Mbappe and France knockout Morocco, featuring Pablo Torre: Night Cup 07/09/26

Summary

Men In Blazers: “Mbappe and France Knockout Morocco” (Night Cup 07/09/26)

Date: July 9, 2026
Host: Roger Bennett
Co-host: Rory Smith
Special Guest: Pablo Torre

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Episode Overview

This episode of Men In Blazers dives into the France vs. Morocco 2026 World Cup quarterfinal, unpacking the on-field narrative, the implications for both teams, and cultural storylines around how modern football nations are evolving. Later, journalist Pablo Torre joins the discussion to talk about football’s surge in America, collective fandom, and the state of the U.S. Men's National Team. The show is rich with the classic Men In Blazers humor, insight, and real emotional texture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. World Cup Quarterfinal: France 2, Morocco 0

• Historical & Social Context ([05:57]–[09:07])

  • France and Morocco's shared history comes into play, making this more than a football match.
  • Morocco’s rise isn’t accidental—cited as a deliberate nation-building “project” (investment in training, diaspora, and infrastructure per King Mohammed VI).
    • Notable stat: 23% of all 2026 World Cup players were born outside the nation they represent.

• Morocco's Growth as an African Superpower

  • “It’s an absolute deliberate national project to try and turn Morocco into ... Africa's first superpower.” — Rory Smith [09:07]
  • Moroccan squad diversity is highlighted: 19 out of 26 born abroad.

• Match Breakdown

  • Morocco started aggressively with a PSG-esque kickoff routine ([12:05]).
  • France controlled the game—Morocco played cautiously, likely fearing French counterattacks.
    • “Morocco did not commit enough players forward...clearly so frightened of Dembele, Mbappe and Doug...” — Rory Smith [12:59]
  • French press and organization stifled Morocco.

2. Turning Points, Goals & Penalty Drama

• Penalty Incident ([15:27])

  • Mazraoui fouls Mbappé for a penalty; referee's decisiveness is notable.
    • “Not sure I’ve seen a referee point to the penalty spot quicker.” — Rory Smith [15:27]
  • Mbappé’s penalty is saved by Yassine Bounou.
    • “Mbappé's shot was less a penalty, more a little tinkle.” — Roger Bennett [18:30]
  • Conversation riff on “stutter-step” penalties and their World Cup failures.

• French Dominance & Key Players

  • France amass 13 shots to Morocco’s one at halftime, underlining control.
    • “France had taken 13 shots to Morocco’s 1…match momentum graph looked like someone missing an entire row of teeth.” — Roger Bennett [23:55]
  • Second half, Mbappé’s goal finally arrives, described as “an absolute poem of an arcing curve.” [26:45]
  • Mbappé: 20 goals in 20 World Cup games at age 27.
    • “He tends to score regardless of any other consideration.” — Rory Smith on Haaland, as compared to Mbappé [23:34]

• Dembele Seals It ([31:18])

  • Dembele scores France’s second goal; show jokes about his underappreciation despite five-tournament goals.

3. The French “Project” and Modern Football

• French youth development and diaspora talent highlighted ([09:41]).
  • Comparison to Clairefontaine’s system, and how other nations like the U.S. could learn.
• French away kit gets praise for its Statue of Liberty tribute, with humorous banter about French gifts and aesthetics ([11:17]).

4. The Ballon d'Or Obsession & Modern Players

• Growing status of the Ballon d’Or: “This generation is obsessed with winning it.” — Rory Smith [29:02]
• Players are acutely aware of the commercial and legacy stakes at World Cups.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Morocco’s National Team Vision:
  “You need a project. Other nations are doing it. When Poch says, ‘why not us?’ I'd settle for that.” — Roger Bennett [09:41]

• On the Anxiety Around French Referees:
  “It was like hiring arsonists to run the local fire department…” — Roger Bennett [15:44]

• On Mbappé’s Humanity via Bad Penalties:
  “You see Messi’s humanity in the fact that he’s not great at penalties.” — James Horncastle, quoted [18:48]

• On World Cup’s Commercial Focus:
  “Not just the glory of winning the World Cup… there’s the opportunity to win the commercial battle, to become the face of the game in the United States.” — Roger Bennett [27:28]

• On Dembele’s Hobbies:
  “Ousmane Dembele watches a lot of documentaries about dictators.” — Rory Smith [32:44]

• On French Defensive Solidity:
  “Through all their firepower… the thing that struck me just was the organization, the discipline at the back, which is underrated.” — Roger Bennett [35:25]

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Pablo Torre Segment: Football’s American Moment ([49:40]–[63:40])

Manhattan’s World Cup Fever ([50:38])

• Torre describes NYC as “horny” with World Cup energy.
• “Go to Queens and you’ll rub an elbow against another bare elbow and realize what it’s like to be alive… watching Queens revolt on behalf of Egypt. What’s better than that, man?” — Pablo Torre [50:38]

The Joy of Bandwagon Fandom ([52:17])

• “Sports are better when casuals fill it up. The more people that show up, and maybe they don’t know anything… in most cases, I find it totally delightful.” — Pablo Torre [52:17]
• Discusses the emotionally contagious nature of collective sports-watching.

Critics and Cultural Growth ([54:24])

• Pushback on “soccer is boring” takes in U.S. media.
• “Whether you like the sport or not, you see the way it moves people around the world—how can you resist it?” — Rory Smith [53:54]

U.S. Men’s National Team, Identity & Pressure ([56:38])

• Torre suggests American men's team was carried by vibes and “loved being David.”
  “I believe that the President showing up at this thing in the way that he did changed the barometric pressure around this team.” — Pablo Torre [56:55]
• Roger notes how deeply American coverage resists criticism, and how fandom is “still such an innocent, wide-eyed culture” compared to European soccer.

Whimsical Q&A ([61:17])

• Freddy Adu: “CIA operative.” — Pablo Torre [61:22]
• Will U.S. ever win the World Cup?
  “I think it’s studying abroad someday in the United States.” — Pablo Torre [62:14]

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Golden Ball & Golden Boot Debate ([65:23])

• Discussion on the “Golden Ball” for tournament’s best player vs. “Golden Boot.”
• “If Argentina made the final, I’d be inclined to think Messi, but… France looks most untouchable, so probably Mbappé.” — Rory Smith [66:03]
• Roger jokes: “Otherwise, give it to Ronaldo. What other player has made us feel more humanly alive?” [66:34]

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Other Noteworthy Segments

The Lighter Side: Running Gags & Banter

• Hosts run “diaspora” and “silly goose/sausage” jokes into the ground, riffing on fandom clichés ([13:45]), the peculiarities of English nicknames, and the airing of grievances.
• Detailed (and playful) reviews of Boston cannoli bakeries and the “joy” of Italian desserts.
  — “It’s really nice but it’s very rich. 8.6.” — Rory Smith, cannoli score [75:07]

Listener Letter ([76:34])

• Heartfelt story from Pat in Massachusetts about falling for football through a student with autism, underscoring the communal and emotional reach of the World Cup.

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:30] – Show opens; World Cup in Boston & personal travel mishaps
• [05:57] – France v. Morocco: context, history, Morocco’s transformation
• [12:05] – The match itself: Moroccan tactics and French control
• [15:27] – Penalty incident & Mbappé’s miss/Bounou’s goalkeeping
• [26:54] – Mbappé’s crucial goal, golden boot chase
• [31:18] – Dembele’s goal, French attack’s depth
• [35:25] – French team organization and discipline
• [49:40] – Pablo Torre segment starts: NYC, American fandom, U.S. Men’s Team, Q&A
• [65:23] – Golden Ball/Golden Boot discussion
• [74:20] – Cannoli tasting (Boston’s food culture nod)
• [76:34] – Listener letter—football’s resonance off the pitch

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Episode Tone and Style

• Language & Tone: Richly conversational, irreverent, warm, honest, and often self-deprecating.
• Memorable Style Moments: Frequent running jokes (about diaspora, “silly goose,” and cannoli), cultural references (Arrested Development memes, bandwagon fandom), and a deep sense of football’s power to unite and move people globally.

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Summary Takeaway

A classic Men In Blazers episode: deeply insightful about the modern state of football—on the pitch and in national psyche—while genuinely funny and exceedingly human. The win for France over Morocco is examined in both tactical and cultural dimensions, and the visit from Pablo Torre showcases just how much the World Cup has become a catalytic, bonding phenomenon in today’s America.

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Notable Quotes

• “It’s not just the game itself, but the journey and the cumulative… teams that are playing indoors. France are having a grueling pathway at this moment.” — Roger Bennett [25:35]
• “Watching people get radicalized by the global game… makes the experience better.” — Pablo Torre [53:54]
• “I fundamentally reject the idea that football still has to arrive in America. It’s very obviously arrived.” — Rory Smith [63:48]

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For more on tactical moments, listen from:

• [12:05] — Morocco’s opening gameplay
• [15:27] — Penalty drama
• [26:54] — Mbappé’s moment
• [31:18] — Dembele’s finish

For Pablo Torre’s segment start:

• [49:40]

Listener letter:

• [76:34]

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Essential episode for:

• Those wanting to relive France’s win or understand Morocco’s rise
• Listeners tracking football’s explosion in the U.S.
• Fans of club-and-country cultural commentary and top-class banter

End note:
“Let’s savor every second watching football together—and courage.” — Roger Bennett [81:59]

Transcript

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[Roger Bennett]

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[Roger Bennett]

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[Roger Bennett]

You're listening to the Men in Blazers Media Network Suboptimal Radio.

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Oh.

[Roger Bennett]

Day 29 of World Cup 2026. We're here in Boston quarterfinals of the Copa das Corpas football back in our loving arms for the first time. Feels like generations since I've watched the game. France met Morocco. We held our breath. We need not have done France Cruz Morocco bruised. Let's dive on then. We also have Pablo Torre joining us later in the show. Best Torres since Fernando. But I'm here with my World cup rife. It's Rory Smith.

[Rory Smith]

How you doing, Rog?

[Roger Bennett]

I'm so happy to see you. Yesterday was a day off.

[Pablo Torre]

How were you?

[Roger Bennett]

I felt sad.

[Rory Smith]

We had to have some time apart. It was very important. We had some time apart. A good relationship.

[Roger Bennett]

I didn't want it. He wanted.

[Rory Smith]

It's based on space.

[Roger Bennett]

Hurt my feelings. What did you do with yourself?

[Rory Smith]

I flew from Atlanta to Boston. That's what I did with myself. And then I did some work.

[Roger Bennett]

I had to fly a day early cause we ended up flying with interviewing Jan Diamond. And this is an insight into my state of mind. Sleep deprived. I don't think I've like 29 days since the last slide. Maybe 30 at the airport. Boston airport. Oh, so good to be in this city. 3 o' clock in the morning at baggage claim I ran into Peter Drury. Yep, always a joy.

[Rory Smith]

Lovely man.

[Roger Bennett]

Great 10 minute chat with him very recognizable man.

[Rory Smith]

I'd say Peter Drury.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, I do want to say all us English balds do look the same. Chatted to him. Really nice convo, all that stuff for about 10 minutes. He looked. Midway through, he looked a bit perturbed. I didn't quite understand why. We had such a nice interview with him, didn't we?

[Rory Smith]

Did. He was great. It was wonderful to have him on. We got on really well. We bonded.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. And then he walked off with his bags and producer JDubs came up to me and goes, you do know you've just chatted to John Champion. This is where we are.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. That's the stage of the World cup we're at.

[Roger Bennett]

I don't know if I'm always like this because you do remember earlier on in Philadelphia in the. I ran into.

[Rory Smith]

You ran into who you thought was. Was Gus Hidden, but it was actually Dick Advocate.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. I knew he was the Curacao manager, but it was actually. It was Dick Advocate. I kept calling him Goose Hidden. Lovely chat. Also did either of the U.S. no, we had a. I had a great chat with the Dutch.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

With an old Dutchman with the double. With the ambiguously Dutch man.

[Rory Smith]

And did John Champion say there was

[Roger Bennett]

a middle of the conversation. I feel terrible and I need to apologize to him where he was. I think he thought I was like calling him Peter Drury as a bit.

[Rory Smith]

Right.

[Roger Bennett]

And then he really wasn't. No, no. And I felt pretty terrible. This is where we are. Don't even know why I'm telling you this, but the chat is humming. Ebrianyoung4697 says, I feel like all that game was lacking a little bit in Bastille references at Dahomey Root Chest. Pablo Torre coming on. Two of my favorite worlds colliding.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

So get your questions in the chat for Pablo right now. We'll ask the best ones live on this show. God knows we need your help. We have Pedro Martinez on Matchday live today in Boston. Look at my tan. It's hot. You loved him.

[Rory Smith]

He was amazing. He was so warm and funny and he spoke beautifully about Messi. I think at one point I thought he had a little tear in his eye, but it may have been sweat. It was very hot. It was brilliant. I could have listened to him for another half hour.

[Roger Bennett]

So could the crowd. It was one of those rare iconic figures who a he loved.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

He was buzzing.

[Roger Bennett]

Talking about himself, his memories, his memories. His iconic memories that were some of the best memories of the audience's life. And it was a rare occurrence where he wanted the talk and the audience were hooked on every word. Oh, they were.

[Rory Smith]

They were gobbling it up. Yeah, they loved it.

[Roger Bennett]

Really, really, really gorgeous. It was a. It was just an honor to be there but we got a lot of football to talk up to the quarterfinals. Artowan. I love this tweet. This tweet is actually quite amazing and painful. Just seen the best stat of the World Cup. Five of the top eight racked teams are going into the World cup quarter finals and the three who didn't are managed by ex Everton managers.

[Rory Smith]

So that would be Brazil, Portugal and

[Roger Bennett]

to Sean Dyche managing.

[Rory Smith]

There's so many ex. There's so many ex Everton managers.

[Roger Bennett]

Who is the other manager that was an ex Everton?

[Rory Smith]

That's a good question. I don't know who that was. Who could be in the top?

[Roger Bennett]

David Moyes.

[Rory Smith]

No bid. Ronnie Kohman.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, he was very. Doesn't really feel like he was Arsenal, does he?

[Announcer]

No.

[Roger Bennett]

Even when we're not playing, we're catching strays. Raw. Let's get to it. France too. Morocco nil in the stadium not called Gillette. A game with history. Much of it.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Colonial. Some of it. Quite fascinating football. Too bad. Last World Cup 2022 in the semi final. We'll talk about France in a moment. But Morocco really going to this no longer a surprise dark horse. They we've seen have announced themselves as a heavyweight in football. This was their moment to show it. But you talked about what you thought before the game was the one possible last barrier that was going to hold them back.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, I think there is a psychological element to facing the teams that are established as the kind of true. The true kind of established traditional powers in football. I think you have to, if you're a team like Morocco or Senegal or Japan or even kind of an up and coming European team, Portugal or Belgium or Croatia, at various times you do have a kind of. It's a psychological test to believe you can beat them. And Morocco were without Ismail Saibari, which was a major blow. But they still had enough. They'd shown enough to suggest they could. With a fair wind and with the right system, the right strategy, they could beat France. My question was whether they believed they could beat France. And Roger, if I'm honest, having seen the game, I wonder whether that was more difficult for them than they thought it would be.

[Roger Bennett]

Do you believe in life after love says Cher in Berber it was truly a fascinating, complex battle. Just the identity meld between these two teams. We've talked a lot, but it really does bear pointing out the surplus talent that France is producing is possibly their greatest gift to this World cup, even better than their football has been. You know, Ayud Bouadi, fascinating, played today for Morocco. Here he is, 101 days ago, wearing a French jersey as he captained the French under 21 side to a 21 win over Iceland. This is a melding and a borrowing and I do want to talk about Morocco before we wish them farewell. Spoiler alert. They are a symbol of modern football in many ways, multicultural entity. 19 of their 26 players were born outside of Morocco in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Canada, Belgium. Symbol of the fact that 23% of the players at this World cup were born outside of the nation they're representing. But I do want to talk about how this move from also ran to heavyweight. It's not an accident. It's not just something that's just kind of gelled together saying this, both as a football fan but also as an American. We've talked about you need vision, you need a plan, you need a. Use a Fabricio Romano word, a project. You need this. And yes, they've tapped into their diaspora that's well known. Five million Moroccans living abroad. They got seven of the squad from home, six Spain, six France, et cetera. But the master plan rule, I mean, when we say it, the vision comes right from the top. In Morocco's case, from King Mohammed vi, who's invested in the game. The game has got a fanatical following in Morocco. There's some of these come Egypt, Morocco mad for football. But what they've done, huge investment, state of the art training facility, national academy, regional training centre, stadium redevelopment, the build of a thousand amateur fields. This is no accident, what we saw in last World cup and this one,

[Rory Smith]

no, it's an absolute deliberate national project to try and turn Morocco into what they have before. My thing, which is Africa's first superpower. They are a genuine kind of heavyweight contender from Africa, which we've not seen before. With all due respect to certain, like Senegalese and Ivorian teams, I don't think we've ever had a true kind of African team who could have won the World Cup.

[Roger Bennett]

Systemic, yeah.

[Rory Smith]

And sustained is the other team. And as you say, it's partly that they've industrialised, tapping into the diaspora. That's not an accident. They're not waiting. You know, Ayubouadi didn't have to call the Moroccan FA and say, do you know what? I'm feeling quite Moroccan I'd like to play for you and not France today.

[Roger Bennett]

I feel Moroccan today.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. It's that they are going out there, making connections with. With Moroccan players from the Moroccan diaspora. I feel bad using that word. We've used it so much. They are looking for players who can represent their country. They're persuading them, as Boadi shows. But they are also generating homegrown talent through that system that they have built, which is modeled, inspired by, is probably pushing it a bit, but modelled on Clairefontaine, the French system, the one that is this now seemingly bottomless production line of football talent that has changed the way that the whole world plays, really, because there are so many 90 plus players born in France who were at this tournament and obviously only 26 of them playing for France.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, it's like Chinese and Olympic table tennis teams. We need to do a show. I think purely on projects. I mean, this is what the United States needs. It's complicated, but it's so doable. Other nations are doing it. When Poch says, why not us? I'd settle for that. Why not us? To be candid, but to the game, French, along with Argentina, the only teams left who've won all of their games, they do it in a very uncardia way compared to the Argentinians. Plus 12 goal difference, frontline. That is so potent, so deep. The question we've talked about all with Kirkby, can anyone stop them? And they took the liberty. I love this. Needs commenting on their away kit, their light green kits, which pay tribute. This is beautiful. French do it so well, aesthetically, stylishly, backstoryly, if that's a word. These kits pay tribute to the Statue of Liberty, the gift to the United States that France is still reminding us of 150 years later.

[Rory Smith]

I think that's the best thing about a present is when the people who give the present continually want praise for it. I think that's really nice.

[Roger Bennett]

They clearly didn't get it. Thank you.

[Rory Smith]

Do you think it's like a passive aggressive kind of. Why didn't you say thank you to us?

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, I mean, this is it.

[Rory Smith]

We sent you the statue.

[Roger Bennett]

And by the way, if they really wanted to honour the greatest thing that France has given us, I think those shirts would have a giant picture of Timothee Chalamet's face on them.

[Rory Smith]

I think we're not far away from World cup teams taken to the field with shirts and giant Chalamet faces.

[Roger Bennett]

Does feel like Chalamet, actually. Pulisic Beckham, Chalamet you tell us your favorite act has been in this World cup of commercials. It's why we watch. I'm starting to love the water breaks. Or as they now call them, match breaks.

[Rory Smith]

Match breaks. They've changed.

[Roger Bennett]

You can't have a water break in the Premier League. But a match day break, Yeah, a

[Rory Smith]

match break is possible.

[Roger Bennett]

You can have a match day break on a cold Tuesday night in Leeds.

[Rory Smith]

You just need a match break.

[Roger Bennett]

Just a match break. Guys, just come on. Let's try and change the momentum. Time out, lads. To the game itself. The Moroccans kicked off. This was probably my favourite moment, if I was a Moroccan fan. They did the PSG kickoff routine, which is a bold move. The most French thing ever. We're taking it. It's actually ours. Kicking it deep into France's half. And that's probably about their major first half moment of aggression.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. Well, that kickoff is designed to say, we are playing where we want to play. You can go and stand over there. You're gonna try and you're gonna have to.

[Roger Bennett]

It's the battlefield. Your area.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, your area. We're near you. It is an aggressive. It's a sort of front foot move.

[Roger Bennett]

And this one said the opposite. It said, this is the first and only time we're going there, lads. Let's have a look.

[Rory Smith]

They didn't really build on that. It didn't work out quite as they wanted it to, Rog, I would say.

[Roger Bennett]

And why not? Because France did own the game. Was it Moroccan caution or was it the French press? It was honestly hard to tell. There was a lot. A lot of both.

[Rory Smith]

We talked about this before, haven't we, that it's difficult to kind of separate who's the antagonist, who's the protagonist, who has agency, I think. And it's a little bit harsh criticising them because they were the underdog in the game. I think Morocco did not commit enough players forward when they did have chances to spring. If you watched, they still had five or six who stayed way back to make sure. They were clearly so frightened of Elise Dembele, Mbappe and Doug on the counterattack. They just weren't quite willing to go in the numbers. You need to go.

[Roger Bennett]

I think I've got a big question for the chat. Do you like my sweatshirt? That's really a football question. I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's a lot too much. You tell me. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of stuff kicking off in the chat. Here's an exchange rule Dahomey Roach says I can now cross diaspora off my bingo card.

[Rory Smith]

What else is on the bingo card?

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, tell us. The Homie Roach at Sean5866 said, Nice. Is that your centre square? And Dahomey wrote said, no. The middle is always a given, silly goose.

[Rory Smith]

A what?

[Roger Bennett]

A what? We don't even know what you're talking about.

[Rory Smith]

The middle is always a given, silly goose.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, it's always a given, silly goose. Thank you. I thought you thought we said silly goose a lot. And then my brain was like synapsing. I don't know.

[Rory Smith]

I was trying to think when we said silly goose.

[Roger Bennett]

I don't think I've ever said it before. I said it three seconds ago. That's the first ever silly goose that's ever come out of my mouth. Shared it with the world.

[Rory Smith]

I think Humphrey might have said silly goose.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, Humphrey says silly goose. How many times a day do you think? 12?

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

15 is the over under on the Kelshi.

[Rory Smith]

No, when he's trying to say that someone's not playing, you know, someone's not being sensible. But also when he's describing his dinner.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. By the way, Humphrey's silly goose is not ironic. He's actually talking about the geese that he owns.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Many on his property.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, Dozens of geese.

[Roger Bennett]

Should we get back to the football? France owned the game first half, you know, bullied Morocco off the ball at will. You know, the Moroccan defenders look like they'd spent the night. Have I got a bite on the side of my head? That's interesting. The Moroccan defenders look like sent the night fretting about Mbappe running directly down their gullet. Hakimi misplayed when trying to control the ball. Desiree Dewey pounced. He wanted it more. He wanted it more. Nick the ball to Mbappe in the box and you make shift. Central defender Mazrui, is it, would you say? I mean, just what was that? It was like a synapse. It was such a terrible decision to just hack him down.

[Rory Smith]

He kind of thought in this moment, well, I suppose in this situation, I'm going to have to foul Kylian Mbappe. It was a really strange tackle to make because the. But maybe, I mean, it's all happening so fast, it's very easy to get confused. But I'm not, not sure I've seen a referee point to the penalty spot quicker than it was such an obvious penalty.

[Roger Bennett]

By the way, a lot of talk going into this. How would France feel about an all Argentinian refereeing crew, which you know, the press were making it seem like it was hiring arsonists to run the local fire department.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. Whereas it turned out that it was fine.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, there's a penalty so clear. It was like hiring grizzly bears to be security at a salmon factory. But it was so clear cut. I don't know either. It was so clear cut. Even the Argentinian referee immediately like, it happens. You don't often see that.

[Rory Smith]

It was almost. I don't even think he thought about it. It's just before he realised he was doing it, he was pointing over there.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh. And then he was annoyed.

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Come on.

[Pablo Torre]

Sure they are.

[Rory Smith]

Silly goose.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, hiring refs from Argentina. Well done. It's just so amazing. Had to give it. And everyone was like, oh, see, it was so obvious even. But then he thought about it.

[Ad]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

Then the old mind games came in.

[Roger Bennett]

The refs like, oh, slap my nation down.

[Rory Smith]

Cillian. We didn't have to wait for a while.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. Ball's not on its spot. He points to the ball. Completely on its spot.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. No, you need to move that. Let's check your studs.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. Bodo, do you want to come off your him for a minute? Do you want to dice him a bit more? 3 minutes, 10 seconds in that heat. I mean this. This gap was so long. Waiting for the penalty. The. The weight almost needed its own hydration. Break it.

[Rory Smith]

I felt while we were waiting for Mbappe to take the penalty that we should. I was bored.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

Powerade and I wanted some adverts.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

I was like, this is. Can you. These are the times when we need adverts.

[Roger Bennett]

Play you for an Ultra. The.

[Rory Smith]

They're doing the. They're doing a lot of the Ultra one without.

[Roger Bennett]

And they've seen this, by the way. This is amazing.

[Rory Smith]

They've scrubbed him.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, Pulisic has just been wiped. It's as if one of the most thrilling 3 on 3 games ever played in a hotel lobby never happened.

[Rory Smith]

But they've unveiled a different company called° who are a deodorant brand. Have also got a Pulisic advert which I've not seen until today. And I think they might have released now that he's been knocked out of the World Cup.

[Roger Bennett]

Well, he's got time on his hands.

[Rory Smith]

I don't think he's filmed it in the last 24 hours.

[Roger Bennett]

Even though he's got a micro break. Yeah, definitely.

[Rory Smith]

You think he can just knock it off One second.

[Roger Bennett]

What do I want to do? General Hospital. Shall I be a daytime. No, he's like more, more. More money, please. Degree one, take one. Has he got a line?

[Rory Smith]

I don't know what Degree is. It looks like what we call Shaw, but if anyone in the chat wants to tell me. What if Degree is the same thing as Shaw? That would be great.

[Roger Bennett]

Degree is a deodorant that has really incredible commercials. I'm not seeing him, but if he's in it, I'm watching anyway. The penalty took forever. Mbappe looked like he was both melting and seething. And by the time he took it against Buono. Buono is. You called it out. He's a penalty expert. Generally the last 10 penalty shootouts, Buono has saved 12 of his 40.

[Rory Smith]

Pretty good, yo, ain't?

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, he's a. He is a. I mean, he's a remarkable penalty specialist. He's the right size rod keeper. And I have to say, Mbappe's shot was less a penalty, it was more like a more little tinkle.

[Rory Smith]

It was a really bad penalty.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

It was as though he saw Messi miss one whenever Messi missed one a couple of days ago and thought, if he's not storing penalties anymore, I'm not going to store penalties anymore.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, missing penalties is good enough for Messi.

[Rory Smith]

I'll do it.

[Roger Bennett]

If Messi's become great at missing penalties. And that's the bar for greatness. I'll match you there.

[Rory Smith]

Well, yeah, I was talking to someone the other day who said that Messi's. Who said it. That Messi. You see Messi's humanity in the fact that he's not great at penalties.

[Roger Bennett]

I said it was me.

[Rory Smith]

Was it you?

[Roger Bennett]

I said it was like a fake humanity. It was like a drum machine.

[Rory Smith]

It was James Horncastle.

[Roger Bennett]

Was it horny?

[Rory Smith]

It was horny, yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, it's like fake humanity, though, I think. I think he's doing it on purpose.

[Rory Smith]

So I think Mbappe's done it because he wants us to see his humanity too.

[Roger Bennett]

I think it's because Messi is leading the gold shots and everyone is annoying Mbappe saying. And he also has missed two penalties. Like he could be strong. He's like, you think he's good?

[Rory Smith]

You think he's missing penalties?

[Roger Bennett]

I'll show you. Because it was. It was. I mean, Bono just picked it up as if it was a slow roller that was passed to him. Please, God, stutter step penalties. I mean, this has been the World Cup. That has been a. I mean, genuinely. It's as if everyone is collectively rising up to show us that it's one of the Most disastrous techniques in football.

[Rory Smith]

You know the arrested development meme with who's the never nude?

[Roger Bennett]

Me.

[Rory Smith]

No, I know you are, but who's

[Roger Bennett]

the never nude in a segment?

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, it's the meme which ends with did it work for those people? No, but it might work for us.

[Roger Bennett]

Tobias.

[Rory Smith]

Tobias. I saw a version of that about stutter step penalties and I really liked it. People didn't do. Does it work for them? No, but it might work for us.

[Roger Bennett]

That's amazing. That's amazing, Tobias. Few care. I bet you we could do a Timothy. You can't get nude in the shower,

[Rory Smith]

but he could do a sort of step no. 1. They're terrible. It's a terrible way of taking a penalty.

[Roger Bennett]

News just in from producer JDubs Degree is widely considered a great and reliable deodorant brand. Highly praised for its long lasting sweat and odor protection. They need a comma there. No, they don't. It could be highly known if it's long lasting sweat.

[Rory Smith]

Is JDubs pitching for a deal with Dedry?

[Roger Bennett]

I don't think we could really try and have a deal if they got pulisic. They've got to act to arrange. There's no room for anybody else. Oh, by the way, it's antiperspent lines use motion sense technology. This is amazing. This is America. This is where how do we come up with motion sense technology for our sweaty underarms and we can't win a bloody round of 16 game. Whoever's doing that for degree, just take a quick sabbatical. Come and work on the football. Get us through that glass ceiling. I'm sick of this crap. Who thinks my deodorant's not good enough? Oh, you know what? In these motion sense technologies.

[Rory Smith]

What does that mean?

[Roger Bennett]

What does it mean? If anyone is a deodorant Scientists. That's my phone here. Thank you, Bob. Oh, I'll tell you what it means. It means it released bursts of fragrance as you move. I'm calling BS on this.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, I don't believe that.

[Roger Bennett]

I'm calling BS there's no technology in a deodorant. It's stupid.

[Rory Smith]

I don't believe that there is motion sense technology in a deodorant.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, sorry, my arm's feeling a bit like creepy. Oh, it's just my motion sense technology. It's a VAR technology in the deodorant fact check. Reichert in the chat says humph. Doesn't say silly goose. He says silly sausage.

[Rory Smith]

I bet sometimes he says silly dudes.

[Roger Bennett]

I think he Calls his down below his silly sausage. If missing penalties is good enough for Messi, steal from the greats. That's where we left you off. I'm so sorry. By the way, Yassin Bono is amazing. He's like taken off from actual club football. He moved to the Saudi league after a very successful World Cup 2022 he went to Al Hilal, almost going into cold storage, saving himself for marriage AKA World Cups. He's only been beaten by two out of nine penalties he's faced at the World cup, save for three missed the target. That is incredible, man.

[Rory Smith]

That's remarkable.

[Roger Bennett]

If he was actually playing real club football, would he not be hailed as one of the current present day giants of the game?

[Rory Smith]

I think he was a bit of a slow burner, Bono. That was the problem. I associate him most with playing for Sevilla and he was always really good. But I think by the time he raised he got to that level. He was in his sort of late 20s, early 30s. And clubs, the really big clubs tended to look a little bit younger. He's always been an outstanding goalkeeper and he was outstanding today as well in terms of that.

[Roger Bennett]

Mbappe miss. It was a great question today in the Guardian that clipped and saved for this very moment here. Are you ready for this?

[Rory Smith]

I'm ready.

[Roger Bennett]

1 1. In the 90th minute of the World cup final, the chance falls to your star player. Who would you rather have at the end of it? Erling Haaland, Mbappe Kane or Messi? And I'll throw obviously Baligan in there just because, you know, does he would

[Rory Smith]

be allowed to Play. Does Article 27.

[Roger Bennett]

Article 27.

[Rory Smith]

I've got to admit this is ridiculous because Messi's on the list. But I think my instinctive answer is

[Roger Bennett]

Haaland because depends if it's a penalty or not, doesn't it?

[Rory Smith]

If it's a penalty, you definitely don't want Messi. It's a 50. 50 shot crap. I think mediocre with a kind of. With a big chance.

[Roger Bennett]

Would you like a Ronaldo because he backs himself. Lol.

[Rory Smith]

Ronaldo would go Ronaldo, definitely.

[Roger Bennett]

I think I'd go Haaland because he's averaging a goal every 14 touches at this tournament.

[Rory Smith]

Well, that's it. I suppose he doesn't. Haaland gives you that impression that he will score regardless of any other consideration. If he has a chance, he tends to store it. So I'm. I would say. But then it's messy. How can you say. How can I not say Messi? That's Ridiculous. This is.

[Roger Bennett]

This is a.

[Rory Smith]

This is an existential crisis.

[Roger Bennett]

This is a, you know, Solomon's choice.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, yeah. Solomon's choice rather than Sophie's. Yeah. It's not that serious.

[Roger Bennett]

Beto.

[Rory Smith]

No.

[Roger Bennett]

Okay. Going into the half, France had taken 13 shots to Morocco's one, which came I think five minutes into injury time when Hakimi decided to blow a free kick about 10 foot wide of the post. France, 13 shots for 1.87 XG. The match momentum graph on the screen looked like. So one side. It looked like someone missing an entire row of teeth. France probably went into the locker room at half saying, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Which is way past Bono. Sorry. The worst joke ever. Second half came a bit of a slog. Morocco hell bent on trying to nick a goal, but without an injured, potent striker. You know, Ismail Sabari was so missed his three goals in this tournament. I think they'll leave with a sense of what if? Don't we all? But it was also 89 degrees at kickoff and I felt for France, it was a period. It was a very airless day. I mean, we sacrificed in that match day life. We sacrificed.

[Rory Smith]

We're the real heroes here.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. I mean we gave our all. Also, Roger Bennett, referring to himself in the third person, always wearing the wrong clothing for the temperature. Have you noticed that going out onto Matchday live wearing a jacket and a shirt?

[Rory Smith]

It's because of your extreme never nude status.

[Roger Bennett]

I don't know what it is. I just am like genuinely so. My wife is always, why are you wearing that? I just don't think in temperature. Never. I don't think ever. Like, I'm never cold.

[Rory Smith]

You're a two layer man. You're a layered individual, Rog. I've always said that about you.

[Roger Bennett]

I just feel no heat. I feel no nothing. I wear wool pants when I'm in New Orleans and like, I feel uncomfortable. I'm like, I don't feel great about your wife's. Like, what are you wearing? It's a very odd thing. I do want to apologize to everyone. I'm just saying it was a really airless day. It was, yeah.

[Rory Smith]

Agreed.

[Roger Bennett]

And France, the Paraguay game that they played, which was so unbearably hot, that would have taken a ton of a ton out. And we've talked about the cumulative. It's not just the game itself, but like the, the journey and the cumulative teams that are playing indoors. Oh, the U.S. we had it all, didn't we? No travel, very kind temperatures, a Lot of indoor games, France are having a grueling pathway at this moment. It does build. And you felt that, you know, the passing was your second high temperature game. Back to back. It will do you in. It will take a toll in a moment. But in this game it became almost a stalemate. And we've said ultimately in stalemates, a World cup is a tournament. A moment. And on the hour mark, the man who missed the penalty. We said Mbappe would step up at least once, looking for revenge. Casually picked up the ball, left hand side of the box. Seemed to be no danger. I think for. For a normal player, there would have been no danger. But Mbappe, not a normal player, took a touch, used the opposite shield and then just unleashed an absolute poem of an arcing curve around the stun bow. Now couldn't even get close to the ball. Flashed by him into the net. Raw, this man. Casual brilliance. 20 goals in 20 World cup games. Are we the farmers again? An ordinary player couldn't do it. He's an extraordinary player.

[Rory Smith]

It's astonishing to me that Messi has been on this kind of quest to kind of become the top role star in the history of the World cup, to extend his lead, to build kind of a total that no one could catch. And this fellow who's 12 years younger than him, is one goal behind him. It's astonishing. I mean, it's astonishing. But not just in this tournament. In his three tournaments, it is where the World cup to me seems to be where Mbappe really comes alive. And that's quite a rare thing nowadays that most players you associate first and foremost with their club, that their big moments arrive for their club team is an international player.

[Roger Bennett]

Is he the Bono of Mbappe's.

[Rory Smith]

He's the Bono of Mbappe's eighth goal

[Roger Bennett]

of this World Cup. These levels that we're seeing in this golden boot race, I don't know if they're being driven on by each other and the competition. I do think, I really believe this, having spoken to a lot of the players, agents in the run up to this World cup. They're also fully aware that there is a glory. I talked about this a little bit over the past couple of weeks. Not just the glory of winning the World cup, which is immense, obviously, to become immortal, pretty bloody good. There's the opportunity to win the commercial battle, to become the face of the game in the United States, which I really do think is Haaland thinks about it. Mbappe definitely thinks about it. Messi is living it. But there is that. There's that extra impetus. Just bags of gold.

[Rory Smith]

Everyone wants to be playing for the ultras. That's what it is, basically.

[Roger Bennett]

Pretty much.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. I think that is right. My sense is still that they are driving. It's driven by the World Cup. I wonder if the other factor in there is they all want to be the Ballon d'.

[Announcer]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

This generation of players really value the Ballon d', or, which will sound weird, but when we were younger, the British never took it seriously because it was a French idea. And crucially, its name is French, and we don't like that.

[Roger Bennett]

Like culottes.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. No one's wearing culottes and no one's winning the Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

But then I think it was kind of a trinket. Even in continental Europe, it was important, but you would very rarely have heard a player saying, I want to win the Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or. Yeah, but then the thing changed. One night when Rio Ferdinand looked into a camera and said, ballon d'.

[Announcer]

Or.

[Roger Bennett]

Ballon d'.

[Announcer]

Or.

[Pablo Torre]

Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or.

[Announcer]

Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

It was like an earworm that's got in our heads. No, it was Messi and Ronaldo winning it all the time. And it became this measure of who's the best player in the world suddenly. And this generation of players are obsessed with winning it.

[Roger Bennett]

It's so funny. Jan Dieman, who I spent time with

[Rory Smith]

yesterday morning, did you talk about the Ballon d'?

[Roger Bennett]

Or? I said to him, you just played a World cup at 18, 19. That's a dream for millions of us. You've achieved it. What do you dream of now? He's like, ballon d'. Or.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or. He said. I said, do you know what it is? He said, rio Ferdinand's coined it.

[Rory Smith]

The irony is that after the real. Said that about Vinicius. Yeah, Vinicius didn't win it.

[Roger Bennett]

I know.

[Rory Smith]

It's life cursed by Rio.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. But God bless. It is. You're right. It is a. It's a deeply, deeply.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, it's a big thing for them.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. I mean, that's it. So God bless. Tied with Lionel, actually ahead of Lionel on assists. Now Mbappe in the Golden Boot race.

[Rory Smith]

No, that doesn't work.

[Roger Bennett]

Yes, it does.

[Rory Smith]

You're not. They can just share it. You don't need a tiebreaker. This is modern nonsense.

[Roger Bennett]

There can be only one Golden Boot.

[Rory Smith]

It's modern nonsense.

[Roger Bennett]

Boot d'.

[Ad]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

Oleg Solenko didn't need it, did he? In 1994, the random Russian who scored six gold.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

You don't. If they store the same number of goals, you share the award for Golden Boot.

[Roger Bennett]

I think it's ridiculous. It's not a participation trophy rule.

[Rory Smith]

I'm not saying it's a participation trophy.

[Roger Bennett]

You're diminishing.

[Rory Smith]

They've scored the same number of goals. You don't need a tiebreaker.

[Roger Bennett]

I think everyone is agreeing with me. Right. You all said. But the assistant.

[Rory Smith]

Come on, then. They made a silver boot for the winner of the assist, which would be Michael Elisa.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, what a sweet man. Yeah, he'd like that. He's such a surreal.

[Rory Smith]

He would reject it. I don't agree with material possession. He would say that's what he is. Michael Elise is not interested in your prizes.

[Roger Bennett]

I think that's probably true. I don't think he's motivated by any of that.

[Rory Smith]

It's conceptual.

[Roger Bennett]

I think he's motivated by love and fear of death. I imagine those are the two things that drive him onwards as a footballer. Again, you tell me in the chat later. It would be 2. Dembele given time to Maraud forward. I mean, this is. This is very un. Morocco, given the freedom, no challenges, rolled the ball as if they'd given him an invitation into the corner. And I thought in that second, I think the whole world was screaming, my God, if only that kind of goal had a name.

[Announcer]

Worm Burner.

[Roger Bennett]

I thought it would be, well, do you know what?

[Rory Smith]

I think we've got. We've got good value for money out of that.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

For $7.

[Roger Bennett]

And we've used it six times.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

It's a $12 bang for your boat, isn't it? Yeah. I wonder if we can give it back. If we kept the. We kept the tags on it. We'll see. If you know what Worm Burner is in French. French speakers tell us in the chat. I googled it. It's Balrasant, but I have no bloody idea. Again, Bono got his hand to it. I think the disguise on the shot beat him. Spooked him, really. Five goals on the tournament for Dembele in other World Cups. I've got to be candid. Five goals would be watched. Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

That would win you the Golden Boot.

[Roger Bennett]

It'd be quite, quite tasty. In this one. It barely.

[Rory Smith]

He's not even in the top five.

[Roger Bennett]

We're like, dembele, come harder. But you also said to me, he's

[Rory Smith]

not played especially well in this tournament. Dembele, he scored the hat trick against Norway, which was very impressive. Or Iraq, someone. He's sort of Hatchet against someone. It was a long time ago, right?

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, it was like three or four years ago.

[Rory Smith]

But I would say he has. He's obviously not played as well as Mbappe and he's probably not played as well as Michael Alice either. He is the reigning Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

Ballon d'.

[Pablo Torre]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

Ballon d'.

[Roger Bennett]

Or.

[Rory Smith]

And he is kind of the standard bearer for psg, the best club team in the world.

[Roger Bennett]

He looks ashamed to have scored so few. Only five.

[Ad]

Only.

[Rory Smith]

It's pathetic.

[Roger Bennett]

And then Ousmane. I mean, stepping out. Ousmane making some noise.

[Rory Smith]

Ousmane Dembele watches a lot of documentaries about dictators.

[Roger Bennett]

They're always telling me that the French frontline are not only quite shockingly potent, they also have fascinating hobbies for footballers.

[Rory Smith]

So Michael Alise plays chess or baseball on a board, as I like to call it. Chewing tobacco without the tune.

[Roger Bennett]

Tobacco without the tune. Tobacco.

[Rory Smith]

I was trying to invert the joke.

[Roger Bennett]

Okay, got it.

[Rory Smith]

Thank you. I think this is true, but obviously it's really hard to tell in the modern era because everything is disinformation and fake news. I think Ousmane Dembele has said in a documentary that he spends his spare time watching documentaries about Stalin and Mobutu and other kind of notorious dictators of years gone by. It could be an AI hallucination. It could be that he was. That he was joking.

[Roger Bennett]

How many documentaries of dictators are there? Can this really be hobby? A million? It can really be a hobby. Is it inexhaustible numbers?

[Rory Smith]

Turn on a history channel. There's so many documentaries about dictators. That's all there is. Nothing but banners.

[Roger Bennett]

Why are you watching dictator docs when there's so many crime, true crime things to watch. So many snuff movies.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

My wife likes watching Norwegian terrorists getting murdered.

[Roger Bennett]

I know. Human darkness. Live a little. Oh, the Jose Mourinho documentary was thrilling. Then. If he likes ones about dictators. At Gustavo Cacayo. So snap. It was a worm burner. Roar. I love that. People now see. See us as the official Wormburner Gold Committee. Gustav, I don't think there's a lot of competition. Not a lot of fight for that one, is there?

[Rory Smith]

No, but there should be. We've claimed it as our own.

[Roger Bennett]

I know. It's getting big.

[Rory Smith]

You don't get that on the rest of this football game.

[Roger Bennett]

It's getting pretty big at Chris Vosh.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Like Roger's actually wearing pants. You're on to me again. Look, it's hot. I need Ventilation, he says everything he

[Rory Smith]

owns is flesh Toilet. That's the problem.

[Roger Bennett]

My underfants have also got a huge rip in them at this stage. I'm living in tattered and battered in this World Cup. Did I rip my underpants to like, kind of like it's like a waistband but like no pant pocket.

[Rory Smith]

Did Horncastle reveal in public that when he. The first time he got on the bus he ripped his pants? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not telling tales out of school.

[Roger Bennett]

No, no, no. God bless.

[Rory Smith]

He did it all with a sort of self sustaining ventilation system.

[Roger Bennett]

And that was that late flurry from Morocco. But too little, too late. What might have been. I think the extraordinariality of this French team. We've talked a lot about the potency of what was really fascinating when this game was competitive. They made Morocco, Morocco, who we thought were a pretender to the heavyweight crown, look incredibly ordinary. They don't make those kind of defensive mistakes that give opponents a sniff through all their firepower. The thing that struck me in this game was just the organization, the discipline at the back, which is underrated.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

I think the way they. We saw in the group stage that they can produce this kind of electric football that cuts teams apart. They are capable of that if you give them space and time to do it. Or in the case of Norway, if you play your reserves. But the way that France have played in the knockouts is we are not going to make a single mistake. And eventually our front four are so good that no matter how well you're defending, we will find a way through. And ultimately football is quite a simple game and if you do those two things, you're gonna win a lot of football matches.

[Roger Bennett]

Hard hitting question. The Mbappe Limpoff. An ice ankle. How serious? How worried? Got a Porsche, Got a force you hit.

[Rory Smith]

This has suddenly got very kind of like hard talk.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. No.

[Rory Smith]

Rory Smith.

[Roger Bennett]

The Anthony Rory Smith. Let's play this up. How weakened it was.

[Rory Smith]

Hard talking. American thing. What was the thing with William F. Buckley?

[Roger Bennett]

I don't know. Hard talk sounds like crossfire with Robin Bird. Crossfire. Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah. And Buffalo's Anthel. Roger Bennett.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. Yes. How much?

[Rory Smith]

How bad?

[Roger Bennett]

Let's play Walked off. Let's play doctors when we don't know anything that's important.

[Rory Smith]

So as a non qualified medical professional,

[Roger Bennett]

I am a doctor.

[Rory Smith]

Like Dr. Joe, like Dr. Conrad, the doctor. Joe's a doctor of refereeing doctor.

[Roger Bennett]

He's a doctor of love. He can make love to you in 12 different languages.

[Rory Smith]

PhD in whistles my sense is always with nothing, with no idea what I'm talking about. He walked off. He walked off.

[Roger Bennett]

That's one let's a leg what we know. Legs still attach to body.

[Rory Smith]

He looked smiley and he sat on the bench with an ice pack around his ankle, which means he's not like being rushed to hospital.

[Roger Bennett]

Everything else is conjecture.

[Rory Smith]

I think the semi final, you'd have to say he's probably, you know, a doubtful.

[Roger Bennett]

We don't know.

[Rory Smith]

But we don't know.

[Roger Bennett]

We don't know anything. It's one of the great rules of NBC's footballing oversight is they will not allow, and I think this is quite brilliant, they won't allow their commentators ever to play doctor. They're like, you're not a doctor. Don't hypothesize. We will wait and see for the scam. But we had to talk about it for Morocco eulogizing. Were they undone by injury? Were they undone by something else? Completely.

[Rory Smith]

I think having no sybari really hurt them. He has been there out there, cutting edge. Ultimately, they didn't have the kind of threat up front to lay a glove on France. The first half in particular. I thought they really lacked a desire to take risks and that was. There was a point where you thought if you didn't hurt them. And there was a point at which if Morocco had taken the lead, I do think they could have worried France. But they never really committed to it. And without sort of tooting my own horn, Rog, I do wonder whether the psychological thing was too much. They were so conscious of how much damage France could do on the break that they just weren't prepared to commit to it.

[Roger Bennett]

You know what I love? When you said going to toot my own. Pedro Martinez had a lovely, lovely way. He said, I'm trying to say stay humble. Yeah. And then he'd say something completely unhumble. So toot your own haul.

[Rory Smith]

I'm trying to stay humble, I'm trying to say. But I was completely right.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, completely. As I. As predicted by me at the Homie Roach says I'm here to see if Pablo Torre can find out if anyone will beat France. We'll ask him that in just a few minutes. Make sure you fire up your questions in the chat. Ryan Luft. 8796. How many Brian Lufts can there be?

[Rory Smith]

Eight hundred and. 8796.

[Roger Bennett]

I don't know, man. It's a big country. But how really how many Brian Luffs and Rog, Rory, you've been part of my life every day during this beautiful tournament. I feel we're breaking up soon and it's heart wrenching. Burning my worm. I like that.

[Rory Smith]

That sounds like a. An act of.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah.

[Rory Smith]

We don't want to sound like a walker.

[Roger Bennett]

It does. No. I don't know. It sounds like something that you get in the magic of old is all I'll say.

[Rory Smith]

8796 would be his PIN number. Yes.

[Roger Bennett]

I don't. Burning my Worm sounds like my next autobiography, my next memoir. If this like World cup keeps going on for much longer, we could use

[Rory Smith]

it as a euphemism for staying up late. Burning the worm at both ends.

[Roger Bennett]

Burning my worm.

[Pablo Torre]

What?

[Roger Bennett]

Anthony Gil, you're burning me worm. You do me anything.

[Rory Smith]

Anthony Gordon's deeper than that.

[Roger Bennett]

Yes.

[Rory Smith]

I can't do a deep, stout action.

[Roger Bennett]

No, he's not that deep.

[Rory Smith]

He's really deep.

[Roger Bennett]

No, he's not.

[Pablo Torre]

He is.

[Roger Bennett]

He wasn't when he came. We did a live show with Anthony Gordon at Everton. Just had quite a good season. We just avoided relegation. And the fans in Washington D.C. started to chant, oh, Anthony Gordon. Oh. And he's just leaned into the Micah and he's still very shy. He goes, I'm never gonna leave you.

[Rory Smith]

And then three weeks later, he signed

[Roger Bennett]

for Newcastle United High. Squeaky voice.

[Rory Smith]

I no, I think Anthony Gordon was

[Roger Bennett]

on since he's gone to.

[Rory Smith]

Maybe it's puberty. I don't know.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

God blessed. There's everyone's every different time.

[Rory Smith]

That's true. We're not judging.

[Roger Bennett]

We're not judging and we're not judging you, Anthony. Good. We got other things to judge you about. Quick word before we take guess I'm be in me. Let's update ourselves on today's USA Toxic fallout, which means Q Sting, dudes. Oh, what could have been you there every time I. It does. It used to bring me such joy. And now when I hear that sting, it's sadder than Tracy Chapman's fast car. I was interviewed by the BBC this morning on the show with a man called Adrian Chiles.

[Rory Smith]

I'm aware of his work.

[Roger Bennett]

You're aware of his Hoover. First thing he said to me, raw I crap. You know, he got me on, introduced me. He's like, well, I can't do a Burmese accent. He's got one. He goes, why is your team's nickname so bad? I said, what nickname? We've been working on having a nickname the whole time.

[Rory Smith]

Soccer dudes.

[Roger Bennett]

I was excited to tell him about Soccer Dudes. But then I realized it's not going to quite the irony. And I said, what nickname? Adrian? And he just goes, usmt.

[Rory Smith]

Usmant.

[Roger Bennett]

He thought that was the nickname when we call ourselves Usmant. And I actually thought in my head, I was like, it's quite a good nickname.

[Rory Smith]

Usmant.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, yeah, it's fine. Kind of suits us.

[Rory Smith]

It's no soccer dudes.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, it's no soccer dudes.

[Rory Smith]

Come on.

[Roger Bennett]

I said, adrian, I think nicknames are the least of our problems, my friend.

[Rory Smith]

I think that's probably. It's a good answer.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. Unfortunately, it's true, because right now we have Landon Donovan tearing into Christian Pulisic. You've probably seen the video. I found it quite emotionally tough to watch knowing Landon so well, knowing what he's been through. But he compares himself to Pulisic. I do think the reaction's been pretty strong in many directions. I think London's day and Christian's day and both were probably great to their day in the. Landon played where he played and where Christian plays. Just the levels of pressure, I mean, for the club team, also the money, the social media age, the weight that kind of crushes players. Now, that wasn't there. I'd also say knowing both men, psychological makeup of both of them is. Is so unbelievably different. But it is. I mean, it is particularly hard because today our friend James Horncastle broke the news that Christian Pulisic, who I think is being seen as weak for, you know, for subbing out when the third goal went in, suffered a, quote, micro fracture in his leg during the World cup loss. There's Horny breaking the news and will be sidelined for several weeks. Multiple people briefed on the diagnosis told the athletes at raw. What do you think? I've not heard of a micro fracture before. You're a doctor famously like Dr. Joe. What do you think about this?

[Rory Smith]

I think Hortencastle's promoted himself.

[Roger Bennett]

Has he really?

[Rory Smith]

Well, it used to be James Horncastle. Omri does he got awarded like a medal by the state? By the Italian state, yeah. Osi. He might have got another one without telling anybody.

[Roger Bennett]

Did he really?

[Rory Smith]

I would say I think they get Italy stop giving James Horncastle medals.

[Roger Bennett]

He didn't give out OSIS at the Waffle House.

[Rory Smith]

It might be that he's got it. He might need to be tested for it.

[Roger Bennett]

To be fair,

[Rory Smith]

this is legacy of the World Cup. I. I have heard of micro fractures. It does strike me as being a word that makes something that's bad sound Much worse than it is, if that makes sense. He clearly got injured. That's fine. He got injured and he was taken off. And I wonder whether it kind of confirms to us that it wasn't Pochettino thinking, you're letting the team down so you're coming off. There was obviously a reason for him to come off. The nature of the injury, micro fracture doesn't mean. I'm not entirely sure how that's different from a normal fracture. He'd obviously hurt his leg. That's fine.

[Roger Bennett]

It's terrible. But I also hate this argument. It's like in the early days of the Internet, there was this phenomenon on YouTube called Bum Fight. I'm sure Charlie Kip's watched a couple of those. Yes, he's nodding in the background. It's where they pay truly desperate men to just wail on each other. This argument.

[Rory Smith]

Kippo's gone. Kippo's completely gone.

[Roger Bennett]

This argument reminds me of one of those bump fights. Don't look them up yet.

[Rory Smith]

I think we have different interpretations of Landon's comments and I would always bow to you on this because as you say, you know them both better than I do and you know the scene better than I do. I thought Landon's point, acknowledging the vast differences between his era and Pulisic's era, I actually think his point was relatively sound. And the bit where he lost me more was how much importance or how much weight he seems to put on. Like how good Pulisic is with the media, which I think fundamentally just doesn't matter if he isn't a particularly chatty or charismatic public figure. I'm not sure that's significant. What I think might be significant is that there is a lot of pressure on him to be a standard bearer for an avatar for American soccer. And I don't know whether that's a role that he is necessarily like, suited to character wise, which is a tension. It's not his fault, it's no one's fault. But it does put him in a position of tension.

[Roger Bennett]

He's committing to the acting. It's hard to be an actor. He's like Daniel Day Lewis.

[Rory Smith]

He's a double threat.

[Roger Bennett]

Daniel Day Lewis did not like doing interviews, nor does Christian. I mean, it's fascinating. We definitely pedestal. I've had footballer, American footballers, dads get into my DMs and tell me my job is to support the players, which it's not. I do think our job is to be in conversation with you, but we def pedestal. I do think, like One of the things that's fascinating criticism in the American realm isn't. Doesn't go down well. We're still such an innocent kind of wide eyed culture, like in. In another football culture when say the director of football bolted from U.S. soccer on the eve of the tournament. That would cause just a stubborn enormous issue here. Almost nothing. When Pochettino did his AC Milan interview, that would be. That. That would be a massive. When Baligan was in England, there'd be a voluble backlash to all of these things here we're so wide eyed, you know, we're looking for anything to be positive, which I guess is very American in and of itself. But it means also there's no nuance and with that there can't be any accountability.

[Rory Smith]

I think the difference is. So it can go too far the other way. You will remember in 1990 when Bobby Robson, the Inland manager, his contract was up and he agreed a deal that after the World cup he would take charge of PSV Eindhoven, where Serginio Dest plays. Knowing that Serginio Dest would one day play there and wanting to get in

[Roger Bennett]

early just mistimed it by about 40 years.

[Rory Smith]

And Robson was called a traitor despite the fact that his contract was up and he was just taking another job for afterwards. I think the difference is advocacy that football in America still feels that the people who spent so much time building that sport feel that they have to defend it and criticizing it would undercut

[Roger Bennett]

that America as cruel fate smashed your dreams of football in glory during this FIFA World Cup. Fear not, you're now a sporting free agent with your choice of squads. The opportunity to pick someone new the teams with the catcher songs the country you studied abroad in the goalkeeper with the magnificent hair when your team's gone, fun doesn't have to be because on the lay's bandwagon every match is another excuse to grab a snack and pick a new favourite. There are no wrong answers, only good times and tasty snacks. So jump on and enjoy the rest of the tournament because Lays keeps the party going and the bandwagon has never tasted better. Lays official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026 as cruel fate smashed your dreams of football in glory during this FIFA World Cup. Fear not, you're now a sporting free agent with your choice of squads. The opportunity to pick someone new the teams with the catcher songs the country you studied abroad in the goalkeeper with the magnificent hair when your team's gone fun doesn't have to be because on the le's bandwagon Every match is another excuse to grab a snack and pick a new favourite. There are no wrong answers, only good times and tasty snacks. So jump on and enjoy the rest of the tournament because Lays keeps the party going and the bandwagon has never tasted better. Lays official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and as the world arrives in the United States for the biggest spectacle in sports, we're going coast to coast, host city to host city to meet the world with the men in blazers Matchday Live tour. These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer where we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans. It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or From Afar on YouTube. Let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated. Head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details. To the football to more together courage. It's time for our guest, Pablo Torre. Our guest is a gent who established himself as one of the most singular voices in American sports journalism. I tell you a clue who he is because he's got a show Pablo Torre finds out which is a cocktail of in depth reporting and really good def sound design. I'm a bit jealous of the sound design above all I got to be honest. This year it won the journalism belongs

[Rory Smith]

at allitzer Pulitzer is a bit better than a bond.

[Roger Bennett]

Is it really?

[Rory Smith]

Yeah well.

[Roger Bennett]

But yeah you should hear Rio Ferdinand be like Pulitzer, Pulitzer. Pulitzer, Pulitzer, Pulitzer.

[Rory Smith]

That's how he's reading God knows what Rio Ferdinand's reading is reading his own Pulitzer. Pulitzer. Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

I think he reads the burning. The worm is burning Mike audio reporting respect. It's our pleasure to welcome hint in the show name so one and only Pablo Tory.

[Pablo Torre]

You know I was counting the syllables and like the Pulisic prize is a different but very similar parallel now that

[Roger Bennett]

I've heard you guys you'll never win that the Pulisic prize.

[Pablo Torre]

I have been accused of being soft though pathologically. Pathologically perhaps doomed in my softness.

[Roger Bennett]

That's what makes you different to Christian because he's proper, proper hard. But you are a dyed in a wool New Yorker raised in that city, born there. You're more New York than a bacon, egg, cheese on a roll. Salt, pepper, ketchup. We've experienced so many World cup atmospheres from the sea of American fans in Seattle, Atlanta, just a waffle house of humanity. The great Argentine takeover of the atl. We're rolling back into your city. We've not been there. My adopted hometown. Tell us you're there. How have you experienced the world flooding into New York City firsthand?

[Pablo Torre]

The city is horny. I don't know if you've caught that from afar. The pheromones are palpable. These gatherings go to Queens and you'll rub an elbow against another bare elbow and realize what it's like to be alive. There are people here who are just realizing, oh my God. Skin to skin contact with like an excuse on a big screen in front of the diaspora to cue the drinking game again. It's. It's beautiful, man. And it's. It's the promise of a city that of course is, is the height of elitist caricature, but also happens to have all the stuff in it. You know, all these places, being in here, watching, watching Queens revolt on behalf of Egypt. What's better than that? What's better than that, man?

[Roger Bennett]

That is the moment I think historians will decide that football finally broke through when Queens is up in arms. Either that or when Erling Haaland slipped into Katzis and got himself a giant pastrami sandwich, which was just like football eating itself. But it's not just been New York City, Pablo. This World cup has been like a real world cup of love. I think in many ways for me, it's what America needed. It's what the world needed to. But seeing like the Scottish invasion of Boston, which we just broke down quite painfully frame by frame with the mayor, with the great Mayor Wu today, this whole city is still slick with all the spilt lager here, the Algerians in Kansas, Bosnia and Canadian fans coming together north of the border. How have you seen it, man? I mean, it has been what you experience with your New York Knicks, but globally, Bernay Brown calls it collective effervescence.

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah, I mean, it's been a monocultural dick measuring contest, you know, like you thought the Knicks were big. Like, check this out and look. It's a reminder. It's a reminder. It's a humbling, insecurity inducing reminder that nothing else can compare to this. And the idea, by the way, that America gets to be a good host, I'll spare you the larger political resonance, but it's there, right? To actually watch people enjoy the food you're serving them and to therefore be reminded that maybe this isn't so bad, like what we got here. Maybe we should appreciate that too. It is both the nationalistic but Also the opposite project being one in the same. And the thing that I love about this is watching people get radicalized by it. Because I love. And you guys, I mean Raj, your project, welcoming people onto the bandwagon. Sports are better when casuals fill it up. I just believe that. I believe that the more people that show up and maybe they don't know anything, maybe like a certain president, they don't know what a red card is, but they show up and they're like, you know what? I too am invested in this. In most cases, I find it totally delightful. It's like going to a movie theater and realizing that I want the crowd to be sold out. It makes the experience better. I get to watch them watch this. I get to watch them learn about this and realize maybe I'm going to come back to another screening. And for a sports guy, it's just the best to realize that maybe there's a reason to think the toy department is onto something beyond just the fun of it.

[Rory Smith]

No, I've been really struck by the two way process of America trying to the world coming to America and celebrating it, but also America seeing the scale of football culture. And I think, I wonder if that's the thing that persuades people. There has been a bit of discourse, Pablo, I don't know if you've seen it today and yesterday, about certain elements of the American media deciding that soccer was actually boring the whole time, which feels a bit rage baity to me now. But I think whether you like the sport, whether you understand the sport or not, you see the way it moves people around the world, I don't really understand how you can resist it.

[Pablo Torre]

To an extent, I think it's a farce to then claim after the US has been soundly beaten by Belgium to be like, actually this sucked the whole time and we knew it. That's not what the vibe was. Just to be clear, on behalf of all of the Americans, I do think that there is a mirror neurons thing though. Like, just like neurologically, I think you'd be lying to yourself if you. It's the reason why. Okay, There's a clip that goes viral on my timeline regularly and it's the video from. I think it's like Avengers endgame. So excuse me for the digression, but it's when Captain America picks up Thor's hammer and you're watching this, but really you're watching the people who love it watch it in that theater and I cry and it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing objectively for me. To have just said that into a public record. But the fact that you can feel people feel this, that's what's undeniable. I mean, if you just rank the strangleholds emotionally that sports has on the world, this, your game is by far the most powerful. And so to watch people feel that, you also feel that unless you're a sociopath, in which case we're weeding out a bunch of people in the process of the World cup, which is also helpful, perhaps from a larger American experiment.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, it's fascinating. I went to watch Argentina play Egypt the other day, and there was a city where a woman had never been to a football game before. And Argentinian. Just the euphoria. It's evangelical. It feels like you're in a church. It's an ecstasy. When they came back, grown men were weeping, old men were thrown into the air, Children were flung onto the pitch by their own parents. It was just like biblical sacrifice everywhere. She started crying by me. So I was like, what's going on? She goes, I'm so moved by the overwhelming. Just. It was like evangelical church. I thought it was very, very beautiful that being moved. I do need to ask you about this U.S. men's National Team, how you see it. You know, another World cup, incredible highs too. Early country road in Seattle. After that win against Australia, early peak. And then just a complete and utter, you know, strapping on the wax wings of Article 27. And the self destruction. How did you see that? How did you view that? Purely as a fan.

[Pablo Torre]

So this is my fan perspective, and I'll weave some, I think, pseudoscience in, because that is my way as a fan.

[Roger Bennett]

You don't have to say, you don't have to explain. You're gonna weave in pseudoscience. We expect it of you, Pablo. That's how we invite you as a guest on our show. Do the pseudo. Do the phrenology that you are famed for.

[Pablo Torre]

Let's measure some skulls. I believe. I believe that the president showing up at this thing in the way that he did changed the barometric pressure around this team. And I know you could say that would not make up for how big that gap was on the field. And I think that's probably right. But as a magnitude question, as a measuring question, why did this feel weird? I saw it in game three in this city of the NBA Finals when the Knicks went from this somehow, David, despite being in this city, to now being this Goliath. And it felt worse and it felt way more pressurized, and it felt like, the story was different and they didn't really know how to move. And that's what it looked like when I was watching from home as a fan was this team loved being David. It loved being beloved. It loves love.

[Roger Bennett]

Who doesn't if you don't love love? I mean, honestly, I've spoken to a couple of agents in the past 48 hours and. And three of them have said that this team felt like they were carried on the wing of good vibes and they didn't know how to cope with suddenly feeling like they were loathed around the world. Like, that vibe switch changed so much. Sometimes it's not football, sometimes it is culture. Very, very quickly. I want to do a couple of quick ones before we leave. You are a gent with your finger on the pulse of American sports. What I've been fascinated about is seeing so many American fans at England games wearing England jerseys. You know, they love the Premier League. They're all in. You know, I'm. I was one of them tried to fight me when England were 1 nil down at Congo and I cheered. They're like, how can you be. How can you be cheering for Congo, man? And I was like, dude, you know, you're not even in. You're not even English and nor am I. I. Cheer up. It's quite funny. It's beautiful, though. It's crazy and fascinating. You know, Argentina, there were thousands of Americans there wearing Argentina jerseys, you know, crying, singing, doing the hand thing that the Argentinian fans do. That's so beautiful. The rise of football in America. Economist has it as the third biggest sport in America right now. Baseball fourth. It doesn't need the American men to do well. I mean, identity is now so fluid, but they are in danger of becoming irrelevant to the story.

[Pablo Torre]

Well, I think that's real. And by the way, God bless, you know, Major League Soccer for trying to poke its head into the party and be like, hey, so we're up next, right? And then people are being like, yeah, sure, yeah, we'll get to that. And. But. But I think you're right. America is particularly constituted, even by way of its own self conception, to have different countries that you care about. And that's of course, the diaspora story. But it's also the ability to, like, wear the costume of someone else. And I will say, as someone who was there in Brazil, Raj with you somewhere in different parts of the country in 2014, was there for five weeks. And remember that film they showed us in the global Security Disney video room? They like, they Were like, this will happen if you go to an ATM in Rio de Janeiro. And it was a guy getting bum fought. It was a guy. It was just like a. It was a snuff film. I was like, okay, I'm not going to an atm. I guess. Anyway, it was probably.

[Roger Bennett]

They were like, he's expendable. Let's send him to the atm. Somebody film it with the camera. Literal.

[Pablo Torre]

Literal panic buttons. I remember that that's what the prep for Brazil was like. But I digress. The point being, so much of my fun in Brazil was inadvertently embedding with English football fans and learning. And this is just indelible. The delightful mix of pride and sarcasm that attends how that country cares about its team, knowing that it's never coming home, but also never stopping saying that it will. Like there's something charming. It is sort of the origin of this place. We draw our genetics in that way. From there, we know we're not everything we say we are. Americans are just worse at admitting it. And I think that is probably something we can share.

[Roger Bennett]

It's only been 250 years. I will let you go. But I do. Before you go, I want you to explain these things in one sentence, each of them. Are you ready for this?

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, gosh, yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Freddie LA7

[Pablo Torre]

CIA operative.

[Roger Bennett]

Do you really mean that? By the way you solve a. Solve an argument? Rory and I have very different.

[Rory Smith]

We've been disagreeing. Pablo.

[Roger Bennett]

I think it's full on psyops. What do you really think for Freddie LA7?

[Pablo Torre]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think there's more to come on that. Oh. Oh.

[Rory Smith]

Is you and Pablo against me and J.J. watt. Like I'm. I'm still. I'm still talking.

[Roger Bennett]

I think J.J. watt's gonna be a guest soon. On Pablo Torre finds out I'm imagining I would love. I think there's more to come out on that. Come on, Pablo. Get in there, son.

[Pablo Torre]

World's obsession with Waffle House deserved again violence. But syrup.

[Roger Bennett]

Amazing. Last one for you. Will the American men ever win a World Cup? In our lifetime.

[Pablo Torre]

Rash, A wise man dressed as a knight that seemed to be blackout drunk once told me that it's coming home. And I will say this. I think it's studying abroad someday in the United States.

[Roger Bennett]

You've just. You've just bent my brain. It's studying abroad.

[Rory Smith]

That could work as a chance.

[Roger Bennett]

I think we're working on the chance, man. We are working on the chance. You need help. On the chance we don't. We need all that. We're getting we're getting help on the. Noah Khan's writing some chants for us. We're working on it. We're going to be there. It is incredible to be with you. For everyone at home, get Pablo Torre finds out on your podcast, particularly if you want to find out about Freddie LA7 and the truth. It's incredible. It's intelligent reporting.

[Pablo Torre]

Sound design as well.

[Roger Bennett]

The sound design. That's why I listen, by the way. Does anyone listen to it for any other reason? Big Pabs.

[Pablo Torre]

You know what? We are a public radio show wearing the costume of a sports show. And I'm glad that Robert Bennett knows that.

[Roger Bennett]

By the way. I'd bite your arm off for that. It's all I. Sound design is genuinely for real. Black belt.

[Pablo Torre]

Thank you.

[Roger Bennett]

We love you. We love. But you look bloody well, by the way. Whatever you're doing, that work you've had done, it's.

[Pablo Torre]

I got the Landon Donovan deal.

[Roger Bennett]

Big Pabs. Big, big Love. Health, Happiness. Joy. Tamor. Courage. Oh, Raw.

[Rory Smith]

I love Pablo. He's great.

[Roger Bennett]

That was pound for pound. That was very funny. I felt a bit tired before El Pablo came on.

[Rory Smith]

I fundamentally reject the idea that football has to arrive in America. I think it's very obviously arrived. And I was actually talking to someone about this just before. It was JDubs. JDubs. I'm gonna name you as JDubs.

[Roger Bennett]

J Dubbs.

[Rory Smith]

I think it's because we've never actually seen that happen. We've never seen a country. No one alive has ever seen a country embrace football before. So we don't know what the point is where we can say, well, that's. Well, that's finished now. But that point has come.

[Roger Bennett]

Well, I think the moment. A country has its own sting, Right?

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Its own soccer dude. Sting.

[Rory Smith]

It's got the nickname. We're getting there with the chance. It's fine.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. The chance.

[Rory Smith]

It was on an Olive Garden in Huntsville. But what more do you people want?

[Roger Bennett]

It was, by the way, that's another thing Adrian Chiles came up with.

[Pablo Torre]

He goes.

[Roger Bennett]

I mean, they may be watching it in New York, in la, but if we went to this place or that place in Texas, and I said, adrian, I think that's actually a town. This place or that place, Texas.

[Rory Smith]

But it is. I went to.

[Roger Bennett]

I know I was gonna tell him.

[Rory Smith]

And I went to. He'd moved on to another competition and it was on. But also, this is the. The secret. The secret shame of Britain, and that's about the rest of Europe. Not everybody likes football there, like 28 million people might watch the World Cup Final in the uk, which means half the country doesn't. My mum won't watch it. She doesn't. She's not interested.

[Roger Bennett]

You go to this place or that

[Rory Smith]

place if you don't. Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

We've reached that part of the night where we figure out what everybody suddenly believes needs its own sting by taking a look at Kelsey Percentages to peek into the brains of football fans everywhere. Put a finger on their polls. Scan below to sign up. Betrayed on Kelshi. We've chatted at length about the Golden Boot rule.

[Rory Smith]

This isn't the Golden Boot, is it?

[Roger Bennett]

But tonight we turn our attention to another end of the tournament, the Golden Ball for most outstanding player of the tournament. We don't talk about that enough. The two clear front runners are no surprise. How is it not Baligan, Messi and Mbappe, but Kane, Haaland, Elise and a handful of others. Baligan still lurking. Two part question. Who'd you like here, Raw? And is this award basically the Golden Boot of a different name or is there really more to it in Europe?

[Rory Smith]

I can see a late run here from Gianni Infantino, if I'm honest, to take it. To take it, yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

Baron Trump.

[Rory Smith]

Baron Trump.

[Roger Bennett]

There you go.

[Rory Smith]

Whoever explained to President Trump what a

[Roger Bennett]

red card is, what does it say?

[Rory Smith]

It says Mbappe at the top. So I would say it will probably depend on who wins it. At the moment, I'd be inclined to think if Argentina made the final, I'd be inclined to think Messi because of his sort of letters of legacy thing, but lifetime achievement. But if, say, England were. If Switzerland, not Argentina out in the quarter finals on Sunday, then it won't be Messi. It will be a player who makes the final. And at the moment, I think the team that is closest to the final and looks most untouchable is France. And therefore I think it will probably be Mbappe.

[Roger Bennett]

I think so, too. Otherwise, give it to Ronaldo. Ask yourself this.

[Rory Smith]

That would be very funny.

[Roger Bennett]

What other player has made us feel more humanly alive? He's never been more vigorously relatable than he was at this world. Watching him, you felt, I'm back. And then not back.

[Rory Smith]

I've gone again.

[Announcer]

The.

[Roger Bennett]

The gone away again.

[Rory Smith]

That I'm back is so hubristic. I mean, it's so hubristic.

[Roger Bennett]

It's astonishing to me, after beating up

[Rory Smith]

on the Zbest, he straws against Uzbekistan for that reason.

[Roger Bennett]

That's what I'm saying. Give the man the golden ball because I think he's honestly given us the most. This should be the most human moment. Tell us who you think. Meninblazersmail.com or in our discord or. Or in the chat. I'm quite fascinated by all of this, Shakira, by the way, the times. I do feel like this whole World cup is just a promo for. The real star of it is Shakira's. We've had a long walk on that. We have to sit through seven minutes.

[Rory Smith]

There was a good bit of banging

[Roger Bennett]

at She's Great tune but man, there

[Rory Smith]

was a good bit in the France game today where the camera cut to a celebrity of some sort. I think it might have been Shakira. And the commentator, I believe it was our favourite. John Strong said it wasn't Peter Drury or John Champion. And the commentator said the ball's in play. And I think the commentator was trying to signal to whoever's in charge of that stuff, take Shakira off the screen. Something's happening. Because they're so obsessed with showing Shakira wherever she is.

[Roger Bennett]

I would imagine she has some kind of. A lot of these people you see on the screen have some kind of deal that they will get screen time if they. Well, if you think about it, to have screen time in this moment is like the greatest global advertisement. There are a number of human beings who have that deal.

[Rory Smith]

Tim Ray.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, I'm still seeing that leg go up, try and save that third goal. And the leg and the brain and the body and gravity and time and all of us are gonna die mid roll pro. Before we get to the preview for tomorrow, quick reminder, we are running out of World cup games. Why are we saying this? It means we've got to soak up everyone. Just seven more left. If you're starting your weekend early tomorrow, heading out with friends for Saturday's double feature, check out our bar finder on the men in blazers site. I love this because you did it. You sent in thousands of recommendations. We put them together. It's an interactive map of the best soccer bars in city across city, state across state in America support them. So many of these bars have really been pioneers of the game. They deserve your support. Get in there point in hand, have throw those points in the air with fellow football lovers. Okay. Tomorrow we have another quarter final matchup between Spain and the usa, right?

[Rory Smith]

Nearly.

[Roger Bennett]

Okay, Belgium too. Soon we American fans get to see if Belgium really are the incredible devastating heavyweight that we persuaded ourselves that they are since Monday night's beat down. Or if they're just crap and we went, oh, God.

[Rory Smith]

I think there's a very real world in which the US is a little bit thankful not to have been playing Spain. When they see what Spain do to

[Roger Bennett]

Belgium, you think that doesn't work like that, though. It's just to hear country roads play one more time to have. What's it called? Oh, yeah. Happiness. Anyway, not for us. Not for us. Belgium's pink and blue away shirt. Oh. That they wore against the United States is a tribute. I love this. The Belgium surrealist Rene Magritte. We need some more of our artists celebrated in our craft, don't you think?

[Rory Smith]

I'd like a Simpsons themed one for Matt Groening.

[Roger Bennett]

That'd be gen. Legit amazing.

[Rory Smith]

Simpsons Yellow.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, I was thinking more like a Gary, Indiana homage or something. You tell us who you'd like to paint the next US jersey. It's a design based on the floating bells in his voice of space painting, which the Guggenheim museum describes as having quite a mysterious resonance.

[Rory Smith]

I think they take football shirts too seriously now.

[Roger Bennett]

You do?

[Rory Smith]

Yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

I love them when they bake in stories like that. Be just. Oh, be amazing. Play you for the Ultras. You could use the same words to explain this Belgium team. They are mysterious with a. With an eerie resonance. They look well past their experience. Expiration date in the opening group games are now bloody good again. We've decided. Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes Belgium can pull off the upset. He said, everyone realizes it's possible. There are always surprises. I think we can be one of them. Confidence is there. How do you understand this Belgium side? They look so unremarkable against, say, Egypt and Iran and for the first 85 minutes against Senegal before they became the best team in the world trademark on Monday night.

[Rory Smith]

Yeah, it's very much a tournament of two halves. I think what we saw against the us Which I think is the kind of mitigating circumstance for the United States, is that Rudy Garcia had changed his team completely and played a side that I'm not sure the US would have been expecting at all. And that looked like a coherent and effective Belgium team. So I think they will pose more of a threat to Spain, assuming they stick with Dikelara ahead of Lukaku De Bruyne on the bench. Make sure you play that. I mean, I thought Nico Rastin, the Rangers player, was really good at kind of leading the press for Belgium against the States. They had energy, they had purpose. It was a more like traditional. It wasn't a superstar Belgian team. It was a hard working industrious Belgian team and it worked for them.

[Roger Bennett]

Clinical in moments. I mean, this team, the Spanish team, have yet to even consider seed. Five World cup games, no goals, seven half hours without giving up anything. Not even an own goal, for God's sake. About an hour longer than the entire first season of Widow's Bay. Who knew? We all know about Spain's goal scoring abilities. About Mikael. Yeah, Lamina Mal. Heard of him. An off the bench assassin double Mikel Marino. How do you see Belgium breaking Spain down? Is there a secret to getting past their backline?

[Rory Smith]

I think you probably have to plan the counterattack. You have to assume that Spain will have the ball for long periods of time and try and pick them off. I'm not sure Spain are defensively as secure as France are, but look, there's no point dressing it up too much. Spain are overwhelming favourites for this game.

[Roger Bennett]

They've also beaten France twice. They beat them in the Euros. Remember that 5, 4 banger.

[Rory Smith]

By all accounts, Spain are the team that France are most afraid of. I think they're the team.

[Roger Bennett]

Good job you never had to face the usa, you cowards. Look, Belgium have not beaten Spain in the last 11 meetings. That's a bit annoying. Royhut says. Appreciate the bar finder, but what about the horncastle finder?

[Rory Smith]

I know where he is.

[Roger Bennett]

Where is he?

[Rory Smith]

Proxburgh.

[Roger Bennett]

When are we going to see him?

[Rory Smith]

You're going to New York tonight? I might see him tonight.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, I love myself a bit of horny.

[Pablo Torre]

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[Roger Bennett]

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[Roger Bennett]

The food and it's time. Today, since we're coming to you live from Boston, for all the talk of lobster rolls and your chowder, the unheralded jewel of this city is the Italian food. Oh, do the honest, raw, particularly your cannolis. So we had them in front of our Resident Italian dessert expert, Mr. Rory Smith. That made a loud noise. Rory, we got you a cannoli from Bova's Bakery in Boston's famous North End. One of the triumvirate of classic Italian bakeries. Along with Modern and Mike's. Your mission is simple. Eaton School. Let's get in there.

[Rory Smith]

You get in there.

[Roger Bennett]

Okay. Look at this. Oh, my God, it is again. Like a Georgia o' Keefe painting. Opening the box is giving us all Mesopotamia, apparently, says the chat. Let's have a little bite. I don't know. This is very, very. This is very erotic.

[Rory Smith]

You made it look very rotic.

[Roger Bennett]

Certainly. I know I'm a very tender lover. We're eating nesty. The prince of gelato. Now you're the king of cannolis. Put on your red socks hat. Let the vitriol for New York. Well, up inside you make you such a healthy person, you're officially a Bostonian. Give us a score.

[Rory Smith]

Okay.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. I think this is actually amazing.

[Rory Smith]

It's really nice, but it's very rich. Very rich.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh, 7.4 from Rory.

[Rory Smith]

No, I've allowed for my own personal predilections. 8.6, which is so good. It's delicious. It's a really good cannoli.

[Roger Bennett]

Did I forget to play the Sting?

[Rory Smith]

You did forget to play the Sting.

[Roger Bennett]

I'm sorry. I'm so cheap.

[Rory Smith]

There's residuals. Not.

[Roger Bennett]

I paid for this.

[Rory Smith]

I mean, I can drop from British Norway.

[Roger Bennett]

You look so handsome there. I don't know.

[Rory Smith]

It's not me. It's a standard. It's an actor.

[Roger Bennett]

It doesn't make the rankings. 8.4. It doesn't make the rankings.

[Rory Smith]

8.6. 8.6. 8 points.

[Roger Bennett]

Does it make the rankings? I don't think it does.

[Rory Smith]

Not quite. No, no, no. We're on nines now for the rankings.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, we're Air War. As long as that's off, I don't care.

[Rory Smith]

Air one's gone.

[Roger Bennett]

Look, it's busy B9 1, busy B. Knife. Don't. They'll knock. Busy. Be off. They deserve the everyday. They're on the JR Cricket Storminer. Hey, I got sad that I'm missing Atlanta.

[Rory Smith]

Four Atlanta. Four Atlanta. There. That is news.

[Roger Bennett]

We're going back. Kippo, you ready for another JR Cricket sesh?

[Pablo Torre]

Oh, yeah.

[Roger Bennett]

We're going, we're going. And Rory's never wrong. God bless. It's time. This has been quite a shocking performance by the lad Bennett in this show. I've got to be honest, I'm barely standing. But we Invite you, dear listeners, with my oral colony. Oh my God. To send us your letters about your journeys, the meanings, the experiences you're having in the World Cup. Meninblazers. Gmail.com. slap them in our discord. This one comes to us from Pat, right here in the great state of Mass. Raw. Do the honors. Will I fellate this colony

[Rory Smith]

to my dear men in blazers crew. I've never been a soccer fan because people keep talking about fellating cannoli. This year, however, I've embarked on unexpected journey and found myself the richer for it. I run a program for autistic students at a public middle school in Massachusetts. Now, no teacher is supposed to have favourites, but I do. I've worked with the same student for the last 10 years, from kindergarten through eighth grade. And this boy loves soccer. As eighth grade came to a close and we finally got ready to say goodbye for good, I issued him my final challenge. Worked hard for this next month and we will watch the World cup in stroll. You've never seen a kid rise to an occasion like this, young man. Matchday came and we put up Mexico against South Africa on the projector. Quinones scored and the students jumped out of their seats with joy. In that moment, I became a football fan. He didn't know it, but what a parting gift he gave to me. Every time I tune into a match, I'll remember his excitement for the game and his exceptional quality. Now I just need to figure out what lead I'll follow when the World cup of love finally ends. Starting my days with morning cup date and unwinding with nightclub. That's a terrifying thought. Have been an incredible way to celebrate and commiserate. Thank you all for contributing to the kindling of this spark, courage, Pat from Massachusetts. Oh, Pat, that's a lovely letter. I raised my calorific trinole.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, my calorific cannoli, which I've just, you know, watted in your honor. You know, it's a beautiful letter. I will say to your favorite school kid, also to your football fandom, may it give you incredible joy, connect you to so many moments, experiences, humanities, seeing so many of you fall in love with this game that we love. It's what's making this tournament so unbelievably special, right?

[Rory Smith]

Absolutely. And in terms of choosing another team or a lead to follow, I would say that nothing, nothing compares to watching football live. So if you have, there are lots and lots of grassroots teams of community teams around here in Massachusetts, there's Portland in Maine has Got an amazing scene.

[Roger Bennett]

Amazing. Hard to find in Burlington, Vermont, Vermont fc. Well, just choose one to stay away from. Everton if you want. Happiness is my only recommendation. Vermont green. God bless. Mmlk314 in the chat says a lot of love for all the love which ultimately is. I love that. The World cup of love. That's what we're trying to experience together. Quick note before we sign off. We are carrying on tonight. We are blowing down to New York City. We're doing something, I can't remember what.

[Rory Smith]

Tomorrow, nightclub live.

[Roger Bennett]

Oh yeah, we're doing the nightclub live at the New Balance house of houses, which I can't wait. We're gonna meet so many of you in there. Razor glass. Then we're going to the Big D, which sounds like a book that would have come out about pornography in the 1980s. Where's the big D? It's actually Dallas. Kids, if you're watching, did you know Dallas is the birthplace roar of both the corn dog and the frozen margarita.

[Rory Smith]

Is that right?

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah. Did you know? And we're doing a night there, July 14 ahead of the semi final at soccer celebration at Simpson Plaza. That's it. Soccer celebration at Simpson Plaza. We'll be joined by horndog James Horncastle, the one and only Humphrey. Cars coming, three time super bowl champion, the moose. The incredible Daryl Johnson. And Emmett Smith, who's been going to a lot of World cup games in Dallas, is going to come back and do a special report about everything he's seen and loved and just how he's a proper football guy now. It's going to be an amazing day, right?

[Rory Smith]

It is. Why is he called the moose?

[Roger Bennett]

Huh?

[Rory Smith]

Why is Daryl Johnson called the moose?

[Roger Bennett]

You can ask him that. First question.

[Rory Smith]

First question. Why are you called the moose?

[Roger Bennett]

Yes. I think it's a terrible knickknack.

[Rory Smith]

Not even a real moose.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, you know what he is? You know how we just spent the afternoon with a doodle in this recording?

[Rory Smith]

She's amazing.

[Roger Bennett]

Yeah, I think he is like half human, half moose. Like, you know, people greed, crap with doodles.

[Announcer]

A human.

[Roger Bennett]

Why does no one have a human doodle?

[Rory Smith]

I think there was a film about that, wasn't there?

[Roger Bennett]

Was that. Yeah, I shouldn't watch that film. We'll be back tomorrow night live from the New Balance house in New York City, 5:00pm Eastern Time. Come join us there. Revel in the magic of the final gangerverse. And then we're going to Atlanta for the next live show. We're actually going to be live with Ludacris When I say that, I do actually piss in my pants just a little bit. But we're going to leave you with another clip from our matchday live this afternoon right here in Boston, one of my favorite cities in America. I don't know who's going to win the World Cup. I do think Boston has actually got a claim that it's won the World Cup. Just the joy that's emanated from this city. But yet again, another lucky fan took part. Oh, Marriott, take your shot Challenge. Lauren. I'm not going to ruin it, but she does win World cup tickets. And everyone I ran into her and her partner a bit later. You know, we give them a giant polystyrene ticket when they've won. They were cycling home with it on city bikes. It was the most awkward thing, like this huge thing under their arm. Don't do it at home, kids. But she shot the world and herself. Stay tuned to see. This is Rod saying huge, huge love. Let's save it. Every second watching football together and courage.

[Pablo Torre]

Lauren.

[Roger Bennett]

Lauren, Congratulations. Lawrence, you so much. What are you feeling? I'm in shock.

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