Friendly Foes FC
Friendly Foes FC
Episode 43 - Premier League Title Race is On!
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On today's episode, we break down the Premier League race and how Arsenal are continuing to bottle the league after being 9 points ahead of Man City just two weeks ago.
We also discuss La Real winning Copa del Rey with an American manager, Chelsea firing their manager, Tottenham about to get relegated, Leceister City back down to League One, and Bayern Munich winning Bundesliga (shocker).
Oh and Juandi fills us in on the NBA playoffs since he's done watching Real Madrid this season. Tune in!
And what's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Friendly Foes. Another week. Talking a little footy here with my foe. A lot has happened since we last spoke last week. Man City are now at the top of the Premier League table. Lester go down into the third division. Chelsea Sacter coach once again. Rose Sr. is out, and Barcelona and Real Madrid both won their games. Nothing changes in the table in La Liga. Barcelona is still nine points ahead. Bayern Munich officially won the Bundesliga and just so much more that we have to break down here today on the pod. And happy to be doing it here with the bros ski today, man. How are you doing this week? I know you said you weren't going to be watching any La Liga games. So what how was the NBA playoffs? Dude, the Magic lost today against the Pistons.
SPEAKER_01They had a 1-0 lead over the weekend. Now it's 1-1. I don't know, man. I don't know. It looks like they're going to fumble it like every year out in the first round. Magic. Lakers aren't doing too bad. 2-0 against KD's Rockets. Not not doing bad. Not doing bad. I like this NBA lifestyle. It's a lot chiller. I don't have to be annoyed and yell at my players. I can just relax, have some popcorn, have a brewski, and you know, have no problems, no drama. Just enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02So you don't have a team that you're rooting for. Well, I like the I like the magic.
SPEAKER_01I like the magic, but I gotta be realistic. The magic isn't gonna do anything. So nah. There's no need to get mad. There's no hope. No, there's no hope with the magic. My hopes aren't up. So it's okay. It's alright.
SPEAKER_02Man. Just watching for funsies, man. I haven't even really been following NBA. I don't really know what's going on too much, but uh all I know is that LeBron's still playing for some reason. 41, just like Ronaldo. Same age. 41. That's crazy. 41, still going at it.
SPEAKER_01Two monsters. Aliens. And he's playing with his son. Looks like Ronaldo might actually play with his son too. You think that's what he's waiting for? Well, obviously he's waiting for this World Cup. Yeah, he's waiting for his son. He's where he's waiting to score a thousand goals. But it looks like his son's gonna be training with Al Nasser starting the summer with the first team. How old is his son now? Uh he's gotta be like 15 or 16. I think he's maybe like turning 16 pretty soon.
SPEAKER_02So he's getting he's getting to that age where like in a couple of years he could potentially be making his debut.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Like I feel like if Ronaldo waits it out one more year till he's like 42, they could definitely play in the same team together. But they might force it just like they forced Bronny James to play with his dad.
SPEAKER_02So well, that was even crazy because the Lakers had to draft him and everything. That's an even crazier thing. Yeah. But fell right back. But yeah, no, they they probably will force it. Has there ever has that ever been done in soccer where of father and son play together?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't believe so. I may be mistaken. I'm trying to think. Let me see. Let me look at it.
SPEAKER_02Brazilian legend Revaldo played with his son Rivaldinho in 2014 and 2015. And Henry or where? No. Where did they fight? Mogey Marim. Where the hell is that? In Brazil. Damn. I knew it was somebody.
SPEAKER_01That is, yeah, yeah. It is in Brazil. That's pretty cool though. They play until he's like 42, 43.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he played for a while. And then Henrik Larson appearing alongside his son Jordan for Hogersborg in 2013. What is that? Uh Swedish guy? Yep. Henrik Larson, yeah. Yeah, but that would be cool if Ronaldo and Ronaldo Jr. They might make it work. They might get together. That would be pretty crazy.
SPEAKER_01That'd be pretty cool to see. That would be pretty badass. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That would be fun to be. That would be interesting. I'm sure they will at this point. He's waited this long.
SPEAKER_01What's another year or two? He was training with the Real Madrid Academy, too. I wonder how nice he is. I mean, I've seen clips of him, but not a full game. He's got a little bit more.
SPEAKER_02You know, it's one of those things where has there ever been a case, and I'm trying to think of this right now, where an athlete, like a superstar athlete, I'm talking about like a Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Messi Ronaldo, Tiger Woods type of athlete, where they're a superstar and their sons turn out to be a superstar as well, or daughters. No.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we're seeing Bronny James right now, but he's not a superstar like that.
SPEAKER_02Nah, I mean, he's not what LeBron he's never gonna live up to the LeBron James. Michael Jordan's son, that never happened. Tiger Wood's son, we'll see. I'm not big into golf, but I think his son apparently is pretty good. We'll see with Messi's sons. He's got three of them. One of them has to be somewhat good. Yeah, Ronaldo has been.
SPEAKER_01Does he have two or three? I don't know. Maybe his daughters, too, might be good. Yeah. He's got like three sons, three daughters, I believe.
SPEAKER_02Kunagüero's son, his this is crazy. So his father is Kunagüero. His grandfather is Maralona, and then his godfather is Messi. Yeah, and that dude doesn't do anything. He just chills. I don't know what he's doing. I have no idea what he's doing with his life. I don't know if you know how old he is, but he definitely didn't touch a soccer ball in his life, dude. Maybe he's good at like math or something. Maybe he's like gonna go safety environment. That's important, too. It's just crazy. That's important.
SPEAKER_01You never heard about that kid touching a soccer ball. Like your dad is like widow. Your grandfather is Maradona. How the hell were you not born with a soccer ball, dude?
SPEAKER_02It's too much pressure at that point. Not only be good, be great. It's too much pressure at that point, just be something else. Like if your dad was somewhat okay and then you became a superstar, that's different. But anyway, yeah, that'd be cool if if they make it happen. Ronaldo and Ronaldo Jr. on the field for Al Nassar in 2027, 2028. Al Nassar. We got a lot to talk about, I feel like. I feel like a lot has happened this past week. Almost to the point where we gotta backtrack a little bit. But let's start with what happened the past couple of days here in La Liga, and we can touch on it really quick. Real Madrid beat Deportivo Alares 2-1. Barcelona beat Celta Riga 1-0. Nothing changes in La Liga, still nine points ahead. For Barcelona, pretty decent win, although we had two big injuries coming off of this, off of this game with Laminha Mal hurting himself after taking a penalty. Did he tear a hamstring or what? No, nothing official yet, but that's the that's what the reports are saying. And if it is true, that could be really bad. That could put the World Cup in jeopardy almost. Yeah, it's right around the corner. Yeah, it's about two months away. So I think at the very least he's he's done for the season. At the very least. I don't really think we'll see him suit up for the remainder of the season, which is sad because he was having such a good season. He's been our leading goal scorer, top assist provider, all these things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, you guys got the season wrapped up already. So it's it's sad, but not that sad. If you guys were so you guys would feel it more for sure.
SPEAKER_02100%, but I would have loved to see him play a classico. Those are always fun games, regardless. Oh, I'll be watching. I'll be watching for sure. Gerard Cancello also came off injured. Oh, did he? I didn't see that. We'll see. Yeah, he came off injured at uh like right before the half, I think it was. But yeah, it's that serious.
SPEAKER_01So you you think Lamin heard his hamstring taking that penalty or right before, or what? I think it was while taking a penalty. You think it was while taking that penalty? I think it was the way he I know he did a little bit, but I don't know, maybe that hit before.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if it was the hit before because maybe that had something lead up to it, but I think it was the way he took the penalty, the way he he came down on his supporting leg. Like it he probably just pulled something there. It's funny because Kevin De Bruyne had this very same injury. I think it was either earlier this season or last season. Same thing. He took a penalty, pulled his hamstring. Really? And except he he was out for a couple of months, I think. Like two or three months.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Lamine might be out for at least two months. But you know they're really gonna try to really drug him up and so he's ready for the beginning of the World Cup. I don't see him missing.
SPEAKER_02That's the last thing he needs, man. This guy's played. You know what's crazy? He is him and Pau Cowarcisi, they're 18-19. They've already played a hundred games for Barcelona. That's insane. Insane. It's insane. And they got to go easily. Easily. And they're they're playing what, like eighty games a season now with the World Cup and the Euros. Yeah, we're in the food international nations. Yeah, at least. All of that stuff. They're playing way too many games. I mean, let's remember what happened to Pelletti whenever this was back in like 2021, whenever he played the he played a full season with Barcelona, did the Euros, and then he went and did the Olympics. The guy looked like he aged more years.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the injuries starting to come right after that, too. He played way too much.
SPEAKER_02The injuries started. That was what, like five years ago? Pretty crazy to think about. Yeah, so that's something that we we gotta look at. I'm all about the young players playing a lot, getting their minutes, but I'm also about like, hey, let's be conscious about the fact that they're still very young and they have a long career ahead of them. We have the league pretty wrapped up. There's really not much reason to be pushing these guys a little bit too much. I mean, I get it. We want to win the league as fast as possible. We don't want to put anything up to chance. We're playing Getafe next weekend or this weekend, excuse me. At Getafe, that's gonna be a super hard game. They are you wanna talk about haram ball or terrorism ball? That's Getafe through and through. They just won today or yesterday, I guess, without social media. Without without shooting a single shot on target.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, they just foul the whole time, dude. Playing them is really annoying.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, especially. They're terrible. Playing at the Coliseum, but it's awful. But so yeah, we want to wrap this thing up as quick as possible, but hope hope it's nothing serious for Lamine.
SPEAKER_01Just wrap it up. Just wrap it up. Just get it over with.
SPEAKER_02Let's wrap, let's wrap the season up specifically on May 10th. Let's wrap it up on May 10th. Let's get it done. No, we'll lose before then. Either before then or we'll lose before then. Hopefully before. We'll get the Guard of Honor then. We'll get El Pasillo. We ain't doing that. So you you don't think you guys would?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, maybe not. No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_02I don't think so. What are your thoughts on that? Do you think do you think Real Madrid should? We did it for you guys back in 07, 08.
SPEAKER_01And then you kicked our ass 4-0. Yeah, I remember that. That was pretty cool. Dude, I want to say when was it when we won the Copa del Rey, you guys didn't do it for us, or was it Atletico? Or there was a time we won. It was either the league or the Copa del Rey, you guys, or it was Atletico that didn't do the guard of honor, and it was a whole big thing. God, I just can't really remember it.
SPEAKER_02But I can't remember it too much. It might have been us, but I think that the reasoning behind it was like it wasn't that we weren't playing you guys in that tournament. I think that's what the reasoning was. But I don't know if I can't remember, was it us? I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01I can't but you did it rings a bell, right? It does ring a bell. I can't exactly remember who or what or when, what tournament, but something like that happened. But to answer your question, if we want to be gentlemen, if we want to be a gentleman club, yes, we should do the guard of honor. But are we actually gonna do it? No, fuck that. No, we're not doing no guard of honor. No, not to our rivals in the camp. No, dude, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'll take the fine. They was give us the fine. That's it.
SPEAKER_02I'm not doing no guard of honor. We we declined to perform the guard of honor back in 2017 after you guys won the FIFA Club World Cup. And our reasoning was because we only perform it for competitions that we participate in, such as the Liga or the Champions League or Cup of the Ray. So it was the Club World Cup. Yeah, so that's why we declined to do it back in 2017. So it's it's a little bit different. We did do it for you guys in 07, like I said, 07-08, whenever, or was it 06-07? No, it was 077. Yeah, it was 07-08. It was different times.
SPEAKER_01Way different times.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, much different times, that's for sure. Not as uh toxic. Not as the tensions weren't nearly as high. Yeah. But uh, no, I think that there's a lot of discourse on it. Some people are saying they should, some people they shouldn't. They they they shouldn't. I obviously think that they should. I mean, it's the right thing to do. We're playing the same league. We did it for you guys in the past, like, yeah, we declined it for the FIFA World Club. I think if it was a club world cup, I'd be like, yeah, whatever. Or if it was a different tournament that we that you guys didn't play in, it's it's a little bit different. You could do it if you want, but you don't have to. I think in La Liga, it's a little bit different, but it is what it is. We'll see what happens May 10th. Stay tuned.
SPEAKER_01I guess we'll see. Either way, it's gonna suck. Stay tuned. I definitely don't want to lose that game if that's the game you guys would win the league. That would suck.
SPEAKER_02That would really suck. That would be a terrible way to end the season for you guys. Yeah, I guess so we know how that game goes. Speaking of which, so did you watch the game for Real Madrid uh at uh a la vez or no? Did you just catch the highlights?
SPEAKER_01No, I I didn't. I did watch. I wasn't like sitting on my couch religiously watching all 90 minutes, but you know, I it was on the living room, you know, it was cooking a little bit, doing some laundry. Anytime the commentator would yell something, I would I would run up to the TV real quick, see what was going on. Then I saw that Alawis was attacking, I'd be like, yeah, fuck this. I'm out. We're gonna get scored on. No need to see this. But man, it almost looked like it was a I mean they didn't care. Yeah, they didn't care, man. They know there's nothing to play for. This next month sucks because uh Barcelona aren't gonna lose three games. Are you kidding me? Even if we win all of our remaining games, we don't depend on ourselves. So we already messed it up. We screwed up La Liga, we fumbled it, and yeah, already just big time. We gotta look forward to next season, seeing if our Baloa can kind of get some things to click before the end of the season, and that's about it. That there's really no other reason to play. We're just we're just playing for second place. We're just gonna stay there.
SPEAKER_02Playing for second place, playing to see playing to get to the vacation.
SPEAKER_01Yep, just a bunch of exhibition matches, seeing what works for next season, what could work, what could not work, drawing things out. Yeah. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02That's crazy, man. I think it's crazy that the players are giving up this early. I think it's gonna be hard. I mean, we're still gonna put it for Real Madrid. We're gonna be winning.
SPEAKER_01But it just didn't seem like you guys cared. No, bro. Like what? If we win, what happens if we win 1-0, 5-0, 10-0? Like, nothing. Nothing's gonna happen. We're just gonna stay the same. Nothing, dude. Yeah, yeah. Fuck yeah, they were letting them hear it. Damn right. We got nothing else, bro. We're done in April. Are you kidding me? We're usually fighting for something right now. Yeah. It was just fighting. I mean, yeah. We'll we'll fight to win the games, but there's really no iganas. You know, there's no sense of urgency at all. We know that the league is lost and we don't have the Champions League, Copa del Rey, nothing. So it's just yeah, like just gotta wait till June for the World Cup. That's all the players are thinking about right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's look it looks like they just don't want to get injured until then. So there was a there was a lot of discourse as well online. I saw it on the El Chiringuito over there. People talking about Vinicius and Mbappe clearly can't play together. One of them's gotta go. Some people are pulling for Vinny, some people are pulling for Mbappe. I think you've made your stance kind of clear on this that you'd rather see Vinny be the main guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, he's been the main guy. He's been there longer. We've won two Champions Leagues with him. He's scored in the final for each each Champions League that he's won. We all know what kind of player Mbappe is, but we we didn't need him. We really did not need him. We could have used a striker, but not necessarily Mbappe. And Vinny has just taken a back seat role ever since Mbappe came in, and that's just created some friction, I think. And it was something that we didn't need. It was unnecessary. Yeah, I would rather see Vinny stay, and Mbappe just if he would have never came, that would have been awesome, but that's just a fantasy now. So if one of them were to leave, it would have to be Vinny. Because Mbappe's already, I mean, we we we just got Mbapped two seasons ago. Vinny's contract is up next season. Oh, but I don't know. Florentino Perez is really adamant in keeping him. And I hope he stays, I hope they work out. Come on, dude. It's Vinny and Mbappé. It's two of the best players in the world. But if they really can't make it work, if they really can't play together, then yeah, I guess Vinny has to go, unfortunately. Damn, that would be insane. I wonder where he would go. That would be I mean, it would either be Saudi Premier League. I know PSG. I mean, Saudi would definitely come up with the money for him. PSG, I know PSG has had interests for him, but I don't know. They have so many options in the attack, they would have to get rid of somebody.
SPEAKER_02I don't even think Luis Enrique would enjoy having Vinnie around.
SPEAKER_01But how long is Luis Enrique actually gonna stay there? You know? Anyways, I think I mean the Premier League might come after him. Maybe Man U, Man City, Chelsea tries to buy everybody. Those are the I don't think anybody wants to go to Chelsea. No, nobody wants to go to Chelsea. We'll get to that. Chelsea would have money for them, though. Or for for Vinicius for sure. Yeah, yeah. Those are the only teams that I could see him going to, honestly. Interesting.
SPEAKER_02Interesting. Yeah. We'll keep monitoring that as it progresses, but I found that interesting, especially after the game this week, everybody booing. He was getting heavy boos. Obviously, Kamabingo was like apologizing to the crowd after everything that happened last week with the red card. Vinny was getting booed every time he touched the ball. I mean, it was it was wild. It was wild too.
SPEAKER_01Which I mean, I think he was just getting booed because it happened with Shabi Alonso. Because ever since our below ass came in, he's been our best player. So it's not because of his performances, even though he could have finished a few chances against Bayern Munich, but that's neither here nor there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and there were some reports too. I wanted to get your your your thoughts on this. Apparently, and it's been growing a little bit more, this rumor about Carabajal and Arabeloa having a little bit of um butting around.
SPEAKER_01Apparently there's there's been some discussions because Carvajal, he wants to play every game. He doesn't understand why he's been taking a back seat to Trent. But Trent right now is just a better option. I'm sorry, Carvajal. You're just you're you're coming off a big injury. You're 33, I believe, 33, 34. I don't know. He's up there. But it's he he he's just not the same player he was two years ago. Two years ago, he was the best right back in the world. But he tore even before his injury. Even yeah, before his injury, too. He had a couple years where he was kind of on and off, but when we won the three Champions Leagues, he was the best right back in the world. And then two seasons ago when we won it again, he was he was the best for sure. But no, Trent is just a better player right now, and he has to understand that. But you know, Carvajal, he he's the best right back in our history, so he's a bulldog, man. He he just wants to play every single game, he wants to be out there, he's the captain of the team, and I get it. And he wants explanations from our below why he's not playing. But Trent is just a better player right now. That's it, it's it's just that simple.
SPEAKER_02It's just the ego, keeping that ego in check, which it sounds like out of below is having a little bit of trouble doing. So uh you still think he's the guy? There was some talk. It's funny because whenever you guys played Benfica a couple of months ago, you were like, oh, if Mourinho puts on a good performance, I bet you Florentino's gonna go after him.
SPEAKER_01And there's been some rumors starting to float around about Florentino wanting Mourinho back. He's the perfect one to manage the egos. To manage Mbappe and Vinny, I I don't see a better coach than him to to manage that. But I think his methods are also pretty outdated now. Like he's not in his prime anymore. But I will say this, I thought the same exact thing about Ancelotti before he came back for his second stint. I was like, dude, this guy's washed. There's no way we're gonna do anything with him anymore. I guess we'll see. Just because he's the type of coach that our player is like, and we know, like, with with our history with him, he's won us titles. So I was like, okay, we'll see, we'll see where this goes. And he ended up winning everything again. So, but but I mean, I wasn't too hyped for him coming back in the beginning. But I was proven wrong. So maybe Mourinho can prove me wrong again. I don't know. Right now, I mean, I wouldn't be too excited with his return, but if he can somehow figure out how to get these guys to get along with each other, if he can figure out a formula, then come on, dude. Come on. But like I said, I don't mind Art Beloa staying. He really isn't the problem. The coach is not the problem. It starts with the board and the players. That's that's who really has to take a good look at themselves. But we'll see what happens. We'll see. I think Art Beloa is actually doing a pretty good job managing the egos. The players who were not happy before are pretty happy now. So and the players that aren't happy right now are just because they're in the bottom of the totem pole. I'm sorry, dude. You're in Madrid and you got a bunch of stars ahead of you. Like Asensio, for example, he's at the bottom of the totem pole for center backs. I'm sorry, dude. You're you're not a terrible player, but we just have better options. What are you gonna do? You gotta work harder. Carvajal, too, like I just said, he came back from an injury. We got Trent. Trent is a better option. Like, I'm I'm sorry. Like, you gotta work harder. Like a coach can't please every single player. You know, there's gonna be problems along the way, but I think he's managing it very well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we'll see. We'll see what ends up happening. I think he's managing some things well. There's some things that are kind of getting a little bit out of his control. And I also think it's a little bit corny every time he gets up on the uh on the mic and it's like it's it was my fault. We lost it because it was my thing is my fault. It's like, all right, bro, like let's figure it, let's let's try to come up with something different to it.
SPEAKER_01He's scared to hurt anybody's feelings in the dressing room. Or he doesn't necessarily have to come out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he doesn't have to come out and be like, oh, like Vinny sucked today. But at least have some sort of I don't know, a little bit more of a better tactical breakdown than it was my fault every single time.
SPEAKER_01For sure. So I mean he's a new coach as well. I think after this season, if he does stay, this season will serve him to learn a lot. I'm sure he learned a lot this season. And I don't think he'll make the same mistakes next season. But we'll see, man. I I wouldn't hate him staying. And if we do replace him, I I hope it's a good replacement. I just hope it's a good replacement. Like, not Pochettino, not who else are they saying? Allegri. Careful Allegri, the Champs, same with the Champs. I wouldn't hate those coaches, but at the same time, they wouldn't solve our problems.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say, like, none of them sound exciting enough. Yeah, they're not exciting. None of them sound like the one that sounded exciting was Xavi Alonso. That sounded exciting. That is the that was the most promising young coach at the time. Won the Bundesliga with Leverkusen undefeated, mind you. And everybody was after him. Real Madrid gets him and lets him go in six months. That that was exciting. That was an exciting project, and it did not work out. It wasn't exciting to watch it, let me tell you. No, I mean I get that. I get that. But uh, I mean, like it was all about managing the egos and he couldn't manage Vinny. And Vinny has a lot more say in the dressing room than than anybody else, and it was all that we talked about last week that that classical performance in in October where you guys won and you guys went like five, six points ahead, but Vinny got pissed off because he got taken off, and ever since then went downhill. We'll see.
SPEAKER_01I'm curious to see what happens. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm curious to see what happens. Me too.
SPEAKER_01But I'm very curious.
SPEAKER_02We we got we got so much more to talk about. We I want to talk about a little bit about the the Copa del Rey final because that happened this past weekend. La Real Sociedad versus Atlético Madrid. It went down to the wire. It went down to Pence, it was a very back and forth, a pretty good game. But at the end of the day, La Real become Copa del Rey champions. They won it again. Second time in five years, they won it back in 2020 against Bilbao. The biggest ride. Now they've won it again. Yeah. And Atlético Madrid goes home without any silverware. They stump in a final again. Griezmann is gonna leave with having won only one trophy in Spain, which was the Copa de Rey with Barcelona back in 2019, 2020. No, 2019. And he won a super cup too in 2014 with Barcelona. He won a super cup. You're right, yes. He won a super cup. Yes, you're right. So two. So couldn't win La Liga, couldn't couldn't win a Copa de Rey with uh Atlético Madrid. That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01One of the biggest legends, not winning La Liga.
SPEAKER_02Literally. Not winning La Liga, only having one Copa de Rey to his name, one of Atlético Madrid's biggest legends. And they they had they had an opportunity, man. Like it was a lot of back and forth. Julian Alvarez hit the post towards the end of the second half or the beginning of the overtime. Juan Muso had some amazing saves again, but at the end of the day, then backup goalkeeper, I forgot his name, Marrero, saved two penalties, and that's it. He saved Sorlot's penalty and Julian Alvarez's penalty. Your boy Sorlot's strikers at Barcelona's boy strikers at Barcelona's going after. That's great to see. That's exactly what I want to see. Them missing freaking penalties.
SPEAKER_01Dude, Atletico haven't won in like a month. Only against you guys in the Champions League. How does that make you feel? Thank you for bringing that.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for bringing that up because I was just looking at that and it pissed me off so much. I was legit looking. The form is so bad. They're terrible.
SPEAKER_01Dude, that game against Arsenal is gonna be a snooze fest.
SPEAKER_02Oh, it's gonna be awful. I was looking at that too. I was like, how did we get beat by these freaking losers, dude? Out of their last eight games in all competitions, they've won one single game. And it was that game at the camp note against us because fucking Paukuarzi couldn't remain. How crazy is that? And got a red card. Ridiculous, man. Like that's so You guys couldn't advance against a team that has won in over a month.
SPEAKER_01That's insane. That's insane.
SPEAKER_02It makes my blood boil. And then they so they knocked us out of the Copa de Rey, and then they knocked us out of Champions League. And they're they didn't win the Copa de Rey, and they're not gonna win the Champions League. God, it's so frustrating, man. Anyway, screw that, dude. They don't deserve it. It's so stupid that we lost to them. It's ridiculous. It's so frustrating that that happened. But whatever. They lost, they lost La Real. Marrera was a hero, an absolute hero, saving two penalties at the end. And man, Gufo La Real and the uh the American manager, Pellegrino Matarazzo, of Italian Italian immigrant parents, born in New Jersey, grew up in New Jersey, attended Columbia University, got a degree in applied mathematics. This guy is an absolute genius. Genius. This guy could have gotten a job at Wall Street working for some hedge fund, something. Apparently, he had a lot of corporate job offers right after he graduated, but he's like, you know what I want to do? I want to go be a professional football player. And he went to go play in the fourth division in Germany. Didn't really make it too big as a professional player. I think he he was stuck playing in lower, lower level teams in Italy and Germany. And then he decided to get into coaching, and here he is, man. He took Realsoci that from whenever he took over, they were in 16th place. They had lost eight out of their last 14, out of their first 14 games. Now he's got them in seventh place in La Liga, and he they just won Copa de Reyes. So this guy has completely turned the city around. Apparently, he lives like right around the corner from the stadium, like right in Sunset OSDN. It's like a Ted Lasso thing. He like goes, walks around, goes to the pubs. He goes, talks to the fans. No way. They come up and talk to him. Yeah, apparently he just goes and chats up with the fans and everything. So he's really taking up the culture in like what five, six months, less than that.
SPEAKER_01Well, thank God he didn't he didn't choose a nine to five life. That's not his lifestyle.
SPEAKER_02Hey, sometimes, sometimes you gotta go in, go all in and go all for it. But yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01And we know he's gonna be the next coach after Pochettino.
SPEAKER_02Because Pochettino ain't doing shit. No, he sure isn't. We'll yeah, we'll see what happens. But he's the first uh American manager to win a major trophy in a top five league. That's pretty bad. First American manager to s to do so. So shout out to Pellegrino Matarazo completely turning turning around La Real. They're a pretty big club over in Spain. They have a lot of history, they have a very passionate fan base, and they seem like they they love him over there, and he loves the club and the culture, and it would be it's gonna be fun to see what he does with a full season with a summer transfer window and a full season under his belt. So shout out to him. Big, big win for them to La Real, Copa del Rey Champions 2020. As long as it wasn't Barcelona.
SPEAKER_01I'm tired of seeing Barcelona win Copa del Rey.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm sure you are. I'm sure you are. We have to let somebody else win this year. We can't win it all the time. Man, moving on, moving on to uh the Premier League, because this was probably the biggest story this past week because Arsenal just keep bottling it and bottling it and bottling it, and they lost against Man City this weekend two to one. It was a pretty good game. There was a lot of back and forth. Arsenal had a lot of opportunities to actually win the game. Kai Havertz made some pretty good opportunities. I mean, Donald Ruma basically gave him one just as a gift. Just score this one.
SPEAKER_01Just remember what Donald Ruma was thinking. He was still thinking about not being able to go to the World Cup this summer. He was in the middle of thinking of that. And then boom, here comes Kai Havertz.
SPEAKER_02Came out of nowhere. That's the only way Kai Havertz could score, is if freaking it was gifted to him in that way because he couldn't score any other way. But man, either way, Arsenal lose that game 2-1. Man City beat Burnley today, and now Man City is top of the Premier League table on the league. I don't think it's I think it's a goal scored or head to head. Either way, they're ahead on both of that, of their tiebreak. They have the same exact goal. It's usually goal differential. But they're at the same time. Yeah. They have the same goal differential. So I don't know if it's head-to-head or if it's goal scored. Either way, Man City has them on both at the moment. And there is five games left.
SPEAKER_01Man City's gonna win it. Yeah, it's it's it's over for Arsenal. I think it's over. I think so. I think so because I don't know. Can they win their next five games? Because I feel like Man City could win their next five games.
SPEAKER_02Well, let's look at their schedule really quick. So Man City is playing their next five games. They're playing against Everton away, Brentford at home, Bournemouth away, Crystal Palace at home, and Aston Villa at home. Those are their next Premier League games that they have. Everton, Brentford, Bournemouth are all battling for a European spot. It's pretty tight in that table between the Arsenal, too. Bournemouth just beat Arsenal. You are absolutely right. And like I said, they're battling for that European slot. Everton's fighting for a European slot. Brentford's fighting for a European slot.
SPEAKER_01They could maybe tie one.
SPEAKER_02They could potentially drop points. Potentially. But here's another fun stat that I saw in CBS. So since Pep started at Man City, the last six games of the season in every season, a cumulative, he's only lost a total of five games. Oh, wow. In the last six games of the season. So he's almost perfect. He's almost perfect to the end, towards the end. I don't know what Arsenal is to the flip side of that, but they've been damn near perfect since they beat Arsenal in that League Cup, the Carabao Cup. They haven't lost a game since.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy. And Madrid beat the super team. Madrid can freaking compete against the big teams in Europe. But for some reason, we can't be consistent in La Liga. It pisses me off, man. Can't beat Girona. Can't beat Otasuna. Nope, we can't. Can't beat Majorica. Can't be Casalta. Can't beat Majorica. No. No. Well, we can go toe-to-toe bar in Munich and Manchester City, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02But okay, so that those are Man Cities. Let's take a look at Arsenal's really quick, because I think Arsenal has a bit of a better, easier schedule. Well, let's take a look at it. They play Newcastle at home, they play Fulham at home, West Ham away, Burnley home, Crystal Palace away. So on paper, I would say Arsenal has a bit of an easier schedule heading towards the end of the season. But they're mentally screwed. And they have a Champions League game in between that. Two. Two against Athletic Homer. What are your thoughts? Who do you think pulls it up? Do you think Arsenal keeps dropping points? Do you think Man City drops more points? Do you think Man City wins wins all out every game?
SPEAKER_01I don't think either of them will win all out every game. I think they're both gonna drop points somewhere, even if it's just a tie. But I think Man City will take it, man. I know we had set Arsenal, but they dropped too many points now. And I I just I don't see Man City bottling it like Arsenal. I really don't, especially after that stat that you just gave me of him only losing five games and all the seasons that he's been at Man City towards the end. That's a pretty good thing crazy. So I would have to give it to City. I think so. I mean, I'm giving it to the City, I guess. Especially because of recent history, just what Arsenal has been doing this season and in the past seasons, they just haven't been able to get to the finish line.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So check check this stat out. Since Arteta became manager at Arsenal in 2019, Arteta's been at the top of the table 536 days, zero Premier League titles. In that same time frame, Pep has been at the top of the table 454 days, and he has four Premier League titles. Wow. So Arteta's been at the top of the table for a hundred more days than Pep, but has zero titles to show for it. That's gotta stay.
SPEAKER_01That's insane. That hurts. Imagine being an artist band having all that hope every single year. Every year for the last six years.
SPEAKER_02He's been up there for so long and nothing to show for it. You know? They've been up there pretty much all season since I think nothing to show for. Four or five. Because I think this is the first time Man City It's gonna be a Supreme League table since August.
SPEAKER_01It has to be psychological, man.
SPEAKER_02That's the thing that they have. They don't have the mental aspect. They don't have they just don't have it. They don't have it. And as much as Arteta is gonna come out on the press conferences and say, like, no, mentally everybody's okay. I mean, what else is he gonna say in front of the press? Right? I think inside that dressing room, everybody is they're all shitting themselves. Shivering. Yes. They're all they're all beside themselves. They can't wear it.
SPEAKER_01After they lost the Carabao Cup, right? After they lost the Carabao Cup, I feel like they're gonna downspiral.
SPEAKER_02They they I mean yes, but also that they really started downspiraling whenever they I think whenever they started dropping points against Brentford, because they drew against Brentford in February, and then they drew against Wolves in February as well. Those two were huge. And I remember people being really upset, especially the one against Wolves, because Wolves just got reglass. Yeah, Wolves is relegated completely, and they they they tied them at the last minute. They scored at the last minute. And that comp I think that's what really, really destroyed them. They had a couple of wins since then, but man, and then yeah, the league cup hit them, and forget about it. That was it. It was it was it was game over from there. They've won one game out of their last six, and that was against Sporting in the Champions League.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were lucky that they got an easy draw in the Champions League. They should not be in the semifinals. Neither should Athletico Madrid. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_02One of them is gonna be playing the final. It is, and and the team on the other side is gonna crush them. Oh, 100%. Either PSG or Byron is gonna crush. I don't think Arsenal make it past Atletico. I think we talked about this last time. I don't see it happening. I for whatever reason there.
SPEAKER_01But Atletico has been a chance to get the channel. But I think for the Champions League. Yeah, they might just do a little better than Arsenal because they Arsenal is in the same spot.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. They sure are, but I do think Man City's gonna take they're gonna take this and Pep's gonna win his seventh title. And this is gonna be a pretty impressive win. Do you think do you think if Man City pull this off, is this gonna be the most impressive Premier League title that Pep has won?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't think so. I think the most impressive Premier League title that he won was when they got 200 points. Because that's when the Premier League saw a whole different type of football and something they've never seen before. So I think that's the most impressive Premier League. This Premier League will be remembered as Arsenal bottling it. Not Man City winning it. That's how it'll be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, how do you how were you up? I think they were up like what, 12 or 13 points up at the table.
SPEAKER_01There were nine points like two weeks ago, bro.
SPEAKER_02Even this weekend, all they had to do was not lose. Even if they drew, they still would have had the upper hand. Yeah, no, all they had to do was they can't handle that type of pressure, man.
SPEAKER_01They just can't.
SPEAKER_02My god. What a disaster. What a disaster. Yeah. Arsenal. Arteta better, he better start learning Chinese.
SPEAKER_01He better start learning Chinese because he's about Arabic. He's gonna do something, bro. He's done. If he doesn't win Premier League or Champions League, he is done.
SPEAKER_02Out of it. Hey man. Arteta, man, put put the fries in the bag, bro. Get a yeah. Let me get it. Yeah, Arteta. Hey, Arteta, go get my car, bro. Forget about it. This is done. It isn't for you at this point. Yeah, you might as well go do something different, man.
SPEAKER_01Who knows where the hell he'd go, honestly? And who knows who'd replace him?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about this too. I guess, yeah, who would you replace him with? But then you look at it and Andoni Iraola is gonna be a free agent after the end of this season. He's done some marvelous things with Bournemouth. Xavi Alones was still a free agent, even though we all know he's gonna end up at Liverpool. But if Arsenal wanted to have a conversation with him and interview him and fight for him, they could. Says Favegas is having a phenomenal season over at Como. I'm sure if they call him up, he'd be interested in the job. Oh yeah. So yeah, we'll we'll see. If Arsenal do end up bottling this, I think the right thing to do would be for not even, I mean Arteto doesn't even have to go home that night after their final game against Crystal Palace. He just has to go into the locker room and tell the guys, I'm done. It's over. Oh, yeah, there's no coming back from it. Like if you can't win this one, this was the easiest title for you to win. And you completely lost it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You were you're definitely not winning another one after this. This is your only chance.
SPEAKER_02No, because this was supposed to be their year because Liverpool are in shambles, Chelsea in shambles, Tottenham's about to get relegated, main United hasn't been the same since Fergie left. And people were saying Man City was uh in a rebuilding year, Pep was losing his powers, last year wasn't good enough, this year was doing the same, and guess what? He just caught up to you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think he just needed to hear that Pep, I think that was his whole game plan. Just you know what, let's just bottle it a little bit. Let's not win every single game. Let them talk, and that'll spark a new fire in me, and then they'll see what's up. And look, and he sparked a fire against everybody, man.
SPEAKER_02That freaking goal that Ryan Cherkey scored was insane.
SPEAKER_01That was he's a baller, dude.
SPEAKER_02A nice goal. Proper baller. So fun to watch. I love watching him play. Yeah, a little bit of a tussle between Holland and Gabrielle in the box. What did you think of this? What did you did? I did. Gabriel. It was Gabriel that headbutted him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Was that a red card? Nah, it was soft. It was soft. Here's the thing. I mean, he did the movement, but it was soft, bro. Like, it was just kind of like, uh, like, get away from me. But it it wasn't with intention soft to actually hurt him.
SPEAKER_02Percent it was. It wasn't with intention to hurt him.
SPEAKER_01Not not to hurt him. Like, yes, obviously, like it was intentional, but like he wasn't like really fucking going like boom. Like, nah. I don't I don't think he's a good one. But it never here's a red card.
SPEAKER_02Here's my theory. Here's my theory. If Holland goes down and starts whining and crying, Gabrielle gets a red card. A thousand percent.
SPEAKER_01But because Holland did it, maybe, but there's also B A R nowadays. So you clearly would have seen that Holland would have though. I don't think Holland would have really been able to get away with that. Like if he really like just started cracking on the card.
SPEAKER_02The thing is, like we've seen we've seen we've seen these being given as a red card many times. Even if they're soft, even if it was just a little tap, even if it's just a little love tap like that, it's it's considered a headbutt, it's considered a red card every single time. I genuinely think that if Holland would have gone down and started rolling around, Gabriel gets a red card. I don't think VR really reviewed it that well. I think it was like I didn't look too bad.
SPEAKER_01Holland would have gone down. I mean, but if he does go down like that, they would have reviewed it and they would have been like, yeah, Holland, you're a bitch.
SPEAKER_02No, I think it would have been the other way around. I think it would have been the other way around. I think they would have said, Gabriel, you're getting a red card. You can't do that.
SPEAKER_01No, if if I was the ref looking at that, I'd be like, Gabriel, don't do that, Holland. You're a bitch. Get the fuck up. That's exactly what I would say. Because I mean, it was really soft, bro. And I I don't even think Holland had that malice to react to it like that because it was that soft.
SPEAKER_02Yes, but my point is that if Holland, like if it was any other player, I bet you if it was the other way around, if Holland did that to Gabrielle, Gabriel would have rolled around on the ground and then Holland would have got a red card. My point is that yes, it was soft, but you've I've seen that time and time again be given as a red card so many times. Yeah. If a player just lightly touches you on the head, it's given as a red card. No matter how soft it is, no matter how much of a bitch the other players be in, it's given as a red card 90% of the time. And I'm I'm willing to bet a lot of money had Holland went down on the ground and started rolling around, I guarantee the referee gives a red card. I guarantee. And this is why diving is such a big problem, in my in my opinion, because if you don't do it, the refs don't actually call it. And that's why players exaggerate, that's why there's so much flopping and diving in the game. Because if you don't actually get down on the ground and roll around a little bit, the ref's not going to take you seriously.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but with VAR nowadays, it's it's really hard to get away with diving. A lot of times, too, it's just because players are tired, man. They play for 90 minutes, they're exhausted, they're sprinting all game. Let me just take the dive here real quick and lay on the ground for a couple of seconds.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's a very small percentage. That's a very small percentage. I think most of the time they do it, they exaggerate so the ref can see that there that that there was a much more intention than to get the ball, and they do it to get the attention of the referee of like, hey, this guy actually is trying to hurt me or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. But it's it's it's a lot harder nowadays to get away with that as a VAR. You don't see it as often. No, I mean you still see it a lot. You see it, but you don't see it as how you did when there was no VAR. When there was no VAR, you used to see that like every game almost. Now players are way more cautious.
SPEAKER_02They're way more cautious, yeah, but it still happens. It still happens. Yeah, it does. It happens in the game. Even if even for like like soft fouls like that, as long as you get touched, you go down, because then the VAR reviews it, and because everything in slow motion is so much worse, then they go review and they're like, Oh, that's actually uh that's a red card right there. Right? And it's like, well, yeah, if you slow it down, it looks pretty bad. That's what I mean. Like, if I feel like if they would have actually reviewed, if the referee, if the center ref would have gone and reviewed it at the VAR and they ask he asked the VAR ref like, hey, slow that down for me, all these things. He's like, Oh yeah, no, that's that's intentional. We're we're gonna get him out of here. That's I'm glad they did that. That's my theory. That's the pr that's the that's the thing. That's the president, though. It's like again, like I've seen it be given so many times, and it's that inconsistency. Either you give it or you don't give it. That's that's my problem with it. But anyway, moving on with that. City are winning the league, Arsenal completely bottling everything, biggest bottle jobs in the sport. And in North London, I mean, North London's having a a huge, huge problem right now because Tottenham and Arsenal can't win for shit. And Tottenham are currently in relegation. They're in what is 18th place right now? They're about to go down.
SPEAKER_01That's crazy. I kind of want them to go down. I feel like that would be pretty funny. There was supposed to be a super. It'd be hilarious. And now look at them.
SPEAKER_02Can it go to the second one? What are they gonna say next year? Who's gonna be part of the big six? There is no big six. There is no big six anymore.
SPEAKER_01Not anymore, man. I don't think NFL teams are gonna want to come there anymore. Like, uh, second division. I think that's what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what are we doing here?
SPEAKER_02Let's go play. Why don't we go play at uh the Etihad? Maybe those are those guys are winners. No, they'll probably still go play there. Really realistically, because that's the nicest stadium in London. Yeah. It's gonna be a nice stadium for the second division. You know what it'd be crazy to see? It'd be crazy to see if West Ham goes down and then Millwall goes up. Why why if Millwall goes up?
SPEAKER_01What's the what's the correlation with them?
SPEAKER_02They're they're massive rivals. You didn't know this? No, I had no idea. You've never seen Green Street hooligans? No, no, no, no. But you gotta watch it, man. This is how I found out about the West Ham and Millwall rivalry because Millwall has been hasn't been in the Premier League in so long, but they're it's like one of the biggest rivalries in the world. West Ham and uh and Millwall. Is it really? Yeah, these guys they hate each other. It's insane. They very play each other. I mean, it goes rooted in deep, deep history. They just hate they're they're within the same town. They're just cross cross-county rivals, and they they can't stand each other.
SPEAKER_01Damn, I had no idea. Damn that's crazy that massive rivalry.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you gotta watch Grid Street Woolligrents. Freaking, what's his nuts? Frodo Frodo's on there.
SPEAKER_01No, I've never seen it. But no, I think I think Tottenham ends up getting relegated. Although it would be pretty funny if Tottenham does stay up and Arsenal don't win the league. Because they've been waiting to win the league and Tottenham to go down. So Tottenham stays up and Arsenal stays in second place.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah. That's like Arsenal heaven right there. If you ask Arsenal fans if they win the league and Tottenham goes down, like if they'd rather that or have sex with like Sydney Sweeney, I guarantee most of them will say, no, yeah, I'd rather Arsenal win the league.
SPEAKER_01They'd ejaculate on the spot. Oh yeah. Immediately. Immediately. No, I'm I'm good. I'm good. No, yeah. Let's get the league, please. Sidney who's Sydney Who? Yeah. Send Tottenham down. They'd probably have yeah, they would probably rather have one night with Mikkel Arteta over Sidney Sweeney. I know they would.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Or like a random Arsenal, like Declan Rice or something. Yeah. Or Pierre and Capier, something like that. Somebody. Dude. Insane. But yeah. Arsenal bottom, Tottenham going down. Chelsea also in the middle. Chelsea is in absolute ruins as well. But it's funny because they another London team, they hate Arsenal, they hate Tottenham. So they're they're having fun with all this crap that's going on with Arsenal and Tottenham, but they also got their own battles to worry about because they have five losses in a row. They haven't scored a single goal. And they just fired Liam Roof senior, who was supposed to come in, change everything. They gave him a six-year contract. He lasted six months. Four months. Yeah. Four months. Not even six months. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, what made you think nothing about that guy screams that he is your head of coach. No. Just nothing about him has any aura or nothing. Nothing. That guy just seems really good.
SPEAKER_02He he does he just seem he seems like uh he's yeah, he's just a wannabe. Like he's just he he doesn't really belong there quite yet. Maybe he seems like a nice guy and everything, but I he doesn't seem like a guy to be coaching. No, not even a little bit. But man, what has happened to Chelsea, man? They even as recently winning the the Club World Cup five years ago, they won the Champions League. They they were winning Premier Leagues, they were battling for Premier Leagues, and now, man, now they're, you know, eighth place in the outer league at the moment. It's just been down. The new owner's been completely destroying them. 100%. Todd Boley has not been financially responsible with Chelsea. I don't even know what he's doing, what they're thinking. I know every Chelsea fan misses Roman Abramovich and the way that he was handling the club. I think Chelsea almost looks like they are like they pretend to be like a like a feeder team. Like they what they want to do is just buy all these young players, buy low, sell high, and then just sell them at a really high price whenever they get to their prime. That's what it seems like they're doing to me. That seems like that's their business model. They don't really care about winning championships. They just want to buy young players, buy young talent, and then sell them whenever they get to their prime.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, that's why they have like 35 to 40 players on their squad. Like 15 players are loaned out. It's ridiculous. They don't have any sort of structure in their club. No organization, nothing. It's pretty sad to see that. They've had 10 coaches in 10 years. That's unheard of. 10 coaches in 10 years, dude. How can you have any sort of stability like that? You can't. Every year you're hearing a different voice. I mean, change is good sometimes, maybe every three or four years, but every year, 10 coaches this past 10 years, that's I mean, I don't know of another team that's changed coaches like that ever. No, it's disgusting.
SPEAKER_02No, I mean, I I know it like, you know, top teams usually it happens, you know. Sometimes their tenure is like between 12 to 18 months, I think on average. But I mean that and Roman Abramovich did like to get rid of coaches pretty quickly, but at least he did it and then they would win. Mourinho won, Antonio Conte won, Di Mateo won the Champions League. I think they won under who else? Ancelotti. You know, all of these all these coaches, at least they they won something. Premier League title Champions League.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I I I don't even think of any other coaches has finished the season. Maybe Enzo Marisca last year, but that was it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Ensomaresca, and Enzo Marisca won you the club world cup, and he he seemed like he was starting to get things in hand, and and then you decide to let him go and you bring in some guy that nobody really knows of. Yeah, that was change anything on. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01I mean they should have just listened to Enzo Marisca because I I I think there was some friction there, they weren't listening to Enzo Marisca. But I don't know, man. Like sometimes you just gotta let your ego go and and listen to the guy that actually knows what he's talking about. Because I don't think Todd Boley knows anything about soccer. Absolutely anything. So that's what happened.
SPEAKER_02I kind of feel bad for Chelsea fans because he's completely ruining the club financially and the reputation completely. They used to be a club that was competing for trophies, now they're just a club that what signs a ton of players with no actual sporting direction and hopes to sell them at a higher price whenever they become whenever they get to their prime. I mean what type of shit is this? This is this is Chelsea football club. This is a legitimate club that's competing in one of the best leagues in the world, even not the best league in the world, was competing in the Champions League not long ago. And now what? They're they're a mid-table club.
SPEAKER_01They're not gonna be sniffing Europe anytime soon.
SPEAKER_02I mean they'll probably get to the conference league again.
SPEAKER_01They're out of conference league spots right now. Yeah, they're in eighth place, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if they win the FA Cup, maybe that that'll be a way into the Europa League.
SPEAKER_02You're getting into Europe at the Premier League is very competitive. I will give them that. There is a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the middle of the table is very tight. Very tight.
SPEAKER_02Very, very tight. Newcastle's in 14th place with 42. Brighton is in sixth place with 50. That's eight-point difference. There's still 15 points left to play. So much could happen there. Yeah. I mean, God, they there could be chaos in the middle of the table. Yeah. Anything could happen. Anything could happen at that point. But crazy. All the London teams in the Premier League, majority of the London teams in the Premier League are struggling right now. They're on the struggle bus. So we'll see how the season ends for the for these guys. We'll see who Chelsea brings in. I don't know who's going to want to come coach Chelsea at this point. I would not take a look at the topic. At this moment, I would not think of anybody. Yeah, I would not want to take that. I can't think of anybody. And speaking of more teams that are struggling in England, Leicester City going down to League One, third division in English football ten years after winning the Premier League. Sad to see. Sad to see. 2016, they were lifting the Premier League trophy with Claudia Ranieri and being the Cinderella story, the thousand to one odds. That was like the coolest story that we've ever seen.
SPEAKER_01Ever. Ever. I don't know if we'll ever see anything like that. Nobody before that season had said Lesser City's gonna win the Premier League. Absolutely nobody.
SPEAKER_02But what a team. Insane.
SPEAKER_01And now they were gonna surpass all those odds and touch glory. Do you remember that starting 11 of that team?
SPEAKER_02Oh let's see if I can. I don't see if I can off the top of the dome. So goalkeeper, Casper Schmeichel. Man, right back got me already. I don't remember that. But let me go center back, Jamaican guy.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02I forget his name. Wes Morgan.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02Wes Morgan. Don't remember the other center back. Was it Robert Hooth?
SPEAKER_01You might be right.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were looking it up.
SPEAKER_01No, actually, no, because I don't remember. I don't know either. I was I was trying to exercise my brain too.
SPEAKER_02Christian Fuchs is the left back. Yes. Christian Fuchs is a left.
SPEAKER_01We remember the same players.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so here's where it starts. Here's where it starts getting good. Angola Kante was defensive mid. Danny Drinkwater. Yeah. Rejed Morris. Yeah. On the left. Who was on the I don't remember the left. Who was on the left? Who was on the who was the left winger? I don't remember. But up top, obviously Jamie Vardy, and then the Japanese guy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they had an Asian guy. That's so funny. Remember the same exact players.
SPEAKER_02Okasaki.
SPEAKER_01Okasaki.
SPEAKER_02Okasaki, I think his name was Shinji Okasaki. Maybe not Shinji. Let me look up. I take that back. Let me see. Okasaki was definitely up there. So I'm missing three players.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Robert Hooth was one of them. Robert Hooth was there? Oh, let's go. And Mark Albrighton. That was the left winger.
SPEAKER_02Mark Albrighton. I could not pull that name out of a hat if I wanted to. And Danny Simpson. Who's the right back?
SPEAKER_01Danny Simpson.
SPEAKER_02Danny Simpson. And what was the what was the Japanese guy's name? Okasaki, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Shinji Okasaki. It was Shinji. Okay, I was right. And they had this other guy that would come on, Leonardo Ujoa. I don't remember that guy at all, realistically. Danny Simpson. Yes.
SPEAKER_02Danny Simpson, man. Yeah. What a team. Where are they now? Jamie Vardy is. Where is Jamie Vardy? He's in Italy, right?
SPEAKER_01He's retired now. He's retired. I'm pretty sure he's retired, bro. He was like. No. Yeah, dude. He was pretty old.
SPEAKER_02No, he plays. It's for Credemonense. Yes, he played. He's over in City A. Yes, he does. No, he plays he plays in City A. He hasn't retired yet.
SPEAKER_01What the fu I thought he retired, dude. I thought once he left, I thought he retired. No, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02He's 39 years old. He is. I thought he just called him. He's still kicking, man. No, he's got to pay the bills somehow. He's still got to pay the bills.
SPEAKER_01Damn, I really thought he retired. I had no idea he was still playing. What the hell is he still doing playing? Jimmy Vardy's still playing. I didn't I did not know he was still playing.
SPEAKER_02I thought he hung it up. No. Wow. He's uh he's still over at Crime. I don't think he's been doing much since then, but yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think he was a late bloomer too. I think he started playing late.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like 29. Yeah, yeah. That's when that's when he became a bloomer. It was ten years ago at twenty-nine. And crushed it, obviously, with Leicester. What a story. What a beautiful story. I think I think everything started going down downhill with Leicester after their owner tragically died in that helicopter accident. That was very sad.
SPEAKER_01And I mean they're relegated to the third division. That's pretty unfortunate. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I saw a video in the Premier League ten years ago. Insane. I saw a video of fans confronting the current owner after their game. Isn't it his son? I think so, yeah. Yeah. His son took over as chairman.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, I mean, they won the Premier League, they won an FA Cup. Now only a decade later. Only a decade later they get relegated to the third division. So yeah, I can see why the fans are frustrated for sure. Yeah. Well man, what a win. Can you imagine being born into that? Being born into being like a Premier League champion? You know, like if you were like a little kid and your whole family supports Leicester City, and then you're like, I don't know, 10 years old, and and the first thing you see is Leicester City winning a Premier League, and now that you're what, 10 years later, 20 years old? Now you're in the third division. Can you imagine how shitty your life must be being a Leicester City fan?
SPEAKER_02Because how many people decided to become a Leicester City fan after that? I bet you a lot of people didn't. There was a lot of bandwagon. This is a Cinderella team. They're gonna be great and all these things. And playing Champions League. They didn't do bad seasons after.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were playing Champions League football and played in Europa League too. So yeah, they they were up there for a while, man. Yeah, they were. Now they're really, really at the bottom.
SPEAKER_02Really? Sad to see. Really straight at the bottom of the barrel. But that's what that's where they were as well, like you know, 15 years ago. They were they were third division team, I think, three or four years prior to becoming Premier League champions. So maybe you can look at the story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, maybe they can rewrite it.
SPEAKER_02But they they probably just need to get new ownership and um start rebuilding everything from the ground up. But yeah, that's pretty much everything over in England. I think the last thing we gotta talk about is Bayern winning Bundesliga again. 13th Bundesliga out of the last 14 seasons. I don't even know if these fans or players feel anything after winning the Bundesliga anymore. It's just like second nature to them.
SPEAKER_01They just get drunk. They're like, oh, look, it's May, April, end of the season, it's time to get drunk. Bayern Munich just won the Bundesliga. Let's get some beers.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that's the way it goes. And they start pouring them on each other. And uh but shout out to them. And but Lucho Diaz, man. Lucho Diaz, another title under his belt. He's won everywhere he goes, he wins. He's won over in Junior, he won in Porto, he won in Liverpool, and now he's won.
SPEAKER_01He can deliver titles, that's for sure. He's deliver you a title.
SPEAKER_02He's got 16 titles under his belt, and he also has a better first season in terms of goals and assists than Arjun Robin did and Frank Riberee did with uh Barry Buchanan. Two legends. Two legends.
SPEAKER_01Two legends and already surpassing them.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Yeah, not saying that he's better than them, but he statistically he produced more than them in the in his first season.
SPEAKER_01That was a crazy duo. And they never really got that much hype, but when they played together, I think they were one of the best duos I've seen. Shit, man. Robbery is what they used to call them.
SPEAKER_02Robbery, yeah. Man, nobody could stop Arjun Robin cutting into the inside and curling it top corner. Everybody would see it coming. Every defender knew what was happening, but they nobody could stop it.
SPEAKER_01It was unstoppable. He was in the same. He was probably the player that played the most similar to Messi with his style. I think with the with the cutting in and and everything. Yes, exactly what you're talking about. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. He he was obviously. So they they could have a treble. I think they I think they're gonna do it. Are Barry Muni gonna do another treble? Man, that'd be insane. They probably could. They could.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Luis Diaz, he's one of the seven of the London season. Yeah, he's one of four Colombians to win the Bundesliga. Can you can you name the other three?
SPEAKER_02One of four Colombians to win the Bundesliga. Okay, check this out. Other three, Jamai Rodriguez.
SPEAKER_01Yep, easy.
SPEAKER_02Easy. That was an easy layup. Did hold on. There's probably one that would have happened a long time ago that I probably won't even know this guy. The other guy, hold on. Can I take a guess? Did he play for Dortmund?
SPEAKER_01He did not play for Dortmund.
SPEAKER_02Then I have no fan.
SPEAKER_01He's actually on the current Colombian squad right now.
SPEAKER_02He's currently on the Colombian squad right now.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02Okay, don't say anything. Hold on, let me think about this. Currently on the Colombian squad right now. Like he he played these last two friendlies. Yeah. He played in the last two friendlies. Mm-hmm. He was part of the squad. Hold on a second. This is tough. That's a good question. I'm going down the list. Oh my god. This is a tough one. I'm trying to think who even played in the Bundesliga.
SPEAKER_01You might not get it.
SPEAKER_02It's kind of hard. I don't. This is this is tough. Is he a starter or is he a bench player?
SPEAKER_01No, he's a bench player.
SPEAKER_02It's not Borre. I know he played in the Bundesliga, but it's not him.
SPEAKER_01It's not Borre, no.
SPEAKER_02He didn't win it with Bayern Munich. Yeah, I assume that because I feel like that would be easy. Who did he win it with? No, hold on. Was it Dor he won it with Dortman? You said no. Then he won't.
SPEAKER_01Bayern Munich has won it in the last 15 years, they've only lost it one time. Who was the team that won it that one time?
SPEAKER_02He was it Leverkusen?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Who the hell was it Leverkusen recently that was Colombian?
SPEAKER_01He didn't play when he was there.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's what's throwing me off. It's not. Hold on. Was it Cabal? No. This is tough, man.
SPEAKER_01It's tough, yeah, especially because he's a second team player. You don't see him much. But he's that.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god. I can't even think of the bench players at this moment. I give up. Gustavo Puerta. Oh my f I would have never gotten that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, that one was hard. That one was really hard. He only played five games for Leverkusen that that season. That's tough. But the other one is Adolfo Valencia. They used to call him El Tren back in the 1990s.
SPEAKER_02El Tren. Who did he play for? Bayern Munich. He played for Bayern. Man. Yeah. That was the other one. Nah, I know that about El Tren Valencia. Yep. That was cool. That was cool. That was a lot to talk about. We got we got so much more coming down, man, with the end of the season, with the World Cup coming ahead in a couple of months. That's it. It seems to continue to be a disaster, this World Cup, with the ticket prices. And now in New Jersey, apparently they're charging like a hundred bucks just to get back home if you go do it. Everybody just start saving money. Go to Spain in 2030, okay? Yeah. We can't even go to the World Cup in our own home ground, man. It's crazy, man. Because whenever it sucks. Whenever it was announced, I was like, oh, this is gonna be great. It was announced like eight years ago. And I was like, it's gonna be awesome. We get to go. We get to go to at least a couple games. It's gonna be so great. At least a couple. At least a couple. Yeah. You have to sell your house, your car, your wife, your kids just to go to one game.
SPEAKER_01Just to one game. Just to go to one game, dude. People have to take out loans just to go to one game, bro. Just to watch freaking 22 men kick a soccer ball around. How stupid is that? For 90 minutes.
SPEAKER_02For 90 minutes, that's it. It's not like it's happening the whole day. Just for 90 minutes. Yeah. Forget about it, man. Save that money. Go to the next one.
SPEAKER_01They're really taking advantage of us, dude.
SPEAKER_02They really are. They're taking advantage of everybody. Flights to get into anywhere, it's gonna be expensive. Hotels are gonna be expensive.
SPEAKER_01Dude, everything. Everything. Gas, hotels, food, Ubers, ticket prices. Bro, everything is just gonna be double the price. Everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Public transportation, like I said, New Jersey's charging, it's gonna be charging like a hundred bucks just to get home. Boston's doing the same thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01At this point opportunists. Disgusting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Disgusting. Gianni Infantino, you're disgusting. Freaking Lord Voldemort. God damn.
SPEAKER_01You don't want money, dude.
SPEAKER_02And he tried to people. I saw an interview recently where he tried to come out and justify the prices. He's like, oh, like with FIFA, we only make money once every four years with the World Cup. That's their own that's our only revenue generating. What about the Club World Cup, last season? Exactly. What about the Club World Cup? What about the Women's World Cup? What about all these you guys do don't don't come at me with that, man. Get out of here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. They just want to come to America and take all our money. That's it. Trying to take advantage of the biggest thing.
SPEAKER_02They weren't charging these prices in Qatar or Russia. They weren't charging these amount of prices. So get out of here.
SPEAKER_01They know what they're doing. Whatever, dude. Anyway. Filthy little snakes.
SPEAKER_02Completely destroying the World Cup. It's going to be a disaster to even. I guess we'll wait till Spain. We'll wait till Spain. I'll enjoy watching it from the comfort of my home. Anyway, man. Got a lot coming up here towards the end of the season. Premier League's going to be one to watch now because we got a we got a title race back on between Arsenal and the Man City. We'll see when Barcelona ends up lifting the trophy for La Liga. And uh we'll see what happens in the Champions League as well. I think it's going to be Bayern Munich Atletico Muntid final. I think Bayern Munich is going to take it all. But we'll see if we got the Champions League back.
SPEAKER_01I think so too. We got the Champions League back next week against PSG.
SPEAKER_02That's going to be great. I can't wait. That's going to be a fun, fun game. I won't even have to stress about it. I'll just watch it as a neutral and yeah. And we win two games.
SPEAKER_01Two games, dude. That should be the final. But I like that we get to see two games out of it.
SPEAKER_02But anyway, should have been Madrid. It should have been a classical final. But we we jacked it up. We fumbled the bag. Not as bad as Arsenal, though. Anyway. Anyway. At least we're not Arsenal fans. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's that's for sure. But anyway, or Tottenham fans. Or Tottenham fans. Or Chelsea fans.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02All that. Or Leicester City fans. Oh, yeah. Or the Leicester City fans, all the fans Leicester City gains 10 years ago. Where are they now? Let's get it. Let's go interview them, man. Anyway, it's been good. It's been good this episode catching up with you, man. Like I said, we got a lot going on towards the end of the season. We'll be back next week covering everything for you all. Appreciate you guys tuning in, listening. Be sure to follow us on all socials at friendly foes FC. Be sure to tell people about the pod. Be sure to rate us. Subscribe. Leave a review. It helps grow the show. We appreciate you all. We love you all. Thanks again, and we'll see you all next week.