Colombia Beats Ghana 1-0

In today's episode we discuss in depth the game between Colombia and Ghana and go over some of the rest of round of 32 games. We also preview the upcoming round of 16 match ups. Tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:28

And welcome back, everyone, to another episode here with the friendly foes. We just finished up the Columbia game. And let me tell you this. What a freaking game we just had, man. We absolutely dominated Ghana. Ghana had I wasn't even worried once about what Ghana was about to do.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

They're pretty bad, I'm not gonna lie. They were so bad. I think the 1-0 score line.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Yeah, I don't I don't think the 1-0 score line shows how much we dominated them. They had zero shots on goal the entire game.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:10

Camilo Vargas was back there just chilling. He was doing nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

He was given a little chair.

SPEAKER_03 1:20

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Back that open, he would have been chilling, bro. Honestly. They didn't. Let's see. They didn't create any threat. I think this was the worst team that we faced in the world so far. For sure. Congo was better. Obviously, Fortune. Uzbekistan was better.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Against Uzbekistan and against Congo, we suffered a lot more at the end. In this game, I was calm, man. Every ball that they would get, Damian Son Sanchez and Lukumi at the back again dominated. Mohica played a great game. He did.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

He did. That number seven couldn't get past him whatsoever.

SPEAKER_03 1:58

No, dude, that number seven's gonna have nightmares, dude.

SPEAKER_01 2:02

Mohica had the best game of the World Cup, I think.

SPEAKER_02 2:06

Very solid.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Gustavo Pueta. That man is ridiculous in that middle of the field. Gary Dore. Néstor Lorenzo. Oh my god, what a call by him. What a call by starting him.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Great call by starting him.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

You could tell the team is fatigued though, because this is a team that we should have put away 3-0, 4-0 easily. I think if we would have played them first, I think maybe we we would have beat them that much. But you can tell the team is fatigued. We gave it our all against Portugal. Actually, all three games, but against Portugal, that was you know very high intensity match, especially with the heat. Then they had to travel to Kansas. They traveled to four different cities, actually. They haven't stayed put at all. They've been traveling every single game. They've had to deal with the heat like every team, of course, but Miami's crazy. And then the reporters were saying that this heat in Kansas was even worse than Miami. Yeah, but I mean using the ice packs. The ice pack thing is crazy.

unknown 3:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:09

That's the thing, man. They go from from Mexico to Miami to Kansas City and now to Vancouver.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

That fatigue is crazy. That's a lot. It's a lot of travel.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

I don't think high intensity games like this. It's a lot of traveling. So we really need to rest up. Like practice is literally just recover. You can't you can't have high intensity games.

SPEAKER_03 3:35

Go sit in the ice tub for a little bit. But aside from that, man, I think we played amazingly. We completely dominated the game. I do wish, like you said, we put we would have put the game away a little bit more. We had the opportunities to do so. Their goalkeeper also had a phenomenal game. I feel like every goalkeeper plays so well against us for some reason. Yeah. They they turn into prime annual noir or something. But we also don't we also don't really give them that much to say for. He was one-one with a goalkeeper, and then he shot it directly at the goalkeeper. Man. I can't believe it's a good thing. Those are the type of things that we gotta we gotta tighten up because those things can slide against teams like Ghana, against teams like Congo, against teams like Uzbekistan. Portugal didn't really do much finishing-wise either, whenever they played against us. We're playing Switzerland next, and we'll talk about that in a second, but that's something that we just have to tighten up. Our finishing has to be better.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

You can tell Lucho was very antsy. Very, very antsy. He was impatient in his run and then the goal that he scored. Just wait it out like a second more, dude. Yeah. He would have been fine. And then that one-on-one, he finishes it nine times out of ten.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Yeah. He's he's not confident right now. He's losing confidence, he's out of focus, and he's not thinking things through properly. Because how many times has he been offside this World Cup?

SPEAKER_01 5:15

Probably the most out of any player.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

Probably the most out of any other player. I would say in the upwards of like seven or eight. He's been he's been caught offside every single time. That happens every now and then. Yeah. That's just you're just being undisciplined, out of focus, and you have to be better than that, man. You you are one of the best players in the world. You have to be better about knowing when you are and when you're not offside, knowing how to make those runs. He's just he he just hasn't been sharp the past couple of games. He hasn't been sharp. He hasn't been the Luis Diaz that we've seen at Bayern Munich. He doesn't he's not taking people on, his passing is off, his shooting is off, his even his first touch is off. Everything was off with him today. The only reason why Nestor the last two games, you're right. And the only reason Nestor keeps him on is because one, he can change the game at any instant, and two, he's a workhorse. He will freaking run for this jersey till he can't run anymore. Which I love that about it.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

I mean it's still not enough to leave him off the team, but he we we expect a lot more from him for sure.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Yeah. Yeah, he's our best player, so we we expect him to do best player things, and he hasn't been doing that.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah, especially after the season that he had at Bayern Munich.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Exactly, man. He had such a great season.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

The first two games that he had in the World Cup were phenomenal as well. So hopefully he gets his rest, and against Switzerland, he has the game of his life. But let me tell you, we're also gonna need a lot from the the players coming off from the bench, like Richard Rios, Juan Fernando Quintero, Hamilton Campas, Cucho Hernandez, Santiago Arias, Michal, these type of players, they really need to step up because you can really tell how fatigued our starters are. So these players need to step up and perform because I'm pretty sure our starters look pretty fatigued.

SPEAKER_03 7:19

They do. I mean, you look at Hamez. Hamez was taken off at halftime, and he he had a pretty rough first half. He did not play very well. So whenever I saw him, whenever I saw him on the bench, I was like, I hope it's just because he wasn't playing well and he's fatigued, and we're just giving him some rest. I hope it's nothing serious. It does it doesn't look like anything serious, but he does need to get some rest and come back in Vancouver against Switzerland and give it his all. John Cordua, I feel bad for him. Five minutes in, and it looked like it was a groin. It's more than likely that's the rest of the tournament for him. But Luis Suarez came in, and oh my god, I loved the way he played today. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He did phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

He did a good thing on from the bench.

SPEAKER_03 8:04

That's probably the best game he's played so far.

SPEAKER_01 8:07

Pressure he put on for the defenders. He was winning every single ball. Yeah, he was winning every duel. That's what I loved to see, man. He was hustling, hustling, hustling.

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Hustling, like given given those Ghanaian center backs a nightmare.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah. Because now he knows that Cordova's not playing anymore. He's gonna have to be the one that's scoring goals, hustling. I mean, Cordova's role was to hold off the defenders and be physical there, which Luis Suárez did very good being physical with the defenders. Yeah. So and he also has Cucho Hernandez coming up, too. He's got that competition with Cucho Hernandez. So Luis Suárez has to battle. He's got to battle, man. He's gonna give it all his all for this jersey, I think. And I love it. Hopefully against Switzerland, he gets a goal. I want to see him get a goal.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

I hope so too, man. I think he needs a goal just to spark his confidence. Luis Diaz needs to go to spark his confidence as well. You talked about the players coming off the bench that need to do well. Juanfer comes off the bench again and does spectacular once again. Ooh, that would have been sick. That would have been sick. But every ball he put into the box was dangerous. Every single one he put into the box, it was dangerous. Again, we talked about it last week with Alex, the week before we talked about it whenever after the Portugal game. Quintero finds ways to be different and to change the game in those last 20-30 minutes that no other player in the world can do. Yeah. I love this guy. He needs to continue to do that. I'm glad Nestor is giving him more minutes. We need to give him minutes. There's no reason why he can give him a few. He was on fire. He came on and he was Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

I was surprised he didn't come on for Hamas, but I was surprised too, man.

SPEAKER_03 9:54

Because whenever I saw Richard Rios.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Every time.

SPEAKER_03 10:09

What an absolute beauty. I freaking love him. I love him so much.

SPEAKER_01 10:14

That left foot is just so gifted.

SPEAKER_03 10:18

Everything was dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

We talked about the Gun A players not doing anything. I wasn't worried once. Our defense was solid. Really, really solid game by everyone.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Everyone on the counterattack. Down soon and Sanchez, nothing, bro. Put that to bed. Lucumi, put that to bed. Mohica, unplayable. Great game. It was unplayable.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Great game by Miko. I'm typically very critical of Mohica. Today, my man, round of applause. Deserve all your flowers. That was a hell of a game you played. That's the type of game I need Mohica to play every single game. Every single time.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yeah, he was defense. He had to show up, man. Because Michael's right there on his toes.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

They said they said an interesting stat. I was watching on the Fox broadcast because they they didn't have the Telemundo one here where I'm at. But on the Fox broadcast, they were saying that Columbia has, out of the last 11 wins Columbia has, we've always scored first.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 11:28

So when we score when we score first, statistically we have a higher opportunity to win. I love that. So we got to score first every time. We almost scored a little bit too early this time. Because we scored and then we kind of laid the foot off the gas a little bit. And it was 15 minutes in, 20 minutes in, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:46

Yeah, it was after we scored, we really relaxed.

SPEAKER_03 11:50

Super relaxed.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Good thing Ghana didn't do absolutely anything. Nothing, man. Good thing they were nearly.

SPEAKER_03 11:55

Zemenya who?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Exactly. That was it. I'm not gonna lie, in the first two minutes, Thomas Partey he had a shot.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

He had a hell of a shot.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Yeah, that was a rocket that really scared the shit out of me. I'm not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

But that was it.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

But man, like that was a solid win for us. Not necessarily because of the score line, but just because of how we were collectively as a unit, how we stayed composed the entire time. We didn't let Ghana be a threat at all. We didn't suffer like the last few games like we did against Portugal, Congo, and Uzbekistan. We it was a very comfortable win. 1-0 win. That's all we need. At the end of the day, we all we need is one. We go through, we're on to the next round.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

It wasn't our best game, but we didn't need to play our best game.

SPEAKER_03 12:45

Exactly. Now we're playing now. We're playing Switzerland. We're playing Switzerland on Tuesday in Vancouver. How do you feel about this game? Because we talked about it. We talked about potentially being Algeria. We thought Algeria was going to be a better team. Boy, were they not the better team against Switzerland. Switzerland looked pretty good against Algeria. What are your thoughts against them?

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Well, we gotta stop Joe Hunman Zombie because this guy is not enough in the World Cup. And every time I see him touch the ball, it's just threat after threat after threat. So as long as we stop that guy, I think we're okay. And Bolo's pretty good too. They're striker. I like him. But I mean, we it's it's a beatable team. We can beat them, man. It's a beatable opponent. I'm confident. I don't think they're better than us.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

No, I don't think they're better than us.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

It it it scares me a little bit that they've been in Vancouver the past two games and they get to stay there again. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 13:47

That's an unfair advantage. And they played they played yesterday. So they get an extra day of rest.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

That's probably my biggest concern. But we're big boys. We can do it. We can do it. We don't need rest. Who needs sleep? Fuck that. Who needs sleep? No, we're gonna go, we're gonna go in there and we're gonna show those Swiss who is stupapa. We're gonna show them that we don't buy Swiss cheese around here. We don't buy that Swiss cheese, okay? None of that. Only pervolone, American, Swiss cheese? Nah, nah. Not having that.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Pervolone. I'm pretty sure it's pervolone, but okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

I've always said pervolone.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Yeah, you're fucking it up.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Well, I'm gonna stick with pervolone. Pervalone. Let me get a tender set with some pervalone. I always go up to the freaking sub lady and be like, yeah, can I have some pervalone? They're like, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

You probably say it fast enough to where they don't they don't catch that you're messing it up. That's hilarious. Anyway, yeah, I think they're the I think the Swiss are very beatable. They played, I think against Algeria was probably their best game of the World Cup. I do like the fact that Switzer against Switzerland, they're gonna allow us to play a little bit more than what Ghana has in the past or what Congo has in the past or Uzbekistan. I think they'll they'll allow Colombia to play a little bit more, which is good. One thing that I will say about Colombia that I've noticed the past couple of games is that in transition, whenever we're doing a counterattack, we are very, very slow. And we never have to numbers. I don't know if you've noticed this as well. Every time we have a counterattack, it's actually it's either Luis Suarez or Luis Diaz or John Cordo or whatever, and it's two against three or four. And then they have to slow down the play and win. Happened a lot today, actually. So many times. And every time I was like, bro, what why are we jogging up to get to them? We should be sprinting to try to get to the goal. It was really frustrating. So we have to get better in transitions whenever we're doing counterattacks because that's what's gonna be diff the difference maker. Because that's what that's where teams are gonna kill us. Isn't the counterattacks?

SPEAKER_01 15:56

We also don't have like incredibly fast players.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

We don't mean Lucho, but Lucho, and and that's kind of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Players that are like, whoa, this guy's fast. Mohica is fast, but uh after like 20 minutes, there's only so much he can run after you know who's who he's what 32, 33? Mohica? Yeah, Mohica's fast. Munoz is fast. Yeah, but after yeah, after like 30, 40 minutes, they're they're a little fatigued, but we got we gotta be better about it. We're not a fast team.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

No, we're pretty slow, but yeah. But either way, that's one thing that I noticed that we I we we should be better on is those transitions. But Switzerland is a very beautiful opponent. I think we can do it. It'll be it'll be a tight score line again, man. Every single one of our games is gonna be like a one-nail, two, two-nail, two-one. That's that's what it's gonna be. So we gotta get better at finishing, we gotta get better at those transitions. Everything else, we're doing phenomenal. We're we're playing really well. We have a legitimate shot of going far with this World Cup. Oh my god, I'm knocking things over here because be careful, dude.

SPEAKER_02 17:04

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

These other teams that are on our bracket, aside from I'm thinking right now, I think Mexico's the one that's played the best. Out of everyone else on the bracket. Mexico's the one that's played the best. We have England, we have Brazil, we have Argentina, Switzerland, Egypt, Norway. Out of all those teams, Mexico's. Mexico's probably played the best. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So we we have a pretty doable path. It's gonna be difficult, don't get me wrong, but it's doable, and we just gotta believe that we can and we gotta continue to play like we're playing and fix those little things.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I think, yeah, I think we can definitely get past Switzerland. Argentina will most likely be next. After what I saw today, I'm definitely not scared, and it's a good very, very quick.

SPEAKER_03 17:56

Let's talk about that really quick. Let's talk about that Argentina Cape Verde game because that's probably one of the greatest World Cup games that I've seen in my lifetime. And who would have ever thought that it was gonna be Cape Verde, small little nation of 500,000 people, the second smallest nation at this World Cup, their first ever World Cup. And boy, they had Argentina against the ropes, man. They had Argentina penalties. I thought so too, man. They did the same with Spain, they did the same with Uruguay, and now with Argentina. That team was the truth. I would say, man, watch out with Cave Verde. After what I saw from Cape Verde against Spain and against Uruguay, it wasn't like it was just a one fluke game. This team is for real, man. They're here to play. They were for real. They were giving Argentina such a hard time. They were out playing Argentina at one point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that was, I mean, that that second goal that they scored too was that was a war.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

That was the goal of the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

God, man. Messi was shocked. He was like, there's no way that they just scored that.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

Everybody, even the guy that shot it was like, how did I just do that?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

He went all the way to the state up to the stands and hugged the fans, and I think uh went to go hug his girlfriend or wife.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

I would have hugged everybody too after I shot that. Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 19:26

They were punked.

SPEAKER_03 19:27

Are you kidding me? Man, there I haven't seen Escaloni be that stressed out ever. Not even in the World Cup final in 22, he was that stressed out. This dude was tense. Everybody on the Argentina bench was tense because there was like they knew that if they lost this game, that would have been that stadium was tense. That would have been the biggest upset, I think, in the history of the World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Maybe.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

If Kate Verde won that game.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Nobody was expecting that at all.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

No. I mean, I knew it was gonna be a tough match, but I didn't know it was gonna be. I didn't know they were gonna take Argentina to overtime.

SPEAKER_01 20:00

No, I mean you man. That was Argentina's a team that hasn't impressed me whatsoever. They don't have Messi. Yeah. Like they haven't scored 49 and he's still carrying you like that.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

And they have good players too, but they really don't find a spark if it's not Messi doing something. I don't know what it is. I don't know if they're too loud, so they're just too used to Messi doing everything, or I don't know. But but it it's shocking to see. And if I was an Argentina fan, I would be worried. Like if something happened to Messi, I'd be like shit. Actually, next tournament, when Messi's not there anymore, I'm gonna be like, damn, what what what are we gonna do? Because the team is not looking good. They're just not.

SPEAKER_03 20:45

They're not. Without Messi, they don't look good. But here's what I'll say: I think Scaloni's giving a little bit too much respect to the older players, the old guard that won the Copa América and the World Cup. I think players like Rodrigo de Paul, uh McAllister, sometimes they're just not playing the best. Enzo Fernandez, I didn't think Enzo Fernandez played that well today. I think you have players on the bench like Nico Paz, like Valentin Barco, who can come off the bench and make a difference. These are young players. Yes, Giuliano Simeone is another one that can come off the bench and make a real impact, that are hungry, that are ready to prove themselves. And I think Scaloni after this game has to take a good look at who he's gonna have some really uncomfortable conversations with. Because, like you said, without Messi, this team is nothing. They've only scored not even because Martinez I don't know if I don't even know if Leecha Martinez's goal counts for as open play, but they the only player who has scored of open play goal on Argentina this World Cup has been Messi. Lo Chelsea scored a free kick, Lautaro Martinez scored a penalty.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Well, I guess I don't know if you count a corner kick and open play, but that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

I don't know if you count corner kick as an open play. Because Lichamartinez came from a corner kick as well. The one that Lichamartinez scored today. The fucking banger he had. Yeah. And then obviously Kuti Romero was that counted as an own goal. So Messi's the only one that scored from open play for Argentina. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:18

Everything else has been a set piece. And it and and it's worrying.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

It really is. It's very worrying.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

If I'm Argentina, Argentina is a very beatable opponent. It got to a point where I was watching that Cape Verde Argentina game, and I was like, I think I'd rather face Argentina.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Me too. Me too. Yeah. I think we would struggle a lot against Cape Verde.

SPEAKER_03 22:39

We would, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

You saw, I mean, two of the biggest teams in the World Cup, Spain and Argentina, struggled against Cape Verde.

SPEAKER_03 22:48

That's pretty crazy. I think Cape Verde might be the only team that would give France a run for their money. I think Cape Verde would be the only team that would actually make France shake in their boots. Because Cape Verde knows that they got nothing to lose, and they got everything to gain. So they were leaving it all out on the field. Yeah. And I love to see that. I mean, we got that's what I love about this tournament.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

We got two really good sample sizes with them going up against Spain and Argentina, and they did phenomenal. Phenomenal. Yeah. They came they came in second of their group. Everybody thought it was going to be Uruguay, and they came second.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Well, I thought they were going to come in last, not even in like third. They went through to the next round, bro. The second place. Even if this was the previous format of the World Cup, they would have gotten through anyway. I mean, that is very impressive. Very impressive what they did this World Cup. All Cape Verdeans, all of the entire team should be really, really proud of themselves. They shouldn't walk out of this tournament with their heads held high. And I can't wait to see them at future World Cups, man. There's no there's no way this is the last time we see them. I'm super excited to see them again and to continue following them along. Because if you didn't know about Cape Verde or what Cape Verde was, you do now. They put their country on the map and they put their people on the map. So shout out to them.

SPEAKER_01 24:07

100%. Nobody knew about Cape Verde until this tournament. What a performance. They can bow out of the tournament with their heads held high. Bosinha, phenomenal goalkeeper. We probably won't see him again. He's 40 years old.

SPEAKER_03 24:22

But he had a great tournament, bro.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

Great, great tournament.

SPEAKER_03 24:26

He had a great game today as well. I think he had like eight saves or something like that. He was stopping everything that came his way. Messi was having a hard time with him. Messi was like, what do I do with this guy? I don't even know what to do at this point. Yeah. Eight saves he had. He managed to score a sick goal. Yeah. Sick goal. That ball that Lichamartz put through, and then his control and finish was amazing. Eighth goal in a roll in a World Cup that Messi scores in. He scored in every single stage in the World Cup. First game, second game, third game. Every knockout phase. This guy is phenomenal. 39 years old and still going crazy. He was tired as fuck at the end, though.

SPEAKER_02 25:08

Yeah. That dude was. I thought they were gonna have to wheel him out of there.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Man, but what an easy path it's been for Argentina. Honestly. They've played. I don't know, man.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

I don't know if you've been, I don't know. Today's game was not easy. Today's game was not easy for them. No, not still, because today's game was not easy. They almost lost. That was not easy.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

Almost lost, I know, but dude, France is the world.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

France is smart in Argentina, yeah. France is smart. France is smart. I don't know about Spain, but France, France is smacking anybody. I'm telling you, the only team that would not that France would struggle against would be K Verde. That's the only team France would struggle with. Anybody else? France is smacking anybody they put in front of them. Anybody. So but then we had the the other game, other for the other Slater games, Australia, Egypt.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

More of a snooze fest. But at least it went to PK's. We got to win.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

It went to penalties. Yeah, we got to see another penalty shootout. Was this the third or fourth one? I can't even remember anymore.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

I don't know. I think it's the third one.

SPEAKER_03 26:25

I think it's the third penalty shootout.

SPEAKER_01 26:27

Morocco, this one, and I think there was one more. I'm missing one more. Oh, Germany, Paraguay, Germany, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Paraguay Germany. Can't forget about that one. Legendary.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

So we get to see the Egyptian king against Leo Messi.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

It's gonna be a Egyptian king against Leo Messi. That I mean, based off what I saw from Argentina today, I wouldn't I wouldn't be so sure of Argentina is gonna win. But also, Egypt is not all that. Egypt is not all that. I haven't I Mo Salah today was very he disappeared. He was he was very good.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

But I haven't seen this guy Marmoush at all.

SPEAKER_03 27:09

Marmoush, yeah. Marmoush hasn't hasn't done much. Mo Salah hasn't really done much.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

So I like this guy, Imam Ashore. He's probably been their best player.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

He has. I think so as well.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Been pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 27:25

But goes down to penalties. Egypt ends up winning 4-2 Australia with some horrendous penalty kicks. Horrendous. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:35

But it's like they just wanted to go back home.

SPEAKER_03 27:38

Yeah. That's what it looked like with the way they were shooting that. The last the last kid that shot was 18 years old. I feel bad for him.

unknown 27:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 27:45

That's a lot of penis. Lucas Harrington. 18-year-old plays in Colorado. Center back. It's a lot of pressure for an 18-year-old to take that last penalty like that, man. So uh big props to him. I feel bad for him because typically these come after you miss a penalty in a big stage like this. It comes with a lot of hate and a lot of criticism. This kid's only 18. Gotta keep your head up, man. You got a big future ahead of you. So, but that was the the game itself was a bit of a snooze fest. But we got we got round of 16 all completely set.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

We almost got Australia against Cape Verde. That would have been crazy.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

Hey man, you never know. You never know. But yeah, that would have been crazy if that's what we got. That that would have been insane.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

You never know with the World Cup. Let's talk about yesterday's game. Let's talk about them really quick because we had a thriller, man. Let's start with that one. Let's start let's start.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Go ahead. Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

I mean, there was that supposedly offsides goal. Well, a goal that was marked offsides. Because there was a slight touch. Just the slightest touch touch. That we can't even that we can't even tell. The only way we could tell is through the technology that the ball has. So the ball will t will have like a I don't know, I guess you can call it like a sensor, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:22

It has a sensor, so you can see if if that there's no touch on the ball, there this the the the it's got like a wave shock that you can see with that with that chip in the ball.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

And you can see the wave is so small.

SPEAKER_03 29:35

So small.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Like the guy that was there was a guy that was actually hitting the ball on the ground to see how high the wave would go, and it would go pretty high. And then when he would just touch it, it was pretty similar to the to the game, to the game ball that that that was touched slightly. So you could tell it was like a microfiber or a little like yeah, little. It was something, it was like the tip of his hair. Yeah. That touched it, and that's how they were they were able to decide. Now, I also think that they shouldn't have even been put in that position because it was already like two or three minutes past out of time. Whatever the ref had added. So I do think it was already way, way past the time when that goal did happen. I think he added like 10 minutes and that came in like the 12th or 13th minute. So it was already like way past the time that he had to be able to get it.

SPEAKER_03 30:31

Yeah, I think he added more time on top of that because it was too much Portugal goal and everything.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

It was too much, though. It was it was too much time that he had added. Maybe like one more minute, okay, whatever. 90 seconds, yeah, sure. It was like three minutes, bro. I was like, damn, that's crazy. So I I personally think they shouldn't have even been in that situation. I think the game should have been over already. But to decide the game like that, too, decide of a little microfiber of your hand.

SPEAKER_03 31:02

And not only that, I mean Croatia had three goals disallowed the entire game. I mean, Portugal had one disallowed as well, but Portugal for to be Croatian to get three goals disallowed, that hurts, man. And here's my take on that offside goal. Like, we're using the technology, we see that the guy touches it, it's clearly offside with the technology that's used with the rules that are in play. My question is now are we using too much technology at this point? Are we trying to perfect the game too much? There's always gonna be some imperfections, there's always going to be mistakes. Is this too much technology that we are using? I say yes. I say that we don't have to perfect anything. I think it's I I think to go out like that in a World Cup knockout stage, especially when Modrich is playing his last game ever for Croatia, that just hurts, man. Like I put myself in that position. If that would have happened to Colombia and that's the way we go out, I would be pissed. I would be livid that you mean to tell me that just because of the slightest of touches that nobody would have ever seen had it not been for this chip that we put inside the ball. You gotta be kidding me at this point.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Like I understand pretty stupid.

SPEAKER_03 32:24

I understand that there are rules in place and that w we use the technology to our advantage, but are we using too much technology at this point that that it's ruining the game? It's ruining the game that we love, that we fell in love with. I'm all about perfecting uh mistakes that the referees can't see and and may not be able to see in live time. But uh these little things, I don't know, man. And and some people are gonna disagree with me, but to me, it it's too much. It's almost too much to the point where it's unnecessary, where they have to go check that for like an additional two, three minutes to see if the guy actually touched it. And it's not to the naked eye, you did nobody saw the touch. I've seen that thing multiple times, nobody saw it. The only reason we know it touched is because of that technology.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

Yeah. So I mean Yeah, no, tough way to go out for Croatia. Yeah, unfortunately, the technology is it is slowing down the game, and it it was implemented to not cause so much controversy, but there's it's causing more controversy. Yeah, there's still so much controversy around it. So, I mean, yeah, having technology is good, but you have to use it right. And I think that's something that we just don't know how to use yet.

SPEAKER_03 33:50

It's I think it's very I think the technology was in this instance, if the technology was used correctly, I just think that it's too much technology. I just think we're using too much. I don't think we need this much. I think there are certain instances that I'm in favor of VAR and I'm in favor of like goal line technology and all these things. But are we are we being serious about that little slight touch? Like that's a little bit too much in my way.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

They are trying to perfect it. I mean, it was like the offside. It was that like that goal that got called offsides against Portugal from Davison Sanchez. His toenail was off.

SPEAKER_03 34:30

His toenail was off, and it's like, yes, by the letter of the law, is that an offside? Yes, but it's like what are we doing, man? Like, it's that is that really a big issue? Is that really what VAR should be implemented for? It it we could go off on this topic for hours probably, but that's my opinion on it. I think we're using too much technology at this point to the point where it's it's just ruining the game. It's ruining the passion, it's ruining the emotion, it's ruining that raw that that raw emotion and uh reaction that you get as a fan whenever everything happens. Like imagine being a Croatian fan, you just scored that goal, everybody's celebrating, you're hugging your brother, your sister, your dad. All the players are hugging each other, and then they're like, oh no, it actually got called back because that would have been his hair. His hair touched it. Yeah, that would have been insane. It would have been nuts, nuts. But anyway, at last, Portugal go through. Ronaldo gets his first knockout get of the World Cup at the age of 41. Shout out to him, finally.

SPEAKER_01 35:37

But he got it.

SPEAKER_03 35:37

He got it. He got it fine. He got it finally. Shout out to him. How did you feel about this game, man? Because there was a lot of obviously you got the Luka Motoric shirt behind you. I know these are both your boys, Ronaldo, Motheric, whoever went left. It looked like it was going to be the last dance. Ronaldo's sister apparently went out and said that this is gonna be his last tournament for Portugal. He's gonna retire after this. How did you feel about this? Obviously, as a Real Madrid fan, as a fan of both, you love both of these guys. How are you feeling right now?

SPEAKER_01 36:08

It was pretty emotional. The first half I was wearing this guy's jersey, and then second half, I had to rock the Ronaldo jersey. That's hilarious. You swear. Thank you. Thank you for the gift. Yeah, you're welcome. You bought me both of those jerseys. Thank you. I did, I guess. But yeah, no, I I had to I had to wear both, man. They're both legends of the game for sure. I was gonna be heartbroken for one and absolutely stoked for the other. They're probably two of my favorite players ever. I mean, shit, I need Luca, my dog, after Modric. So I I love this guy. You know, I was I was definitely heartbroken seeing him play his last game, but at the end of the day, I mean like he said, smile because it happened, don't cry because it ended.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

So, I mean, the fact that we got to watch this guy play for so long and still at such a high level. I mean, Zidane retired at 35, Xavi, Gnesta, Pirlo, Gerard, Lampard, even Tony Kroz, all the legendary midfielders couldn't play at this guy's level at 40 years old. I mean, I'm still so impressed by the level that he showed at the World Cup. I mean, it's not the level that he showed at previous World Cups, but for a 40-year-old, yeah, it's different. I mean, bro, the way he was hustling for every ball, like it was his last because he knew it was gonna be his last was just man, it was it was crazy. I mean, a lot of people talk about how he is offensively, and rightfully so, but that guy also puts so much fear into his rivals by the way he just attacks them and goes to defend. He he is a phenomenal player, man, phenomenal player, and it just seems like he's not aging. I feel like he could play another World Cup if he really wanted to. It's crazy. It really is crazy, and and he could have gone to Saudi, he could have gone to MLS, just relax here in Miami or made a ton of money in Saudi, but he decided to not make a lot of money and still be competitive at one of the best leagues in the world in Milan. So and he's probably the best player in Milan. Honestly, I don't think there's another better player than him. He was winning player of the month. So, I mean, football's gonna miss this guy. I don't know if he's gonna still play with Milan. They've offered him one one-year contract extension. Maybe he'll take it, maybe not. I don't know. He can definitely still play. But yeah, he's he's played a lot. I think now he might want to spend time with his family and just relax. But I wouldn't be surprised if he signs one more year. But I'm stoked for Ronaldo. I'm stoked for him. Silences haters, scored his goal, even though it's a penalty. But that offsize goal that that that got called back, I mean, that was a good finish. I'm I'm happy for him, man. I just hope that his teammates start finding him a little bit more and that their egos don't clash because I think that that's what might stop them from winning the World Cup, because they have a squad, they have a really, really good squad, and they can go all the way, man. They can go all the way. With that midfield Ronaldo has behind him, there's no excuse that they shouldn't be giving him balls. So hopefully they start passing him the ball a little bit more. And I think right now this is when Ronaldo feels the best. Knockout football. And so many people have been writing him off, and he he needs one one last stance to prove everybody wrong. And I don't think he's been playing terrible. Obviously, he's not the Ronaldo that he was five, ten, fifteen years ago. Obviously, I mean what can you ask for a 41-year-old, but I also think it's just a team that hasn't been in sync in sync with him. So if they're in sync with him, if they're able to know how to play for Ronaldo, I think I think Ronaldo could score a lot of goals in the knockouts. For sure. It doesn't matter who's in front of him. I think Ronaldo could have a really, really good, good knockout if we'll see. If if the team if his teammates start finding him finally. But I'm stoked for him, man. I'm stoked.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

We'll see. Yeah, he typically does well in knockouts, but not at the World Cup. He still has a lot to show for that at the at World Cup knockouts. We'll see how they do against Spain next. That's gonna be a really good game repetition of the Nations League final. Like you were saying, I don't I just don't see Portugal being that big of a threat. Every game that I've watched, aside from the Uzbekistan game, they've been very, very poor. Because the the team that they have, they should be outplaying everyone. Completely outplaying every single team. On paper, they're one of the best teams in the world. Whenever it comes to actually going out on the field and proving it, they have been very, very poor. It there's there's a lot to be wished for out of Portugal. And people people were almost overestimating them too much. Now I I don't see them being that big of a threat against Spain. Spain had a good game yesterday against Austria. They played really well. Austria wasn't that big of a threat at all. Portugal-Spain, that's gonna be a fun game. It's gonna be exciting, but Portugal as a whole is gonna have to step it up, not just Ronaldo. I mean, I think Ronaldo's been poor, but I also think every every Portuguese planner has been poor.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

And I think Roberto Martinez has been poor too. Yeah, he's some of his decisions. I I honestly didn't understand how he took out Pedro Neto and Bruno Fernandez, and who else did he? Did he take out Vitina too?

SPEAKER_03 41:58

I can't remember who he took out.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

I definitely know he took out Bruno Fernandez and Pedro Neto. Pedro Neto didn't have to be a little bit. He did.

SPEAKER_03 42:03

So he took out he took out Pedro Neto, Vitina, and Bruno Fernandez, and Draw Cancelo all in the 62nd minute.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

That was crazy to me. When I were down one-what the fuck is this guy doing? And Pedro Neto was having he was probably the best player on the pitch before he got taken out. He was putting in crosses, left crosses, he was putting in left crosses left and right, man. That dude was just going crazy putting the balls in the area. Nobody could finish him, but he was going crazy.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

Yeah, Roberto Martinez is not the brightest coach.

SPEAKER_01 42:39

Bruno hasn't had the best World Cup, but he's a game changer. At any given moment, he can just change the game.

SPEAKER_03 42:48

Yeah, he could. We're still waiting to see that Premier League player of the year type of performance from Bruno at the World Cup. Again, Portugal itself, there's a lot, a lot to be wished for out of them. A lot of people were expecting a lot out of them. And they've been very, very poor overall. The entire team has. So we'll see how they do against Spain.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

I think Rui Costa. Not Rui Costa, Diego Costa.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Oh, their goalkeeper. Yeah, their goalkeeper. Yeah, their goalkeeper has been was was was really good. Really good against Croatia as well.

SPEAKER_01 43:21

Phenomenal, dude. Pedro Neto has been doing very well. And Nuno Mendes.

SPEAKER_03 43:27

Nuno Mendis. They go against Spain. I got Spain winning that game. But we have the entire round of 16. All set. It all starts tomorrow. Canada, Morocco, Paraguay, France.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

What are your thoughts on these two games?

SPEAKER_01 43:48

I don't think Canada's gonna be able to handle Morocco. Morocco's gonna be too much for them. I think that's gonna be an easy win for Morocco, if I'm being honest. And France, I feel like they'll struggle a little bit at first against Paraguay. But once they get one goal, they're just gonna start coming boom, boom, boom, one after another, probably.

SPEAKER_03 44:10

We'll see if Paraguay's win against Germany was a fluke or if it was for real against France. That's what we're gonna see.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

Yeah, no, I think I think France will struggle a little bit at first. Might be like 0-0 or 1-0 at the half. And then after that, I think France is just gonna start finding the rhythm and boom.

SPEAKER_03 44:29

Yeah. France is scary. France is a scary team. France is a scary team, but Paraguay, they again, that's a team that has nothing to lose. They have everything to gain. They got a lot to show for. They got that guy like Guarani. Always rooting for South Americans teams, so I hope that they pull off the upset and I hope that they do they do well. I hope they do well. But yeah, it's gonna be really difficult to beat France, and yeah, Morocco should have a pretty pretty easy win against Canada, but Canada should still hold their heads high. I mean, this is their third World Cup ever, and they've made it this far. So they should be really proud of what they're doing and what they're building over there with Jesse Marsh. But yeah, anyway, man, got a lot of World Cup action. The knockout stages are starting to really, really heat up. We got the round of 16. This is when the real rounds start coming in, when the big starts come out to play, the big teams showcase themselves. We could have more upsets. Upsets are always happening, and we'll see what happens, man. All starting tomorrow for the round of 16. We'll still be covering it here for you guys, man. Be sure to tune in to every episode, man. Friendly foes on all platforms, on all podcast platforms that you listen to. Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, not Apple Music, excuse me, Amazon Music, iHeartRadio. Anything that you guys want to find as we're on there, be sure to tell your friends, your lovers, your partners, your cousins, your neighbors. Friendly foes are covering all the World Cup action. Be sure to follow us, guys. Todo el mundo. Todo el mundo. And be sure to follow us on social media at friendly foes FC on all socials at friendly foes FC at Friendly Foes FC. We're putting a lot of good content out there for you guys. Let's get us to let's get us to a thousand followers, man. We're like at 6 50 on Instagram. Let's get there before the World Cup ends, guys. Let's do it. We appreciate all the love. We'll be here to break down the round of 16 starting tomorrow, man. But uh happy 4th of July to all who celebrate. You're probably listening to this on the 4th of July. Happy 4th of July. Let's go get it.

SPEAKER_00 46:43

4th of July. Vamos la celebr.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Vamos!