Brazil, Portugal, Colombia... All FRAUDS? This World Cup Lost Its Mind

No games, no problem. On the darkest day of the tournament (the one with zero matches), we break down the chaos you missed.

Messi, at 39, dragged a dead Argentina back to life against a scary Egypt side... missed penalty, hit the post, and still demanded the ball. Norway didn't get lucky against Brazil, they took them apart (and Cafu has thoughts on why the old Brazil is gone). USA got run off their own field by Belgium, and instead of crying about it, we get honest about what it actually means.

Plus: Portugal crashing out and Ronaldo's wild "the Euros mean as much as the World Cup" take, Colombia's stunning collapse to Switzerland, and England's genius (or paranoid?) decoy-hotel move against Mexico.

Then we answer a Texan who listed six reasons he hates soccer... one by one.

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Chapters:
00:00 — The dark day (no games) + what we're covering

01:28 — Messi at 39 drags Argentina back vs Egypt

04:23 — Norway dismantles Brazil (+ Cafu on the lost Joga Bonito)

07:30 — USA destroyed 4-0 by Belgium (+ youth & pay-to-play)

12:06 — Portugal out & Ronaldo's "Euros = World Cup" take

15:46 — Colombia's shock collapse to Switzerland

17:34 — England's decoy-hotel plan vs Mexico

19:44 — Mailbag: answering a Texan's 6 complaints about soccer

25:06 — Close

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the football show. Today's special episode. We're at today, the dark day. As soon we're recording that there's no games. I feel like everybody has been depressed. So we're here to talk about what just happened. We talk a couple we took a couple days off. And um let me tell you, thank you so much for those that are discovering the show, that are on social, commenting on their everything. Much love for all those football fans. But let me tell you, Argentina was dead, down and out. Then Messi, Messi, how can we stop talking about freaking Messi at 39? And you know, haters went completely quiet. Uh Norway just embarrassed Brazil. I mean, that was an absolute uh murder in what they did. And then USA got run up by in their own field by Belgium, who by the way, uh, I've been getting a lot of heat online about talking about the golden generation. Apparently, that's not a thing that in Belgium uh they keep telling me that that was like a media thing about the golden generation. Hey man, strong team right now. So thank you so much for educating me on this. And uh Big Portugal is out. Ronaldo says the Euros are just as good as the World Cup. Ah, we'll talk about that. And uh, you know, this tournament just lost his mind. It's it's amazing. So we're gonna be covering that and much more. Get ready, baby. Uh, today, Argentina, or yesterday, as soon we're recording this yesterday, Argentina um went down like early, like in Egypt. Like, they looked finish. I was uh at work, I was in our studio dealing with somebody, had the game on the iPad, and I couldn't believe my brother Fonse kept texting me. I was like, Oh my gosh, like this is insane. I have to watch like the whole thing afterwards, and then the comeback messy in the center of it all. It is crazy. I mean, haters are gonna hate. Uh this is insane. I mean, this guy is 39, he misses the PK, then he does the post, and this guy just doesn't stop. They just he just asks for the ball. This is a mentality that we want in players, it's a mentality we want in kids. I remember uh growing up on playing, and like one mistake. I mean, uh make or break. That is here mentally, how as a player, you you have to step up, and uh most of the time, or a lot of players they do make a mistake and they go down and they play worse. This guy is like the opposite. We have to do a study on how he his brain works because he just wanted the ball more and more, and he showed up with the assist on the first goal, and then he showed up um scoring the second goal to put a uh 2-2 in less than 10 minutes. Um, we all thought it was like the end of it. We all thought that the end of it, and you could see the the emotion in these players and the end of that game. Everybody crying, Messi crying in Atlanta beautiful stadium. We got the chance to be there in Argentina, Canada, uh opening of Cup America, and I can't imagine how this atmosphere was there. So um, this is like no luck. This is leadership. You can see Scaloni talking about it, you can see his friends talking about it, you can see the teammates talking about it. Uh, I mean, the involvement of Messi in the comeback is just uh insane. Uh, couple calls, questionable, maybe. I don't know. I didn't watch the full game, I did end up watching the whole summary, but I did read a comment about Colina, Pierluigi Colina, legend of the referees, and I think he's now one of the directors of the main uh referees by by FIFA, where he's explaining why they called the foul on the second goal that was like diesel out for Egypt. Um, Egypt, honestly, surprised me a ton. I haven't seen them uh play much, but what a team, man. They're so fast. Number 12 on that right-hand side, incredible. They were inspiring the pharaohs, and uh, they deserve you know a big a big round of applause because what a performance. And you know, you can see Mo Salah there, uh also his last World Cup, which is crazy. We've seen so many legends just you know, last run uh in in this tournament, and um it was what a performance they make. This was probably the hardest game that Argentina could have played uh so far, and and it's crazy. So they tumble, they continue to come back, and then they will be playing Switzerland, you know, um that beat Colombia in those pickets. So um before we go talk about that, Norway. Um what the hell? Uh people say that you got lucky. I don't think you got lucky. Uh, I think the system worked. They've been, you know, they've been working at this system, developing displayers for decades now. They they build a whole infrastructure, and maybe that's something that we can go deep in another episode. Fascinates me on how they've been building um the system to be able to perform and uh USA take notes, but they just didn't get lucky, they uh they dismantle Brazil like straight up. Like you could see that game, and Norway looked like Brazil was like they looked like more Norway looked more like Brazil than Brazil did like themselves. Crazy. Um they they they know their identity, they know who they are. Uh they're they have like this I don't want to say underdog mentality, but like almost like a nonchalant where it's like, oh, we're just so happy to be here, and you know, we're gonna do our best, and and here we are. Like it's crazy. And um, and all the credit because they I think they dominated that that game. It was crazy. Um earlier today, Cafu, big legend defender of Brazil, um made some comments about how Brazil will never be the Brazil that we knew in like '94, '98. Uh, that Brazil that everybody wants back, that maybe the Joga Bonito, that Neymar was like the last remaining uh of this team, uh probably not gonna come back as long as Brazilian players continue to go to the Premier League or like these leagues that are highly tactical and not so much of an individual player. So this was Cafu saying that. This is not me saying that. I don't know enough about this. I do know that we do miss the Joga Bonito that Brazil used to bring back in the day. They were a powerhouse. If you were you know watching them in '94, '98, even like 2000, 2002. That was the scary team with Ronaldo, Adriano, Ronaldinho, Kaka. Like, there's so many incredible players, and Neymar is like the last, you know, remaining of that. And I think um, I don't think he has another woke in him, but hopefully we can get to see them playing like that again. I think that there's a long road, they need to rebuild. Um, Carlon Cellotti. Is that the the right guy for the job? Uh I don't know. I mean, tremendous, tremendous coach for sure, but would it would it bring back the identity that we all miss, or will he build a new identity for Brazil? You tell me. Let let me know. I will certainly would love to see a generation like the one that we see that we saw with Ronaldo Ronaldinho, uh, Roberto Carlos, Cafu, Dunga, like all those guys back in the day. So very incredible for um Norway, and they're gonna be playing, of course, England, which by the way, what a game uh between England and Mexico, which we'll be talking in just a second. But USA get destroyed by Belgium. Uh, yes, total destroy destruction 4-0, not only on the score, because sometimes the score can be a little uh mis mischievous, but the home world cup, big expectations. Belgium just ran off the field with these guys. Uh Deonestate, like we, you know, we we got excited as US residents or like my family that it is here, the the whole nation was optimistic, and then there was a big talent gap that showed up in that specific game. I mean, you could hear uh Pochettino in the press conference saying, hey, like we're just not good enough. Like today we were not good enough. And and you can tell, like, the uh you know, besides whatever happened with Balogun and the red card and Trump and like all this crazy thing, I don't think it would have made a difference. I don't like it, it didn't make a difference. Balogun was completely overshadowed by the center backs, and it was like it was probably better that he didn't play. I think Belgium was way more motivated at that point to go crush, and and they did. So we don't have to be sad, we just have to be like completely honest with what happened. So, what is the what does that loss mean? And by the way, everybody's saying US loss, not the like Belgium won. Like, there's a difference between those two statements, right? Like Belgium destroyed, and I'm excited to see that that game with Spain is gonna be a tough one. But on the US side, there's now a whole conversation where the first be at the beginning of the tournament, everybody's like, Yes, the system is working. Wow, what an amazing way! How amazing US is playing, and now it's like this script is completely flipped. At least social in the in social media, where they're like, the system is broken, this is horrible, like we suck. Um, but I think at the end of the day, it's like, yeah, I mean, this is no nothing new. The last like three World Cups is being like that. There's a little bit of hope, uh, but I don't think nothing has been done. And you know, we're definitely gonna be exploring more on the youth side and the system side after the world cup is over here on the show. But we're gonna be talking about youth development, the pay-to-play culture. Uh is this a wake-up call? A club's gonna be. I I saw a post about a lawyer and and talking about the structure of European clubs on how it's completely free. And and again, I you know, I raised my hand here and I have a little bit of experience because I was part of that system where you play for free and the clubs are the ones that own the rights to that player. But here for some reason, uh, these like MLS and MLS owners, like they just want to, you know, freaking hold all of it, and the youth clubs get nothing. Uh, and it's crazy. And I think that needs to change. Like, I do believe that that needs to change. I've been having a few conversations on on social, not just LinkedIn, uh, not just Instagram or TikTok, but also on LinkedIn with people that are you know either learning about the sport, they're interested in it, uh and it's something so foreign. Like the sport itself is so foreign for many people here, but at the same time, it's like, okay, how do we build uh the culture? How do we build the street soccer culture, the player culture, the the youth club culture? For example, where we live, we have two massive clubs, and there's like no competition whatsoever for youth because you know, club one plays against club one B team or club one C team. Uh, in all these countries, there's a lot of this massive, like little clubs that they play each other. Competition is high different systems, different different philosophies, different coaches, right? Like same philosophy versus same philosophy. Like, is that good? Like, how do you how do you expect a kid to be different? How do you expect a kid to progress? Anyways, clearly a heated topic. I'm happy to to explore this down the road. Uh and we're gonna have a couple of interesting guests coming, you know, head coaches from Mexican first division and and clubs and things. Just you wait, it's on the pipeline. So we're gonna dive into that. But uh for US, I mean, interesting run. I did say on a previous podcast, is this considered successful? Uh, I think the general public says no. I think yes, and not because of the sporting and the results that US could have gotten as a team, but as waking up the culture here and the kids being excited and them seeing that. I remember that I saw my kid very upset after US said like that would never happen, right? Like he was like crying, he was so upset that that they lost, and that's what we want to see. When I see kids that were like, I'm gonna step up and I'm gonna do the best for this, and I'm gonna develop and encourage their parents to support them in uh in the sport. So, in that sense, I think it is, but anyways, on to the next Portugal is out. Ronaldo's last World Cup for a lot of people. They were kind of hoping uh there were so many compracy theories saying like he's gonna win it. Uh the the Simpsons, um, especially with the Simpsons conspiracy theory that it was Mexico versus Portugal. Well, after this phase, that's it. There's not gonna happen, both both are out, and you know, it was very honestly very sad to see that team play the way they played against uh Spain because Spain completely dominated it. It felt like Portugal did not want to win that game. Uh, and there was uh there's a topic here where like how good does Spain have to be to put Portugal in a position that it is apparent or it feels like they don't want to win. Did the players think different? Probably they do want to win, of course, but it felt like they didn't. Um, and there was a a conversation with Quaresma, who used to be an incredible player for Portugal national team, that he felt the same way where he's talking to the actual players of the team. He's like, I felt from the outside that you guys could have done a lot more. So, you know, Ronaldo kept playing, there's a huge difference when you see Argentina play versus Messi. If you want to have part of that discussion of like the both go both goats, Messi versus Ronaldo, there's a big difference on how they both play, but also how their team played around them, if that's what you wanna, if that's what you're gonna think. It feels like Argentina are playing for Messi and he's playing for them as well, and you can see like the sacrifice, especially after the Egypt game, but with Portugal, it didn't feel that way. I'm not saying that they both need to play the same way, but I don't know, it's uh it was a little disappointing to be to be completely honest. But you know, I'm rooting for Spain, so I'm glad it happened that way. Uh there was uh there was a comment from Ronaldo in the press conference that you know made some headlines, which is kind of crazy, where you know, and he's him as a player has done incredible things, and he says that his conscience is completely clean, which is absolutely I completely agree with that. I mean, he's broken every record, uh, he's provided us with incredible experiences, he's provided us with incredible rivalries between him and not only Messi but other players as well. He's raised the bar for so many others, he's helped so many people, and uh and and honestly, like he's gonna be remembered as as a legend no matter what. And for him, he brought the Euros to Portugal. That's a massive win, right? Like, that's huge for a country like Portugal that they ended up winning the Euros. What he said is that for him, the Euro means as much as the World Cup. And maybe for him personally, yes. Like, we don't know. Like for let's say Venezuela, my country, like wins a Cup America, at some point, of course, that's gonna mean the world to us. Like it's gonna be probably more than the World Cup since the first time that that we win it. Uh, but I don't think we should be comparing both tournaments because you know, you're US, just Europe, the World Cup, the rest of the world, that's that's massive. If you win both automatically, the World Cup is the one that's gonna, you know, overrun all the other tournaments. For him, in like as uh personally, I I think he he's in the right to say that he deserves it, he can say that and and more. Uh, but there's a lot of critics out there saying that that's that's not true. To me, he can say whatever he wants. I don't care. I do not agree. Like, I think I think obviously the World Cup is is way bigger, but I've never been in the position to play uh either or and obviously, you know, he he won one of them. So uh I will give him that too. I'll give that one to him. Uh for my Colombian friends and my and our neighbors in South America, I mean I'm so sorry for your collapse. No, honestly, I don't think anybody saw that one coming when they when people saw that they were playing Switzerland. I remember talking to Fonse, and he was like, be careful with Switzerland, man. They have a they have a tough team, and uh they did show up. Uh uh, but the way that Colombia was playing, the way that the the intensity, the the the the fans out there, like we really thought we were gonna watch an Argentina Colombia in quarterfinals, but I guess you know Switzerland play the cards right, these teams, there's no small team. Like this is crazy. Like what like in the World Cup, maybe group stage, maybe a couple, but it that's something that we've seen. It's like there are no small teams here. Everybody's doing their homework, everybody has world-class players, they're doing their best, and these players are peaking. I saw a vlog from with uh Halland and the Norway players are like, We're peaking here in the World Cup, everything is downhill from from now, and that's uh that's how we feel. So very smart game by by Switzerland. They shut down every single opportunity. Um as a Venezuelan, you know. Like I I love my South American neighbors, but uh in the in the football discussion, uh any other country that is not Argentina, I I don't care too much about them as a person, as people love you so much, but to me, man, I'm kind of glad actually since I went through. So uh it was fun. I I love her brothers, but but you know, at the end of the day, uh whoever scores wins. And uh PK's is a 50-50, so a little unfair, maybe I don't know, but you know, to each to each their own. Uh one thing that was really cool about this last few weeks was uh reading about how England uh confused Mexican fans. Uh you know, there was a lot of talk online about the Mexican fans being out in the hotels and throwing fireworks and music and just doing everything possible to distract the opposing team. And listen, dirty, not dirty, it is part of the game, it is part of it. Is it what makes it like a global phenomenon? It happens. There's videos of other countries that you know have come out and danced into all this, but at the end of the day, these athletes, you know, that they are in the the entire right to rest and and be quiet and all and other things. And England is something incredible. They saw what was happening with the Mexican teams and the Mexican fans, and they ended up allegedly again. This is a piece of news that I read. So uh, is it true? I don't know. I want it to be true. I want to believe that this was true, but it was awesome. Uh basically, they ended up uh booking like 15 different hotels and uses using them as decoys uh for the fans of Mexico. And by the time that they found out, they already had security around the hotel, like two blocks away, they couldn't get past fans couldn't get past, and uh it was great. I mean, it some sources even say that they hired decoy players to show up in different areas to confuse the fans. I think this is genius. Uh, some people may say it's paranoia. I think it's great. I mean, the stakes are too high here, especially playing as a way. They they couldn't adapt to the altitude. Uh that they traveled like the day before, and you could see them in the practice sessions. Uh, I mean, there is an effect on that. So they did everything possible to play that game, and what a game it was, man. 3-2, intense. Mexico did everything in their power. Um, at the end of the day, England with 10 players um ended up winning that game. But fun thing, I thought that was a very, very clever thing with the decoy hotels that they did to confuse their fans, the Mexican fans. So, very, very cool. So, uh, as we wrap up today's episode, I want to answer, not answer, but I wanna I wanna I've been getting a little lot of heat on social media, and that's fine. I get it. There's a lot of new fans that need uh to be educated, uh, and that's what we're here for. And we're here to to expand hopefully the knowledge of football to the American market because we've been in it, we played in Europe, we've been in, you know, we we played at different levels, and we're gonna bring be bringing more people. But I really want to go through a post that I saw on LinkedIn specifically, and LinkedIn is you know, uh, it's interesting that the things that they put in there. But here are six things that I hate about soccer from a Texan. Okay, this it will be interesting. So, number one, fouls that make no sense as someone is foul on every play, but whistle only blows sometimes, or if someone falls uh over in pain. Number two, clock is easy to waste the clock, goalie falls or on the ball, player throws the ball in the opposite direction of the player that needs it. So I guess there's no structure to the to the clock. Is that what he's saying? Subs. So when the player gets subbed or they cannot enter again, seems strange. What if you want to bet this player on a PK uh but they need a break? Well, part of it, rules of the game. USA, we always suck, get excited to watch and optimistic uh that we can make a run, but then disappointment always follows because we simply have no talent. I don't think you have no talent. I think you have plenty of talent, I think it's a different problem. And then cards, uh yellow cards, essentially pointless, just uh slightly worse foul, and it seems so subjective and random. And then six refs, they seem to be uh no handbook or rule book regarding how revs should manage the game before revs let extra time go. Others blow the game uh immediately, anyways. So lots of complaining here, and then they sign out sincerely the American who always liked football more than soccer. Okay, uh, so first of all, I don't think why do we need to be trashing uh a sport that you don't understand? First of all, like try try to at least learn the the rules of the game, try to go into a pub and watch it with people that are actually enjoy the game or have been following the game since their birth or people that have played the game. Or maybe go try and play the game so you understand it. Um, there I don't think there's need to trash support like and and just like these comments. So many have been boiling my blood. And um, you know, of course, the people that are watching or listening to this show, they all understand football, they understand the fouls. Uh, you know, there is a rule book that the refs dude that's actually called the loss of the game. There's like 230 pages, uh, I I think, which is which is crazy. There is a ref that you know keeps track of the time in their watches, there's special watches, and you know, subs are at 30 seconds and goals are at 30 seconds, and there's different things that add up on the time in there. And whenever you're in stoppage time, for those that are not familiar with it, if there's time wasting there, uh the ref keeps track of it and it will add that time so we can have the most accurate playing time at the end. Uh, subs. Yes, I think this is great. I think this uh you don't need to go back in in college here in the United States. There's this weird rule that you can get out and then come back in. If you've never played this, of course you're not gonna understand it. But as a player, when you come out, you start cooling down, and then when you go back in, it's even harder to get back on track on it. Even if you're like a high, like a very uh professional athlete, it is really good hard to go back in there and then you risk injury. So I think it's very smart that if you're done, you're done. And then, well, in PK's, the players are there, that's the risk you take uh as a team. That is the rule. So uh I think people here in the United States are so used to very uh specific plays, like football, for example, it's not a continuous sport. Uh hockey, you have rotations, they're built in in the game. Uh basketball, they're little sprints that you that you do, like uh yeah, and it and again, they're just challenging sports. I'm not saying one is more challenging than the other, but they're just different. Like on football, soccer, you're continuously running. Like people are pulling 10ks, 12ks every single game. And once you're out, you're out. That's it. Um, USA, like we talked about this topic many times, but where you don't always suck. There's I I think this is probably the best woke up that you've played. Uh like style of play. I think there's there's massive there. It's just a system and a um, you know a deeper problem that we need to solve as a nation with the youth. Things like Norway's doing, things like uh Spain has been doing for years, Belgium. It starts from the youth. And then obviously cards and ref. I don't even want to get into this argument, but there is clear rules that define those. Do refs make questionable calls? Yes, absolutely. And it does it make it seem a little random, maybe, but there are clear rules, and that's why VAR was put in place. That's why there's not only one ref, but two linesmen, a force ref, and then three more in the VAR. Uh, there's always gonna be discussion that was it the right call, there's always gonna be like that, whether you have one ref or seven refs, uh, especially from the be from the teams that lose. So uh all I'm trying to say, if you are somebody that's new to the sport, before you make comments like this and you start judging, go and talk to somebody that maybe have played the sports for years. Maybe you go and you listen to shows like this one and you get educated on it. Maybe you have a conversation with your neighbor that watches football every single weekend, right? So you can start understanding about it. There is a reason, understand the story. Like, we don't go here and we're not trashing American football, we're not trashing golf, we're not trashing any other sport, right? At the end of the day, uh every sport is for different people. And if it's not for you, well, it's not for you. We get it. We we're not trying to convince you, stay in your other sport, probably better. Anyways, thank you guys so much, and I'll see you on the next episode.