USA Won't Win The World Cup? They Let A $100M Kid Walk Away

Happy Father's Day, fam. We're back at The Block and the World Cup is going crazy. Messi just took the World Cup scoring record... at almost 39, playing the full 90, with even the Austria fans clapping him off. 

The man refuses to age. Then Lamine Yamal scores his first World Cup goal 14 days younger than Messi did... the torch is getting chased, not passed. Cape Verde? First World Cup ever and they go toe to toe with Uruguay for a 2-2. I get into the heritage "sell-out" debate and how eligibility actually works. Bielsa goes off on FIFA's four quarters (and the water-break lie). And yeah... we said the USA won't win this World Cup, and the comments lost it. 

I explain why, including a kid named Yann Diomande the system let walk to Europe. Plus the Coca-Cola woman who supposedly won every World Cup for life. Come argue with me... join the newsletter and be part of the show at thefootball.show.

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Chapters: 
- 00:00 — Happy Father's Day (and Spain crushing Saudi Arabia at The Block)
- 00:42 — Messi takes the World Cup scoring record at almost 39
- 02:18 — Spain's tactical switch (Pedri, Alex Baena's first start)
- 03:11 — Lamine Yamal matches young Messi (and a message to young players)
- 04:55 — Cape Verde stuns Uruguay 2-2
- 06:20 — The "sell-out" debate: how heritage eligibility really works
- 08:16 — Bielsa goes off on FIFA's four quarters
- 12:04 — Why we say the USA won't win this World Cup
- 13:46 — Yann Diomande and the US scouting problem
- 15:32 — A Venezuelan fan's view (Copa America in Austin)
- 17:44 — The Coca-Cola woman who "won" every World Cup
- 18:50 — Wrap up and what's next

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Come join the Global Club Break FC (@offricialbreakfc).

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the football show. We are back in the recording studio after a great father's day. So shout out Happy Father's Day to all those dads, papas, all of them out there in the in the world that uh keep us going, baby. So happy Father's Day. I spent the day uh watching football. We actually went to a place called the block here locally where we live and we uh watch Spain crushed Saudi Arabia in the morning with the kids, big screen. Um you know, I I think I might have a little video uh on here, cut to the video. It's been like spice positions, and um yeah, we just had a great time. So congrats, happy Father's Day. All right, so the time of this recording is uh Monday, right after the Argentina game. Again, tough game. This wasn't as easy as we thought it was gonna be, but Messi, oh Messi, this guy keeps surprising everybody. Today he took the record of uh the top scorer for World Cup, and at the time I'm recording is minute 40 here, France, Iraq, and uh Mbappé just scored not so long ago. So chasing Messi, I think Mbappe, like we said, we mentioned this in the other episode, he might take over the overall record. Maybe not this World Cup, but in a couple of them. Uh he's still young, man. He still probably has like two more cups. So if he does well, he keeps scoring the way that he does, uh, he will probably take it on. But at the moment, let's enjoy it. Um, this man, Messi, man, this man just refuses to age. He's turning 39 in a couple of days, and it's crazy how I mean he played full 90 minutes. Crazy. You can see the team really working to make sure that he has the best World Cup ever. And if he does, uh the team does as well. So um I think every pundit or every critic out there, they're just waiting for him to kind of slow down, but he just keeps saying no, it's crazy. I mean, I so we saw him walking out of the field, and you have like this not only the Argentina fans, but the Austria fans was also right there just cheering him on and and clapping for him. So it's really good to see also this rivalry between you know teams can also be uh you know overshadowed by a great player. Just saying. Um Kiker, here's here's a cool fact that we learned yesterday after Spain domination with Saudi Arabia. I mean, that game alone uh master class with from Spain. Finally, they changed their starting 11. I think something more vertical. I saw I saw a graphic that it shows all Pedri passes where he could not get like a through pass. All the passes were diagonals or sideways, which was pretty interesting to me. And I think it has to do a lot of the with the way that a lot of teams are defending with that low block, very compact, and um just just lack of it. But there's this Alex Baina, the guy that started on the left-hand side, um, as a starter. It was the first the first uh time that he played as a starter in the World Cup. He crosses past him and Rodri in the midfield, and that's how I think the first or the second goal end up happening, uh, which is pretty interesting. They just need some more creative people on there, and I think with Daniel and obviously Lamin Jamal and Alex Vina was a good combination to do that and break that. So, with that, Lamin scored his first World Cup goal, and uh at the same age that Messi did his first World Cup goal, we're gonna put it out there. This guy is gonna take on the the myth, and um it's just four he was he's just 14 days younger than Messi. So 18 years and 343 days versus Messi, 18 years and 357 days. Wild. Wild the fact that you are you know playing the way that you are at 18 years old, um crazy. Also, a lot of kids or young kids might be see this, and and they are they will take it as motivation to go and play harder. Uh, but also I've seen it uh not only on myself but also on other ones. Do not compare two players like this. I mean, 18. I know that there's a lot of reels out there and all of stuff that you see online, it's like, oh, you know, I I saw a reel the other day of a mom kind of screaming at his kids. It's like this kid is 18. You could have been like him. Do not compare yourself, every path is different. Uh, opportunities are different, they're gonna come to you if you're in this path of becoming a professional football player. Continue on your path, you can make it. There's people playing out there in their late 30s, even 40s. So uh just continue your path. I mean, Vocinia is a great example, right? Like he became a professional at 25. So uh take motivation, take example of these guys. You know, what are they doing to do better? What are they doing to become the best at their positions? And then on your side, what is the work that you're doing to do that? So, on that note, uh last night game, Cape Verde versus Uruguay. Uh, a lot of people had Uruguay destroying Cape Verde, but what a game this is World Cup gave us last night. What an exciting game. Both teams very aggressive. I honestly was not expecting Cape Verde to be that aggressive against a team like Uruguay. And uh the few chances that they had, they nailed it, man. Couple mistakes in there, especially on the second goal, uh, pure Uruguayan. And pretty funny the fact that I saw this clip where it's like this like Uruguayan uh couple being uh become you know being engaged. The moment of the engagement is when Cape Verde scored the 2-2. Pretty hilarious. But shout out, those guys played like you know, none other. They are they definitely don't believe they're a small team in this world cup. They do believe that they're gonna continue, you know, uh making something out of it. And that game, K Verde against Saudi next week or in a few days, is gonna be intense. It's gonna be like a final. I think they both could, you know, go through at this point. How I saw Saudi playing against Spain, they played not to not to lose by like 10-0. Uh, if K Verde comes out and plays against them like they they did uh against Uruguay, they're gonna destroy Saudi. Just gonna put that out there. And then Uruguay versus Spain. What a game to another final here, but um which is crazy. I mean, we talked about these guys for a few episodes now, but uh you know what I what I really love about this is like this squad is like built from players like global, it's like a global team, right? You have people from Portugal, you have people from other countries, and it's a heritage, and there's a debate out there uh happening with um with stuff like that. It's like, well, these guys are sell-offs, they don't play for their own country or you know, whatever. I think as a player, if you get the opportunity to be in a World Cup, you go do it with whatever team or nation gives you that opportunity. And for those that are not familiar and how this thing works, it's not like a player can pick the country that they play at. Uh they have to have heritage that like their parents maybe were born there, you know, they have the nationality. There's a case in Cape Verde that this guy got recruited by LinkedIn just because they found that you know his parents or his grandparents were there. And uh, even if you play in like younger categories, I think is oldise that he played for the young uh English teams, the youth. You can still uh once you make the main the main team, the absolute team, how they call it, once you step on the field with that as a full-on professional main squad, then you cannot revert back to the other country, right? So um all these players, especially Cruceau, you know, you have a lot of guys that are from the Netherlands, how we talked about in the last few episodes. France has 92 players uh present in this. They're not sellouts, they just have the opportunity to go um, you know, represent the country of their family, of their parents. Maybe they live there for a couple of years. Who knows? But super cool to see this that you know this world is small, smaller and smaller because of all the immigration and all the things, and you know, there's a lot of people that yeah, move different countries, and you see it here and you see the unity, you see the positive in these uh sports. So um, congrats to those. And then if you have any questions on how this thing works, let me know because I can already tell some comments uh might be coming our way with it with our clips. Uh, but here's here's another good part about this is Bielsa, the Uruyan, is not having it's not about the game, it's about the four quarters. I mean, uh, this is I think the most negative uh part about the this tournament is like we now see the people in the stadiums like reacting to these, you know, water breaks. But apart from the being a commercial that FIFA lied to us and all these things, I think what Bielsa is trying to say to everybody is like how it affects the game itself. And I was talking to somebody earlier in the coffee shop about about this, and it turns a game that is you know for 45 minutes continuous to like legit four quarters, and that affects the strategy of the game or how you prepare the game as well. So let me go here on my notes. So he he came out like swinging, right? His take is like it changes the whole culture of the game, it doesn't add anything to it, it just takes a lot away. And honestly, you know, when when a man like Bielsa, if you don't know Bielsa, please go research him. Like this is one of the top coaches like in the world ever. Uh talks about the soul of football, like you stop and and you have to listen. I think this is like very valuable feedback. Um, I'm not surprised that no players, and I can hear you know, people maybe mentioning this that well, why are the players not complaining? Well, because the players are in in the tournament, they cannot talk about these things in the tournament, they will get fined, they will get um um penalized not only by FIFA, but also you know, the tournaments and maybe their national teams, so they're probably keeping quiet. And at the end of the day, you know, the there's a stage that that's a commitment, right? You have to go play. But you see a lot of pundits and a lot of ex-players that have put in the their takes on this kind of stuff. Coaches, I think it's more natural for them to to talk about it because you can see that it does affect big time, um, you know, how they how they how to strategize around the game. Uh, about momentum, I'm about how to how to time the strategy, how to time how to press high, how to recover, uh, you know, how hard, how hard are you going on the game, all these things uh make sense. So um should we allow progressive stuff like that? Well, say progressive, but different things like that to happen uh to the beautiful game, or should we keep it to the core and how it has been um in the last decades, right? I think that's a debate. When COVID happened, you saw it with the subs. In the past, you had three subs the entire game. Right now you can get five subs after COVID, um five subs in three windows, right? So you have three opportunities to put in five players. Uh at first I was very against it, I think. And then as I saw as I saw the the thing happening, I saw the positive on that specific one. So I think you know you have more fresh legs, so that's like five players that improve the rhythm of the game. You know, you can keep you know the rhythm faster, you can continue to attack if you're attacking. Um I I think it makes it a little bit more dynamic. So anything that creates opportunities for the game to get a little better, I think that's uh that's a good thing. The water breaks, I don't think they do that, they do the complete opposite, right? They slow down the game. There you have, you know, that freaking commercial break for the fans. I don't like the whole stadium doesn't like it because they're there just you know waiting for the players to come back out. Um, and especially no need. And what's crazy is that they lied because they said that it was because of the safety, the heat. They're their games being played at 60 degrees uh Fahrenheit, you know, uh 14 degrees Celsius. So I don't think the water break is needed. Uh alright. Um, let's see, what's next here? So um question: why why are you mad that we say that USA won't win this World Cup? I think it's logical. I think it's logical with everything that we talked about with the crazy teams that are here. Um, do I think do I believe that they will win? I I don't. I don't think so. I think they have a solid team, I think they have two games that they're they've done really well. I think they have the home crowd advantage. I think that like by being a host nation, like that mentally and physically helps a ton. But I think they have they're not experienced enough for the the playoff games, like the round of 16, rounds of eights. Maybe I'll see them maybe get into the semifinals if they continue to play the way that they are. But I can't wait to see the brackets and see the path that they're gonna take. Um one thing that I really want to clarify, because we got a lot of heat here in the comments with uh with our clips and different things like that, is like um on the take that you do have to believe it. Well, yes, we I mean we live in this country, we love it. Like I said, but we also have to be honest. I think it's uh uh a develop the developing country when it comes to soccer or football, right? And you have a coach like Pochettino that finally like redid the entire structure so they could play the way that they're playing. And here's the take. Keep in mind, all these players that are playing right there, the vast majority, and I would love to clarify this, and maybe we'll do some research on to see how many, but I read that at least 10 players left the US systems to go play in Europe since the age of the age of uh 16. So here's here's a proof that we say, like a kid name, and then you might hear this name, Jan Dumandie. Right? He was born in 2006, he was playing semi pro in MLS Next, right here in Florida. We've seen the pictures, right? And the whole system let him walk away, and now he's crushing it in La Bundesliga. He might be signing for Liverpool at 100 million. Uh it's it's just a rumor, by the way. Fabricio Romano has not said it. But this guy grew up right here in the home ground, and like, and he's not playing for it. He wasn't even selected for any of this, right? He was selected earlier by different scouts. So here's my whole point: yes, the national team today is doing awesome. They might get far in there, but at the same time, he's like, we need the system right below to support that. Uh, positives. Really cool things that I've seen is like dispose of uh a bunch of people. It's like, hey, my kid, he's a baseball fan, he's a basketball fan, they've been following this thing, and just because of the hype of what's happening with USA, because uh I heard this this morning in the coffee shop too with talking to a couple of people there, it's like the national sport of USA is competing, they just like to compete. Like you tell them you cannot do one thing, and they will go and do it and crush it. That's the cool thing. It's like there's this is the country of the opportunity, this is the country that you have the the resources to do it, like there's no better place to do this, but there's still a long road to do. Like I said, like I said in the comments, I hope they prove me wrong and they can get as far as possible. As a fan, I would like to see some other teams win. I've already said who. Uh let me know in the comments who do you think it will win. Uh, also, if you are born here in the US, 100% believe that you can do it. Man, like me, I like I said, I'm Venezuelan. My country has never been in the World Cup, so I cannot relate whatsoever. That's why we root for something else. Maybe we do an episode on like you know how we follow football in Venezuela. We have colonies from all over the nation, all over the country as well, all over the world. We have Spanish, Italians, uh, Portuguese people, all over. So I cannot relate uh on the feeling of having your home nation uh playing a World Cup. The closest we got to this was a couple years ago in the Copa America, where they played here in the US, where Venezuela made it, and you know, we got the opportunity to watch him in Austin and they beat Jamaica 3-0. That was the greatest experience uh in football in my life because the the stadium, which in Austin shut out, you have a beautiful stadium. It was packed with 25,000 Venezuelans, right? It was crazy, and they won. And they won playing the very good football. So I do not relate with you, and that's why you know sometimes it's it's really hard. But if you're a home nation, yes, you do believe. But I, you know, I guess I do relate because in that experience with the Copa America is like the second biggest tournament for a South American uh national team. You kinda wish, you kind of believe that you're gonna win, but you know that your team is not good enough to win it. So I think like that's the difference. You're like, are you kind of hoping that they win, and that's a sensation, you know. Even if they play well, you're like, oh, you know, they played amazing, like, yeah, we're gonna go all the way. But then you see teams like freaking Argentina in front of you, and you're like, I I want to believe, but I don't really know if we're gonna do it. And I think that is the same thing that is happening with US. And again, if you are from here and um, you know, you think I'm wrong, let me let me know. I'm happy to have that conversation. But I do think, you know, the way that they play, very convincing. If they get to support it and move it forward, I mean, the fact that they already qualified and they play Turkey that's eliminated, that's gonna give them an opportunity to try new players on there, they're gonna give them an opportunity to uh rest their starting 11, especially Pulisic as well. That's coming from an injury. So very cool things to do it. But uh very cool that you believe they're gonna do it. Let me know in the comments. Um, okay, as we close the show today, here's one more story the the Coca-Cola women. Okay, so so um this one's like very wild, and this is social media verified. I don't know how truth this is, but I thought it was worth it mentioning here on the show. This Equatorian woman entered a Coca-Cola raffle in 1998, and supposedly she won a ticket to every future World Cup. What a prize! This is crazy. Um, for life, by the way, for life, and here's big supposedly, right? So uh we're checking on this hard, but I mean the fact that you could do something like that is is crazy. One raffle ticket, a lifetime of World Cups. Uh, is it tickets to the game? Is it like all paid expenses? I think it's just tickets to the game. It's like that one guy that got like free free like airplane tickets or with American airlines all over the world. I mean, is this lady cashing them in? I don't know. True or not, it's like the dream of every friend. This is crazy. Uh, we'll you know, source check it and make sure it's good. Again, it's a social media post. I like to dream, anyways. Uh, guys, good show today. We'll we're back in action in the week. I just took a little bit of a day off. It's been crazy doing this daily podcast with you know all the clips and thank you for all the support. We've had uh recently over you know, 4,000 subscribers in the YouTube channel. Thank you so much for following the show and contributing to the conversation. Let me know in the comments what else do you want to listen? What else do you want to be involved with? Um, are you a fan that you're in the World Cup? Do you know a player? Are you a player? Are you a coach? Come on, because we're gonna be doing interviews. We've done a couple of them. We had an interview with uh some local clubs here and a prof professional soccer players, and they're doing amazing. And we just want to keep the conversation going on how we can not only get better, but also inspire the younger generation to go play this sport and uh and make it the best in the world, especially the US. My kid is American, man. My kid is from here. So um, you know, hopefully one day, if he wants, we'll see him out there. That was like my dream. We'll share my story later. But, anyways, uh fun times, and then I'll see you on the next episode. Take care.