Friendly Foes FC
Friendly Foes FC
USA vs Belgium, Portugal vs Spain
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In this episode we discuss the heartbreak loss that the USMNT gave us against Belgium and no more Cristiano Ronaldo in the biggest futbol stage after the loss vs Spain. Tune in!
Well, welcome back, everyone. Another episode here, a little bit of a disappointing episode today after the US men's national team lost to Belgium. And it wasn't just a loss, it was a complete, utter embarrassment by the entire team in Seattle at home against a Belgium team who hasn't been all that good this World Cup. Sat three of their best players and still ran circles around us like they were at a playground playing recess with their best friends. It was sad to see, sad to watch. But the US men's teams are officially the US men's national team are officially knocked out of the World Cup. How are we feeling about this?
SPEAKER_01Man after watching that game, with I just I don't even know what to say. I'm I'm just so speechless. In Spanish, we say que aburrido, aburridísimo. Bro, what a terrible display by the US men's national team. Belgium completely outplayed us. We were playing too far back. They just had the ball the whole time. From the first minute, they started off hot. They started off hot. Matt Freeze, that was the only good thing he did. I thought maybe he was gonna have a good game. I was like, oh my god, what a save. Because it was disgusting save. And then he had the worst game of his life. Our defense had the worst performance I have ever seen. And we were praising this defense the whole tournament.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Tim Reim, terrible game. Chris Richards, terrible game. Alex Freeman, terrible game. It was just bad all around. Nothing could get going in the attack. Polisic, you can tell that he just wasn't good from the start. You could tell he was not good. Serginho Test, terrible. Both on the attack and on defense. He was just terrible. Pachatino said, Yeah, I can't watch any more of this. Took him out halftime. Malik Tillman, he just wasn't involved enough. We did not get him involved enough. Why did we not get our best player in this tournament involved enough? I don't understand that. He like I forgot he was playing like the first 20 minutes. I was like, where is this guy? And then yeah, he scored the free kick. Amazing, awesome. I thought we were gonna get back into this game, but boom, a minute later, Belgium scores. And it was just stupid defensive mistakes. And it sucks because we were never in this game. Never, never. From the first minute of the game, we just were not able to compete. And that's not the US that I saw this whole tournament. This tournament, I saw a US that could compete that could at least go to toe with Belgium for sure. Belgium also had their best game of the tournament as well. I gotta give props to them. But it it was it was a shameful performance from the US men's national team. Very shameful, especially because of how they were playing. They got our hopes up, and then they play like this. They play like that? That was embarrassing, man. Embarrassing, embarrassing. And you know, that episode with Alex, we were talking about what would it be a success if they didn't make it past this round? And no, it's not a success. They played great in the group stages, they're good against Bosnia, but nah, we we expected more, especially with the generation that we have in Qatar. Okay, we were all very young, not very experienced. It was the first World Cup for many. Okay, fine. This World Cup in our home turf, with most of our players in our prime, and that was the performance that we got. That was it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it was it was almost like the moment was too big for these guys. Whenever lights were too bright, the lights were shining a little bit too bright. They they crumbled, they crumbled into little pieces. They could not do the prime time, they could not do the Monday night football, they couldn't do it. Who knows if this whole thing, the this whole thing that went down with Balogun got in their heads too much? I don't know if they just got too much in their heads thinking it was Belgium and a repeat of 2014. I honestly don't know what it was, but it's very clear to me that these players were they weren't ready for this. This is supposed to be the golden generation of the US men's national team, and it has been it has been very disappointing. And like you said, the first few games, it was very exciting. This was a completely different team than when we saw the first few games. The first few games, they actually were playing well, they were exciting to watch. But as soon as people started paying a little bit too much attention and started talking a little bit too much, yeah, it was it was over. Yeah, it was over. The star they they were the the lights were too bright for them. And uh just when when the when they needed to shine the most, they didn't. And tonight was that night. Tonight was the night that they could have become remembered forever, they could have avenged that loss in 2014, they could have said we can we can block out all the noise, everything that's happening with Balogun, we can block out all that, and we can come out here and perform and we can show everybody that we were gonna be Belgium with or without Balogun. We were gonna lose with or without Balogun. Didn't matter. This was this was an utterly embarrassing performance by everyone.
SPEAKER_01And how you said they didn't have their three best players, they didn't have Lukaku, they didn't have Doku, they didn't have KDB.
SPEAKER_00At first, I was thinking to myself, what is the bench? Oh, was what is Rudy Garcia doing? What why is he doing this? And I mean, the guy knew exactly what he was doing because they played phenomenal. This was the best game that they've played all tournament, and this was the worst game the US played all tournament. And when we needed our best players to shine, they didn't. Polisic man, I'm gonna say something a little bit controversial here. Polisic, Polisic might be the most overrated American athlete of all time. I don't think he's all that. I don't think he's all that. I think we've been sold smoke and mirrors, I think we've been sold a dream that was never gonna happen. And I'm sick and tired of pretending like this guy's gonna take us to the promised land because every time that we need him to perform on the biggest stage, he doesn't. This is his second World Cup, and I I think I've seen maybe 60 good minutes out of him out of two World Cups. Maybe. This when we needed him to perform tonight, he did not. He was I was just pulling up a stat here on Twitter. I saw it on ESP NFC. He was he lost possession 11 times in just 45 minutes, the most of any player on the field.
SPEAKER_01This past game against Belgium?
SPEAKER_00Just this game. This game against Belgium.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, he did he didn't perform good at all. This was one of the worst games I've seen him play. I don't know if he's still carrying a knock. I have no idea. Maybe.
SPEAKER_00And obviously, I mean Well, he clearly got injured in that play. What whatever happened there, his ankle rolled, and you know, I hope he's doing well. I don't know if he's still carrying that injury from the Paraguay game. I don't know, man. But it's every time it's not I'm not just I'm not even just talking about this tournament. It I've I haven't seen the Pulisic that we've been sold. This there would we were told that this was the LeBron James of soccer. This is the American Messi. This is what we were told, right? Everybody's telling us this. Whenever they tell us to compare, but what's Pulisic like, oh well, he's the LeBron James of soccer. Really? That's what we're gonna compare him to because that is a very, very high bar. And whenever I think of the best players in the best nations, like the the messies, the Ronaldos, the Neymars, the Vinnies, the Mbappes of the world, those guys, even if they're having a bad game, you don't take them out because you know that for whatever reason, at any point in time, they're gonna change the game and they're gonna come out and they're gonna perform well, even if it's for five minutes. Look at Holland, what he did for Norway. Look at Mbappé, what he did in the final of 2022. Look at what Messi does all the time. Polisic, if he's having bad 45 minutes, you take him out because he is not changing the game. He's a good player, don't get me wrong. He's a good player, but he's just a good player. He is not the greatest American soccer player of all time. I don't know if he'll ever even get there. He is he is not that. He is not, he's just not what we've been sold. And I'm tired of pretending like he is. He's not that he's not that great in my opinion. He's a good player, but he ain't over.
SPEAKER_01The LeBron James of soccer, that's just the ignorant American fan, right? That doesn't know for sure about soccer. Obviously, he's not the LeBron James of soccer. Anyone who watches soccer knows he's not the LeBron James of soccer. He might be the LeBron James of U.S. soccer. I don't even think that. But I mean, other than Malik Tillman this tournament, who really is better than Christian Polisik? I don't think Christian Polisic was at 100% this tournament, if I'm being honest with you. I do understand what you're saying for sure, but he he's our best player, I think. Well, Malik Tillman now, like I just said, he's he's on the rise. I really like Malik Tillman. But other than Malik Tillman, who else is better than him? Nobody.
SPEAKER_00Here's the thing, man, is like Christian Polish has had some good games from time to time.
SPEAKER_01But if I don't know, he's inconsistent, but he's he's had some good games with the US men's national team. And is he gonna take us to the promise land? No, I don't think so. He needs a good team around him, which he doesn't have.
SPEAKER_00The thing is, like, this is supposedly the golden generation. It's supposed to be a good one.
SPEAKER_01What I mean is like he's like world-class players, like at Chelsea, he was doing good at Chelsea. He didn't have playing time with his coach because he I I don't know. Tuco just had a different preference with players. But when he played, he played phenomenal, dude. He played well, phenomenal. That's what I'm saying. But I'm not saying but he had good moments, for example, against Real Madrid. There's definitely moments of spark, but he does lack, I guess, that clutch factor. He's just not clutch moments. And that's something that you do expect from from your best player.
SPEAKER_00That's but that's exactly what I mean. That's exactly what I mean. He's a good player, he's not a great player. When I think of the best players for a certain team, I think of players that have that clutch factor. Like I just explained, you don't take him out for any reason because at a certain point, they're gonna change the game. Krysten Pelichic is not that player. Christian Polichic, if he's having a bad game, he's gonna have a bad game the rest of the game. There's not gonna be a moment of brilliance for five minutes. He's had yes, he's put at big clubs and big leagues at Chelsea, at Dorman, he's at Milan right now, and he does well. He's a good player. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he's a bad player. He's a good player.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm not gonna play.
SPEAKER_00He's just overrated. He's overrated, especially in American media. They overrate the hell out of him. They think that he is better than what he is. Like I'll listen to Landon Donovan and Tim Howard's podcast from time to time. And the way they talk about him, you would think this guy is legitimately the LeBron James of soccer. You would think this guy is messy the way that they talk about him. And he is not that man. And I promise you, other teams are not looking in Polisic and being like, oh, we gotta stop this guy. Other teams are not completely training and planning on how to stop Christian Polisic whenever they go up against the U.S. They're just not. He's a good player, but they can they can figure that out, they can isolate him very easily. He's not, he is not all that. He may be our best player. I'm not disagreeing with that, but if he is if he is our best player, he's got to perform to that level of best player, and he just doesn't. He just he does not. And I'm tired of pretending like he does, and I'm tired of pretending like he's that dude. I'd rather, I'd rather see someone like Sebastian Belharter on that field who at least is gonna give it all every single time. He was the only one that left blood, sweat, and tears out on that field. Everybody else was an embarrassment. Tim Reem typically has a really, really typically will show really, really good performances. Today, I don't know what happened, man. Three goals, the first three goals, they were mostly his fault. Him and Matt Freeze. The last one was all Chris Richards. Our center backs had a complete blunder of a game. I don't know what happened to them. Complete and utter embarrassment of a performance. Seriously, whenever we needed to prove to the world that we are a serious nation, a serious soccer nation, football nation, whatever the fuck it is you want to call it, we completely bottled it. And now everyone's looking at us again like we're a joke. And supposedly, again, this is our golden generation of players. I would give me a hundred Clint Dempseys, give me a hundred Landon Donovan's, Frankie Hadocks, give me even like I said, Sebastian Burhalter, give me Eddie Johnson's, give me Josie Altador's, shout out, give me Tim Howard's. We don't have a goalkeeper, we have no goalkeeper. If Matt Freeze is our best option, we are in shambles if Matt Freeze is the best option.
SPEAKER_01If we had Tim Howard from 2014, I think we would have been able to compete.
SPEAKER_00I think it would have been the same result. He has 16 saves, and then we make we keep making mistakes, and they're gonna be able to do that.
SPEAKER_01I don't think we would have been able to compete. Because we didn't compete at all.
SPEAKER_00No, we didn't compete at all. But again, if the goalkeeper is your best player, it's a problem. It's a problem. And we gifted them four goals. Every goal, it was a gift. It was a cutely wrapped gift in a bow. Here you go. Why don't you go ahead and score?
SPEAKER_01I I don't understand that. There's one. I have no idea what Matt Freeze was thinking. Even Tim Reem, he could have freaking put his heel up. Yeah, Tim Reem.
SPEAKER_00I don't know what he likes. Do something, bro. Why the fuck are you looking like a ballerina out there trying to get that out of there?
SPEAKER_01And he got dunked on too on the second goal.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. He completely got ducked on by this. Uh I forget the striker's name from Belgium. Completely got dunked on. That first goal, too, is why is this guy literally walking into the six-yard box unmarked? Literally nobody on him. It was a gift. The Lukaku goal as well at the end. Chris Richards might as well just pass it to him. But here you go, take it. And Chris Richards almost fucked up in the first half as well. He recovered.
SPEAKER_01He did not have a good game. God Chris Richards had a terrible game. Alex Freeman had a bad game. Anthony Robin, decent. Yeah, it was it was all terrible. Bad man. I wish I could have seen more from Weston McKenny, too. I feel like this tournament, he didn't really shine, you know? No. Not like at Juventus. I wanted to see more from McKenny for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and Gio Reina came off in the second half, and I thought he was gonna provide some sort of spark and change something and really.
SPEAKER_01I mean, we generated a little bit more football with him on the pitch, but it still was no.
SPEAKER_00For the first maybe five, ten minutes, but that was it. It was just we couldn't create anything. Serginho Dest, yeah. You you brought him up, man. He is one of the most frustrating players to watch. I watched him for two years at Barcelona, and this guy is so talented, like he is legitimately very, very talented player, but he doesn't even know how talented he is, and he doesn't know what to do with the ball at his feet at some times. It feels like whenever he gets the ball, he doesn't know what to do. He's like, Maybe I'm gonna dribble this guy, maybe I'm gonna pass it, maybe I'm gonna cross, especially in the final third. And whenever it comes to defending, forget about it. Yeah, forget about it.
SPEAKER_01Decision making is not the best. Awful, awful game the first half.
SPEAKER_00It was terrible game, terrible, terrible eyes, man.
SPEAKER_01If he was in their second half, I think I would have clawed my eyes out, dude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was it was awful. Yeah, try watching him do that for two seasons at your club. That's exactly what it was. So listen again. And he he's a good player, man. He's a good player. He's just he's so inconsistent. He doesn't know how good he is, he doesn't know how talented he is. He has no idea because every time he gets the ball to his feet, he doesn't know what to do.
SPEAKER_01It's yeah, it's all the mentality.
SPEAKER_00It's all that mentality, man. I wish we would have seen more of Haji Wright. I think bringing him on literally with the last five minutes. I thought that was a little bit disrespectful. It was just a bad decision. Flo Balogun needed to come out. I don't know why he played the full game. He should have came out a long time ago. I don't know why he played the full game.
SPEAKER_01Potch just really likes him. That's his guy. And he had a good one.
SPEAKER_00Which I get, man, but it sometimes you gotta make decisions of do I keep my guy in or I do what I do what's the best for the team as well. Yeah. And who knows what's gonna happen with Potts. Like, I don't I don't know how much of this is Potch's fault because he set up the team the same way that they've been playing really well, and they just completely let him down. Completely let him down, and they let everybody down. They played so so poorly.
SPEAKER_01And from the first minute, and when I saw Belgium attacking like that, because they they brought in the pressure, man. I was like, USA is not gonna be able to handle this. This is too much already for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and they gave us a little bit of hope with that Malik Tillman free kick goal. Yeah, a little bit of hope. I was like, that's it, we're we're we're back in it, we're good to go. But as soon as they score another goal like that, two minutes after we score, yeah. And then crazy.
SPEAKER_01Wish it would have been Senegal, man.
SPEAKER_00I mean, playing like that, we don't even beat our the local high school JV team playing like that. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I feel like we just had too much respect for Belgium. I feel like against Senegal, we would have to do that.
SPEAKER_00I don't even know if it's we had too much respect. I just think we were we were afraid. We played like we were afraid. We played like people were nervous, like it was their first time playing in these big games.
SPEAKER_01We let them have the ball the whole time. Yeah, we're playing like a small team, and we gotta get that out of our heads, man. We're not a small team, we have a good team, good squad, so many players playing Europe. Get that out of your head, bro. Look at Morocco, man.
SPEAKER_00Like that bullshit that Christian Polisic said at the beginning of the tournament. They were asking him, like, are you I forget what the exact question was. Something about are you excited about the tournament? Are you excited about the world cup? And he was like, uh, like, not really. Like, I've played in big tournaments before. This is just another big tournament. Motherfucker, this is one, the biggest tournament. Two, you just played like shit for the entire tournament. You had 45 good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, he didn't even fucking play. That's the thing.
SPEAKER_00That's the other thing, is like he he plays 45 minutes, gets injured.
SPEAKER_01Like two games, two and a half games, yeah, because he played 40 the first 45 minutes against Paraguay, then didn't play in the group stages, I believe, right? Yeah, the the last two games he didn't play, or he came in, he came on like the last 30 minutes of the third game when we already had the group stage already wrapped up. Yeah, and then against Bosnia, he didn't do absolutely anything.
SPEAKER_00Nothing, man.
SPEAKER_01Nothing quiet.
SPEAKER_00Nothing in for Milan since January, he's been he's been pretty bad, didn't do anything during the World Cup. Why don't you go make another fucking documentary about you know, cry about people being mean to you again? Like, get the fuck out of here, guy. Step up to the big moments. You're supposedly our best player, step up. You gotta step up.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if he's got like personal issues too. I know he him and his girlfriend have some issues going on, or ex-girlfriend, I have no idea.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know. I don't know about all that. I don't know about any personal stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, yeah, I can definitely get it to your head because, dude, his first season at Milan, and even up until like December, he was killing it, bro. Like, people at Milan, all the Italians, like if you watch his documentary, they were like, dude, this guy can play. Like, we didn't know what to expect of this American, but this this guy can freaking play. He came out here to ball, and I don't know what happened the last six months. So I it it might be something personal, I don't know if it's also physical, too. He's been carrying an injury, it might be a mix of everything. I don't know. He just doesn't look locked in, he does not look locked in, and he's been struggling since January. So I I I don't know. I'm not trying to make excuses for him, but there's I feel like there has to be something going on because how can you just have such a big drop-off like that, you know? And he was starting to he has starting every game from Milan, too. He was he was a vital piece in last year's serie A too. So I don't I don't know what's going on with him. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00He was it was good for them. He was good, right? He he was a good player. I I haven't seen him locked in in a while. Like he'll lock in for a couple games here and there, but I haven't seen him locked in, especially for the national team, maybe in like the Nations League, maybe like a couple of gold cup performances. Aside from that, man, like he uh he just doesn't have that factor, he doesn't have that it factor. He's a good player, and he'll be remembered as a good player, just as that. He won't be remembered as a player who changed American soccer, and that's what people were thinking that this guy was gonna do.
SPEAKER_01He would be a very good Robin to somebody. Like if we had somebody just scoring goals all the time, I think he would be perfectly like in that role of being Robin. He's not great as being the main guy. If someone else has a spotlight, but he's still there, like providing all the assists, making good plays, like I feel like he'll thrive more on that than being the the actual guy of the team.
SPEAKER_00Maybe I think that spotlight is too big for him. I think he's he's just not that guy. He's just he's just not, and we don't have another guy like that. And again, American media and everybody in America pretends that this guy is that guy, and he's just not, man. He's not. I'm tired of people pretending like he is, he's just not that guy. He's a good player, don't get me wrong. Good player, but that's it. He's not a great player. Let's not pretend like this guy is gonna change the game. Let's not pretend like this guy is gonna create something out of nothing. He's just not that guy, and we don't have that guy either. We don't really have anybody who is like that at this point in time. And this again, this is supposed to be our golden generation, but I'd rather I'd rather see players who are gonna give it their all, like Sebastian Burrhalter, that who was literally fighting till the end, who was the only one that was trying to pump up the crowd, he was trying the only one trying to motivate his teammates. Everybody was down in the dumps. Every single player kept looking down, nobody was motivated, nobody was pumping each other up, everybody was down. They knew they were gonna lose this game. They knew that as soon as Belgium scored that second goal, they were completely out of it. They knew they were going to lose this game. It was, it all got completely in their head. And again, I don't know if it was just because it was almost a primetime game here in America, 8 p.m. Eastern. Again, Monday night football, basically. That's what happens with NFL. Everybody's talking about them with this whole Balogun situation. Everybody wants them to lose outside of America. The moment was too big. The moment was too big, and they got completely annihilated and embarrassed. That's it. It's over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's it. It's over. The American dream is over.
SPEAKER_00The dream is over. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if Pach is going to renew. Apparently, they offered him an extension until 2030. Who knows what's going to happen? But what I will say is that uh if he does stay, some things are going to have to change. Because played really well the first few games. This as soon as we faced a half decent opponent, we crumbled. We crumbled under pressure, we crumbled under the the opposition, we crumbled under the lights in front of everyone. So something's going to have to change. And Potch, I'm looking at it right now, the top paid managers at the World Cup. He's number three. He's getting 6.8 million a year.
SPEAKER_01No way. Oh shit. He's number three. Who are the top two?
SPEAKER_00Well, take a guess.
SPEAKER_01The champs.
SPEAKER_00No, he's not even in the top ten. What? He's not even in top ten. This top 10's gonna blow your mind. I got the top 10 pulled up.
SPEAKER_01Are you serious? Dude, this is crazy. I don't know how to guess this. Uh well, Ancelati's gotta be up there, no?
SPEAKER_00He's number one.
SPEAKER_01He's number one. Okay.
SPEAKER_00He's the highest paid manager at the World Cup, 11.3 million.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Number two is these are all let me.
SPEAKER_00I'm looking at it here. In the top 10, one, only one manager has won the World Cup as a manager. Everybody else?
SPEAKER_01Escaloni.
SPEAKER_00Escaloni's number 10.
SPEAKER_01Escaloni's number 10? Wow. Two points. Number two is who? Number two was it who? Let's see. Number two. Let me see if I can guess this real quick. Number two was it Luis de la Fuente?
SPEAKER_00It is not Luis de la Fuente. This guy's no longer in the World Cup.
SPEAKER_01This guy's no longer in the World Cup. Oh my god. Who got eliminated?
SPEAKER_00Actually, a lot of these are no longer.
SPEAKER_01Really? That's pretty sad. Hold on, let me look at the colour.
SPEAKER_00Only eliminated two of them are still in the World Cup out of the top ten.
SPEAKER_01Hold up. Let me let me let me check this out. Roberto Martinez? Don't tell me he's in the number of things.
SPEAKER_00Roberto Martinez is number five. 4.5 million.
SPEAKER_01Ancelotti. You know, it can't be how we like it.
SPEAKER_00Tuchel? Tuchel's number four.
SPEAKER_01Tuchel's number four. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Six point.
SPEAKER_01Who the hell? Let's see. Don't tell me Ronald Coleman was up there.
SPEAKER_00No, he was not. Thank God. That would be a crime against human. But some of these names, uh it's some of these names, fuck me. They should be a crime against humanity.
SPEAKER_01What about Nagglesman? That's number two. That's number two. Okay. I was gonna say him, but I'm like, Germans are usually pretty cheap.
SPEAKER_00Not for Nogglesman, I'll tell you that much. 7.9 million. 7.9 million. So that's the top three on Chalotti, Nagglesman, and Pochettino. So to be paying Pochettino 6.8 million a year, him being the third highest paying manager at the World Cup and can't get past the round of 16, I'm not saying that we got to get rid of him. I actually think that he's leading us in the right direction. I don't think getting rid of him is gonna solve any issues. But if we're paying him that much to solve an issue that we've been seeing for decades upon decades, one, you got to give him the right tools to do so, but two, he's gotta make some changes. He's gonna have to have some uncomfortable conversations with some players because it was very clear that today some of these players aren't up to the task. They're not up to the task of playing in the world's biggest stage, and we got to go out and find those players. But yeah, some positives out of the World Cup, I will say. Some positives out of the World Cup. Terrible game today, but Malik Tillman was phenomenal. Yeah, what a drip. Absolutely amazing. Alex Freeman was fantastic. I loved those two players, and I love where Burr Halter is headed. Again, he's not the most talented player. But he is exactly. I love that attitude. I love that that's the type of player that we need. That's the type of player we need. Whenever, whenever the coach calls on you to come on and be difference maker, that's the type of player that you need. You need to bring the energy and the motivation to the entire team to try to bring up their morale, and that's what he tried to do. And you got to give it your all, and he gave it his all. You got to give it your all for the jersey, for the country, for the national team, whenever you're playing at home turf. So those are the those are the type of players that we need. Those are the positives.
SPEAKER_01Well, we still have at least another World Cup from this generation. Yeah. No, we still we still're young, they're all in like their early 20s, mid-20s.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we gotta find the goalkeeper.
SPEAKER_01We gotta find a goalkeeper. That's that should be our priority, number one. Yeah. Because yeah, we probably still would have lost with a good goalkeeper, but a good a good goalkeeper would have kept us in the game for sure.
SPEAKER_00Who's that American goalkeeper at Chelsea? Or that was at Chelsea. It came from Chicago, Chicago, Chicago, Slolina, or some shit.
SPEAKER_01He's young though. He's like 18.
SPEAKER_00Yes, Gabriel's Slowina. He's 22. He's not that young. Well, dang. Yeah. Where the hell is he at right now? He's over at Barnsley on loan. He doesn't really play. That's the thing. He was really good at Chicago Fire, was bought by Chelsea and has been on loan. Back to Fire. Barnsley. There's this guy at Barcelona as well, Diego Cochin, I think his name is. He's like 19. He's supposedly really good. He's the Barcelona third goalkeeper. Um he's American, yeah, born in Miami, 20 years old. I wanna I want to see what this guy's made of. I haven't really seen much highlights. I just know he's on the team. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I want to see what we we need a good goalkeeper to be able to compete. Because I mean, after what we saw from that third goal that Belgium scored on us, like a good a good goalkeeper wouldn't do that, you know, obviously. That would have maybe kept us in the game. After that mistake, I mean, if we weren't dead already, that just completely just deflated the whole or any little momentum that we had.
SPEAKER_00Completely, man.
SPEAKER_01So anyway, our number one priority is getting.
SPEAKER_00I don't want to beat over a dead horse here with this with this topic, but it was pretty embarrassing to watch for us to go down in that fashion. I it would have been one thing if we would have gone down fighting, if it was a tight game like it was yesterday for Mexico and England. That would that would have been completely different. But we gave up way too quick. We were afraid of Belgium, and that was it. It's over. It's over. Lots of changes are gonna be coming in in the near future, and we'll see. We'll see if Pachatino even stays, right? That's if Pachatino stays. If he doesn't stay, then we're back to square one. We're back to fucking we're going. If he doesn't stay, we're we're taking a step backwards in this situation.
SPEAKER_01But a lot has to change, man. Not even just Poch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's just the Federal mindset, yeah, and then the youth ecosystem, like we talked about with Alex, man. There's a lot of problems within the youth ecosystem that leaves a lot of good players out, man. Like I'm tired of this narrative, and again, I don't want to fucking have talk on have this talk of it for the next hour, but I'm tired of this narrative of if we just had our best athletes play for the US men's national team, we would be the best in the world. That is the the dumbest argument that anyone could ever make. That is an argument of the most unintelligent human beings with the lowest IQ who have never watched a single minute of the game, that think that LeBron James is gonna step on the field and they're gonna he's gonna lead us to a World Cup final, that think that Tyreek Hill or freaking who else, Lamar Jackson is gonna come on and they're gonna take us and we're gonna win a World Cup with him. If you think that, I'm sorry, but you're an idiot. You're truly an idiot.
SPEAKER_01Dave Pornoy today was like, I saw him say that drafting guys, we're gonna have to start drafting drafting guys for soccer. Like LeBron James, yeah, you're gonna have basketball, but I'm sorry, you're coming to soccer.
SPEAKER_00No. I'm I'm tired of that take. It's such a stupid take. Because if you think that what LeBron James or what these other players do in basketball or football directly translates to soccer, it's a completely different sport that has a completely different dynamic, and you need a completely different level, completely set of skills in order to succeed at the sport. That's why if you look at the best players who have ever played this sport, none of them are over 5'10.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. No, I mean, I think what they mean, I mean, a lot of them are obviously ignorant when they say that, but I think a lot of them actually are just saying that if we took this sport seriously from when we were kids, like if this was our main sport, like let's say LeBron James never wanted to touch a basketball, like he wanted to be like Pele. Maybe he he would have been good. I don't know. I don't know if he would have been like the greatest of all time.
SPEAKER_00I think LeBron James at six foot nine would have been anywhere near a professional soccer field.
SPEAKER_01Bro, you know that they grow, like they like make themselves grow bigger when they play basketball. Like they they do shit to make themselves grow. But what I'm saying is if you start those athletes from when they're young, from when they're like five years old, then they could become good soccer players. Why not? We took this this sport more seriously, why not? Basketball players do certain types of stretches and exercises that can help them grow.
SPEAKER_00That's some shit I've never heard of before in my life.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Where the fuck are you getting this information from?
SPEAKER_01Bro, I've I watch TV, I go on the internet, bro.
SPEAKER_00Okay, I'm just doing a quick Google. Do basketball players make themselves tall? No, basketball players do not make themselves tall. High is primarily determined determined by genetics and childhood nutrition.
SPEAKER_01Yes, of course. But these guys go to nutritionists, yes. They eat the food that they're supposed to, they do certain exercises, they do certain stretches, they definitely do things that will make them maybe that gives them like an extra inch or two, but that's not gonna take them from being you know six two to six nine.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. That seems suspicious to me. Anyway, the point is I get what you're saying. Like, yes, if we if we took the sport more seriously and and we had like younger generation play soccer. The thing is, like, if you look at it, whenever we were kids, everybody played soccer. Everybody, exactly.
SPEAKER_01The main thing we were we were in Columbia, though.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no. Here, here in the US, like everybody, everyone not everybody, no, not everybody.
SPEAKER_01Some people, yeah, like I mean, for wreck, because they thought it was easy or whatever, but not everybody. A lot of people play baseball.
SPEAKER_00Whenever we were like kids, like in elementary school, nobody in elementary school was playing football.
SPEAKER_01Nobody, nah, yeah, for sure, bro. The Pee-Wee, are you kidding me? People were definitely playing football at elementary school. Flag football, yeah, for sure, bro. Flag football is different.
SPEAKER_00I'm talking about tackle football.
SPEAKER_01They're still playing football. Oh no, tackle football, no, but they were still playing football. They can't play tackle football, but they were still passing the football.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't know, man. A lot of my friends in my grade, in like the third, fourth, fifth grade, they all played soccer. We would go outside, we'd play, we would be, we would talk about are you on my rec team this year? Are you on this? Are you on that? And then we started losing them like towards middle school and then into high school. The main reason because of that is because there's such a big problem within the youth ecosystem. Well, one, like, yes, everybody wants to like be the star football player and all these things, but two, we lost some really good players because you have to go pay thousands of dollars to play for a good travel team and be taken seriously. Whereas in traditional American sports like baseball, football, basketball, you can be in a really good high school team and still get noticed by colleges and not have to pay all this money to play for a travel team, for a travel football team, or for a travel basketball team. A lot of people take high school sports here very, very seriously and they go and look at that. And high school coaches are paid very well at certain schools and all these things. Soccer is not taken that seriously because soccer is a completely different type of sport. It doesn't follow that football calendar or that basketball calendar or that baseball calendar where they have a very long offseason. Traditional soccer calendars are very long and they play a long season. That's why collegiate soccer is never gonna be the place where our best players need to go. Never because collegiate soccer, I think it just recently changed, but collegiate soccer was from August to December. And then what are you doing from January to August again? Like they're have like their spring season and everything, but in football, college season, that's it. It's college season, and everybody knows that. Basketball seasons during that basketball season, it follows the same as the NBA, it follows the same as the NFL, same thing with baseball, same thing with hockey. College soccer is different, right? So that that that that's the thing is that they it's such a long conversation and topic, but those are those are the main things. If we want to get involved, we have to make it more inclusive for people because at the end of the day, soccer is a poor man's sport, and in America, if you play soccer, they look at you like you're rich. Yeah, no, that's for sure. You gotta have money to play, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, sad. We get knocked out, and anyway. Another team that got knocked out was Portugal, Portugal.
SPEAKER_00So Portugal, Spain went down to the literally the last minute. Miquel Marino scored in the 91st minute of the game. I got to put Spain, bro. He is clutch, dude. That you want to talk about somebody who's clutch? That guy is clutch. What a clutch player. He came on and immediately made an impact. Scored the last minute winner for Spain to send him through to the quarterfinals, and Portugal are done. And this is Cristano Ronaldo's last ever World Cup. I'm gonna let you take it from here. I know this is your guy. Like, how are you feeling about watching Portugal get knocked out and seeing Ronaldo play his last ever World Cup?
SPEAKER_01My heart's broken, dude. Broken, broken, broken. We're never gonna see Ronaldo at the big stage anymore. This was it. This was the end. I've seen Ronaldo for 20 years, man. Just staying at the top for 20 years. This guy was insane to watch him play, man. It was such a joy. I know we talk about who's the goat, Messi, Ronaldo, but just the fact that we got to watch him play, both, both of them. But right now we're talking about Ronaldo. The fact that we got to watch Ronaldo play, man, and enjoy him all this year's was something so special. Like, I can't stop smiling, thinking about all the memories this guy gave me as a kid till now, a 30-year-old man, which is crazy. I've been watching this guy play since I was 10 years old, and he's giving me so much joy, so so many goals, so many titles for my club. And the fact that he was able to compete with a perfect specimen made my by God, which was Lionel Messi, and he was able to take five Balondoros from that guy. Five, that's insane to me. Absolutely insane. And he just showed us that with hard work, determined, determination, grit, you can achieve anything you want in life. And that's why he is my GOAT. Because the work he put in to be where he's at, to be recognized as one of the greatest of all time is absolutely insane. And the fact that people still hate him just because he didn't win a World Cup or just because he's one of the best, he's got haters everywhere, but he's got more people that love him. That guy to me, you know how they say that Steph Curry changed the game for basketball? I think he changed the game for soccer. I remember growing up and he had those orange vapors. Everybody wanted to buy those orange vapors. Everybody, bro. Tell me not. When you were traveling, all your teammates, all your opponents, at least half of them, had the orange vapors. And that was all because of Cristiano Ronaldo. How many people did you not see with the the with the Mohawk with the hair up in the back? All because of Ronaldo. How many people did you not see just try to do those little flares and flicks that Ronaldo did? Just because of Ronaldo? Like this guy changed the game completely. And you didn't see people doing that because of Messi. People weren't trying to be like Messi, maybe because nobody can be like Messi. But they were like, we can be like this guy. We can be like this guy who can compete with a player like Messi, with that perfect specimen that God made. And Cristiano Ronaldo was able to compete with that guy. He took five Balandoros away from him. Nobody was able to compete with him other than Ronaldo. He was a human, and Messi was just created by God as an alien, I feel like. And Ronaldo was able to actually go toe-to-toe with somebody like that. And that just goes to show you that nothing is impossible. Absolutely nothing. If you really put your mind to anything you want, you can achieve your goals. If it wasn't for him, Messi would probably have 15, at least 13 Ballon d'Oros for sure. If it wasn't for Ronaldo. So this guy was just on a different level, and I'm just so blessed that we got to watch him play. And he was such a smart player, too. People talk about his skills, his work ethic, but his IQ was just insane. The way he was able to evolve his game from a winger to a striker and still be successful at it, maybe even better. Bro, he's definitely the greatest goal scorer that we've ever seen. And now football is mourning because we don't get to see him anymore. It sucks, man. But this guy was just completely different in my eyes. Completely, completely different. Nobody's able to stay at the top like him and Messi. The way he's been able to take care of himself. So many people were done, mid-30s. Kakaz, Zidane, Xavi, Nyesta. And this guy still looks in top shape. Obviously, he's not in his prime anymore, but he's in top, top shape. So it it's sad that he never got to win his World Cup, but at the same time, he doesn't have to prove anything to anybody, man. He's won just about everything. That's the only thing that he's missing is that World Cup. But he's won everything else there is to win, and what what a career, man. What a career. And I can't believe that I got to see him play. I get to tell my kids about him. I get to tell my grandkids about him. What what a player, man. What a player. All I gotta do is just get out of the Stanley.
SPEAKER_00Wow. That was nice. It is crazy, man, because well, first of all, all I heard there was that you thought Messi was better than him. But but kidding aside, all kidding aside, like it is crazy to see how how long this guy has played, man. For 20 plus years at the world's biggest stage, at the age of 41, still competing against the best players in the world right now that are coming up. And like you said, the dedication and the drive that it takes to do that, the consistency, because there are a lot of players, like you mentioned, who were very good, very talented, and they were done. Mid 30s, early 30s, all these things. I mean, look at Neymar. Neymar at 34, yeah, is basically done. And Ronaldo at 41 is still competing. So it he is, yeah, he is to many people the greatest of all time. He is one of the greatest to that has ever done it. It's crazy that we got to witness for many people the two greatest players to ever play the game go at it against each other year after year after year was phenomenal. And to see what Cristiano Ronaldo has done, obviously for Portugal, putting Portugal on the map the way he did, winning the first ever three trophies for them, helping them get to where they're at, helping that new generation. I mean, he is he's obviously a legend, he'll be remembered uh as a legend forever. So yeah, completely changed the game, man. Completely, yeah, completely, completely.
SPEAKER_01What a player.
SPEAKER_00What a player, man.
SPEAKER_01But every kid grew up wanted to be like Ronaldo in our generation. Everybody wanted to be like Ronaldo, yeah.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people didn't a lot of people did, yeah. A lot of people did have that little haircut, the vapors, all these things.
SPEAKER_01Bro, everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, a lot of people did. So uh, but yeah, now it's uh that was it. He did announce that this is his last World Cup. He didn't retire officially from international football. Who knows if he'll play another Euro or what he'll do next? I'm assuming, like you said, he's gonna get to the thousand goals and then just bow out. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, I think he's done with Portugal, if I'm being honest. I think it's it's over. Yeah, I don't think he's got another euro left in him. I'd be surprised. I think he just at this point just wants to get his thousand goals and call it goes, man. Yeah, just bow. I mean, he already won a European championship too. So yeah, at this point, I think he just, yeah.
SPEAKER_00What else is there to prove? True. I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, like he he's done so much, man. I mean, realistically, if if I if I'm putting like uh bias aside and seeing everything that this guy has accomplished, specifically for Portugal, seeing what he did for Portugal, putting Portugal on the map in the national team where they're at right now, and a nation that's respected. And we'll talk about the game a little bit later. But also what he did in the Champions League for Real Madrid was crazy, right? The highest leading goal scorer ever for the Champions League, has the most MVP awards ever in Champions League, has the most top goal scorer awards ever in the Champions League, has five Champions League titles to his name. I mean, they do call this guy Mr. Champions League for a reason. So this guy's that's his tournament.
SPEAKER_01That was his tournament, that's where he thrived. Yep. So that was our best player every single time we won the Champions League, and with Manchester United too. Yeah, that's the thing, man. He won everywhere he went. He won in England, he conquered Italy, he conquered Spain, now Saudi. He's he's done it all. He's done it all. And I know he didn't win the Champions League with Juventus, but he was there for three seasons, got him to the quarterfinals. He was the one that did that remontada by himself against Atletico Madrid in his first season, and he scored over a hundred goals in three years at 34 years old. That's when he signed. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, that's crazy, yeah. Absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, man. Hey, good shit.
SPEAKER_01And then the Serie A too, which they're they're known as uh a big defensive league, and he was able to score a hundred goals with Juventus. That's that's actually one of the most impressive things he's done, especially at that age.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, to many people it was for sure. To many people it was, man. But now it's over his time at Portugal. Over. He uh didn't get the opportunity to lift the World Cup and Spain goes through. But overall, the game was um it was a pretty decent game. I think Spain played overall much better than Portugal, especially in the second half. If it wasn't for Diogo Costa, Spain could have won easily by two or three goals. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That one double save that he had was crazy. It was insane. Between Lamin and Baena.
SPEAKER_00That that one that he took from Lamin, I thought Lamin was gonna bury that to that bottom corner.
SPEAKER_01And then two seconds later, Baina, and he just there to get to the other side.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that guy, that guy's good. That guy's really, really good. He is, he is amazing. He was gets hurt. Yeah, Nuno Mendes gets hurt. Sad to see. As soon as he left, it was like, well, this guy, it's over. Uh because he was giving Lamino a bit of a tough time. So yeah, yeah, it's always a good battle. And then Mikel Marino, man, he comes on, and that's just what he does, man. He just comes on and scores. He did it in the Euros, he's done it for Arsenal. He's doing it now in the World Cup since Spain through to the quarterfinals. Now we got Spain versus Belgium in the quarterfinals. And Spain have a pretty good path to the semis. To the semis. I think Spain have been doing pretty well. Defensively, Spain are really good. Spain hasn't been scored on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they haven't been scored on yet. And it's crazy because I don't even think they're having their best keeper in right now. No. And I Simon is definitely not their best keeper.
SPEAKER_00That's the crazy part. That's crazy. We're not going to see their best keeper, whether it's David Raya or wherever it's Dra Garcia. We're not going to see them. It's we're going to see when I see Mon. But what Kubarcia is doing, what I mean Laporte is doing, Cukuraya, Pedro Porro, those that back four has been great. Rodri is having a phenomenal tournament. Lamin is taking a while for him to start because he's been he's been injured, but he he the last couple games I thought he played really well. Still hasn't been able to score.
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about Lamin. I think he's he's too much in his head right now. I think he's seeing Haaland, Mbappe, Messi. I think he's seeing the big dogs perform, and he's being a little bit selfish if I'm being honest.
SPEAKER_00He is, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think he's being a little selfish. He's he's looking for that 1v1 way too much. Like I saw times where he could have easily passed that there was a man open and he just he wanted to take the guy on. It's like, dude, that wasn't necessary. Just pass the ball. Yeah, he's trying to do a little too much right now, I think. And yeah, obviously coming back from the injury too. But I think right now he's just he he has FOMO. He's seeing all these big stars perform and he's like, oh my god, I'm not doing anything. So that's a good way to put it. He's drawing because he's trying to do too much.
SPEAKER_00Because he he's he he wants to gain that confidence and he wants to he wants to score in a well, he did score in a World Cup, but he wants to score more goals. He wants to be able to get to that level of the Mbappes, the Hollands, the Harry Canes, the Messies. And like you said, he's seen them doing it. But at the same time, like brother, it's your first tournament at 18 and you're starting for Spain.
SPEAKER_01For sure, but people already have that expectation for him, bro.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not saying that. Like people do have that expectation for sure, but he he has to he has to realize for a second, like, let me let me soak this all in. Because and you see him do this for Barcelona as well, sometimes where he'll he'll try to do one too many touches, he'll try to dribble one too many players, and sometimes it works, and you're like, wow, this is fantastic. And that's one thing that I really like about Lamine is that he never gives up. He's like, just because I couldn't do it this time, I'm gonna try again and I'm gonna try to get it. Yeah, he's not scared of do it again, and I'm gonna try again, and he's not scared of it, but sometimes he does have to play for the team a little bit more and and look for the best player and the best.
SPEAKER_01Right, and that'll also come with maturity. He's only 18, you know. Obviously, he wants to be like the star, and he just he's very antsy right now. Yeah, with I mean, in 10 years, he's not gonna be like this.
SPEAKER_00No, even in five, like he's gonna be much much better, a lot more mature. He's gonna have so much more experience in five years because he's he's been he's been the starting player for both Barcelona and Spain since he was 16. Yeah, he's been their most important player. In five years, he's gonna have so much experience at the age of 22. It's gonna be insane. Yeah, no, that's true. He's he you're right, he does have FOMO, he's trying a little bit too much. He's almost he's he's like losing his confidence, and he's gotta gain that confidence again a little bit, and he wants to he wants to shine in the World Cup and the world's biggest stage. He's gonna have a lot more opportunities. This is just the beginning of La Mignon. And he again, he's 18, he's one of the best players in the world. He's getting compared to the Mbappes, the Vinny's, the Hollands of the world, the even Messi still. He's still getting up there compared to that was second in the Ballon d'Or race last year. I mean, this guy is this guy's the truth. So he's just gotta be more patient with it, man. He's just gotta be more patient.
SPEAKER_01It'll be that's why that's why he wants to do it all right now because yeah, number two in the Ballon d'Oro, you expect more.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So it'll come with time, but Spain, Spain's starting to look a little bit better. They started off the tournament a little bit shaky, but they're looking good. They play Belgium next. Again, I think they're gonna beat Belgium. We'll see how Belgium looks against them, but that should be a good matchup. And then we have what's the other one? Oh no, that's the one that ended today. And then tomorrow we got we got Colombia, Switzerland, we got Argentina, Egypt, Egypt. Two really, really good and exciting games. Boy, after seeing the US today, I'm nervous about Colombia. Me too, me too. We'll see how they do. Hopefully they don't crumble under pressure against uh against the Swiss, against the European opponent. We're in Vancouver. Hopefully the boys got some rest and are ready to roll tomorrow because I can't take back-to-back losses like this.
SPEAKER_01No, my heart can't take that. No, I might as well just I don't even know who who to support.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, at that point I'm just gonna watch cricket. Yeah, yo, yeah. I mean, we talked about Norway yesterday, but man, I kind of hope they they go a little bit further. They just keep going.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they just keep going for them against England.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just just keep going, man. Let's keep it going. Let's keep it rolling. Yeah, Argentina against Egypt. Argentina struggled heavily against Cape Verde. We'll see how they do against Egypt. That game is gonna be played in Atlanta, but not too far away. And we'll should be pretty easily favored towards uh Argentina. We'll see how Messi and and them perform. We're we're getting ready to gear up for an Argentina versus Columbia quarterfinal, and that's gonna be an all-out war.
SPEAKER_01That would be a good one.
SPEAKER_00All out war. So it's starting to shape up.
SPEAKER_01That might be the best game of the quarterfinals if it does happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's starting to shape up, man. We got we got six of the best eight already completely set, and tomorrow we'll have the last two join the best eight. Can it be Colombia and Argentina? Columbia and Bandro. What's your prediction for Columbia, Switzerland?
SPEAKER_01I think we win. I think we're gonna suffer a little bit. We're gonna suffer. I think I went two one. I think I think we went two one.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be a very tight margin. Very, very tight margin. Uh, you say two one. I think it's gonna be another one-zero. Yeah, I think it's gonna be another one zero. Yep. Another one-zero game. I think it's gonna be I think Lucho Diaz is gonna get his goal tomorrow. Lucho, this is this it's your night to shine tomorrow, Lucho. Tomorrow you're gonna shine, man, against the Swiss. And then Argentina versus Egypt. What's your prediction there?
SPEAKER_01I'll go I'll go 2-0 Argentina.
SPEAKER_002-0 Argentina. 2-0 to the Argentines. I'm gonna go. Man, they struggled so much against Cape Verde, but I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go 3-1. I'm gonna go 3-1 Argentina. I think they won't suffer nearly as much. Yep, I was gonna say, I think Cape Verde is bridging Egypt, and I think every team always has that one game where they struggle, and I think Argentina had it against Cape Verde. They managed to survive that, and now they're gonna get their head back in the game. Scaloni's gonna make the the right changes, and Messi's gonna continue to shine, man. Messi's gonna continue to shine.
SPEAKER_01That's yeah, they'll go as far as Messi wants to take, though.
SPEAKER_00Yep, as far as he's able to. Also 39 years old and carrying his country to crazy, potentially another World Cup final. That would be crazy. If we get another Argentina France World Cup final.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you what, man, I'll just be pissed if Argentina go back to back. Argentina would be my number one nemesis for the rest of my life. Like when people ask me on the streets who's the national team that I hate the most, Argentina, right away. What wouldn't even let them?
SPEAKER_00Wait, why though? Why?
SPEAKER_01Just because I don't want them going back to back, bro. And you they took the our Copa America two years ago, man. Are you kidding me? Like, nah, we got a rivalry going on right now, bro. Like in the qualifiers, too, it was heated. Both games are heated, yeah. I'm tired of it, bro. Like, Columbia should be up there. I'm tired of us just sucking their dick because Messi's one of the greatest players of all time. Okay, whatever, cool. Now he won their World Cup, he took a Copa America away from us. Now what? Now what? We're gonna keep sucking his dick? No. Like, we need to freaking go out there and freaking win, bro. Like, I'm tired of freaking Argentina always having that edge over us, man. I'm tired of it. The thing is, man, is this the rivalry of South America right now because Brazil isn't even a they're not a factory?
SPEAKER_00That is true. This is that is true. That is a good point.
SPEAKER_01South America, Colombia and Argentina, dude. This is it, and like all Colombians should be on board to not like Argentina. If they go back to back, bro, yeah, like they would be my number one most hated team. They would be my number one nemesis for sure.
SPEAKER_00Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy talk, crazy talk.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I know we like supporting combo ball teams, but going back to back would be insane. Nah, there's gotta be some rivalry there, especially, yeah, just because Messi, bro.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, obviously it's because Messi. No, I mean, yeah, I do agree that right now Colombia-Argentina is probably the biggest rivalry in South America because historically it's been Argentina, Brazil, and even Argentina and Uruguay. Those two are big, big rivalries. But recently, man, the Colombia-Argentina games have been very, very fun to watch. They get heated and it's and they're very exciting and they're all at wars. I still support for South American teams. So if for whatever reason Colombia bows out, obviously I'm a messy guy, so I'm gonna root for Messi.
SPEAKER_01Of course, you're gonna want Messi to win a second World Cup.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, of course. If Colombia don't do it, why not Messi?
SPEAKER_01If we get bowed out by Argentina, you're still gonna go for Argentina, yeah. Really?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't I don't have that hatred towards them like some people do. Like one, say, like I'm a messy guy, so I want I want to see Messi succeed. Maybe if Messi wasn't there, I wouldn't feel like he only got his World Cup.
SPEAKER_01He already got two co he he already has his two Copa Americas. What else does he need?
SPEAKER_00Make it two, man. Make it too. At that point, if Colombia doesn't win, just make it too. Just go out at 39 years old winning the World Cup again, back to maybe the reason why we don't have a World Cup in a Copa America, and you're still supporting these guys.
SPEAKER_01Nah, but it wouldn't they would definitely be my number one nemesis, man.
SPEAKER_00But it's because we didn't, like, for example, Copa America, we didn't play well. We didn't like realistically, like we were the better team the entire tournament.
SPEAKER_01It's still they did they beat us in that game. They beat us. Actually, the first 16 minutes, I would say that we played better than them, and then after that, it just kind of evened out, and then freaking extra time we wanted to go to PK's and they did it and they won. But which by the way, they took our tournament. They took that to the city.
SPEAKER_00Well, I don't I I just disagree that they took the trophy from us. I think we took the trophy from ourselves. I think we didn't live up to the expectation.
SPEAKER_01They were on the other side of it. I don't care. It pisses me off.
SPEAKER_00What well sometimes you gotta be self-critical and say we weren't we didn't live up to the expectation because we were the better team the entire tournament. We played better than Argentina. Argentina barely made it out of the quarterfinals against Ecuador because they took they went to penalties with Ecuador, then they faced Canada in the semifinals, so they had an easier path to the final. We had to go up against Brazil, against Paraguay, against Uruguay, and we outplayed every single one of them. And then we got to the final and crumbled. We crumbled and we couldn't play well. And the one game that we needed to play well, we didn't, and it sucked, and it was and it was shitty, and it sucks. The substitutions that Nestor made didn't work out, the substitution that Scaloni made worked out, and they just ended up outplaying us. Their experience playing in finals completely destroyed us. We don't have that experience. We can't sit here and compare the Colombian national team to the Argentinian national team. We just can't, man. It's it it is comparing it's like comparing um uh Atletic Bilbao to Real Madrid or Barcelona at this point. You just can't do it.
SPEAKER_01But I I mean Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid would probably be a better example, but you just can't compare those two teams, but Atletico Madrid still hates Real Madrid, they take all their titles, they take away all their happiness, and that's exactly what Argentina is doing to us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean I I see your point for sure. I understand it. I would still want a South American to win over a European, realistically, I'd rather keep it in the world. We're the only two left. Yep. That's it. We're the only two left, we're the only two that are representing South America right now. It's just a bunch of Europeans and then us two in Morocco. Come on, Morocco, we're with you too. Knock out France, do it.
SPEAKER_01Which Asia is so far behind, man.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they are.
SPEAKER_01They're far behind, bro.
SPEAKER_00There's they got some work to do. They do, man. Everybody had high expectations for Japan and Japan every time.
SPEAKER_01And South Korea, too, bro. South Korea's got some pretty good players. They got players that play.
SPEAKER_00South Korea fucked up big time. South Korea.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I was actually even expecting a little bit more from Saudi, too. I'm not gonna lie.
SPEAKER_00More than K Verde, I'll tell you that much.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was expecting a little bit more from them. Not saying they would get out of the group or anything, but I don't know. More than K Verde.
SPEAKER_00Like at least a win. Yeah, something. They didn't do nothing. But anyway, man, got derailed there a little bit, but we'll see what happens tomorrow, man. We'll be back at it again tomorrow after this, after the games to record. Hopefully, we have a very fun episode for you all, man. It's getting down to the wire here at the World Cup. Things are starting to heat up. We're super excited about it. And we'll keep here. We'll be here breaking it down for you guys, talking about it, giving you guys daily content on all socials. Again, be sure to follow us at friendly foes FC. We're so close to 700 on Instagram, guys. Let's get there. Let's get to 700. Let's get let's get to 200 on TikTok. Close to 200 on TikTok. Hey, nope, hey, we might be influencers now. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_01Close to 15 subscribers on YouTube.
SPEAKER_00Hey man, don't don't let us get hot. Don't let us get hot, man. Don't let us hey don't if you see me on the street. Hey, just leave me alone with the fam, all right? Just leave me alone with the fam. If you recognize me on the street, hey, right. We got kids, we got a wife.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, come on, leave us alone. Pop rock gotta chill out a little bit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this is great. This is great. Number for real, man. We appreciate all the love again at friendly phones of see you on all socials. We'll be back at it again tomorrow, guys. Peace.