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- [00:02]
A
The Athletic fc. Hi there and welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Adam Levanthal. So it is finally here. Today marks the start of the 2026 World Cup. But before Mexico kick off the tournament against South Africa on Thursday evening, we're going to tell you everything you need to know about this new expanded Flight 48 team tournament. And joining me in the studio is Keris Jones. How are you, Cerys?
- [00:36]
B
I'm good, I'm excited. It feels a bit sort of strange being so far away from the tournament as it kicks off. The buildup has been there and it feels quite surreal. It's actually starting.
- [00:47]
A
Yeah. And I guess we'll start to sort of feel the buzz and I think that the Mexican fans in particular were will bring that atmosphere. Jay Harris is here, pinning his colors to the mast. Are the Netherlands your pick for the tournament?
- [01:03]
C
Not necessarily. I just like the top and I bought it after I went to the last World cup in Qatar. Cause I spent a lot of time covering the Netherlands at that tournament.
- [01:10]
A
Yes.
- [01:11]
C
And the name on the back of the shirt is Sedorf. I liked Saydorf when I was growing up so it just made sense.
- [01:17]
A
Nice, nice. So we've got the first day of the tournament, we've got the opening game. Are there any sort of poker particular memories of opening games that stick out for you, Cerys?
- [01:27]
B
I feel like I'm really gonna show my age here because mine just don't go back that far. Like the first tournament that I really have memories of is South Africa in 2010. So again, you know that game against Mexico, not exactly a classic. That's kind of the first one I remember. I have good memories of being in kind of pubs as a student during 2022, but the actual details of the game are quite hazy. So yeah, mine aren't that detailed.
- [01:53]
A
Excellent. So 2010, that was South Africa that Mexico won. Obviously we're going to get a replay of that at the Azteca. Yours, Jay.
- [02:00]
C
So there's a temptation to say South Africa just because of the Shabbalalala. But I think I've almost seen that too many times on YouTube over the years. So it's not like an authentic memory. I remember 2006 Germany because Philip Lahm, who's playing at fullback, scores an absolute screamer. But the first World cup have vivid memories of is 2002 and I really liked France Henri Sedan and they lost to Senegal in one of the opening games. And I always sort of remember that as like my. My introductory World Cup.
- [02:33]
A
You know, you said about sort of showing Your age, my fondest memory. Italia 90. Italia 90. What a tournament. And had a huge shock similar to that Senegal France game. Cameroon beat Argentina 1 nil in the San Siro. Omam Biyek scored the goal for Cameroon. So I remember that. I remember watching that game as a kid. Everyone okay, as a kid, a young child. So before we explain how this World cup is going to work, we heard from the FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday in his pre tournament press conference. We were talking about that on yesterday's show and thank you very much for sending in your questions. We'll come to those in a moment. The Athletics. Jack Lang was in the room and he sent us this.
- [03:20]
D
Hi, this is Jack Lang, football writer at the Athletic. I'm here in Mexico City where it's just starting to rain again after a massive downpour. Earlier, I was at the Estadio Azteca for Gianni Infantino's opening remarks before the World Cup. You may remember three and a half years ago at Qatar, his infamous speech, today I am migrant worker. Today I am gay. All of that. Today's effort was less spectacular, probably for better if you're a Channing Infantino. He was asked about a few of the issues bubbling away ahead of this World Cup. The, the ticket prices. He was unrepentant on that Dynamic pricing. Just part of the modern world, according to him. Was asked about referee Omar Artan, the Somali who hasn't been allowed to travel into the U.S. said initially, he said sometimes we have to chill, relax when faced with such issues. Clarified that a bit, saying that he had been working behind the scenes. But obviously that's not a great look for FIFA or the us and there was also a lot of the typical Infantino reverie kind of touching the trophy in front of him. What a wonderful trophy. The football are the magic and power of the football, children's dreams, all of this stuff. And of course, his mission, that football should unite the world. Whether that's going to go according to plan over the next six weeks, we're going to have to find out. But here in Mexico, all eyes now on the opening game.
- [04:48]
A
Yeah, and I think a lot of people will be relieved that we have got to the opening game. But we did also say that, you know, often that these big issues, they sort of melt away once the, once the football kicks off. It maybe wasn't quite as iconic, his press conference. So there was a few sort of, a few moments in it though, wasn't there, Caris?
- [05:08]
B
Yeah, I think the thing that just sticks out to Me within Fantino's sort of words around this World cup is just the deflection and the sort of lack of accountability. There's no. I mean, even, you know, we all remember that sort of press conference in Qatar with the. I feel like a migrant worker. I feel it's not even that, in a sense, it was bizarre, but it addressed an issue. It was him sort of going head on to the talking point. And I don't feel as though he does that at the moment with this World cup and with the issues that we see being talked about. I mean, the response around the Somali referee, starting with the kind of chill and relax and it's best not to scream and shout, was just like,
- [05:53]
A
it
- [05:53]
B
doesn't meet the gravity of the situation. It doesn't meet the fans where they are. Obviously, I'm sure more information will come out around that particular situation. But for him to kind of not recognize the wider implications of FIFA seemingly kind of losing control of a referee that had been selected for the tournament, not being allowed in by the host, and that happening at such a late stage to say relax, it feels very tone deaf.
- [06:22]
A
Yeah, I suppose, you know, to play devil's advocate and looking at it from his point of view, which I very rarely do, he will probably be saying, you know, I will. Look, we don't always need to scream and shout about things. We might be doing work behind the scenes, I suppose that, you know. Yeah, we wait and see, you know, if this referee, there's some sort of reverse ferret and then he pops up in, you know, in Canada and Mexico, then fair play. But, you know, I do agree with you that it did feel like deflection. It did feel like slightly demeaning to. I think it was Dan Rohan from the BBC that asked a question. It's like, no, just chill. Just chill, guys. You know, just. Let's focus on the football and uniting the world. You know, that's. That's. That's not a nice thing, is it?
- [07:02]
C
Yeah, I completely understand the point he's trying to make that we're not gonna reveal everything that we're doing behind the scenes to try and resolve the situation. But to say just chill reminds me of when I used to have arguments with my mum when I was a teenager. And I also think it was important he then clarified what he meant by just chill later on in the press conference. And he was a little bit defensive with the BBC on another occasion where I think he sort of fired back to one of the reporters and said, and this was on the Issue of immigration or how would you feel if FIFA were dict. Who would be allowed into Britain if the UK hosts a World cup in the future? So he was deflective. He was a little bit defensive as well. But I think the main thing with a lot of the issues around FIFA is just the complete lack of transparency that when we do ask questions, we're never really given a clear answer as to what is going on. So when he's saying, chill, we're working on it behind the scenes, I don't think anybody has any actual trust or belief that they are working on it behind the scenes and coming to the right conclusion. And just quickly, I can't remember if I mentioned it yesterday, the issue with the Somali referee is that all of the referees are based in one location at this tournament. And so what they do when they're not participating at a game or featuring at a game is they go through decisions together. They talk about the VAR process, they talk about some of the new rules that are being implemented. So it's not as simple as moving that Somali referee to Canada and Mexico because it needs to be based where all of the officials are. So it's a case of if you're not coming into the U.S. well, then you can't really participate in the tournament whatsoever.
- [08:31]
A
And I suppose it wasn't surprising, Keris, that he went all Edith Piaf and said, you know, je ne, I have no regrets about it being hosted in America. He wasn't going to. He wasn't going to say that, was he? You know, however difficult and challenging this particular moment is for him, pre tournament and, you know, issues with teams and players and referees getting to the tournament.
- [08:52]
B
No, he was never going to. You know, it would. And it would be quite foolhardy considering, you know, the vocal nature of the man who was in charge of the US to come out go. Actually, it was. It was real.
- [09:04]
A
This was a bad idea.
- [09:05]
B
Yeah, this was a terrible idea. Sorry, guys.
- [09:07]
A
What was I thinking?
- [09:07]
B
Yeah, but I think, you know, it's the. It's again, I just keep coming back to the sort of deflection and glossing over of issues. You know, talking about coming back to uniting the world over and over again just feels like skims over the top of everything that is going on. Like, this is one of the more divisive tournaments that I certainly can remember, just in terms of the experiences that fans are having with immigration, visas, prices, transport, everything. It's impossible to unite the world when most of the world can't get there. Basically, that's the crux of the problem.
- [09:46]
A
Just a couple of questions that you did send in because I asked on yesterday's show, what question would you ask Infantino if you had been able to be in the room? Stefan asked, is he going to resign if all of the games aren't sold out?
- [10:00]
B
Feel like we could answer that one.
- [10:01]
A
It's probably unlikely.
- [10:03]
C
There's one question that I'm looking at and it's what would the next World cup look like? And, you know, I know we need to enjoy this tournament or enjoy it as much as we can before we think about what's going to happen in four years time, but the next World cup is going to be co hosted in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and because it's a centenary edition, there are a few games in Uruguay and Paraguay, which means that some of the travel and transportation issues that we've seen during this tournament could also be replicated.
- [10:28]
A
And Argentina as well, Right?
- [10:29]
C
And Argentina, yeah, could be replicated in four years time. And arguably that's going to be even more complicated because you're spanning multiple continents. Three. Three continents as opposed to just three countries.
- [10:49]
A
Just to remind everyone before we get stuck into this tournament and to just sort of explain exactly how it's all going to work, REM that all of our World cup coverage on the Athletic is free to read for the tournament. So you can really get stuck in. There's the World cup hub, there's a newsletter. We've got our huge newsroom on the ground in the States, in Canada, in Mexico. We're going to be in New York for the closing stages of the tournament as well. And one of the ways that you can keep in touch is across our live blogs, which will be across our platforms, which you can keep in touch with exactly what's going on and everything that's developing, you know, during games, but outside of games as well. Is there anything that sort of piqued your interest over the last 24 hours? Karis?
- [11:35]
B
I think it was highlighted on the show yesterday, but the Stars of Soccer Guide, so many of us looked on.
- [11:41]
A
It looks lovely and it. And it is so rich with information, isn't it?
- [11:45]
D
Yeah.
- [11:45]
B
I mean, I played a very like, small part in it, in doing.
- [11:48]
A
Oh, yeah, who did you do?
- [11:49]
B
So. Jor Hatto and Mamadou Sarr. I've been covering Chelsea this season for the Athletics, so we did like Rising Star style profiles on them, but the amount of detail and colour, the design of it as well. You know, we all contribute to this, but you sort of. You don't know what it's quite going to look like when it goes out in the world. So that was massive fun to do. But yeah, I think just the breadth of reporters that we have on the ground is really exciting. Like being able to have Jack that we just saw at Infantino's press conference. The column that he did off the back of that was excellent as well. So I'm not someone who can stay up until 2am for a game of football and then function the next day. So I will be leaning on that coverage a lot to sort of keep across everything.
- [12:34]
C
Well, I also contributed to the Stars of soccer.
- [12:37]
A
Let's make sure that we give you your credit as well. Who did you do?
- [12:40]
C
I wrote about Mickey Van de Ven.
- [12:42]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [12:42]
C
Martin Baturina who plays for Croatia and Akram Afeef who plays for Qatar. And fun little fact about a thief. When he scored the winner for Qatar or when he scored for Qatar in the Asia Cup a couple of years ago, you might have seen it on social media. He celebrated by pulling a card out of his sock and performing a magic trick in front of the television camera. So if you see that at this tournament, if Qatar score and if Afif scores, you can say, you can tell all your friends at the pub. Ah, he's done that before. And you'll look really clever.
- [13:10]
A
Yeah, good bit of knowledge. You know what though? And this might be me sort of showing my age again. I'm not into people grabbing things from the crowd and like having props and, you know, Michael Jackson gloves and all this sort of stuff. Come on.
- [13:24]
B
Keeping a card in your sock is just. Surely that's just really uncomfortable and irritating as well.
- [13:29]
A
But to be honest.
- [13:30]
C
But it was a magic trick so maybe the sock wasn't there the whole time and he just, you know, it was an illusion.
- [13:36]
A
Right, let's get stuck into the tournament ahead because it is about to start and things are different this time around. We've got 48 teams compared to the usual 32 team tournament. Do you want to just run us through how this tournament is going to work? A whistle stop tour?
- [13:53]
C
Yeah, I think, I think it's also important to point out that for. Well, since 1998 to 2022, it's been a 32 team format. So that's my entire life. So there was probably a period of my life where I just thought every single World cup in existence had been a 32 team format.
- [14:13]
A
Italia 1924.
- [14:14]
C
But actually it's changed quite a lot. But it's the first time it's changed significantly in a generation. So for now it's going to be 48 teams, 12 groups of four. The top two teams in every group advance to the round of 32 and so will the eight best third place teams. In theory, there are only 16 extra teams, but that means there's an extra 40 games. We've gone from 64 games to 104 matches in 16 cities across three different countries. So before in the past, me and my mates would definitely try and watch every single game at the tournament. I think that's just going to be impossible now. That's even before you factor in the different time zones, etc.
- [14:55]
A
Do you think though? Because I always remember, you know, in previous World cup, obviously last in Qatar, I was there for the entire tournament. But other tournaments, if you've got your mates or your family together, you really miss it when the games are gone. So I'm just thinking now, yeah, we've got 40 more games, that's just effectively good news for fans, isn't it?
- [15:15]
B
I think the, the problem with it is, is it leads to a lot of games that are so much lower jeopardy. Like we're playing what I mean, 72 extra group stage matches to get rid of 16 teams, like eight third place teams going through. There'll be so many sides who know that winning one game is enough to put them through to the knockouts and that is a massive deal for them. So I'm just expecting, and in combination with kind of the conditions which we're going to come on to, there will be a lot of defensive football, a lot of slow football. I always want to, you know, hence the career choice. We all always want to watch more football, but the problem with it is it gets so big that it reduces the level of jeopardy. And that's, I think that's a problem.
- [16:01]
C
So obviously quite a lot of champions have been knocked out of the tournament before. So we mentioned it earlier. France in 2002, Germany at the last edition. I think Spain have done it before as well. You get these teams who are expected to be favorites and they get knocked out on the group stage and they sort of get punished for starting badly. You know, Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in their first game at the last tournament, managed to get away and, and get through to the next round. To me, it feels like those big shocks of a big team who are expected to be a favorite for the competition, I really can't see any of them getting knocked out in this group stage because there's just such a large margin for error that you could, you could lose. You could probably lose two games, win your final game and if your goal difference is good enough, you'll still sneak through. So I think that's what Kerris is alluding to. Yes, there are more games, but the quality of the games and jeopardy of the games is in question.
- [16:55]
A
We were chatting before we started about a team not that long ago that were that stunt the place out at Afcon but then went on and won it having finished third.
- [17:05]
C
Yeah. So I went to the 2023 Afcon and I landed when a couple of hours after Ivory coast had lost their third group stage game. The hosts, the host, they'd lost four nil to Equatorial guinea, which means that they had three points and a goal difference of minus three. So spoke to my taxi driver, I said what happened? And he said, don't talk to me, we're out of the tournament. But they managed to sneak through as one of the best third place teams on three points and minus goal difference. So they went on to win the competition. Which is a incredible crazy mad story. But it just shows you that as I said a minute ago, the margin for error is so big that you can completely stink the place out and still get absolutely gift wrapped into the next round.
- [17:50]
A
Yeah, I wonder if that. Yeah, there might be. Because you sort of. You get that second chance, don't you? So you know, maybe someone might and
- [17:58]
C
Ivory co star at this tournament. So keep an eye on them.
- [18:00]
A
Oh yeah, that's true. Yeah. Well, we shall see. Do you expect them to do much?
- [18:06]
C
Well, I think a lot of people watch them to see Yandy Amande, obviously the. The winner at Leipzig. Liverpool are interested in signing him. He's only 19 years old. So they've got quite a young team. Ahmad Diamande and a few others. So I'm intrigued to see what they'll do. I think they also have the youngest average age squad at this tournament, 25.1 off the top of my head. I know our colleague Conor o' Neill has written about it. So I wonder if this is a team who Diomande Amad, in four years time might be able to progress deeper into the competition. But definitely ones to keep an eye on.
- [18:37]
A
We also know that teams are going to be jumping between altitudes and heat levels as well. For example England, if they win group L and they get through their round of 32 game, their round of 16 games will be at the Azteca against potentially Mexico, 2,240 metres above sea level, followed by a quarter final in Miami. Where the temperatures could be around, you know, 30 degrees Celsius. Do you feel that it's possible to prepare for these variations in conditions?
- [19:10]
C
Of course you can prepare for them. The difficulty is when there are so many different variables. So if we take the heat, for example, and the last World cup in Qatar, heat was a massive factor and a lot of the stadiums were air conditioned. But the entire tournament took place in Doha. I think the furthest stadium from the center of Doha was Al Bait and it was about an hour journey on the coach or in a taxi, I think.
- [19:35]
A
Is that the one that looked like a circus tent?
- [19:37]
C
Yes, yes. I think we went to it a couple of times together. But that's an hour journey away. That's the longest. That was the longest trip. Whereas this tournament, not only are you facing the heat, thunderstorms, you're also facing really long travel times. On top of that, changes in altitude and I think managing all of those things and is what might catch a couple of teams out. That's where maybe it benefits teams like England, France, Germany, Spain, who have deep squads because maybe they can afford to rotate a little bit more and the quality won't drop off too much. Whereas if you're one of the maybe debutants at the competition like Cape Verde or Curacao, you probably to have any chance of going deep in the tournament, have to play your best players all the time. They don't get a break, they've got to deal with all these conditions. Maybe that's my prediction that it will favor the traditionally stronger teams more because they've got more quality and depth and can rotate a little bit more in those early rounds.
- [20:31]
A
A couple of things that came from England's final warm up game against Costa Rica, you know, they're going to have to deal with, with weather delays which is quite common. That game was played in, in Florida and it was pushed back by around about an hour due to the, to the heavy rain. But also I found interesting what Thomas Tuchel said in his pre match interview with with Gabriel Clark on ITV and he spoke about blood and oxygen levels. So there's clearly been, you know, some really detailed study of all the teams. I was also reading an article about the fact that England had brought in saunas and hyperbaric chambers, making them available to players to prepare for this sort of stuff. So I suppose it's also the teams that have gone the extra mile to prepare for it that that may well reap the benefits.
- [21:19]
C
Sometimes that's down to finances obviously.
- [21:21]
A
Yeah.
- [21:22]
C
How much funding is at your disposal to spend on little gadgets or whatever it is. But bear with me with this slightly random tangent, but Brentford's performance director is Ben Ryan, who famously coached Fiji rugby team at the 2016 Olympics and they won their first Olympic gold medal, not any Fijian gold medals. It was a massive deal. And I've spoken to him before and he told me something quite interesting about what Fiji did during that. That tournament. They'd invested and researched into how to cope with the. The heat. And in the end he found that the most effective way to deal with the heat was to get basically loads of caps, put them in an ice bucket, and then at halftime the players would put the caps on their head and it would cool them down. And it was way more effective than fancy pieces of technology that they'd tried to use in cooling the players down. So actually you can overthink these things, but it's the most simplest things that work.
- [22:24]
A
Like, like Declan Rice wearing that ice jacket in.
- [22:28]
B
Yeah, prior to the hearing about the ice jacket, I was hearing about like these palm cooling devices. Like, I'm not a scientist. Okay. But I do think that you can overthink these things. Like there are cold towels, there are caps that you can put in ice
- [22:42]
A
if you're hot, make yourself cold as best as possible. That seems to be the.
- [22:45]
B
I know, I know I'm not a director of performance, but like, come on. I do think we can really overthink some of these things sometimes.
- [22:52]
A
Yeah, it'll be. I suppose there are. There are those things like the altitude which, you know, if you have prepared better and you've done that altitude training and things like that, then that may well make a big difference. Just a couple of points on debutantes at this World Cup. We've got Cape Verde, Curacao, Uzbekistan, Jordan as well. A fifth team, drc, Democratic Republic of Congo. They haven't played under their current name. Back in 1974, they were Zaire. What can we expect from. From DRC?
- [23:26]
C
So DRC I know the most about. Yeah, because of my, my AFCON exploits. And the first thing we should point out is that they came through the playoffs. So they beat Nigeria in the African playoffs in November when I went down and watched. And then they beat Jamaica in a World cup playoff in. In March. But they actually finished second in their African qualifying group behind Senegal. So really they were just a little bit unlucky to be up against the. Basically the best African team over the last five years. Their head coach, Sebastian de Sabra, has been there for a few years. They're very tactically flexible. The names that people will know are Joan Visser, Aaron Wan Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, who used to beat Manchester United, Burnley, and every time I write something about DL Conga, I have to mention this man's name. And you'll probably know who he is because of Chelsea. Some people think, what is he talking about? But Gail Kakuta is in the Dr. Congo squad. The Gail Kakuta, Old school. Yeah.
- [24:21]
A
That's cool.
- [24:22]
C
That is cool. I think.
- [24:22]
A
Yeah.
- [24:23]
C
I think he's 35 years old now, but. But because I grew up around the time when he was going to join Chelsea and there was all that controversy, etcetera, he still absolutely fascinates me.
- [24:33]
A
Excellent. And also they have that iconic fan as well, who we're waiting to see if he actually makes it to the tournament. You can actually read more about DRC in another series that's on the Athletic, which is the language of soccer, and I spoke to some great guys from DRC just explaining what it means to the nation. And, yeah, that statuesque fan is just epic. So hopefully he makes it out there. Also with this tournament and obviously we're sort of going through and setting everyone's tone for the. For the tournament. We are going to have some changes in terms of rules and laws or whatever the right term to use is. Let's run through a couple of them and you just, you. You tell me if these are the ones that are either going to sort of work or not work or you're the most excited about them. We're going to have Countdowns for goal kicks and throw ins of 5 seconds, which is. That sounds like a pretty good idea. Right?
- [25:32]
B
I am a fan of that. I think what we've seen with the Countdowns flight keepers holding the ball in their hands this season, I think that's worked.
- [25:39]
A
It has worked, hasn't it?
- [25:40]
B
Worked? That's something that I think hopefully is quite a quick fix.
- [25:45]
A
It will be interesting to see, you know, teams that want to utilise long throws. You're going to have to get on with it quick. Get the ball in your hands and throw it quick. Which is different, isn't it?
- [25:55]
C
It is different. But didn't England equalise against Slovakia? The last Euros from a car walker long throw in, that gets flicked on and then Bellingham. That's the overhead kick.
- [26:06]
B
You're right.
- [26:07]
C
I'm sure that's the case.
- [26:08]
B
So obviously that's not the element of that goal that people particularly remember, of
- [26:12]
C
course, but it's a crucial element of that goal that people forget. Long throwing is one of those things where if the opposition team score against you from a long throne, it annoys you.
- [26:20]
A
No, no, no, no. I'm not against them.
- [26:21]
C
But I do think clamping down on how much time is wasted at throwing is more important than how much time is wasted by goalkeepers when the ball's in their hands.
- [26:32]
A
Time limited substitutes. I think this is a good idea as well. 10 seconds. And if they don't get off within 10 seconds, they've got to stay off for a minute. So that it just takes basically Pierluigi Collina, who's the head of referees for FIFA, whatever his title is, he's basically got fed up with time wasting and that was his big crackdown at the last World cup. And he said, right, well, we're going to tack it on then. We had all those really long stoppage times of 24 minutes and all that sort of stuff. So he's really cracked down on it. So with time limited substitutes, if the physio comes on, the player has to stay off for a minute. We've had something similar in the, in the Premier League, but it's now up to a minute tactical timeouts as well from goalkeepers. So that's when a goalkeeper goes down, then everyone sort of heads over to the technical area. Once the coach has got all his information over to the players miraculous recovery, the goalkeeper goes, oh, actually, you know what? I'm fine, I'm fine. That's not going to happen because they're going to try and stop players from getting to the technical area.
- [27:33]
B
They're going to have the hydration break, which I guess in a sense should reduce the need in inverted commas for a goalkeeper to go down in the first place. If you're going to have what is effectively a de facto tactical timeout midway through the half anyway, there's less need to sort of nudge your goalkeeper and ask them to go down. But I think this is a good rule. It's something that they've already introduced in the National Women's Soccer League over in the States. So I think it's. It's a sensible way of going about it like that. There's a danger, I think, with a lot of these things of over legislating in football, trying to solve every little issue rapidly. This is one where hopefully I think can be mitigated because it is becoming very obvious. It's becoming, you know, I was at Wembley for Chelsea against Leeds United in the FA cup semi final. When Robert Sanchez went down and it was just incredibly transparent and it's not in the spirit of the game. It ruins the experience for fans. It's not fair on opposition. Referees can't really do anything about it because the one time that they tell the goalkeeper to get up is going to be the one time they're really injured. I remember talking to our colleague Graeme Scott about this, so I think it's stopping them. Going near the technical area is probably the best you can do with it.
- [28:46]
A
There's a few others as well. There's reds for people covering their mouths in confrontation. And also, if you leave the pitch in protest a la the AFCON final, you're going to get sent off, so don't try that. Right, so we've laid the foundation, the change of the format. We've got some new rules, we've got some debutantes in there. Do you want a little quiz just to sort of. Just to get the.
- [29:20]
B
Go on?
- [29:21]
A
Yeah. Okay. Right, so every day we're going to bring you our daily do you know? Quiz, which relates to the day of the tournament. So to kick us off, here's your question. Besides England, do you know which nation has won the World cup just once? I've got three options for you. France, Uruguay or Spain. Do you want to give me an answer?
- [29:54]
C
Do I have to go first?
- [29:55]
A
Yeah, yeah, you go first.
- [29:57]
C
So my gut instinct is wrong because I look at Uruguay and I think, oh, Uruguay. I've not won it since a hundred or however many years ago. That's the answer. But it's actually Spain, 2010.
- [30:10]
A
It is the correct answer. Spain is.
- [30:13]
C
You nearly caught me out.
- [30:14]
A
Spain is the correct answer. They won it in 2010. I'll give you a bonus point.
- [30:18]
C
But Uruguay have not won it in color TV.
- [30:23]
A
No. Did they have color TV in 1950? No. They wouldn't have had color TV in 1950?
- [30:28]
C
I don't think so, no.
- [30:28]
A
Well, why am I asking you? Exactly. I'll give you a bonus point if you can tell me how many times Uruguay and France have won it and when.
- [30:43]
B
So I think France have won it twice.
- [30:47]
A
Correct.
- [30:47]
C
Uruguay have won it twice.
- [30:49]
A
Yep. When?
- [30:50]
C
I think you just told me 1. 1950.
- [30:52]
A
I did. When did they win the first one?
- [30:53]
C
The very first one. 1930. Thank you very much.
- [30:58]
A
I handed that one to you. And France's two wins for another bonus point.
- [31:02]
C
98 and 2018.
- [31:07]
A
Correct. I think it's fair to say that Jay had. Did Jay win that one or is it just because he.
- [31:12]
B
Yeah. No, Jay won that One.
- [31:13]
C
Well, I went first.
- [31:15]
A
You went first. You would have said Spain as well, wouldn't you?
- [31:18]
B
Yeah, let's say that.
- [31:19]
A
Let's now turn our attention to the first game of this World Cup. Mexico, the co host, kicking off the tournament against South Africa at the Estadio Estate Teka and one of their star players is included in the Athletic Stars of Soccer series which we mentioned a little bit earlier on. We'll talk about it a little bit later on as well. Mexico in Groupe alongside South Africa, South Korea and Czech Republic. The athletics. Felipe Cardenas is going to be in Mexico City for the match and he joins us now. Let's start, Felipe, with the, the stadium and it has now obviously reopened in March after two years of construction. There has been a little bit of talk of, of people running around just making some final alterations on the in the final few hours. It is still one of the most iconic venues in world football. Just tell us what to expect when the teams take the field today.
- [32:19]
E
I think when the world sees the Azteca, the Estadio Azteca on the opener on June 11, they will be mesmerized. They will see this temple of football and it'll be the ideal setting for a World cup opener. Obviously the Estelle Azteca in Mexico opening a World cup for the third time in their history. And so I think from the telecast and perhaps even inside the stadium, it's going to feel pretty epic. I think the story with the stadium though is as you mentioned, you know, there were some months in 2025 where even officials for Estellios Teca were concerned that the construction wouldn't be for, wouldn't be completed in time for the World Cup. And so essentially they've set up three phases of construction and they completed phase one and phase two. Phase two made them FIFA compliant, made the stadium FIFA compliant. And there is still a phase three which is more focused on the exterior of the stadium, the businesses that will surround the stadium. Anyone who's ever been to Mexico City knows that that stadium is just sort of placed in this neighborhood. The quarters are really tight, so there's still a lot of, I believe part of that construction in phase three still has to get completed. And the idea is for that to be completed after the World cup. But they are FIFA compliant. The stadium is remodeled and I think it's going to look great for the opener.
- [33:37]
A
Yeah. And the fans are going to be fantastic. Let's talk about the coach, Javier Egiri, in his third stint as manager of the national team. And I've seen him, you know, Doing his thing in press conferences in particular, up close and personal. And he's a pretty cool character, isn't he?
- [33:54]
E
Yeah, he's, he's very well liked obviously in Mexico because this is his third stint as the national team editor. He is a veteran. He's an old wolf. He understands the game. He calls out reporters by their first name. Sometimes he calls them son. He, he'll look at a reporter and comment on, on how well he's dressed or perhaps he doesn't like his tie. He, to me he's the king of the ice breaking moments in, in what is typically a very tense atmosphere around the national team. And so I think that's one thing that Javier Gear has brought to this, to this national team. Remember they crashed out of the World cup four years ago. They really hit rock bottom from here until just recently. Where they start to win games, there's a new mentality and so he's been key. You know, Javier Girdle really is someone who's been around the block and this moment is not going to be too big for him at all.
- [34:43]
C
My memory of Mexico is that they always get knocked out in the round of 16 and they've actually never advanced beyond the quarterfinal stage or World Cup. The last time they hosted back in 1986 they were defeated on penalties by West Germany in the last eight. But they're on a five match unbeaten run coming into the tournament. Could meet England in a round of 16. So Felipe is just wondering how far you expect them to go in this competition.
- [35:09]
E
I think for me that Mexico is the co host that will go the furthest in the tournament. That's my opinion. And again we go back to the stadium where they're going to play the majority of their games. They'll play two games at the Estadios Teca and the group stage, then one in Guadalajara and Guadalajara, I was there in September, they are the most proud Mexican city according to locals there. So they can't wait to welcome the national team to their stadium in their city. So I think the support for Mexico, if they get results and as you mentioned they were, they're getting results currently in friendlies. If they get results in Mexico and that momentum starts to build up behind the team, I expect them to be hosting England at the Estadios Tech in the round of 16 and then it's anyone's game, I think the Mexicans will feel confident that despite playing a World cup favorite or a contender in England, they're going to be backed by their stadium. They're going to they're used to playing at altitude, they're going to be used to playing in the heat. And that stadium really can feel like it's on top of the players for a visiting team. So I do expect Mexico to have a good World Cup. I think they will get to that final, essentially get to that fifth game, which has been something they have not been able to do since 1986.
- [36:20]
B
And before you go, Felipe, this tournament's obviously a really good opportunity to raise the profile of Mexican football, of the players, but also the fans as well. You wrote calling Liga MX a sleeping giant. Just tell us a little bit about that.
- [36:35]
E
Well, first of all, because, you know, it's here in the United States, the Mexican first division, Liga Mekis is the most viewed league in the States from, in terms of television viewership, more than the, the English Premier League. And so that tells you everything. And I think it's why it's asleep in giants, because right now it is attracting a lot more private foreign investment. So it's only a matter of time before there's more money pumping into that league. I think they will, they will, they'll make use of that money to, to improve the infrastructure around the league, around the stadiums. The facilities attract more different types of ownership groups to Mexico and obviously try to attract better players as well. So when I was there in September, I spoke to some team owners who agreed with me that this, we're, they're just sitting there waiting for this to blow up in their favor. For Liga Mekis to be not only the flagship football league in North America, but actually compete with the top five leagues in Europe in terms of brand awareness, in terms of television viewer and obviously in terms of sponsorships and corporate deals and anything that has to do with private funding.
- [37:41]
A
Felipe, thank you very much indeed. We'll have much more from Felipe throughout the tournament, of course. And before we go, we did mention it that Stars of Soccer series which runs through 200 players, it is quite a piece of work. And each day we're going to pick out a player and obviously we've been talking about Mexico. They have a rising star, a young gun, the youngest player at the tournament, 17 year old Gilberto Mora. There is a lot of hype around him, isn't there, Keris?
- [38:13]
B
Yeah, he's a really exciting one to watch. This young winger who's been doing really well in Liga Hemeke, which I've just realized I obviously have not been pronouncing correctly.
- [38:22]
A
You can say Emex or you can say Emekis. It's fine. It's all good.
- [38:26]
B
I don't think I said either of those things, just there. But yeah, he's really exciting. I think especially because of the kind of association with, with Mexico and the kind of older, more physical veterans. Maybe he sits on the other side of that. The technique and the pace and the small size, the agility. He's really exciting to watch. Although I did pick out from his profile in Stars of soccer, he'll be 17 years and 240 days old for this opener. So that's one day older than Pele when he became the World Cup's youngest goal scorer in 1958. I mean, obviously if he scores, he will be over the moon, but how irritated would you be? Like to miss that by being one day older is quite frustrating. But yeah, he'll be one to watch out for in the opener for sure.
- [39:16]
A
I mean, he's obviously been doing it for a while and it sounds silly because he's only 17 now, but he's been doing it for the last couple of years. I think he scored his first goal when he was 15 or whatever it was. I mean, there is a chance that he could become the poster boy for Mexico playing in a. In a home World Cup. I mean, it's tantalizing this prospect, isn't it?
- [39:35]
C
That's probably what they hope for. Because when I think of great Mexican players, I think of Marquez, Blanco, Guaduardo, Ochoa, who's at this tournament. I think Ocho is at his sixth tournament, so he could break a record. And so they definitely, you know, when Felipe's talking about the brand profile of that competition, they need someone to sort of push it and elevate it to the next level. You know, the US Have Christian Pulisic, who's going to be that person who fills that void for Mexico. You know, Chicharito's not really around anymore, so could it be Gilberto Mora to take that onto the next level? Hopefully.
- [40:08]
A
So I chose 40 between the sticks. He's there.
- [40:12]
C
I love that.
- [40:13]
A
It's good, it's good. This is maybe the tour, this is the tournament of the 40 pluses, isn't it? We've got.
- [40:19]
C
I think I said in the past, I do wonder if, you know, in the future we're going to have this sort of. Well, to be honest, it's happening now where you've got the players who are incredibly young, 16, 17 years old at competitions, but we're also going to have players who are playing into their mid-40s, even more common than before. And just having this absolutely huge age range.
- [40:42]
A
So it's good to get sort of a briefing on Mora. Let's just get a quick briefing on what we could expect if we're going to see, you know, a shock in this opening game. South Africa.
- [40:54]
C
Yeah. I do think.
- [40:55]
A
Do they still. Do they bring the Vazellas with them them?
- [40:58]
C
Because that will almost fans are great. Yeah.
- [41:00]
B
I was saying before we started recording how my main memory of the. The World cup in South Africa was my dad going and the one thing he was told by my mum was that he was not allowed to bring back a vuvuzela and obviously he did.
- [41:13]
C
I do think South Africa are being a little bit overlooked. Their pedigree over the last couple of years has been really good. They've got a Hugo Bruce who's their head coach. They reached the semi finals of the 2023 Afcon and lost on penalties to Nigeria. They were a little bit disappointing at AFCON earlier this year but few off pitch reasons for that. That sort of buildup had been a little bit disrupted. But I think the reason they go under the radar a little bit is because compared to other African teams, most of their players play in the South African domestic league. But that's because the South African domestic league is probably along with Egypt and the the best in Africa. So I think they've got eight players from Mamelodi Sundowns and eight players from Orlando Pirates. So whereas with let's say Dr. Congo for example, I've given you the example of have Johan Vissa, Ivory coast, you know, Diamande, Frank, Cassie. We know these players who play for big European teams. South Africa go under the radar a little bit more but because so many of them play at the same club team, their fluidity on the pitches is quite remarkable. So I think they're ones to. I don't. I'm not going to label them dark horses. Not at all. But I think a lot of people almost put it down as a formality that Mexico are going to win tonight. And I don't think it's going to be quite as. As simple as that.
- [42:23]
A
Nice. I'm looking for. Are you on the show tomorrow?
- [42:26]
C
No, I'm not. Sorry.
- [42:27]
A
Okay.
- [42:28]
C
But if you want to rub it in my face tomorrow.
- [42:30]
A
No, no, no.
- [42:30]
C
Defeat them five nil.
- [42:31]
A
No. I can picture going. You remember what Jay said yesterday? Yes, remember what Jay said yesterday and playing it in. But they equally might lose 5 nil as well. So we'll see. We'll see.
- [42:42]
C
Either way the players to keep an eye on are McQueena very classy central midfielder and some people might remember Ron Wen Williams because he was absolutely immense in an AFCON quarter final penalty shootout a few years ago where he just made save after save after save. So I think those are people will keep an eye on.
- [42:59]
A
Okay, brilliant. Thank you. Time has beaten us. Cerys, thank you very much indeed. Thank you to you, Jay. Looking good as always in that shirt. Are you going to make this a theme? Shirts every show.
- [43:11]
C
I think next show I come in, I'll wear a different top.
- [43:14]
A
Yeah, you're going to be broke by the end of this.
- [43:16]
B
I was going to say it's a long tournament.
- [43:18]
C
I've got a tiny collection so, you
- [43:20]
A
know, good, good, good, good. And also thanks to Felipe earlier on as well. Remember, you can watch or listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to subscrib channel if you haven't already. Drop in your comments about that opening game as well. Your thoughts, what it looked like, how it felt to be watching wherever you're watching it around the world. And stay across the athletic for all of our World cup coverage and it is free for the entire tournament. So that is our gift to you. We'll be back after the start of the tournament tomorrow. Sam.