightly sanctimonious and I think it was rooted in bitterness you continue to feel after Argentina beat England in the semi final. But there is absolutely no doubt the best team won that match. And we saw again. Argentina seem so hell bent on shithousing their way through games, they seem to forget that when they actually finally started to play football, bit of football, they're pretty good at it. And it looked when they finally started playing in this game, with five minutes of extra time remaining, they created a few chances, and I think it would have been awful if they put one away, but they didn't. And Spain are thoroughly deserving winners. Didn't actually play as well as they can. They didn't play as well as they can in their opening game of this tournament. Didn't play as well as they can in their final game of the tournament, but they did enough to win it. And I think we're all quite grateful for that because Argentina, I mean, what? No shots on target.

[Max Rushden]

No shots on target. They had two shots. The only real chance was Simeone skying it. I mean, he probably should have tried to two foot it and maybe he'd have connected better. 1.94 XG versus 0.17. Argentina had eight touches in the opposition box, only two after 90 minutes. Martinez made the most saves in World cup final history. So, yeah, maybe I don't think I'm being sanctimonious, but, you know, it's not the first time Barry's accused me of being sanctimonious. This six weeks, it does feel like a win for football, Wilson.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, obviously I have had a financial incentive in Argentina winning, and as you know, there is no incentive I like more than a incentive.

[Brooke Devard]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

So I think it would have been hilarious if Argentina had equalized. It would have been funny and then won it on penalties. But it was a disgusting final. And Barry's right. The thing I don't understand is when Argentina play, they're really good. So, I mean, that doesn't mean you have to sort of go gung ho and attack from the start, but there's a balance to be struck. And I do wonder, in the same way that England winning in Mexico sort of reified in the English mind, this is how you have to defend the lead. Did Argentina beat England? Verify in their mind, oh, yeah, this is how we play at tournaments. So the whole thing was very 1990, that Argentina went in as champions, and in 86 and 2022, they played good football. And then for some reason, four years later, with a quite similar squad, they decided to go and try and brawl their way to victory.

[Max Rushden]

Was this, was this. Were they worse here or in 1990?

[Jonathan Wilson]

They were worse in 1990 because the rules are a lot tighter now. But I think Argentina's performance today was a consequence of indulgence they've been shown throughout the tournament. And I, you know, I, I think if you barge into the back of somebody two or three seconds after the ball's gone. Even if it's just a shove, it should just be a yellow card because you're not trying to play the ball. All you're trying to do is disrupt the game.

[Max Rushden]

And actually it's. If the referee's given a free kick, well, the game isn't flowing, so it's not letting the game flow. You're stopping it already.

[Jonathan Wilson]

So the game flowing thing, it's. You have to think of a long term. So okay, maybe this one particular game, you let that flow by letting a few fouls go. But the long term consequences, people just get away with fouls and then you get things like today. I mean, today was not about letting the game flow at all. And I would say that's not because of a referee intervening too much. It's because previous referees have intervened too little.

[Max Rushden]

So Enzo was sent up. And actually some of the Argentinian fouls, John, are sort of sensible. Even if they're filthy and they really, you know, they really leave one on you. They're like at sensible places on the pitch. But both of his. His first yellow for descent and the second yellow was so D. And it did change the game.

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It.

[John Bruin]

It did, it did. Because Spain had such dominance of midfield and then Argentina's best midfielder departs. But it was a World cup final of cynicism that reflected quite a lot of what we've seen before in terms of. It's been a cynical tournament in many respects. Some of them beyond the pitch. I mean, the Baligan thing will. Will probably never get over. But Argentina, the way that they played that, it was almost as if they were afraid to take it toe to toe with Spain because they felt they had the better players. Barry, do you not feel shame hitching yourself to the wagon of this Argentine team?

[Barry Glendenning]

I'm not hitching myself to the wagon.

[John Bruin]

Well, you did the other day.

[Max Rushden]

You hitched onto it and then hitched off it.

[John Bruin]

Okay.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, I didn't care who won this final. Max, you were full of praise for the manner in which Arsenal approached the Champions League final. I don't know how you can praise and then.

[Max Rushden]

Well, because that wasn't kicking the shit out of people. That was just playing totally different performance.

[Barry Glendenning]

I don't. I mean, none of the fouls today were particularly bad.

[Max Rushden]

No, but there were lots of yellow. You know, Paredes should have been booked, should have been gone. I think Taglafico could have done as well. I don't think they're comparable. I understand.

[Jonathan Wilson]

And there was also. There was a lot of. When players were jumping nudging them, which is really dangerous.

[John Bruin]

Yes.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean maybe, you know, it's not a. It's not major contact. Nothing particularly under there though Kubasi, I mean, I suppose it's slightly different because he sort of flipped over, but Kubasi could have really damaged his shot. He landed on his arm. He's quite lucky, I think, that he didn't damage his shot.

[Max Rushden]

And actually in that game Arsenal took the lead. So that just changed exactly how you.

[John Bruin]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Play. You know, if Argentina take the lead early, then you go defensive. Hopefully not as dirty as that. And it was.

[Jameela Jamil]

Sorry.

[John Bruin]

Disallowed goal cynicism as well from OT Mendy and falling to the floor and

[Max Rushden]

if only Jed Spencer done that.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, but. Yeah, well, quiet. Yeah, but they just.

[Max Rushden]

We're too honest.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, let's not.

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[John Bruin]

No, let's not read it. But it seems a terrible waste when you have Messi and you actually only allow Messi to play in the last five, six minutes of the game.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Baffling use of Messi. Sticking him up front like he's Dan Byrne. Last two minutes stuck him up there

[John Bruin]

like it was Chris Ualumo and just getting it launched to the big man.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah. Chris will be delighted with the comparison. He had 54 touches, none in the opposition box. He was in tears at the end, I mean, I guess. Well, but it could be his last game.

[John Bruin]

Well, yeah, I mean we, we saw tears at the end of the 2014 final. At which point he retired.

[Jonathan Wilson]

No, it's 2016 after he lost his success of COP.

[John Bruin]

We've seen those tears before. It seems if you Argentina, that there probably has to come a time when you cut the cord with, with, with Messi. It was almost like he was their get out clause. The rest of the players looked to him and they didn't have the capability of living with Spain.

[Max Rushden]

Or maybe you, you, you have to change how you play if Messi's there.

[John Bruin]

Yes, still brilliant.

[Max Rushden]

And he's still. But it, it sort of dictates you build. He's a player. You build a team around.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

So if you don't have him, you perhaps play in a different way.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, and, and arguably their best performance since last World cup was beating Brazil 41 when it could have been 8 or 91 without Messi. So yeah, I mean Messi Dependencia has been something that's been talked about for a long time and I think it's slightly more baffling now in that they've proved they can do it without him. But at the same time, if You've got him, of course, you use him.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

And he's a difficult thing to square. I suspect when he goes he surely won't be around in 20, 30. They'll be fine.

[John Bruin]

Is there such a thing as Rodri Dependencia?

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Because the City have had it.

[Barry Glendenning]

Because.

[John Bruin]

Well, quite, yeah. When City went off the ball when Roger had his acl. And what's interesting with this tournament is the best player deservedly was Rodri because Spain's midfield was the engine of victory, wasn't it? They don't have a great forward line in a center forward.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well and also I think you saw the difference from two years ago because Lamin clearly was not fit. Neither was Nico did not have a great tournament. Nico Williams was restricted to coming off a bench and made a huge difference today coming off a bench. So I, you know, I think if the two of them are fit in two years, time for the Euros, Spain will. Yeah.

[John Bruin]

Having said that, the substitute striker scored the winning goal.

[Jonathan Wilson]

So I mean he's had a shocking tournament.

[John Bruin]

He's not played very well.

[Max Rushden]

Doesn't matter, does it? Score the winner in the world.

[John Bruin]

International hero.

[Max Rushden]

And actually, and I may or may not have covered this with Sid, but I presume now Will Barry. It is a brilliant finish actually. A time where Spain had had so many chances but no real clear cut chances. Martinez had made loads of saves but no brilliant. He made one brilliant saves from Nico Williams actually in the first half. Extra time. That finish is brilliant from Ferran.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah. Left footed side foot into the roof of the net. Pretty unstoppable. Like you say. Martinez had made saves, none of them particularly extraordinary. You would expect him to make most of them. I think the ball, the header from the byline by Nico Williams into the Torres's path is just as important obviously. And it's the kind of opportunity you could put 20ft over the bar. But he didn't. And look, they needed to take one of those chances. It. It was coming. Yeah, it really was.

[Max Rushden]

It was. I mean there was that time, I think you said it Wilson, when, when it was like Spain have had 12 shots, 30 shots and I just had no shots and the clock's ticking. You just thinking they're going to have one shot and it's going to go in. You just saw of this sneaky. But they were. Even though they were creating absolutely nothing, you just thought maybe. What did you say? Otamendi 118 Otomendi 118 on Rodri. It's quite interesting how. Because he's big, isn't he like, he's a big. Most brilliant. Central midfielders who are brilliant at keeping the ball are not like, frankly, so big.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I wonder if in the Spanish system he's benefited from his size that they haven't tried to turn him into. You're a tricky Xavi or Gavi style.

[Sid Lowe]

Sure.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Midfielder, it's sort of okay. You are a bit slower, you are a bit more busquets. And so why don't you play that busquets. And he has. And he's been a successful.

[Max Rushden]

Bit more busquets. Quite good advice for any central midfielder, isn't it? And they've had. All over the pitch. But as you know, they're. You know, there's talk. There was lots of talk, I guess lots of Premier League fans think David Reyes should play in goal, but Simon's letting one. The fullbacks have both been brilliant as well.

[Barry Glendenning]

Cucarella and Poro both. I mean, Poirot's not had a particularly good season for Spurs. He's been an absolute revelation here. Cucurella is a nasty shit, let's face it, when he's playing for Chelsea and he's got plenty about him when he's playing for Spain as well. But he looked positively angelic today up against Argentina. And you know that the good guys won this one. So it's. But look, it was a terrible game. I. We watched it in a very, you know, circumstance forced us to watch it in a very busy bar full of people who kind of seemed like they'd never been in a bar before. And the noise was deafening.

[Max Rushden]

The volume on the television.

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Oh, wow. I had to go outside for a time.

[Barry Glendenning]

I'm sure I'm going to end up. It was tennis on the back of that anyway. Yes. People, you know, on a jolly inverted commas in New York enjoy themselves complaining about it. No, I'm Talking about us 50 odd

[Jonathan Wilson]

year old men going to young people's bars. It's just a bad idea.

[Barry Glendenning]

But I'm wondering if that. It was still a terrible game, wasn't it? Even if I'd watched it in blissful solitude, it was still a terrible, terrible World cup final.

[John Bruin]

If you'd have been watching Blissful Solitude, you'd done a lot of looking at your phone and stuff like that, because it didn't quite yet that that bar was louder than when I went to see sun the other week. And whatever they've done with the volume in there is absolutely incredible.

[Max Rushden]

Well, Luis de la Fuente will. That's the Euros. And now the world Cup. This is quite a good run.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, and I mean it's a point loads of people have been making. But it does seem that engineering in international football, having somebody from within the federation who understands the system, who's worked with youth teams, who's known some of the players for years and years and years, that is more useful than bringing in your big name manager and bolting them on. But yeah, Scaloni, you could say exactly the same thing for is his opponent in the final and what it hasn't

[Max Rushden]

seen it under tens. Are they doing that the dnf?

[John Bruin]

What point do they say right, certainly

[Max Rushden]

you see him eat him eat that

[John Bruin]

man De la Fuente though. I mean his manner is not dissimilar to Del Bosque, you know, who's, who performed a similar feat. It's just, you know, it's, it's keep it. One of the reasons Spain are victors is because they kept the calm.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[John Bruin]

Where say England were allowed themselves to be drawn into it. Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, I think as well there's this extraordinary thing again it's, this is not a revelation, it's not something hasn't been said before, but it is an extraordinary thing that Spain basically Aragon has changed their style between 2006 and 2008. Dropping Raul, getting rid of the La Furia, the, you know, the sort of, the fury of the sort of self imposed style before that and sort of paved the way for Del Bosque and the sort of more patient Barcelona influenced possession style and they've played that ever since. So it seems to work, doesn't it?

[Max Rushden]

But he changed things during this tournament. He took Pedri out, he brought in Danielmo that has, you know, he bought in Fabian Ruiz. So he's, you know, they've, they've got lots of good players but like he's, he hasn't just gone this is my team he's thought about.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah. And I think Olmo for Pedri is actually quite a key thing because he, he gave him a bit of that directness. They lost by Lamina Mal not being quite right and, and Nico Williams not being there and Alex Bayerna's done fine but he's very obviously a central player but playing wide, drifting in field and he's got no pace so he's, he's filled in well. But he's clearly not doing the same job as Nico Williamson.

[Max Rushden]

No, but it's quite interesting that they can still play. You know, he played really well actually in the France game which is like the, the performance of the Tournament by anyone probably.

[John Bruin]

And then they can bring on players like Marino who added that extra element of them being direct when they were really pushing for it. And then Supermandy hadn't played any moments in the tournament. But it's like, I mean, remember the Euros final? Remember we were all celebrating when Rodri went off and then they bring on Zubamendi who turned out to be really good and they were able to do that.

[Sid Lowe]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

So maybe that Rodri Dependencio we were talking about, maybe we've overstated that. When I, when I think about Zubamende. Yeah, good point.

[John Bruin]

Good point.

[Max Rushden]

He could do it. Any other strong thoughts on the game before we move on to the, the, the, the off pitch stuff?

[Barry Glendenning]

Not strong thoughts again. It wasn't very good. And it's a shame that what was quite a good tournament in terms of football on the pitch, that one of the biggest. One of the games that stank it out the most was the final. I still say it was a lot better than Australia. Paraguay in the group, which is my new benchmark for terrible. It used to be Egypt, Republic of Ireland. I think it was World Cup 1990,

[John Bruin]

but mine was Island Norway. 94.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, we've been in a few.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Max Rushden]

England, Algeria. I mean, I guess circumstance dictates, but I. Yeah, that was at least that

[John Bruin]

had the idea of righteous fury about just how awful it was.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Switzerland, Ukraine, 2006, your classic Japan power 2010.

[Max Rushden]

Paraguay doing well.

[John Bruin]

There's a pattern here.

[Barry Glendenning]

We need to get Ireland playing Paraguay.

[Max Rushden]

Oh my God.

[Barry Glendenning]

Can you imagine Jack Charles, maybe the

[Max Rushden]

opening game incarnation in the 6014 World Cup. Hopefully Ireland can get there. Hal Grimson's gone even more direct. We go to Asuncion. The Guardians send us to Paraguay, but

[John Bruin]

that came for six weeks in Asuncion.

[Max Rushden]

In Paraguay. Let's see that Nil Nil draw.

[John Bruin]

It's what we deserve.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, absolutely. All right, that'll do for part one. Part two. We'll do a little bit on the opening ceremony in the halftime show.

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[John Bruin]

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[Max Rushden]

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So we'll do the razzmatazz. So we began with the opening ceremony. Robbie Williams in a nice glittery tracksuit. Respect that. He's going grey. There was a moment in the game when it cut to Robbie Williams and Wilson thought it was Kevin Peterson.

[John Bruin]

Who's happier with that comparison?

[Barry Glendenning]

I don'.

[Max Rushden]

I'd have liked it if KP had sung a song with the Cole Scherzing.

[Jonathan Wilson]

On my defence, he was wearing sunglasses.

[Max Rushden]

He was. No, no, you're absolutely right. Yeah, but he wasn't in whites.

[Barry Glendenning]

That was very. He was kind of sporting. Robbie was Sporting KP's 2005 Badger Skunk Haircut.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah, I think that'd be great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true.

[Jonathan Wilson]

It's very loud. I think that can't be stressed enough.

[Max Rushden]

I think we have stressed it quite a lot. The World cup came out of a Louis Vuitton box. Barry. Did we impress with that?

[Barry Glendenning]

Is that the normal carry case?

[John Bruin]

I don't know. It's. It's camp, isn't it? And it's, you know, the. The President has a certain campness to him.

[Jonathan Wilson]

So.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, then maybe that's what it was.

[Barry Glendenning]

A special. Bring it out with a test.

[Max Rushden]

Something good about a plastic bag. Yeah. Maybe a tote bag. I don't know if it's always. Because there were two Louis Vuitton ambassadors.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I've got a suspicion the last World cup was a Louis Vuitton.

[Barry Glendenning]

I mean, a friend of mine once accused me of arrogance because I went to the FSA awards and brought a Sainsbury's bag. That such was my confidence that I would.

[Max Rushden]

Oh, really?

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Okay.

[Barry Glendenning]

Carry some awards.

[Max Rushden]

Right. Okay.

[Barry Glendenning]

So, yeah, maybe I need to invest in a Louis Vuitt Vuitton carrier bag.

[John Bruin]

Right.

[Max Rushden]

For our next possible.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Is it classy, Louis? I don't even know

[Barry Glendenning]

football or washbag of choice.

[John Bruin]

Brassy rather than classy. It was speaking as if classy men

[Jonathan Wilson]

more tassels than taste.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah. I would say, you know, you could probably get a cheaper box that'll do the same job. Would be my guess.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Or get a classy box.

[John Bruin]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, you're FIFA. You got. You've made $15 billion.

[Max Rushden]

I mean, what would you. You know, what's your classy box?

[Jonathan Wilson]

I would go to, you know, they're.

[Max Rushden]

They.

[Jonathan Wilson]

They're from Zurich, Literally the land of cuckoo clocks.

[Max Rushden]

Okay.

[Jonathan Wilson]

You could go to a cuckoo clock manufacturer.

[Max Rushden]

World cup comes out of a little. Is that classy? Anyway, after that, then Tom Cruise stood there and spouted some unutterable bollocks about bringing the world together.

[Jonathan Wilson]

What an actor that man is.

[John Bruin]

But then we had on a TV broadcast, we had more Cruise. It cut to Tom Cruise, which is a bit disconcerting.

[Max Rushden]

It was quite a cruisy moment. And then producer Rory noticed that both the buffers. I didn't realize there was more than one buffer. They were doing announcing and hate each other. No. Apparently they were estranged or they didn't know that they were brothers.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I was being brought together by football and. Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

And they became. Yeah. It has unites the buffers, you know.

[John Bruin]

Thank you, Gianni.

[Max Rushden]

Apparently, they're both.

[Aura Advertiser]

They were.

[Max Rushden]

Both became announcers without knowing each other.

[John Bruin]

So it's nurture. DNA. Genetics is its nature.

[Max Rushden]

Not nurse.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Really loud voices. Shithousery. It's like.

[Brooke Devard]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Then we go to the halftime show gins with Madonna being driven around by Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, which. In a June buggy, which I quite liked about it. Yes.

[John Bruin]

Yeah. That was good. That was good.

[Max Rushden]

Then we had the Muppets doing Seven Nation Army. Once again, I wasn't against that.

[John Bruin]

The Muppets are very New York, aren't they?

[Max Rushden]

I think so, yeah.

[John Bruin]

They feel.

[Brooke Devard]

Yeah.

[John Bruin]

New York. Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

My only problem with that was it was clearly.

[Max Rushden]

Well, they were playing live.

[Barry Glendenning]

Some representatives of Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. But several key members were missing, including, I think, Zoot the sax player, who's my favorite.

[Max Rushden]

Right.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Conscientious objection to FIFA.

[Max Rushden]

Maybe Zoo's been canceled.

[Barry Glendenning]

I mean, it was oot.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah. I would say Zoot is a moppet of principle.

[Max Rushden]

Right, okay. Then we had bts. Then we had bts.

[Jonathan Wilson]

We all aspire to muppet of principle, don't we?

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, BTS came on and they were better of all the Koreans on show this World cup, they definitely performed better than the footballers. Then our friend Brendan Hunt, Coach Beard, came out with Ted Lasso to introduce Justin Bieber.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, you enjoyed that.

[Max Rushden]

Well, I said to John, we were outside watching this on the laptop because it was too noisy inside. And I said, well, at least he can hold a tune. And what did you call him?

[John Bruin]

Well, I probably can't repeat what I said. No, no, you did. I said, like, my point was that you said, he can hold a tune. And I said, well, Shane McGowan couldn't hold a tune, but this song's a miles better.

[Max Rushden]

And I said, why do we have to keep comparing Shane McGowan, Justin Bieber? Why can't we just enjoy both of them?

[John Bruin]

Well, one of them's good. That's the point. Right. And the whole point. Yeah, what I was saying, I compared him to a. A motorway service.

[Sid Lowe]

Yes.

[John Bruin]

Sandwich. Just. Just this sort of. It does the job. It's sort of in tune. It's that it was, I believe, at the end of his performance. I believe so. At the end of his performance, he sort of walked off like he'd been subbed off or something.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, like a 50 yard. It was like he was walking up a penalty or something. It was a 50 yard walk.

[Sid Lowe]

One of the.

[Max Rushden]

One of the hardest walks in football is walking off. He was sub. Yeah, he was.

[John Bruin]

Oh, was that it? Well, I mean.

[Barry Glendenning]

And he's. Yeah, he's saying everything. Hallelujah. And then Shakira came on. Can I just say a World Cup Hallelujah?

[John Bruin]

Yeah, I just. I prefer Dr. Alban sing Hallelujah.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah.

[Max Rushden]

Okay. And Shakira, Well, Roy King enjoyed Shakira, so it's always nice to see Shakira. Then we have Miss Piggy and Kermit with the children's choir. I mean, this is so the football match. I mean, it was actually probably more entertaining than the first half.

[Barry Glendenning]

Oh, it was definitely more interesting.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I quite like to see in the Argentinian set about the entire halftime show,

[Max Rushden]

Paredes going in on Miss Piggy.

[John Bruin]

Giuliano Simeone is a better children's entertainer than footballer.

[Max Rushden]

I just don't know. I don't know. But I. They look having a good time, the kids dancing with Shakira. Look, they look pretty well trained as dancers, but the ones jumping about With Chris Martin, I think they might just be like some nice kids. You didn't know Chris Martin was there. Wayne really said, I thought it was crap.

[John Bruin]

What did you say that Matthew Leticia on Twitter said?

[Max Rushden]

I mean, I literally, you could say anything now.

[John Bruin]

He said the pundits are deliberately not criticizing, you know, sort of. He spotted a, you know, conspiracy there.

[Max Rushden]

Okay.

[John Bruin]

And. And Wayne smashed it.

[Max Rushden]

Oh, really? Oh, dear. So he was saying that he thought that all the people, he thought they

[John Bruin]

were trying to be too nice because.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, fine.

[John Bruin]

Because, you know, they're all part of the system, I suppose, because it's the World Cup Final.

[Max Rushden]

We've heard all about this half hour show. We're watching it in a way that, you know, I didn't hate it, but then I would hate it to be in every football match. And I think had England were playing in this, if England were playing in the final, I would be like, sake, lads.

[Barry Glendenning]

I suspect if it's Lincoln City, you get raging in Carabao. Cop of a Tuesday. You might struggle to get that line.

[Max Rushden]

It would just be, it would be half an hour of just, you know, it would be just like middle aged kicking football. So middle aged men in slippy shoes trying to score from the halfway line.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, I think it's sinsel Back bank would probably reject Justin Bieber. They probably say maybe they're not good.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Lincoln Cathedral Choir.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, they could do a job.

[John Bruin]

They're better than Justin Bieber.

[Max Rushden]

The trophy presentation, then we get to that. And apparently Christian Rrero didn't shake Trump's hand.

[John Bruin]

Rodri didn't seem overly done. He got it done. But yeah, there was a bit of grace towards the President, but just sort of moved straight on, didn't he?

[Max Rushden]

And then Trump, didn't he, he tried to stay, didn't he?

[John Bruin]

Gianni ushered him away for the lift.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, and then Gianni was trying to drag him, you know, had the shepherd's crook out.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah, he's basically in the same position we were looking at. To the right. Fuente was to the left. So I suspect in sort of 30 or 40 years there'll be historians which one of these blokes was the manager of Spain.

[Max Rushden]

Yeah, that's true. And Guy Mowbray did point out that the King of Spain is the tallest current living monarch.

[John Bruin]

Good stats, good stats.

[Max Rushden]

A great stat, isn't it?

[Barry Glendenning]

King of Spain.

[Max Rushden]

Of course that is true. But you know, good touch for a big man. By all accounts, the tallest ever monarch

[Jonathan Wilson]

is tallest ever monarch. That Swedish fellow was really big, wasn't

[John Bruin]

he might be a Dutch monarch, I reckon when Croatians are tall, if they've ever had a.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, with the franker pans.

[John Bruin]

Very tall man.

[Max Rushden]

Ten minutes to go, max. Let's get to England, says producer Joel. But, yeah, if you know who the tallest monarch is, let us know. We'll.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I think it's. I think it's Charles Thingy, the Swedish lad.

[Max Rushden]

Charles Thingy, yeah. First of September, live at Vicar street for more stuff like this in Dublin. 9th of September, the Soho Theater in Walthamstow. Please come along. The Soho one is. The Soho Theater 1 is live streamed as well. So wherever you are on earth, you can go to that one. Guardian.co.uk Football Weekly Live and yes, quite a lot of tickets have gone, so buy them or be disappointed. And that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll do France four, England six.

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[Max Rushden]

And this is Nick Robinson. Check out our new movie voicemails for Isabel.

[Jonathan Wilson]

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[Brooke Devard]

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[Max Rushden]

Welcome to Part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So the third, fourth place playoff was the real quiz. The real England. Four nil. Up at halftime, a notoriously dangerous lead. France came back to 4:3 and then we got a penalty. By the time of the penalty, I was like, God, we really need that. I was into it. Bellingham scores like, thank God for that.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Osaka scored the penalty.

[Max Rushden]

Yes. Sorry, yeah. Osaka scored the penalty.

[Sid Lowe]

Yes.

[Max Rushden]

You're on the minute by minute, Jon.

[John Bruin]

Possibly.

[Max Rushden]

How did you keep up with that?

[John Bruin]

Possibly the busiest minute by minute of my career. Well, it was also fun. It was fun to do. It was a fun game. It didn't mean anything before we get to that, Barry. But it was. It was entertaining. It was. What's the matter? Yeah, here we go. But, I mean, but I. At a certain point, though, it almost turned against Thomas Tuchel again, didn't it? There was a point when it came to 4:3, the knives were being resharpened, weren't they? We mentioned the rap too earlier, didn't we, as a metaphor. And it just, I thought, oh no, please. And then. But the Bellingham goal, the clincher, what

[Max Rushden]

a silly goal that is. Power league.

[John Bruin]

That goal's not scored in our league.

[Max Rushden]

No, Barry and I, we were saying, I think when it went to 4:3 or when the penalty, we got the penalty, I was like, imagine if this was the World cup final, how utterly I would have been absolutely broken by this 4N up at halftime, dancing around.

[Barry Glendenning]

Producer Joel was saying he'd have died at like a thousand deaths if that was the actual World cup final. But I think if that had been the World cup final, France might have tried a bit in the first half and that ball team selections would have been very different. I think France went into it not really caring because they've won the World cup in, you know, not so long ago. And it was mainly can. Can. How many goals can Mbappe score to to make sure he wins the Golden Boot? There is an argument of course to be made that if you're in the third and four place playoff, you've been eliminated, therefore those goals shouldn't count. I'm not sure if I care enough to argue strenuously in favor against, but it was a fun game. I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention to it, if I'm honest. We were watching it together and coming. I would say coming third is better than not coming third. You get something. A memento.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[John Bruin]

The stat about the French was that Malagusto was the only tackle made by. In. By Frenchman in the first half or the only French defender to make it. So that maybe tells you a little bit about how the game was played.

[Max Rushden]

Quite funny. Now, you know, WhatsApp groups started going, oh, if only we'd turned played like this. And you're trying to say this. You just can't compare this with the argument.

[Jonathan Wilson]

No, of course you can't. I mean it wasn't really football, it was something slightly soccery, it was something slightly disgusting.

[Max Rushden]

McGuinness came on on the 63rd minute. No one noticed.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Vaguely related to football. What you do realise though, when you see that is how good these people are at football.

[John Bruin]

Yes.

[Jonathan Wilson]

And how what they could do if teams didn't defend and so you realize how good defences normally are. But this, I mean you've already made one sandwich analogy. But this was, this was like an American sandwich. It was just full of stuff. It doesn't need to be there. It gives you empty calories. It's sort of. There's too much fat, there's too much sugar. You start feeling slightly nauseous. There's no nutritional value. I mean, it was.

[John Bruin]

But it was sort of fun.

[Max Rushden]

It was fun. It was the most fun England game. I saw this.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I felt vaguely nauseous by the end.

[Brooke Devard]

Right.

[Max Rushden]

No, I had a nice time and thought maybe we shouldn't enter tournaments. We should just play some friendlies during the tournament. I can just watch without being in agony. So the only point is Saka scores a hat trick.

[Barry Glendenning]

Right.

[Max Rushden]

The fourth player, fourth English men's player to score a Hatrica World cup after Hearst, Lineker and Kane. And he didn't play a minute in the semi finals and he was fit for the semi final and the semi final wasn't good. So you're going.

[John Bruin]

Well.

[Max Rushden]

Should he have. Could he. Should he have done something there?

[John Bruin]

Yeah. Morgan Rogers was not an unqualified success in that role.

[Max Rushden]

Well, he did up the goal, but.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, but he didn't.

[Jonathan Wilson]

More.

[Max Rushden]

Could he have come off the bench then?

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah, but this is the issue, isn't it? And. And Thomas Juggle admitted that he was fit. And Saka said in the post match, I was fit. Which felt a bit like we've had this whole World cup where the England players have matched the honesty of their manager and it's led to a few stories and questions against him. And I think Saka could have the outball, the phrase we kept using in the postmortem of that game. Sakura is a fairly useful player to. To use up defense, opposing defenders. And for some reason, Thomas took. I'm sure will have to explain this in the fullness of time, but he would be, if it seems weird and then for him to score a hat trick.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[John Bruin]

And also Bellingham, interesting that he let him have the penalty, which shows it was a bit soccer aid. Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I don't know. Actually, I think it's entirely possible that sucker is his second choice. Penalty take after Kane. Yeah.

[John Bruin]

But Bellingham could have been going for seven goals to be the first Englishman to score seven goals, which.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yes, but I think he's got.

[John Bruin]

That he wants to be captain is what we're told.

[Jonathan Wilson]

It's a thing that kind of, I think, can wind people up. I think wound Cole Palmer up in the Euros that Bellingham is overtly mature and overtly doing the right thing. And to him, you're taking the penalty, getting all the pressure. The pressure, yeah. And having Meignon Sort of standing in his face and he's like, saka's gonna take it. Yeah. You know, I think. I don't say the word performed because I don't really mean that, but it's sort of. It is him adopting that leadership boy.

[John Bruin]

Yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

In an overt way. Which is part of his personality.

[Max Rushden]

Do you think? Like, we all sat around after, straight after the Argentina game and were very critical of Tuchel, put it all on Tuchel. And since then, there's been a bit of a revision about whether it was the players dropping deep and Tuco trying to help them out because he saw there was nowhere else, nothing else that he could have done. And then it's sort of gone back a bit with people going, well, hang on, he is the manager, you know, and he mentioned DNA. I don't know. I don't know if you're all in the same place. You were after that pretty much.

[Jonathan Wilson]

I mean, you know, I know Barney is quite pro Tuchel on this and thinks because he looks like him.

[Max Rushden]

That's.

[Jonathan Wilson]

You said that. Yeah, Looks like him, dresses like him, waves his arms around like him. But we saw what happened. England started to drop deep. It's then too close jobs of managing to stop them doing that. You'd hope that he would have recognized that this is a perpetual English problem and begun to deal with it before the hydration break in the middle of the second half. But his way of dealing with it was to double down on it. And it's not that we sort of recognise in hindsight that this was a mistake. At the time I turned to Joel and said, england, don't make extra time here.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jonathan Wilson]

It was obvious what was going to happen. And, yeah, maybe. I don't know. I mean, I guess you could extend that argument. Say, is there anything you could have done that would have actually made a difference? And maybe, maybe there isn't. But having no outball, having 12% possession between taking the lead and gun behind, surely that could have been extended to 13, 18, 20.

[John Bruin]

I suppose the only thing is, and this is what Thomas goes alluding to, is we've seen that before where England players panic and start to go very defensive. But that was his job to turn it around. And you can try and be philosophical about how we, you know, how we went out of the World cup as a country, but the initial reaction was probably the right one. I think that Tuchel made a mess of a situation that he wants to deal with.

[Max Rushden]

He can't just say, well, yeah, I didn't.

[John Bruin]

Well, that is, we talked about his pride and I think that is going to be an issue. And as we said, the knives sharpen and he's got a lot to prove. Thankfully for him, England have a pretty decent record as a host of tournaments.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Well, the thing is England are now good so they'll probably get to the semis. They might get a tough draw and go in the quarters, but there's no

[John Bruin]

third place to save him at the Euro.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Thank goodness.

[Barry Glendenning]

Yeah, I heard some good analysis on this from Emma Hayes and she kind of said there is a lot of blame to go around. She doesn't hold him entirely responsible. I think she said, because I've heard so much, I'm a bit confused. But I think she. Who said what? But some of it has just been ranty and performative and I have to say I have thoroughly enjoyed the meltdown in that seems to be going on at all or at home in the UK and it's been absolutely tremendous entertainment. But I think he got some of his substitutions wrong and I think. Yeah, I think he made a mess of it.

[Max Rushden]

It would be so nice to quantum leap and just do like for like and see what happens.

[John Bruin]

Oh boy.

[Max Rushden]

Ziggy says you've still got a zero percent chance.

[Barry Glendenning]

But I do think Johnson, we're not after time in here. We were saying it at the time.

[Boost Mobile Advertiser]

Yeah, yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

We were all standing.

[Max Rushden]

Well, I wasn't saying it.

[Barry Glendenning]

I was just saying around the same table. Ye.

[Jameela Jamil]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

Scoring this. He has made a ball.

[Jameela Jamil]

Yeah.

[John Bruin]

It just made you feel more and more anxious when you realized that he was doing nothing to change the. The flow and it just was always inevitable at that point.

[Sid Lowe]

But.

[Max Rushden]

But as Argentina proved today, they are peerless and the best footballing.

[John Bruin]

That's it, isn't it?

[Jonathan Wilson]

Yeah.

[Barry Glendenning]

I didn't know. It was like the end of that game when Argentina actually bothered to try and start playing football. They were still doing that little short corner thing, creating the angle for someone to have a shot. Didn't work for them today. But how has no one gone. You know they're going to do this.

[John Bruin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Max Rushden]

And they mentioned them. Exactly. Anyway, that'll do for today. Brendan says, hey, Max, Barry and all who made the days fly by. I'm glad they flew by for someone.

[Brooke Devard]

No.

[Max Rushden]

What. What happens to you now the tournament's over? Do you get time off for good behavior? Is it straight into pre season training previews? Transfer talk. Cheers for keeping it light and tight. We are taking a couple of weeks off. We've got a couple of mailbags in the can. So if you are desperate to hear any more of us, they'll come out on the next.

[Barry Glendenning]

We all get put in little Louis Vuitton cases for a couple of weeks.

[Max Rushden]

Exactly. And then we'll be allowed out for the start.

[Barry Glendenning]

I got, I got an email from friend of the show and Guardian head of football Marcus Christiansen the other day. Barry, can you send me your Premier League predictions? I could not believe.

[Max Rushden]

Never stops Bullet. That'll do for today. Thanks everybody. Thank you. Thank you, John.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Thanks for having me.

[Max Rushden]

Thanks, Wilson.

[Jonathan Wilson]

Thank you.

[Max Rushden]

Thanks, Barry.

[Barry Glendenning]

Thank you, Max. It's been quite the ride, hasn't it?

[Max Rushden]

Thank you to all the panelists, especially the ones who stayed up all night. Memories of how tired Dan Bardell looked one time when the zoom came on.

[Jonathan Wilson]

All the people tired and I was in Mexico.

[Max Rushden]

I don't think anyone was as tired as you were on the first step of this series. Thanks to all the people back in the office as well who did some of the work. Thank you so much to the production team. Rory Simon, Matt Bettney, Viney, Joel Grove. They have worked absolutely tirelessly and par with our bullshit for six weeks. Getting this published, getting the video up on YouTube. So when we turn this off and we say goodbye, we can go for a pint and they actually have to go to work. So thank you to them. It's greatly appreciated and thanks for listening to it because quite a lot of you did. And if you're new, thank you. And if you're old also, thanks. Thank you. And we'll be back in, well, next Monday, but we've already done that we'll be back in person type thing in three weeks time. This is the Guardian.

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