2 Vintage Sports Guys - Episode 24

Join Joe and special guest, Ricky Goldman, as they break down, American-style (ignorant), on where the World Cup games are doing the sport an injustice. Besides calling it Football.

Watch the video on BZZR:

https://bzzr.com/creator-studio/content?tab=videos&watch=true&videoId=BADw0bL13BQQOVK4JfPb

https://bzzr.com/profile/EwjIXH8NQJbDYtvgfxe27PE3BQ53?watch=true&videoId=ensp77WNG68GlDLF69FK

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to Two Vintage Sports Guys. I am your host, Joe Rendacci. Uh I got my special guest back today, Mr. Ricky Goldman, uh straight out of Atlanta. What's going on there, Ricky?

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Good morning, everyone. Happy fourth. Thank you for having me back on there, Joe Rindacce. Rendace, as Apple calls you.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Just hacked the whole thing. Well, actually, if you spell check it, it comes out to redneck sometimes, but that that ain't I from uh you know the Northeast. All right, so let's jump right into it. Really, we're just down to the World Cup and baseball, and you've been um enjoying the World Cup probably more than me. So give me some thoughts of where we're sitting today.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

You know, I watched about two seconds of soccer slash football over the past three years, and then over the past two weeks, I've watched a lot of soccer slash football. And um, at first I don't really understand the rules like most Americans, I admit, but I've learned a lot over the past two weeks. I've been hanging out with a bunch of people who are experts in this in the field of soccer and all the rules and everything else going on. So I've learned a lot, and I've come to my conclusion that um the FIFA, which is the organization that runs the World Cup in soccer across the globe, really wants a Messi versus either Ronaldo or Mbappe France final. They're gonna do whatever they can to have that be the result because you see some of the calls over the last couple of matches, you will you will see that. And it it's pretty indicative.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

So, all right. So just to something you said there, I I I look this up every few years, probably every World Cup because I forget, but why we call it soccer and the rest of the world curls of football. Yeah, and basically we're the word so right off Google, the word soccer was invented by British university students in the late 1800s as slang for association football to distinguish it from rugby football. And when they crossed over here uh into the UK and American football uh from the UK and American football was starting to skyrocket, they just adopted the slang soccer to clear it between the two. But but that's you know, to your point, I only know it is soccer. I I realize a hundred years living later that the world calls it football, and it really is more appropriate to be called football than our American football, where we're only hitting it like a third of the time, right? And that that's their total total game. But nevertheless, all right. So besides the conspiracies and besides you wanting the US, as do I, to win, what do you think have been some of the highlight moments so far?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So um obviously um, you know, Messi and Mbappe both the leading or so far the leading scorers with six goals apiece. Um, I think one big um highlight is the guy from um Norway, named Holland, Erling Holland, who's got about five goals. Guy's huge. He's like um he's like a Shaquille Neal for football. Are we calling a soccer football for this today? Let's call it soccer because it'll mostly apparently. I do want to make sure we're calling the right thing. All right, so for soccer, he's kind of like the Shaquille for soccer. The guy is probably 6'6. I mean, he's he's a tower out there. So anytime he gets the ball. So Norway, Norway is looking really strong. Um, and um, all the main programs out there are looking strong. Belgium, which had a little bit of a scare against Senegal the other day, came back and we're playing them on Monday night. Um, and I think probably the biggest one is USA. USA is looking probably the most um not just um I don't know the right term here, but ecstatic, but in terms of just being um not expecting to be this good. I mean, they're passing the ball really well among each other. They're striking it, um, they're playing incredible defense.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Um, but now they're they're soft forwards out with the red card, right?

SPEAKER_01 4:27

So yeah, so we want to go down the path. We can we could the two topics I wanted to discuss is the red card that happened against um Bosnia the other night, and then last night's Croatia versus Portugal. Um, gold was not allowed because offside. So for from anyone on this podcast listening, most Americans don't understand soccer offside. I did not get it until just recently.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

And basically, let me pause you there for a second. Well, I know you're not a big hockey fan, you too would know enough hockey to know that that that you know hockey is basically soccer on ice, and offsides is a huge part of it. So you you do understand offside, right? You can't get there before, you know. It's not much different than hockey. So no, it's big.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

It's actually it's actually different because in hockey, all the offensive players have to start from the blue line before they cross over. You can't have one guy crossing over before the puck. Well, the puck's gotta be over before the the player. Right. Well, okay, that's different. In soccer, you there a man cannot be past two guys or in between basically. Um and what's unique is that where the where you start and where the ball starts, it can be kind of controversial sometimes. Also, another another thing is like you could be going against a goal and you can be offsides depending upon where the ball is struck struck and where the last defense guy is in soccer compared to hockey. As long as the puck's in you know inside the blue line area, everyone's on side, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Yeah, but I mean, I I've been watching the games and I've watched enough. I I really don't see offside as a big problem. It doesn't really happen. What how many times does it really happen on average? It's happening well, it's cost a lot of goals, many goals. Well, but costing a lot of goals, but on average, how many times does it happen a game? Maybe three. It's not that much that they're really good.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

But remember, there's not much scoring to begin with in soccer, you know. Well, that's a whole different problem. Take place. So last night's match, Croatia versus Portugal, it was um it was one-one, and then Ronaldo then gets a kick, uh, penalty kick, which makes it two-one. And that's a whole different conversation because you know, when you do a penalty kick, the guy who's kicking the ball against the goalie, they can stop in midstream and then kick the ball afterwards. So basically, kind of like move the goalie around just by the way he's moving his feet. I don't know what the what the rules are, but that's just one of the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

You could you could do that. I mean, you I watched the guy stutter step, like take baby steps the other day before he kicked him, right? So you could do whatever you want. Same thing in hockey. You literally, when you're taking a penalty shot or you're in the shootout, you could if you if you're good enough, you could stop at the last second, wiggle it back and forth, and shoot it, right? So I mean all right, okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

That's a good point. All right. So anyway, so it was 2-1, and then towards the end of the match, um someone from Croatia kicks the ball up in the air, it misses the Croatian player, it then hits the Portugal player's guy's head, which then technically resets the offsides, believe it or not. Once it hits a defensive player, and they'll reset where you're offside or not. Well, anyway, the Croatian player who scored was technically offside, right? He was beyond the last defensive player. But because that defensive player from Portugal touched the ball, it technically should have reset it. So the guy who kicked the goal in should have counted and it should have been 2-2. However, VAR, which is being used a lot, went back and they kind of freeze framed everything. And for some reason, they missed the fact the ball touched the Portuguese head guy's head.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

It's clear as day. Well, and I and you I'll post the picture too. You could see it in the thing I sent you in the chat window here, where they show the spike. Uh, I don't know if you're looking at that picture, they show the spike of when it hits his head.

SPEAKER_01 8:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

You say it.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

So yeah, and and I don't know how they missed that. They the FIFA wants that ending, they want the kind of ending where it's gonna obviously get a lot of attention. They want Portugal or Spain or Spain or Argentina versus Brazil. They want the main teams in, right? And that's they're gonna do anything they can to make sure that they advance.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

And I mean, is that is that a shock in any sport? I mean, I could still remember Otani striking out trout as they were teammates in the world baseball classic, right? They couldn't ask for anything or write anything better than it coming down to that final strikeout. Yeah, but it was this in every sport.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

But they they not so blatant, right? It's it's the most blatant, the most blatant offense I've ever seen when it came to like uh a penalty or non-call was the Rams New Orleans Saints championship game years back, right? When they didn't call it a tip um pass interference, when it clearly it was. Um, this was kind of like that where but back then you know there was no VAR for the NFL.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

This case No, they actually went to replay. Wait, wait, which one you what year are you talking about?

SPEAKER_01 9:48

I'm talking about when the Saints lost to the Rams in 2019. Okay, they had but they had replay. No, they didn't. They did not have replay for pass interference. They didn't have replay in 2019 for that. No, they did not. They might have had it like a year or two years late just to try it out, just to test it for one year. Remember, they tested it out one year and they decided to get rid of it because it just it was most of the time the reps were correct.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

It wasn't maybe I'm thinking of a different playoff game where they went to review, it was still blatant and they still didn't call it, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:21

Like it was it was not that game, I can tell you that. It was a hundred percent not that game. So, anyway, um so moving along, so Croatia lost the match, and you know, Portugal, Portugal's moving on, and it was so clear as day that the fact that there was not offside, and then two nights ago when USA was playing against Bosnia and Belagon, you know, accidentally stepped on the guy's ankle, he wasn't like blatant, like stepping on the guy's ankle, he was landing. You know, how else how else could he have landed? Could he have just given him a yellow sure, but give him a red card where he missed you know the remainder of the game and granted to USA team for for keeping the for going for 30 minutes on a penalty, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Did they go to video replay to review that or did they just call it and keep it?

SPEAKER_01 11:09

No, they went video. So what happened was the referee didn't call anything, he just he just let it go, and then they V AR called him aside and they reviewed it. They showed it, they reviewed it in in slow time, so you know, frame by frame. And if you look at it like frame by frame, it looks like it's a pellet, it looks like a red car because it looks like he's landing on his ankle, but it wasn't on purpose. So anytime you kind of slow the the video, it looks more offensive than it actually is when you're doing it in real time. So actuality, it should not have been a red card. Most people were saying that. And the the thing is that now he's not playing Monday night, so now USA is gonna have to replace their best player, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

So anyway, who's so who's favored? US still favored? Um, I think Belgium's favored in this one.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

I I mean, how did even Belgium pull out coming back from two goals down with like five minutes left in that game? Yeah, I don't know either. Exactly. And well, there was controversy in that too against Senegal. You know, again, who would want Senegal in the moving forward, right? People want Belgium and European countries, so and there was a lot of controversy in that one as well.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

Yeah, you know, so so how many how many shootouts to me? The best part is the shootouts, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Penalty kicks, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Penalty kick shootouts were I think I watched, was it two in the same day or back to back days?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

There was and the the honestly the best one was Germany versus Paraguay. If you watch uh Paraguay is more of a defensive squad, and they actually scored in the first half, and then Germany came back and scored it tied up somewhere in the middle of the second half, and all Paraguay did was just play defense the whole time. They were like, We're gonna play defense, we're gonna go past the extra time, and we're gonna get to penalty kicks, and that's where we're gonna, you know, we're gonna win, or gonna try to win because they're goalie for Paraguay. He's a he's a tall dude, he's a big guy, and they stopped him. And it was it was like talking about being embarrassing. And the irony was the guy from Germany who took the last kick, he's like the best defensive player. He's not a striker, he's not a forward, so you can't, he's not a really good scorer. The guy who was supposed to make the kick decided he didn't want to kind of build out on him. So now he's getting all this controversy for not doing the kick. And the guy who wasn't supposed to be kicking kicked it, kicked the ball way over the goal, cost him the the match. So anyway, now that I don't know how that is soccer.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

So I was gonna say, I don't know how you can miss the net. I I get you're trying to arc it, curve it, catch a corner, but you're on the biggest stage at the biggest moment. You cannot miss the net. No, I know.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

No, is that he no, I think he missed, he missed the whole thing, maybe not that one.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

But I w I was watching those penalty kick shootouts. There was a bunch that that just missed the net. Oh, yeah. I mean, you got enough space. Like at least get it stopped. Don't just miss it completely.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

I I'm not a fan of the way they do extra time in soccer. I like the hockey version when they go three on three, right? And then the golden goal, that's that to me is way better than the extra time they do in soccer.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

But I mean, again, we could spend a whole time talking about like it's an ADD 2026, and most of us don't have patience for zero-zero games or you know, get to the shootout, sure, we'll pay attention. But why I'm just gonna ask it again. Why not take one or two players off each team and open it up a little more? A la three on three. If you don't even want to do it for the whole game, do it for the two extra 15-minute periods, right? Like, what why not? You're not costing anybody a job, they're still on there through the game, right? So it's not like some players union problem. It just doesn't make sense, but you would think the US in their own MLS, and you're obviously a United fan, United fan. What they could alter whatever rules they want, right? They don't have to adhere to anything globally, they they could change rules if they want. So just the same way NHL does what they do compared to Sweden, Russia, and everywhere else around the world that that they play um their own brand of hockey. But whatever. We'll all watch these every four years, and it is interesting. I think it's so interesting because it's such a big stage, but I think for most Americans, it doesn't change that it's still a pretty boring game per se.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Yeah, I think the bet I think the best part about the World Cup for Americans is watching the Europeans come here and just enjoy what we have in terms of freedom that we didn't realize how we know we take for granted all these things that they themselves are just gushing over.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah, they they they they go to Walmart like it's the Retz Call.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Yeah, they go to Bucky's, Ranch Dressing. You can name all the different items we have, we just take for granted, you know, fast pro sports, uh pro sports shops and all that. I mean, it's funny. I'm telling you, last night, these this Brazil. So I was at the Braves game last night, and we'll turn to baseball in a second here, Joe. But I was at the Braves game last night, and behind me was this Brazilian family, and the guy who lives here in Atlanta, and the other people were all from Brazil here for the World Cup. And you know, the two dads, there was one guy who could speak English, the other guy couldn't speak a lick of English, did not understand baseball one bit. So one guy was explaining baseball to him the whole time. And they were funny, and they stood up and they had this big banner that they showed, which got on the fan cam last night, which is kind of funny to begin with. And then at the end, towards the end of the game, and the Braves got got killed last night. At the end of the game, you know how all the fans are going to the corner of a stadium and they're all taking their shirts off and they're kind of waving it. You know that trend that's going to all the ballparks now? Yep. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. So these two dads from Brazil, they and their kids go to that upper deck section of uh of Truist, took off their shirts and started waving it around, and they got on a fan cam doing that too. It was great.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Hey, they're having a good time. It's going, you know, it's going nuts on social media. And uh we'll um we'll we'll you know continue to watch what they're doing there. But this was uh you know a good reach in into where we are with the uh the World Cup. And I appreciate you if you guest hosting. I'm gonna have you back next week and we'll cover uh where baseball is. Okay. All right. Thank you very much, Joe.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Happy fourth, everyone. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Go UK All right, guys. Follow us. Talk to you soon. Have a great fourth. Take care.