It's Kane, it's blasted over the bar.
And it's penalty heartbreak for the England captain.
Hello and welcome to Serie A Spotlight. This is season 2, episode 16.
I'm your host Matt and today I'm joined by two of my longest serving friends in life.
Please guys go ahead and introduce yourselves.
Hi everyone, Theo, 25, I grew up with Matt, I'm a lifelong United fan.
I also tend to support England at the World Cup.
I have sacrificed a lot of weekends to watching a lot of football matches.
A lot of my friends and family actually think I have a problem.
I don't necessarily disagree with them.
But I have been invited onto a podcast, so guess who's laughing now?
I'm Jamie, I'm a 25 year old lifelong Chelsea fan.
To be honest my afternoon started a little bit difficult because I missed the Morocco goal.
I was buying Moscow meal supplies for us all.
Thank you brother.
That happened because Theo, our other guest lost his wallet.
I'll be honest, I recovered well.
But England then got knocked out, which I'm an England fan by the way.
England got knocked out which made things difficult for me again.
But with that said, I'm really happy with England's performance.
And I'm even happier to be here.
So thank you Matt, it's generally an honour.
I'm very happy to be here.
It's interesting because obviously we just watched England together.
And as all our listeners know, I'm a die-hard Italy fan.
Italy obviously didn't make the World Cup.
And I was just telling you guys that when England play I can't help but root for them.
Because I like the fact that it's a young squad with a very progressive young manager as well in Garret Southgate.
A lot of squad depth, a lot of versatility.
And I can't help but root for them.
But the second that they play Italy, I hate them more than any opponent Italy has ever faced.
What's the sentiment you guys share against Italy as England fans in particular?
So I feel like growing up in Malta has a very particular kind of culture about this.
So for those watching who might not know, Malta has a horrendous national team.
Let's be honest, doing better in recent years, I get that. We're doing much better nowadays.
But a very good national team because we've got a good progressive manager.
But it turns out he does certain stuff that we're all against over here.
It turns out our manager is a bit of a perv.
But we'll skip past that, we'll leave that one for the OnlyFans version of this.
But no, no, jokes aside, the level of football in Malta isn't great.
Which results in a lot of people supporting the national team of the country.
The country of the league they support.
For me it's a bit simpler because I am half English, so I've always supported England.
People from England don't typically hate Italy.
But in Malta, you guys both agree with me on this, there is this culture of Italy versus England.
Because everybody here supports either a Serie A team or a Premier League team.
And if you're from the Premier League, you hate the Juventus fans and you hate the Milan fans and all that.
And if you're from the Serie A, you hate United fans, Liverpool fans, you hate the Chelsea fans and all those.
So that naturally translates into the international sides.
Everybody here has a bit of ego about it.
Fans naturally, as you'd expect, get a little bit annoying.
But I feel like people's hatred towards teams, whether it's league-based or international-based,
is very much down to the fans being dickheads.
Can we swear?
We can swear.
Fans are often dickheads and that tends to charge a little bit of hatred towards national teams.
Theo, do you have a particular opinion on Italy as an England fan in Malta?
I mean, rivalries stem from what the people in your social circle say to you.
So if you have friends who tend to support a particular team,
you often enjoy seeing their team fail and they enjoy seeing your team fail.
So as Jamie's mentioned here, the culture is very England and Italy-oriented.
So in those tough England moments, you have Italy fans mocking you.
And likewise, you have an opportunity to mock an Italy fan, you do that.
I mean, I didn't mind Italy not being in the World Cup.
But at the same time, I do like to see as many quality teams as possible in the World Cup.
Nice, great Italy.
If I had to pick a dream scenario, I would have had Italy in,
and then they get knocked out from the group stage.
It's a bit more painful like that.
Like a loss against Iran or something terrible like that.
Yeah, exactly.
At least, guys, I get to enjoy this as a spectator.
I'm rooting for the Serie A players.
We saw Theo Hernandez and Giroud just go through.
You guys are devastated that you had this hope about you,
and now you're knocked out in the quarterfinals.
Is it a flop for England to be out in the quarterfinals?
So heading into the tournament, when I was writing my prediction zone,
I did identify this one as the crucial England match.
This was really the 50-50 match on paper.
It really felt like it would be a coin flip.
I think it really was today, really fine margins.
It could have gone either way.
What hurts, I think, is that England actually put in a really strong performance.
Better than I think a lot of people would have expected.
They were in control of the game for large periods,
but just a few minutes really caused them.
And then on top of that, of course, the Kane miss.
Not much to say about that, or maybe too much to say about that.
We'll get into it soon.
A question for you, Matt, is I'm interested to learn,
what's your perspective coming into a World Cup?
Obviously, every football fan is forward to it.
I think you're not used to coming into a World Cup without having a team support.
For me, I've always had England support.
Now there was a Euro, as I remember, 2008, where England didn't qualify,
which just hurt.
I was young, so it didn't matter as much back then.
What's your perspective coming into a World Cup so big,
and especially now you're probably in football more than ever,
without having a team support but still being so into it?
It's interesting because two years ago I had the best summer of my life
when Italy won the Euros.
You were there with me throughout the entire thing.
I think we watched pretty much every single match together.
I think I cried once.
Probably.
In the final.
Obviously, my hopes were high that more than ever,
after you see your team lift gold,
you'd expect them to ace the next tournament
and you'd have high hopes for the next tournament.
Obviously, after that loss against North Macedonia,
we obviously lost to Portugal.
Then I was like, OK, no Italy in this, and I'm going to need to adapt.
I just decided to root for any team that has the most number one Milan players
and number two players that play in Serbia.
Basically Serbia.
Basically Serbia, but they were out instantly in the group stages.
Look, it's never fun not having a team to root for,
but I do get to enjoy it as a bit more of a spectator.
I get to enjoy Brazil getting knocked out.
I get to enjoy seeing Messi doing his thing
and not being bittersweet because Italy will have to face Argentina.
OK, Italy don't need to face Brazil kind of thing.
I get to root for the underdogs, I get to root for the Morroccos,
so it's something actually...
Obviously, I'd rather have Italy, but it brings about some joy as well.
Like a silver lining is you get much less anxiety and no room for heartbreak.
Me and Theo are kind of going through right now.
I'm kind of going through it right now.
Today you did get to feel Moroccan, right?
I did. I was very Moroccan today.
Me and Jamie went to Morocco together
and we conversed with so many different Moroccan people.
I have to say I did not speak to many Moroccan people that liked football.
They were more passionate about the desert
and they were more passionate about their natural resources rather than football.
But as Moroccans, being the first team to reach,
being the first Arabic team and the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup is massive.
Something I love about that is maybe back then their team wasn't as good.
They've improved massively, first of all.
Something I love about these teams, these smaller ones,
when it comes to national teams in particular, is you've seen it a lot in this World Cup.
There is so much passion and unity that comes with these teams
whenever they go on a nice streak or when they win and all that good stuff.
And it's so beautiful to see.
And with Morocco, you really see that.
We saw it with Iran when they had a good win here and there, Saudi Arabia as well.
There's a really special type of passion,
which even though we might not think these countries are maybe typical football countries,
as soon as they get even one win and even more so a streak like Morocco had,
and maybe Croatia now making it to semis again after another great tournament a couple of days back,
the country really gets behind them.
And I just genuinely love to see it, man. I really love to see it.
Agreed, agreed.
And I think this sets a bit of a precedent of what we're going to be doing in this episode, guys.
We're going to be going through the quarterfinals.
We were blessed enough to have a long weekend off because we live in Malta
and we're very strategic with how we book our days off.
And we watched every single quarterfinal together, almost.
Theo had some other plans, but we'll leave it at that.
Don't worry about it.
I missed the half by an ex-commute.
Exactly, exactly.
But we got to see them all together, which puts us on a level playing field.
We know what happens.
For those of you that don't know, obviously, England have just gotten knocked out,
especially right now by France with a score of 2-1.
You didn't have to say that.
I told you, I had to be covering that.
Portugal went home after losing to Morocco, 1-0.
Netherlands went home after they scored in the 120th minute to equalise against Argentina,
but Emiliano Martinez came in clutch in the penalty shootout.
And Brazil also went home because Ljubakovic came in clutch for Croatia after a 1-1 draw in a penalty shootout.
A crazy fucking World Cup for underdogs.
We saw it in the group stages.
We're saying things will slow down now.
The big teams will be the big teams.
The small teams will be the small teams.
The big teams will keep doing what they do, and the small teams will slowly fade away.
But we're seeing it stem into one of the most incredible spectacles as a World Cup that we've seen in recent years.
I think we've been conscious as 25-year-olds since the 2006 World Cup, I would say,
when Italy won against France on penalties in the final.
So this World Cup is looking to be the best in recent history with great stories from underdogs, so on and so forth.
Obviously, there's a lot of controversy with this World Cup being held in Qatar,
a country that maybe has different morals to maybe the westernised countries, in Europe especially.
Do you think that maybe that has been forgotten because it's been such a spectacle?
And do you think that the outcome is going to be a little bit bittersweet because of that?
So it's interesting from my perspective.
I've had my eye on this World Cup for a long time.
I remember some literally six, seven years ago when it had already been known for a few years that the World Cup was going to happen in Qatar.
There was already a lot of controversy around it.
I remember back then, let's say 2016, 2017, whatever, seeing graphs of worker deaths,
I'm sure we've all seen, and I remember seeing this comparison of all the major sporting tournaments in general,
so World Cups, Winter Olympics, Normal Olympics, Euros and everything,
and how many worker deaths took place in each one.
It's always 0, 0, 0, 1, to the most average, so the spike would be 50, and then back to 0, 1, 0, 1.
And then back then, Qatar was already at 2000. It was already something ridiculous.
So from then looking forward, I was already like, Jesus Christ, what's going on here? FIFA looks so dirty.
And they are, don't even remember, they're very dirty in that sense.
And so I already felt the plate about it back then.
And then as the World Cup got closer and closer, and then you hear it's going to be in winter, it's going to disrupt all the leagues.
And as it gets even closer, the worker deaths are, you're seeing the reality of it, and it's skyrocketing, and there's more.
They're saying, they don't know the exact number, but say 10,000.
And coming into it, the alcohol went massive for the England fans, especially.
Especially tonight.
They needed a drink. I can say it because I'm English.
I was very kind of deflated about it.
I was very, as far as compared to every other World Cup and every other year as we've had in the last, as long as I can remember,
so sure, 2006 I was a kid, so I was really excited.
But this was the one I was least excited for for that reason.
Just because even though football, the game itself is very distinct and very separate from it,
when you're seeing all this all the time, it does take a lot out of it for you.
So I came into this with a bit of a sort of apathetic kind of feeling.
I wasn't so up for it.
But as I got into it, as naturally the World Cup is there, so you're going to watch.
And as I started watching, the first two, three, four days start and there were so many good games.
There were so many good games off the get-go.
And you have Iran playing great.
You have Saudi Arabia with their shock win in the beginning.
And you just think, all right, the shock is going to come here and there.
Like, sure, they're going to happen.
But then there were so many more.
They remained consistent, man.
There were so many more, bro.
And it just kept on happening.
And then not only that, but you had a few other great games. England, France.
And I think that was a great game yesterday, Morocco knocking out Portugal.
It was mad.
Then knocking out Spain the week before was crazy as well.
So you can't help but then get locked into it.
While still obviously recognizing all the round-wins that have happened.
If you just look at the football, it's actually been beautiful.
It's been seriously impressive.
And I've been loving every game so far.
And I've only gotten more and more engaged as I've gone on.
And to answer essentially your question, I would say this is one of the best major tournaments.
Major tournaments in recent memory.
As I'm sure 2006 was incredible.
That's the first one I remember.
And there were a few other great ones.
2010, Africa comes to mind.
But this is right up there.
This is right up there.
It's one of the best for me.
Nice. For you, Té.
Yeah, so as Jamie's mentioned here, obviously coming into it,
the negative publicity didn't really excite me.
I do think that regardless of what happens through this World Cup,
there will always be somewhat of a cloud hanging over this World Cup
because of the conditions surrounding it.
That being said, a World Cup is a World Cup.
The spirit of a World Cup is never going to be removed.
You're going to have the storylines, the upsets.
You have the players.
You have Messi out there.
You have Ronaldo out there.
You're only going to watch these players a handful of times
participating in a tournament like this.
So when it comes around, you're going to watch.
If you love the sport, you're going to watch.
In terms of how I felt through this World Cup,
I really enjoyed the group stages.
I think the group stages were phenomenal.
I think we saw some incredible upsets.
And that really, really just contributed to a lot of drama.
In the knockouts, it's been interesting as well.
This all being said, now we head into the semis.
The perception of a World Cup is heavily based around
the final chapters of the story.
So when I think back to the first World Cup I watched in 2006,
obviously the first thing that comes to mind is that final.
And Zidane shoving his head into Matarazzi's chest.
An iconic moment.
So there's a lot left to happen.
And that will really, really determine how we look back on this World Cup.
World Cup Qatar 2022.
The semifinals are officially Croatia versus Argentina on Tuesday 13th at 8pm.
France against Morocco Wednesday 14th at 8pm.
Thinking of teams like Croatia and Morocco in the semifinals of a World Cup
is something I never thought we'd see before.
Although we've seen Croatia four years ago, we didn't think.
We thought that would be a fluke, but clearly this team has a lot of quality about it.
But I think what we should do here, boys, is we've had a little bit of a predictor session ourselves.
So we had our initial predictions for how all four games in the quarterfinals would turn out to be.
And we're basically going to go through them, discuss how well we did,
how terribly we did, and how the games went down.
So for France against England, the official score was 2-1 in favor of France.
I had predicted 3-1 to France.
Theo, you hit the nail on the head with 2-1 to France.
Why?
This is one of those really, as I mentioned, it really felt like 50-50 game on paper.
Like narrow margins, one bit of quality, one moment of brilliance, and that would decide the game.
For me, I'd say the decider in my win for 2-1 was Kylian Mbappe.
I think a player like that is always, obviously, he's the best player on the pitch.
He's probably the best player in the tournament.
A player like that on the pitch is the most likely to make the difference, obviously.
So I gave France the edge, but as I said, it really could have gone.
It's the flip of a coin.
It really felt like the flip of a coin.
And that's how it went down.
James, you said 1-1.
You thought the affair would be just as tight as it was, but there wouldn't be that deciding moment,
which in this case was the Giroud header.
Are you disappointed with the outcome, obviously?
You're going to say yes.
Yes, disappointed, yes.
You say the decider was Giroud header.
I feel like the decider was that fucking Kane penalty miss, which has hurt my soul.
I still love the man, but it hurt my soul.
So the way I saw this was, I think France are marginally the better side.
So I think when it comes to quality throughout the team, it's very similar.
But like Theo said, Mbappe has that certain sort of star factor,
which helps give France that edge.
He has been absolutely incredible, as have several France players before.
Giroud as well has been amazing, for example.
Rabiot has been great.
They've had a great run throughout.
What made me say 1-1 was I felt like both teams would set up pretty conservatively.
And England in particular, the way we set up is quite cautious, very solid, very strong, tight, hard to break down.
Very good point.
Which means our games tend to be low scoring unless we're winning,
where maybe after going 1-1 up we sometimes tend to run right because the game just opens up in that sense.
But against a big team, I feel like it was always going to be relatively tight,
which still proved right today.
We lost 2-1, but it still proved right.
It was really tight and it could have gone either way in the end.
So yeah, I figured it would be 1-1, ended up 2-1.
And fair enough, France were great as well.
France were fantastic today.
Yeah, no, no, par 2, they were excellent.
Who would have won on penalties had it been 1-1?
We know England have a terrible history when it comes to penalties,
but you look at their squad now, and you look at the keepers,
you look at Pickford versus Joris.
You think Pickford's on better form than Joris, and we saw that in the game as well.
Joris doesn't look stable at all between the sticks,
whereas Pickford, on the other hand, looks very stable for England.
Do you think England would have won on penalties?
I am not going to lie, I would have fancied England's chances.
I would have fancied England's chances on penalties.
I feel like England, for a long time, everyone knows this, it's a meme at this point.
England have had a horrendous history when it comes to penalties.
But I feel like in the last few years we've picked it up,
especially in the last couple of major tournaments, we've done a lot better in that regard.
And if you look at our 11 nowadays, the likes of Kane, Rashford, Hendo,
even someone like Shaw, there's a lot of strong penalty kick-takers.
Wires as well can smack a penalty man.
I think a lot of it comes out of mental 40, but anything else,
because all of them know how to score a goal from 12 yards out, so it's not rocket science.
This all being said after Kane skydived.
Exactly.
Let's forget about that one.
Had Kane scored, that needs to take a third penalty against his teammate, by the way,
and you go your ease. That was weird.
I would have fancied our chances though.
Pickford's a fantastic shut-stopper, but hey, it's penalties.
England and France are two amazing teams, you never know what's going to go.
My prediction was 3-1 for France.
Now, I wasn't far off. Obviously, France did get the victory and they were one goal away.
I pretty much thought the game would go as it did.
I thought that Wires and England were pressing to kind of get that equalizer.
I thought Mbappe would catch them on the break and kind of get that third and seal it off over there.
To be honest, when the game was starting, I feel like I entered this competition really underrating England.
I know they just exited in the quarterfinals, but I really do feel like I underestimated England's squad depth,
their versatility. When you look at, for example, their wingers, you see that on one side you have Sterling and Grealish,
and on the other side you have Saka and Foden, for example. And each of these two pairs brings something so different.
So if you need a game where you need someone to link a play on the left-hand side, you're going to play Grealish.
If you need someone a bit more direct, you're going to play Rashford, you're going to play Sterling.
On the other hand, on the right-hand side, same argument with Foden, same argument with Saka.
So much squad depth, and I really do feel like the manager in Southgate has got it nailed down when it comes to squad selection.
Obviously, Foden is benched and there's outrage everywhere, but I really do think that he has played a massive part,
Southgate, in transforming this team into a title-contending team. Does he leave with his head held high,
or is it shameful that he hasn't won a major trophy with England, with the quality all around? We can start with Theo.
Yes, there's a lot of discussion on Southgate. I know he gets a lot of hate. I understand from some angles.
He's been criticized for not playing the kind of football which maybe maximizes the potential of the players out there.
This is a squad brimming with attacking talent. You have world-class players and they're really creative players.
I think it's important to remember when Southgate came in. The mentality England had at the time,
crashing out of tournaments early, there was just a lack of togetherness. I think he did solve that issue.
I think he really did gel the squad. I think he got a positive spirit.
There will definitely be a question mark always hanging around his head.
Yeah, all around his head.
There's a question mark somewhere around his body.
Southgate and head is the point of this conversation.
Southgate has a head.
Bravo!
There will always be a question mark hanging above his head.
That Euros final will really haunt him.
A few good penalties and I think the narrative around him would be very different.
At the end of the day, he's going to have to shoulder some blame because all things considered,
he hasn't brought back that trophy and there will always be the argument that another manager could have brought back that trophy.
Since 1966, someone would have had to do it in the meantime.
I think you mentioned him leaving. I imagine that will be the scenario now. I think there was quite a lot of negativity on him coming into the tournament.
I think it would make sense for them to try an alternative now and avoid more negativity heading into the next tournament.
I think he does deserve some credit for what he's done over these tournaments.
He turned England into a team at least that is competing.
He laid down the carpet for England.
He laid down the foundations and I think he's given a platform for the next manager to build on.
I think that's important.
When I look at England right now, I'm super impressed with the squad.
I've been watching England religiously ever since I was a young boy.
I remember, for example, I think it was the 2010 World Cup when there was that crazy game, England-Germany, that Lampert crossbar.
I remember that squad and we had the likes of Matthew Upton starting in defence. I don't know if he scored against Germany so power to him.
That just shows how thin the squad was in comparison.
It was fine. We had Lampert, we had Gjarl, we had some strong players.
But he compared to today and so everybody knows the level without the day.
If you look at our bench, we had the likes of Sterling, Rashford, Grealish, Trippier, Trent, Gallagher. We had so many strong players.
These are all on the bench. Our bench alone could have been an 11 in itself, which could have challenged today and could have made it to the quarter-semi in itself.
So the quality is absolutely there.
I feel like England has come so far when it comes to bringing through strong youth.
I think the English academies across the Premier League have come really far in the last decade, decade and a half.
That's really showing. We're reaping the results today of work done across the last 10 to 15 years.
When it comes to Southgate himself, it's interesting. He's not bad, but he's not great. That's how I feel about it.
He doesn't have massive amounts of experience as a manager.
Before this, he was, I think, manager of England's U21, something like that. He might have managed at club level.
In fact, when Malta hosted the U17 Euros, which is when we saw Foden play and the gentleman that he named before, I forgot.
Patrick Roberts was the manager of the team. He was actually the manager of the team. I went to get his autograph and he completely ignored me.
I think he was written in the stars from that moment.
I think so.
The tournament of Moth also sealed the forms.
Him blanking Matt is...
Had he known the platform I'd have now, I mean, you know...
No way, would he? He'd be asking me for a phone call.
He'd be asking for me, he thinks he'd be asking for also.
Kane buries that penalty if he...
If he shook Matt's hand.
That's what I wanted.
But no, jokes aside, the way I see it is he's fine. He's fine. But I think the way he is as a manager kind of mirrors how he was as a player.
So many people might not remember, but Guy Southgate was a solid player. He was just a defensive midfielder.
He wasn't the sort of creative kind. He didn't have flair. He didn't have any of that.
And I feel like that has kind of translated into his managerial style where England, in spite of having all this talent and in spite of having so much stacking flair with the likes of Kane, Sterling, Rashford, Greenwich, and the disc goes on.
There's several more, honestly.
In spite of having all that flair, it feels like as soon as England have the ball past the halfway line, they're not too sure what to do with it.
There's a few short passes and they play a diagonal ball and they bring it back.
And they're kind of relying on individual brilliance every time. So tonight we saw a little bit of a sucker here and there. He was absolutely amazing tonight. Kane as well was brilliant tonight.
But there's way too much weight put on these players in terms of, all right, you've got the ball, figure something out.
And it doesn't feel like when we're playing, it doesn't feel like there's a sort of collective intent, which teams like France do have and teams like Brazil, even though there are teams like Brazil have, teams like Portugal have had.
And I feel like that's where Southgate has struggled. So do I put all the blame on Southgate?
No. But when I look at the team and I look at the manager and I look at how we're doing, I'm glad we got to the final last time round.
And I feel like today we got knocked out against what will be the winners of the World Cup.
So I can't be too pissed at that. But I still expect more from our manager.
I still expect us to be doing more with the score that we have and to at least have just more strategy, more strategy in how we attack, more strategy in how we're trying to score goals and win games and just sort of grabbing by the scruff of the neck.
So Jamie, you need to pick a new England manager tonight.
You yourself. You're in charge. I want to win. Pochettino supposedly is interested. No, I'll take Pochettino.
Thomas 12 also has been linked.
You look at tactics. Big Sam, Adelaide. Ah, fuck Big Sam. Go back to basics. 4-4-2. Who's fit up to Kane? Who for the flip on?
Who for the fucking 2? Brexit football.
Now, look, listen, I'll take Tuchel, I'll take Pochettino. If I had a realistic choice, I'd be happy with in the not too distant future with someone like Eddie Howe.
Eddie Howe.
Eddie Howe. Because England are always going to, or it's not always, we've had to put on the boss, but we're always going to lean towards English managers just because that's always how our teams go.
And I feel like sometime in the not too distant future, I would love to see Eddie Howe. There's a realistic choice.
Eddie Howe's happy. I know, I know. He's got a big bank account there.
If we're looking at who England would really sign, we're not going to sign Pochettino. We're not going to sign Tuchel, I promise you. I'll bet money on it.
I'll take Eddie Howe. Can Alan Pardee make a comeback? Maybe Alan Pardee can make a comeback. If he's a great Alan Pardee, he can make a comeback.
As in there's those two, as decent England managers, aside from them, there are many out there.
Yeah, that's actually a good question. I couldn't really answer that myself.
I think going back to the play style of England, Jake had said it well before he fucked off to South Africa thinking it's 2010.
He did mention that England have probably some of the best individuals in the entire tournament. However, they do a whole lot of dancing around the box.
Now, Kane is one of the best strikers in the world, one of the best strikers in the tournament. And we saw today he was an absolute game changer, both in the good way and the bad way.
We saw at a point his back towards goal, the way he has that turn of pace, turns and he's suddenly almost clean through on goal, turns a half opportunity into a 100% opportunity out of nothing.
He's a genius, he's solid, but he isn't the kind of striker that stays in the box and finishes the way Giroud is.
So the whole lot of dancing around the box, I think Kane stylistically doesn't help that. Now, does that mean Kane is the problem? Absolutely not.
Maybe having the wingers being slightly more inverted, maybe utilizing Rashford a little bit more because he's more keen on getting inside the box and getting a goal himself.
Same argument can be made with Sterling. I think having creative players around the box like Foden playing and who started on the other wing.
Saka as well, not too direct, he spends a lot of time down the flank as well. So it almost feels like they don't have a man to get that final touch.
You'd think Kane would be that man, but he's a master of the link-up play and kind of getting other people in that position.
He'd almost be good with a striking partner alongside him. Do you think that that's an area maybe that will be worked on with future managers?
So for me, I don't think it comes so much down to personnel. I think it was more of a systematic issue.
As Jamie mentioned before, when England do get into the final third, the link-up play isn't always there as it should be.
There's a whole lot of nothing. Jake could as well before his escape.
I think you saw a bit of a difference tonight with France. Although they didn't do well in large parts of the game,
I did feel that when they did go forward, they linked up well around the box. A lot of runs in behind, short passing, good link-up play.
I just think England and their South Cape have lacked that at times. Previous tournaments as well.
You look back at the Croatia semi, which was a big, big match. They should have broken that Croatian team down.
It's a good Croatian team, no doubt about it. I mean, still there today doing a very similar thing.
But with the players there, they should be cutting that team open. I just think it comes down to system.
I think they need to identify ways to get in behind to be a bit more direct.
And that's something that the next manager is going to have to look at.
I agree completely. I think it's much less down to the players and more to the manager.
It's what I mentioned before, creating a bit more attacking intent, figuring out how to move the ball with purpose rather than just fucking around the box.
Which is what we tend to do, which is what Jake got right, even though I have to say Jake is an England hater.
No, he is 100%.
But no, he's justified with that point.
I'm not totally convinced of what I'm about to say, but I start to wonder how different things could be if we had someone a bit more direct on the wing.
So with players like Foden and Saka, I absolutely love them.
But I feel like they're two kind of, not similar so to speak, but someone like Rashford is more direct.
Someone like Rashford, given that he's a natural striker rather than a winger and he's sort of moved to the wing over the years, and he's a fantastic finisher as well, our best finisher after Kane.
If you have him on the pitch, he's just going to be going for a goal a lot more.
He's going to have that sort of striker's ego, which other players might not know, which Foden and Saka definitely don't have.
And having someone like him paired with Kane helps because I think Kane, like Math mentioned before,
Kane is, although he's a fantastic goal scorer, is also very selfless.
Kane does a lot, a lot of work, which isn't goal scoring.
Kane is fantastic.
As long as the boy is a fantastic passer, he does a lot of work in and around the box.
So I do start to wonder what would happen if we had paired with him and paired with Saka, Saka being a very hard worker on the ball.
Imagine on the left wing you have someone like Rashford who's very direct, always going for the shots on goal, trying to beat his man,
and sort of just literally trying to score the opportunity again.
Then I feel like, yeah, then maybe we'll be a bit more direct, have a bit more, have a bit more purpose with the goal.
But hey, who knows? I mean, I mean, Foden is still a fantastic player, so I can't leave it out on there.
There's been a lot of talk about Southgate's use of substitutions.
Now, obviously, after a loss like this, there's going to be even more talk about this.
What did you make out of his subsidy?
Yeah, so like all his subs came from the 79th minute and onwards.
He had basically, which means after we conceded, so we conceded that second goal and he brought mountains turning on for Saka and Henderson.
The thing is, right up until that goal, so after the goal, I felt like we deflated a little bit.
I felt like we got shocked or maybe after the penalty, after the penalty, we were a bit shocked and deflated, which happens to be fair.
I felt like up until that point, England had a lot of momentum from the second half onwards.
So the first half was a relatively even affair.
So France came in pretty strong in the beginning. England grew into it and came in strong in the sort of second part of that first half.
And then coming out to the second half, England came out really strong, won the penalty early on, scored it and were great for a good half hour.
When you have that momentum, you kind of don't, you just don't fuck with it. You don't want to change too much.
So when you have that front three, just doing so much, doing so much against France and the defense was solid, midfield was solid, it feels like why change it?
And in fact, the three of us watching the game together and we're discussing should subs made, shouldn't, and we're having mixed opinions about it.
At the time, I felt like we shouldn't. We had the momentum. We looked good.
I'm like, all right, listen, just don't change it because we're doing well.
France got the goal as an ounce out of nowhere, but I don't even say it was against the play.
Yeah, it wasn't necessarily. Both teams were strong, but we're doing fine. We're good. We're strong.
So it didn't feel like it was needed. So I can't complain. I can't complain too much.
Would I have brought on Mouten Sterling on the 79th? Probably not. I think I would have brought on Rashford rather than Sterling, even though I'm a chess fan.
I think I would have brought on Rashford, but honestly, I can't complain too much. I'm not sure what you guys think.
Yeah. So we were initially discussing, I remember us saying that maybe Hendo out for Mount, and then we kind of fell to the conclusion that that's a bit too much of an attacking move when you want to keep that balance in the midfield.
So you keep Hendo on for the balance in midfield, right? A great manager has an ace up his sleeve at all times.
I think, sure, you head into the second half with the same 11 if you feel that that's the way to go.
Once you equalize, I think even if momentum is in your favor, one subtle change can really affect the outcome of the game.
And a great manager would have something prepared up his sleeve, created particularly for that scenario.
I think in that case, bringing on Rashford for Saka or Rashford for Foden, to be honest, don't mind which one.
But bringing on Rashford when that first goal, keeping the balance, but just going slightly more direct, slightly more dangerous up front.
That's a change I would have personally made.
Agreed.
That's all.
From my end, I do agree with Jamie. I think when momentum is in your favor, it does make sense to avoid making any changes.
That being said, there's going to be that question mark. Could he have brought Rashford on?
Could he have really gone for the game and grabbed it by the neck when they were on top?
Maybe. I think what we saw tonight is what we've come to expect under Southgate.
He's never been a risk taker. I don't think we felt at 1-1 that he was going to make...
He was never going to bring on Madison for Henderson or something like that.
He's always going to be on the more cautious side. It's understandable. It's knockout football.
But this is where the whole question comes in. What kind of manager do you want? What could best utilize this team?
Should this England team be grabbing games by the scruff of the neck and really, really going for it?
Or do you need to be a bit more practical and a bit more cautious and try to scrape out the win in difficult circumstances?
I'm just going to ask one question before I move over and discuss France a little bit on what they did so well to win a game where England performed so well.
Should Kane have taken the second penalty?
We saw a lot of pundits speak, some controversial pundits as well, voicing their opinion saying, look, he's up against his teammate. He scored the first one.
Don't risk it. Change the penalty kick taker for the second one.
Now, from the penalty spot, there are maybe two or three footballers in the world that can strike a ball better than Harry Kane from the penalty spot.
Would you have personally liked for someone else to step up and take the second penalty or do you think they played their cards right and they just fell short?
No, I mean, for me, I think we spend way too much time discussing penalties at the World Cup.
And I understand I understand where it comes from. Obviously, penalties often end up deciding games, but it's one of those if even that situation, you're telling Harry Kane, the best penalty taker in the team, without a doubt for me.
If you're telling Harry Kane, give the ball to another player, this alternative player steps up. He has a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
You know, he knows he's taken the ball away from Harry Kane, who's already scored his penalty, who's been a consistent penalty taker for England and has done a very good job at that.
He misses the penalty. We spend hours discussing it after. Why did he take the ball away from Kane?
You know, we could we could we could go on with this all night. For me, for me, it was totally understandable.
It's going to haunt Kane. There's no doubt about that. He was on it tonight. This was a real chance for him.
He's made no secret about his desire to want to win a trophy. The man deserves a trophy. He pushed for that move to City. He didn't get it.
He goes back to Spurs now. He hopes that they can turn out an FA Cup win. I'm sure I'm sure he was really eyeing that World Cup trophy.
And this is going to haunt him for a while. But he had to step up. Yeah. You agree?
Yeah, no, no, I think I have to be Kane. So people talk a lot about and it's a fair point.
Once you scored one penalty, the second one becomes a lot harder. It plays in your head. And maybe that's what we saw tonight.
But when you have someone like Kane on the team, he's always going to be the one taking the penalty.
Sure, we have a couple of good takers on our team. There's Rashford, there's Shaw can take good penalties. There's a couple of others, 100 percent.
But it's always going to be Kane. I'm not going to lie. What pisses me off is people like football pundit Richard Keyes.
Here we go. Me, Matt and Theo. Me, Matt and Theo were watching the post game analysis and Richard Keyes was often times in the mouth.
No, I've been saying the whole time it shouldn't have been Kane. It was way too much pressure.
He should have been. And then he's been saying all these other players. He mentions Foden at the point who never took a penalty in his life.
There's all these great players. Shut the fuck up, man. Shut the fuck up. It's Harry Kane.
It's very easy to make that claim and say, I could have done a better job as England manager. I would have made this decision and it would have gone our way.
I just want to take the opportunity while I'm on air to say I really hate Richard Keyes. I think he's a really bad pundit.
He's a pretty bad person as well, but he's a really bad pundit.
More importantly, he's a bad pundit. I think he's even worse of a human being than he is a pundit.
I mean, considering that story, which we won't get into obviously.
In the football podcast, we'll just say he's a bad pundit. Exactly.
I don't know if the message will ever reach him, but Richard Keyes.
I mean, Richard Keyes, if you're hearing this, it's a simple fuck you from Serious Spotlight. It's a simple as that.
We'll never sit down for dinner, Richard. We don't know what you're going through, but like make better decisions.
That's what I'm going to say. And Kane was right to take the penalty.
Not as well. Another word for Richard is dick. So there you go.
Dickies. Sounds like a great product on Shark Tank.
Let's shift a bit to France because this has been a predominantly England podcast so far.
Obviously, France did what France do. They did what they were expected to, even though they came into the tournament with so many disappointing injuries.
I mean, not having Pogba fit. He hasn't played a single game since the start of this campaign.
Kante, who was so important for them in the last World Cup. And this goes on and on.
I mean, even Karim Benzema ended up pulling out when the campaign was about to start.
There was talks about them bringing him back, but Giroud has really come in clutch.
So at least for now, they won't be missing him too much. But now they get knocked out.
Obviously, they're going to say, ah, we had Benzema, we had Pogba, we had Kante.
We won the whole damn thing. Didier Deschamps has spent now 10 years as the manager of France.
Obviously, France could become the first team since the 1960s that won two consecutive World Cups in a row.
They do look very convincing. And this was probably the toughest fixture any of the final four have faced thus far.
And he managed to dismantle England, which is no easy task. Do you think France can go all the way, boys?
Definitely, definitely. I think with France, there is a belief inside them that they can win every competition they take part in.
I think the stability under Deschamps has been very important in that way.
A game like today, you do feel like that experience really comes into it.
They managed to pull that moment out. It could have gone either way, but they did it.
And they have proven themselves that they can do this kind of thing over multiple tournaments.
I think now the draw shapes up really nicely for them. They go into the match with Morocco.
I mean, that's a match they should be winning. And then they're in the final.
Again, the experience factor comes into it. You know, the belief factor comes into it.
They're a solid team. Defensively, you always know that they're going to put in a performance.
They're not going to allow many chances. And then, of course, going forward, there's not much to say.
No debate.
They have the quality there. I think for me, they go in as the favorites now to win the entire thing.
For you, James?
Yeah, for sure. France are definitely the favorites for me.
I think we'll all predict that France-Argentina final.
Argentina as well, but I feel like France are just absolutely incredible all throughout the squad.
I have to heap absolute respect to my man Olivier Giroud.
He's had an absolutely crazy World Cup at 35, 36. Something ridiculous like that. It's generally so impressive.
If anyone had scored tonight, I'm glad it was him. I'm generally glad it was him.
I'm so happy for him. You could see in his celebration. It's like he had tears in his eyes.
I was so happy to have scored that. I'm proud of him. I'm proud of him because he deserves it.
France didn't deserve it. Mbappe has still won the show, the whole World Cup.
I thought... That's an interesting point I have. I felt like tonight Mbappe was actually not one of the most impressive persons.
He was good, he was strong as always, but I feel like he didn't do massive amounts tonight.
Maybe that's down to the absolute incredible performance by Walker.
Jokes aside, I just think they have so much quality throughout.
I mean, players like Griezmann who might be a little bit stifled at Atleti had a fantastic game tonight.
And it just goes to show with all these injuries, they still have the best 11. They're not their absolute favorites.
I think I would disagree in the sense that you said he didn't have a standout performance.
Now obviously we're used to a standout performance by Kylian Mbappe being that he scores two goals as an iconic celebration.
And that's where people talk about Mbappe. But the first goal, the reason Chou Aménie had so much space is because Mbappe dragged three defenders alongside him.
And he ended up playing the ball into the dangerous area. And Chou Aménie had acres of space and just had to hit it.
And God bless him, he's got quite a kick on him.
So I think Mbappe just being Mbappe and having the name Mbappe is enough for him to have a crucial performance on this stage.
Because everyone was talking to England players about how are you going to stop Mbappe, how are you going to stop Mbappe.
And England players deep down, they were saying they don't care, but deep down they were like we're going to fucking put four men on him, we're going to break his legs.
I think they were so focused on doing that, they might have come up short because of that in my opinion.
And I mean you have these kind of players, I mean you have Mbappe today, you had Neymar yesterday.
Was Neymar's performance yesterday incredible? I didn't think so. But that moment, that goal, you know.
It opens the scoring and it's absolutely brilliant. Very few players could have done what he did.
Mbappe is the same kind of player, you know. You leave that player on the pitch for as long as you can.
And you just hope he can produce one of those moments of brilliance and often they will do that.
I think personally, it seems like with every goal, Giroud's lips and Mbappe's lips are just getting closer and closer and closer.
You guys, he has some celebration lost around the notebook.
One of them scores in the World Cup final, they kiss. That's my hot take for this Vodkar.
I've heard some rumours, all I'm saying is I've heard some rumours already. I've heard some rumours and I'm not against it.
I encourage it.
Giroud is a beautiful man, Mbappe is good looking in his own right, both fantastic players, power to them.
So this is that kind of Vodkar?
This is that kind of Vodkar. You don't listen, you don't know.
I don't listen.
We get weird, man. We get very, very weird.
It's a very open discussion.
But France, yeah, look, I think they have, I think they probably are favourites right now because they've dismantled the best opponents and they haven't really fallen short since the round of 16.
They haven't really looked in much danger. I mean, England scored from the spot. There was a moment by Theo Hernandez.
As a Milan fan, I rate Theo Hernandez up there as one of the best left backs in the world.
I think Kane saved his fucking career tonight.
I think Kane. Look, I wish Kane scored.
So, this is a tough one because I wish Kane scored so that no one would be interested in Theo and no one would buy him off Milan.
But now his value remains the same. His value doesn't go down.
You know what I mean? But I really do think that Kane saved his career tonight.
So are you suggesting that these elite football clubs make their transfer decisions based on whether Kane scores that penalty or not?
I think if had the situation been more detrimental, then the media would have gone crazier on Theo Hernandez.
And I think the media dictates a lot on how much people are willing to spend on certain players.
I think more than that, what can also happen is a player can get a little bit crushed by it.
So it's very, to be fair, I feel like Theo Hernandez is a very strong personality.
So I feel like he'll probably power through it.
But you often see players kind of get consumed by the criticism that they receive.
And you can see it in players like Maguire, who has a bit of like a sort of...
If Giroud has a fantastic highlight reel.
And so Giroud is a good player with a Pelé-level highlight reel.
Maguire is also a good player and he kind of has the opposite of that.
Because he can be a bit clumsy at times, has an anti-highlight reel where he can be made to look like a Sunday league player.
And I feel like with Maguire, it's kind of affected his confidence and it's made him make more mistakes as time has gone by.
And it's made him a bit worse as a player.
And you can see that happen to players like Theo Hernandez if things go south in a massive world stage like the World Cup.
If Kane scores that penalty.
If things go south in a massive world stage and he's the reason why France get knocked out and the media consumes him and the people are all against him, then you never know what happens.
Exactly.
And with that said, that was fucking stupid of Theo Hernandez.
It was. It was so weird.
The ball was going straight into Euriz's arms.
You never know with Euriz what it looks like to go straight into his arms.
Straight Russian blood to the head from Theo Hernandez.
He was pissed in the moment.
I don't know what happened there.
Should not have pushed him but hey, he got out lucky.
He got out scott free.
A question for you guys.
Is that a sending off by the defensive?
Such a good question, Thé.
It's such a good question.
Because technically, technically, by the rule book, if you deem that a foul, then it is number one, malicious intent.
And number two, it's a stopping of a clear goal scoring opportunity.
Ball is heading into the box. It's heading over to the player.
Player can score. You're the last man.
You bring him down. It's a foul and it's a red card.
If that's a foul, it's a red card in my opinion.
The referee does not have the right.
Now look, it's weird because the rules are there for the rules to be stuck to.
And we've seen on the highest stages the referee sticking to the raw rule book and making decisions based on the rule book.
And you can't argue that.
But the reason we have humans as referees and we don't have robots as referees because referees can make judgment.
The judgment over here was, yes, he brought him down.
Yes, he was the last man.
It wasn't a studs of challenge.
It wasn't a painful challenge.
And the ball was probably heading into Hugo Uri.
So we're in between.
I'm going to give him my yellow card via the rule book.
That's a red and I'm very strictly in favor of the rule book in a situation like that.
I think, Theo, I love you so much, man.
I love you so much, but I think you should have been sent off over there.
It's funny. I feel like so if you're right about the rule book, I don't know exactly the rule book.
But if you're right about the rule book, then I feel like the referee should always follow the left of the law and he should be sent off.
As a fan just watching the game, even though I'm an England fan, seeing that happen, I feel like no, it's not a red card.
Like you said, the ball was going straight into his arms.
It was a stupid foul, but like I said, it wasn't some crazy studs of challenge or malicious intent or whatever.
I just felt like it was a penalty and a yellow.
But that's not me following the letter of the law.
I think what's happened here is the ref has interpreted that chance not to be a clear goal scoring opportunity for Mount.
Which it wasn't.
I mean, I mean, Mason Mount's legs aren't that long.
He's not getting to that ball realistically.
So I think that's what's left the reasoning behind that decision.
But it's it's it's it is debatable.
It is debatable because I mean, there is an assumption going on there that he has no chance of getting to the ball.
Right. And if you are saying that there are none of this as committed the foul and he has no intention to play the ball there,
we saw that we saw it on Mount as well in the in the Champions League tomorrow.
He made that that a similar a similar tackle.
I believe he had pulled his shirt.
He had no intention to play the ball there.
He was sent off.
Yeah, it's very similar.
It's similar.
All all all I want all I ask for from these referees, no matter what the competition in football is, is an element of consistency.
Where can I stand on the fence if the referee and law doesn't know where they stand on the fence?
I just wanted to be Jake and I always mentioned this on the pod consistency consistency because the second there's not consistency.
The referee has made a decision.
Why has the referee made a decision?
Is it because he fancies the team?
Is it because the team is at home and he's getting pressured by the fans?
So on so forth.
It needs to be consistency.
The rule book needs to be implemented in a harsher manner.
And if the rule book is implemented in a harsher manner, we will see more consistency.
That would have been a red card and perhaps it would have even been a different game.
So there's some food for thought for you guys to be a bit angry.
That's the point of following the letter of the law.
So that's why, for example, the tomorrow the tomorrow red card, which they'll mention is a good example of one where like you're watching it and you're like just as a consumer, as a fan, you think it should be a red card.
But according to the letter of the letter of the law, it is and it should be followed as such just for the sake of those are the rules.
Yeah, for the sake of consistency, avoiding bias and avoiding all these criticisms, avoiding these talking points, which we're discussing right now.
It should be a red card for that reason.
I agree completely.
More content, although.
So you fucking up gives us more things to talk about.
I think we're in a safe space to move over to the next game, which is Morocco 1, Portugal 0.
Now, all of us were so wrong in this, I personally said three nil victory for Portugal coming off the victory that they were coming off without Ronaldo on the team with the with all these young guys wanting to impress with layout on the bench with João Felix Bruno Fernandes with all these guys in such good form that they would have got it done and in a fairly comfortable manner.
But Morocco proves otherwise. Teo, you had two nil to Portugal, not far off from me.
What was your logic behind that? You fucking moron.
I'll ignore that last part.
So, so I think I think Morocco Morocco are an interesting team right there. I mean, given the given the players they have, it makes complete sense for them to set up as a counter attacking team.
It's worked amazingly well for them. I don't believe they've conceded a single goal from an opposition player. I think they have conceded one goal as an own goal.
That's interesting.
I mean, you can you can see why. I think they did a really good job on Spain from a defensive point of view. Spain could not penetrate them in any way.
They had their number in that aspect, got through the penalties, had a bit of luck there and they got through.
Heading into this Portugal match, I did think Portugal coming off of the wind that they had before the Switzerland game, I did think that that they would be able to carve Morocco open.
I think I think there was a storyline going on behind, you know, Ronaldo being dropped and Gonzalo Ramos being like the next, I don't know, Ronaldo maybe.
Was playing into that. Portugal looks like they had found they were clicking, you know, they had found a solution.
They could create chances. And today, to be fair, they did create chances.
But but they didn't take them. And what I what really impressed me about Morocco is how deadly they looked on the counter.
And that that that was impressive. There were so many moments where a better final ball and they would have scored, you know.
And I think I think a lot of credit to Morocco. I didn't predict this one.
I will go into the next match expecting them to lose again. I've done that round after round.
I think even the group page, I didn't expect them to pass through.
So they're just going to keep on going on and on until I predict them to win.
And then that's when they'll lose. Yeah. Yeah.
James, brother, you said to want Portugal, probably. I mean, nothing new here. Portugal are a much better team on paper than than Morocco.
No, no, as in clearly, I'm a fucking idiot for thinking that Portugal beat Morocco.
No, no, no, no. No, but jokes aside, Morocco as in props to them and props to Morocco.
They've been absolutely amazing. Have they lost the game yet?
I think in the group stage, I can actually find out right now. So in the group stages, so they beat Canada, they beat Belgium and they drew to Croatia.
They haven't lost a single fucking game yet. Seriously impressive, man.
I think given the sample size, we can conclude Morocco are the best team.
I think so far that's entirely down to having you two's front man in goal.
With or without, you might know. They've actually been seriously impressive. So the fact I didn't know that what they said before that they've only conceded,
literally like a long goal, whatever you say. The only one who only have conceded on goal so far is actually crazy.
And even if even if they have conceded one or two here and there, it's seriously impressive for a relatively small team like Morocco to be so solid at the back.
You never expected. And what I love about them is whilst being so solid there, they have so much flair, man.
They've got so much flair. They've got so much flair. As in Bufal and Ziyech on the wings is crazy.
Ziyech is an absolute wizard. And I see Bufal as like I'm sure I'm sure you guys know Hatem Ben Arafat, man.
Of course. Bufal just reminds me of like a Moroccan Hatem Ben Arafat.
Or the guy has just like bags of tricks, man. Bags of tricks. They're so fun to watch in that sense.
At least when they are on the ball, they've got the attackers and power to them, man.
I'd love for them to go and result against France, even though I think it's unlikely. It's very unlikely. It's going to be massively difficult.
But hey, we said that about them against Portugal and we definitely said about them against Spain as well.
So I don't think anybody's going to be predicting them to win any games. But I'd love for them to keep surprising us.
I'd love for them to keep surprising us and who knows, maybe we'll see a crazy like Morocco, Croatia final.
Matt, since I've known you, you've always been one who like to err on the risky side.
Could a Morocco win be on the cards next?
I think a Morocco win. It's hard to sit here and tell you no, Morocco can't win this game because that's what I've said so far.
And one thing I do say is when I'm wrong, I learn from it. You know what I mean?
And I've been wrong on a number of occasions about Morocco. Obviously, we all kind of like to romanticize.
Obviously, I've got players like Amr Abat, Bono, Ziyech. They could do this. They could do that.
But then once we see it happening, we're like, OK, this is going to be short lived. This isn't going to go very long.
They don't have the legs. And then we saw them in the warm up, two of their players getting their legs fucking bandaged up
because they're so fatigued because they're not used to playing at this level.
They're fucked for the next game.
They have to cover a lot of ground. Spain passed them side to side. Portugal made them run as well today.
Hakimi versus Mbappe. Hakimi versus Mbappe. That is going to be a battle, boys.
It always feels like Mbappe can torch anyone. You're always going to support him against anyone.
But Hakimi is top three right now. Of course, without a doubt.
So if you're going to trust anyone, it's going to be him. So they're blessed to have him up against Mbappe.
He's going to have a lot of work to do. But it's going to be a fucking crazy battle.
I think, as I said, obviously, Ziyech, we mentioned he's got the flair really important for them on the counters.
I think one thing they do is they bring on players like Chedira who plays for Bari.
Just because he has a little bit of pace, you give them that long ball when you're defending.
Sent off today, though. Sent off today. Sent off today.
Well, he has missed multiple chances. So it's more of a stylistically they would like to have him.
Well, not stylistically, tactically they would like to have him because he fits in that slot perfectly, not for his output.
But we've spoken and romanticized about Ziyech, Bono, obviously Hakimi.
But how important is it to have a player like Amr Abat in the team?
Now, I'm going to give myself some props over here. I'm going to give Ziyech some props as well.
We obviously follow Serie A, so it's easy for us to sit here and tell you who's good and who's not.
But on so many occasions, I've pointed out this player is good, this player is good, and they move to the Prem and they don't do well.
Or they go to the World Cup and they don't do well.
Amr Abat, Amr Abat has been so far the best midfielder in the tournament.
The man is, he breaks down play. So I have this saying on the pod that there's a loose ball, it's not a loose ball, it's Amr Abat's ball.
That's the way he plays. He breaks down play. He's an engine. He keeps going with the same energy from minute one to minute 100 in this World Cup.
Just like me, just like me. 12-6, 4-5-E, and I'm non-stop, non-stop.
Aside from that, so he breaks down play like Kante, so to say. But then he dictates play like Brazovic.
He switches play around. He dictates the entire game. He's like, OK, the left is a better opportunity right now.
OK, I'm going to hold the ball over here. He is Morocco. He is Morocco.
How highly do you rate him? Would you take him at United and would you take him at Chelsea?
Look, so coming into this World Cup in the first couple of games, you haven't stopped just bigging up Amr Abat.
And in the beginning, I was just kind of brushing it off like, yeah, sure, whatever, Amr Abat.
We had a guy called Amr Abat in front of me, and he was all right.
What for?
Yeah, just another Amr Abat. There's a bunch of them, apparently.
And I kind of brushed it off. And then he had a crazy game against Spain.
And ever since then, he just hasn't stopped rubbing it in my face. And I can't blame you because no, no, he's been amazing.
And what I love about him is that Spain game. So take it back a couple of weeks.
That Spain game, he was up until 3am the night before taking injections into his legs, dealing with an injury.
So there was big chances, he said himself, there was a massive chance I wouldn't even play.
And then he came into that game and he absolutely fucking dominated.
So he ran the show and he came into the game today and again, he was super solid. And so now he's been super impressive.
And I think having a player like him in the middle for Morocco to help solidify them in front of the fence
and to just make that transition into the attack for their counters, which are everything for them, he's been absolutely huge.
And I think he is their absolute, as in a player like Ziek, like Fadi, like Hakimi.
But Amr Abat has been the key player. I'll give him that for sure.
Would you take him at Chelsea?
I'll take him at Chelsea.
He'll take anyone at Chelsea.
At this point, I need stuff. Right now I'll just take whoever we can get.
I've heard of a certain Danny Drinkwater perhaps.
There's one I won't take, maybe it's him.
What's your budget? 40?
I heard.
He was like something like that.
For you, Tay, what do you think about Amr Abat? You kind of look like him as well.
I do.
Not gonna lie, I'm crushing on you slightly.
I do have to say, whenever a man from the bald community does something good, I do feel very proud.
You said last night, when he goes to the bar, you just tell him, listen, just make me look like Amr Abat.
I always opt for the Amr Abat.
Just show him a photo of Amr Abat.
That's how it is.
When you have an underdog story, you always have these players that really shine and they get the publicity.
I'm really happy to see it for Amr Abat.
He looks really good.
Will I take him at United?
Yes, definitely.
It's been really interesting seeing this kind of player really stand out.
I think he really represents what Morocco are all about.
Hard-working.
Exactly.
Efficient on the ball.
Exactly.
He's been crucial.
One thing I said on the last episode is watching him at Morocco is like watching him at Fiorentina.
Obviously, he puts way more minutes, way more hours working hard at Fiorentina and with his teammates at Fiorentina than he does at Morocco.
Which makes it all the more impressive that he's so adaptable as well, which makes me think that he would adapt to other leagues.
Obviously, it's going to be snapped up by the Prem at some point unless he ends up making a ridiculous under the table money with Juventus.
He'll end up leaving to the Prem obviously for money and for more fame and for more glamour.
But that's Morocco for you.
We can move on to Portugal.
Portugal lost because of the reasons we just mentioned.
They had no shortcomings themselves.
They were just outdone the same way Spain were outdone.
Spain looked like one of the most convincing teams, especially after that opening match.
We all thought Spain are going to make it to the semis, are going to make it to the quarters.
Is there anything you noticed within the Portugal team that you thought maybe they could have done better, maybe an area they struggled that could have taken them over the line in a game like this?
I mean, first of all, they conceded a lot of chances.
It's interesting to see the Portuguese team, which came into the tournament with a reputation for maybe being a bit too cautious, not creating enough chances, but being a bit more defensively solid, which is what had won them that Euros.
Today they were really open.
They went for it.
I think they played into Morocco's hands quite a bit in that aspect.
They consistently hit them on the counter.
They did get unlucky with some of those chances.
I mean, the Bruno effort was ridiculous.
Like what a shot.
That was crazy when I actually noticed that he was meant to go for a goal.
Made it all the more impressive.
Again, it feels like a match which was really designed by fine margins.
Portugal had a lot of chances in this match.
I haven't looked at their XG, but I'm sure it was really high.
But then again, in a match like this, the quality they have, I mean, for me, this was the strongest.
If we look at the squad, we look at the squad depth, this was the strongest team left.
They shouldn't be looking back on a match like this and thinking, you know, if we scored that chance, we could have.
It shouldn't have been up to chance in the first place.
They should have been more convincing here.
They didn't bring the best out of the players they had.
I think it went down to that.
They played into Morocco's hands.
Yeah, for sure.
So it's crazy.
They absolutely dominated possession and in many ways it looked like they dominated the game, if you know what I mean.
So way more shots, way more possession, winning the ball way quicker and all that sort of thing.
So you'd have expected them to at least grab a goal today, which points to some maybe misgivings in their finishing, maybe a bit more intent to their attack.
Who knows?
One question mark I had was not starting Gonzalo.
I found that to be pretty weird to get a goal, so I know he can play left back or right back.
I know Guerrero is a fantastic left back, even though I think Gonzalo is better.
But starting the law, let's say we're talking about the law, maybe things are good, maybe things are not, I think it's alright.
I think you have to be starting someone like Gonzalo ahead of the law.
Gonzalo for me is top three, top four, top five right back in the world.
Top five footballers in the world.
He's absolutely amazing.
So that's one thing I could say about them.
But no, as in I'm surprised.
I'm surprised. I feel like they should have won.
They could have won.
I don't really know how it happened.
I mean, we look at the decisions that the manager made and Santosh,
and I feel like he has always been very mature with his decision making so far.
So you look at teams like Belgium, because they have a lot of flair and they have a lot of positively attacking players,
he just tries to fit them all into one team.
We see Santosh and he's got the confidence of keeping Ronaldo out of the team.
He's got the confidence of keeping Leao out of the team.
And he trusts his intuition.
He starts players like Felix, he starts Fernandes, he starts Ramos, Silva as well.
So I genuinely think that Portugal, had they faced Croatia, had they even maybe even faced Brazil,
they would have had a better shot at this.
Because one thing I noticed is a team like Morocco, because they don't have enough quality within their own starting eleven
to just go in and focus on themselves.
They're like, OK, we're riding good momentum, we're going to go in, we're going to play our own game.
They can try, but we're too strong in our own game for them to affect us.
No, team like Morocco go in, they're going to study you.
They're going to know how to break you down.
They know your strengths, they know your weaknesses.
Teams like Portugal, teams like Brazil, they're like, OK, we know our strengths, we know our weaknesses.
This is what we're going to do.
Fuck Morocco, they're going to sit back.
We're going to attack them, we're going to attack them, we're going to attack them.
We have enough quality to get it past the line.
You scored the hat trick last game, bro.
If nothing works, we can bring on Leao.
We can do this, we can do that.
And they don't focus enough on the team in front of them.
And I think that is why playing a team like Morocco is more awkward than playing a team like Brazil.
Yeah, it's interesting you mentioned that.
I think we've seen a few matches like this throughout the tournament, quite a few matches where the underdog pulled off the upset.
You think back to Japan, you think back to Saudi, you look at what Morocco have done.
There is definitely something in the fact that these big teams are not enjoying playing these underdogs.
They come in with spirit, they know that they're just going to sit back, they're going to work hard, they're going to put everything out there.
And they're just going to try to hit you on the counter.
Yeah, exactly.
And it's been exposed, these teams have been exposed on numerous occasions throughout this tournament.
There's definitely something there.
And I think it's interesting you make that point.
Portugal may have preferred playing Brazil.
They might have preferred to be on that team that is maybe more on the back foot.
Exactly.
Really hitting them on the break, exposing that space.
Which is why as a Milan fan I noticed that Milan struggle a lot against teams that play the low block.
Which is why Milan wouldn't get full three points against Spezia, but they get full three points against Inter and Juve and all of these teams.
The second you're faced with, and bear in mind these international teams don't have much experience facing sides like that.
They're preparing for the biggest stage.
They're preparing for how to defend against Neymar, how to defend against Mbappe, how to get past some of the best defenders that there are out there.
And then they come across something they're not exactly prepared for, but they've got confidence about and that's where they slip up.
I mean the low block is a very, very tough fucking system to play against.
You're knocking the ball into the box and you've got ten men inside the box.
What the fuck can you do?
They brought on Léa.
One thing I was telling you is when we're discussing João Felix versus Léa.
I was saying João Felix is a more intelligent player and he can dictate play better from the left hand side.
But Léa, if he gets the ball from the halfway line on the left hand side, one step and he's inside the box.
Which makes him a more dangerous player.
So it's up to who they're playing and what they want to prioritize.
Léa came on.
I didn't see him inside the box once because they neutralized him so well.
These guys are prepared.
They're preparing for you.
They're preparing for Léa, not for themselves.
They don't have enough quality in their camp.
Can they go all the way?
I don't know, man.
Can they do it?
Can Morocco fucking do it?
Fuck speaking about Portugal.
They're out now.
They poop a lot every time.
So theoretically they can, sure.
We're going to keep on picking them to lose every time and they're just going to hopefully be surprising us.
But I think about Portugal just real quick one time.
Go for it.
I also want to address the elephant in the room, which I'm sure you thought about a little bit.
I'm sure Jake all across the world in Africa is thinking about right now and crying his heart out that.
Which is why isn't Léa starting?
Or why wasn't he starting?
Good question.
I don't have a problem with it, but I'm sure Jake's very angry about it.
I'm wondering what your opinion as a Milan fan is, man.
I think it brings me back to my former point, man.
I think, again, it's a mature...
No matter what Santos does in this case, it's controversial.
Just like the same thing we said about Southgate when he benches Foden, when he benches Saka, when he benches Rashford.
The fact of the matter is a decision needs to be made.
You're not going to play players out of position because that's not what they're trained to do.
That's not what they're wired to do.
So you have to make a strict decision.
Joao Felix has been one of the best players this tournament so far.
He's been incredible.
And it's great to see him play.
Exactly.
Because he's so normal at Atletico because of the system that Atletico play.
It's great to see him on the stage doing what he does.
Léa could have been utilized better in the sense that when it comes to making a substitution,
I don't think Portugal had much of a Plan B because they're so strong when it comes to direct substitutions
that they could rely on a change of personnel to fix things.
But what about a change in the system when you face a team like Morocco that are giving you the low block?
Is there a change in formation that was made maybe moving to a 4-4-2,
maybe putting Léa as a striker and utilizing Felix out wide, for example?
I think he could have been used better as a super sub.
Even if he was brought on very late in every single game, Léa.
So I personally have no problem with him not starting the game, although it is the flip of a coin.
And again, you start players depending on who you're facing, preparing for the team in front of you.
There are certain cases where Léa should have started.
There are certain cases where Felix should have started, but he could have been utilized way, way better as a sub.
I'm eager to hear your take, Té.
I mean, coming off the 6-1 win, I think he was always going to go with the same 11 there.
A big, big, big part of these tournaments is confidence, you know, there's momentum.
He was always going to play that same 11.
And to be fair, it worked thus far.
I understand why he would go with that.
There are always going to be questions when you get knocked out, what could have been done different?
As Jamie mentioned, though, I mean, Felix was never going to be dropped.
Are you going to change system after a win like that? Probably not.
So what I will say is that that's the elephant in the room.
Then I don't know what kind of elephant Cristiano Ronaldo is.
I have two questions here.
Before you say that, I'll close the conversation by saying the only people I've heard who say Léa should be starting are Milo fans.
Fair enough, fair enough.
Two questions here.
OK, let's let's go with the easy one first.
Should Cristiano Ronaldo have started? I think people have.
No, people have the same opinion on this question.
OK, second question.
He cries in a really strange way.
No, look, look, this is my problem.
This is my fucking this is my fucking problem.
And it's not only when you're on the camera, but I know certain people that are crying in general.
When you cover your face before you start crying, when you make it obvious that you're crying because you start covering your face, it's a bit of an act, in my opinion.
If your eyes start welling up, a tear comes down and you cover your face because, oh, my God, people are going to fucking know I'm crying.
Then you're covering the fact that you're crying and you're like, oh, my God, Ronaldo cares so much.
Jesus Christ.
But he's covering his face the second the final whistle blows before his lips even quiver.
And I'm like, but always have there have had a knack for the art of the cry.
Elaborate, please.
I mean, your analysis when it comes to crying is unmatched.
That's what I'm saying here.
OK, men should cry. Men have every right to cry. That's one thing.
And it feels good. Endorphins and all that.
You love a good cry.
I cry once every two years. It feels great every time.
When he does, I'm holding him. It's always a good thing.
It's tears of joy.
No, like, look, he cried and I kind of disagree with you that I think it was genuine.
I think it's if I'm putting myself in all those shoes, which is not easy to do when you're followed by 500 million people and probably one of the richest men in the world.
You have something close to that, no?
Around 900, I think.
If you're on the top of the list, 500 million, I'm there.
If I'm in my Ronaldo shoes and I'm turning 38, this is his last World Cup.
This was it.
This is the last World Cup. This was the last shot.
So we had the Euros, which I'm sure felt great. But let's be honest, World Cup is a holy grail.
And he just lost to fucking Morocco.
So I think he was feeling at the moment. I think he's really right.
I think he just got hit to the sudden realization that, yep, I'm Cristiano Ronaldo.
I'm the probably second best player ever to play the game.
And I'm leaving the game without the World Cup, which that stings.
It stings.
I'm sure he was emotional, but I think he's quick to kind of showcase.
I'm the main character and I'm upset more than anyone because of what you just said.
I'm 38 years old.
That's unlike Ronaldo.
No, Ronaldo hates me because I'm the main character.
Sitting down with Keirs Morgan as we speak.
100%.
We should have started.
Portuguese accent.
So what's before you segue onto the next exciting part of this podcast?
What is next for Cristiano Ronaldo?
Will we ever see him at another international tournament?
Can I make a point before you speak?
I think genuinely, because it feels like I'm disrespecting Ronaldo a little bit.
I think he still has the quality to contribute for Champions League level teams.
Does that mean he's going to be the star man in every team?
No.
Does it mean he might come off the bench?
Yes.
Does it mean he might have to play in a two up front and in a maybe system that doesn't
allow him to shine the way that he likes to shine?
Definitely not.
I still think he has it in him.
And for example, his finishing is still incredible.
There was a moment he had half a chance and he had to get Bono reacting and he had to
get the best out of Bono to save that strike.
But I don't think any team is willing to sacrifice their identity to suit Cristiano Ronaldo.
Not even for a season and bear in mind his wages.
He bankrupted Juve alongside COVID.
Juve had Ronaldo and COVID at once, man.
It's no fucking joke.
So I don't think any team is...
Two diseases.
I don't think anyone would be willing to take Ronaldo for the wage reason and his demands,
man, as well.
He's too much of a superstar.
I think it goes well.
I think he has two paths ahead of him and it's entirely up to him which one he chooses.
So I think either he takes the romantic route and he goes back to Lisbon, takes the pay cut
and has a beautiful last couple of years, two, three years playing his heart out, boyhood club,
a bit of Champions League football and help elevate them however he can.
It would be a great addition for them because he is a fantastic player.
He could still play Premier League football, Serie A or whatever.
He's a fantastic player.
So he could do that.
I think the more realistic option and this is unpopular but I think it's a fair option
from his sort of selfish perspective would be to take the much talked about Saudi Arabia
job that he's been talking about.
500 million in two years.
I mean, look, if you've got 500 million two and a half years placed right in front of you,
no matter who you are, it's going to be hard to say no.
It took him his entire career to make that much and he's about to make it in two and a half years.
What's the first thing you would do Jamie with that kind of money?
No, I'd love to hear this.
I would donate to the charity.
You've always been the thicc.
Yeah, you're really, really good like that.
Robin Hood of modern days.
What would you do with that money?
500 million.
Your first hour with 500 million.
When you're done with the strippers.
I'd probably go get another Amra butt type haircut.
That's a more expensive barber.
It's called a Tonyon guy.
500 million, I can't even imagine.
No, I mean, take a day off for sure.
Not quit.
Take a day off.
Get back to saying it on the morning.
Donate an amount to Free Hour, definitely.
For boosting purposes only.
It's tough to say everything I want.
I guess a big house, a nice car.
Then buy my girlfriend a big house and a nice car.
Then buy my mom a big house and a nice car.
You just have to have a happy family.
A big house and a nice car.
All in your own houses.
Big house and all your own nice cars.
I've always told Jake, my co-host, that if,
this is a mutual agreement between us,
if any of us come across great money out of nowhere,
the other person is entitled to a portion.
Now what is the portion?
I don't know.
I think I would give Jake a healthy at least 25% of that to do his thing.
That's very sweet of you.
Thank you.
Netherlands to Argentina 2.
It took the 120th minute for the Netherlands to find the equalizer.
In spectacular fashion.
I was really pissed that our stream got stuck at yours, Jamie.
But it was one of the most entertaining matches we've seen.
I had it 2-1 to Argentina.
So I was literally three seconds away from moving up what, like, two places in our predictor.
Theo, you also said 2-1 Argentina.
Why?
I think the Netherlands...
So when you look at the Netherlands, you look at obviously at Louis van Gaal.
I think he sets the Netherlands up.
Can I just stop there?
Louis van Gaal's army!
Go on.
Every team talk starts like that, it's been confirmed.
That's a real spotlight as well.
They have that famous story in the Bayern dressing room where he walks in, he drops his pants and he points to his very old, large, wrinkled ball sack.
And he basically tells them that they need to have some of that to play for the club.
I think you're wrong, I guess.
Fair point.
You said some weird things.
Would I transmit a message like that? I don't know.
Jamie, you have somewhat of a managerial role in your day-to-day life, right?
Have you ever considered dropping your pants?
No, I've never thought about it.
I think HR might flag that.
But hey, football is a different game, there's showers after the game and all that.
My pants are down.
It's not my style, let's say that.
You guys can't see it, we haven't invested in video yet, but my pants are down just to display the amount of balls.
Every week, by the way, J.K. and Madd do this podcast without any pants on.
No, no, no. Balls out. There's a strict balls out.
We're all guys.
We're all friends.
So speaking of old things, Louis van Gaal's style of play.
You can see what he tries to do.
He tries to set the Netherlands up to be, first of all, very defensively solid.
They have quality in the forward positions as well.
I never really fancied them to go all the way.
I think Argentina have much more to them, much more flair.
I'm much more inventive style of play, let's say.
And Argentina looked comfortable for the most part, and then they didn't.
What I really enjoyed from this game, and I think it's been probably the moment of the tournament for me, is that free kick.
I mean, one of those moments where you feel like I've just witnessed something special.
All of the pressure and that last kick of the game and he goes for a pass.
We all have a well-worked set piece routine, but in the last minute of the game, incredible.
So that's what fucked your prediction.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
I will admit to being somewhat brokenhearted, but I had to accept that sometimes the football gods have their own plan.
And I have to accept it.
Yeah.
James, you had a 1-1, so you had the outcome down, obviously just the number of goals over there.
So you were quite close to getting that right.
What is it about?
Because you look at Argentina, Netherlands and the kind of journey they had, although, albeit like Argentina had a hiccup against Saudi Arabia.
I thought Argentina came in as clear favorites.
It was always going to be a scrap, a game full of yellow cards.
Two completely different styles as well of teams facing off against each other.
Why did you think that this would lead to a stalemate?
I'm a genius.
So there's that, first of all.
You kind of know boy.
No, I think I know everything.
But no, no, jokes aside.
So coming to the tournament, I didn't have much hope for Netherlands.
I'm not sure if it was the Euros or the tournament before that, but I believe it was the Euros leading Qualify.
So they've been underperforming for quite a while.
They had a bit of a golden generation a few years ago, the likes of Snyder and Robben, Van Bursy and Orys, and de Jong, who was also a karate expert.
But no, so they had a fantastic generation not too long ago, but it's kind of dwindled over the years.
So I came into this tournament.
I wasn't really seeing them as a big team anymore. I was seeing them as the likes of Argentina and Brazil and England, all of these.
And the Netherlands weren't quite there for me.
But to their credit, they came into this tournament and up until this game, they were one of the few undefeated teams.
Unlike Argentina, who lost the game.
I can't remember who, but they lost.
Saudi Arabia.
So yeah, there you go.
So the Netherlands came into this undefeated.
So I felt like although they may have been underperforming in this tournament to an extent that they would carry on riding that momentum.
The fact that they were undefeated has to be respected to an extent.
And Argentina, for their greatness, for their individual brilliance and prayers like Messi and a bunch of others, they still do have certain gaps.
They're not the perfect team at all, I think, if you compare them to the likes of France or even Brazil and these other teams.
There's a lot more solidity in the other top teams.
So I felt like those gaps combined with Netherlands having a bit of momentum would result in a stalemate.
I'm still confused at how players like Ottomendi are starting at centre back.
I'm confused at how a player called McAllister is Argentinian and not Scottish.
Even Claude McAlely was French and not Scottish, bro. McAlely.
There you go. These things just boggled my mind.
But no, those things, the gaps in Argentina's team and Netherlands having a bit of momentum, not losing a game yet,
made me think they have that solidity and that they could at least steal a draw and see what happens, which didn't need to happen.
And by the way, you mentioned that there's like Ottomendi were starting at the back for Argentina.
Really interesting to see that Daley Blind was starting as left wing back for the Netherlands.
Obviously, he's been there for so many tournaments.
He isn't how old now? He's 32. That's not too old.
I swear he could have easily been like 57.
Louis van Gaal really likes Daley Blind. He really fits into his style of play well.
He's a great diagonal passer. He's very good at playing out from the back.
He's a very composed player, very positionally aware. He loved him at United.
He's loved him for the Dutch. He had a good tournament. I believe he scored in one of the games.
It was against the USA. A nice clean finish.
Looking at the Netherlands squad, there are some like Daley Blind, Noppert, the goalkeeper as well, third choice for Ajax.
There's Tim Bauer, who I've never heard of, but they've got some quality over here.
Gacpo is a great player. I've always loved Depay as well.
Depay, Steven Bergwijn, obviously me being a Serie A, I have to mention De Hoon.
They have Dumfries and also a little Koop they have on the bench as well.
Koop Meijners, who comes on and he does a fantastic job every single time.
A product of Gasperini, a product of Atalanta. When it comes to dead ball situations, when it comes to knocking the ball into the area, he's fantastic.
We saw that as well in this World Cup.
It's a shame that the players like De Hoon, De Jong and Gacpo playing in central midfield, it's difficult to accommodate all of these players.
But I do think that a little bit more of Koop Meijners could have made them a little bit more difficult.
I don't know if you guys know much about Koop Meijners.
He's very versatile, he can play in multiple different positions.
Still a young guy, you need to find out how old he is over here. 24 years old, 24 years old, so just a year younger than the last.
I'll trust that he's solid, but I still think that their problems lie in, they have a thin squad is the problem.
So even relying on players like, I think both of their goals were scored by Veghurst over the bench.
I'm sure he's fine and I trust opponents to be solid.
Again, they have a couple solid players in there like Van Dijk and a few others.
But he compared their full squad to the likes of France, Argentina, England and all these.
Where we mentioned England's bench before and how strong they are.
I think we can compare them to the Netherlands first team and England's bench will literally compete with the Netherlands first team.
So I think the Netherlands have just dwindled over the years for whatever reason, I'm not sure why.
It's kind of surprising to be honest because the Netherlands have always had fantastic economies and places like Ajax and PSV and Feyenoord and all these.
But they're just not so impressive anymore. I'm not sure why.
I'll tell you what is impressive.
Did you know that a record was broken yesterday?
The World Cup yellow cards record actually. 17 yellow cards were dished out in this match.
In this match? That was aggressive to be fair.
I was going to mention my favorite, so it was a pretty scrappy game.
So it got entertaining towards the end with two goals on each side.
But the first half was really scrappy and a bit boring to be honest.
And my favorite moment of the entire game was Paredes.
Just out of nowhere whilst I believe they were up at two at the time.
They were winning and they were relatively comfortable at the time.
Just smacking the ball into the Netherlands reserves.
The innocent, vulnerable Netherlands reserves are sat there watching on in despair.
And Paredes smacks it with all his might.
He got lucky and didn't hit anyone because it was a couple inches away from one of their subs.
No idea what happened there, but I loved it.
Van Dijk brought him down. I've never seen ten Dutchmen run so fast in my life.
I love fucking Van Dijk, he's massive.
Paredes was, and then they say, before I say that, it's incredible how personal this game got.
It seems like there's a lot of beef. A lot of Argentine players who have played for United don't like Van Gaal's system.
There's Di Maria who hated his man-management tactics.
You mentioned before this podcast where Di Maria had a goal and an assist in a United game.
And after the match, Van Gaal went up to him, showed him his highlights and told him,
this is where you were shit, this is where you were shit, this is where you were shit.
And gave him no positive words of affirmation, which obviously footballers that are struggling like Di Maria was needed at that time.
But it was Paredes that made that foul in a dangerous area, which led to the 120th minute goal by the Netherlands.
It's crazy to see the change that Argentina would have made bringing on a more defensive-minded player.
And then the change that the Netherlands would have made in bringing on Veghorst, which is a way more attacking player,
and them just working in total opposite ways.
So Veghorst getting that goal in the last minute and Paredes just fucking it up. A very clumsy free kick to give away.
And at that time, with all the personnel that the Netherlands have to stand over the ball as well from the ball situation,
players like Cope Miners, I think much like Teo Hernandez, he got away with it because of his friend named Emiliano Martinez.
What a fucking game Emiliano had, man. What a goalkeeper.
I love him, man. I love him. I think people who don't watch Premier League might not know too much about him.
But the guy is hilarious, man. Every time he's in a penalty shootout, he just starts playing these mind games with the players
and starts dancing around and kicking the ball around and putting funny faces at them.
Shit houses you, man.
And the thing is, he backs it up. So if a player or a goalie or a player starts doing that and then misses the penalty or doesn't save a thing,
he just looks like an idiot.
Yeah, yeah.
But Martinez does that and then together with that, one of the top three penalty savers in the world hands down.
For sure.
And he proved that.
It's him, Donald Romance, in my opinion.
I agree. I'd literally put those three. I'd literally put those three.
So I love it when a player can absolutely chat shit and then back it up.
And I'm happy for him and I'm proud of him. He's brilliant.
And what's beautiful is this guy, what one, two years ago, Teo, remember, this guy was just arsonist back up goalie.
This guy had barely had a sniff of first team football for ages.
And then Leno got injured. Martinez had half a season and killed it and then fucked up to Asim Bela.
I believe it's Asim Bela, right?
And has been fantastic ever since. And look at him now, man. He's easy. He's killing it in the World Cup.
It's a beautiful, beautiful hero work.
Can I just point out that I did say Argentina to win the league, sorry, to win the World Cup.
Outstanding performance of saying Messi and being boring.
So then the other Martinez because of their leaky defense on this.
I'll keep you care for that.
And definitely better prediction than one of our other colleagues who said the standout performer would be none other than Michy Batshuayi.
I won't name him, but no, we won't.
He was a bit embarrassed by that prediction as well.
So Teo, what do you think of Emiliano?
I mean, I just I just love I just love players that endorse the art of shit.
How's the ring? Yeah, we always love Martinez.
And Martinez is fantastic at this.
He he gets into players minds, you know, he the way he celebrated when he made the second save.
I mean, there's also the video going around after they won the match where he says I fucked you twice.
He says this multiple times. He points to the Dutch Benz.
He he made them known that that, you know, he is the man.
And I love players like this.
And I think it's an interesting point to look at the Argentinian players and how many of them actually have this this this this this side to them.
You know, they're aggressive.
They they're hungry, you know, they they're they're willing to put their body on the line to get into other players' heads.
And I think I think that gives them a really good chance, you know, of going of going all the way.
And I mean, we'll discuss a bit more when the Brazilian game comes up, but I'm disappointed we won't get that that semi against Brazil.
That would have given me a semi. Yes, it would have.
I'm hoping I'm hoping we get we get them in the final, though, I think with the stakes as high as that, we'll see some very, very interesting things.
And that leads me to the question.
I mean, they were somewhat favorites coming into this alongside Brazil.
Everyone was looking at the South American teams and players like Messi, players like De Paul, players like Molina.
There's a Romero at the back as well.
McAllister was proven to be really good. Alvarez coming in to replace Lautaro as well.
It has a lot of quality for this Argentina team.
We saw that there's a strong element of togetherness, especially with the way they tackled the Netherlands in this game.
They out toughened them, so to say.
Do you think because you guys said that France are favorites to win the entire thing.
France against Argentina as a World Cup final, which is probably the most popular kind of prediction.
You know, think Argentina have a solid fucking chance to take France down, man, especially run them over in that midfield area.
So I think Argentina have a massive hurdle in getting past Croatia, first of all.
So I think Croatia are super solid in the semis, and that's going to be a massive game in itself.
Obviously, they're favorites, but I wouldn't put them as massive favorites because of how hard Croatia are to break down.
But assuming they do make it through, which is the likelihood, Argentina-France, if France make it there, it would be a beautiful game to watch.
Can they win? Yes.
They're extremely strong, especially with the likes of Messi, and it would be poetic for Messi to finally get his World Cup.
He obviously deserves it and I'd love to see it.
And there's a big part of me which wouldn't like to see France win two World Cups in a row for whatever reason.
But with that said, France is quality thrower.
I mean, just compare them man for man.
France's team is incredible.
And I can't say I think Argentina would beat them.
I think France would quite easily be favorites, even though Argentina are very strong.
I think Argentina have a great chance.
I think they have a great chance.
There's a good point about Croatia.
They have a definite obstacle there.
I think it's a win-win game.
I mean, Croatia will sit back.
They've proven that they'll do that.
And when you have a certain Lionel Messi in the middle of the park, obviously, there's always a good chance he's going to pull something out and decide the game.
Against France will be the test for them.
Squad death is also a topic of conversation for Argentina, bringing on the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Di Maria, De Bala, Papu Gomez.
These are serious fucking players.
These are serious players.
They go up 4-2-4 if they're one goal down.
And also, like I mentioned with France having that belief because they've won things together, Argentina also have done that.
They won the Copa America.
Yeah.
So it won't be their first taste of a final together.
I think there's a very good collective cohesion between the Argentinian players.
I think that would be a really fascinating match if we get the Argentina-France match.
And with Messi and the story going on there, I think he'll have a lot of players playing for him specifically.
Oh, 100%.
My prediction, just so you know, is the final will be France against Argentina.
Argentina to win on penalties.
I think the second it goes to penalties, there's no debate.
I mean, we saw France in the Euros getting knocked out.
It was Switzerland on penalties.
And on the other hand, Argentina with Emiliano on goal.
I mean, and then France having your recent goal.
I think that's what this is all leaning towards.
But yeah, fuck it, whatever.
You guys can have your silly little opinions.
As in, look, I think the like-people are always going to be at France-Argentina final.
I would fancy France to win.
But with that said, I'll still say I think Croatia have a really big chance at taking Argentina down just on the way it's set up.
I feel like Argentina and Croatia will go to penalties.
And I think they have a solid chance, man.
But regardless, France will win the end.
That penalty shootout would be interesting, especially with Ljubakovic in goal for Croatia and Emiliano on goal for Argentina.
Should we shift to Croatia?
The final game we're going to be covering is Croatia 1-Brazil 1.
Croatia go through 4-2 on penalties thanks to two saves by Nadejde and Ljubakovic.
I had Brazil 2-0.
Theo, you had Brazil 2-0 as well.
Jamie, you had Brazil 2-1.
Why were we all so confident?
I think it's clear why, because Brazil were favorites.
Brazil coming off a massive victory, bit cocky in that victory.
I think as much as Roikin is very conservative when it comes to his analysis, and I hardly find myself agreeing with him,
I think that all the dancing and prancing around they did every time they scored a goal in front of the opposition with the manager of all was very annoying, very disrespectful.
I didn't even enjoy it as a spectator.
You've never been a fan of Brazilian dancing, however?
Look, there is certain Brazilian dancing that actually, Theo, I love more than any other dancing in history.
So I will contradict you on that.
That jumping around though was fucking annoying.
You didn't like the chicken?
The chicken is great.
You definitely loved the chicken.
After a few pints, I've seen you do the chicken.
I've done the chicken.
That's normally my mating call.
That's why I haven't done it in around five years.
But yeah, we were all confident for our Brazil win.
Were we kind of, I don't know, you seem all high and mighty on Croatia now.
You weren't high and mighty when they were playing Brazil.
Why was that?
Well, I believe and I still believe this despite the loss that Brazil were the best team in this competition.
I think they had the best squad when you look from the fence to attack.
I mean, they were stacked and they were not only stacked with great players, but they were stacked with difference makers, you know, match winners.
The players, they are incredible.
I think as well, besides this leading up to the tournament, they're playing very good stuff.
They played very good stuff in the in the groups as well.
It was all shaping up really nicely.
On another day, they could have taken some more of those chances.
They could have, you know, maybe been a bit more defensively solid once they took the lead and just seen the game out.
They didn't do it once you're in once you're at penalties.
Yeah, it's a toss of the coin.
Exactly.
For me, I think it's a bit of a shame that I feel I've been robbed of Brazil, Argentina, semi-finals.
That would have been a lovely evening.
Argentina, Croatia doesn't have exactly the same ring to it.
Absolutely not.
But yeah, maybe maybe a few drinks and we can think about it a bit differently.
For sure.
It's funny, I was really disappointed in Brazil to be honest in that game.
I feel like they got caught up or they maybe tend to get caught up in the sort of brand that Brazil has.
Too many touches.
Of being these fucking players with techers and tricks and skidding down the wing and all that.
I don't know if it's them getting caught up in that or them just being truly true to themselves in the obvious move for them is to dribble.
But so many times during this game in particular, more than in any of their other games,
I was seeing any one of their attackers, whether it's Rafinha, Vinny, Neymar, Jaresin or the ones who came on,
whether they'd have the ball on the wing and there'd be clear passes to make, very clear, good passes to make.
They just insist on just bombing down the wing and trying to beat their man every single time.
Players like Anthony as well, I know Theo loves him, but players like Anthony as well.
I feel like they just get way too caught up in trying to beat their man, which it just reminds me of playing football.
My friends were eight years old and there's that one guy on the team who's alright, he's really good.
He's really good.
There's that one guy on the team who's really good and you'll pass to him because he's the best, but then you're never going to get the ball back.
It's like Brazil had four of those.
I feel like that was prevalent because I understand that they have a lot of players, especially for example Vinny and Rafinha, Jaresin and Neymar,
that can beat their man, which is at the right time a massive asset.
But when you're trying to transition play from the right to the left and each time you can't play one touch football because they need to take two, three touches to go like,
what am I going to do now, what am I going to do now before they pass the ball?
Really, really for the amount of pace that they have, they slowed themselves down so much with the amount of touches that each player took in transitional play.
And that allowed Croatia to take their shape and transition into their shape easier when it came to defending, which made them simply harder to break down.
And naturally they might actually get a goal back, they might actually take it to penalties.
And obviously with Ljubakovic being the difference maker that he is, might actually take it over the line.
I think it says more, does it say more about Croatia or Brazil, this result, Croatia advancing?
I think it's a bit of both. So like I said, Brazil fucked up in how they decided to attack, I felt like.
And that's partially down to themselves, partially down to Croatia set up in the sense that I feel like Brazil should have expected Croatia to stop in the way they did.
And what I mean by that is Croatia were obviously going to sit back, Croatia were going to have 8, 9, 10 players in and around the box,
which is going to make it impossible for the likes of Rafinha, trying to just what, skin three players and then get thrown goal, no way, it's not going to happen.
But with that said, powers Croatia man, they were excellent and they had so much heart in how they played.
I'm loving seeing Perisic, I feel like he's been around for ages and he's still doing so well.
I think he played quite advanced in the game against Brazil and even in his old age, still has a lot of attacking flair.
He might not be as quick as he used to be, but he's still always creating chances of getting shots on goal.
And they were strong, man, they were strong. They might not have the big names of Brazil have, but the likes of Perisic, the likes of Kovačić, Brozović, they're doing a lot.
Modrić, Modrić, still in his old age, Modrić now, Modrić in his old age, what a guy, man, what a guy.
Tell us a bit about Modrić, Teo, I know you romanticize.
Yeah, you're pointing this question at me because every Croatia game that comes on, I want to talk about Modrić.
Every time he touches Bojak, oh my, oh my god.
37 years old, still making runs down the channels, still winning the ball back.
I mean, this is a player that will go down in history.
I mean, even when you look at the fact that he's made the final of the World Cup with Croatia and now he's in this...
He won the Ballon d'Or that season.
He won the Ballon d'Or that season. Now we see him in the semis of the World Cup again, right in the heart of it.
It's really lovely to see that and I'm happiest to see Croatia go this far because of him.
Yeah, 100%.
It's an amazing storyline.
And as well, just you look at, not particularly the personnel in the lineup that Croatia have, but you look at the way they operate, the great balance that they have within the team, you look at in particular.
Firstly, massive shout out obviously to Ljubakovic for being the great shot stopper that he is.
The back two of Lovren and Gvardiol, brilliant.
Particularly Gvardiol has been a monster, the best center back in this competition so far, in my opinion.
Let me know if I'm disrespecting anyone with that statement.
Harry Maguire.
That midfield three, that midfield three.
That is set up in such a beautiful way.
So you have Brozovic who stays back, his job is between the midfield and the defense dictating the play.
He lets you know where the play is going to go.
He's that metronome.
The same way that Inter are reliant on him on a weekly basis.
Same way that Croatia rely on him.
He does the exact same thing.
He's that fucking metronome.
He's that Georginio for them, so to say.
Kovacic with that box to box, that energy, he gives you 90 minutes running up and down, winning the ball back, turning defense into attack, defense into attack, defense into attack.
Modrić on the other hand, everything he touches turns into gold.
It seems like if you're in a tight area, you don't know what to do.
You want to play it safe.
You want to get the best outcome possible.
Being a Croatian player is incredibly easy.
Look up and look for Luka Modrić and he will spot the perfect thing to do at any given moment.
He has aged so brilliantly because he's mature and he's used experience to learn more about the game.
And it seems like no matter where he is, he understands the players in his team so well.
He knows where they are constantly.
He knows where to play a pass.
He plays passes without even looking.
The man just knows.
He knows everything.
And he is definitely one of my favorite players of all time.
To be 37 years old and to be playing at the level he is with an underdog team like Croatia and doing all that, it's underrated as fuck what he's been doing.
Has he surpassed the Shavis and the Iniesta's?
I saw this debate on Twitter today, but I'd like to see what you guys think.
Surpass is hard to say because those guys were incredible.
They won the World Cup as well.
They won the World Cup in two Euros, so they had one.
I remember they won three tournaments in a row together, which was ridiculous and might never be done again, at least in our lifetimes.
And not only that, but what they did with Barcelona was ridiculous as well under Pep and a few other managers as well.
But that takes nothing away from Modrić because he's either at that level or very close to it in my opinion.
Five champions in the XC as well.
No, that's incredible stat and he's been so good for so long as well.
I remember him at Spurs 10 plus years ago when he was still relatively young, 26, 27 years old.
And he was just as good then as he is now, just a different style of player.
So maybe that back then he had more energy, less intelligence.
And as he's packed on the years, as time goes by, maybe he's lost a bit of physicality or whatever.
Like you said very rightly yourself, he's just gained intelligence.
He's gained that composure and has a bit more measure in his play.
And he's just absolutely brilliant.
And I love the fact, I love the fact that against Brazil he puts in 120 minutes still and there are 120 fantastic minutes.
And he takes a penalty as well at the end, scores it.
It's brilliant. It's a beautiful story. I love the man. He's brilliant.
And obviously, you remember, I don't know if you guys remember, he joined Real Madrid in 2012 under José Mourinho.
And for the first season he was dubbed and voted as the worst signing of that season worldwide in football.
And to just have that moment, we were talking about the press ruining players' careers earlier, the Harry Maguire's, so on, so forth.
For him to have that experience and just turn it into what he's been capable of turning into winning a Ballon d'Or and winning five Champions Leagues.
Maldini won five Champions Leagues with the 90s Milan and the early 2000s Milan.
That's no fucking joke what this guy's been doing.
I think it's very admirable how he carries so much pressure of the country on his shoulders and he does it repeatedly, doesn't shy away, steps up to take that penalty as well, buries it.
He's just an absolute role model for every single Croatian player.
For sure.
What I do think is going to be a factor though. So in the match before against Japan, right?
Yeah.
He was subbed off in extra time when the match was very much still in the balance.
That tells me that there are concerns over his fitness, rightly so. He's five, seven years old. It's understandable.
He has another match coming up now. How much can he give? How much can the Croatian team in general give?
Because it is a slightly thin squad, right?
I would argue it's probably not as strong as the one we saw, the team that made that final in the World Cup.
No, I mean when you look at their bench, I mean, apart from there being, for example, Pasalic normally starts and we saw him start in a bit of a wider position, but we have seen him start from the bench.
He's a nice little player to kind of bring on. One of the most, when it comes to his positioning on the pitch, he puts himself as a box to box in very key positions.
We've seen him in Serie A, so you know, score hat tricks this guy from a box to box role just by being in the right place at the right time.
Otherwise, you see a player in Orsic who hasn't really been given much time. We know, we've seen him score hat tricks in last season in the Champions League.
We've seen him do that for Dynamo Zagreb. He's very highly rated, but we hardly see him come on before the 80th minute, man.
So definitely even players like Petkovic, who although he had that goal, he had that insane dribble where he turned those two defenders inside out, the Croatians don't rate him.
You know what I mean? So it is a fairly thin squad, but they just keep going, man. They keep going for 120 minutes. Like even when Modrić came on, I bet you could have gone for the entirety of it.
Like they brought on Meyer, so I'm sure it wasn't a tactical substitution and it was based around fatigue. Just the same reason Kovačić was taken off in that game.
But if they keep the game in 90 minutes, they can get it done against Argentina, I feel. They definitely have what it takes. They just need to be smart about it.
It's a semi-final. I mean, every single team in a semi-final has a chance at that stage of the competition, you know.
Exactly. Shall we discuss the semi-finals a little bit? I don't know if there's anything else you want to discuss about Brazil or Croatia, anything of the sort.
I'd say we give some quick predictions. Let's get into it. Yeah, let's give some predictions.
So in case you missed the intro, the semi-finals are in fact Croatia against Argentina that's taking place on Tuesday, 13th at 8 p.m.
You can watch it on TVM if you'd like. France against Morocco, Wednesday, 14th at 8 p.m.
This is Maltese time, by the way. You can also watch that on TVM. So let's start. Croatia vs Argentina.
Let's do it. We go clockwise. Yeah, let's do it. That way I think that in extra time Argentina managed to take away a 2-1 victory in extra time.
I'm going to go for a somewhat comfortable Argentina win. I think they take the lead against Croatia.
And then I think once they take the lead they manage to see that game out. I think Croatia will struggle to create too many chances.
And Argentina will see it through. I'm going with a 2-0 Argentina.
I think it will be 1-1 after 90 minutes. I think they'll scruff through extra time on both penalties.
For whatever reason I feel like Croatia will make it through on penalties.
But my heart wants Argentina to make it through because I'd love to see an Argentina-France final.
Yeah, fair enough. I think what we're seeing over here, one thing we have to take into consideration,
is the amount of yellow cards that Argentina have accumulated against the Netherlands.
We thought if those same players get another yellow card it means they will miss the final, which will make them more conservative in that game.
Some will definitely will. Some will miss the final and some will take a very conservative stance in that game.
Imagine you're a defensive midfielder, you're De Paul, you're a yellow card away from missing the final.
There's a challenge to make and you shy out of that.
Leaving a guy clean through on goal, that's going to be so fucking difficult.
And Croatia will turn it into a fucking scrabble, bro. They will. They'll make it that game.
Let us know what you think, guys. This is going to be an interesting one.
I don't know if you've seen it, but back in like 96, something like that, there was a really famous one.
Back in my prime, before I was born, but sure.
Where England were in the semis against, I think, Germany.
And Gaza, Paul Gascoigne, got a yellow in that game and in the game before he had a yellow as well.
So he got a yellow in this game and it wasn't even meant to be a yellow, it was barely even a foul.
And he knew that that meant he wasn't going to make it to the final.
And because he got the yellow there, he started literally bowling whilst playing.
He was crying, he was in tears. There's really famous clips about it.
Which just goes to show how much it can weigh on a player.
It's hard to play.
It's massive. So don't underrate how much it can play on a player's mental state.
I'd love to have a list of the players that are a yellow card away for Argentina.
So at least I can pull up who got a yellow card in the last game.
If you list them, you're going to be talking for a few minutes.
So there's Messi.
Imagine that, imagine that. No way.
That's not even a ticket.
You think about a left wing back facing who Croatia have on the right.
It's not Perisic, it's not Pasalic.
So Acuña.
Acuña is suspended.
There's Martina at the back, there's Atamendi, there's Romero.
Those are all the yellow card away.
They substituted Romero actually at 2-0 to protect him.
And actually there was a lot of debate on whether that was the right decision
because then they conceded two goals after it.
What a player Romero is by the way.
Another shithouser.
He came out of Atalanta, moved to Spurs, and then there's another guy,
Drake and I have been rating for ages.
The aggressive player is very good.
So that's going to be an interesting one.
I think it will be tighter than we may anticipate.
But yeah guys, if you have any predictions, please do let us know about those.
Interesting, interesting.
France, Morocco.
What are our predictions for France, Morocco?
Fuck, I really don't know man.
As in the, you obviously have to go for a France win.
I don't think anybody is saying they're going to go predict a Morocco win.
Even though we all know the possibility of it based on the last two games.
My God just says 2-0 France, comfortable 90 minutes,
and Bappa has to get one.
2-0, is that so?
2-0 France, and Bappa has to get one.
I don't know if he'll get the other.
But I feel like you're going to predict a comfortable France win aren't you?
Yeah, I think so.
Té?
I'm going for the exact same result as the Croatia-Argentina match.
I think France 2-0.
I think these games, both games I feel really rest on whether the favourites can get the first goal.
If they do that, then the underdog is going to struggle.
I think considering the different, the versatile way in which France can attack the different weapons that they have,
the fact that they can go with a long ball over the top to Giroud who could head it in,
the fact that they could go directly through Mbappe, the fact that Rabiot can have a crack with Sartreau-Ameni,
have a crack as well, Kingsley-Corman can come on and do stuff, Griezmann can have a crack.
They all have cracks.
So much crack.
So much crack in that team.
And then you look at, I can't help but consider, take into consideration the fitness of Morocco,
the fact that they might be a little bit deflated.
I think that it will show a lot of heart.
I do think, I'm going to agree with both of you, I think France will get away with a 2-0 victory.
So Morocco will definitely win now.
Yeah, so Morocco for sure.
We should place a bet, boys.
We should know that we'll post it.
You mean on what?
On France to win?
On the football?
No, on who's going to win Love Island next year.
Love Island.
You're taking part next year, no?
Yes, I am.
Stay tuned, guys.
I think that's pretty much it for the episode.
I know we have a question from one of our listeners, Pablo.
It's day one, guys.
Can you please give a nice warm welcome to Pablo?
Lovely, lovely guy.
Hello, Pablo.
Thank you, Pablo.
So tough questions.
He's very well versed.
He watches a lot of football.
He lives and breathes it.
So he asks us the following.
With the memory of yesterday's match still in mind, could you talk a bit about Lajos?
Has to be the worst performance all round I've ever seen out of a ref.
So obviously he's talking about, in case you guys watch Sopranos, that referee that kind of looks like Tony Sopranos.
He officiated the match between Netherlands and Argentina.
Obviously from the amount of yellow cards, 17 yellow cards, you could understand that maybe he didn't have too much control over the game.
But there were also a number of controversial decisions.
This is a very experienced referee.
I've seen him in La Liga.
Jake and I always spoke about what a great referee he is when we saw him in the Champions League.
He lets play go on.
He's strict when he needs to be strict and he always has control over the game.
This one got away from him.
And there were controversial decisions made, like the free kick late on, the yellow cards that were dished out, so on and so forth.
He's definitely one of the referees with the highest pedigree in this championship.
So it's obvious that he's going to be called up.
Do you think that the criticism on him is fair or do you think it's a little bit harsh on him, considering the magnitude of the game?
I mean, it was a heated affair, no doubt about that, but definitely felt like he lost control of it.
He started dishing cards out to the point where you're not even sure who he's even pointing the cards at anymore.
At a point in the penalty shootout, he put a yellow card out and aimed at the Dutch squad.
And the commentator was just like, I don't even know who that's aimed at.
He was just dishing them out.
Like even prior to smashing the ball at the reserves in my head, I kind of thought it was a red card, to be honest.
If that hits a player, it's a red, to be honest.
He could have hurt someone with that.
So it felt a bit random.
He did lose control.
I don't know how many cards he said, yellow card, he said something like that.
That's mental.
16, 16 now.
Massive difference.
Now, if you have to dish out that many cards in the game, you've lost control.
It got very messy.
It wasn't an easy one to ref.
I'll give him that.
Players were being a bit much.
Sorry, what an idiot I am.
It was 17, 16 was the last record, which was between Portugal and the Netherlands in 2006.
I remember that game.
The game was mad.
But no, as in Kerry, the game ran away from him.
And it was very messy.
Messy.
I know that those are the games where you expect a good ref to come through and take control and sprint the players.
I think there's a lot more to ref in the game.
Bless you, Matthew.
Thank you so much.
You're ruining our podcast.
I think in games like these where a strong ref, a good ref comes through and shows his quality and can dictate the game and put players in their place.
You wouldn't have seen this happen to the likes of Colleen back in the day.
And I feel like he kind of lost it here a little bit.
Now, obviously, some games are just destined to be scraps and the players, you know, it says a lot about like we all know Argentina have a very tough squad.
We know that the Netherlands are always up to the task.
They have a lot of leaders within that team.
So, you know, when they make certain challenges and when they're carrying themselves a certain way, yellow cards are going to be dished out.
I have absolutely no problem with the fact that he dished out as many yellows as he did.
This takes me back to the argument I brought up earlier about consistency because there was, for example, Messi said that he had a fixation against him that he had.
He kept on talking shit to Messi throughout the game.
He gave Messi a yellow card at a point.
Messi handled the ball later on quite blatantly and he should have gotten a second yellow card and he spared him that.
So a bit of consistency in these cases, like perhaps Messi should have been off at that point.
So it's all about consistency.
There are lenient referees, there are strict referees, there are referees that like to let play go on.
This guy is normally that kind of referee.
The only way he was going to assert his dominance in a game like this is by brandishing yellow cards that he brandished.
But, you know, Argentina have their opinions on him.
Messi said that.
Emiliano Martinez said that he is the World Cup's worst ref by far.
The reason he awarded 10 added minutes is because he wanted them to draw the game.
So I'm not sure about that one.
There needed to be that much time.
Like I don't think Emiliano Martinez is aware of the new system of additional time.
Like today there were eight minutes added, not because they wanted England to get an equalizer,
but because there are Varchegs and it's the same thing over there.
It's interesting.
I don't feel like I could give you a definite yes or no as to whether he had a shocker of a performance.
I know the game got away from him.
Sometimes that's going to happen.
A little bit more consistency within his decisions in the game would have been better.
I don't think, to be honest, bottom line, I don't think it changed the result massively.
I still felt like a draw in the end was relatively fair.
Yeah.
And I think the game sort of just took its own course naturally in that sense.
Yeah.
Next question by Pablo.
He's on a positive side.
Why was Croatia so good yesterday?
I think we went through this a lot about the balance within the team, the experience within the team.
But one thing I want to bring up on Pablo's note is that we saw De Bruyne talk about Belgium,
how he said the golden days are behind us.
We're old.
We can't do anything.
Now we see Croatia have a very aging squad, a very experienced squad, and they almost use experience to their benefit.
It's almost a good thing when you look at Croatia.
So just food for thought as to how the different approaches two teams can take.
As in, I don't fully agree.
As in De Bruyne's right, but he's also not in the sense that, yes, the best days are behind them.
They're golden generation.
I question how much of a golden generation it was because they didn't even win anything.
They didn't get very far very often, to be honest.
And the problems that they have today, so sure, Vertogan and otherwise still being at the back is hilarious.
But they have the same problems they had five, 10 years ago where they're just a very disjointed squad.
It just feels like a bunch of individuals who are put together and are kind of doing their own thing,
which is kind of the opposite of Croatia, which just feels like 11 men who are banded together,
working as a collective, all for the same kind of cause.
What I said before the game, which I didn't say here, is I see Croatia as kind of similar to England in many ways,
just worse, not as much quality, but just very organised, tight, hard to break down, good, solid 11.
And I think that's always going to win.
I think the likes of Belgium, who you mentioned there, are just much messier than that.
So if you're organised and tight, hey, the JME up, he's clearly...
He's into that.
He's really into that.
Especially if you're organised.
I think Croatia have a certain humility which has served them really well.
They know their strengths, they know they're not going to be this fluid, free, flowing attack.
They're going to work hard, they're going to put men behind the ball, they're going to try to hit on the counter,
similar to Morocco in this way.
And it worked.
I mean, they took Brazil as far as they wanted to take them, and then once you're in the penalty shootout, anything can happen.
I have no doubt that they're going to try something somewhat similar for the final two games, if they have two games.
Exactly.
I think that's it, guys.
What did you think? How did you find it, your first time being on the podcast?
I enjoyed it, man. It was lovely.
I'll be retiring today.
I heard that you were interested in starting your own podcast.
What's stopping you, man?
Yeah, I need to work through my life commitments and find the slot.
It's a very busy life.
I'm a very busy man.
I have lots of things to do.
Trying new things.
I try a lot of new things.
Places to be.
Yeah.
Moving the meat.
Yes.
People to see.
Yes.
All it takes, just so you know, is a microphone that costs around 40 euro, maybe buy a plug-in that costs 3 euro.
Record, edit and dish it out.
So it's incredibly easy to start, to keep consistent and to keep on a weekly basis and to keep finding good content and to be up to date.
It takes a lot of effort.
You have it.
You should definitely give it a bash.
You're very well versed.
You should definitely add video because you're incredibly handsome.
I can't. I'm probably part of the problem here.
Teo has for years been telling me that he wants to do a podcast with me and I've always...
Jamie shuns me.
I've always been interested, but I have some reasons to stay where I've just never managed my time.
We'll see where we go from here.
Maybe Matt has triggered us here.
I want to internationalize.
So Seria Spotlight is just one of the spotlights.
If you guys want to take over Premier League Spotlight, do that.
I can assure you we will have more listeners than you.
At the beginning, yeah.
Until we bring video on.
The more we're like three or four episodes in, it will be just millions of views.
Exactly.
Guys, follow us on Instagram, follow us on Twitter, give us a five-star rating wherever the fuck you're listening.
Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, wherever you want.
Send us your voice notes if you have any hot takes, send us any questions you might have.
Let us know what you want us to discuss.
We'll see you guys next week and we love you all.
Ciao ciao. See you guys. Bye bye.