World Cup 1st Impressions

World Cup 2026, all the teams have played 1 game each so far. We discuss the merits of each team and make our 1st predictions for the potential Winner. Who are the superstars and who maybe isn't.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Yeah, we're into the World Cup. Just about everybody's played uh one game so far. Um the big boys and the little guys. Oh everybody's there. Uh thoughts so far?

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Yeah, I think it's been been interesting. Some of the big names have kind of stepped up. Obviously, Messi's got his hat trick and Kane's got his his two and Bappy's got his two. Obviously, Ronaldo didn't join the party the other day. Some good results, some interesting results. So it looks like it's promising.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah, I mean, I don't know what you thought on TV they always come up with the fact that Argentina lost their first game last time round and went on to win. And then Spain, I think it's was 2010 or whatever, drew and then they went on to win. So um, you know, first games, I think people are nervous, squads are nervous, uh, the whole, you know, where they're playing, how they're playing, how how they are they're gonna play. Um probably has an effect. It was classically Italy always used to sort of get a nil-nil or one-one and a nil-nil again, and then somehow get through and end up in the semi-finals.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Group stages kind of Italy won the World Cup in 1982. They drew their first three uh group games. Uh it doesn't always signify something, it gives you a good uh a feel-good factor. I think that was uh classic, like the Scotland game. I don't, you know, the uh the 1-0 victory, even though they're playing Heighty, who you wouldn't say would be a strong side, there were some nervous moments for the Scots in that game, but that win obviously gives them a good platform for going forward and a good chance of coming out of the group, because pretty much if you do win one of those games, yeah, in the third place teams, you've got a chance of coming out of the group.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I think that's gonna be the difference. I think that when it was the two two teams going through, it were the first game was so critical. Now, only eight teams, I think it is are not going to qualify. So, as you say, with three points, you've probably got a pretty good chance of going through. Um, I think that's that's the way uh it seems to be set up. What was the best game you've seen so far?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Um, well, obviously, not being wanting to be too biased. Um, obviously the England game was very exciting. Uh a lot going on there. I thought the Germany game, they won very comfortably in the end, but it was it was it was interesting in the way that they played. So back to the Germany of old, that's kind of mechanistic sort of way. And uh obviously the Argentina game was with Messi scoring a hat-trick and and and three good goals as well. Even at his age, he still hasn't hasn't lost it. What about what have you seen?

SPEAKER_01 2:59

Um I I I I I saw the Portugal game yesterday, and I thought when I looked at the team, I thought Portugal have got an incredible team, incredible squad. They went one-nil up at what I don't know, it was six minutes or something like that, and then didn't do anything. Um so I mean, you know, Congo did very, very well, really strong. Um, I mean, there are always the African teams, you know, I'm not sure they're gonna win, but you know, Morocco, I thought, did really well against Brazil. Uh Congo have done well. Senegal again. I mean, although France won comfortably, there were moments when Senegal actually, you know, gave me the good go.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

I think yeah, every tournament the African teams become more and more competent and more tactically aware, they've got the athleticism and they've got the technical ability. So I think uh we maybe we'll see one of those teams go. Morocco went to the semi-final last last time.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

I'm not sure that gives you enough. He's a great player, but you tend to need someone who's gonna get goals, like you know, Messi and the run, you know, these kind of guys.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Exactly. You need a star, a star player.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

I mean, going back to you to the Portugal game, wouldn't though I watched him very closely in that game, and whilst the fans got very excited every time he went near the ball, he he had a couple of chances, but if you're playing him, you you lack mobility, you lack it's a press from the front. If he's gonna be your star player, uh he's got a very good side around him.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

But Bernardo Silva gets gets taken off relatively early in the game, kind of says everything about how in ineffective they if Ronal is on the pitch, there is a fear in the opposition opposition, there's no doubt about that, and they end up you know doubling up on him, which it should give freedom to the other players. But I didn't really see that for Portugal to be honest, and I th I I thought that would be they would have they would be able to take advantage of that fact that even if he was not involved in the game, there would be lots of space, and it didn't really happen. Um they did very, very well, I thought. Um yeah, the England game was great. I mean, Spain again look like they're a team that are gonna grow into the tournament. You know, that I know they got the draw, um and it was really good to see uh Cape Verde do something, you know. That uh that again they were athletic, they were strong, they didn't roll over, which has also uh been pretty good. I think it's only been a few countries that have really rolled over, and I think once, you know, you mentioned Germany, once they were two or three goals ahead, it was kind of difficult for um Curseau to stay in the game.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

But um I think Portugal were like Spain, you know, a lot of very gifted technical players who play in the big leagues, but maybe there was just something maybe a little lack of athleticism about them compared to some of the other teams. Uh not to dwell on the England game too much, but the notable that England have three very athletic central midfield field players in Anderson, Bellingham, and and and Rice, and they kind of dominated the Croatians, hence Modlik being taken off.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah, I think that that again Croatia being a very technical team, um they just didn't have that strength, um, although they had technical ability. The amount of ground those the English guys covered seemed to to really thwart Croatia really getting through, I think. Um yeah, you've got uh Norway, good team, good solid team. Obviously Haaland gets a couple of goals, and that's kind of his um story. Um so he will always they'll always have a chance because he will score goals. So they could go deep into the competition.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, I mean anybody who gets a good start, you know, a good win is probably guaranteed to make the second round. They can start thinking about maybe playing some other players from the squad and building. I think that helps. I mean, Tushel's working very hard and creating a good atmosphere around the squad, and I think victories obviously help with that. And the more that players play, you read some of the old things, Jamie Carragher going to World Cups and never, and you know, and if he had had to play, it would have been a real impact negatively. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I do think actually Thomas Tushel did a pretty well with the subs yesterday. I thought it was quite positive. And even though it was a very it was a relatively tight game, and I mean obviously they got the third goal early on in the second half, he didn't close it up really. He he he saw that well, actually, we can still get at these guys, we can still get at Croatia, and we could still should still be on the front foot, and that was good because it's tended to be England have tended to you know panic a little bit and and start to go backwards. But he was positive.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah, I think you're exactly right. I think in the past England have their default mode is to go back into a low block and get trapped on the edge of their area and just can see ground and then ultimately can see goals. Which Touchwell I think recognises that. And if Bob Rice might have had a have an you know, but then he reached on Deji Spence, who's a very attacking player, you know. He brings James into central midfield, you know. It's so very attacking in terms of kept the momentum going and obviously paid off with with Rashford's uh with Rashford's goal.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

What did you think of France? They're obviously one of the favourites, I think possibly the favourite for the I think they are.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

I mean they've got an incredibly powerful squad, they didn't seem to fire straight away. Um Mbappe obviously got a couple of goals, uh, but they'll always be there or thereabout because they're they're similar to England, I think, in many ways. They've got that athleticism and that technical ability. Obviously, we're not a lot of their players playing the top top league.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I I didn't think they gelled, and I thought, okay, first game, they might need two or three. I think they'll get better, uh, which sounds incredible that they won three point and got two goals. But I think they will get actually get better as the team gels. Um, and probably uh I think most of the big teams will will be the the the favourites. The only one I was the Brazil was a little bit fun, it was a little bit flair, um, which was a great goal by by Vinny Jr. But you want to see some flair, you want to see something special happening, and they didn't seem to have anything there really.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

When you look at that midfield there, Casemiro, Paceta, and Guimarães, so three players we know very well from the Premier League.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

And I'd probably favour the England Central Three to the Brazil three. And it's interesting, normally when we played Brazil in years gone by, you haven't none. All these players play in Brazil and they're all very exotic and uh and they turn up and they look quite quite worker day. Like Argentina, they've got Enzo and uh Macanster in the league, and it kind of takes, I suppose, the fear factor out of it a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Yeah, it does. I mean, I I saw the I mean I the stat I heard was something like 160 plus players from the Premier League. Plus, there's England the the Football League. There's a lot of players now with the amount of football that's played and the Premier League particularly, most of those players are you know are quite familiar to us and quite familiar to each other, which which maybe there aren't any that can't be very many surprises that happen. It's only going to be how they gel.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

I mean, I I've I read an article about Brazil some years ago, how Brazil, the edge of their flair has been taken away gradually, because they've got so many good players that get taken into the European leagues and they became Europeani, and they sort of they lose that flair and that that kind of magic. So now you look at the team, they've got Vinicius Jr. who's their outstanding player. But you play him against Carl Walker, if you recall, Carl Walker had him in his pocket because you know imagine if ever England got as far as playing Brazil, you know, you stick DeGis Spence on the right hand side.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Yeah, I do I do think that's that's a shame that there's a there's a um a movement away from say traditional skills. Um but you know that's what it is now. That's what it is. The other kind of thing which is amazing is that uh shows how the strength of the Premier League, you know, Crystal Palace and Sunderland have more players than Real Madrid at the World Cup. That is bizarre for somebody you know who's sort of followed football for years and years and years, thinking, how can that be?

SPEAKER_00 11:19

But it just shows the power of money, yeah. Even the smaller clubs in in the Premier League are able to hoover up top players from all around the world, and if they've got a great director of football who really understands the international market, as it seems somebody like Palace has, it's it you know, hence Palace's success over the last few years. Yeah, good winter plus great acquisition of players.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Um no, I I think the tournament's been good, it's been a better tournament than I probably I thought it was going to be. Um, you know, the uh I'm not sure about having free host nations, that's kind of but it's it's difficult. Uh the timing's all over the place. But I suppose once you get there, the only thing I'm really, really I don't like is these hydration brakes. I think that is a new development that without I understand that you know the thinking behind it, but when you've got you know the whole technical team turn up with all the pads and this and do that, it's like wow, it's it's definitely turned into quarters rather than and that's the last thing as a player.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

You you want, you know, particularly when they've got air conditioned stadiums where it's 21 degrees or 20 degrees, which is kind of a balmy day for choose a coach. But as some people, if you're being a skeptic, it's an opportunity for maybe putting an ad break in in there that will only increase.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

I think they you know Carlo Ancelotti even admitted that without that he needed they needed that break then to tighten up things up, whereas um normally things would have flown for 45 minutes. Exactly. You know, you would have just not had another chance.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

They do this graph, they show the momentum in the graph, and they there's there's a dramatic momentum change um at the at the hydration point where one team loses momentum, the other team gets a new tactical setup, and and it's and it I think it's yeah, I'm not I'm not a big fan of it. If it's really, really hot, if it's I understand that drinks break, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

That was what it was. It was a drinks break, and you know, temperatures had to be over a certain amount, but now it just seems that they're ready and the coaches are ready, the technical team.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

They've got so many technical staff now, you know, and you that's a time when you maybe would have got a second goal or uh you know press forward the advantage, and that stops, and that kind of um I think the fans, the England fans are actually booing the other night when they sure so I don't know if FIFA will react to to that.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

I suppose to keep it fair for all the games, if they're doing it on the days when it's 30 degrees, they want to do it, but waiting three minutes and the twenty- I think I I mean I do like the being quicker with the goal kicks and the throw-ins and that kind of stuff um is much better. And I it must be difficult for the referees because they've got so many new directives, but they seem to have handled it pretty well. I mean, the f the first game where three guys got sent off, and obviously with VAR and different camera angles, you're thinking okay, there's a case that they sh you know they were all correct decisions.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

But uh interesting, Messi doesn't get sent off. But Messi didn't get and you think maybe that's that's more about who who he is than who he is, possibly that's where VAR with their increased powers could potentially get get more involved.

SPEAKER_01 14:23

And yeah, I think generally the referees have referees have been good, standards have been pretty good, they've let the game flow, it hasn't been as uh uh stop start, and I think except for those three guys getting sent off in the first game, I don't think there's been too much else. If you bring a trainer or if a trainer comes to look at the guy, or physio, then they have to go off the pitch for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

I mean it it it I mean it is good. I mean the referees have got the toughest job in the world, right? It's not easy being a ref, and with all the additional stuff, they they don't get enough phrase, I don't think. They're the first person the manager.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah. Any um superstars that you're that you know you think it seems to be the same guys, doesn't it? Really? There's no none in the first set of games that I thought, wow, there's a player. I mean, it seems to be the guys we all know and love.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

Um it does seem to be the stars coming to coming to the fore. There's nobody who's kind of really kind of stood out there and been been brilliant. I remember James Rodriguez. Do you remember from nowhere and he stood out to that kind of i in impact?

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I did see as that that the um the average age is higher now. So you got I mean, obviously guys like Ronaldo and Messi even and you know, there's most teams have a couple of guys who are in the probably 30s, which uh wouldn't have happened quite so much maybe before. Um and that's through better better better expertise in medical uh you know and uh probably actually also having hydration breaks as well. Um but uh what all the other thing that's amazing is how many people have got a hundred plus caps.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I mean I know and going back a bit, but I remember sort of you know Bobby Moore just taking over Billy Rye at 106 or something, and getting that kind of number, and now it seems like every team has people who've got 100 plus, 110, and we're gonna see 200 caps.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

I mean it's crazy. I think that as you say, part of it is is is the the health and fitness of the players, part of it is the the amount of money that they get paid. Quitting the game, once upon a time you had to make a decision when you got to 30 are you gonna go off and run a pub or another season? Now these players they can just continue continue uh getting the pay. So they can't afford to give up. I think there are more internationals now, there's more nations leagues, it's it's it's more structured. So the combination means people will regularly get a hundred caps.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

I mean, there used to be some strange guy in Saudi Arabia, whatever, which you'd understand because he'd be been playing since he was 16, so whatever, but now every single team has a guy, at least one or two, who have done 50. 50 caps is almost nothing now.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Whereas um there's a lot of England players from the past who, if they got to 35 to 50, that would be quite an achievement.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

That was a solid, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Exactly. That's quite an achievement.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

South Africa and Czech are the two losers um from their group game. Um so it'd be interesting to see how that comes out. I uh uh Czech should do better. They're technically there a strong side, I think. Switzerland and Bosnia and Canada, Qatar again, not games I'd particularly be excited about, I think, um, unless they prove me otherwise. And then like obviously I think the one Scotland and Morocco that will be the uh that'll be tough.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

I think that I mean it used to be what was the group of death, and I'm not I that could be the group of death to be honest in the old days because uh Haiti obviously you know you'd expect everybody to pick up three points, but yeah, Morocco and Brazil, Scotland you'd think would struggle. Um I mean, teams that I think will go, I mean Germany should should uh do what they'll go deeper, Poland, yeah, Poland, Japan and Japan as well are a good team.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Japan got a good team as well. That's right. They've got a good dark horses, I think, in this. They take a bit of they've got a whole infrastructure in the country about developing the the game. Uh so they've got some very good technical players.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

And they're very fit, yeah. They run they run forever. Um I think Belgium is another team that on paper you think, oh, they've got some good uh people, but I didn't see it really.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Um yeah, they they're golden generation once I mean they've still got some of them around, De Bruyne is still around. I mean, he was part of the end of the golden generation. Sure. So they've got still got some good individuals, um, but they're they're not the force they were when they were ranked second in the world for quite quite a while.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

Um Spain, obviously, you know, I think would will have learned from their mistakes and will be stronger and now decide they need to get on or get on with it. Uh France, I mean, obviously one of the favourites, and that their kind of group, it's really them. Now they've played Senegal and one. I think they're gonna kind of kick on from there. Um, I can't see anybody strike the um messing about with Messi and Argentina in that group. I think they're gonna be fine and go through. Portugal are gonna have it interesting. I mean, Ghana seem to be one of the who traditionally have been one of the better African teams, probably aren't this year round that that great this year.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

So yeah, they've got some good players, got some menu players at France, so they that could be a a danger. France. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

England could come very close. I mean, very close. They look a better team than um you know the the Southgate teams, I think. I think it's done a better job.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Um taken away the fear factor factor, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah, they weren't um I mean they've got nowhere yet. They haven't got out of the group, but they look they look like they they've got uh enough about them to get on with it. But I still I think France probably just shaded. I mean I don't see didn't see many uh weaknesses, and I think once they get uh going, once they get played two or three games and they get the kind of system working, I think they are the favourites actually. Um yeah Argentina can't rely on a 35 away 38 year old, really. Can you? Can you? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

He seems to be the uh he seems to be the Talisman, doesn't he?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

See if if we were it was England and Argentina, I just don't see him having the space. Uh so I'm saying France, you're saying France. Let's um see what we say and come up with next week, yeah? Good, right, speak to you then. See ya.