DISCUSSION: Portugal in Crisis; Mexico First Team to Qualify; Canada Hit Six

Declan Link returns to the pod, alongside Paul Schmidt-Troschke & Jon Bonfiglio. 

For tickets to upcoming events email worldcupetcetera@gmail.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hi everyone, welcome back to World Cup Football, etc., with me, John Bonfiglio, where tonight we are going to be looking at Portuguese malaise, which no is not the name of a tropical disease, but is in fact a country's inability to move on from the presence of Ronaldo. Uh they're not even trying to move on from the presence of Ronaldo, and alongside that, we're also going to be looking at results in Mexico's Group A, where Mexico is uh now officially the first team to qualify for the knockout rounds in Canada's group B. But first, regular listeners will know that we've been undertaking recordings with live audiences during the World Cup. And we have news of the next one, which will be in Mexico, in Mexico City, on the evening of Saturday, the 4th of July, just as the group stages transition. Well, I say the group stages, the round of 32 transitions to the round of 16. The event will take place at the Lamb Restaurant in the Capitol. And we have limited tickets available, so get in touch if you do want to participate. We have special footballing guests involved alongside World Cup journalists, and we will be discussing multiple aspects of the World Cup itself, as well as women's football and social projects in Mexico, which focus on at-risk and underprivileged children and communities through football. We're also delighted to say that once again the event will be held in association with the British Embassy in Mexico City and will feature discussion of a lot of the values-based sports initiatives which they are involved in. If you do want to come along, the email address is worldcupetcetra at gmail.com. Don't forget that the etc. is the full full word E-T-C-E-T-E-R-A. So that's WorldCup et cetera at gmail.com. Now I'm delighted to say that with me tonight is Paul Schmidt-Troschka. Hello, Paul.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Good evening, John.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

And also that back with us is Declan Link. Hello, Declan.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Good evening, fellas. How are you this evening?

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Good, thank you. Um, big day for you yesterday, uh, Declan. Any thoughts on England's performance? 24 hours on now that yet you've had a chance to settle it all?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Yeah, after a day of digestion today, my uh short sort of two or three sentences were that uh Croatia are becoming uh an aging team very quickly, and they're not the force they used to be. I think the first half from an England perspective was relatively uh not not very exciting. It was there was even though there was goals scored, it wasn't Thomas Tuchel wouldn't be very happy with that first half performance. And there was one player in particular, uh Jude Bellingham, who you know everyone fates him, everyone thinks he's an absolute superstar, which I think he can be and he has the potential to be. But in the first half, he was quite embarrassing because he kept giving the ball away, he kept missing his passes, missing his tackles, and he also very irritantly um kept every time he would get into a tackle, he would uh sort of flop over and try and get a uh the referee to uh to give England a free kick. I do think at uh at halftime words were said, and it might even have been put on the line to him that if you keep playing like that, you're not gonna be on the team. You'll be in the squad, but you're not gonna be on the team because his second half performance, particularly for the first 25 minutes, was excellent. I also thought that Thomas Tuchel showed um some brave uh of characteristic that Garrus Southgate didn't have when he made the uh the three subs, taking off Declan Rice uh in particular, halfway or whenever it was in the in the middle of the of the second half, um, and bringing on Saka um uh Morgan uh and uh Rashford all at the same time, very attacking, and then followed that up with Jed Spence, who is an attacking fullback. So I think Tuchel's come out of this looking very good. I don't think that uh you can get too carried away by a good solid win in the uh in the first half. I think there's something not quite right with that central central defensive combination. Uh I think Gehey needs to play, Gahey and Stones needs to play. And um the fact we gave up two goals to an aging uh Croatian team uh is a little bit worrying. But I I'm not worried. I saw the the Ghana-Panama game, and and this isn't um Brit English macho, you know, we're gonna we we're gonna win the World Cup and he's coming home and all that nonsense. I do think Ghana and Panama are particularly weak, so we should go through like Mexico have tonight as the group winners by tidally and handily taking care of both the next two games.

SPEAKER_02 5:03

Yeah, Ghana and Panama were very poor yesterday. I'll tell you who um who really wouldn't have been happy with the first half of Croatia, England was Croatia's defensive coach. Um, they were all over, I mean, you know, as you pointed out a little bit, England were also a fair bit all over the place. But um Croatia's defense, I mean, there was it was just sort of teenage um stuff. There were there was no um there was no structure, there was no sort of formality to it. They were caught ball watching um a number of times. And and this is not me taking away from from England. Uh, I thought this their second half performance was the best I've seen. I said this in the in the conversation yesterday with Paul, the best I've seen in a long, long time. And I thought um, echoing your statements, um, Declan, the statement of intent that uh Tuchel made, a sort of pragmatism be damned when he brought on those second half substitutes was um was really quite a remarkable decision, uh, or series of decisions. I actually stood in stark contrast to um uh to Mexico's decision making today, but again, we'll we'll come to that in a in a minute. Um, Declan, just as regards Bellingham, the the whinging nature you you referenced as well, I just don't understand it. You know, he's a world-class player. Uh when he goes down and he moans and he tries to to sort of um uh get decisions in his favour, it just makes him look sort of um cheap, I think.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, I mean, really, since I don't know what was the was the Euros, uh and when he since he went to Real Madrid, his he he seems to have a different persona, a different personality on the pitch. Because when he was young and he was coming through with Birmingham City, and then when he went to Dortmund, yeah, he seemed to be a perfectly well-rounded young man with immense talent, who had some very good solid parents behind him, which I'm sure he that his parents are still very good solid, but that he was he was being groomed, not on just on the pitch with his um incredible appearances and uh at such a young age, but he was he was being uh sort of trained uh and and and educated on how to deal with all the other stuff that goes on, and it it just seems as though something's happened between the Euros in uh in um 2024 uh and maybe even a year or so before that, and since he's gone to Real Madrid uh and all of the the circus that goes with Real Madrid. So I'm hoping that that because they're definitely during the qualifying campaign, there seemed to be friction between Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham. The sort of stuff that you're picking up on, John, I'm picking up on the uh tens of millions of England football supporters at Pick Top, but there's just something there between Thomas Tuchel and him. So it's it's going to be a good, a really, really good test of Thomas Tuchel's management skills, which I think he is going to be A plus anyway, in making sure that Bellingham isn't a distraction and is the player that he really needs to be to push England deep and far into the tournament.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

I I note, uh Declan, that you you're blaming this on Real Madrid. Yeah, you're always so biased against them.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Good one, John. I like that.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

You've got a new script writer, have you? Yes, it's since you forced me to sack the last one uh after I said that you were in Boston and not in Dallas. Uh we've uh we've we've shaken everything up. Um but uh but yeah, let's let's move on. It was it was great to see. I thought um uh England definitely grew into the match.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

As I as I said when I when I interviewed uh Sean New and uh Gordon after the after the game, the actual stadium is is probably I've been to a few stadiums in my life. I would say, and it's not even it's it's a few years old now, the Dallas Cowboys Stadium is. I think that was the best stadium I've ever been in, without doubt. So it was it was a really special environment, you know, it was wonderful having uh the roof on, having air conditioning there, the atmosphere was sensational. Uh there was a lot of uh, you know, not only the traditional English fans down one end, but there was a lot of English fans who'd managed to to get into the stadium and were were you know very much uh in the majority compared to the Croatian fans. But it was all played in a good spirit as well in the in the place we were at beforehand and afterwards. There was Croatian fans, and everyone was getting on well together. It was there was nothing nasty or there was nothing toxic with regards to the atmosphere either before the game in the stadium or afterwards. And and again, the Croatia probably know in their heart of hearts they're gonna go through anyway. They'll beat Ghana and they'll beat Panama. England know they will as well. So um all in all, it was a fantastic day. It was a great little trip. Uh, got to spend time with my oldest son Alex, and onwards we go to Boston on Monday. Great.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Let's um let's move on to Portugal. Um, of course, uh uh probably the one, well, as we know, all of the strikers, all of the main sort of global strikers have really fired in this uh in this first round of matches, but of course the one that didn't was Cristiano Ronaldo. And we didn't have a chance to talk about this yesterday, Paul. What are your um what are your takeaways from from that match, that performance, and Portugal's um arguable over-reliance on Cristiano Ronaldo?

SPEAKER_03 10:26

I mean, um it's of course very easy to to draw uh a parallel to to the Spain um Cape Verde game. Um because uh both against both teams, I think you definitely should win, uh, being either Portugal or Spain. Um and first, I think the stats say everything. You have uh when you look at possession, you have uh possession for Portugal 75% to Congo's 25%. When it comes to passes completed, you have 724 uh 23 passes completed on the Portugal uh Portugal side and only 197 on the uh Congolese side. Um and when you look at shots, you have seven for Portugal and one on goal, and for Congo you have eight and two on goal, and uh even in expected goals, Congo is leading with 0.82 over Portugal's six uh 0.69. Um, so yeah, really uh really unexpected, I would say, because um, I mean Portugal isn't uh nowhere near a dark horse or anything. Um, but I think that they still were not being um like traded amongst uh the likes of um of England or Spain, and this game showed uh that there was a good reason to it. Um as you said, I think that the over-reliance on on a yeah basically non-delivering Ronaldo is is uh definitely uh a liability to that team. And I think that if Portugal wants to wants to achieve anything reasonable, um they just have to bench Ronaldo and give give other players the space. But definitely um it's not the case that Ronaldo, that this result was Ronaldo's fault. Um nowhere near. The whole Portuguese team was uh very disorganized, um, did not find any space to create or to develop the ideas where the the the individual players definitely have the creativity um and also the skill to uh to um to theoretically develop and then um make them make them reality, um the these ideas. Um but on the other side uh Congo was just closing these spaces for Portugal as well. So um yeah, a very very, very interesting game. One one more very unexpected result here. Um, but uh yeah, what what are what are your thoughts?

SPEAKER_02 12:56

I mean, um it's important to uh contextualize, I think, as well that Portugal were fifth in the FIFA rankings going into um this this match. So you know, streets ahead of the D of the Democratic Republic of of Congo. Um Declan, obviously, I mean you're uh adept and skilled at sort of analyzing the how these teams play physically on the pitch itself. And it seems it seems to me that um there is a kind of a playing reliance, a physical reliance on this aging star that is Ronaldo, but almost more important is the fact that there's an emotional sort of overdependency on him and what he was.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

They it happened in four years ago in in Qatar in the World Cup over there that it there was a lot of knowledgeable football-knowing people who were questioning why Cristiano Ronaldo was playing, starting in some of the games, playing as many minutes as he did. And four years on, he hasn't got any younger. His body is not the way, even though it's in fabulous shape, a bit like yours and Paul's. Um, it's it's it's four years on from when he was very average in in Qatar. Whereas I think there's two distinct contrasts here. Seeing the way that Messi was able to contribute to Argentina the other day was absolutely sensational. The way he's still playing, arguably, as a as a as a standout player in the MLS compared to Cristiano Ronaldo in the Saudi Arabian League. I think it also can come down, you know, to the contrast. Again, we were just talking about strong management, strong management of players, squad members that Thomas Tuchel seems to be showing, and he seems to have a plan and he's sticking to it, and it doesn't matter what people think about him, that's what he's gonna do, and he's gonna be successful, or he's gonna fall on his sword. I think Roberto Martinez, and he's always had an element of this anyway. I like him as a as a person, I like him as his coach as a coach. He did he's done some great stuff with Belgium, but they didn't actually succeed with their Duke Golden Generation. And I do think that Martinez, he is not renewing his contract on July the 20th, uh July the 31st. His contract expires then. He had a potential for three more years, and he's decided not to uh extend his contract. So, as far as I'm concerned, and and I'm sure a large percentage now of the Portuguese players, even though they have this uh the Portuguese supporters, they have this emotional uh attachment to Cristiano Ronaldo. I see absolutely no reason why Reverto Martinez now, because it doesn't matter. He's gone as the coach on July the 31st. Why he doesn't show some some some kahunas and actually start becoming an actual proper manager because Portugal are so deep in talent on their squad uh that they should be arguably, they're not the favourites with Spain, France, and England, and Argentina, arguably in Brazil, but they should be in that conversation for the top six. And the the way they started off the other day against DR Congo, I question whether or not all of this stuff going on in the sides is going to distract from what they really should be doing, which is putting the best level on the pitch to win as many games as possible and go deep into the tournament.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Yeah, I mean, a really basic measure of a coach. I mean, there is no more basic measure of a coach, is do they make you better? Do they make a side better? And I can't see that Roberto Martinez's decisions uh achieve that for Portugal. And I also, I mean, granted, you know, he was coach of Belgium for a long time, but but it is again, you know, that it was, as you say, their golden generation. They were, they were touted as potentially being sort of Euro winners and World Cup winners for a number of cycles there. And they just they just didn't. They kept sort of uh bowing out uh meekly at uh sort of key key matches. And again, I would say that uh an affable man, intelligent man though Roberto um Martinez is, I just don't think he has that capacity to um to make difficult decisions and to bring a team together around a particular concept um and and and make them better than the sum of their parts. And and if if he if he is that kind of coach, I've yet to I've yet to see it. Um uh let's uh let's move on to today's game.

SPEAKER_03 17:20

Sorry, sorry, John. Um before we move on, I think we shouldn't um uh like let the um our disbelief in in the Portuguese performance overshadow what the nation or what the football nation of uh of the Democratic Republic of Congo today achieved. Because uh Juan Vissa, of course, um winger of Newcastle United, um shot the DR Congo's first World Cup goal, and um uh that of course is um is a very historic event, um, also considering that the Congo is uh the by population um the second second largest country in Africa with just short of uh 115 million people. So yeah, a great day for this nation today, and I think that definitely um must be must be appreciated as well.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

No, I think you're absolutely right, Paul. That was um absolutely right of you to to bring that up. A major um a major result for the DLC, and not just because of the you know, in a footballing context as well, but um, of course, with with everything that is going on uh back home in um in the Democratic Republic of Congo as regards to the civil civil strife uh and of course the recent Ebola outbreak as well. And um, yeah, we were we were you and I were in Guadalajara when they were there for the intercontinental playoffs as well. So it's not even as though they qualified automatically. There's they've been there's sort of been adversity after adversity after adversity, and they keep they keep pushing beyond um you know beyond most people's expectations. So yes, thank you for thank you for bringing that um that up. But yes, now let's get to today's games. Let's start with group B, I think, rather than group A, because uh in which Canada beat uh Qatar uh 6-0, would you believe? Really launching the tournament in Canada itself, of course. One of the co-hosts, Canada have now scored with those six goals and the and the other goal at the end of the previous match, they've now scored seven goals and conceded none in the last hundred and a bit minutes of football they've played. How the World Cup has woken up uh in that country. And uh in the same group, Switzerland beat uh Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-1, which means that because of the goal difference gained across these two matches, it would be very hard to see Canada and Switzerland not go through in first and second place in the group, whatever the results in the in the final matches. Both Canada and Switzerland now seem to have found their gears, Paul.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that was a beautiful performance today um by by Canada against against Qatar. Um by now I would say Qatar is officially the weakest team, and they also showed that they can't lose with dignity, I would say, because uh one thing that overshadowed this six um six-null result, of course, was this uh extremely hard to watch, gruesome injury um of Ismail uh uh Conne, the the the Canadian player, who got his leg broken in the 51st minute. And uh you can see the pictures. It is uh you can see in his eyes his disbelief watching at at the last part of his leg just just wobbling there. And uh that was in the 51st minute, as I said, that was already the the second red card Qatar received. The first one was in minute uh 33 when Canada was already up two goals. Really um, really ugly game in that sense, I would say. And I think that that this game um a little bit uh confirms one of my one of my fears I had that if you have a tournament where the the the the difference in in pedigree and and skill is just too big, that this will incentivize the worst teams to to just uh yeah make up their their lack in in skill with fouls. And that is what today happened. Um, but apart from that, um beautiful performance, um of course, perfect second game for Canada. Um and uh yeah, that definitely uh makes uh makes uh makes me hungry for more Canadian uh uh performance there.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

Yeah, um it was difficult to watch Jesse Marsh um sort of in tears when he was talking about Ismail Conney's uh Connei's injury, um of course, and as you say, Paul, um horrific. I think you bring up an interesting point, though, Dek, and I'd like your perspective on this, if if possible, because we've been speaking about the sort of the the the difference, let's say, in skill and quality levels and how that would affect the the tournament. And it seems to me that we've got a sort of mixed bag of evidence. On the one hand, we've seen some really one sided uh matches, of course, uh Canada, Qatar. uh would today would be would be an example of that but then if if we didn't have these teams we wouldn't have seen cape verde spain uh come in say so uh i'm i I'm undecided as to you my perspective on um on how this is manifested and uh and which sort of side of the fence I I sit on there. What's your perspective, Declar?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

I don't think we can draw any great conclusions until the groups have all been settled and we know who are the top two teams and the eight teams going through as third uh third place qualifiers I just don't think we've got enough data as it is at the moment. I I'm going on to what Paul was saying about the Canada game. I'm I'm really pleased with them because they uh they've they they deserved um in many respects because Qatar really you know dug themselves a hole with the two red cards and Canada took massive advantage of it and it was it was something that you know it was it was historically significant on many many levels today uh in my research for tonight's show it's the biggest FIFA World Cup victory by CONCAF nation ever in the history of CONCAC nations playing in world cups and it equaled the record margin of victory for a tournament host matching the six goal wins for Italy back in 1934 Brazil in 1950 and Argentina in 1978 so I'm really hoping like I've been saying consistently through the podcast in the build up to the World Cup I'm very happy that Mexico have got through tonight and won it nice and early it looks like Canada are definitely going through and and obviously tomorrow's game uh for the USA in Seattle at three o'clock uh Eastern Standard time here in uh in Florida is going to be a big one as well and hopefully that goes USA's USA's way so that you know the the the tournament the three tournament hosts continue to uh to um you know continue this further because I know here in the States and even in the airport uh today coming back from Dallas there was TVs on everywhere and people were watching games on their phones and they weren't just internationals this was this is becoming a to a talking point here in the United States uh about soccer soccer soccer yeah because people love the story and I I I spoke with um uh my cousin's uh husband whose son has just graduated high school they live in Washington DC he was a keen you know classic uh US uh young soccer player he's only been to see one Premier League game before he's seen one Bundesliga game and he was on the halfway line last night in the England game and it's his dad just couldn't get over how excited he was to see the players up close so you you've got to think that's been replicated thousands and thousands of time times over. And if USA Canada and Mexico continue to go on it's only going to create an even better level of interest in football than the CONCARCAF region.

SPEAKER_03 25:00

Yeah defining moments defining memories for for a generation of course you've you've spoken about this at length as we've um as we've gone over the sort of previous World Cups about how those World Cups have um have sort of generational repercussions on um on young people who who experience those tournaments and follow those tournaments yeah and and I'm hoping also because I know he listens to our podcasts every day I think he's the first thing he does in the morning is my mate Patrick in Niagara on the lakes in Ontario who is a staunch rugby fan he keeps sending me texts about how he's showing interest he's watching a lot more games from the Canadian national team so hopefully by the end of this this tournament he will be ditching his love of rugby and um and and become a staunch uh football fan or soccer fan for Canada well Canada is now officially uh the fourth uh largest territory for listeners to the World Cup football etc um recordings that we do United States is is top United Kingdom second Australia interestingly is now crept up into third place Canada fourth Ireland fifth Norway sixth I'm just gonna give you the top ten I'm not gonna run through the 220 countries in the world um so yes uh Norway sixth then Mexico Japan Germany and France a fair old mix and some surprises in there I think uh it's fair to say Paul yeah yeah absolutely um I I personally um find uh especially the the Australian um uh third place uh I mean we definitely can can can pat our backs here because uh Australia of course has uh only a population of 27 million um is probably the the not probably definitely the smallest country uh among our uh our top listenership so uh yeah we we must have something in our voices or how we talk that the Aussies just love and I very much appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Yeah and I did John I did mention uh earlier on in the week that when I was going to Dallas about meeting uh this very very famous Aussie rule superstar Corey McKernan uh needless to say mission accomplished I had a couple of beers with him before the game really really lovely fella we walked to the stadium together uh with a couple of my other lad friends and he did a uh some type of uh video uh of me and him talking about the prospects of the game uh for his media people on his website down in Australia so all of you Corey McKernan fans out there keep spreading the word with regards to uh our podcast as well yeah I also keep checking for our absent uh listener in Israel who's not been around for the last few weeks but um no they're still they're still not around so they they seem to have renounced um um ever having listened to us maybe they'll come back at some point just go with just just going on about one last thing about Canada is in the two games they've played so far they've accomplished what they accomplished uh with the draw against uh uh uh uh Bosnia and Herzegovina and then today's um absolute smash in of Qatar um without Alfonso Davis who is by far and away their best player he hasn't played yet so uh they've got him to come off for the uh probably another week of rest and then in hopefully they'll be playing in the round of 30 32 and then we'll see Alfonso Davis playing as well.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Yeah it'll be interesting to see um how you know who they who they pair up against in the round of 32 and how that all goes but um but they certainly seem to that there's fervor now behind them and they're they're definitely a lot stronger certainly than even I than than I thought that they they would be at this point. Of course that was um Qotar uh again my uh attempt at pronunciation of doing it correctly but failing no doubt uh every time this I have this image john that ever since we had this discussion about Qatar that you have been standing you have been standing in front of the mirror practicing and and fine-tuning your impression of uh of of how to correctly pronounce it and to be honest with you I think it's getting worse it's not getting better it's uh I I get I get the I get the heebie jeebies when I try and say it the uh I don't I don't stand in front of the mirror to do it but I do try and write it in a number of different phonetical ways on the page so I don't screw it up but it's something about the um the rolled R. And I can normally do rolled R's because of the Spanish but it's something about the rolled R of the R at the end which um which just throws me completely but uh but there you go.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Let's move on to group A where today's matches saw Mexico beat South Korea 1-0 and South Africa mighty South Africa come back late to draw one or with Chechia uh Paul let's start with Mexico South Korea what do you take away from the game um unfortunately I must say quite underwhelming um in in both teams regard I was disappointed by by the Mexican team that they did not build on on the performance in um in in the South Africa game and uh yeah it was a it was a a goal more by luck I would say than anything else um and uh of course uh mexico won one one nil in the end uh with with a goal in the in the 49th uh or the the 50th minute and uh before or after nothing uh not not a lot really happened and both teams didn't show that they have um yeah creative ideas to overcome the uh the opposing defense it was um it was not not not too exciting I must say both teams were in a kind of a um of a petty mood at some point um uh in the game and uh yeah fair play uh uh was was not the was not their their highest value it it was just a game which um um which showed me that if Mexico wants to uh wants to run as deep as possible something I would say fundamentally has to change because if you want to reach the quarterfinals uh for example uh you have to beat teams like South Korea um at least by two goals and that that did not happen today um i'm and I mean still I'm still happy that Mexico won don't don't get me wrong but yeah that was kind of my my overall overall takeaway from the Mexican side and um yeah it was a little bit of of the same performance uh I I think that my my description of the Mexican performance applies uh as well to the South Korean one just that they were not lucky and and that's um that's it Mexico still was the slightly better team but yeah that that that's my take on it what what was your your takeaway I think it was a grisly dour very uninspiring game uh I'm surprised actually I think on paper South Korea are slightly better than Mexico that could be an understatement so I was quite surprised that uh they didn't actually win the game tonight but for the Mexican national team and the Mexican population it's fantastic by them winning the group that means that they're gonna be in Mexico for a large part of the knockout rounds which is incredible because because the crowds doesn't matter if it's in Guadalajara or Mexico City is like the 12th man to them I was quite surprised that some something song was taken off sunny was taken off when he was taken off because Mexico had scored the goal at that point unless he had some type of tweak or injury or something you know he's their main man.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Why would they take him off and it was quite and it was quite exciting at the end you know this the uh the the gold mouth incidents in the six yard box where the South Korean forward you know headed it and headed it down and the Mexican goalkeeper did a good job of saving it and a couple of other chances but generally it was a it was just a a blah type of game uh so not as you both said not very inspiring.

SPEAKER_03 33:03

Yeah Paul and I were watching it with uh with some friends and um uh these friends have a new sparkly big television screen and I found myself saying towards the end that um that the problem was that it was on a big uh it was on a big screen and that some matches need to be seen on a small screen and that's basically sort of my summary of uh of the of the Mexico South Korea match that um it was just uh uh yeah it was kind of uh flat niggly as you say Paul and my issue with um with the Mexican side uh in today's match is that they were utterly devoid of ambition organization um it was only uh Julian Quiñones that um the forward uh who really actually seemed to be trying to sort of step up a gear it was slow it was labored there was no leadership and it and yeah Mexico won 1-0 as you say Paul through a through a lucky sort of fortuitous goal but if um and of course there are celebrations across uh Mexico tonight which will go on long into the evening but if Mexico thinks that um that uh tonight's result and performance is a is a is a harbinger of uh of positive things to come then I think they've got um they've got something else something else uh coming yeah absolutely um and what what I thought um especially during the second half was a weird mix of what you said like missing ambition um and on the same at the same time I had the feeling that that the whole Mexican team um except maybe quignes was feeling the pressure of like they they have to win this game they have to perform and uh so that that kind of drowned their ability to to use their to use their uh player uh or the the intelligence on on the pitch um and and actually figure out a way how to win this game not because they have to and if they don't the whole Mexican nation um is is gonna cry shame on them um and and that I mean that is uh like a persistent uh like theme of of the Mexican national football team and yeah when we when we uh speak about that game I think it's um also at least an interesting follow-up point to our whole tickets and um and capacity uh discussion of course this game was in Guadalajara which is the second biggest city in Mexico and uh the stadium was uh officially um not at capacity and uh FIFA said it scanned 45,000 tickets while the stadium has a capacity of a little bit over 49,000 seats and what was what what is uh or what I noticed or what actually you brought up John while we watched the game was that we barely or in most matches don't see at all uh in big stadiums the upper ranks and there was one moment where where the the view got a glance uh a short camera shot of the upper ranks over the VIP lounges and they were surprisingly empty so I think that this 45,000 number of today is is also not correct. And even if if this would be correct I think it it's still a huge upset that during a World Cup in Mexico the stadium is not overcapacity.

SPEAKER_01 36:18

Yeah I mean I think you're you're you're absolutely right there's definitely um you know something is uh rotting in the state at Denmark as regards uh the the tickets and of course FIFA will tell us that it it's probably because people are at the concourse or arriving late or they can't say there's because of the heat with an evening fixture of course but um yeah but it's all sort of um obfuscation of what's you do know you do you do you do know where this is all heading though John Hall is they they are the first team having clinched group A as the winners they're around a 32 game on June 30th in Mexico City is against the third place team from group C, E, F, H, or I'm very scientific that's quite quite a lot of permutations there. But it's going to likely be a very weak third place finisher in this new format that people come together. So they should win that and then the way things are all lining up is their first real test is going to be on July the 5th in Mexico City at the Azteca against the likely winner or the group winner from Groot L.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Guess who that is yeah that's actually exactly what I was about to bring up Declan that everything looks as though it's at least the moment moving forward towards that that quarterfinal against England and um and of course we will have the live event the night before uh that match takes place. So I hope you are if you haven't already booked your tickets Declan I hope you are seriously considering it.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

No I'm I'm definitely I've already booked my hotel is booked my flights are booked and I've got my tickets so uh I'll be there with uh uh bells and whistles on nice let's come to player of the day and team of the day uh quickly just to uh just to uh uh top off the uh today's recording uh Paul player of the day for you oh good uh good question player of the day for me um I would say is um negatively is conne um because uh I mean this is just just a tragedy because these injuries um are potentially career ending and uh I think it's very important to put emphasis on that and uh yeah try to really um I mean it's not preventable completely um uh but yeah the this this this kind of uh this kind of behavior is just uh um very very very questionable of today and team of the day is of course Canada 6-0 against Qatar uh the Declan you just listed the records Canada broke or equaled today uh so an amazing day for the footballing um aspiring footballing uh nation to dominate uh more than just the region and uh yeah that's that's my pick declin uh player of the day was Jonathan David for scoring a hat trick for Canada a fantastic achievement it particularly as he didn't he was actually getting some stick from the Canadian media and uh supporters about his uh performance in the first game against Bosnia he also um from a historical perspective it was the first hat trick scored by a home nation player since Jeff Hurst in 1966 all together so Jonathan David is my vote for player of the day and then as you said Paul you know with a 6-0 demolition in any World Cup uh that is an incredible accomplishment so my team of the day of Canada yeah I would definitely agree with both of you on the team of the day and um I'm gonna give uh bring up a different bad player for a player of the day I'm gonna bring up a 20 year old 20 year old Johan Manzambi for Switzerland.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

It was uh it's worth remembering that it was uh that match was nil-nil with 15 minutes left when uh when he was subbed on and he broke the deadlock with a brace uh soon after coming on of course one goal straight away and then one in injury time but I thought he I thought he looked the part and and a 20 year old having that level of impact uh on an on a nation because now of course switzerland are also um uh they're on four points they're they're they're all almost certain to well they will go through to the knockout stages and um and for that to be something which of course you know it's down to the whole team but um at the feet of a 20 year old is is something uh remarkable and to be to be lauded um declan Paul can I can I interrupt please John of course you can uh two things uh when I listen to uh the the caught up a little bit because obviously when you travel it's it's harder to to listen to all of our own podcasts not because we love the sound of our own voices but it's actually quite interesting listening back I was um I was tapping my fingers away and my feet started dancing to the new jingle so I'm very happy that uh our creative and marketing and uh that department in the in the organization has done a very good job with the new jingle and then I actually felt lovely last uh this morning when I was listening because Paul apparently felt very lonely on last night's podcast so I'm gonna give Paul a big cyber hug all the way from Orlando Florida because you don't need to feel lonely you've got thousands of followers out there Paul and they're all there for you I know and even if I wouldn't if I wouldn't have uh these uh thousands of followers I would still have you guys so um I appreciate it very much is um is is giving a cyber hug to a uh uh a man um younger than yourself uh allowed Detwin online well no i uh it it's a it's a horrible visual because what will happen is as I shrink as I get older and I get more and more dementia I I'm hugging Paul in a cyber way and my my my my forehead is in his belly button that's that's not an occasion.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

God all right I'm gonna put us all out of our misery with that image uh thanks everyone we've been World Cup football etc and uh of course given how much uh material there is at the moment we'll be talking to you again in a few hours great thanks John thanks Paul thanks Nicklin thanks John as always