The Shrewdness discusses the embarrassing US performance against Belgium and talks about who they think can win it all.
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Hello fans of the shrewdness Welcome to another fabulous
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edition of the shrewdness sports podcast in roller town Jizz jizz
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and dex are with me. I'm Brew, welcome to the show.
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Thank you for being here This week's episode is going to be a
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World Cup update the. Unfortunately, the world.
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Cup. Unfortunately the US went out
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last night but we got a lot of exciting games to talk about.
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It was a good run. I thought they, you know,
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probably should have played better, but we're going to go
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through all the games, give you a kind of our take on the
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quarterfinals and what's, you know, what's to come in these
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last couple weeks as we wrap up the World Cup for another four
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years. And I just want to say to the
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guy who made fun of me for calling it Elite Eight last
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time, suck it. Because you know, there should
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be a cool name if you make it to the final eight.
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It shouldn't just be the quarterfinals.
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The final eight? Yeah, it needs a cooler name
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than the final eight. Right, they do.
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They call it quarterfinals. But quarterback, I'm with you
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man. We will call it the
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quarterfinals, the NCAA, which is.
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These guys are elite. Elite.
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Call it the elite. 80s are world class athletes.
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Yeah, that's right. So we're going to dive into some
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previews, but here's the take away.
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So we have 8 teams left. Like the handful of them, they
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have a star player, which is what we decided.
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Well, they decide. We absolutely found out last
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night. That you does not have.
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But when you look at the the final teams, you've got imbabe
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from France, second in the Golden Boot.
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Yeah, Erling Holland, Norway 3rd in the final.
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Boot. Yeah, yeah, Lionel Messi leading
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it for Argentina and we'll talk about that because Oh my God,
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unbelievable. You got Harry Kane.
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Harry Kane. Yeah, Levine Yamal, Right,
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Yamal. It's just like every It's a
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who's who in the finals. You have to have an elite player
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or an exceptionally deep, talented team that all plays.
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It's that's what we that's the take away I've gotten from
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watching this much World Cup this this year and being in the
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time zone. A lot of them.
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Americans have watched more World Cup this particular year
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than ever. Total, we're not up at 3:00 in.
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The morning, like everybody in Europe watching their one team
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play and then going to bed and then not watching stuff the
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other four days because who's getting up the middle of the
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night to honestly watch Egypt when if that's not the team,
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it's it's not happening? But that.
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Being said, let's dive in to. Mexico.
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Ecuador, unless you're happening.
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So let's jump in France, Morocco, Chiz, give us a little
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insight on that one. How'd they get here?
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What are we looking forward to in this game?
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What's our predictions? So Morocco Boat Race Canada
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making them the first out. We have no hosts, no host
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stations remaining, but Canada was the first out and and
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Morocco just was significantly better than Canada winning that
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game three to nothing. Morocco is a really sticking
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good team. And we were talking on the we
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were talking on the Patreon before that, you know, Morocco,
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we'd forgotten Morocco is the semis last World Cup.
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So like this is not a, you know, you don't think of Morocco as
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traditional powerhouse, but if you look over the last 10 years,
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they're thinking good. They're really.
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Good man. You're saying they got ousted by
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France last time and now they're Yeah.
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And how they got a rematch. In the quarters, France played
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Paraguay and props to Paraguay, who's third in the US group.
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They finished third in the US group.
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They went on to oust Germany, who was one of the perennial
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favorites. And then they played France
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really well. I mean, you got to give them
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props. They only lost one nothing to
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the prohibitive favorite in the tournament.
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Penalty kick by Mbappe, which is basically that's automatic.
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Yeah, Candy from Penalty. And it it was a legit penalty in
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the box it. Was it?
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Was not a showed the replay like 20 times.
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There's really no controversy about that one.
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Well, Paraguay was just playing a physical style of football
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more reminiscent of NFL American football, and they were
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tackling, pushing, punching. I don't know how many yellow
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cards there were, but I saw a lot.
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I stopped. There was a lot.
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There were so many of them. Then they brought in Subs to get
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more yellow cards. They're like, wait a minute.
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They guys going to be out. We better bring in someone else
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to push and cheat. Pretty smart and I think they've
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figured out a strategy it's kind of similar to basketball.
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The old hack, yes, defense, right, yes.
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It's like when you got a team that's more talented than you,
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you want to make it as dirty and physical as possible because if
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you give room to roam, they're going to shred you.
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And Paraguay was like, we don't got the talent, so let's make
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this a dogfight. And they did good Props to them
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and maybe some maybe some scouting there for future teams
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to play France because I hadn't seen France look mortal in this
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tournament and they definitely look mortal for the first time.
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So we got France Morocco. What do you guys think of this
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match up you got? Of course, France is the
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favorite going in the tournament, even though they
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came in second last time. They beat Morocco last time, but
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it was a good game. Morocco is flaming hot.
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They've scored three goals last two games and I don't know, what
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do you think? So I think this one is going to
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be a tough game. Here's the here's what I like.
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So France had to play a completely different style of
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game and win, and they did. So they kind of showed that they
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can play this style too. They can play wide open and
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outrun you and out talent you. It's kind of like a coast to
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coast run up and down to the pitch.
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But then they showed they can actually take a punch.
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They can take a lot of fouls and they can get up and they can
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still beat you that way because they didn't bowl.
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They still put another another zero on the board.
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I mean, they haven't given up many goals this tournament.
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We've had a lot of clean sheets as they call it, in the business
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and they. Have not.
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I don't know if Morocco I their Marco's super good, right?
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We just talked about they knocked out Netherlands and
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penalty kicks. That was a tough game.
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And then they beat on Canada. I mean, I think that was
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probably the easiest game they played, honestly.
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And now they're France. So I think it's going to be a
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tough game. I think France pulls it out on
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it again on a talent meter. But man, I'm not going to be
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surprised now if Morocco actually wins this.
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If they're up late, I'm like, they can probably hang on to
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this and I don't think they'll wilt at the end, right?
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I think it's maybe a 6040 split for France or something, but
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it's right, it's closer than a lot of people give it credit
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for, I believe. I I think Morocco will make a
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good show of it. So France.
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France beat Senegal 31. They beat Iraq 3.
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Nothing. They beat Norway.
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Wow. They beat Norway 4 to one.
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Wow. Well.
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Norway played a lot of their Subs and subbed early.
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Oh, that's right, that's right. It was not as an effort by
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Norway. I'm not even writing that.
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Then they beat Sweden three O and then Paraguay 1 nothing.
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So they really have pretty much beat the crap out everybody
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except Paraguay and and a watered down Norway team.
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So we'll call that for what it is.
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But I I feel like this to me gets to the star factor and pop
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a only needs like one chance really like he's 1 opening and
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he's going to take advantage of it.
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If you look at who Morocco has played thus far, they tied
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Brazil 11. That's a good result.
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They beat Scotland one O you could argue you should beat
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Scotland. Where SO1O.
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But the Scots have beat fans and drink every bar out of business.
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They do, they do. Haiti.
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They beat Haiti 4 to 2 and then they had to go to penalty kicks
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to beat the Netherlands. That would be good though.
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That's a legit. Netherlands, Netherlands are
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really good and Netherlands is actually favored in that game
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and they and whatnot. Then they blew out Canada.
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So I think France is probably a little more battle tested, but I
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don't know man. Morocco's Morocco is on a.
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Tear chipped on a chair as Dexa shit early chair.
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They're in this position, right? I.
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Mean I bet you could get to put it that way, but I.
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Yeah, I don't feel like. It's a, it's not a freebie,
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right? It's not like, well, I'm going
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to bet $10 to win $1.00 and feel great about it.
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I'm like, right, right, That's right.
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I could win so. Yeah, that's exactly right.
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Absolutely they could. So I think it'll be a that's
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going to be a fun game though, because it is a rematch, as we
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said, of, of last World Cup semis.
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Yeah, they're very familiar with each other and I think we're
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going to see really competitive football.
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I yeah, I'm going to go. I'm going to give a 2121 France
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when I want to. Go.
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I was thinking the same thing actually.
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Yep, 21 dex. You got a prediction?
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Mean it's going to be low both both teams have just kept teams
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off the they're just not on that side of the field to score.
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So it'll be two one or one nothing.
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I could see this being, yeah, kind of a like Spain, Portugal
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game or much like the one we watched earlier today with the
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Columbia, Switzerland. I don't know.
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I can see good defense and good goalkeeping, keeping it one, one
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goal man. So we'll see what happens.
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Yeah, I don't know. I even see.
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Three. Absolutely.
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I. Could see it, but these two,
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these are two good teams that play really good defense.
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No, I agree. I agree.
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So that that's the first one. The next quarterfinal is Spain
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and Belgium. So 2 interesting games here.
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One we're going to spend quite a bit of time on.
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Let's talk about the Spain portrait of the game first.
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So these guys are heated rivals right next to each other, know
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each other quite well, play each other quite often.
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And of course, this was Ronaldo's last game, likely in
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the World Cup. What did you see of what did you
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guys think of that game one? Nothing Spain in that game.
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So this game was kind of what you expect, right?
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Two possession teams passing, keeping possession, moving the
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ball, trying to get their moments.
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And what kind of noticed is that Ronaldo's not the same when you
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really watch the whole deal. And there's more commentary
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about how a lot of people didn't think he shouldn't be starting
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for Portugal, which I was like really not starting even.
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But apparently the guy, he's playing over much younger
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obviously and pretty darn talented as well.
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But at the end of the day, I thought, I mean, Portugal played
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well enough to win. Spain did win, but I still like
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Spain. I thought the game was
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competitive. Like I said, it's exactly what
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you thought you would see. Low scoring, possession,
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dominated teams and just trying to get those little moments.
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There's someones that were flying by the post towards the
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end, one off the post. It was a good game, but I think
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the right team came on top, if that makes sense.
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And this is the one Brandon talked about in our preview
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episode. He thought this could have been
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a potential finals game depending on how the bracket
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slotted up. And it kind of looked like that.
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These were two really good teams and I think it was four and
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three in the FIFA rankings, if I remember what they said
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correctly, and it looked like that.
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These are two elite top tier teams playing really good
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soccer. It's fun to watch.
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I for a low scoring game, which is what's ironic.
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That was fun. I'm like, no, it was it was
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pretty cool. He's gonna wait.
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He's like jabbing as a bunch of boxers just jabbing and waiting
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to get a big hit. And the big heads kept getting
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blocked off the post. They're going just wide.
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Yeah, it was crazy. I thought it was a good game.
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I'm looking forward to the next one.
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What do you think about this? Improve?
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You get to watch it. I didn't watch this one very
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closely. I know when we had Brandon on a
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few weeks ago, he was like, this was his hope for the finals.
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He was like, I could see these two teams getting to the finals.
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I'm glad they. Got to play each other in.
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General, that's a delight for. Soccer fans to be able to even
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see this game. And it was.
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It was good that it was a close game the whole way.
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Nobody had a soft goal that made it seem like a runaway.
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Sounded like it was close the whole way.
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I mean previous, and this is not uncommon for them.
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Their last three games it was tie.
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They had a 11 tie, Spain 11 nil and they had a 22 tie.
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So these these guys, when they play, they match up really well.
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The one little thing I want to throw on there, it was basically
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nil, nil again. The goal was in like the extra
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time, like 90 minutes plus one. When they finally got the goal
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in and it was that type of game, I thought it was actually going
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to go to extra time. It felt like it was doing that,
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so everything else seemed like it was turning that direction.
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My, my take away from this one is Portugal had the star power
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to win the World Cup. But this is this is a great
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example of chemistry. The team never gelled, they
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never played as well as the sum of the parts.
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It just was clunky. Someone wasn't right and it
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wasn't clicking and you could tell that they were not a well
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old machine like some of the previous teams had been.
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And I don't know if that's a Ronaldo thing.
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I don't know if like, you know, people knew like, hey, maybe
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he's not the best option and there was some resentment there.
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I don't know. But it was definitely a a
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strange they never played like Portugal can play.
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Yeah. Little side note to this one,
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this was in Dallas and there's a foreign exchange.
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She lives on the street from Spain.
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And so she was like, hey, I'm, I think I want to try to go to the
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game. And so she was over here.
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We looked up, looked up tickets the game a single ticket to the
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Portugal Spain game at Jerry World by yourself.
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Just one 2200 dollars. Oh my.
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Gosh, August, thank you. Say like 700 and 800 which is
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also insane. Tickets wow was $2200.
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That just shows you how passionate the fans are about
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these teams. Wow, they had driven the price
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up to that. So that is an insanity.
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How close and how good of a game that was anticipated to be.
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Absolutely. People knew it was like a
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heavyweight fight and it was, it was, yeah.
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So Spain will play Belgium, very talented team as we discovered
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the hard way last night as United States fans.
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So as painful as it is, we are going to talk a little bit about
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the Belgium US game which ended 4 to 1.
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So yeah, that's why we have a good pause.
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Right now, because it's just when you think about it, is the
00:15:20
most disgusting game the US has played in forever with.
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We just looked horrible from the get go.
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We were like flat coke, man. We came out and looked like the
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coke have been opened overnight and came out flat and played
00:15:31
worse, if that's possible. And there's a little hope like
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well maybe we're just having a rough start.
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Then what, the 9 minute mark we just gave up a cross.
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It was like the easiest goal in the world.
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Like, was it good tap? It was a little.
00:15:44
Tap it. Is tap Tapuru?
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Gave a little Happy Gilmore goal.
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I I thought we were. I think the US knew they were in
00:15:52
trouble after 43 seconds when they just about gave up a goal
00:15:57
in the first season. Like a great save in the 1st 45
00:16:01
seconds like that might be the same of his tournament for
00:16:03
Freeze. Right.
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Yeah, right. And it probably was.
00:16:07
And then it went downhill, I think, scared the US and they
00:16:09
played. It looked like I mentioned to
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you guys. I thought they played scared the
00:16:13
whole first half, yeah. They just did not want to
00:16:16
attack. They were perfectly happy back
00:16:19
there, passing the ball back and forth.
00:16:20
You know what though? They weren't perfectly happy
00:16:22
proof because they couldn't even pass the ball back and forth to
00:16:24
each other. They they just passed right out
00:16:26
of bounds. They kick it over their head.
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You can't even. Freaking.
00:16:30
Pass what has gone on to the team.
00:16:34
Robinson and Plisic and and Reem on the left side in that first
00:16:42
half I I could I stopped counting, but it was. 8 or 10.
00:16:46
Bad passes like just easy stuff that they've been doing the
00:16:51
whole time and I don't know, and.
00:16:52
What's so strange is that people were like, yeah, they hadn't
00:16:54
played any top competition. Yeah, I get it.
00:16:56
So I get that, that Belgium's like 8 in the world or
00:17:00
something. They're, they're really,
00:17:02
they're, I mean, Belgium's a good team.
00:17:05
They. Haven't lost in.
00:17:06
Forever. We were going to have to, we
00:17:09
were going to have to play a really good game to beat them.
00:17:12
But the thing I think that's disappointing for US soccer fans
00:17:15
is we had played really well. Like if you watch the games and
00:17:19
I, I had some people today that were texting me and some on our
00:17:22
social. Some people jumped in and were
00:17:24
like, well, it's because they had to play anybody.
00:17:25
And I'm like, I get that. You know, beating Bazia
00:17:29
Herzegovina isn't like the greatest thing ever.
00:17:32
Yeah. But if you watch the games and
00:17:35
how they played, they played like European, South American
00:17:40
level soccer in those games. So I mean, even in the game when
00:17:45
we were down to 10 men, I mean played great in that, in that
00:17:49
game. So I think that I don't think
00:17:52
that it was outlandish for us to expect to compete with Belgium
00:17:57
at all. So I do think you're right, Prue
00:18:01
and Dexy says they you said the same thing.
00:18:03
I think they got shocked and when they got shocked, there was
00:18:08
nobody and I murdered. Them.
00:18:10
Socials the other night. Folded up into their shell and
00:18:12
pulled their head and their tails in when?
00:18:14
You get punched in the mouth like that, you got to have a
00:18:17
leader that says, no, guys, we can play with these guys, like
00:18:23
play our game. Yeah.
00:18:24
And they just look like deered headlights.
00:18:26
After that, it was like, no, let's try to give up another
00:18:29
goal. Let's try to get and you know,
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you can't beat A-Team like that. You, you got to go out swinging.
00:18:35
And the most disappointing thing is I didn't feel like we went
00:18:37
out swinging at all. We didn't compete at all.
00:18:41
There was no, that was the worst part about it is like, you're
00:18:44
not even trying anymore. You've stopped.
00:18:46
You quit. That was like, it was the worst
00:18:48
thing ever seen. Your team quit and I was like
00:18:51
nothing worse, nothing worse. 75th minute down, two goals, and
00:18:56
we're back there passing it back and forth across between Riemann
00:19:00
and Freeman or whoever's on the right.
00:19:02
Yeah, back in the back. And I'm like, how?
00:19:04
We're not even trying to score. We have no desire to push the
00:19:07
ball forward. There's no moves.
00:19:09
We do the the outside mids just bump it back and we start over
00:19:14
like. There was no movement up front.
00:19:16
There was no creativity. I get that.
00:19:20
I'll let's go ahead and talk about it.
00:19:22
I get that Paulistic wasn't in at that point, but man, Andy
00:19:26
was. So dis horrible.
00:19:26
I think we were better when he went out.
00:19:28
Burhalter looked way better. I'm so disappointed in Paulistic
00:19:32
and and I'm going to give him a little bit benefit, benefit of
00:19:34
the doubt here. And that like some people have
00:19:36
been saying, you know, he was hurt.
00:19:38
You could tell it wasn't wasn't himself.
00:19:41
For the last I've watched, I watch a lot of soccer for the
00:19:44
last six months, Paulistic has not looked right and I I don't
00:19:48
know how much good. Or he hasn't looked right.
00:19:51
I need you to clarify. He hasn't looked like Ballistic
00:19:55
did two years ago. Right.
00:19:58
So I don't know if it's mental, I don't know if it's physical, I
00:20:00
don't know if it's a combination.
00:20:01
But the one thing that did disappoint me is I thought he
00:20:06
could be the leader. He could be the guy that could
00:20:09
lead US Soccer into the next generation.
00:20:12
But I'm sorry, the leader doesn't go out.
00:20:15
Unless his leg is broken, the leader doesn't go out unless his
00:20:19
hamstring is pulled, you know, like he's gonna stay in the game
00:20:23
and be like, no, I'm gonna will this, you know, like, like a
00:20:27
mess. He does.
00:20:28
And there was nobody on the team that was just like, guys, let's
00:20:33
go, you know? And it was.
00:20:36
Tillman played the best Tillman played.
00:20:39
The best? And I think everybody is on that
00:20:41
page because he stood out. He's like the other one that was
00:20:44
trying. He's making moves, he's making
00:20:46
passes, making shots. I thought, I thought for a
00:20:51
Coulter, when he came in, showed a lot of he.
00:20:53
Did he did. Freeman and Tillman I, I
00:20:57
thought, were two of the the better players.
00:21:00
Best went out at halftime. He looked.
00:21:02
Terrible. He was not playing well at all.
00:21:06
Oh, pretty good, yeah. I am Bally just didn't get the
00:21:09
ball much so it's like. But the one he did, he airmailed
00:21:12
it. But that was a hard shot.
00:21:13
I'm not mad at him. Yeah, I was super tough running
00:21:15
backward, the ball halfway up your body.
00:21:18
Yeah, he had a couple of reasonable chances, but yeah,
00:21:22
they just they could not create for him in the in the offensive
00:21:27
third. You get.
00:21:28
I'm going to go back to this, to go back to your point, Chisholm
00:21:31
of the leader that just will will their team to victory.
00:21:34
Lionel Messi, Nope, early Holland, Nope.
00:21:37
Mbappe, Nope. Kane, Nope.
00:21:40
All those teams, all those guys have literally willed their team
00:21:45
to a extra win late in the game down.
00:21:49
All of them have done it. They've all just single handedly
00:21:51
taken upon themselves. Put the Cape on, said boys,
00:21:54
follow me, get in my backpack. I'm going to carry you across
00:21:57
this line one way or the other. And he rucks his entire team
00:22:00
across the line. All those guys we don't have no
00:22:03
one that could even hold their jock straps.
00:22:04
I mean they're bagging the guys groceries.
00:22:06
Like if Ballistic is our guy, good God, the talent gap.
00:22:10
We will never be there. And I'm kind of over even
00:22:12
thinking the US will ever, ever make a quarterfinal unless it's
00:22:16
just luck. And The thing is, you can't luck
00:22:19
your way into that many games. If it's just one game total to
00:22:23
get you there, sure. We can't win a tournament like
00:22:26
this. We don't have the.
00:22:29
Thing that struck me as I was watch it at the end of the game,
00:22:33
this thought ran through my head.
00:22:35
There wasn't a player on the field for the US that this
00:22:39
wasn't the biggest game they'd ever played in.
00:22:41
Oh, for sure, yeah. Every single one of those guys
00:22:46
switched to Belgium. They had guys coming off the
00:22:49
bench that have played bigger games.
00:22:52
They had Luke, I'm not kidding. Lukaku came in.
00:22:55
Yeah, Lukaku played in Champions League finals.
00:22:58
He's played in huge. I mean, he's an old dude now.
00:23:01
He's incredible. They didn't even put in Kevin De
00:23:04
Bruyne, OK? Kevin De Bruyne was a phenomenal
00:23:07
player in his peak. He's played in countless huge
00:23:10
games. Those guys were their bench, OK?
00:23:13
That's their bench. And our guys are on the biggest
00:23:17
stage they've ever been on possibly in their life.
00:23:21
The other thing I wanted wanted to say was we talked about this
00:23:24
and it came true. We knew goalie was a problem.
00:23:28
Yeah. I didn't realize it was like I
00:23:31
didn't realize it was why League boys club?
00:23:35
Soccer. Problem but.
00:23:37
After 45 seconds, I was ready to prove you wrong.
00:23:40
She is. I was like, that was a
00:23:41
phenomenal save. It was a.
00:23:43
Phenomenal. Save 60 minutes later, it's
00:23:45
like, that was the biggest bonehead move I've ever seen in
00:23:48
the World Cup. And the thing?
00:23:49
Is I take the handball, I'd rather you take a handball
00:23:52
outside the box, blocking the stupid ball going into an empty
00:23:55
net. Take the handball chance, man.
00:23:58
Right chip, right chair. But it's going to special Ed
00:24:02
back there re who just damn it collapsed.
00:24:06
I'm like, what are you doing? If he would have just stood
00:24:09
there, would have bounced off him and everybody's like, oh,
00:24:10
give him a chance. He was off balance.
00:24:11
Like because he put himself off balance.
00:24:14
Yeah. Gee, just.
00:24:16
World Cup athlete you should be. You should have better balance.
00:24:20
Look a little bit coordinated. And you and you, It's never
00:24:24
ever, ever a good situation when a goalie has to handle the ball.
00:24:28
It's never with their feet. Outside the box, yeah.
00:24:31
With their mistake on defense anyway.
00:24:33
I don't even like it. I'll tell you I'm I'm an old
00:24:36
school guy in this way. I don't even like it when they
00:24:39
pass back to the goalie. It gives me anxiety because I'm
00:24:42
like, I've seen so many times that a goalie whips the ball or
00:24:46
like, you know, Shanks it directly out of bounds.
00:24:49
And I'm like. But not at this level Chism, not
00:24:52
at this. Level.
00:24:52
No, I mean it does happen. Except for artist.
00:24:56
True, true, but real. And it was like.
00:24:58
Don't do that. Freeze active.
00:25:01
I mean freeze froze. It was very appropriate because
00:25:04
he just like, do I pass it a young way, Kudit.
00:25:09
And then he was like, oh, to the left, to the right, oh, right to
00:25:11
the Belgium guy. I was like.
00:25:13
What's too funny is any of the first thoughts would have
00:25:16
worked. Just pick one.
00:25:17
Yeah, execute, right. Any of them would.
00:25:19
Have worked. Clear it, don't hesitate, do
00:25:22
anything except hesitate. And that was.
00:25:24
And you saw Belgium, just their eyes were like huge.
00:25:27
Whatever he did, the first when he chested it down, it was like
00:25:30
the guy was like pressuring him. And then he was like, yeah.
00:25:32
And then when he faked or I don't know if it was a fake or
00:25:35
if he just kicked the ground, I don't know what he did, but.
00:25:38
I think he was, he was going to whiff if he fell like followed
00:25:42
through with that. So he was like, oh, this is
00:25:43
going to be bad. Yeah, it's dead.
00:25:46
He made it it. Was a comedy of errors yeah.
00:25:48
What's bad is you're right next. Can the US ever compete on this
00:25:52
stage So I was I was talking to some guys earlier today and
00:25:57
here's the issue like the issue is we're rich.
00:26:02
We're a rich country and our athletes can play anything and
00:26:07
they do so best as old. As time we have our best.
00:26:11
Athletes go play football, they play baseball, they play
00:26:15
basketball and you know we do. I'm not saying that the these
00:26:20
guys aren't the leftovers. I'm not saying that, but I am
00:26:22
saying that if you took. The talent pool was watered down
00:26:26
the. Talent pool's watered down.
00:26:28
We don't take it. So you go anywhere else in the
00:26:30
world. They're my job.
00:26:31
The last several years I've been traveling all over.
00:26:34
The only thing they play is soccer.
00:26:36
That's it. Yeah, that's it.
00:26:38
That's and. Everybody plays like from the
00:26:42
time you're little, you play and they realize you suck, you're
00:26:45
not going to be in the team. You're, you know, they start
00:26:47
whittling at this early age and they.
00:26:50
Just develop, develop develop in your three years gym already.
00:26:54
I mean, in in the UK, they they're signing kids to Premier
00:26:58
League developmental teams at 9 and 10 years old and they're
00:27:01
putting them in their schools and they're like, you're going
00:27:04
to learn how we play and we're going to develop you with the
00:27:05
best. You don't have that.
00:27:07
I mean, we don't have anything near that and we don't have the
00:27:10
desire to do it. We don't have as a nation.
00:27:12
It's not that big of a deal to us.
00:27:14
So every four years it's fun for us to jump in and be like, yeah,
00:27:18
we're of America, we'll get it. But like until we get that kind
00:27:22
of a program, I don't think it's going to happen.
00:27:25
It's still, you still have to pick though, and they're going
00:27:28
to have to pick soccer over baseball, football, basketball,
00:27:31
even track man. I mean, these guys are
00:27:33
phenomenally fast. They just do track scholarships
00:27:36
and get free school and then go to the Olympics and.
00:27:38
Hockey, you're right for everything now and the world is
00:27:41
our oyster here and and when you go to when you go to South
00:27:45
America, ain't got no money for golf clubs ain't got no money.
00:27:51
Or. Resources for football helmets
00:27:53
like you know. Norway.
00:27:55
Was it Norway that had the 6-7 guy that was?
00:27:58
Yes, yeah. Yeah, so that dude's playing
00:28:00
basketball in America. Yeah, absolutely.
00:28:03
He's never seen a soccer field. They automatically are taking
00:28:06
him to the gym and they're like, you're playing center and he's
00:28:08
going to learn how to post up and he never plays soccer again.
00:28:11
So that's exactly right. I mean, it is just a completely
00:28:14
different prioritization and it's OK.
00:28:16
We have to be realistic at our expectations.
00:28:19
I think we all got excited because, and it's OK, this was
00:28:23
our most. Talented roster though, like on
00:28:26
paper, this is the most talented roster.
00:28:28
Like Oh my God, we actually have speed.
00:28:30
We have a little more talent passing.
00:28:32
We have more talent on defense sans holy we that was like,
00:28:37
we're not as good there. And sans leadership.
00:28:41
Sans leadership. I mean, we did have several.
00:28:44
Guys on this team. Yeah.
00:28:46
Hey, coach wise, I thought we had it, you know, coaching's.
00:28:49
I love it. I'm still fine with the.
00:28:51
Coaching, but yeah, you can only.
00:28:53
Take, I hate to say. It take it so far the.
00:28:56
Problem's going to be, I think Pochettino's getting poached
00:29:00
after this. You know, he's not.
00:29:03
He's a guy. He's a guy who is coached at
00:29:07
Premier League, he's coached at Syria, he's good and we just
00:29:13
happened to time like he got laid off.
00:29:16
It was a perfect scenario. He jumps in.
00:29:18
And. I mean, he did a good job.
00:29:20
I don't think they were very prepared for that game.
00:29:22
I don't know how much of that was him versus just the players
00:29:25
not executing. He looked befuddled, like he was
00:29:28
like, what is going on? He looked shell shocked too.
00:29:30
Like what are they not executing?
00:29:32
Yeah. What do you guys think about the
00:29:34
Balagan situation? Did that, did the figure out now
00:29:38
you're back in did that, so I don't think.
00:29:39
Distractions ever help prove. I'm gonna just cut to the chase
00:29:42
there. I think it was the right result.
00:29:45
I mean, maybe the process wasn't good and that was part of the
00:29:47
distraction, but everybody agreed that was a horse crap red
00:29:51
card. Yeah.
00:29:51
Shouldn't have happened. So the end result was right and
00:29:54
people are still upset. But then it's just that the
00:29:57
yapping and talk and it's kind of hard to not be thinking about
00:30:00
it because you didn't have until the day before.
00:30:02
So for a couple days you didn't have them.
00:30:04
So now your game plan the day before, you're switching
00:30:08
everything back and the other guy was prepping to be in that
00:30:10
spot. I think that part, the
00:30:12
preparation part took the biggest hit.
00:30:14
And maybe that's what it showed because it looked like we
00:30:17
weren't, we didn't practice, man.
00:30:19
We looked bad. We looked out of sorts.
00:30:21
And maybe that was why, because we had.
00:30:23
Different practicing the whole way.
00:30:25
Yeah, like I said on the, I think I put it on the socials
00:30:27
that it looked like they're physically I thought they could
00:30:32
compete, but mentally they were. That's exactly it.
00:30:37
The the between the ears part was the part that was missing in
00:30:40
that game. It yeah, it it was timid.
00:30:43
It was the freeze play was a microcosm.
00:30:47
The way he played that ball timidly, not decisive, not
00:30:51
aggressive is how the whole team played the whole game.
00:30:53
Absolutely. And, and, and I think I, I, to
00:30:56
your point, Dex, I do think it gave an extra bit of motivation
00:31:03
for Belgium. They were pissed that he got
00:31:06
reinstated. They felt like it was inside
00:31:08
baseball. They felt like, you know, if it
00:31:10
wasn't the US at home, that wouldn't have happened.
00:31:14
And. I think they were like phone
00:31:15
call. Yeah, yeah.
00:31:17
And I think they were like, screw it.
00:31:19
Like we're going to beat the crap out of you.
00:31:21
We're you want to put Ballagon in, we're going to show you how
00:31:23
to play. Like, I think they had that chip
00:31:25
on their shoulder. I don't think it helped us at
00:31:27
all from that standpoint. No, I don't think so either.
00:31:30
All right, well, that's enough brow beating on our team.
00:31:33
I'm looking forward to the next four years and hopefully we, I
00:31:36
just need to keep the talent influx coming.
00:31:38
We are taking incremental steps up.
00:31:41
We are not the same team. We didn't even make the World
00:31:43
Cup like 2 ago. So 2018.
00:31:47
That's right. So the fact that we're at this
00:31:48
stage 2 later is pretty good. Meaning that was kind of
00:31:52
shocking. We weren't in that one anyway.
00:31:53
But regardless, I think we're training.
00:31:55
The right way have we? Have we won our group before?
00:31:58
No. First time we won.
00:32:00
The group, first time we won the group first time anybody?
00:32:04
One in a round of 32. Most goals we've.
00:32:06
Ever scored in a World Cup? Yeah.
00:32:08
So. There's tons of just take away.
00:32:10
Unfortunate that the the the lasting taste in the mouth was
00:32:14
that, yeah, there, you're right. There was, there was progress
00:32:19
made, but it just doesn't feel like it now.
00:32:22
It feels like, oh gosh, same thing.
00:32:25
Just like oh washed. Away man.
00:32:26
It's like we built a sand castle and it was freaking sweet
00:32:29
looking. Then one rave came and just
00:32:31
wrecked it as a pile of ruins afterwards.
00:32:34
That was what the US World Cup tournament looked.
00:32:36
Like way full of Belgian waffles.
00:32:38
Just. Took us, just smoked us.
00:32:42
Now what is this sticky BLOB of syrup remains?
00:32:45
So we made it. We made it longer than Canada or
00:32:47
Mexico, so. Yes, we were the last host.
00:32:50
Host country is. Just same round play.
00:32:53
Our game can be. Later.
00:32:55
Maybe that's a small victory. Looks like so.
00:32:59
My favorite game that next is the third one, which is I want
00:33:02
to get your take on this one too.
00:33:04
This one. I thought it's.
00:33:06
Two of the best games to get there too.
00:33:08
So Norway, England on Saturday is going to be baller.
00:33:11
We mean, we got Holland versus Kane, but let's talk about how
00:33:15
they got there. I love this game.
00:33:17
This this is the one I want to see the most out of the next 4.
00:33:19
So Brazil versus Norway, Norway took a 2 to one.
00:33:23
What did you see in that game? Shizz.
00:33:24
It got Norway over the hump. How'd they get here?
00:33:28
Well, what you saw is is a guy taking a team on his shoulders
00:33:33
and saying, no, we're going to beat Brazil, Brazil's favorite
00:33:38
in this game. Brazil has a massive history of
00:33:41
success. Now, Oh yeah.
00:33:44
I don't think there's nearly as good as they usually are.
00:33:47
They're down a little bit for Brazil.
00:33:49
They could still beat 99% of the teams in the.
00:33:52
World, but they still have Vinny Junior Speaking of star power.
00:33:54
A freaking freaking nature. Whatever the heck his name is,
00:33:58
is really good still. But Neymar off the bench, even
00:34:02
still, still really good. But but Holland is my favorite
00:34:07
player coming to this tournament was Harry Kane.
00:34:09
It has been for a while. He used to play for the team.
00:34:11
I root for Tottenham and so I've always loved him.
00:34:16
Holland is getting close to overtaking him.
00:34:18
It's always fun to watch. Watching this guy and, and the
00:34:23
thing that I love about him is most guys that are like him,
00:34:27
that are just gifted, they get a little bit of an attitude.
00:34:30
Like Ronaldo, he's got a little attitude.
00:34:33
Ronaldo's a little bit like, I'm Ronaldo, give me the ball, I'm
00:34:37
the guy, right? Holland is not that way.
00:34:41
He is. You could tell his teammates
00:34:43
love him like he's humble. They, you know, he just plays
00:34:49
his butt off. And in the 79th minute, he was
00:34:53
like, give me the ball, I'm going to score.
00:34:56
And he scored. And then he scored again in the
00:34:57
90th minute. And if not for a penalty kick in
00:35:00
an extra time or in a added time, yeah, they would have won
00:35:05
the game. 22 Nothing, which against Brazil is really
00:35:08
impressive. Yeah, it is.
00:35:10
Because I dare you to name another player on Norway.
00:35:15
Can't, right? Derling Holland, Right?
00:35:18
I mean, The thing is, he doesn't even touch the ball that much,
00:35:20
but when he does, he makes so much out of it, like he doesn't
00:35:23
need much. It's like when the door is
00:35:25
cracked, it doesn't even be open.
00:35:26
It's like a lot of people can run through an open door.
00:35:29
Erling Holland kind of runs through the closed door and
00:35:32
breaks it open sometimes when need be.
00:35:34
It's like a break glass in case of emergency.
00:35:37
You can see him with his freaking warhammer, his Viking
00:35:40
axe, just smashing things when need be.
00:35:42
It's so awesome the way he can do it.
00:35:47
My wife and I were watching that game and he scored on the header
00:35:51
and so they, you know, they showed the replay 23 times and
00:35:54
stuff. Yes, right.
00:35:56
Different angles and my wife is like, man, that guy is huge.
00:36:00
He. Is big.
00:36:02
And he is fast. Have you seen some of the the
00:36:06
clips of him starting from he's like, you know, the clip of
00:36:10
Tyree kill when he outran a guy by 10 yards to catch him?
00:36:14
You know when he's running toward the end zone, That's how.
00:36:17
He starts. He starts at midfield with the
00:36:19
guy that's 10 yards ahead of him and by the time they get to the
00:36:22
goal, he's in position to score. And you shouldn't be that fast
00:36:25
when you're that big. And The funny thing about
00:36:27
Holland too, is the The funny thing about Holland is too, and
00:36:30
this is one of the things that maybe makes him as humble as he
00:36:34
is. When he was young, he was not
00:36:37
physically developed and they told him he wasn't.
00:36:43
He didn't have one of the Norway Norwegian scouts whenever it
00:36:47
went to when he was like a teenager.
00:36:48
And they were like, this dude's not it, like.
00:36:52
This guy. He's in a hole somewhere in a
00:36:55
Norwegian fjord. Right.
00:36:58
Absolutely, Absolutely. He's the guy that cut Michael
00:37:02
Jordan, right? Like it's the same.
00:37:04
It's the same kind of deal. And what's amazing about this
00:37:07
game is Norway had the ball, OK? This is this is a really
00:37:11
interesting thing. Norway had the ball 66% of the
00:37:14
time, OK, But Brazil touches inside the opponent's box.
00:37:20
Brazil was up 33 to 15. That's crazy.
00:37:25
They didn't have the ball much but when they did it was at a
00:37:28
position score, which is why there's a there's a statin
00:37:31
soccer called XG expected goals and usually the team with a
00:37:37
higher expected goals usually went because it means you have
00:37:39
more opportunities. In this game, Brazil had 2.73
00:37:43
expected goals. Norway had 0.84 expected goals.
00:37:48
But they had how they had. But they had Holland and and the
00:37:52
chances that he had, he was like, I'm burying it, right?
00:37:55
Like you didn't have any chances.
00:37:56
And when he got him, he's like, Yep, this is I'm taking it
00:37:59
right. You can't give him one chance.
00:38:01
So yeah, one chance he's gonna make it.
00:38:03
The head ball goal he just out. Oh.
00:38:06
Out, out physical to the guy, right?
00:38:08
He just, he was in a great position, went over the top of
00:38:11
him, got in the corner much like the Belgian.
00:38:14
Dude did to our guy last night. Yes, almost.
00:38:17
By the way, yes, the long shot Holland had was left footed from
00:38:22
20 yards out and it went through the tiniest little window
00:38:26
underneath the defender and then just tucked inside the goal like
00:38:30
he was a little bit lucky, but it was a powerfully kicked ball.
00:38:34
It's. Amazing how the best guys are
00:38:36
always a little bit lucky. Totally.
00:38:38
Aren't they always? Isn't that?
00:38:39
True. It's just crazy to to their
00:38:44
demise. You know, they let him wind up
00:38:46
from 20 yards out. Yeah, he's got a long stride, so
00:38:50
it takes him a bit to get wound up.
00:38:52
But he unloaded a a rocket. A missile it was, yeah.
00:38:56
Like he is such a fun player. And now to see Norway, England,
00:39:02
like Hurricane versus Holland in the quarterfinal round.
00:39:06
This is like must see TVI mean, I think this I agree with you,
00:39:11
Dex. I think I think this is the game
00:39:14
I'm most excited about watching in this round, for sure.
00:39:18
As somebody who who predicted England to win, which I thought
00:39:24
they were on the ropes multiple times in that Mexico game.
00:39:30
You know, I thought they were going to go down and let me say
00:39:34
talk. Let's talk about that for a
00:39:35
second to go into. Into Mexico City, yeah.
00:39:41
Where the host country is just crazy about the sport that was
00:39:49
even on the TV. You could tell this is like
00:39:51
Arrowhead loud. Oh my godness.
00:39:53
Unbelievable atmosphere. And it was 90, I mean 90 plus
00:39:57
percent Mexico. Easily.
00:40:00
Easily. At altitude and then they put
00:40:02
their record up and usually think that's kind of like it
00:40:05
always goes the other way. But they were like what, 78 in
00:40:08
two like 20 draws? They It's like they've lost two
00:40:11
games out of 100 of competitive soccer at the Azteca.
00:40:15
In this, yeah, in this stadium. Unbelievably been like 2 decades
00:40:19
since they lost anything in consequence.
00:40:21
Like then they had to bring up like a 1960s game last time,
00:40:25
like like. What there were there were
00:40:28
players crying and the fans were crying.
00:40:32
A lot of upset people after that game.
00:40:35
Like, you really thought that if if they were ever going to pull
00:40:39
it off, if Mexico is ever going to pull off a a monumental
00:40:43
upset, this was going to be it. Yeah.
00:40:45
And they were, they were set up because Anglin hasn't played
00:40:48
phenomenally well overall. They they've done enough to get
00:40:52
by, but like. Kane has done enough to get by.
00:40:56
Yeah, he won the last time he could get him here.
00:40:59
And then this one, Jude Bellingham had the 2 early
00:41:02
goals, like 2 minutes of each other right at the end of the
00:41:04
first half. And then Harry Kane went in with
00:41:07
the penalty kick late, early in the second-half.
00:41:09
But that was the goals. But then I like that Mexico kind
00:41:13
of answered back. They got it back to three, two
00:41:16
and then it was very competitive going down the end.
00:41:18
Oh my gosh. It was an awesome game to watch.
00:41:21
I really enjoyed it. It was.
00:41:24
It's a lot of saves that if you look at you know how they do the
00:41:27
match momentum yes, so it's funny on on this one, the match
00:41:30
momentum it it is the second-half was basically I'll
00:41:36
show you guys this, I'll show this for the listeners.
00:41:39
The second-half was basically England playing defense.
00:41:43
Yeah. I mean, look at this.
00:41:46
The entire last 20 minutes was Mexico shooting.
00:41:51
They were shooting the whole like, it was like, holy cow.
00:41:55
Like I thought sure they were going to get an equalizer.
00:41:58
Exactly. And here's the stats on it.
00:41:59
So what we're talking about is England took six shots, Mexico
00:42:04
took 2323 shots. Time of possession 66% Mexico
00:42:11
passes, 465 passes to England's 262.
00:42:16
They had 203 more passes and not only that, they were more
00:42:21
accurate. So 92% accuracy for Mexico
00:42:24
versus 83 for England. It's just what they had fewer
00:42:29
yellow cards, so England even had more yellow cards and
00:42:33
directors made. Not to mention England played
00:42:35
the most of this, hell the whole second-half without the red
00:42:38
card. Like, yeah, the guy got like 9th
00:42:40
minute the second-half got a red card, so they played down and
00:42:44
it's just with all that going against you, the altitude, the
00:42:48
late, the crowd, totally against him, I honestly felt Mexico kind
00:42:52
of dominated the game. A2 minute window and then a
00:42:56
penalty and that was the terms of the game.
00:42:58
I think Mexico was the better team that night.
00:43:00
That's what's kind of ironic. Is that the cross?
00:43:04
Speaking of the my my favorite staff from this was the number
00:43:08
of crosses. So for non soccer people from
00:43:11
the wing across to the middle, Mexico 52.
00:43:15
Oh my. Gosh, England 4.
00:43:20
Yeah. 52 to 4:12 to 2:00 in corners for Mexico.
00:43:26
Like you see those steps and that usually means you're doomed
00:43:29
unless you got a leprechaun and Dex, to your point earlier, they
00:43:36
got a leprechaun, they have a superstar.
00:43:38
And it's like, it's like any other sport.
00:43:41
NFL you got Patrick Mahomes. You're going.
00:43:44
To you got a real darn good. Chance to win?
00:43:47
Like, no matter how much time's left.
00:43:49
That's right. I, I've, I got Patrick Mahomes
00:43:52
and three chumps at wide receiver.
00:43:54
I feel good, right? And that's that's kind of what
00:43:56
Engel was sitting at right now is they got, we got Harry Kane
00:44:00
and I feel good about it. So, but that was AI actually
00:44:04
thought it was the best match of the tournament.
00:44:08
It was awesome. Until the Argentina game, which
00:44:11
we'll go to next. So holy cow, the last quarter,
00:44:16
who is Argentina? Switzerland.
00:44:20
Let's talk about which. Let's talk about Switzerland
00:44:22
first. So yeah, Switzerland was slight,
00:44:25
A slight underdog against Colombia.
00:44:27
Colombia, Good history. For those of you who are as
00:44:31
children, remember Carlos Valderrama and his Oh yeah,
00:44:34
Sideshow Bob Hare? That's right.
00:44:38
I remember he said. Show Bob Hare.
00:44:40
Sideshow Bob Hare. You know, they've always had
00:44:42
like great players, kind of Columbia rich tradition.
00:44:44
They were slightly favored, but they struggled a little bit in
00:44:46
this tournament. They've struggled scoring.
00:44:49
They they've played really good defense, but they've struggled
00:44:52
scoring. And same thing happened today.
00:44:54
They played Switzerland. Switzerland is not a super
00:44:56
dynamic offensive team. But you don't score on them.
00:45:00
But you don't score a lot on them either.
00:45:02
So it was 00 at the end of regular time, 00 at the end of
00:45:07
extra time, which means penalty kicks, PKS.
00:45:11
And guess what? A penalty kicks it's it's a flip
00:45:15
of a coin. Ball game.
00:45:16
Yeah, it's anybody's ball game. And did you watch the penalty
00:45:20
kicks? Did you guys watch penalty
00:45:21
kicks? Oh yeah, there was.
00:45:23
So tell us what happened in the penalty kicks.
00:45:25
All right, so PKS. I mean the, the, the telling
00:45:29
spot so early on, I think they both hit the first one, then the
00:45:32
second one Switzerland hit and Columbia hit the crossbar went
00:45:37
boom, boom, straight down and just you could see just like, Oh
00:45:40
no, what did we just do? It was an ominous sign.
00:45:43
Ominous sign, but then Switzerland gives it right back
00:45:48
by their third dude who they were even prefacing with.
00:45:51
He hasn't made a penalty kick his last couple times and I
00:45:54
don't know what's going through this guy's head.
00:45:56
Oh, you can only imagine. And then with that previs, I
00:45:59
mean, I don't know if they could have set up any better.
00:46:01
He sit one like 83 rows deep straight.
00:46:04
He like doubled the height of the crossbar, leaned back and
00:46:07
just hit a missile into orbit. Not even close.
00:46:10
Not even close. Would have made any NFL field
00:46:12
goal kicker proud. It was like right down the
00:46:15
middle. It would have been good from 72
00:46:17
yards. I mean, definitely kicked it
00:46:20
hard, but he just did the stutter step weirdness and he
00:46:23
looked like he's not a stutter step kind of guy.
00:46:27
Like he should have picked a spot and ripped it in a corner.
00:46:29
Instead he airmailed it so far. Then the, I mean next shot, then
00:46:34
there was a save and so his biscuits got saved.
00:46:38
And then it came down to we had Switzerland.
00:46:41
I mean they Columbia did their best guy #7 Luis Rebus without
00:46:47
his name. So he put one in the left
00:46:49
corner. Great shot, but then all
00:46:51
Switzerland had to do is make it and their guy came up and just
00:46:54
buried it in the left side. Great shot.
00:46:58
Just veins of steel ice. It was awesome and so
00:47:01
Switzerland. It was funny.
00:47:03
They I guess they were terrible. The last time they did penalty
00:47:06
kicks I think they missed all 5 or something they were saying.
00:47:09
Something horrible possible. I didn't know you.
00:47:11
Could it's like a free throw Bring 5 free?
00:47:14
Throws, but we saw how it's possible.
00:47:17
So there was a couple misses in the save, but 43 Switzerland
00:47:21
over Colombia in the PKS, man Colombia was they're in tears.
00:47:26
I think they felt like they're probably because it was.
00:47:28
Probably it was probably 90% Colombia fans.
00:47:32
There. That stadium was yellow.
00:47:34
In Vancouver, it was. It was.
00:47:36
And The thing is, a lot of. People were looking forward to a
00:47:39
Colombia, Argentina matchup. Oh yes, kind of same kind of
00:47:43
right. So it would have been kind of a
00:47:44
fun thing. Now Switzerland, Argentina, not
00:47:47
quite as sexy. I mean from a viewership draw.
00:47:51
No, whatever but Arrowhead gets. But Arrowhead gets to host Messi
00:47:57
again, so that is pretty exciting.
00:48:00
So let's take take it to that game.
00:48:01
So Argentina and Egypt? Wowzers.
00:48:06
Should have been, should have been no problem.
00:48:09
Wow. I mean.
00:48:10
They're cakewalking. This should have been this
00:48:12
should have been a pretty easy matchup for Argentina.
00:48:15
Egypt did not have a tough road to get here.
00:48:18
They had to beat Australia, who was, you know, kind of a
00:48:22
Cinderella bit of a story. They easily did that.
00:48:27
Egypt has most Salah, who's really solid player getting
00:48:30
older. I did not think they were going
00:48:33
to give Argentina a run. And I'll be honest, I I was
00:48:36
running errands. I missed the first half came
00:48:39
turned it on the second-half and I was like, what is going on
00:48:42
here? And it's 2, nothing Egypt.
00:48:46
And honestly, OK, we got to talk about this.
00:48:49
There was a third goal. There was a third goal.
00:48:52
They got pulled. Back from that third goal, it
00:48:55
was one of the weirdest officiated moments of the World
00:49:00
Cup because there was a foul that happened at the far end of
00:49:04
the field. Yeah, imagine if he broke a a 90
00:49:07
yard run and then they right what they everything's all good.
00:49:11
You get there like whoa, sweet. And then they call like a
00:49:14
clipping, yeah, way back there, which no one really, which is
00:49:18
what happened. Saw away from the ball.
00:49:21
Yeah, away from right. Not at the, not at the point of
00:49:23
attack. And it it should have been
00:49:26
whistled much earlier. Oh yeah, it was not.
00:49:30
Egypt was celebrating. Then they called it back, which
00:49:33
is called caused all kinds of conspiracy theories in the World
00:49:37
Cup community about Argentina. Must get there with messy.
00:49:40
Messy. And we've got to make this
00:49:42
happen. But here's the deal.
00:49:45
This is what I say to all those people.
00:49:48
You're still down to nothing with 10 minutes left.
00:49:50
So you cannot engineer, no matter how much FIFA wants it.
00:49:55
Egypt's not in on it, guys. Egypt's got in on the play,
00:49:58
probably. Right.
00:50:00
They're not like, oh, we got to find a way to get three goals
00:50:02
up. Here and either was Cabo Verde,
00:50:05
I mean. No.
00:50:07
So Argentina is squeaked by two games in a row.
00:50:11
But let's get back to the last 15 minutes.
00:50:12
Just keep going on Argentina. Egypt down to nuts.
00:50:15
So they're down to nuts. And it is.
00:50:19
It is. 79th minute. 79th minute. OK, so there's 12 minutes left
00:50:23
of the game and Messi puts a beautiful ball because he's
00:50:28
messy. Messi's like, yeah, hey, I got
00:50:30
12 minutes, all right, And he puts a beautiful ball across.
00:50:34
Romero puts it in, heads it in, you get 1.
00:50:39
And if you know about momentum, right when when you're the team
00:50:42
that's up to oh, it's like the worst, worst lead in hockey,
00:50:45
right, 20. When that first goal comes, the
00:50:48
doubt hits. It's like, oh, and you look up
00:50:51
with the clock and you go, OK, we only got to wait 10 minutes.
00:50:54
We only got to hold up for 10 minutes, guys.
00:50:56
We could do this right. They've only scored one and
00:50:58
then. That's what some people do.
00:51:00
Other people are like, holy crap, we still have 10 minutes.
00:51:03
Yeah. Right, which is what Egypt did
00:51:06
today. Egypt was like, Oh my God, I got
00:51:08
I got 10 more minutes with messy and sure enough, messy hits.
00:51:13
I technically probably not the most beautiful goal, but to me
00:51:17
it was incredibly beautiful because of the skill that it
00:51:20
took. That was exactly, it was just
00:51:23
bounced and he hit on the way up, which if you've ever played
00:51:26
soccer, the ball's going up, you're hitting it over.
00:51:28
I I hit every single million times out of it.
00:51:31
Looked like Balogun's shot when he totaled it right over the
00:51:34
crossbar. Same kind of spot, honestly.
00:51:36
Totally. And we saw what happened.
00:51:38
With our guy, of course, messy, just like, like Pruitt said it,
00:51:44
Pruitt said in the in the Patriot.
00:51:46
It was almost like off his shin. He directed it right under the
00:51:51
upper crossbar and I was like, Oh my.
00:51:54
God. And at that point, right over it
00:51:56
was like right over the floor's knee.
00:51:58
Yeah. Right then inside.
00:52:00
There's a window about the size of a ball.
00:52:02
Yes, his shot went through. It was absolutely and.
00:52:08
At that point I was like, curtains, man.
00:52:10
Curtains. Yeah, it's like but.
00:52:12
Like I, I thought it might be an extra time.
00:52:14
I thought they may be able to hold out to extra time, but they
00:52:17
could even do that because Argentina got the ball.
00:52:21
And I was telling the guys before I consider this a messy
00:52:25
goal because he didn't touch the ball, but the the defender got
00:52:29
the ball. Unless he saw the guy streaking,
00:52:32
saw saw Fernandez streaking and he you see the replay, he's
00:52:36
pointing like this like pass it to him and the guy immediately
00:52:40
dishes it to a perfect pass, takes it slots at home.
00:52:44
Holy cow in 90 + 2 Yeah to go up 3. 1414 minutes, three goals to
00:52:53
overtake the two. Three, the most amazing World
00:52:57
Cup game I think I've ever seen Port Egypt was just the players
00:53:01
looked like they didn't even know, like they were like, this
00:53:04
can't be real. Like that can't have happened.
00:53:06
When you have two nothing with 11 minutes against a team that
00:53:08
hasn't really done much at all, you feel pretty good.
00:53:11
But then again, like we've we've said, these superstars, these
00:53:15
super freaking natural athletes, they can literally put a team on
00:53:19
their back. That's when Holland did it in
00:53:20
the last 10 minutes, when Kane did it in the last 15 minutes.
00:53:23
Now we got Messi doing the last 10-15 minutes.
00:53:26
You aren't safe until you get that stupid right.
00:53:30
If you don't got that three whistles, man, you better keep
00:53:32
playing because these these. Guys are really right.
00:53:35
The competent this is. Unmatched.
00:53:38
That's a mental toughness thing in the last 10 minutes when
00:53:41
everybody's tired. They refuse to lose.
00:53:44
We are not dying on this day Like hop on I'm.
00:53:48
I'm taking this forward here. And to those I get Egypt fans
00:53:52
being upset with how it all went down.
00:53:54
But to those who who have too much of A gripe, allow me to
00:53:58
share you share with you the match momentum.
00:54:01
Yeah, So Argentina. Argentina.
00:54:05
That's a lot. That's a lot of yellow, I have
00:54:08
to say. So is this possession 63 to 36
00:54:12
yeah, expected goals 2.8 to 0.98.
00:54:16
So like, hey, props, props to Egypt.
00:54:20
They had very few chances and they took the chances and they
00:54:24
scored. So you got to give them credit
00:54:25
where credit's due for that. But let's not kid ourselves.
00:54:29
Argentina was a better team in this game, right?
00:54:32
So, like, they deserve to go on. And I one of the things I loved
00:54:36
most about the match was I don't know if you saw Messi
00:54:38
afterwards, but he was in tears because he he realized he was on
00:54:44
borrowed time. Like, Oh yeah, those last 10
00:54:46
minutes, it was like, this is. It for me, yeah, like could have
00:54:49
been the sauce World Cup game. We don't do it.
00:54:52
This is over. And it was like the relief of
00:54:53
like, Oh my gosh, I get to play another game, you know?
00:54:56
It was really cool to see. I don't know how you root
00:54:59
against him, I'll be honest. Like.
00:55:01
Me either, he's just. Such a nice dude.
00:55:03
He's like a dude that you would see on the at the bus stop and
00:55:06
be like, who's this scrawny little dude over here?
00:55:09
Like, you know, like you would never stop him and be like, this
00:55:13
guy is the best athlete in the world.
00:55:14
Like that's never going to. Actually, the Norwegian scouts,
00:55:17
he wouldn't have been on their team.
00:55:19
Yeah, David Holland started to say all.
00:55:21
Together playing basketball. If you put him next to Holland,
00:55:25
it's like, OK, which is the dominant sports on the soccer
00:55:29
field. Right, right.
00:55:32
Frankly, it's pretty close, but boy, Messi is a magician.
00:55:35
He's a magician though. He really is, especially at his
00:55:38
age so. He sets things up.
00:55:40
Other teammates unmatched. It's just unmatched what he can.
00:55:44
Do the what you're saying, Dex, is the field vision.
00:55:47
The field vision that the guy has is really unmatched, I don't
00:55:51
think. And there's always been a
00:55:52
debate. And I said I texted these guys
00:55:54
during the game. There should never be another
00:55:55
Ronaldo, Messi debate. That's been a debate for a
00:55:57
while. Listen, if you've watched any of
00:56:01
the last five years now, Ronaldo in his prime was great.
00:56:03
We could discuss Ronaldo. Messi in their prime, probably a
00:56:06
lot closer debate. But like over the course of
00:56:08
their careers, there's nobody who's had this kind of ability
00:56:14
and vision. He's scored eight goals in this
00:56:16
tournament. He's how old?
00:56:18
38. Older than most others.
00:56:21
Scored eight goals in this. He's the leading goal scorer.
00:56:25
And another assist, so, and another assist.
00:56:28
It's not that he's only scoring goals.
00:56:30
He's also setting up his teammates.
00:56:31
And like you said, he's also calling out like, not me, man,
00:56:35
Cindy, right? Don't.
00:56:36
Pass. It across.
00:56:37
To him, that's, that's field vision, the, the, the touch he
00:56:41
has on long passes, the the quickness to dart in and out of
00:56:46
three players trying to, you know, defend him.
00:56:49
He's just, he's so well-rounded and.
00:56:52
Yeah, he's a he's a joy to watch, even if he's not a soccer
00:56:56
fan. One of my best friends here in
00:56:58
Texas knows nothing about soccer.
00:56:59
He's gotten into this World Cup and he's like.
00:57:02
Dude. That messy guy is ridiculous.
00:57:05
I'm like, yeah, he's a man. I mean, you don't, you don't
00:57:08
have to have any knowledge of the sport.
00:57:10
You don't have to understand when you see him touch the ball,
00:57:12
how he goes around people. He goes 3 people where he passes
00:57:14
the ball, you'll see like the greatest play you've ever seen
00:57:17
so. One more play I want to talk
00:57:19
about for Messi and then what was be quiet.
00:57:20
He's just phenomenal. But it's because you see it so
00:57:22
many other times they don't execute it.
00:57:24
The one he took off his vote against Cabo Verde, the over the
00:57:27
shoulder kind of long passed down and he touched it down with
00:57:31
his left foot and then collected it and then kicked it just
00:57:35
inside the goalie in the fire. I'm like, what?
00:57:38
And then you see all these other guys trying to do the exact same
00:57:41
thing, goes off their foot, kicks out of bounds, goes too
00:57:44
high, touch, bad touch, way out. Loses it.
00:57:47
Trips and fill in the blank, Everything else never.
00:57:51
He's just. So good at.
00:57:54
When you're touching the. Ball and everything with it.
00:57:57
When you're going full speed and still have that kind of body,
00:58:00
yeah. It's just.
00:58:03
Unheard of. What I tell people is if if you
00:58:05
want some idea, go in the backyard with your 8 year old
00:58:08
son. Have him throw the ball up in
00:58:11
the air to you standing still. And just try to.
00:58:14
Stop the ball. Just try to stop it at your feet
00:58:18
in some way. I don't care how you do it.
00:58:20
You can do it with your chest. You do with your, your, you
00:58:23
know, thigh, you do with your foot.
00:58:24
Just try it, see what happens. It will frustrate the crap out
00:58:28
of you. You will not be able to do it.
00:58:30
You will be. I'm just standing here, my 8
00:58:32
year old's throwing me the ball that now think about it with
00:58:35
someone's basket for. 50 yards sprinting and you're running.
00:58:39
Tilt. With a guy on you.
00:58:40
What is someone hanging on to your jersey?
00:58:42
Yeah. Around New Jersey and it just
00:58:44
like, settles at his foot. Just just.
00:58:48
Settle and stop and boom 2 steps later pounds it in the corner.
00:58:52
Yeah. Right.
00:58:53
It's it's, it's a joy 1. So who are we picking here?
00:58:55
I'm going to get you guys on record.
00:58:57
So Switzerland. Do we need to rehash this
00:59:00
because we all picked 3 or 4 weeks ago?
00:59:03
Yeah, I know. I'm giving you a chance to
00:59:04
revise. And I think all of our teams are
00:59:08
still in it. I think you're right.
00:59:10
Who did you pick next? So I was on Spain.
00:59:13
I picked Argentina. Still in it.
00:59:15
Who picked Argentina? I picked.
00:59:17
England still in it? Everybody's.
00:59:18
Still, Brandon Brandon's on Spain as well.
00:59:21
Yeah. So we're going to say we're
00:59:23
going to. So the only thing that's up for
00:59:25
debate, we're going to say Spain beats Belgium because Dex's
00:59:28
teams in it, although I think that's going to be a good game.
00:59:31
I. Think it's going to be a good
00:59:32
game. I still like Spain, I think.
00:59:34
I think the talent's going to overcome.
00:59:35
I know Belden's good, but I think Spain's better.
00:59:37
Argentina, Switzerland, I think we're all in Argentina.
00:59:40
I think they got a scare. I think that's probably bad 2.
00:59:43
Scares in a row 2 Scares in a row it's.
00:59:47
Probably bad for Switzerland, yeah.
00:59:50
And then France, Morocco. Yep, I think France.
00:59:55
You know. I don't think that's automatic.
00:59:57
I think that's maybe maybe edges them out, but I think it's going
01:00:02
to. Be close.
01:00:03
And then so now we're getting to the game that's probably the
01:00:04
most in doubt. Norway, England.
01:00:07
That's going to be a slugfest. Holy cow.
01:00:10
I like Norway in this though, but I think the England's got,
01:00:14
they've been there, right? They've been there, done that,
01:00:16
been there a lot of times. And Norway, I think, is already
01:00:18
the farthest they've gotten right.
01:00:20
I think you're right. So they are already in the
01:00:23
biggest game of their lives, but like you said, they have many
01:00:26
players that played in some big games.
01:00:28
So. Unlike the US team, most of
01:00:30
Norway plays in some premier leagues in or just in Europe in
01:00:33
general. But when you have Holland,
01:00:35
you're not. This is going to be awesome.
01:00:37
So we finally have a game with two super super superstars.
01:00:42
Yes. Kane versus Holland, I mean,
01:00:44
this is what people want to see. I think this is the game I want
01:00:47
to see out of the next 4. This is the game I want to see
01:00:50
is the best one this. This is a coin flip.
01:00:52
Marquis, this is going to be a Chiefs, Bills, that's Josh Allen
01:01:00
playoff, Patrick Mahomes playoff game.
01:01:03
I think it's going to be last man standing who gets a break
01:01:06
here and there. I I've fallen in love with
01:01:10
Holland. I still like England.
01:01:12
The reason I like England is experience.
01:01:14
I think that they're not going to be odd by the venue, no, I
01:01:20
think they've all been there. So I think they edge it out.
01:01:23
But I agree, it's going to be a phenomenally close game, which
01:01:26
means it's probably going to be 4 to 1 Norway or something like
01:01:28
that. Yeah.
01:01:29
I think England wins, but I'm rooting for Norway.
01:01:31
I want Norway to win the game. Roll, roll everything about it.
01:01:39
I love so and and then that that is the World Cup as it is today.
01:01:43
I hope you guys have loved it as much as we have.
01:01:45
I'll tell you US is the whole US has got World Cup fever despite
01:01:50
US being out. You know, we've only got a a few
01:01:54
more days of great soccer. I hope you get a chance to watch
01:01:56
it. I hope you still watch it even
01:01:58
though the US is out because you're going to see some
01:01:59
phenomenal games here in the last.
01:02:01
Couple days, best of the best and who's left?
01:02:03
This is the crate of the crop man.
01:02:05
The final eight teams in the world vying for the
01:02:08
championship, this is. Awesome.
01:02:10
And really the only maybe guys that would be considered
01:02:15
Cinderella. I mean, Switzerland and Norway
01:02:17
are probably the most Cinderella ish teams that are left right.
01:02:23
I mean, I think if you had asked at the beginning of the A
01:02:25
tournament, people would have said instead of those two, you
01:02:28
probably saw it in Germany, Brazil, and then you probably
01:02:31
got, you know, kind of your what everybody expected or Portugal
01:02:34
in there somewhere. But yeah, it's it's a great,
01:02:37
it's a great final eight teams for sure.
01:02:39
Yeah. I agree.
01:02:40
It's going to be fun. All right, I think that's going
01:02:44
to wrap it up for this week's edition of The Shrewdness.
01:02:47
Hope you enjoy the World Cup preview and review again.
01:02:50
Hopefully you can watch these four games.
01:02:52
First one is Thursday the 9th and then Friday, and then I
01:02:56
think we have two on Saturday. Yep, 2 on Saturday.
01:02:58
I think you're right. So this is the quarterfinals
01:03:00
will say it the right way out there.
01:03:01
No Elite 8 this time. We're a quarterfinal baby.
01:03:04
So we'll see who ends up making the semi finals in the leading
01:03:07
into the championship. The final four.
01:03:10
Final four, that's right, and that's what we're looking for.
01:03:14
So all right, but next week I think we're going to start
01:03:16
getting into some football. So we're going to get into our
01:03:18
wheelhouse guillotine fantasy football.
01:03:19
I think we're going to maybe start looking into some just
01:03:22
potential tears. I don't know if we're going to
01:03:24
go by team or we're going to go by position.
01:03:26
We'll figure it out. We'll talk amongst ourselves
01:03:28
this week. I think we're going to start
01:03:30
hitting some some. Football next.
01:03:31
Week up in a couple weeks. So we're we're we're like, we're
01:03:36
like just a few weeks from camp, which is pretty exciting
01:03:39
whenever your baseball teams the Royals, so.
01:03:42
It is, and I know a lot of you should be.
01:03:43
Some of your drafts are early August.
01:03:45
I don't know why you do it. We always do, ever.
01:03:46
The third preseason game, but now three season game.
01:03:49
So we're in a weird spot, but we're going to get you guys
01:03:52
ready to go for draft prep. So don't you worry about that.
01:03:54
And I know Chisholm's getting our website up and rocking, so
01:03:57
it's going to be have way more useful information this year.
01:03:59
Each year we're getting better and better, get more and more
01:04:01
content up here, help you out, and we're looking forward to it.
01:04:05
So I think that's going to wrap it up for this week.
01:04:07
So in the meantime, enjoy the rest of this World Cup.
01:04:09
It's been phenomenal. And till next week, stay shrewd.
01:04:14
Stay shrewd, everybody.