France vs Spain Semifinal Recap

In this episode we discuss how Spain dominated France and how all the odds are in their favor to win the tournament. We also do a little preview for tomorrow's big battle between Argentina and England. Tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

What's up, everyone? We got another super exciting episode today of the Friendly Fellows because we have our first team reached the final of World Cup 2026. And I'll tell you what, everybody thought that it was gonna be the best team in the world, the scariest thing team in the world, the team with the best attack in the world, the best players in the world, and it ended up being that France fell short once again, and to who none other than Spain? They keep struggling against Spain, another tournament where they cannot be Spain in a semifinal. And now we got Spain reaching the final for the second time in the history of their national team. First time since 2010. And we all know what happened then. Can they do it once again? Here to discuss Mr. Juan de Medina.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Dude, what a surprise of a game. What a surprise. I mean, the way they play today, I think they can do it again for sure. For sure. They completely neutralized the best team of the tournament. Completely. France was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. Luis de la Fuente.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, yeah. Brown coach.

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Wow. Completely outcoached De Champs. DeChamps thought he was just gonna run into another Morocco, another Paraguay, another Sweden. No, sir. No, sir. Not today. He did not give Spain the respect that they deserved. And that midfield got completely outplayed. Completely out of played. I mean, nothing was going through France's midfield. They were completely outnumbered in the middle of the park. They couldn't find Mbappe. Olise, where the hell was he? All tournament we were screaming about what a phenomenal player this guy is. And when France needed him the most, he completely vanished. Dembele wasn't really seen until like the 92nd minute. He started taking shots from nowhere. Mbappe, Mbappe was the only one that did okay. He did okay. He was the only one that was trying to do something, but the midfield still wasn't able to find them. That midfield for Spain was so dominant. And that defense, too. Oh my goodness, bro. That defense was just I saw a stat that Marco Cureya hasn't got dribbled past once this World Cup. Pedro Porro, phenomenal game. Deserved the man of the match. That duo between Cubarci and Laporte. My god. I think Laporte might be the best center back of the World Cup. I know we've been talking about Dallas on Sanchez, but he's booted. He's out. Laporta's going to the final. Phenomenal tournament that he's having. I think he's probably the best center back this tournament.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I would say Cuarci.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Nah, I'm going with Laporte. I'm going with Laporta, bro. He's been doing so good. Today he had a phenomenal game. Cuarci did too. He did great, but nah, I'm going with Laporta, bro. He's really he reminded me of what a great player he he is. He really reminds me. Because I forgot when he went to Saudi, I mean, we forgot about him. And then when he came back to La Liga, yeah, he was doing okay. But this World Cup, he has been world class. World class. Honestly, that whole back line has. But I'll just give Laporte just the the the just a little bit of a of a head over all the three defenders.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

But dude, yeah, it's been it's been absolutely amazing. I think Spain was probably a team that coming into the World Cup, everybody had as one of the favorites. After the group stage, people were like, I don't know if they were the right ones. And I think people started overlooking Spain because they were they were winning, but they weren't winning convincingly. They struggled against Cabo Verde, they struggled against uh a team like uh Uruguay who was not playing well, and they were just they they weren't super, super convincing that they were winning. And then as the tournament went on, they started playing better and better and better. And Luis de la Fuente started refining his team until he finally found his starting 11 and making those changes from I mean, even as a Barça fan, you gotta admit, I mean, taking Pedidi out and putting Fabián Ruiz in was a great adjustment. That's what the last two games. That's what a national team coach needs to do. That's what a true coach does. You gotta have balls to do something like that, to take out one of the best midfielders in the world. Not that Fabián Ruiz isn't also up there, but Pedidi is in the discussion for being the best midfielder in the world. He's not having a good tournament. So guess what? Fabiano Truez comes in because you need to add a little bit more muscle to the midfield, and you need to add somebody who's gonna be attacking the box, and he does just that. It's all about balance, and Luis taking out Marcos taking out taking out Marcos Llorente as well. He played he started the first year and then putting in Pedro Porro. Pedro Porro, man, yeah, like you said, he had a phenomenal game. Old Peter Joint, brother. Peter Joint. What a fucking fantastic game, dude. I've never seen dude. He at Tottenham is Peter Joint. We goes to Spain, he's Pedro Porro, man, because he is a completely different player, dude. He is a completely different player. It's not the same. The first the past couple games, I was like, is this the same Pedro Porro who plays for Tottenham, bro? No, it's this guy. It's Peter Joint. Peter Joint. Oh Peter Joint, man. He's he puts on Tottenham jersey. It's Peter Joint. He comes to Spain and it's Pedro Porro. Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

It's like it's like Juan Cuadrado, bro. People used to call him John Square.

unknown 5:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Dude, I remember, yeah. That was Luis Martapia. I did it one time during the during the game. He said John Square. And I started dying too. I was like, man, that's hilarious. It took me a minute. I was like, what is he saying? And then I was like, oh, you beauty.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

You beauty. Shit like that is what makes the game beautiful, man.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Man, but old old Peter joined with a man of the match performance, dude. That is what a true right back is supposed to do. And we don't see that many great right backs nowadays in today's game. But boy, is he is he having one hell of a tournament? He took the opportunity by the game. I kind of wish Madrid signed him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I'm like, damn, bro. Like I know.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

I'm looking at it too. I was like, we kind of need a right back, dog. What you doing with this?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

This guy is what, like 26, 27?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

I don't know how old he is. He's probably like mid-20s, but man, he's having a phenomenal tournament. He had a great game. And like you said, bro, everybody played amazing. I mean, France couldn't even sniff the ball. And that's where Spain won, is because they have such a dominant midfield, whereas France does not. France depended a lot more on their front three, front four, and their midfield was not that they had a weak point throughout the tournament, but they also never played anyone who threatened them in that midfield as much as Spain did. And Spain kept is so good at keeping possession that that's where France struggles. Whenever Fran, obviously, whenever France doesn't have possession, they're not gonna do anything with that ball. If you can't, if Mbappe and Elise and Dembele, they can't sniff the ball, nothing is going to happen. And if you don't have the right players to try to recover the ball, Kone and Rabiot, bro, they were they thought they're probably trying to figure out what the hell happened tonight. They have no idea. True of any.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

He got booked early, so he took him out halftime.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Everybody, man, they were all trying to figure out what just happened here because this is supposedly the best team in the world. Everybody was fearing France. But Laminho was right, man. They should fear us. That's what he said. They should fear Spain because Spain has been the one who's beat them in a tournament in a semifinal. Yeah, if he would have just been on side. Yeah, if he would have just if he would have timed his run a little bit better, that would have been a sick goal. Yeah. But they all played super well, man. You can't complain about that. I mean, the champs at the end of the game, they at the post-match interview, he tried to blame the ref. He tried to be like, this ref wasn't up to power to a ref semifinals.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

How are you going to completely outcoached? Completely outcoached. Exactly, bro.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

How are you going to blame a ref after you got completely outclassed by Spain? It wasn't like it was Spain never suffered. It wasn't like it was a back and forth battle. Spain never suffered. Spain, it was like a walk in the clock to them.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yeah, it was a domination from Spain, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

It was complete domination by Spain. France couldn't even sniff the ball. Mbappe got pocketed by Cubarci and Laporte. Olise couldn't do anything. Olisa could have arguably gotten a red card in the first like 15, 17 minutes of the game. Yeah, studs up. That happens to the whole uh team down in South America and they start saying it's rigged. But we'll see what they say about this one. But that was that was old studs up, and he should have should have been should have seen some for that. Should have seen some for that. Rothery, brother. I think we forgot how good Rotary is because this guy was just combination, he might win the player of the tournament. Dude, he he deserves it because fuck he's so good.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

He never loses a ball ever.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

I think people still, he's he's still, even though after he won the Ballondor, he's still underrated because people forget how good this guy is.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Well people even after he obviously tore his ACL right after that. Right, right, right, right, right after that. That was clear.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

But even when he won the Ballondor, people are saying oh he's like the least deserving Ballondor in history. Which is true.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

You can't argue that, which is true.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

No, I can argue that. I wouldn't say he's the I wouldn't say he's the least deserving. That's I mean, in recent years. Yeah, bro. No, that's a bit of a stretch. You could talk about Pavel Nedved in 2003 instead of it going to Tiari Henry. We can talk about that one. But I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I mean that's a whole different one more controversial than one, but I mean, yeah, I would say like at least in the last 20 years, that's probably like the most controversial one.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

It is controversial, but what I'm saying is that he he got so he got so much hate for that. And it started becoming as him being almost, yeah, under uh what's what's the word I'm looking for? He was under the radar, underrated. Yeah, right. Like underrated. I don't know why I couldn't think of that word. He was underrated. He just started becoming underrated because people didn't think he deserved it, but bro, this guy is he's phenomenal. And now he's back to being in top form after being having a terrible injury, like at ACL. It's good to see him out there. He's a good play in Boston that nobody's midfield. Dani Olmo also having a hell of a tournament. I don't know what it is with him, and whenever he puts that Spain number 10 jersey on, but we've seen it last two tournaments with the Euros and now with the World Cup. This guy's different gravy, man.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Yeah, I mean he's got the number 10 with Spain for a reason, not Lamine.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

Dude, he's so good, so good, phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Pretty good. And Fermin isn't even there. Everybody, dude. Fermin looks like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Fermin isn't even there, man. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Because to me, I I like Fermin better than Olmo, to be honest with you. At least I do too.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

At least this exactly, at least his past season for Barça, Fermin performed a lot better.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

I like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

But Danny Olmo, Danny Umo is also a really excellent player. He's just sometimes inconsistent for Barcelona. But the for Spain, he's been undoubtedly one of the best players. Yeah, he's he's so good. Love watching him play, love what he's doing in this World Cup. But boy, the way Spain steamrolled over France without even breaking a sweat should make both Argentina and England very, very nervous. Yeah, because they took out the biggest competition of the World Cup. And Spain, it's not like Spain has had an easy route either, man. They took out Portugal, they took out Belgium, and now they took out France.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

They're very solid and disciplined.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

I I really like Luis de la Fuente. That guy, he's got a hard hand, bro. They they know not to fuck with him. He knows what he wants, man, and he knows exactly how to translate that message to his players. So, I mean, this guy, we've never even heard of him before because he's only been in the lower division ranks for the Spanish national team.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Yeah, he was like U20 coach, U19, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Yeah, he's never closed. I don't think he's ever coached a club before or like senior players. Like this first actual like senior role. Yeah, exactly. What a what a job he's doing, bro. What a phenomenal job. I mean, they won the Euro. I think they're gonna win the World Cup, to be honest with you. I I really well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

He they they won the Euro, they were in the final of the Nations League, and they're in the final of the World Cup. So the three you could call it major tournaments that he's coached Spain in, they've gotten to a final. That speaks volumes of this guy and the dominance that Spain has had in the world. I mean, if you look at him in the last few years, European champion Spain for the male side, Olympic champion Spain, women's World Cup champion Spain, and then the men are in the the final again of the World Cup. That is complete domination.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

They had they had a little bit of a rough rough patch after 2012 when they won their last year. They had a little bit of a rough patch there, but looks like they're they're steamrolling again. They're back on the fucking fired Luis Enrique, bro, who is arguably the best coach right now. How crazy is that? And then they just de la Fuente and he's even doing better than when Luis Enrique was doing.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Right, it's not like you can say it was a bad decision because no, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

You can't. That's what I'm saying. It's just crazy because you go ahead and fire probably the best coach that there is right now, and you're still winning. It's it's crazy. I you didn't even win when with Luis Enrique, you're winning with Luis de la Fuente, so yeah, but that was a great decision. At the time, I was like, what the hell are they doing?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

But me too. I I I didn't understand the the assignment. I didn't understand the the why Luis de la Fuente was getting appointed as head coach. But man, I understand now, I'll tell you that much.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Yeah, what a phenomenal coach, man. And now all the credit.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yes, he's doing an amazing job. And they're they've also gone 37 games unbeaten in regular time because they lost the final in the nations league to Portugal in penalties, but in regular time and even overtime, they're still undefeated the last 37 games. Do you know who was the last team to beat them? Yeah, Columbia. Yes. So I'll tell you what, man. Spain don't want to fucking see us, bro. Don't go. You're lucky, you're lucky Switzerland took us out. You're lucky Switzerland took us out, bro. You're lucky. You're lucky we can't we can't take a fucking penalty, dog. Bro, we would have freaking dunked on you without Andeja paisa. Bro, you don't even want to take your payas out of here, bro. Cause we would have come.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

What payas?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Well, pause. Hold on a second.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Pause, pause. I got too excited.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Hold on. I'm gonna take a sip of water. Man, but they don't want none of this smoke, dog. They don't want none of this. So they're lucky. They lucky Switzerland did their dirty work for them. They're lucky. They're lucky Switzerland did their dirty dirt work.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Lucky as hell, man, because we would have definitely won that shit. We would have beat the hell out of it. I'm just gonna get mad talking about this again. Enough about Colombia.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

No, no, no. But anyway, Spain. I mean, you gotta give it to them, man. Now it's credit to them. Credit is due. But I mean, and and they're again the route to the final. It's not like it was an easy one. Their path to the final, they they beat some really, really top heavy teams, and now they're there, man. And we talked about it prior to the World Cup starting. Like Spain was gonna be our pick to win it all. And now they're in the final. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

I actually made a bet on them before the World Cup started. I had a little bonus bet at the Hard Rock app. I put 25 bucks in there.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

To win how much?

SPEAKER_00 15:54

To win, I think it's like 115, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Okay, not bad.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

A little money, a little something, something, not too crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

A little something, some using a little bonus bet there. Nothing bad, nothing bad. We'll see. We'll see if that cashes out. We'll see if that cashes out, man.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

Not too crazy.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

After this performance, I don't if I'm Argentina and I'm England, I'm I'm a little scared. I'm a little scared. And um I'm starting to worry because that was a hell of a performance. I hate it.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

Whoever plays the semifinal game first always ends up winning. Since 2012.

SPEAKER_01 16:38

Really? Since 201?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Since 2012. In World Cup and the Euros. Wow. Hold on a second. That's crazy. Whoever plays the game first always ends up winning. The semifinal game first.

SPEAKER_01 16:53

Wow. Let's look at 2020. I just want to look at this first. 2022. Who played first? Argentina, Croatia. That was December 13th. France, Morocco. That was December 14th. They get that extra day of rest. That does do a lot.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

That extra day. Especially if you go to like overtime. In tournaments like this, man, it's those little things matter.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

Those little things matter, man. That's insane. That is a fun fact. Wow. So whoa, we're talking, we're talking Spain might be might be favorites here.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

And have you seen who predicted the world champion for EA Sports? No, no, no. They predicted Spain, and they've got the correct prediction since 2010. They predicted the champion every yeah, every World Cup since 2010. And this year.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Did they predict the final as well or just the champion?

SPEAKER_00 17:47

No, just the champion. They predict the champion. And they've gotten it right since 2010.

SPEAKER_01 17:51

Since 2010, they've gotten it right? Since 2010, they've gotten it right. Don't bet against Spain, fellas. Don't bet against Spain.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

I would not bet against yeah, no. I would not bet against Spain. All the odds are in their favor.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

Anyway, man, but again, shout out to Spain. I'm happy for them. Obviously, there's a lot of Barcelona players on there. That makes me happy for all of them. And to potentially see them become World Cup champions, that'll be sick. To be see Lamin get us first, Betty, Cubarci, Daniolmo, Gabi. I mean, all these guys. Ferran Torres and Garcia, John Garcia, even though they haven't really had any playing time, honestly, those two. But it'll be it'll be fun. It'll be great. I'll be, I would be, I would be very happy for all of them. They deserve it. They're great players. So did you see Casillas, Puyol, Xavi, Sergio Ramos?

SPEAKER_00 18:38

Sergio Ramos. They were all there chilling. I know they were there. Two Barcelona, two Real Madrid. They're all just chilling. One team. I think they all got invited. All 23 players got invited. I think Fernando Llorente was there too.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I did see a lot. I see a lot of players there, but that's cool. That was fun. Yeah, it's good to see that they that they were they were their supporting team. Yeah. Gives us some good nostalgia, some good memory. That was a song.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

I mean, that team is way more dominant than this team, I think. For sure.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

I mean, they went, they went, they went back-to-back Euros in a World Cup in between. So but this pain is about to be. This team is just getting started. This team is just getting started. They won the Euro.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

They might win the World Cup. I would not be surprised if they win it in two years, the Euros.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Yeah, they I wouldn't be surprised either, man. Because they got a they got a they got a fairly young team, man. And there's still a lot of players who didn't even get into the squad that you're thinking about. Or the players that aren't even playing. Like I would love to see more of Victor Munoz. I don't know why Munoz hasn't been playing too much. He had a good season at Osasuna.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, I think he just really likes Alex Paena and then La Miña Mall.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

No, but I'm talking about off the bench. Like I'm talking up, he's not gonna start, but I'm talking about off the bench because Nico Williams has struggled the last year with injuries and everything. And I'm curious as to why Victor Munoz hasn't gotten any minutes. Like not a single minute. I don't know. That's what I'm curious about.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

I would like to see him play. I haven't seen him play in a while. He's fast as shit. Yeah. He can't finish for crap, bro. He cannot finish. But he's he's a good little player.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

He's a good little player.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah, he's incredibly fast. No, it would be nice to see him play for sure. I want to see how how uh much improvement he's had since I last saw him. So I mean he's gotta be alive. He he's getting called up to the national team. And for us as soon as he killed it.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, he had a good season for us as soon as so. Just curious why he's never played. But anyway, man, we got our first finalist of the World Cup, and now we're on to the other semifinal tomorrow between England and Argentina. And uh, what is this? Atlanta and Atlanta. Atlanta. Between the two of them. A lot of history between this two teams. Some would say is an international classico between Argentina and England, who haven't faced each other in a major tournament since 2002. And this is gonna be the first time that Messi has ever gone up against England.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

That's pretty crazy. It took him like 20 years to do that.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

It took him 20 plus years to do that. And boy oh boy, am I excited because not only is there rivalry on the field, there's rivalry off the field, a lot of political tension between the two for many, many years over the Falcas Islands. Las Islas Malvinas, Argentinians still claim that it's there, even though it's officially England's huge war broke out, and that's why there's beef. That's why there's been beef for a long time. Scaloni came out and said it's just a football match. That's what he should do. He shouldn't start heating up that rivalry anymore at this moment. But realistically, this is gonna be a very, very heated rivalry with two very, very heated fan bases.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

And I'm all very physical teams, too.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Ooh, yeah. It's gonna be it's gonna be a good one.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

You're pulling for England, right? You're gonna be pulling for England?

SPEAKER_01 21:59

Hell no. No, bro.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Are you freaking kidding me, dude? Hell no, bro.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Why would I be pulling for England? Why would I be? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Maybe because freaking Argentina has always beaten us. They're our rivals. Bro. They've taken away Cope America in 2015, in 2021, in 24. They've taken all my hopes and dreams. You want to support them, bro? You're going to support them?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

I'm always supporting South American teams, man, because I want to see South America on top. You know what I mean? That's the first thing. That's the first thing. And then on top of that, we got the greatest player of all time.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Get that out of my face.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Who's going to be playing tomorrow, man? The greatest player of all time who has basically single-handedly carried Argentina to where they're at right now at 39 years old. And to watch him lift potentially another one back to back would just be a cherry on top. I thought, you know, four years ago that was it. And he going into this tournament, I was like, man, I honestly don't even care if Messi wins it or not. Like it is what it is. But just to see the fact that they've gotten this close, to be honest, I didn't even think that they were going to get this close. I thought that they were going to be bounced out a little bit earlier. And to see them at another semifinal and potentially another final and a final between Spain and Argentina, I can't lose. I can't lose. Because if Argentina wins, Messi goes back to back. He gets another one to his trophy cabinet, potentially wins the golden boot and the golden ball. You can't tell me shit. And then if Spain wins, Lamin gets his first, Petty gets his first, Baucuarsi gets his first. Bob Petty, yeah, whatever, man. He still gets it, though. He still gets it. He still contributed. He's still part of the team, you know. But then we got their starters, Dani Olmo, Baucu Warcía, Lamin Yamal, or from La Macia as well. All from La Macilla. So it's uh that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

You're going for Argentina, bro. I fucking hate that. I hate that. I absolutely hate it. It's not crazy at all, man. It's not crazy at all. They've literally taken away our hopes and dreams, and you're gonna support them. That's disgusting. 2022, I get it. But he's he's got his Cope America. He's got two. He's got two fucking Cope Americas. He's got his World Cup. What else is there to win, bro? What else is there to win? This is our rival. This is our rival. This is our biggest rival in the Conmebol. Let's let's not cheer for them. Let's do not cheer for them. Right now, you can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

The thing is, like, they don't even see us as our biggest rival at this point.

SPEAKER_00 24:33

But we do, I don't care. I don't care. We do, bro. I feel like an Atletico Madrid fan right now when they look at Real Madrid and Barcelona. I do feel like that, but I don't care. I really don't give a shit. Because you know how many times they've broken my heart, bro? You know how many times I've thought, oh, this might be our chance. And here comes that little pulguita Colombia por la Copa America. Oh my dude. Nah, bro. Nah, nah. I'm done, bro. All the intense battles that we've had with them. Fuck you, Argentina. Fuck you. No. Nah, no. You guys, you guys better not win anything. I would hate to see Spain win it because of all the Barcelona players. I wouldn't even be thrilled to see England win. You're in a lose-lose situation if Spain were Argentina.

SPEAKER_02 25:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

I wouldn't completely lose-lose situation. I would hate that. I probably wouldn't even watch it. It would be a terrible game. I'm rooting for England to go all the way. And I'm not even thrilled about that. The only reason why I'm rooting for England is because of Jude Delling. That's it. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Man, yeah, because all your boys are out, man. Vinny got bounced. Ronaldo got bounced.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Bro, they all got bounced by the round of 16, bro. I haven't watched football since the quarterfinals. I've just been crying about it this whole time. That's that's funny. Judah's the only one carrying me, dude. That's it. That's all I have left. That's my only hope.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

No. I've yeah, I mean, I'm a messy guy. I'm a Barca fan. I'm South American. I'm supporting Argentina. I'd rather see South American football on top than European football. Always, man. Always. Always, always.

SPEAKER_00 26:00

At the same time, Argentina to be the one at the top? No. No. Disgusting. Disgusting. I'm done with them being at the top. They're my number one nemesis. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 26:09

Yeah. You and many others, but man, I tell you what, this little guy, he's gonna perform tomorrow. He's gonna come out and he's gonna show England what he's about, man. What he's about.

SPEAKER_00 26:19

He's gonna disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

They're gonna have nightmares about this little guy.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

You're not gonna I'm not you're not wrong. You're probably I probably am. If Messi wasn't on Argentina, I would not be rooting.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Exactly. That's the only reason why you freaking love Argentina is because of Messi, which, yeah, cool. All right. And so do many other people. Just stop. Stop. He's given you enough. All right. He's given you enough with Barcelona. You saw him watch or watch him win a World Cup, but he's giving you plenty of heartbreaks in the Copa Medica. Plenty. Enough.

SPEAKER_01 26:57

I don't see it as he has. I see it as we have done that to ourselves. Like we should have, we should have won those games. We should have won the tweet.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

We should have, but guess what? Messi is the one leading Argentina. So yeah, him and his little freaking bodyguards. All of his little peasants that follow him around everywhere. Starting with that little bitch Rodrigo DePaul, bro. I see that dude. I just want to freaking smack him in the face.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah, I mean, he he does have a very smackable face, I'm not gonna lie. Man, but okay, so you got you got England tomorrow, obviously. What's your score prediction? What's your score prediction for tomorrow? What's it gonna look like?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

It's gonna go to penalties. It's gonna go to penalties. And I hope England wins in penalties.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

You know, man. I think it's a very tough game.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Very closed-off game.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

I don't know if it's gonna go to penalties. It it might, man. It might go to penalties, but I'm gonna say, just to be different, I do think it's gonna go to overtime. I think it's gonna be another 3-2 win by Argentina. I think they're gonna pull in the 3-2 win and overtime, and they're gonna get to their seventh final. Just keep in mind, man, Argentina has been to six semifinals, and they haven't lost a single one. Every time they reach a semifinal, they get to a final. This isn't gonna be, yep. This isn't gonna be the time for them to lose. So they're six for six in semis. They're about to go seven for seven. This is their seventh appearance ever in a semifinal, and they're gonna leave England car. I know that's that, but and they're gonna leave Thomas Tugel potentially out of a job. You think he'll be fired? I actually don't think he will, but a lot of people are gonna be pissed because of his squad selection. Because whenever whenever people saw his squad selection, they said it's either win it all or bust. Because if you can't win it all with this team, you got a lot of talent at home that could have helped you.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

Yeah, I mean he's taking them to the semifinal, though. Well, even though I would say him, I would say Bellingham and Kane.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

But that's not that's not an accomplishment that they haven't done before with that with Gareth Salke. You know, Garrett Salk took him back-to-back Eurofinals, a World Cup semifinal as well in 2018.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

For sure, for sure. But uh what I'm saying is they're they're there without their best team. Right. Which is somewhat impressive.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

It is impressive, for sure. It is. I'm not I'm not taking a semifinal appearance away from a manager at all, but they expect more out of him in England. Yeah, English, English media and fan are gonna expect a lot out of him. And because of the fact that he left those big names like Call Palmer, Phil Foden, all out of the squad, Trent, it's it's a it's a win it all or bust type of thing scenario. Or at least Richard Final. At least, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Well, hopefully, hopefully you can do something or more against those boys, man.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

It's gonna be exciting, man. It's gonna be a very, very heated game. I'm actually very excited for this one, more than I was excited for the France for Spain one.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Especially because we've never seen this, we've never seen an Argentina in England. Literally, I mean, we were so little whenever they played each other in in '98. We didn't understand anything. And we didn't understand anything, dude. And you know, it's funny, you talked about the Spanish players being there today. Then there was that picture, I think Simeone or Beckham posted it, one of them, but they were both together recently, and they posted a picture together on Instagram. Did they? Which is yeah, which is ironic given you know the consequences that happened back in '98. Beckham getting a red card because Simeone was getting in his head, all these things. So now they're they've rekindled, they're all good. They kissed him. That was 30 years ago almost. Yeah, that was a long time, 28 years ago. Long time ago. Long time ago. Well, yeah, man. Exciting day ahead tomorrow for the semifinals. Will it be England? Will it be Argentina? You guys let us know because it's gonna be we're we're we're getting close, man. We're only about what five days away as of today from the World Cup final, and it is then it's over, man. Then it's over. I came, it came and went really quickly. Really?

SPEAKER_00 30:59

I don't know what we're gonna do with our lives anymore.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

Yeah, I know. What are we supposed to do? I don't know, man. I haven't been able to figure out what to do like the past couple days.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

I was like, what it's weird, man. Yeah, it's like you you go from watching soccer like literally all day, every day, to huh. Right. Now it's just like one game.

SPEAKER_01 31:18

What I do for exactly, yeah. What do I do? Or even like you know, Sunday and Monday, I was like, Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

But it's funny because it's not like we we don't do this like when there's no World Cup. We know exactly what our daily routine is, but as soon as we're getting to like this stage of the World Cup, it's like, wait, what the what what am I supposed to do with myself now? Yeah, I have so much free time.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

Seriously, and the World Cup final, man, it's gonna be like the best day ever, but at the same time, it's gonna be the worst day ever. Because it all comes to an end. It it all comes to an end. You gotta wait another and then we gotta wait another four years for the World Cup. So I love four years, man.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

It would it wouldn't be as beautiful if it wasn't every four years, you know. That's what makes it special, honestly. I'll wait for the World Cup to to be every two years, how they've been talking about it.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

It's gotta stay for years. I wouldn't like that either. I like that every four-year thing. I think it I think it makes it even more special waiting for it. But here, let me ask you this because there's been reports about FIFA and Infantino talking about a 64 team World Cup in 2030. What do you think about that? I'm like 150 on it. That would get rid of the best third place team scenario.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

That's why. That's probably like the only reason why. Just get that best third place team scenario out of there, but at the same time, it's like, damn, that's a lot of fucking teams, bro. 64 isn't gonna be a good thing. Way too many teams. That's a lot of teams. That's double the amount of teams that would than what we started watching the World Cup with, you know? Yeah, that's a lot of people. Yeah, you and I, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I I I get that smaller national teams deserve to showcase themselves. I mean, we saw that with Cape Verde, with Congo. They have the quality and the capability. Yeah, they have the quality and capability to to somewhat keep up with with these type of national teams. So I I I like that. I like that. That we saw different national teams and we're like, oh damn, like they're actually not bad. Like, Cape Verde is the only team that hasn't lost to Spain in this World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Crazy, man. They didn't they actually didn't lose a single game in regular time.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Yeah, nobody was able to beat them. And and our Argentina and Spain played them, and yeah, they're gonna be. And Uruguay. And and Uruguay.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

They went up against three world champions and nobody can beat them.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Congo put up a good fight against Colombia, put up a good good fight against England. So I like the yeah, against Portugal too. So I I like these small teams that are becoming known because before we didn't know them at all. That part I actually like. But yeah, 64 teams is just a lot. The only thing I would like about it is that it gets rid of that third place in the group. That's probably the only I would like about that. But and honestly, I feel like it's almost inevitable inevitable in wow, I can't pronounce that word. Inevitable.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

Sounded out.

SPEAKER_00 34:05

It's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

I think so too. Because it's one, it's gonna be a bigger revenue stream for FIFA, and that's all they care about. But I I agree with you in the same point of the main reason I like it is because it gets rid of that best third place rule that I'm not a big fan of either. However, I I will say, hand up, like FIFA was right about this 48 team thing. Okay, I c I liked it.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

This was like showing the off these small nations. One of the best World Cups. It was a great World Cup for sure.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

It was awesome. I loved it. The group stage was amazing. The knockouts have been amazing. It's been awesome seeing, like you said, those smaller nations put up with the big teams. Like, that's what we love. That's what people want to see. That underdog story, that Cinderella run. That's what we want to see. And we saw it with Cape Verde this year. Wow. That was that was a good thing. Now the whole world knows about Cape Verde, you know. Exactly. Nobody, everybody knows.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

Nobody really knew about Cape Verde. I didn't even I don't even think anybody knew it was a country or that it existed.

SPEAKER_01 35:03

No, nobody knew anything about him. So and now and now people know about him. And that's that's the beautiful thing about the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

Is it literally puts countries on the map for people who didn't know where the is the most followed goalkeeper on all of social media platforms? Yeah, how crazy is that.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

Isn't that crazy? It is crazy. Well, Zenia, bro.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

It's the first time we hear about this guy, and he's already got the most followers out of any goalkeeper.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

That's crazy, man.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

That's what the world is, and that's beautiful to see. So I like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

I do like that, but yeah, this 64 teams is is a little much, in my opinion. And I think we should see at least one more iteration of the 48 team World Cup before we actually talk about expanding it to 64 teams. I think we're talking about expanding it a little bit too soon. I think, like you said, it's inevitable. It's going to happen sooner rather than later because they're already talking about it. But I'd like to see at least one more of the 48 team, see how that goes, see how everything works out. This year was fantastic, see how the next one goes in 2030, and then take it from there. I think it's too soon to be making that decision to expand the World Cup by that much.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

But at the same time, it also loses its privilege of being at the World Cup. If you start expanding it to basically everybody in the world, it's gonna come a point where FIFA's just gonna be like, fuck it, everybody come join the World Cup. No qualification.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

I think 64 should be the limit. 64 is the limit, bro. Because then when the hell are you gonna finish the tournament? Yeah, exactly. That's the thing that's gonna spend the tournament another week, and club football's already starting this week, you know? At some point, clubs are gonna start interfering and be like, wait, hold up, hold up, you never know, man.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

That that's the thing, is that that's the other conversation, too, is it's gonna it's gonna add more games, it's gonna make the tournament longer, it's gonna make the fatigue higher for these players who are playing 50 to 70 games a season, it's gonna lead to more injuries, all these things, right? But FIFA doesn't really give a fuck about that, they only care about dollar signs.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

No, 64, I would say, is the limit, bro. Like, and even that, that's already like whoa.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

That is a lot, man. That is a lot, especially if you if you think about it. Whenever the first the first World Cup back in 1930, they started off with 13 teams. 13, yep, 13 teams.

SPEAKER_00 37:19

That's gross.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

It was weird, yeah. And it was all it was like invite only. There was no qualification. Invite only. Yeah. And then they they they expanded it to 16 teams, and it was 16 teams for a couple for a few iterations, and it went up to 24. No, no, no, no, no. Then I think up until 1982, they expanded it to 24. And then it was twenty. Yeah, and then it was twenty-four teams up until 98, I believe, or 94, one of the two. And then they expanded it to 32, and it's been 32 for the longest period of time, up until 2026. Yeah. So the the the best third place team thing was also a thing when there was exactly back in the day. Like Columbia made it to the round of 16 in 1990 because we came in third place in our group, and we were one of the best third place teams. That's how we made it.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

I didn't know that. Fun fact of it.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Fun fact, yeah. That's the that's the main reason we made it. But yeah. Anyway, man, we gotta we gotta wrap things up here. Uh, we'll be back again with you guys tomorrow. Good little episode. It's gonna be another fun episode tomorrow, man, because we gotta it's good, we're gonna see who's gonna be playing in the final. Is it gonna be Spain, Argentina, or Spain, England? We'll see. We'll see what happens. Uh I told you, I told you Spain, I told you France was gonna struggle for Spain. I told you if anybody could do it, it was gonna be Spain. And I'm telling you, I guess France was around. I told you, Lam Laminima.

SPEAKER_00 38:45

From those past two games, man. Individual talent can only get you so much in these type of games. And Deschamps did not prepare well enough. He set his team up for failure, that's for sure. Got completely outcoached by Luis de la Fuente.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Yeah, and Laminha Mol still dominates Killing Mbappe in single elimination. He's now 6-0 against Mr. World Cups in single elimination. He can't do it, man. He can't do it against Lamin. Little 19-year-old is fathering a 27-year-old. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Alright, relax, bro. Lamin didn't even do anything today. He didn't. You mean the defense. Neither did Mbappe bothered them. Neither did Mbappe. Lamin didn't do anything, bro. Lamin hasn't even done anything in this World Cup. Spain getting the golden ball. He's not getting MVP, I'll tell you that. It's gonna be a really good.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

No, no, he's not, but he's gonna get the best young player of the tournament at the age of 19. He's still gonna be playing. And he's still listen to this, listen to this. At the age of Lincoln, at the age of 19, Laminha Mall is having a better World Cup than Cristiano Ronaldo ever has. Laminha Mall has reached a final, bro, has gone further in the World Cup than Cristano Ronaldo ever has.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Just saying. And he's got more league titles.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Bro, don't start there. Do not start there. Don't start with the league titles. Please win a freaking way.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

Let's not get into this. Let's not get into this right now because we got it. We gotta let the people go. But just remember, just remember, LaMin Yamall, already a bigger World Cup legacy than Ronaldo. And I'm telling you right now, I gave you that Laminha Mall stat against Mbappe. Has never lost in single elimination. I'm giving you the stat for Argentina. They've never lost a semifinal. Every time they make it to a semi-they make it to a final, and we're gonna see them again in the final is gonna be Spain, Argentina, July 19th. Maybe MetLife Stadium. Okay, okay. You keep telling yourself that whenever you're crying yourself to sleep with your Ronaldo jersey on and your Mbappé jersey or whatever. That's all your boys are out.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Yeah, all my boys are out except Bellingham. My boy Jude's gonna do something tomorrow. Messi's never played against Jude.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

We'll see what never gets. We didn't get the Jude special. No, no, no. It's not Messi's never played against Jude. It's Jude's never played against Messi. And Jude's gonna find out what the goat's about. So we'll see what happens tomorrow night, man. Or tomorrow afternoon over here on the East Coast.

SPEAKER_00 41:09

We'll see, man. It's gonna be a good game. The Battle of the Tens. We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Battle of the Tens. Here we go. But again, guys, thanks for joining us. Uh it's been a fun episode. Again, be sure to, if you haven't already, uh subscribe to the show on anywhere that you listen to this show right now. Be sure to rate, subscribe, review, it helps us grow. And follow us along on social media. We're posting a lot of content out there for you guys at friendly foes. And we'll see you all tomorrow night. Peace.