Menschin with the Boys
Welcome to Menschin’ with the Boys — the podcast where Jewish pride meets the playing field. You thought Jews were bad at sports? Well, we’re here to prove you wrong! From Koufax to modern stars, from the Maccabees to the majors, and yes — even a little betting on the side — we’ve got stories, insights, and laughs that’ll keep you in the game.
Menschin with the Boys
Episode 17: Yes! World Cup Fever & Celebrating Marv Albert's 85th Birthday
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World Cup fever has officially arrived! The boys preview the 2026 FIFA World Cup and examine the Jewish connections to the tournament, including Team USA goalkeeper Matt Turner and a surprising training ground with a Jewish connection being used by Team Switzerland. They also break down the latest NHL award voting results, discuss the futures of Quinn Hughes and Jeremy Swayman, highlight rising prospect Ethan Belchetz, and celebrate accomplishments by Jewish athletes across hockey, tennis and baseball.
Plus, a special historical segment honours broadcasting icon Marv Albert on his 85th birthday, including a look at his remarkable career and the legacy continued by his son, Kenny Albert.
Follow us @menschinwiththeboys on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and much more Jewish sports news.
Intro
SPEAKER_04Live from Studio 5, powered by Federation CJ and the Coming Center. Welcome to Mention with the Boys, the podcast where Jewish Pride meets the playing field. I'm Yanis Harush.
SPEAKER_03I'm Matthew Cutler.
SPEAKER_00And I'm Jordan Stupler. On today's show, we're bringing you some news and notes from the worlds of hockey, tennis, and soccer.
SPEAKER_04The soccer talk continues with a preview of the 2026 World Cup just underway here in North America.
SPEAKER_03Plus, we celebrate the outstanding broadcast career of Marv Albert as he turns 85 years young.
SPEAKER_00Pull yourselves away from the World Cup for just a little while, won't you? Because mention with the boy starts right now.
SPEAKER_04So it's good to be back, guys. The three of us in the studio. It's been a while. It's been a while. Yes, Matthew. Yes, that's what you look like. We still have our beard, two of us. Playoff beard continuing.
Current Events
SPEAKER_04I mean it's it was regular season playoff. Now it's a World Cup beer, I guess. Yes. For me.
SPEAKER_03It's been an eight-year beer, a 10-year beard. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04So it's summer weather outside, but I guess, guys, we still have to talk hockey for I mean, not the last episode, the second to last episode. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03We have to go at least through free agency, no?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I mean, but for the 2025-26 season, it's the second to last episode. And then yeah, we'll go we'll get into draft free agency, trades, all of that. So uh I mean it's also I don't know, coach hirings, coach hirings, yes, exactly. So but I mean it's also trophy season in the in the NHL right now. And uh Jeremy Swayman finished third in Vezena voting. Uh it's it's one of these awards that's because they all have different ways of some of them it's the media, some of them it's the players, some of them this one is the 32 GMs. Uh that vote. I I always wonder like if you're a GM and you get fired at the end of the season, like do you still get your vote? I think it's done before I guess I'm underwind the cutoff. Yeah, exactly. Turn your go to advance polls, basically, if you know you're gonna get fired.
SPEAKER_03Either gets abstained or the assistant GM. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. So he finished five points between uh sorry, behind uh Ilyas Orkin of uh the Islanders who finished second. The award was won by obviously Vasilevsky of the Lightning. We we kind of heard of him in Montreal. Very good. Look, we beat him this time, so I'm happy, but he's he's a very, very, uh, very good goalie.
SPEAKER_00And Swayman, I mean, uh we've talked about it before, but I mean, just a great, great season, career high 31 wins, obviously uh a finalist for the Vesina trophy for the very first time. Uh he's locked up really. Uh he's entering year three of uh eight-year deal he signed with the Bruins uh in October of 2024, uh making uh 8.25 million, at least the cap hit is 8.25 million, which I guess you could say is kind of a bargain to a certain extent in today's NHL.
SPEAKER_03That's what they were banking on, right? That the year one probably year two probably not as much of a bargain, but by the time you got to the three through eight years, it was gonna be a bargain.
SPEAKER_00I'm just curious whether you know we see the Atlantic division and it's you know with Montreal and uh you know all these teams that are coming, Tampa obviously.
SPEAKER_03Buffalo, Tampa's still there, Florida's coming back.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean Toronto, Detroit, who knows?
SPEAKER_03But uh Toronto's a few years away, Detroit who knows, and Allen with having to trade Larkin.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's it's it's a tough division, but uh I think we can say two things. I I think without the way Swayman played, uh I don't think they make the playoffs this year, and they certainly don't finish in the top three. Maybe they fight for a wild card spot with with the Senators. Um but it's him who brought them back where where they were, who allowed them to be competitive, who allowed them to take that series to six games um against Buffalo in the first round. Um so can they stay competitive? If he's again a finalist for the Vizina trophy next year, yes. Uh if not, I mean it's gonna it's gonna it's gonna be harder.
SPEAKER_03They need a few more pieces. I mean, we've talked about them. They're kind of stuck in the middle, they're one of those teams kind of stuck in the middle, right? Yeah. In the last few years, and and certainly seems going forward their what their draft pick's gonna be in the high teens, low twenties.
SPEAKER_00They got screwed by uh Toronto because they had Toronto's pick, which was protected obviously with them getting first.
SPEAKER_03It was top five protected, yeah, right. So or top four protected. If it was fifth, they they would have gotten it. So they get next year's pick instead. It's not as deep a draft in 28. You would presume Toronto will be I mean, you would ha I think they're not finishing in the bottom five, which they finished this year. I know lottery bumped them to one, but they're probably finishing in the bottom uh at worst in the bottom ten or bottom half. So yeah, that draft pick becomes worse. I don't know, but Boston, you know, it's great that they have Swaymen, it definitely helps, but uh you know, that if they're gonna stay in the middle of the pack, he might be uh you never know, he might be one of those trade candidates that's a digestible cap hit.
SPEAKER_04And and and you know, you you you have to wonder um a a team like Boston that no one picked to make the playoffs at the beginning of the year, was their plan also if you want to go full rebuild or do a faster rebuild, they were banking not only on Toronto's draft pick, but on their own being way higher that than it ended up. So yeah, you're happy, you make the playoffs, you take the series to six games aga against the uh the division champs. Um but in the end, when you look into the future, that also screws them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, look, the goaltending guys were watching the Stanley Cup now, we're trying to do all who are the goalies. Yeah, no, exactly. And again, I I think it's I think you you you have your top, you have your pedigree, but Sha Sturkin struggled this year. You know, the top guy is coming into this year. Vasileski's probably the only one that didn't struggle this past year and he won the Vesna, but uh Sorokin and Swayman are not top goalies, they're in the top ten on a given year, right? So it's very interesting that position, how it's gonna evolve over that. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04Like it's it's not the it's not the 2003 NHL anymore, where like you win with goalies basically. Uh you you have you have that situation where goalies are kind of interchangeable. But the good thing for Boston is yes, he's on a bargain deal for them right now. They didn't sign him to a crazy contract, handcuffing them, making any trade impossible. So yeah, if if they want to go get something, uh he's certainly a a trade candidate at some point. I don't think this summer, but maybe in a year or two, it's something that they think about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh shifting if we go to the Norris trophy for the top defenseman. Quinn Hughes, who finished seventh in voting, which I was kind of surprised at. I would have figured he would have been higher than that. I was I was even remember surprised that he wasn't in the top three.
SPEAKER_03Possible the voting was after the Vancouver games. Not in the game. That's it.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no, exactly. Um Zachary.
SPEAKER_04I mean, it certainly hel hurt him when when you take the the Vancouver part of his season. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03So huge difference. And then if you would have I know it doesn't include the playoffs, none of these awards. Yeah, but except for the GM. But but well that makes sense, by the way, a little bit. The first two rounds for the GM. Only because they want to get the voting in. But if you had included his playoff run, uh there's no way he finishes seventh. Exactly, especially over like a Bouchard or uh, you know, Lane Hudson finished sixth, right above him. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um so yeah, we Jan and I talked about this on the last episode, just obviously of how he's entering the last year of his uh of his contract, which he signed with the Canucks in 2021. So he's becoming uh a UFA at the end of next season, which means as of July 1st, he's eligible to sign an extension with the Minnesota Wild.
SPEAKER_04They both said him and the team, and I know it's like end-of-year press conference, everyone wants to be nice, etc. Uh, unless you're Danny Briere with the br with the Sabres in 07. Um they both said, yeah, we we want we want to work out a deal. He's staying.
SPEAKER_00Well now this whole news about with Larkin, where he's on that short list of teams that he would accept to be traded to. Obviously, there's a connection between them. Like I think that could be uh He's staying, he's not going anywhere.
SPEAKER_03He liked it too much, he likes the style of play, he likes that team. They play to his strength. He fits in very well. I think it jars a player when they get traded the first time. He rebounded very quickly, and I don't think he wants to go through that again. He can make the choice. Now, can they what can they afford in terms of signing him and then having Larkin? I think they are finally not hamstrung after this year by the suitor and what is it with suitor and Parise buyout? I think they're finally done with that, if I'm not mistaken. So that comes off the book, so they have a little bit more capital. Going to 17 million for next year, so cap is going up. So there's a lot of factors I'm sure they have to play with, but I bet you they can get him to stay by saying, Hey, we're we'll bring over Dylan, your buddy. You need to take a little bit of a not a cut, but a cut versus what you were could get on the open market, and I'm pretty sure he he's sticking around.
SPEAKER_00I mean, he's only 26 too, which is kind of mind-boggling to think that he's 26. Still getting better. Yeah. And Adam Fox just throw it in. He did get one fifth place vote for the for the Norris. I don't know if that was a New York writer or someone. He was hurt most of the year. He was hurt most of the year. The team obviously struggled, but uh he got some love a little bit. And Quinn Hughes also did get a single fifth place vote for the Lady Bing trophy uh awarded to the player exhibiting best qualities of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct award that was won by Cole Cottfield of the Montreal Canadians. Jack Hughes actually finished seventh also in that in the voting for that. But Panarin finished fourth. No, he got a fourth place vote.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Panarin got a fourth place vote. Oh, sorry, he got a fourth place vote. A single vote. Someone threw up threw him a bone, yeah. But Jack Hughes, yeah, 10 penalty minutes in 61 games. Kind of crazy because he's had he has 72 total penalty minutes in 429 games. Such a good Jewish boy. Never had more than 18 penalty minutes in a single season. Crazy kind of mother raised him well.
SPEAKER_03He doesn't shy away from contact. No, exactly. That's right. It's incredible to think 72 penalty minutes in 429 games.
SPEAKER_00Jack Adams uh wanted to shout out Ryan Worsoy, head coach of the San Jose Sharks. He got a third place vote in that. And uh Ozzie Weisblatt, eighth in Masterton voting. We've told you his story before about how uh resilience that he uh endured uh with his uh brother's death in the uh uh just before the training camps open. So um he finishes uh eighth in in in voting for the Masterton Award that was won by Gabe Landescog.
SPEAKER_03I want to go back to Ryan Worchowski for a second. I think that guy is winning Jack Adams next year. But that team, San Jose is gonna be vastly improved, especially when you consider they have the number two pick. What are they doing with that pick, right? It's one of the biggest questions, or number two, sorry, or number the top four somewhere. Yeah. But the biggest question for them is like, what are they gonna do? They definitely don't need another forward, right? Which is yeah, right. They're number two for Ivor Steinberg. There's been I mean, I remember I was in Toronto the night of we talked about it, and and all the talk was how can we get the number two also, right? I bet you we can get a defenseman to San Jose or something. There's no the San Jose neat is a defenseman away from really challenging, right? So the question is the defensemen are not considered in the top three, top four. Well, there's Chase Reed. Like by the way, if if start if Sternberg falls to Vancouver at three, well, Vancouver though, there's the issue of Malhotra, right? But uh but that becomes a huge debate. Malhotra, Sternberg, because there's no way they expect Sternberg to fall at three. Let's say Sternberg goes two to whoever, whether it's San Jose or not, you have Malhotra three for sure. They're not passing up on him Vancouver.
SPEAKER_00The coach is now his father.
SPEAKER_03They're not going to pass up on him. So San Jose legit could drop to four or five and still get one of the two or three defensemen that they would want. And if that's even the case, if they want it, why not trade the two, get in a more a little bit more established D guy and some other picks and move back, maybe you move back into the 20s or something, right? And still get a top D-man that you can develop. And now all of a sudden they are a playoff team, especially in the weakest division out there. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04And I mean, and we're seeing with Vegas that doesn't like being in the weakest division isn't hurt them. Exactly. No, it actually helped them.
SPEAKER_03They probably didn't have to go through the you know, a bat all those battles, right? So I'm gonna I'm putting it out there. I think he wins a Jack Adams next year. I think he is a prime character.
SPEAKER_04Is it your bet for the minion spread? These are future bets. The future Oh yeah, the one we do at the last episode of the year. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Speaking of the draft, we uh we've been giving you updates on uh Ethan Belchetz for the last few weeks. And uh the NHL draft combine was uh just happened in Buffalo uh last week. And um Belchet's obviously is a projected uh first round pick as well, probably later on in the first round, but still projected. I think he's ninth in North American skaters. So um we talked about how he had a broken clavicle that he suffered in in early March and he missed the end of the season in the playoffs. And crazy enough, so that was just uh you know a few months ago, and he was participated in the combine testing, everything except for the pull-ups and the bench press.
SPEAKER_03Okay, Sam Bennett did zero pull-ups too. So yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00So he says he's close to 100%. He's only begun training in the last couple of weeks, so things are looking good for him to uh, you know, he's moving from we talked about two from Windsor to Michigan State for next season, so he'll have ample time to be ready for uh his new his new team. Uh also wanted to to give a shout out to Yanif Peretz, who re-signed with um the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the American Hockey League uh farm club of the Philadelphia Flyers. It's a one-year uh AHL contract. He spent most of last season in the ECHL in uh Reading, Pennsylvania. Um you know, he impressed during uh you know the late call-up that he got with the AHL team. He had a shutout uh in one of the final weekend, final weekend of the season. Um crazy that he's only played nine AHL games with Lehigh Valley, and at first he was with the Chicago Wolves because he's he he went kind of right to the NHL for a little bit. He played two games with uh Carolina. And uh so we'll see kind of how he fares uh at training camp. Flyers always have they have a lot of goalies, but you know, none of them really seem to stick, but they just kind of fluctuate around. But uh so he's looking for for his shot. Uh and just speaking of goalies, too, on the woman's front, uh Kaylee Osborne is leaving the New York Sirens for the expansion uh PWHL Hamilton team. Uh she had two years left on her contract in New York, and she I guess the PWHL has these crazy expansion rules that you can just you can protect three players and then everyone's free, even players with contract, and then you can sign up to five, and then you can protect three more players. It's a whole convoluted process. But uh anyhow, Kaylee Osborne.
SPEAKER_03Well, not only the players, the coaches and general managers are all switching teams. Yeah, well, they're expanding very fast.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. It's a new league, a league that's expanding.
SPEAKER_03They also own every team, right? So Walter, yeah. Yeah, so I mean so um, then they're gone from what they started with four, six, eight, now they're going to twelve.
SPEAKER_00So you know, some like markets like Vegas, San Jose, yeah, you know, some unique markets for women's hockey, no ones you necessarily associate with that. But uh, you know, Kaylee Osborne had a great, great season. She was a workhorse, she played 27 of the team's 30 games. Um, you know, New York was struggled as they have kind of since the the league started. But 11 wins, four shutouts, but uh respectable 2.47 goals against 906 save percentage. I've been impressed with like with Hamilton. Hamilton's gone swinging for the fences, and they they managed to get uh Brianne Jenner, who's uh you know a veteran of the Canadian national team. Alina Mueller, who's in the MVP candidate for this past season, Gosling, who a young defenseman who Montreal just drafted a year ago. Because he was a huge part of part of how they won. And Emily Clark, who's another, you know, respectable player. So like the fact that they those were their first five signings, I mean it bodes well for a city like Hamilton to get all these.
SPEAKER_03I wonder if it makes it hard. Now, I guess, you know, like I'm not you know, not the uh we'll we'll call ourselves casual fans, right? No, no, in the sense that like we're not following on a day-to-day and knows the roster up and down. I wonder, you know, it's not easy. We have NHL expands it's every ten years, right? So you're losing a couple players here or there, so you fall in love with the team here. They've gone through such shifts uh you know in the first three years. I wonder how hard it is to fall to continue to follow like just you fall in love, like you just say, like uh Nicole Gosling that just got there. I think now she's already on another new team.
SPEAKER_04I think the league is young enough that I mean, outside of a figure like Mari Philippe Poole in Montreal for obvious reasons, the the fans haven't had the time to like develop necessarily that love relationship with one player. They they love the team, they love the fact that there's a women's hockey team in their city. If uh maybe in five, ten years, yes, obviously that there will be like that same type of love that we have in Montreal for Mary Philip, and there will there will be for all of these younger players who I and I have to think about at some point one it will stop expanding, and two, you'll have uh I mean different rules on on how many players you can protect, how many can leave, and and and all of that and all of that. Right now they're the Walters they're trying to make the league successful everywhere, so it makes sense to create these rules for an expansion.
SPEAKER_03Of course, and and you want them to be as competitive as possible. But I wonder how if they consider that as they're expanding, right? Like how many times can you have players can just continually move?
SPEAKER_00But it's completely different because I remember I used to cover more closely women's hockey when they had the previous iteration of this league, the the Canadian Women's Hockey League and everything. And back then, right, these they weren't professionals in the sense that a lot of them were working day jobs and playing at night. So in those cases, you never had players really move because they couldn't leave their jobs, they were rooted in the city, and you know, it was a big it was a big thing. So it's a complete shift for these players. A lot of them, these veterans who've been around for many years, now of a sudden, you know, you're you're moving around to new teams, you know, rip rather regularly. Some I think are already on three teams in like third year. It's like kind of crazy, but um so we'll see how how how that evolves. Uh wanted to talk about uh tennis for a quick minute. Uh the the Jordan of the French open. Yeah, but it's pretty crazy because you know we're thinking of Sinner, Djokovic, uh, you know, ultimately it's Zverev on the men's side who wins.
SPEAKER_03And then you lose I'm happy for him, by the way, that he finally got to win his major.
SPEAKER_00You can uh put an asterisk around it when uh whatever you want, but finally not the most popular player for other reasons, but um yeah, so he wins. But go if we look at the woman's side for now, um Alina Svitolina, we talked about her last time. Uh she was she won the Rome uh uh WTA 1000 in Rome uh a week or two before the start of Roland Garros. She ultimately makes the quarterfinals. She's ousted by a compatriot of Ukraine, Marta Kostiak, who was on like a 17-match winning streak uh at the time. You know, we we we were talking about how we probably expected Iga Sriantek to meet Svitolina and they were in the same section they could have met in that quarterfinal. Sriantek gets out earlier, another big shock on the women's side. The whole tournament was Sabalanka too. Sabalanka was up a set and four-one, I think, in the second. And she she completed it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So she talked about quitting after, right? She talked about retiring. She was so distraught.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of crazy. And then obviously we saw Sinner was up two sets to love and camping, yeah. And then crazy the the whole store, the story of the tournament for me, obviously, not Jewish, obviously, but the qualifier from Poland, Maya Schwolinska, who beats Sviertek, no?
SPEAKER_03Uh I'm pretty sure she knocked it. She beat a lot of players. I mean, she made it to the final. And three rounds of qualifying to the final.
SPEAKER_00Three rounds of qualifying to make the final. Emma Radukan, who we remember, did it at the uh US Open where she lost uh where she beat Leila Fernandez in New York. But uh crazy that she, in these two weeks that she played, she made more money than she has in her entire career. And uh the fact that she we're going into the grass court seasons just started and Wimbledon is in a few weeks, it's a very quick turnaround. And as it stands right now, because they do the rankings for these majors like a month or so in advance, as it stands right now, Shuolinska, who was a uh finalist in
SPEAKER_03Maybe she's not suited for gas cards.
SPEAKER_04The British will say that the French Open doesn't basically.
SPEAKER_00And on the tennis front, we have to mention uh Guy Sasson, who captured the quad wheelchair doubles championship with his Dutch partner Niels Vinkel. Remember, we talked about him uh after he won the Australian Open at the start of the season in his speech that he recognized the Bandai Beach shooting victims, um, which was you know just about a month or so before uh he won the trophy. Crazy's already halfway to the season slam, 46 years old. Fifth in a row now. Fifth in a row. Doubles doubles, quad doubles dating back to the French Open last year. He's 46 years old and he's just uh yeah, it's really He made it to the semis and the singles or the quarters and the thing in the singles, yeah. It's a very I it's a reduced draw for the wheelchair, but still, yeah, the fact that he's uh still competing and so he's got Wimbledon coming up. We'll see if he can add uh in baseball. This happened just uh last night as we were recording this on June 10th, but Cole Carrag for the Colorado Rockies was called up on June 9th, made his MLB debut that same night against the Chicago Cubs. He was the uh very promising prospect. I think he was number five in their their system, played shortstop for Team Israel uh at the WBC.
SPEAKER_04So I was so pissed when I saw the news yesterday because I was in Denver last year. Oh my god, yeah. And I remember I recommended.
SPEAKER_00The Rockies and Colorado. I didn't warn them you were coming, they would have been.
SPEAKER_04No, exactly. I was there on June 5th, and you know, I I I see how they're playing against the Brewers. Do I buy a ticket? Tickets obviously are super cheap given the record right now. And I and I decided not to go, but had he been called up that day or a day before, for sure I would have gone to the game.
SPEAKER_00And he didn't mess around. Uh it was a big win for the Rockies over the Cubs, and he got his first career hit in his first game, and it was uh quite the hit. So yeah, triple down the right field line to uh um you know it was late in the game. They were already up, but still, you know, the guy's known for his blazing speed. So I think yeah it might have been a double for some other players. He legs it out into a triple, but uh so we're gonna see. I'm sure he's on a Rockies team that's again not the best at anything. Not making the play.
SPEAKER_03I think there was already an E next to their name in the standing. Yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_00And uh yeah, I guess another team that we don't expect much out of necessarily, but uh you know, exceeding expectations so far, the athletics.
SPEAKER_03They were at the top of the standing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a week again, like like the uh Pacific division in hockey. It's uh not exactly Somebody has to win the division, yeah. Yeah, so Zach Galoff again, we talked to uh we talked about him last time, but he's on a he's on a tear right now, 14-game hitting streak, and it's still going on as we record this. Um Let's hope we don't jinx him. Well, we talked about him last time, and he's that's uh I mean maybe Matthew will jinx him, I don't know. Uh yeah, so kind of interesting. They're playing this whole week, they're playing two series in Vegas, kind of a prelude to before they move in a bit is so weird with like is it the right field or the left field that's like so short?
SPEAKER_04If what would be if Flyout exactly in the I mean 30 other stadium of the league ends up being a home run there.
SPEAKER_00That's why they're in first. Well, and for Zach Galoff, both games so far that they've played in Vegas, he's hit home runs in both games. So maybe he's lucky the Vegas humidity, the air, it's something's working for him. But there's no humidity there, it's the heat. He's getting lucky on the heat. Dry heat.
SPEAKER_04Dry heat, yes.
SPEAKER_00Um we're gonna shift into soccer. We're gonna talk uh obviously a bunch about it. For the next five weeks, football, yeah.
SPEAKER_01We have to show the world what culture. Even though we're in North America. I don't know. It's they've they're invading.
SPEAKER_04I mean, guys, guys, even when they had the draw in December, Trump said that he should be it should be called football.
SPEAKER_03Like I mean, I think we have to respect the fact that they're here, they're here. They might be listening. We might pick up some listeners. So we have to do it.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna get to the World Cup in just a minute, but wanted to mention the Israeli national teams, actually, both the men's and the women's team who were in action uh recently. Uh the men's side, uh they had a friendly with uh Albania on June 3rd. Israel won it won nothing, one-nil. Uh our friend uh Danielle Perez with the clean sheet. But uh Yeah, zero shots of target by Albania.
SPEAKER_04I mean, look, 13 shot attempts 13 shot attempts, it means he covered his angle well and they had to try things that didn't succeed. I have to say something.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Has he been given a nickname yet? Because if not, there's pretty obvious one. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00With his wife?
SPEAKER_03Iron Iron Dome. Yeah, Iron Dome, yeah. Yeah. I mean, guys. Yes. Nothing got through.
SPEAKER_00Nothing got through, yes. Nothing getting through. Uh so kind of interesting to-making t-shirts now.
SPEAKER_06Yes, with his face and iron dome, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Was Noah Corral gonna be on there?
SPEAKER_03The unicorn can be appear somewhere.
SPEAKER_00Maybe. Uh but yeah, kind of interesting. Obviously, they schedule right these friendlies like months in advance, and Albania I mean came close in a sense to qualifying for the World Cup. They they were in the playoff semi-final and they lost to one to Poland, so they they were knocked out back in March. But uh you know, you know, it was a kind of uh, I guess I'll say meaningless friendly, but obviously two teams that aren't uh aren't going to be. Well, on the on the women's side, games that might mean a little bit more, they're actually qualifying for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2027. The qualifying um is ongoing, and uh Israel is advancing to the playoff round. It's kind of similar to the when we talked about the FIBA, the basketball where they're in a group of four and they just had to finish top three because uh, you know, they were lucky to be in a group with Luxembourg, who was absolutely atrocious in it. But uh so they finished third in their group, Scotland and Belgium ahead of them. Um Israel was only able to beat Luxembourg uh twice and they lost their four games combined between uh against Scotland and Belgium. They ate 8-0 in their first two matches against Belgium in March, 6-0 and 3-1 wins over Luxembourg in April, and then uh they played Scotland twice, June 5th and 9th, 6-0 loss on June 5th, 5-1 loss on June 9th. So uh hasn't been easy. Obviously, they're gonna have to up their game uh for the playoffs. For for the next round, because uh it's gonna only gonna get more challenging. Knockouts. So we're gonna the the draw for who they draw is gonna come out in the next uh few weeks and they're have uh those matches are gonna be played in October. But the one player who's basically almost scored all of their goals in this whole um group stage was Vital Katz. She had six goals. And when you consider the fact that they were shut out in four of their uh four of their six games, Israel, she has six goals in the other two games. In the other two games, so really, really strong. And you know, she was born in Israel, has a Canadian connection. She moved to Toronto at the age of seven. She played provincial amateur level uh in uh in in Ontario and then went to Kent State University in the NCA. So she's got some uh North American pedigree, but uh so she's been carrying the team offensively, and again they're gonna rely on her to continue scoring if they want to have uh a chance at uh continuing in their bid to qualify for uh the World Cup next year.
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell Is she gonna play in October if she's at Kent State?
SPEAKER_00I don't think she's still at Kent State.
SPEAKER_03I think that would think that is. Well, you're in university. Okay, anyway. Yeah, I don't know. If she's not there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so before we shift gears to the World Cup, though, uh want to give our our Yasher Koach of the week to our partner studio sponsors at the coming center. Uh they raised a million dollars on June 7th as part of its annual sports celebrity evening. You'll remember I talked to uh uh Olivia Benaroche, who hosted the event uh uh a few weeks ago. Uh you know, the It was a great interview, Jordan.
SPEAKER_03It really was.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. She's a great character. And she was she was great. I was at the event and she was uh amazing. Uh so um yeah, the money supports services and programs for seniors at the coming center, and uh, you know, their their record high, it's been going on. This event has been going on for 20 plus years. Their record high before that, I think was set last year, was 500,000. So they doubled it to $1 million for this year. So it and they honored, of course, some uh some big names. Brendan Gallagher was the sports personality of the year, and it was you know an emotional thing because it's amazing how that was done months ago. What did they know that the rest of the BS didn't know yet? Yeah, he got a nice ovation, obviously, and uh you know, Michel Terrien was there to kind of introduce him, his first coach at the NHL level, so there was a nice uh love in between them. You know, he says still has high respect for him, obviously. Um Did he call anybody weak and soft or kind of kept it to Gallagher, he didn't veer off. Uh the community honoree was Farrell Miller, who uh owned the Montreal Juniors of the QMJHL, and he's been uh obviously an entrepreneur and an investor in Live Barn, which I think he just sold. Yeah. Um and another great, great character, great name, Pierre Hude, uh you know, play-by-play voice for the Canadians on on RDS was awarded the Larry Fredericks Media Award. He was a great interview, he actually interviewed Gallagher on the stage too. So he's a great, obviously great broadcaster, hockey hall of famer. So it was really great uh to see all these people uh together, really successful event, obviously, across the board. So uh Yashakowach to the the coming center uh for this uh you know very successful uh evening. Uh we're gonna take a quick break and we come back, we're gonna do a quick look-ahead preview of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
SPEAKER_04All right, we're back. Uh so as far as we can tell, the because Israel didn't qualify, obviously, unfortunately. Um
Look Ahead: 2026 FIFA World Cup
SPEAKER_04we won't answer questions. Um as far as we can tell, the only Jewish representation uh in the World Cup is Matt Turner uh playing for Team USA, 31-year-old. No, no, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They're not they're not as where they were even a few World Cups ago, and you look at their quality of their team too. Yeah. Just can't.
SPEAKER_03It's been a bad year, Kennedy USA.
SPEAKER_04Olympics, world juniors. How many other people? I mean World Hockey Championship, we won. Okay. We won. And then we won a little bit better.
SPEAKER_01What does that say?
SPEAKER_00Nothing. It says nothing. Uh well Matt Turner, it's actually his second World Cup. He was there in in in Qatar in 2022, and um, you know, got an interesting s like Jewish lineage, right? His father is Jewish, mother is Catholic, but he identifies more with uh the Jewish tradition. Uh his great grandparents fled Europe during World War II because they were Jewish, and he's actually also has uh Lithuanian citizenship, uh which he uh which he got in 2020 and also crazy Just in case the US didn't make the world country. Yeah, he was looking to Lithuania and uh didn't begin playing soccer until he was 14, so a late bloomer, and you know, obviously with that wasn't able to really assert himself in high school, college, and uh, you know, even in the start of his professional career, went undrafted in MLS and eventually found his way to New England Revolution. He uh, you know, and and started to play well. Right now he's with uh New York City FC. Um you know, he was the primary goalkeeper four years ago, two clean sheets. It was the first U.S. goalkeeper actually to record multiple clean sheets in one FIFA World Cup since 1930. Where they went to the semifinals. You remember that game? He was there. Yeah, I was there in Denver. But uh yeah, so I don't I I think he's based on the initial training sessions, I don't think he's necessarily going to be the starter, at least to start the tournament. They're looking at uh another Matt Matt Freeze who's expected to uh to play for Team USA, so we'll see if he gets any action. Obviously, it's a quick tournament too, right? Because you only have three three matches.
SPEAKER_04I mean, look, like when you look at the start of his life and his career, and uh the fact that he can say twice he was at a World Cup, two clean sheets in twenty-two, maybe he plays a game now. I mean, we don't wish an injury or an or anything on anyone, um, but who knows what can happen. I mean, you you would have told him that ten years ago, he would have laughed at you probably.
SPEAKER_03So things can change, right? They have an opening match against Paraguay, who knows how that's gonna go. Their group is they should be favored in their group, but certainly it's not a walk over their entire group, and and they're not in the best form coming into it. So yeah, we'll see.
SPEAKER_00And I guess, well, not necessarily from a Jewish, but we gonna have to like it's it's it's what everyone's gonna be watching and talking about for the next month. So uh I don't know.
SPEAKER_03It's five and a half, six weeks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because there's more teams now, obviously. But uh I don't know, is there anyone that you any team, any underdogs, anyone that you're kind of looking at with with regards to this tournament?
SPEAKER_04Um first thing uh looking at France group with Senegal who are champion of Africa or not champions of Africa, depends on which rolling you look at, but they did won the game. Um Norway unbeaten in the qualification, completely rolled over everyone, including Team Israel, including Italy, forcing them to the fatal playoffs for them. Um I mean Iraq is is gonna be the I think the punching bag for everyone in in that group. Um yeah. When when you when you look at that group, I'm curious to see how nor Norway does. Um we've had a lot of times in the history of of the World Cup of or European championships when you have a a new team that has good players in c at club level but were never able to qualify or didn't usually qualify. Suddenly it's it seems like they hit something during the qualification, they're all over everyone. But qualifications where it's two games here, you go back to your club, two games there, one game there, uh versus now it is Didi Edition on the Culture of Friends in 2018. He he described it as like a commando operation, basically. And it's like you go in your hotel, you just do that for 30, 50 days, basically. Obviously, you wish that it goes to 50 days, and uh and you have to be 100% focused. So it's it's different, and we've seen some team not being able to bring that qualification success to the real tournament. So I'm I'm honestly really curious to see how Norway's gonna play. Do they continue being that to teamroll basically everyone, or that was something for the qualification and now under a real tournament? Now they have good players that play in the big clubs where they've played the big game, so they're supposed to be uh ready for that kind of atmosphere where you play the big Champions League game, but the World Cup is different. Um that's that's one of the things that I'm looking forward to to see.
SPEAKER_03I think it's a great point and and I want to build off of it at first. Norway has the nicest kits, by the way, coming in. No, no, seriously, they really do. Gorgeous. I'm very curious to see how that all black I hope they're only wearing that at night, because otherwise that's gonna be that's gonna be terrible. Oh yeah, right. Yeah, they have awesome kids. Um look, it's interesting. First of all, that if there is a group of death, that would be it, only because three those top three teams, conceivably any one of the three, you wouldn't be shocked if one of them won the group, right? And Iraq's at the bottom, but between Senegal, uh Norway, and France, those are the probably the three toughest out of a top three, right? But what what this expanded field has done is that it's done a few things. One, that there is no other group of death, it's not even close because the top two automatically are in, and then eight of the next 12 are in. So like pretty far down the line. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04It's very possible, you know, whoever, let's say there's a team between these three that loses two two the two other games against the big three. If you beat Iraq by six goals, then your goal difference is good enough to carry you through.
SPEAKER_03And then once you get to the knockout stage, if you're that good, it really doesn't matter who you're playing at a certain point, right? You're gonna beat them. So one is I don't think there's a real group of death. But now what that might do, because you don't have a Germany surprisingly losing in the you know, in the in the group stage or uh who else la the last couple years. But now all of a sudden, if all these teams are given almost a fourth game, so to speak, to get into form, right? Because it's not just oh, we have to be in form in three, but most of them are making it through. They might they actually are gonna be in form for the fourth game. You're adding this other this extra game. I don't know that there's gonna be as many Cinderellas. I don't know that there's gonna be a Morocco surprising in the semis or Croatia coming out of nowhere in the semis, right? Like now they're more of a powerhouse, but back then in Russia they were not right. It was a surprise in the right. No, no, no, no one would have bet on that. In O2, yeah. Right? So I don't know. It's really it seems like this is a very he now what it ha what there is though, there isn't a clear-cut favorite. I think there's four that really, or five even that you turn around and say, yep, any one of these five, there's a little bit of flaws, but any one of them can win, you know?
SPEAKER_00And and and Yan, you're gonna be at uh France Iraq, right? I will, yes. So we're gonna have some mention representation at the World Cup. Exactly. Yes.
SPEAKER_03How can he afford it working for community? You don't have to answer that.
SPEAKER_00What kind of money is he getting on this podcast that we're not aware of?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. I'm very curious. It's all my minion spreads uh seeds. Oh, he actually did it.
SPEAKER_03Or you bet against Jordan, one or the other. Yes, exactly.
SPEAKER_00Maybe both. But one element also that I kind of look at is the because it's you know, Mexico, Canada, USA, it's such a wide territory. Yeah. You're gonna have teams that are moving around, they're moving around even within the group stages. Different countries.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but I think they're trying to keep it close by. They're thinking about it.
SPEAKER_04Yes, but our di our our definition of close by in North America is not the same as in Europe.
SPEAKER_03But I think Canada has one of the longest.
SPEAKER_04And that was on purpose, because we wanted to catch Canada.
SPEAKER_03But I I think if you look at it, I think they have one of the longest.
SPEAKER_00I'm looking at like um Czech Republic, for instance, which is in group A, and they're starting uh the first day. Yeah, they're they're they're in March. They're starting in in Mexico, then their second uh group stage matches in Atlanta, and then they're going back to Mexico. Well, it's kind of crazy too.
SPEAKER_04I mean, and you yeah, and there are teams like the thing. There's a group that's playing like half Kansas City and half San Francisco. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's definitely movement, there's no question. It's gonna be an interesting factor. Uh look, all of it is the heat in the summer, isn't it? Yeah, they're gonna have the hydration breaks. So Which we saw.
SPEAKER_00I mean, you saw how they were using the hydration breaks even in the tune-up games. I think it was USA. Yeah. They they're spending the three minutes and they have their iPads out and they're they're tactically trying to figure things out when you know you're supposed to be hydrating. So that's the thing.
SPEAKER_04I mean, it's it's it's the it's the NFL influence basically on that. Uh one thing that's going to be uh interesting also is you might have some wild round of round of 32 matches because of yeah, if someone finishes third, there's that group of the death, but there's also you know, like there's a team that you have one bad game, suddenly you're you're in third place, you still don't qualify. Oh, you draw a top of opponent that you were not supposed to play in the round of thirty-two. So you might we might have some bigger matchups that that we expect in the round of thirty-two. Um but that that's gonna be something very, very interesting.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. Look, I'm a casual football fan at best. I'm excited. I was already thinking, okay, how am I tomorrow uh this is airing after, so it's okay. How am I gonna see some of the Mexico game tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01At three o'clock where I'll be in the office. Come to my office. The Canada games work out well though.
SPEAKER_00Friday, and then I think on uh Thursday at six or something. Right, at six at night. And then they're playing actually on St. John Day.
SPEAKER_03So uh exactly Canada doesn't recognize St. John guys. They should. They should.
SPEAKER_01That this would be a good reason to be inclusive and everybody take the day off.
SPEAKER_00But I also love like I love the underdog and the Cinderella teams. Not like we're expecting them to do anything, but when you look at many. No, but you look at like Cap Verde and Curaçao and Haiti.
SPEAKER_04Curacao being in the World Cup is is amazing.
SPEAKER_03I mean that's that's what the extra 16 teams brings you.
SPEAKER_00It's just crazy when you like consider these little tiny nations of nothing and they're on this global stage.
SPEAKER_03If anything, this is good for the kids because they'll learn about more countries. I can guarantee you.
SPEAKER_04I remember being a kid and my father used to tell me if you want to if you want to learn European geography, go watch the Champions League, basically. You'll learn about cities you've never heard of. These are countries they've never heard of. I mean, and there's something really funny because obviously, like the teams are very spread out in their home base camp that that they've chosen and and their hotels. And wherever obviously you try to find a hotel close to where you're playing at least two out of the first three games, and then I mean you'll travel basically. You don't know where you don't know if you're gonna go somewhere after or where you're gonna go. And but it makes with different it makes some amazing differences. So Switzerland has like a I mean it's not even a five-star, it's like a seven-star hotel in like Santa Clara, California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. And Algeria basically has like a interstate side motel in like the middle of Kansas because they're playing two of their games in Kansas City, and I guess that's what was available.
SPEAKER_00I'm so glad that you brought up Switzerland because I saw this before and I I forgot and then it just struck my memory. Do you know where uh Switzerland's uh training grounds are? It's at a Jewish school. It's at a Jewish school, yes. A Jewish school in San Francisco. In San Diego. In San Diego. In yeah, Jewish school. Uh you know, there's uh Maimonides Upper School and the Golden Mayer Lower School. It's nice. It's crazy, right? Like so.
SPEAKER_03Okay, but the problem is they're in the group with Canada.
SPEAKER_01We can't cheer for them either. No, but it's it's cool.
SPEAKER_04It's I mean, it's cool that they're of all the training sites in the coast of uh and look, I mean, it's a three hour flight for them to go to Vancouver, so they're also traveling. Canada will have to go from Toronto. Exactly. Yeah. So all in all, it should be great. I love that.
SPEAKER_00So we did find another another Jewish representation through all this. We started with just one goalie and now we ended up in a school with the whole team. The school, yes.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so uh obviously we I hope I hope the players kiss and touch the Mezzo when they enter the rooms.
SPEAKER_00So obviously we're gonna follow it and we're even we're gonna have more even World Cup talk in this episode, even in their minion spread. So so that's coming up. Okay, so we've come to our historical segment, and it's uh pretty special one because today, uh, as this episode drops on Friday, June 12th, Marv Albert is turning 85 years old. So we wanted
Historical Segment: Marv Albert Turns 85
SPEAKER_00to tip our cap to this broadcasting legend, uh, you know, for generations of sports fans. Um, like I'm sure us here uh in studio, myself for sure, Marv Albert, you know, it wasn't just the voice of basketball, he was basketball. His signature call, which you heard Matthew say off the top, yes, became one of the most recognizable sounds in sports, accompanying countless clutch shots, buzzer beaters, and championship moments. Born Marvin Philip off Ricktig in Brooklyn in 1941 to a Jewish family. Albert grew up immersed in sports and broadcasting. His father, a grocery store owner and basketball enthusiast, helped spark a passion that would eventually lead Marv to the microphone. After attending Syracuse University, he began calling games for the minor league Baltimore Bullets before landing what would become a career-defining role with the New York Knicks in 1967. For more than five decades, Albert became one of the most trusted voices in sports. While basketball was his calling card, his versatility was remarkable. He called the NBA finals, NFL games, NHL contests, boxing matches, tennis majors, and even horse racing. Few broadcasters in history have demonstrated such range while maintaining the same level of excellence. His most memorable work came during the golden era of the NBA. Fans heard Albert narrate the brilliance of Michael Jordan, the battles of the 1990s Knicks, and some of the league's most iconic moments. In 1992, when Jordan hit six three-pointers in the first half of Game One of the NBA finals, Albert's astonished yes and it counts became part of basketball lore. For Jewish sports fans, Albert's success carried special significance. At a time when relatively few Jewish figures occupied the highest profile positions in professional sports, he became one of the most visible and respected voices in North American broadcasting. He wasn't known for discussing his Jewish identity on air, but his prominence served as a source of pride for many in the community. Alongside figur figures such as Sandy Koufax and later even Amar Stademeyer, Albert became part of the broader story of Jewish representation in sports. The Albert broadcasting legacy continues through his son Kenny Albert. If the voice sounds familiar, that's because Kenny has become also similar to his dad, one of the most accomplished play-by-play and versatile broadcasters of his generation. He's the lead announcer for NFL games on Fox, calls national NHL broadcasts as he just did for TNT, handles major assignments across multiple sports. And remarkably, Kenny is the only broadcaster currently serving as a play-by-play voice for all four major North American professional leagues, carrying on, of course, the family tradition at the highest level. Now, Marv Albert retired in 2021 after more than 55 years behind the microphone. And he's left behind a standard that few have matched. His calls transcended teams in cities. Whether you were a Knicks fan in New York, a Bulls fan in Chicago, or simply a basketball fan anywhere in the world, chances are some of your favorite sports memories came with Marv Albert's voice as the soundtrack. And at 85, his legacy remained secure, not just as one of the greatest Jewish broadcasters ever, but as one of the greatest broadcasters, period. And I guess as Marv himself might say after a game-winning shot, yes, and uh I'm sure he's happy to, you know, it's apropos with the New York Knicks uh in the NBA finals that uh you know the voice of the Knicks is uh celebrating uh uh a big birthday in the midst in the middle of that uh big series.
SPEAKER_03All right, time for the minion spread. All right, we're we're gonna update everybody. So first thing is everybody's in the positive now. Great job, Jordan. So Jordan had, if we can remember, had a couple of bets. He had uh he had a Mets Marlins game and Marlins
Minyan Spread
SPEAKER_03Moneyline, and I think he did that because Marlins had swept weekend before or whatnot, but then they got swept the weekend after, of course, by the reverse. Yeah, the reverse jinx. There you go. So I don't know why you're betting on the Met. I I know that he's not there anymore, Samson and Lori and whatnot, but like these guys started from there. Just as a true Expos fan that you are, I don't know how you can possibly bet, you know, with the Marlins. But, anyways, that didn't work out. You did, however, you're very good on the soccer. I don't know where you pulled this out of Toluca against the Tigre, and the Toluca won in a shootout as well. It was Champions League, it was it was Champions game.
SPEAKER_00And it ended up hurting that game hurt Canada because Flores got injured in that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but you won that one. So and actually it was a good bet they were not favored by a lot. So 976 and 19 won for that one, which brings you to a total of positive $889.53. So great job, Jordan. It's a part to start to start. Yan has now slipped to two seconds. He had a the I don't know. I was shocked when I heard your bets because I wasn't there, that you went to Habs Carolina. I can't believe you put money that you would went on that one. So I know you were banking on a big game four comeback from the Habs, and then that they would go in and win a game five, and unfortunately, they did not. Nope. They did not. So you did not win that one. Although this was a good one. Dembele to score in the Champions League. And this was before they even announced that he was going to be healthy. So yes, yes. That was a good one. He scored on a penalty, which by the way helped my bet a little bit. So 1400 won there, which brings you to a total of ten thousand one hundred and twelve and sixty-one cents. I swept my two bets. So I went PSG Arsenal and PSG Moneyline, and thank you to Dembele for helping me win that bet and penalties. It wasn't looking good. I was watching that match six minutes in. Like, what happened? But no, exactly. What happened?
SPEAKER_04So I I was on a road trip that day, and like I stop and I see one-nothing Arsenal. I'm like, fast. No, exactly. I'm like, ah, and like it doesn't look good. Like if they don't score, obviously, Dembele is not scoring the ether, and the Habs had just lost.
SPEAKER_03But the Arsenal scored early. It was their game plan. Score early, attack early, and then he just sat back and defended and defended and defended. Anyways, at the end, PSG came out and won back to back. So I won 1150 for that bet. And then I had the tempo and the storm in in the uh excuse me, WNBA and the tempo with the money line, and they're playing really well at home, actually. They're uh I believe they're over 500 right now. So that was uh another 738 and ten cents to bring me to a positive eleven thousand eighty-four dollars and forty-seven cents. So good job, guys. Pretty good weekend. I think so. Jordan want to start us off?
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah. So again, I'm kind of going a bit uh off the beaten off the off the not off the beaten path, but uh out of left field, maybe. Uh two kind of well, one for sure under D. Jordan doesn't like hitting singles. No, we're going off for the grand slams. Uh Morocco-Brazil are playing on sa on uh Saturday, June 13th. I don't know. I'm not sold on this whole Brazil thing. I know people like you put them on a pedestal, obviously, because of their past, but they their team is is very, very old. And when you're relying on a guy like Neymar, I don't know. Doesn't doesn't I'm not sold on the whole thing.
SPEAKER_03Morocco was a semifinalist four years ago, too.
SPEAKER_00So and as much as we want to maybe again, they won the Africa Cup uh by the way. According to the port.
SPEAKER_03Okay, worst case, they were finalists. Yes, exactly. The ranking champions. They have a very good team, it is true.
SPEAKER_00So I don't know. I think we could see an upset early on in that first first weekend.
SPEAKER_03So I'm I'm Well, if you remember last World Cup, right? Who was the winner? Argentina. What happened to them in their first match?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they lost to Saudi Arabia to one.
SPEAKER_03One of the biggest upsets of all time. And yet they came back and won the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00So we're only yeah, I'm only betting for now.
SPEAKER_03If it's gonna be an upset, it's most likely most of the time in that first match, as everybody's kind of getting their footing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I'm although I'm gonna say if Jordan is right, I think Brazil's coach is getting fired like mid-turned.
SPEAKER_00And then they yeah, then they'll they'll have they're in the group with Haiti and Scotland. So yeah, yeah. But uh so Morocco, I think, is their toughest uh test. Anyhow, I'm gonna put uh the first $500 on Morocco to beat Brazil in that first match. And then um very interesting group I find in the Japan, uh Japan and Netherlands. I think they're in group group F with Sweden and Tunisia. Um Netherlands, Japan, I think are gonna duke it out for that top spot, and they're opening um on Sunday, June 14th, they're opening that group uh matches uh game in uh in Arlington, uh Netherlands, Japan. And uh I don't know. I'm I'm having a good feeling with Japan, so I'm gonna I'm gonna go with Japan. $500 the big in Japan. Let's go.
SPEAKER_03As long as Jordan doesn't break out the Mr. Robato or all the sake. You're gonna have some sake watching it.
SPEAKER_01If they win, yes. What time is the game? 3 p.m.
SPEAKER_04And and you know what's I I always I I it will take me a couple of days to remember this is a North America. Or like there's no like 6 a.m. Yeah games and like having sake at 6 a.m. Jordan, we might have a talk after. That's it.
SPEAKER_03Otherwise, we're putting it in. I think there's a couple of one o'clock.
SPEAKER_00Oh, because of Mexico.
SPEAKER_03I think there's a couple of 1 p.m. games, but there's a there's the midnight games. No, there's midnight games, yeah. Yeah, Austria Jordan, is that midnight games? A couple of midnight games. Not so bad. At least there will be there'll be stuff to watch, especially once the NBA and NHL seasons are done shortly. No, yeah. Nobody's watching baseball until August or September.
SPEAKER_04I have look, I I have to say, when the Habs got eliminated, my wife looks at me and she's like, okay, we're finally done. And I say, Yeah, the World Cup's starting next week.
SPEAKER_03I will say before we get to bets, I for one had said I'm not watching the Stanley Cup final. It's gonna be so boring. It's gonna be awful. I have to say, the four first finals we've had.
SPEAKER_01So entertaining bullies are terrible. Nobody wants to hold the lead. That's right.
SPEAKER_03So that team had a 4-0 lead. That's I don't care what era you're in. In the second period, not even the first period. Well, yeah. That should not be blown.
SPEAKER_00Three goals in 39 seconds. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So, anyways, let's get to bed. Sorry.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so uh I'm gonna start a new strategy uh on this podcast. I mean, I'm saying look, I'm second and I've been first for a long time. That's true. That's true. Uh I'm gonna call it the uh inverse Jordan strategy. Oh, I like this. But just but just for one game, uh I'm gonna beat the pick Brazil to beat Morocco. Uh actually. Uh yes, I understand there's the risk, but I think Morocco, uh they're getting look, the hype has been a little bit too big for that game. Uh, I think especially when the draw happened, it was before the draw happened before the Africa Cup of Nations, uh, so there and before the whole thing that happened after the cup. Uh, but it was it was branded as like a shock of giants, Brazil against the former semifinalists. Yes, they were in the semifinals uh four years ago. There's a lot of teams that have been surprised semi-finalists uh during the history of the World Cup. If we take think of Turkey in 02, South Korea in 02, Croatia in 98, and um uh Uruguay in 2010. Guess what? None of them made it past the round of 16 the tournament after. Uh I think this this is a game that yes, Brazil is old, but they've had months and months to prepare for. Uh this is the good thing with your first round. You you you know six months in advance who you're gonna play, then you have three days to prepare for for the for all the other games. But this one you have you had six months to prepare. I think they're gonna be ready. I think they take care of business. I don't think and I agree with you, like Brazil, I I think the team's a bit old. We'll see how Neymar plays within clearly his last World Cup, his last chance to win the trophy uh for Brazil. Um but we'll see how they do after that. I don't see them winning, even though I mean no one saw them winning in 2002, and then Ronaldo, the Brazilian, uh had the month of his life uh at that moment. But I think they start strong. And uh I'm gonna go the other game that I'm gonna bet on is Haiti Scotland. I'm gonna bet on a draw uh for uh for this one. Um I think Haiti has an okay team. I don't think they would have qualified in a not only that the uh if the tournament had been 32 instead of 48 teams, uh but if the tournament wasn't in North America and therefore you had three CONCACAF spots taken, which made that FIFA had to give, I think, one or two extra spots to KANCAF.
SPEAKER_03They had one and then one went to a playoff.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, something like that. Uh so like in a normal setting, I don't think they would have qualified, uh, but they're there. Um Scotland is an okay team, however, clearly. I mean, I don't know if you saw their face during one of their uh uh one of their uh practice, like everyone was sunburnt, basically. And they had red shirts, so like they had the same color of the as their shirts. We'll see how they do in uh honestly. I won't bet on a zero-zero draw, I'll just bet on a draw, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is a good old-fashioned, boring zero-zero draw.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. So you know, this is what comes into play, right? With with the uh with football is that it's not just win or lose. It's a normally bet on there's the draws, right? So I'm gonna look to I I mean, I gotta you know get the Canada-Bosnia-Herzegovina game bet. I think Canada wins that game, they come out strong, they're home, it's representing the country. I'm sure they're gonna be nervous, but remember, this could have been Italy. It's not. I know that they beat Italy, I get it, but come on. This is not Italy. Italy's not on these guys. Exactly. It was a one-day.
SPEAKER_00And they're still searching for that uh after the disappointment. Yeah, they haven't talked about it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Let them do it on opening day, right? Get it out of the way. The entire country is going to be watching this on a Friday. Uh I think we, you know, like I can't wait to get behind it and and figure, you know, and watch it. So I'm I'm betting them. I'm all in on them winning that first match for sure. I think they win the group, to be honest personally, but I'm not gonna bet on that. But I they're gonna win that first match, and then the match that night, later that night, USA is opening up their tournament against Paraguay. They haven't looked in great form. I think Paraguay is one of those sneaky South American teams that has a style of play that not everybody's used to. They actually qualified pretty well, and and it was a surprise at how well they qualified. But that South American qualification, the Connem ball or whatever we call it, they that's a that there there are some great, great teams, right? I wouldn't be shocked if one of the South American teams won that and there's three or four that could win, but they qualify there. I think that game's gonna be a draw. I think they surprise the USA, I think they get a draw out of it that first match. I think USA will get stronger as the tournament goes on, but I think that first match is gonna be a draw.
SPEAKER_04You know what? I agree with you. Obviously, that's not one of my bets, but since we're talking World Cup, I see it also, but I see it as a more a 2-2 draw. Like my bet was more I see it more as a 0-0 one. I think I see the US leading late into the game and then being surprised by a pesky Paraguay team, basically.
SPEAKER_03We'll see, but I think that I don't think I don't think they get out clean US. I think that's gonna be a draw, and then they're gonna have to really scramble the last two matches.
SPEAKER_04So now we're gonna go in uh our Dvar Torah section. This week's Parsha is Parsha Shelah, the team that lost before the game began. So Parshah Shelah, sorry, tells the story of the 12 spies sent to scout the land of Israel.
D'var Torah- Parashat Shelach
SPEAKER_04Ten return with a negative report, focusing on the strength of the opposition and the perceived impossibility of success. Only Yehoshua and Kalev remain confident, insisting the nation can succeed. At its core, the story isn't just about geography, it's about mindset, team dynamics, and performance under pressure. In that way, it mirrors something we all understand: sports. So the scouting report gone wrong. Imagine a team preparing for a championship game. They've trained four years, they've got talent, but before the game, their scouts come back and say, the other team's way bigger, you know, their arena is intimidating, we don't stand a chance. Suddenly the locker room mood shifts, confidence drains. The players haven't even stepped onto the court, but they've already lost. That's exactly what happens in Shellach. The spies don't just report facts, they frame reality through fear. And in sports, as in life, how you frame the challenge often determines the outcome more than the challenge itself. Power of belief, which in sports can be called the locker room culture. Yeahoshua and Kalev represent a different voice. The land is very, very good. We can surely go up and take possession. In mother sports term, they're the leaders keeping the team focused, or at least trying. They acknowledge the opponent, but don't obsess over them. They emphasize internal strength, not external obstacles. They maintain belief even when it's unpopular. Every great team has these voices. The captains who say, We've trained for this, we belong here. Without that mindset, even the most talented roster can collapse. And there's a difference between playing not to lose versus playing to win. The 10 spies adopt a defensive mindset. They're trying not to lose. That leads to fear, hesitation, and ultimately paralysis. In sports, teams that play not to lose often take fewer risks, stop being aggressive, lose their identity. Basically, they forget what got them there. Meanwhile, the team, the teams that play to win trust in their preparation. They stay aggressive and they embrace the challenge. Yehoshua and Kalev are saying, yes, it's a big game, but that's why we're here. Identity matters more than your opponent. One of the most striking lines is when the spies say we were like grasshoppers in our own eyes. Before they even describe the enemy, they describe themselves as small. In sports, psychology is huge. Performance starts with self-perception. If a team sees itself as underdogs with no chance, they shrink. If a team sees itself as capable, they rise. The tragedy in Shellach isn't that the opposition is strong, it's that the people forgot who they are. So what's the lesson for athletes and for all of us? The mental game is everything. Talent matters, yes, but belief, confidence, and mindset often matter more. Choose your locker room voices wisely. Are you listening to the 10 spies in your life or to Yehoshua and Kalev? Challenges don't define you, your response does. Every team faces great and tough opponents. The difference is how they respond. Never underestimate the power of self-image. If you see yourself as a grasshopper, you'll play like one. If you see yourself as a contender, everything changes. Pasha Shelah teaches us that sometimes the greatest defeat doesn't happen on the field. It happens in the mind before the game even begins. Whether in sports, business, or life, we all face moments that feel like giants in front of us. The question is: will we be like the Ten Spice focused on fear? Or like Yhoshua and Khaliv, focused on possibility? Because in the end, the teams that win aren't always the biggest or strongest. They're the ones who believe they can.
SPEAKER_00So fitting for the as we're gonna dogs are possible.
SPEAKER_03I have to say what I'm realizing through uh we do all these Dvar Torahs and stuff. I've been doing all these Dvartoras in my 20 plus years of coaching. I didn't realize how much of a much I've been doing.
SPEAKER_04But just so Jordan's gonna take my clip and send it to Team Morocco in their game.
SPEAKER_03Tell him exactly where it came from.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for joining us once again on Mention with the Boys. Remember, please like, follow, and subscribe so that you are kept in the loop on our episodes, uh, which will drop every other Friday. Uh, you can also keep the conversation going with us on Instagram. Follow us at Mention with the Boys until the next tip off for Torah portion on behalf of my pals, Yanis Tarush and Matthew Cutler. I'm Jordan Stupler. Enjoy the football.