Episode 39 - Real Madrid Win Madrid Derby and Keep Pressuring Barca For La Liga Title

In todays episode we discuss: 

Real Madrid's big win in the derby for the first time in La Liga since 2022

Barca struggle against Rayo but get the win to stay top of La Liga 

Man City beat Arsenal in Carabao Cup final

Is Neymar underrated or are English football pundits just hating?

Colombia and USA squads for upcoming friendlies 

Tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

And we're back, ladies and gentlemen. It's another episode of the Friendly Foes here with your friendly foes catching up on everything that happened this weekend in the football world worldwide, but specifically in La Liga with Real Madrid and Barcelona, because we had some pretty crucial games coming up right before the international break with the Madrid Derby. It was it was a feisty one. It was a fiery derby. It was a good derby. It was a great derby. And then a very, very tough game for Barcelona against Rayo because they always give us a tough time. But in the end, got a very big result. Madrid got a big result against Atlético Madrid. And now we're going on to the international break. Both going into pretty good momentum. We still have a title race in our hands. Still a lot of games going on. But now, after this big win against the Derby, man, how are you feeling? How were you feeling about Madrid after those big games against Man City and now that big win against Atletico Madrid?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I feel like we're back, baby. I feel like we're all the way back. Like we never left. We are the kings of Madrid. And finally we beat Atletico in La Liga, who they've been giving us a really hard time. We haven't beat them in La Liga since 2022. It's been a while. Wow. Yeah. Yep. It's been a long time. We tie them all the freaking time or lose. But about time, man. Especially after last game that we played them in La Liga, where we got absolutely trashed in the one Metropolitan. Was it 5'2? 5'1? 5'2. 5'2. We got trashed back in the Shabi Alonso days. But now we're back, baby. What a partidazo. From beginning to end, very back and forth. Everything you'd want in the Derby. We had high scoring. Feisty, as you said, some red cards, some penalties. It was a good one. It was a really good one. And Federico Alberde and Vinicius Jr. just keep shining under Alvaro Arbeloa. Those two are just on a generational run right now. I mean, those were the two players that were giving Xavi Alonso trouble. And now Arbeloa found a way to get their groove back and be the most determining players on our squad right now. They are just on another level. Vinicius with two goals, finally scored a good penalty, and then another Golaso from outside the box. Valverde, what else can I say from this guy? Keeping the pressure up, always hustling. Unfortunately, he got a red card, which man, that was very controversial too, but what a game. Was it controversial? I mean, let's take a look at it because I see a lot of people on Twitter are saying it's it's pretty controversial in the media. I'm gonna be honest with you. Do I think it was a red card? I think it was a little harsh, but I get it. I get it. You could also argue that Atletico could have had a penalty in the first half with Donny Carvajal slide tackling Marcos Jordan. 1000. Thank you for bringing that up, because that is a that is a very good point. So I think the game kind of got out of hand for the referee there. But I think he he gave him a red card because of the history that Federico Alberde had with Alex Baena. Three years ago, uh it looks like Federico Alberde punched him in the face. These are reports. Rumors. These are allegations. Nobody has any proof of it, really, but we all know that uh he was saying some stuff about his unborn son, Alex Baena, was to Federico Alberde during that game when he was with Villarreal. And next thing you know, he walks out of the stadium with a black eye. And yeah, I mean, some people say that it was Federico Alberde that just went ahead and decked him right in his face. And I believe it. I believe it.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Did Baena ever come out and say, like, admit any of that? Because I don't remember that. I do remember hearing the rumors.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

He did, he he can't oh my god, I can't remember either what he said. I think he I don't think he actually pointed fingers at Federico Alberde, but he did say that there was some sort of altercation, if I'm not mistaken. It happened. It happened. I believe every everything about it. Because I but Valverde really has a temper. So, and if you talk about your son, I think that's definitely crossing the line there. But those two have history there, and then the referee obviously knows that, and he thought Valverde was a criminal from doing that, and yeah, he got a red card, and it put us in day in danger there at the end. It could have really changed the game. Atletico really tried to attack us after that. Thank God we got out of there with a win.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

Thank God Yeah. I mean, I'm looking at it right now. So Baina did not directly use the word punch, but apparently he did explicitly confirm in a statement that he was attacked by a professional colleague in the Bernabéo parking lot. So he never actually said who it was or what happened. He just said there was a physical confrontation. But yeah, I mean, I think that's well deserved. Yeah, I mean, and like you said, if if if it is true that he was talking about his son like that, obviously, like that, that would send anybody into a rage and you know, don't condone violence or anything like that. But at the end of the day, if you're talking crazy like that on the field, you better you better expect something.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah, bro. You better you better man, you better get your gloves out in the parking lot and get ready to scrap because you're saying fighting words there, bro. You really are.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

But but uh aside from that, I mean the the the the tackle itself, I mean Fal Verde, you can tell that it was tough, yeah. It's funny because at first at first I didn't realize it was Alex Bayana, and then after I saw it was Bayana, I was like, ooh, that makes a lot of sense. Why Fal Verde? Because you could tell whenever he kicked him, he's trying to say, Oh, I was going for the ball. No way you were, bro. There was no way you were going for the ball. You were going for that leg, you were trying to not break his leg, but you were definitely trying to leave a little stain behind. Maybe maybe.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

I mean, Valverde always goes in rough. That's part of his playing style. He goes in very that was hard. That was hard.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

That was a well-deserved red card, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

I think so. I think it was deserved, but Madrid fans aren't really having it, especially because Carlos had another yellow two, and ref didn't call it. But yeah, there was just some missed calls from the ref. He just wasn't consistent throughout the whole game. So I think that's a good thing. That's the thing with refs pissed off at.

SPEAKER_00 7:28

And that's the thing with I think refs nowadays, and I was seeing some clips about it online too, is that the VAR was supposed to come into the game to have refereeing to help in these situations to keep the the refereeing consistent across every league across the entire world. And it's just not. It's not, it's it's making things more complicated for the refs because a lot of it is now up to interpretation. And if you slow things down, you make things slower, some fouls look worse, some sometimes it looks like a player's diving. What's a handball? Nobody knows what a handball is anymore. The one that you were talking about with Danny Carvajal against uh Jorente, that was a clear as day penalty. It wasn't even looked at by the ref. This red card again from Federico Alverde. Do you see that in other games? And that doesn't get given as a red card. So it's it's it may be.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

It's all with interpretation. Because I mean, when yeah, when Jorente shot the ball, that's when Carvajal slid. He slid right right after he shot it. That's when he clipped him. So as soon as he shot, he doesn't have the ball anymore. The the play is kind of already dead, right? So it doesn't really change much of the trajectory of what would have happened. So I think that's where the confusion is right there.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

So that's the thing, is I don't know, it's a lot of it is up to ref it really is up to the ref. It's just up to the interpretation or up to what they see as to like, oh well, it wasn't gonna change the fact that the it doesn't matter to me if it doesn't change the fact that the ball was already kicked or was going in or not. He went in hard as hell and wiped him out completely. I mean, Jiudente almost got a kick. He did wipe him out. His neck like ricocheted off the ground. He said he didn't even remember, he said he didn't even know who hit him afterwards, after the game. He's like, I didn't even realize what happened. That's why he didn't even complain because he was he like smacked his head and was like, What just happened?

SPEAKER_01 9:25

Yeah, yeah, no, it was it was definitely a rough tackle from Carvalho. I'm not denying that. It's just the fact that he tackled him after the fact of Jordan just shooting the ball. That's when it was like, okay, like, is this a penalty? Is it not? Because it wasn't gonna affect if that ball went in or not, you know?

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Yeah, I get I get it from that standpoint, but there is also a standpoint of it's a foul whether the ball was taken, the the ball was shot already or not. He came in hard, he didn't get the ball, he went for the player, completely wiped him out, and he no, he did. It's a foul.

SPEAKER_01 10:02

It's a foul regardless whether the ball was shot. It's just up to the ref and how he interprets it.

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Which is which is crazy, but it's tough. It's Madrid's tough. Pull off the the win, 3-2 victory with 10 men. I think Valverde got the red card at like the 75th minute, something like that. So you guys played about what 25 minutes or so with 20 minutes. Yeah, 20-ish minutes with uh the man down and pulled off the victory. And it was a it was very exciting. It was back and forth. You know, Atletico came in first with Lucman scoring. Good goal. Then you got very good. Good goal. You guys came back with the penalty? Penalty, yep.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Vin Vinny scored the PK. Yeah, Brahim caused it, which Brahim Diaz has been on another level as well, ever since Arbeloa took over, and since he ever since he came back from the AFCON, he's been one of our most consistent players. So honestly, it's gonna be hard for Arbeloa to decide his starting 11 now that Mbappe and Jude Bellingham are back. He's gonna have to sacrifice some players. Brahim Diaz, Arta Guler, Tiago Pitarch. Someone, someone's gonna have to get sacrificed. I really like this guy, Tiago Pitarch. He's really playing like he's played in Madrid his whole life. Like and no game has shaken him up, and I I love it. I love to see how he comes from the academy, and he's only 18 years old. So I I love seeing this guy play right now. He's part of the first team officially. Now, I mean he's been starting every single game since almost every single game since Arbeloa has taken over.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So Yeah, Arbelo really likes him. Oh yeah. Arbeloa really likes him. He keeps he keeps putting him in and he's he's he's put on he's put on pretty good performances in big games when he's needed.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, he's had I mean good performances against Man City and now against Atletico Madrid. So he's on a good form. The whole team's on a good form right now. Arbeloa is gonna have a headache now that Jude Bellingham and Kilian Mbappe are back. And at the end of the day, sometimes you want those type of headaches.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

You know, it's it's better to have that than to be like, man, all of them are injured. I don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

There's gonna be some players that are gonna be really pissed off, especially if Arda Guler. Arda Guler is I'm kind of worried about him, to be honest with you. Like, nobody has really talked about it, but I'm worried because if we get Nico Pass over somewhere, I feel like he might leave. Because that's too many players in the same position. Nico Paz, Brahim Diaz, Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler, and Arda's gonna be that type of player that doesn't want to be sitting on the bench. He's gonna be playing no matter what. So if Nico Pass comes back, I could see him being a little rebel and saying, Hey, I want to go.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

I could see I could see that happening. And then the World Cup is gonna be big for him too, right? Yeah. So it all depends.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

If we get Nico Pass back, I think he he might get a little upset about that, especially with how good he's playing, and I could see him leaving. I really could. Him or Brahim Diaz, one of the two, but Brahim Diaz is also playing phenomenal. So if if somebody has to go when Nico Paz comes, it's gonna be one of those two, unfortunately, because that's too many players in the same position, and they're all really good, and they need to play consistently. I think Brahim Diaz doesn't mind coming off the bench. I think he's fine kind of being a role player, but I feel like Arda Gouler is gonna have some problems. He hasn't said anything, everything's been smooth lately, smooth sailing. But once that signing of Nico Paz comes and Jude Bellingham is 100% healthy, I think that's when the problems are gonna start. Because he's too good of a player not to actually be part of the starting 11. So I'm I'm scared about that. I've been thinking about that a lot, actually. I'm like, damn, our degular might might just say bye. We get Nico Paz. Because Nico Pass has been killing it too in Serie A. He's been one of the best players. He he was uh the best young player in CIA last year, and this season he's he's Como's best player again. So I don't know. And so he's also from the academy. Madrid wants him back. He's our player. So I don't know, man. I don't know. I'm excited to see.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Tough decisions are gonna be made. I'm excited to see Nico Paz over the summer at the World Cup. I'm pretty sure he's gonna get the call-up. He just got called up by uh by Argentina by Argentina, so that'll be exciting. It's always good to see those young players break out of the World Cup. And yeah, if especially if Nico Pass is a good World Cup, there's no way Real Madrid don't get him back. There's absolutely zero way. So the only way the World Cup will determine a lot. Yeah, the only way is if Ardagular also has a really big World Cup. But yeah, you you you guys do have a problem there. It we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Too many good players, and then you also add Franco Mastantono to the mix, which I think he'll end up going on loan somewhere, to be honest with you. He hasn't had many chances under Arbeloa, but yeah, he's a good player. He's a good player, he just needs some more consistency. But we have way too many players for him to have that consistency, so I feel like he's gonna end up going on loan, which is fine. I don't mind that. I mean, Endric went on loan too, and he's killing it over at Leon. Hopefully, we have over summer. That's another headache. Where do you put him? Yeah, yeah. It's too many good players. It's too many good players, but it's just such a long season that you I mean you do need that depth in the squad. You know, I mean, like look, Mbappe got hurt, Bellingham got hurt, and these players stepped up, but it the problem is when they're all healthy, what's gonna happen, you know? And once we play the Barcelona's and the Manchester Cities and the Arsenals, like all the good teams, and everyone is healthy, who's gonna start? And that's when there's gonna be some problems there, and that's when the players are gonna see, like, okay, I'm not the first choice, let me go somewhere where I am the first choice.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, and that's always the difficult decision, and it happens to some of those those big main players, and it happens to the young stars as well, like Arda. And we see it all the time. It's like as like like we said, we'll see what happens throughout the remainder of the season. That's gonna be a big telling point because there's still quite a bit left, and to see how much playing time Arda gets, and then over the summer, if he performs well at the World Cup, I mean, and Madrid still want to let him go at that point.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

It's just we have so many good players in that position, that's the only thing. I mean, I haven't heard any rumors. This is just me thinking about this mentally, like, oh my god. We have these four.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Thinking into the future.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

Yeah, that are number 10 can play right wing or like a little deeper as a number six or number eight. But it's just it's it's too too many of them and too many good players. And uh, Jude Bellingham is number one on the list, so it's gonna be between those other three to fight it out to see who's number two, if they even want to be number two, which I think Brahim Diaz doesn't have a problem with it. But you can tell when Arda Gouler gets subbed off or when he's not starting, that little boy's pissed, man. Which is fine. I love that. I love that, man. Get pissed. He deserved to play, and I want him to want to play, but it's just god, it's tough. It's tough, especially because I've seen him play with Jude Bellingham and they can't coexist in every single game, especially teams that really attack us. It's almost like committing suicide there.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So interesting. We'll see. Interesting. We'll see, we'll see what happens there. But yeah, you guys get a big victory against uh against Digimon, did and then. And Charles' 50th Darby. 50th Darby.

SPEAKER_01 17:41

50th Darby. Look at that. Yeah, a lot of Darbies, man.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

He's not I thought Atletico played really well, too. I thought Atletico played really, really well.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

They had a good game. Yeah, no, they definitely gave us problems for sure. They always give us problems. They're a team that always gave us problems. We haven't beat them in over three years in La Liga. They're a tough opponent. Their whole purpose in life is just to try and beat us. That's it. They don't care about anything else. It's always been like that. But yeah, Cholo has had four Cholo has had 14 victories, 17 ties, and 19 losses. Suck it, Cholo. Suck it.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

That's uh that's a pretty tight, that's a pretty tight record, though. That's a pretty tight record. I'd be curious to see what their record was before Cholo was got in. I'd be curious to see. Like the previous the previous game was.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Dude, there was a time they weren't they didn't beat us for a long time. Before Cholo, it was a long time. It was years, bro. Years that they didn't beat us. Cholo completely completely changed the game for Atletico Madrid. Completely.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

A thousand percent. He changed the culture, the mentality.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Just like how how Messi was Barcelona, Florentino Perez is Real Madrid, Cholo Simeone is Atletico Madrid. He's everything to that fan base and to that club.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Yeah, a thousand percent. And they've turned it around this season as well. I mean, they they started off pretty shaky. They obviously have no uh shot of winning La Liga, but they're still in Copa del Rey. They're yeah, they're fourth place, but they're still they're in the final for the Copa del Rey, they're in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and they're still fighting out, man. They're still doing it out. It might they might be uh they might be getting the title at the end of the season, especially Copa del Rey against La Reality.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

I think they'll get Copa del Rey.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

They should get Copa del Rey. I'll laugh my ass off if they lose that game. Yeah, that'd be crazy if they did. But La Real is a good team, man. What's this American coach's name, man? He's got them boys playing really well. He's got the He does. He does.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

What place are they in right now? It's always a struggle playing, it's always a struggle playing against Real Sociedad, especially going to Anueta. Oh my god, bro. Dude, they're they're they're they're a tough team. They are a tough team. What's this guy to play with?

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Pellegrino Mattarazzo. That's his born in the sounds more Italian New Jersey. He's born in New Jersey to Italian parents. So this guy, this guy played for Columbia University, I believe. And then he's been a coach for quite some time now. And he took over. No, he took over Real Society in uh December, and since he took over, they've been on a very, very good run. They're they're I think they were middle of the table before he took over. Now they're in seventh place, they're fighting for a European slot, they're in the final of the Copla del Rey. So he's got them playing really well. But that's uh, you know, a little bit of a sidetrack there to the uh the Matarazzo boys, the American coach who's doing quite well over there. But um, yeah, no, Atletico, I think, could could get some sort of trophy by the end of the season, and it's a great way to send off uh Antoine Griezmann because he has been confirmed that he's going to Orlando City 100% now at the end of the season. That's the first time. Before they were saying that's a phenomenal signing for Orlando, especially it comes at a big time for Orlando. They needed to have a big signing because they they've lost three out of the last four games. They fired their coach and they just lost again. They got demolished by Nashville 5-0. So they needed some sort of good news coming their way, and this is it. Now it won't be until July. Uh until the end of the year. They'll be happy to wait for him. He get they they're gonna get him for free. So they're gonna get not only are they gonna get him for free, but they're also giving him the number seven. They're they're giving everything he wants.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

They have to.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

He's gonna be yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

All they gotta do is make the playoffs. As long as they compete to be in the playoffs, by the time he comes, perfect. Perfect, perfect. And he's not gonna be in the World Cup, so he's gonna be fully rested.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah, he's fully rested. He wants to finish the season strong with Atletico. There was a lot of reports that he would come before the season ended, like around.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Yeah, but as soon as they make the final of the Copa del Rey, he had to play that. Yeah. Because I think he's only won two or three titles with Atletico. He's won a Spanish Super Cup, a Europa League, and I think a European Super Cup.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Yeah, I think those I think you're right. I think that's it.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

And then when he left to Barcelona, Atletico won.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

It's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

And then when he left Barcelona again, Barcelona. Barcelona won the league.

SPEAKER_00 22:35

He's never been able to win the league. Which is sad, man, because he's a he's definitely a La Liga legend. He's gonna be remembered forever for what he did at Real Sociedad, for what he did at Barcelona, and definitely what he did at Atlético Madrid. And he's had to he's had to earn it. I don't know if he did much at Barcelona, but definitely Atletico Madrid. No, unfortunately not. I mean he he was it was the right player, the right place at the wrong time. That's what it was. I think there Coleman at the time didn't find a way to to gel the team with Griezmann and Messi. Unfortunately, they play very, very similar positions. Yeah, that was just awkward to have him there together. It was it it was awkward to have him, and uh he it wasn't able to work out, which is sad because he's a phenomenal player and it would have been great to see. And it's even more sad because we spent a ton of money on him and then we let him go.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

A lot of money that he didn't have.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Exactly. It's uh that's one of the reasons why we're in the position that we are now because Bartomeo spent all that money on Dembele, on Cutino, on Griezmann, and none of them worked out.

SPEAKER_01 23:48

Ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

We went back to our roots instead of spending hundreds and millions of dollars on players. We decided to look at the academy because realistically we had no choice. And look at this we got three 18, 19-year-olds on the starting lineup right now with Lamin Yamal, Paucuercy, and Marc Bernal. We have we sprouted for me Lopez out of nowhere, Gerard Martín came out of nowhere. This kid, I mean, all amazing stuff at Barcelona, which leads us on to the the game that we just had this this past weekend against Rajo, which was a very, very difficult game. These guys always give us trouble. Every time that I see that we're playing Rajo, I'm like, fuck, man. Like these are the people. They don't even care if they're at the camp new.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

They give you guys a hard time no matter what.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

There are they're they are such a tough team, man. Such a tough team. I mean, let me I'm gonna look at it.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah, you guys were asking for the time there at the end. Juan Garcia had four crucial saves. Yeah, so this that's well yeah, you're lucky that he was not actually injured, because he's saving you guys.

SPEAKER_00 25:05

So let's look at it here. The last few games that we've played against Rajo, man. So prior to this, prior to this game, so we beat him. There's barely ever more than like a one goal uh margin with us. So we beat him this this past week in one nil. And what's it called? In August, we tied one one. Then last year we won one nil and two to one. Uh then the year before we beat them three now. That's a big victory, but then we tied one one, and then they beat us two to one. And then it's so it's always a very, very small margin when we play against them. They gave us such a hard time. They are they give us a hard time too. They get they're so tough, and they're doing really, really well this season, man. Inigo Perez has has them boys uh the last couple of years playing really well, and then uh they're in the conference league uh quarterfinal. That's the first time in the history for Troy Ayacano being in a European quarterfinal.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah, you guys actually had a day more of rest than they did, and they were still kind of dancing around you guys a little bit, you know? I wouldn't say dancing around, but they were definitely giving us a hard time. He had a lot of opportunities. There was one that I forgot who it was, but he completely whiffed it like towards the end, like the last 10 minutes. Jon Garcia didn't have to make the save, but he was like one-on-one with him. He just completely whipped it.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Yeah, he he threw it over the yeah. Thank God. And thank God for Dron Garcia because, yeah, like you said, he had four saves throughout the game. He won MVP of the match, literally the first minute of the game, before it was like 45 seconds in, he made a phenomenal save. The guy was right at the end.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Yeah, from the start, Rajo Ajacano was going for you guys, man.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

From starting. Right from the start. They always do. They're a tough game, they're a tough opponent, always a tough game, and we played. We played rough. We did not play our best game. We had a lot of opportunities in the first half to put away, and we did not. And there, if it wasn't for Juan Garcia, they would have tied this game. We would have, we would have dropped points. I don't know if we would have lost one of them.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Rafin would have one down through this game. Rafinha, they didn't really do anything all day.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Rafinha missed like two goals himself, but man, Juan Garcia played amazing. Amazing. He played uh phenomenal. That's probably the best 25 million euros that we've ever spent in the history of the club. It was a good start. Because had if he was injured, like you said, because he came off injured against Newcastle. Newcastle. I was everybody was freaking out. Luckily, there was no injury. A lot of people were saying, Oh, we should still rest him. Fuck resting him. We are we're not resting this guy. We need him to start every single game because had you guys could have lost without him. Or just drop points. We could have just we could have dropped points, and then we're there's a what two point, three point margin in between the first and second place. Uh-huh. So huge, huge for Jerron Garcia. And let me give you a little fun stat here because he he now has the most. Hold on a second, hold on a second, hold on. He has the most clean sheets in La Liga this season ahead of uh Cortois in less amount of games than Cortois has. So Cortois has played, I believe, 28 games this season for Real Madrid and has 11 clean sheets. And has uh 12 clean sheets, 17 goals conceded. Thibaut Cortois has 24 goals conceded. So this is how good Juan Garcia has been for Barcelona this season.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

If you look at the how many goals conceded does Juan Garcia have you said 17.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

17 17 goals conceded all season, and he he missed like five or six games. Or defensive force.

SPEAKER_01 28:57

Courtois has saved us too much.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

No, I'm not saying that.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

But yeah, it's still pretty impressive. It's still pretty impressive from Juan Garcia.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

I I'm curious to see like the actual saves, but I'm just looking at Fot Mop here. I'm just looking at the stats. Save percentage, Joan Garcia is at the top with 78.8% of save percentage. And then goals prevented, Juan Garcia is also at the top with 9.5 goals prevented throughout the course of the season. So this guy is arguably one of the best goalkeepers in the world right now. And you never want to see your keeper making all those saves because that means your defense is not doing good at all. No, no, no. That means the defense isn't good, but I'm glad we have someone like that in the back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he got he got his call-up too for the national team. I saw he did. First cap. He's got the call-up. So he called up Unay Simon, Alex Ramiro, Juan Garcia, and then David Raya.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah. David Ray. I mean, I know Unay Simon is their guy, but yeah, I think he's gonna have to start thinking about Juan Garcia in there for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

I think so. Even him or David Raya, but one of those two. But I think I think I think Juan Garcia, I mean, obviously I'm biased because I'm a Barcelona fan and I watch him every single week, but man, like the things that he does are amazing. I mean, Unay Simon wore the Euro.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

So I don't know if we'll see what Fuente wants to do.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

I know, but that was two years ago, and the two and the two years a lot can make a difference. And Unay Simon has not been the same since then. He is not he's not had the best season. He's still good to go deeper, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Yeah, but we'll see what Luis de la Fuente wants to do if he wants to stick with his team or if he wants to switch it up a little bit. But nonetheless, Barcelona played terrible, and you guys found found a way to win, which is scary.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

That's the most important thing, especially against Rayo, is that it'd be a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

It's been like a trend all season, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

And if you look at the last few seasons, we would have dropped points in a game like this with Xavi or with Ronald Coleman or with Kikas at the end, like we would have dropped points this game, but we haven't. With Hansi Flick, the mentality and the how we go about these games completely changed. And sometimes when Barcelona, it it doesn't the result itself doesn't only matter. Like the way you play matters a lot. But when it comes down to things like this and the league title isn't on the line, just get the result. And that's what we did. And that's the most important thing. It wasn't pretty, but we we nuked it out at the end. Now we're going into the international break as leaders. Hopefully, God, I'm locking on wood right now. Nobody gets an injury, everybody comes back healthy. That's all I that's all I freaking pray for, is that everybody comes back fine, healthy, and ready to go because we got Atletico Medina back to back to back whenever whenever we get back. And I promise you, will we win three for three? I don't know. And it's gonna be really, really difficult. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

And I don't know if Simeone would want to lose back-to-back games against Madrid and then Barcelona, his two biggest rivals. So hopefully, at least he does it as a solid in La Liga. Hopefully that's the game that he beats you guys. Because I don't know if it'll be in the Champions League, but hopefully, at least you guys drop points in the Wanda Metropolitano. Come on, Cholo, I'm rooting for you. Let's go. Let's go. We need to happen. You guys need to at least drop two points before we play you guys in May.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

You know what the crazy thing is that for the Champions League, for the Champions League, they get to play. We play at the Metropolitan of the second leg because Yeah, because they beat Tottenham.

SPEAKER_01 32:52

Yes, and they were in Tottenham were above you guys. I didn't know that either they saw that.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

They stole Tottenham's kind of crazy place in like the league station. I thought we were gonna get to host the second leg. I was wrong.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

So that was a good kill the first leg. I I can see you guys really going all in the first leg and then second leg Atletico go all in the one the Metropolitan. It's gonna be fun to watch that for sure. We're gonna have to. You guys have played against them in the quarterfinals twice and have lost both times in the quarterfinals in 2014 and in 2016. We'll see if there's a third time. I don't know. I don't think so, but just a little bit of history there. And you gotta and you gotta respect the history.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

So that's all I'm saying. Third time's a charm. We're getting them this time.

SPEAKER_01 33:44

Both times were camp new first and then well it'd be Santa Calderon then. You guys put Novi Santa Calderon second leg, so history repeats itself again. We'll see. We'll see. I'm a big happening. You gotta respect. So uh if I had to pick one, hopefully you guys lose in La Liga because we need to catch up to you guys somehow. I don't see you guys dropping many more points other than that game, and hopefully against us.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Yeah, we have those two big ones uh coming up. So we play Atletico Madrid and April 4th, and then we play you guys in May. And that's gonna be a title defining game right there, pretty much. Yeah, definitely will. I definitely will. It'll be it'll be exciting. And speaking of titles, speaking of titles, we had a pretty big title this weekend in the Carabao Cup with Man City versus Arsenal at Wembley. Arsenal were in route for the quadruple, and Man City said, not so fast. Are we surprised? I'm not surprised.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

No, no, I'm not. I knew they were gonna lose that game. I mean, Kepa, what was he doing in that first goal? You saw that not even the first goal, too. There was one that he acted like as a right back. You saw that? And he got a yellow card? Yeah, yeah against uh who was it, uh Doku, I think it was. Yeah, against Doku out on the on the wing.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

What was he doing? Something with with Kepa and the League Cup final. I don't know. Do you remember when uh it was the League Cup final, Chelsea versus Man City? I forget what year it was, when Mauricio Satri was trying to take him out and he said no. He said no, no, no, no. Ever since he did that, his career has never been the same.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, no. It hasn't. Except for when he went to Real Madrid that one season Courtois tore his ACL. My man was actually killing it. I mean, he played a few games. He was playing in Copa del Rey, and I think he played a few games in La Liga too when Looney couldn't play, or we were giving him a break. I don't remember. He actually was doing decent. And we actually wanted to keep him, but you can't keep him when we have Courtois after the season Loonin had. But he he wasn't bad. That one season he played for us, he wasn't bad. I was actually content with having him as our backup keeper. But other than that, yeah, his career has gone downhill.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

He's a decent backup keeper. You know what the funniest thing is, is he is the most expensive goalkeeper in football history because he he cost Chelsea 80 million euros from Bobau. He's the most expensive keeper in history. And now this guy is gonna be remembered by his terrible League Cup performances because of what he did at Chelsea whenever Sadrick started to take him out and he said no. He tried to be the big boss, and then they lost some penalties. They lost some penalties. Had Willie Caballero been there, do they lose? Who knows? And then he lost they lost the um another League Cup final against Liverpool, I forget what year it was, and he took the the last penalty and he whiffed it. Yeah, and he whiffed it to completely whiffed it, and now this one where he tries to I don't even know how he does that, man. It's like he didn't jump high enough, and then Nico O'Reilly, Nico O'Reilly with a brace, two goals for the left back.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

Even in the second goal, too, he didn't even dive. He just literally watched it, he didn't try at all. Like I feel like if he would have dove, he could have got it, but he he just literally stared at it. He like he wanted to dive. You saw his posture, he went to go dive for it, but then he was like, nah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

You could tell that was a that was you can tell his confidence is just is gone, and you know terrible performance for him. In fact, Arteta regretted starting him immediately. He probably was like god damn it, I should have started. I mean, he cost him the game completely, completely cost him the game, two big mistakes was pretty clumsy in a foul, too. So very, very dumb. No, and a great performance from Man City all around. Ryan Cherke, this guy is he's a proper, proper baller. This guy is really, really good. He was pissing people off at the end. He's got the technology. He's there's little keepy uppies at the end and the corner flag. People were upset. What what are your thoughts on that? Because people, there are so many people that say different things about what Ryan Cherkey did. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 38:23

Is it disrespectful to be doing that? Yeah, bro. Are you kidding me? That is mad disrespectful. You're in the Carabao Cup final. I mean, it's not a I mean the greatest trophy, but still you're playing in a final, you're playing against one of your biggest rivals, which is Arsenal, and you're winning, so you're doing the kippy uppies, because if you were losing, I don't think you would be doing that. So he's winning, he's doing that. Guardiola didn't even like it. Yeah, bro, it's disrespectful. You saw Ben White right after, went after him and got a yellow card. Yeah. And you wait, did you see the video afterward?

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Brian Turkey was like rolling around and then he like picked up his head. Did you see that? No, no, no, no, no, no. He was like, he was like rolling. After the key upies or when? No, no, no, no, no. After Ben White took him out. After Ben White, no, no, no. I didn't see the city. Yeah, he was like rolling around and then he like flipped his head up. He was like just messing around, dude. He was just having a good time. He was just I mean, that's good for him, whatever, but dude, you gotta be careful because you can get injured pretty easily.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Look at Neymar in League On, bro. He made these guys look like clowns on purpose, and that's when his injuries started. Because they the the rivals weren't taking that shit anymore, bro. Anytime he would do something like that, it would they would go straight for his ankles. Like they would go in hard on Neymar because he would do stupid shit like that. I mean, yeah, it's cool to watch, but at the same time, for the rival, that's mad disrespectful. If somebody did that to me, while I'm losing, I'm doing the same freaking thing, dude. I'm going for your ankles, your knee, whatever, bro. I'm I'm breaking something. I'm breaking a bone, bro. Especially if I'm losing. Yes, I'm gonna be freaking pissed off. Like, what the fuck? Get over here. I'll show you some keepy uppies. Get over here.

SPEAKER_00 40:11

I completely disagree. I don't think it's I don't think it's that disrespectful at all. I think um I understand.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

I think if you were on the losing end of the upset, I think you would think differently, bro. I think if you were on the other side and losing, you'd be like, nah, get the fuck out of here, bro. Get out of here. Maybe shit like that. No.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

But no, no, no, no, no. But I I don't think it's that disrespectful. I think I think there's been so many people are saying, like, oh, it's way too disrespectful, and all these things. Uh it's like that's what the sport is about, man. It's about entertainment, and he's an entertainer. And people come to see entertainers, and that's I think. I get it.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Like, it all just depends on I guess it just depends on where you're looking at it from. Like, if you're a Man City fan, you probably love it. You say, yeah, keep doing it. But I'm as an artist, I'm neither fan.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

I'm a neutral fan at this point.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

I mean, as a neutral fan, I mean, yeah, of course. Like, when I saw it, I'm like, oh shit, look at that. But I don't blame Ben White at all for going to break his ankles afterwards.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

No, but I'm not saying do I blame him? No, I think going to to like hurt him or something or to try to like legitimately break a bone, I think that's a little excessive. I think it's part of the game. I think you should look in the mirror and be like a bone, bro. No, I think they should look in the mirror and be like, we were we were ass this game. It's not Ryan Cherky's fault that we lost. We lost because we were shit. We lost because our goalkeeper made terrible mistakes. We lost because we couldn't come up with a solution to Pep Guardiola's pressing. We couldn't come up with any of that. So you gotta look in the mirror, but you you can't blame a player.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

I'll look at myself afterwards in the mirror, but I mean, you're just insulting me there, dude. Fuck that. I'm going after you. I am going after you 100%.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Sometimes especially with the amount of talking that Arsenal's done and the way that Arsenal's been playing all season, where they essentially just all they do is just cross the ball in and tackle the goalkeeper at that point. You deserve to be disrespected. And at the end of the day, you want to win a trophy, you can come through us. Fair enough. You know what it is. That's the way I that's the way I look at it.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

In that case, yeah, but any other team, bro. Nah, get over here, fam. Let me see that ankle. I'm gonna break it right now. Give me your ACO.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

I see the point of why like why Arsenal would get upset at that. Like, I get it. I get like that that that there is a certain level of disrespect towards it, but at the end of the day, I like seeing that type of stuff. I like seeing their entertainment, I like seeing the the techers about it. I love it. That's that that's the type of players that I that I fell in love with, the Ronaldinho's, Neymars, and I think a lot of times the game has lost that spark, especially out from the wingers. They don't we don't really see that too much anymore because people are either afraid to do it because they know that a big tackle is gonna come their way, or they just the the the game has completely changed. I mean, if you look at like Maraona back in the 80s and the 90s, this dude was juking people left and right, and they were coming after his ankles as well. He didn't care, he was still making them boys look silly.

SPEAKER_01 43:19

Well, it's it's a different thing, like juking people, but playing keepy uppies like that. Like when you're not doing anything with it, you're literally just doing it for show, show boating. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I don't I don't necessarily hate it, but at the same time, like, yeah, I would get pissed off if I'm on the losing end and I see the other player doing that, of course. I'm I'm gonna lose my shit.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Well, I'm gonna lose my shit. People lost people lost their shit about it. A lot of people thought it was super disrespectful, like you did. You know, it's funny you bring up the Namark comment as well, because this was a huge topic of discussion this past week, specifically. Because they had there was that podcast I forget the name of the podcast, but Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Roy Keane, Ian Wright, Jill Scott, they were all there talking about Neymar. And is would Neymar be considered better than pretty much every Premier League player in history? And it was a very overwhelming no for them. And they said players like Wayne Rooney are better. Eden Hazard, Mohammed Salah. No way. Sadio Mane, Thierry Henry. What are your thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_01 44:30

No, dude. Neymar is a different level. The only one out of those players that you named, I could see an argument there with Thierry Henry, but everyone else, no, sit down, bro. Sit the fuck down. Neymar is at a different level. I mean, this guy was the best player in the world. He was. Because Ronaldo and Messi are aliens, okay? They're just different. There should have been a different award just for Ronaldo and Messi. And then Neymar, out of all the normal players, he was the best one. Okay. This guy was just at a different level. One of the best Brazilian players I've ever seen. He's the definition of Joga Bonito. Just because they can't do the shit he does on the field doesn't mean you gotta bash on him, dude. I mean, look at what he did with Barcelona, too, man. PSG. I know it's not the Premier League, but dude, he was really making these kids look like clowns in the French League. Like the French League was just, it looked like a second division that he was playing in just because of how good he was he was doing over there, man. He really was just clowning everyone there. And then in Barcelona, he bro, he took that team to another level with Messi and Suarez, and all three of them complemented each other so so well. This guy's just a different level.

SPEAKER_00 45:45

And even where there were there were instances, I believe, it was like the 2015-2016 season where Messi got hurt for a pretty significant period of time. He was hurt for like, I don't know, like yeah, him and Suarez took took the team to another level, too. Suarez put that team on their back, man, and Namar specifically. Namor specifically.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Yeah, it's almost like uh like Messi wasn't even missed during that time at all. It there I remember that. I remember that season, yeah. It was like one game Namar would kill them, the next game Suarez would kill it. They weren't missing Messi at all.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Yeah, and that was the that was the beauty of it. That's why whenever Namar left for PSG, that's where a lot of us Barca fans really, really got butthurt, man, because we were like, man, this guy's not seeing the bigger picture, he's not seeing the vision that Messi eventually was. To be honest, even me as a Madrid fan. It's gonna be his.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

Yeah, yeah, it was gonna be his. But I was gonna say, even for me as a Madrid fan, I was kind of pissed off because I I loved that competition. You had the BBC and the MSN. That was like prime El Classico after the Guardiolo and Mourinho days, you know? Yeah, that was phenomenal to see those three or those two trios going at it. I loved seeing that. And then when Neymar left, they just kind of ugh, damn. Like I feel like both teams were at their peak, so it was it was a bummer for La Liga, all of La Liga, even as a Madrid fan. I didn't like him seeing going to PSG.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

But yeah, man, I thought I thought those comments by these British pundits was was super, super weird.

SPEAKER_01 47:18

Stupid, bro. And and and Rooney too, he said something about the the South Africa World Cup, saying that that tournament never felt like a World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 47:26

Which yeah, Rooney was just he was on a he was on, I don't know if he was high or drunk or he was on a bender of like he I think he woke up that morning, looked in the mirror, and it's like, what's the dumbest shit I can say today? He's like, I got two just in my back pocket for fun, dude. I got two just for fun today. I don't I don't I don't understand that. I don't see I don't see Neymar as a top-top player, is what he said. I never saw Neymar as a top top player. I was like, is did this guy watch football with his eyes closed? Like, did you never watch if you never watch Neymar play, just say that. Just say you never watched Neymar play, and that's it. And let's and let's just be dumb with it. For people to say, and there's people online saying, like, oh, Wayne Rooney had a better career than Neymar.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Are you meant to they're out of their mind, out of their mind? That just tells me Wayne Rooney's pissed off he can't do what Neymar does.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

But bro, Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney talent-wise, doesn't even touch Neymar's ankles. And we can talk about like on paper statistically, maybe Wayne Rooney scored more goals. Or no, Neymar has scored more goals than Wayne Rooney has. He's worn more trophies than Wayne Rooney has. And listen, I love Wayne Rooney. Wayne Rooney is one of the best English footballers of all time, maybe the best. I love Mohammed Salah, I love Eden Hazard, I love Saudi Mah. I love all these players. But Neymar is the closest thing that we've ever seen to get to get into Cristiano and Messi's level. The closest thing was Neymar. And now, after this this past week, it's come to my realization that Neymar is probably the most underrated player of all time. Because there is no way people watched Neymar play and still think, yeah, no, he's not a top-top player or he he's not good enough. There was well, I don't know if he's underrated.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

I just think those people are just freaking retarded, to be honest with you. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

Well, it's a lot of people think the same as them that there was there was this other like the what's the talk football podcast or something like that in England as well. There was this one guy saying that he would take soccer over Neymar. I saw that. I that's ridiculous. But that's just your typical Arsenal fan, bro. I don't even know if the guy's an Arsenal fan or not. He has to be fine.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

You don't have to be an Arsenal fan because you gotta be delusional to think that Sokka is better than Neymar.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

I think it's crazy to me. It's crazy to me that Premier League fans, fans and English pundits all put the Premier League in like this golden pedestal. And it's almost like a player isn't considered to be an elite player until they play in the Premier League. And for whatever reason, the Premier League for everybody is that gold standard. Where to me, it it like the we can have an argument whether the Premier League's the best league in the world or not. I think as of right now, it it it it is, it has an argument for being. I think it has the I I saw it twenty. It's definitely the most competitive for sure. It's the most competitive in but in like the mid in like the mid-table and like bottom of the table. Because if you look at the top of the table, Man City and Liverpool have been running the show for the past like six years. Like the last 10 years, I think there's only been with Arsenal being up there. Yeah, with Arsenal's gone in second place the last three seasons. We'll see what they do this season. I mean, it's gonna be really difficult for them to lose it, but they might after this. Who knows? I think this this uh Carabao Cup final is gonna determine a lot of momentum going to the end of the season. But nevertheless, you look at the last 10 seasons in the in the Premier League, I think there's only been three different Premier League champions. You look at the last 10 seasons in La Liga, there's only been 10 different or three different champions in La Liga. You look at City Al, I think there's been what four.

SPEAKER_01 51:17

There's been a lot of champions since 2020.

SPEAKER_00 51:19

Yeah, there's been a lot of different champions in City Al. So this whole thing. It's the most competitive. Like maybe, yes, maybe like getting into Europe is more competitive or relegation battles a little bit more competitive. But as far as like winning the Premier League, Man City and Liverpool have been running the show the past few years completely. Yeah, and then you're especially Man City.

SPEAKER_01 51:42

Man City has won what five in the past six years? I think Liverpool took one, and that that was it, yeah. After after COVID year, after Liverpool won that one in 2020, Man City won four in a row, then Liverpool.

SPEAKER_00 51:54

Four in a row, and then Liverpool won this past one. And I mean, don't don't rule City out completely yet. They're bringing in good momentum. They got a game in hand in the Premier League. They're nine points behind right now, but they could very easily be six points behind, and they still play Arsenal again in the league. It it the league's still up in up in the air, still in play. Again, really difficult for Arsenal to screw this up, but you never know.

SPEAKER_01 52:17

We did call it last episode Arsenal is gonna win it.

SPEAKER_00 52:20

We did. We did say Arsenal. Congratulate Arsenal for winning the Premier League. Maybe we jinxed them. Who knows? Maybe we jinxed them. But anyway, the point that I'm trying to make is like the the the the whole the whole point of the of these pundits putting the Premier League at this high elite standard of like unless you play in the Premier League, you're not good enough. It's crazy to me. Or even just Europe in general. You know how many great South American players have never really played that well in in Europe? And that doesn't make them bad players. Look at Quintero, for example. Quintero, Quintero in South America is considered one of the greatest players to ever play for River Plate. You look at somebody like Quantraman Riquelme, you go to Argentina, and people think Riquelme is a god, right? That man was a beast. But if you talk to these Premier League uh snobs, they're gonna be like, oh no, Riquelme is a nobody because he never played in the Premier League, or he didn't make it in Europe. Like, brother, let's let's think outside of what football really is for a second. Football is a global sport, it is worldwide. Like, yes, right now, do the best players play in Europe in the top five leagues, most of them play in Premier League. Yes, all these things. But there are also a lot of phenomenal players that play outside of the top five leagues and that play in South America, and then we devalue these players and the competitions like Copa Libertadores. Like to me, winning a Copa Libertadores is a phenomenal achievement. And Neymar is one of like what like 14 players to have only won Copa Libertari to have won Copa Libertadores and Champions League as well. Wayne Rooney can't say that, Mohammed Salah can't say that, Sarimana can't say that, you know. Neymar can say that, and doing really, really well too.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

It's crazy because that they wouldn't say that about Arnaldinho, you know, and I don't think Neymar was too far off from Arnaldinho, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

No, I mean Neymar's Brazil's top all-time goalscorer. Yeah. And he hasn't been called up in years, and he's only since Pele, dude. Yeah, since Pele. Think about that for a second. He took over Pele. And we had players like Rivaldo, Romario, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, all these players come through and none of them can break their record. Neymar did it, and he hasn't even been called up to the Brazilian national team in Godhood knows how long. I think it's well he's he's kind of washed now.

SPEAKER_01 54:46

I mean, not Neymar now Neymar now is not the same. His legs are gone. His legs are gone. Yes, but he's still. I mean, he's still doing work with Santos, but he's not the same as he was with PSG or with Barcelona. But he that's when he was at his prime. I don't, I mean, I don't think he's underrated at all. The people who who are saying these takes, they really don't know ball, man. That's what I'm saying. And you can't you can't take them seriously anymore, if I'm being honest. But what about it? Especially Gary Neville, dude. This guy, I never take that guy serious, man. But he talks so much shit, and then when he fucking coached for Valencia, he didn't do absolutely anything. He thinks he knows it all. But then when when times you know got real for him, he had to go coach Valencia. Dude didn't know what the hell he was doing.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

Well, that's why he's a pundit now, because nobody else is gonna hire him after that. No, hell no. But like the point that I'm saying is like the the reason why I'm saying he's underrated is because all like these people said that. These are people who get paid to watch the game, these are people to make money, to watch the game, analyze the game, and then talk about the game, and then they're saying things like Neymar is not a top-top player, and then not only that, there's a ton of people online who also agree with that take. So that leads me to believe, okay, Neymar's underrated, because there is no way that people genuinely watch Neymar play and think, no, Wayne Rooney's better.

SPEAKER_01 56:14

I mean, bro, from the time we were watching Neymar play, like in Barcelona PSG, everyone knew how good he was. I really don't think he's underrated. The the people who are who are saying this are just Gary Neville fans, Wayne Rooney fans, Roy Keane fans, and honestly, these guys are professional rage baiters. I wouldn't be surprised if they said those comments just to get people to watch their podcast. Probably. You're right. Honestly, because in what world do you think Neymar is not a world-class player? Or whatever the hell they said. Yeah. Why would you even criticize Neymar at not being a top-top player?

unknown 56:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:56

Like has he made some That's ludicrous. He's ludicrous. He's just had some really tough time with injuries. Neymar has had a lot of tough time with injuries, and he's made some questionable decisions. Him leaving PSG to go to Saudi, not the best. A lot of people could argue for him leaving Barcelona to go to PSG, not the best decision.

SPEAKER_01 57:14

And to be honest with you, I don't think he lived up to his full potential. Just like Ronaldinho, I think he had a lot more left in the tank. But injuries really got him. Injuries got him, I think. I think he didn't live up to his full potential at all.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

I think like for example, like for example, whenever you look at it and you think to yourself, okay, Rodri has a Ballon d'Or, but Neymar probably never will. Dembele has a Ballon d'Or, but Neymar more than likely never will. And you think to yourself, it's like, were these players better than Neymar? No, they were not. No, absolutely. It was just kind of like right place, right time, right place, wrong time for Neymar. And like you said, he Neymar played in an era where Cristiano and Messi were at the peak, peak, peak of their potential, and he was still up there competing with them, man. He was the closest thing that came to them. And the only reason why he didn't get to that next level is because of injuries and just because of poor decisions that he made. But as far as talent wise and everything that he's accomplished in his career, not many people can touch that. Not many people can. Not at all. So not at all. But I just thought that was an interesting conversation that happened the past week with Neymar. Those guys don't know Ball. They don't. They don't know Ball. If you never watch Neymar play, just say that.

SPEAKER_01 58:32

Just say you never watched Neymar play. I think they watch Neymar play. They're just, like I said, professional rage baiters, or they're just jealous. Jealous.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

That's all I see. Could be jealousy. Who knows? But well man, moving on. We got the international break coming up, and we got some big games coming up, especially for Colombia and for the U.S. men's national team. Colombia playing Croatia and France. The men in the U.S. are playing Belgium and Portugal, and we got the squad list out for both of them. What what are your thoughts on uh on the Colombian squad list? We're gonna try to go to the game in against Croatia that's gonna be here in Orlando, trying to figure out the logistics. But if we do, we're bringing you guys with us. We're gonna put out some cool content out there.

unknown 59:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:18

But what are your thoughts on the game? It's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_01 59:24

On the squad list for what surprised me there was no Yeti Mina. He's usually on the squad. Is he injured? I don't know if he's injured, but that was pretty difficult. Jasper Aspriya is not on there. He's typically on there too. He's been on the team for the last few collops. And Cucho Hernandez, bro. No Cucho Hernandez. That surprised me. I think the no Cucho Hernandez was the biggest. Um I don't understand that. I mean, when he was playing in Columbus crew, it's like, okay, I get it. They don't really take the MLS seriously that much. But now that he's playing at for Betty's and he's doing pretty well over there, I'm shocked that he didn't get the call-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:13

Yeah, he's been crushing for Bettis the last couple seasons. I definitely think he's a player that deserves to be called up and deserves to go to the World Cup. I think this whole thing with uh Santos Borré, I'm kind of tired of it, man. I don't know what else he has to do for Nestor Lorenzo to finally be like, hey, I love you, man, but it's it's just time for somebody else. It's time to move on because this guy, he must be holding on to Nestor Lorenzo's nudes or something, because there's no way he keeps getting called up all the freaking time.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:44

He never really he's not a good striker for our team.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:48

No, he's he's not a good striker.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

I'm excited to see the squad is up there with Lucho Diaz, James Rodriguez, Jon Arias, Jon Adias always kills it, bro. He's one of the best players in the CIA in Brazil. He's he kills it, bro. He's a baller. He is, he is really good.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:05

Yeah, he's over at Palmeidas now. He it didn't really work out for him over at Wolves. I think he's on loan at Palmeidas for a little bit. Fluminense fans were not very happy about that, but hey, yeah, because they love him over at Fluminense. They did, man. They did, so it was uh interesting to see that. But I'm excited to see uh yeah, Luis Diaz, man, he's been crushing it over at Bayern. Duran isn't there either season. Who Duran? John Duran. John Duran is I don't think he's gonna get called up ever. I don't know if you saw, but so Piero Alderrama called him, basically called him out and said, Oh, dude, Duran's never gonna get called back up because of all the stuff that went on in the locker room, and he got into it with the players in the locker room. So whenever you go with against the players, against the dressing room, like you're never gonna get called back up. And then John Duran put a post out, put a post, put a Instagram story, and he's like, Oh, all these old players talking negatively about me, but they don't know anything about the truth. Like, I never got into it with players. I'm just gonna keep working hard and keep doing my thing. And it's like, oh man, it's getting a little feisty there between John Duran and Piwe. But allegedly there was some allegedly there were some there were some rumors going around that he that there were some mixed feelings about the way that he was being treated in the locker room. Some people were trying to tell him to calm down. This this is all allegedly, I don't really know what happened. Uh, but ever since then, he hasn't really been called back up. So there's got to be some sort of truth to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:42

I believe it's been called up since he's got a bit of a yeah, he left Aston Villa on weird terms, then he left Al-Nasad on weird terms as well. And now he's over in Turkey, which he's a top player, he could be at a top club. Aston Villa was actually perfect for him. Aston Villa was the perfect spot for him. He was scoring lots of goals there, one of the stars of the team, and he just was trying to chase the money in Saudi Arabia. I don't I don't know what happened after then. He just got on a couple articles with the players, coaches, and now this is where he's at. He's got a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:17

It's sad to see ego. He's got a ton of talent, he's got a very big ego. That's the thing. He he's got to learn how to manage that ego. He's still very young. I mean, he's like 22, 23, something like that. He's a very young player, but he's he's so talented. I think right now he's one of the most talented Columbia players that we have, but he he just hasn't continued to live up to that talent. And it's sad to see, man, because I would love to see him in the World Cup. I actually would love to see him suit up with a Columbian jersey and go crush it in the World Cup because I think he would do phenomenal. So we could use him. I was gonna say, I kind of wish that they would squash this beef, whatever, like just lock in for the next couple months, man, and then put that Columbian jersey off and shut everybody up, shut up all, shut all the haters up, go show out in the World Cup, and get yourself a pretty decent deal to get back into a top European club because you can't do it. You got the you got the potential, man. You got you got all the strength in the world, all the potential in the world to be a top, top worldwide player. I'm talking about like this guy could be what almost what Falcao was. I I really do believe that. I think he has the potential to be to that level of player. 100%. This guy is what he was doing at Aston Villa, man, ESG wanted him. Barcelona wanted him. Like people like top top clubs were willing to pay a lot of money for him, and he decided to go to Saudi Arabia. That was that was uh I get it. I get it where it's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:50

Very high standard, very high standard.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:53

It is, it's a very high standard, but I think he he's got that talent. Man, he could be he could be a really, really, really good player. He could, and he is, he is a really good player, and he could have a really, really good player.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:03

It's just his mentality, he's a little deep.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:06

Exactly. That's the thing. You gotta you gotta work on your ego, you gotta have the right people around you to help you make the right decisions, because clearly he doesn't, and until he does, he's just gonna continue to be stuck. But man, I really do hope that they kind of squash everything because this is a player that could genuinely help us in the World Cup. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:26

John Duran, póngase las pilas, papa.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:28

Lo necesitamos. Yeah, but yeah, Croatia and France, those are both gonna be very, very important games to get us prepared for the World Cup. Two very, very big teams. By the way, did you see the jerseys that came out? The Didas Game ones?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:47

Yeah. Those are the Columbia ones. Yeah, there's a there's like a green one, though, a white one.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:55

That's that's green to you?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:00

It's blue. What do you mean? What does it look like to me? Hold on a second.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:04

I only saw one picture with Louise Diaz. Actually, you might be right. My eyes might be fucking. I was gonna say, what you talking about? There's that one picture with Richard DS. It looks fucking green though, bro.

unknown 1:06:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:16

I see that. There's a little bit of lime green. There's a little bit of lime green in it. Yeah, there's a little bit of lime green. But I mean, it doesn't look so like blue.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:25

That's I was just a little confused when I was. It is sick. I was getting a little confused because it does look kind of green to me, but now that you pointed out that it's blue, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:35

I think like the collar and the logo and the sleeves got some like a hint of the colour. I thought they were trying to switch it up on the green.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:43

Why the fuck are we doing green? But nonetheless, yeah, they're pretty fresh. And the home jerseys are fresh too. The home jerseys. Those are sick. Those are sick, man. But yeah, but you know what? My favorite one was um uh the away one at least, was in the 2014 World Cup. The red ones, I love the red ones. I love when they have the red ones. You like the red jerseys? I prefer the red over the blue, and the white one too. I like the white one in the Copo America 2016.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:14

That was sexy. That one I do like.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:18

I like this one jersey a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:20

The the centenario one. The one with like the Colombian flag in the middle that they just released like last year.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:28

I like that one. I didn't love it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I like the white one better from that same year. Yeah, yeah, the white one, yeah. Is that the one you're talking about? Okay, okay. I thought you were talking about just the yellow the yellow one with the Colombian flag. Okay. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. The white one was fresh, man. That white one was fresh.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:49

Yeah, that one I liked. That one I liked a lot. But yeah, Adidas released some pretty cool away jerseys uh prior to the World Cup. So, but yeah, Colombia having some um important games coming up against Croatia and against France. Excited to see them both. They're gonna be big tests ahead of the World Cup. And then the US men's national team, like we said, they got Belgium and they got Portugal. Interesting call-up here by um what's his nuts? Pochitino. Four goalkeepers. It's interesting. Yeah, I'm interested to see that.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:26

I think we should just stick to three goalkeepers in the national team.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:30

Yeah, I don't know why I don't understand that either. It it just it it takes away from a field player. Like you're not gonna play all four. Like there's two games you're not playing for. It's ridiculous. But anyway, Matt Friese was typically the starting lineup or the or the starting goalkeeper for Portino. He has been the past like year or so, had a pretty bad performance against Miami this past weekend. Um, so that's tough to see. But he has been he's had put on pretty good showings the past couple seasons. So Gino.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:04

Gioreno's back on the lineup.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:06

Yes, Giorno's back, which is exciting to see because if he's healthy and again, he's got his mentals right, he's one of the best players for the U.S. So Junior Des is still battling an injury. Weston McKinney's in there, which is good to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:21

He's probably been the best player all year round. Like, I I think he's the bit of the best American player all year round.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:28

He's been killing in Juventus. And and he's like a Swiss army knife for them over there.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:34

Yeah, freaking. And they wanted to get rid of him. He he was on loan for a little bit at Leeds, and they wanted to get rid of him permanently, but now I think he he's about to sign a new contract, or he just did, or he's they always every time he comes back from uh from like summer break or something, they always they always comment on his weight.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:53

They're like, oh, he's coming in a little bit overweight, and we we have to get rid of him and all these things. And this guy's he's always performing, man. Weston McKinney. He plays everywhere you put him. Put him at left back, you put him at center mid, you put it, they even put him at striker at some points. He's been everywhere, and these guys always have to be able to get it. Yeah, no, he's been killing it. He's been killing it at James. He's crushing it. So excited for that. But yeah, they play uh they play Belgium, they play Portugal coming up here. Two very important games, also very important fixtures heading into the World Cup. That's gonna be very telling for what the U.S. men's national team is gonna be looking like. Had some pretty good results the last few games for Pochetino, beat Paraguay, beat Uruguay. So I'm excited to see the the these uh these games that that we got coming up for the game.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:41

We have a good team. We definitely have a good team. A lot of players are finally playing in Europe. You can see most of the squad is playing out in Europe. So that's good because we have a lot of experience, a lot of talent. We just we gotta see if that translates onto the pitch.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:00

Yeah, and even even guys like um even some of the MLS guys like Sebastian Berholter has been crushing it with Vancouver, uh, and he's been consistently getting been called up by Potch. So I think he's one of the guys that makes it to the World Cup. Another guy that I'm excited to see is uh Aiden Morris over at Middlesbrough, second division in England. He's been crushing it for Middlesbrough. He's been playing really well. He's a really, really good player. I don't know Posch hasn't really called him up too much, so I'm excited to see him in the lineup as well. And Balligan has been on a tear over at Monaco, seven games, seven goals. Yeah, in the last seven games he scored seven goals, I think. So he's got the better.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:43

Christian Polisic is Christian Polisic. Yeah, Polisic always good player as well. I don't know much about this uh Patrick Guy, I don't know how to pronounce his last name.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:54

Adjiman. Patrick Adjiman.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:56

I haven't seen him much. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

So he he was a breakout player, man for Charlotte FC for in the MLS. I think it was last year or the year before, but he did really well in the Gold Cup too, and Potts just really likes him. And he's been doing pretty good over at Derby. I mean, Derby is sit right now in the championship. They're in a spot, I think that they're in a playoff spot or they're close to it. And Patrick Audermond has been has been doing pretty well for them. I uh I don't want to speak wrongly here, but he might be one of their top goal scorers. Let me double check here.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:29

Well, if he got the call-up, I'm sure he's gotta be doing pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:34

Yeah, he's their top goal scorer. He's got 10 goals uh this season over in the in the championship, and they are they're sitting in eighth place, so just outside of that playoff spot, three points behind Wrexham and Southampton. They're still battling it out, but Patrick Audumon's a good player, and Potts really likes him too. So it's it's it's that matter of like who's gonna be that number nine. That's always been the question for the US men's national team. Well, it's gotta be Josh Sargent. Yeah, right now it's Balligan, but some people say Ricardo Pepe, some people say Josh Sargent, who didn't even get called up. Other people say Balligan, other people say Patrick Aljamin. Who's that player gonna be? I think I think Balligun and then Pepe as his backup for sure. Yeah, I think as of right now, you gotta start Bolligan, but don't sleep on Ajumong. I think Ajumong's a was a player to be recognized.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:27

I just don't know too much about him, to be honest with you. Yeah, he's be and Aronson isn't doing bad at Leeds United either. He's always uh a good reliable option at the attack as well. Yeah, Brandon Ahrons is always a guy that I've that I've liked.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:43

I think he's he he's he's been a little bit inconsistent the past couple of years, but um he's always a guy that comes out, put on, puts on the jersey and performs well for the US men's national team. Alex Freeman as well, playing over at Villa Real, Orlando City guy, Orlando City Academy grad. He's he was the breakout player of the year last season for MLS. I think he was a young player of the year, uh made the MLS 11, best 11. And he now he's now playing over in Europe if we have Villa Real and playing. Yeah, so good for them. But yeah, that's what we got coming up here for this international break. Like I said, we might be out over at the uh Columbia vs. Croatia game in Orlando. That's gonna be super exciting. We're trying to figure out the logistics of everything, but if we do, we'll take you guys with us. We'll put some content out there, and hopefully we get some some good interviews with the fans uh heading into the stadium, heading into the stadium. But yeah, man, I think that about wraps it up for this episode. Uh lots of people.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:53

About to get relegated.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:55

Chelsea four losses in a row, but Chelsea is, and we talked about it last episode. Chelsea is in their own shit show. They yeah, they're they won the the club world cup and then just went to crap ever since. And yeah. Big loss against Everton, Liverpool loss against Brighton.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:16

Yeah, Tottenham and Tottenham. Very big loss against a direct rival. Yeah. Fighting for safety in the Premier League, and they're now in 17th place. They got saved at Aston Villa beat West Ham. Because they're right there. They're all right.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

That was their saving grace because it I do you think Tottenham's gonna get relegated?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:40

If I had to bet on it, I'd bet on that. I would bet on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:46

I think they're just gonna get by by their skin of their teeth. But I don't know, but they had they they're still yet to win a game in the Premier League this uh this calendar year. They haven't won a game in the Premier League since December, I believe. Yeah. Igor Tidor is just not it. No, he was not. I don't know what they were thinking. Yeah, last game they won in the Premier League was December 28th against Crystal Palace. They haven't won a game since. Isn't that insane? Oh, let me look at this. Hold on a second. That is pretty pretty embarrassing. Let's look at the table. Let's look at the table last year. Because last year they finished, last year they also finished 17th place. They had 38 points. They had 11 wins, five draws, 22 losses. Right now, they're sitting in 17th place. They're at 30 points, they have seven wins, nine draws, and fifteen.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:38

Embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:39

I mean, between statistically speaking, they have to get eight more points to stay in the Premier League.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:46

That's crazy. That back-to-back seasons having terrible seasons fighting to stay in the Premier League. A team like Tottenham for a big six club. Yeah, for a big six club. I mean, him and Igor T uh Igor Tidor and Liam Rosener, however you pronounce his name, they're battling out for the worst coaches in the Premier League. Yeah, worst. Yeah, that is true. They are. I can't tell who's worse. But they are embarrassing their clubs and they gotta get out of there as soon as possible. Tottenham is about to have one of the nicest stadiums playing in the championship.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:28

People are gonna love going to that. They're gonna be selling tickets for 20 bucks. Yeah, they better start stepping up. They're gonna have to have every NFL game at the Tottenham Stadium because they gotta pay to keep the lights on somehow. So they're gonna be hey, bring everybody this year, guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:46

I don't even know if NFL would want to do a deal with Tom anymore after being relegated.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:51

Yeah, I mean, oh, they will. They'll probably get the they'll probably they'll probably negotiate a new deal. Like, hey, like you guys are relegated now. Like, let's bring down the price of that venue a little bit. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:01

If they do get relegated, that would be the funniest thing ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:04

It would be hilarious. It would be hilarious.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:06

Best season for Arsenal, too. They win.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:09

Yeah, Arsenal fans would be insufferable. Yeah. Four years. That would be insufferable. But anyway, man. That that has to that that wraps it up, man. We've been talking for a while. There's so much, always so much to talk about, and it's hard to do in a short amount of time. So much happens during the week. But man, we appreciate all the support from everybody. Be sure to follow us on social media at friendly foesfd. We'll let you guys know if we're out in Orlando for the Columbia game against Horatia. But appreciate the support. Be sure to tune in to all future episodes. We're dropping them once a week for you all, at least every Tuesday or Wednesday. We're trying to release them after we record. But uh stay up to date with the friendly foes. We'll bring you guys some some cool stuff, a lot of cool stuff in the works. And uh, we'll see you guys again next week.