The Shrewdness takes on the biggest tournament in the world with a special guest!
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Hello Shrewdness fans. Welcome to the World Cup edition
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of the Shrewdness Podcast. I'm Prue, joined by Dex and Chiz
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as usual. But tonight we have a fourth
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member. Mr. Brandon is joining us to
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talk. He's going to give us some
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expertise on the World Cup. Big soccer guy.
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I figured out before the show that all four of us have a
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freshman going into sophomore year this fall.
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So we all have that in common. We all grew up in the Midwest.
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We all played soccer at one point, some of us longer than
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others. We brought Brandon on the show
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because we need to know a little bit more about the World Cup and
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thought our listeners might be interested in that.
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So we're going to throw it over to him here shortly and go
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through all the the rules, how you get in, who to root for this
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year, all the all the things that you might want to know if
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you're excited like we are about watching the upcoming World Cup.
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But may not have been following it closely the last four years.
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This is a great episode for, like, we know most of the people
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listening to the shrewdness come here for football.
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I mean, American football. Sorry.
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Yeah, we're in a, we're in a World Cup episode.
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They come for American football. Also some baseball.
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We cover hockey, We cover basketball.
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We cover all that stuff. But we don't talk a lot about
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soccer. So soccer is something that is
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going to be front center this summer.
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And you may be going to the pub, as they say in Europe, the pub.
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And you may be maybe want to drink a pint with a mate.
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And when you do, you're going to want to know a little bit about
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what's going on. So you don't sound like the
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village idiot. Watch the World Cup, right?
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So this will give you just enough to understand, so you can
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talk back and forth with everybody and pretend like you
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know something that you don't really know, which is what we're
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going to do it. Just enough to be dangerous.
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So, Brandon, give us a little background of your soccer
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experience. I played all growing up.
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I played a little bit in high school and then I played a year
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in college and my college coach was a director of the Olathe
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Soccer Club back when it was the Olathe Soccer Club.
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And he got me into coaching. And since probably 1998, I've
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been coaching a little bit of soccer here in the Kansas City
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area. Nice.
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All right. That's about 26 more years than
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me. Seems as though you had a little
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time to collect at least some scarves for the US national
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team. I have a feeling you probably
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have more things in the closet if you have that many scarves.
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So you you do happen to follow the United States, which is good
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because you know, I think just about 99% of our audience is
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United States. We have a 1% international
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audience. But for those people, this is
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going to be very US centric, just so you know.
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So, But yeah, so we'll talk a little bit about US because of
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course everyone's going to want to know how the US is going to
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do and what they look like. But first, let's start out by
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just qualifying. So Brandon, help me understand.
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There's 48 teams in this tournament.
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Can anyone just go? Not anyone can just go.
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This is the best of the best. This is whittled down from all
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of the different regions. The best players from those
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regions get to come to the World Cup.
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Finals, excellent. And this time we've got 48
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teams. So is it always that's new this
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year? What's the deal there?
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New 48 teams, we've got 12 groups of four and we're going
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to whittle that down after three groups of pool play into 32
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teams. And you said it was a three-year
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process. Where are they playing the rest
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of the time? Are they playing everybody or is
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it just region specific like who plays who in the zoo?
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So we're in the CONCACAF region. We're in the region with
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Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago, Canada, Mexico.
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Curacao, I believe is in our region as well, Haiti.
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Yep, rough place to be in Haiti. Costa Rica?
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Did I say Costa Rica? Do they ever cross pollinate
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though? Is there any?
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Like just playing anybody other than a friendly?
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I think I've used a soccer term correctly there.
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Good job, Dex. I know.
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Look at. Me, I've been coaching for zero
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years and coached 0. So do they only play in that
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region? Is that the only way you can do
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qualifying games is in your US? Well, whatever North America,
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South America region or do they play like, do we ever play Japan
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or we? Could play Japan in a friendly,
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but we would never play Japan in a World Cup qualifying match.
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OK, that makes sense. So.
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Everybody's playing in their own region.
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It's like you get the neighborhoods together of the
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world, they all play each other and they go, hey, here's our
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best guys. We're going to say this country,
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this country, this country, this country.
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And is it a three-year league though?
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That's what I need to understand.
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Are they just playing for years and then the top eight teams or
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10 teams or four teams of that region go?
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Is that how it works or is there something else to it?
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Depending depending on the different regions, Europe gets
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to qualify more teams there. They have more countries.
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South America. Makes sense?
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CONCACAF gets more teams just by sheer weight of how good the
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countries are. African countries, there's
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usually three or four African countries.
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Asian countries, there's usually 3 or 4 Asian countries and
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that's all determined based on how good the region is and also
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how many countries there are. So the European region, more
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countries, more teams that get to qualify.
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Gotcha. And how would you get in if
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you're like a wild card team? If you're not one of the ones
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that gets to the top of the league, that's an automatic
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qualifier, how else can you get in?
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Is it weighted? Is it like the college football
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system where the AP gets together and they vote who's the
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next best teams? Or how do they get in?
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It was the next best. It was the next best.
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Teams like Bosnia Herzegovina, they were in the wild card, if
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you will, the playoff system. Sweden won their playoff system,
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so they got to get in. Turkey got to get in off of
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their playoff system as well. There was one more check,
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Checkia. They got in as well.
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They were wild card. Oh man, we got a viewer.
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Checkia Checkia is well known on the show.
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Very well. We actually had a long
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discussion about Checkia on on the show a couple weeks ago.
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Not. Related to soccer, but no no.
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Winter Olympics. Yes, that's right.
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That's what it was for. Yep.
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All right, so now we got, we've done our three years worth of
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qualifying, we got the teams all set.
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Yeah. So as, as we understand it, you
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get, you get all these teams into pools, right.
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So we we have 1212 pools of four teams.
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Like a through L or whatever the heck.
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Right? Right L.
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Group A through L group, they referred them as.
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So they all play each other in a round Robin.
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Then the top two teams from each group get to go and then so that
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that fills out. 24 How? Many teams.
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Thanks, 24. Thanks public math dammit, 2424.
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So then you got 12 more teams that get to go into the round of
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36. How do they determine those next
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12? It's a round of 32 because you
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need after. The pool to play?
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Yes, you'll have a round of 32. The top 2 qualifying teams from
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each pool will go, so there's where you've got the 24.
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The next eight teams are going to be a tiebreaker that are
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going to go into the round of 32.
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Those will be the the 3rd place teams from specific pools that
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get to go on to the round of 32 and they'll have the harder
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draw. So a team that finishes third in
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their pool will most likely be playing one of the top number
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one seed teams from a different pool.
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They'll play teams in different pools.
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They won't play teams from their pool until potentially around of
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16 or the quarterfinals. So we'll take it one step
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backwards, Brandon, how do you do?
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How do they determine who goes in what pool?
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Like what happens if Argentina and Brazil get in the same pool?
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Is that possible? So over the winter we had the
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draw, the World Cup draw Mexico, Canada and United States as the
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host countries. They were automatically put in
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their pools. And then the rankings, the FIFA
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rankings determine what pot you were pulled out of.
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When you're pulled out of your pot, then you go into C group, E
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group, F group, G group, based on the order in which you were
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pulled out, Mexico, Canada and the United States were pulled
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out first. They were pulled out
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automatically because they already knew what pool we were
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going to be in. And then it goes from the FIFA
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rankings, the top eight teams from FIFA are put into one pot
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so that they won't be in the same pool together.
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So it disperses them out. And then the next select few
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teams are put into a pot. And then it's also crazy because
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you're not going to have two teams from the European group
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together and you're also not going to have two teams from
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CONCACAF together. You're not going to have two
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African teams to put together. So if two teams from the same
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qualifying groups are picked from the pot, then they have to
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actually move them to the next pool and so forth and so forth
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so that it doesn't have teams in the same pool from the same
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qualifying groups. Region, but it sounds sounds
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like kind of like March Madness or something where you it's
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chaos. It's kind of, it's kind of
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random, but it's kind of like organized chaos.
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Yeah, there's more things out. More things you can't do then
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yeah. So if you come up with some.
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You're not going to end up with, you're not going to end up with
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Kentucky play and Duke in the first round, you know, in March
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Madness, because they make sure that they're seated in different
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parts of the brackets. Same thing with the groups.
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They make sure the best teams are all in different groups and
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then also that you're not going to have have teams playing they
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didn't March Madness so great equivalent.
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They don't want like teams from the same conference playing each
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other in the first round. So they always like say no, no,
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no, we're going to move these guys around.
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So it's very similar in that way that's.
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Which is why good parallel ends up in the East and you know,
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crazy stuff like that as they move people around.
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Gotcha. That's right.
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But then so we talked about the top two teams of each group
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qualifying to go on. The way they're ranked is by
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points, not not necessarily just wins and losses, although I like
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so a win gets you 3 points. A draw gets you one point, loss
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gets you 0. Whoever's got the most, most
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points goes on. But Brandon, how, how often
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would you say there's a, there's a tiebreaker that gets involved
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in determining those top maybe the maybe the 2nd place team and
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each. Group.
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So that's what's going to happen with the 3rd place teams.
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They're going to, they're going to be able to.
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There's eight teams that are going to get to continue because
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of tiebreakers. I'm sure goal differential,
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goals for, goals against is going to be one of those key
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factors. Yeah.
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So every goal matters, I guess is the point of bringing that up
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is that almost always there's a tie between the 2nd and 3rd
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place team and a in a given group and and somebody that has
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seven goals, four and and three against versus somebody else
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that has eight goals, four and three against.
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The eight goal team is moving on, right?
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So everything. That's right.
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So actually, do you want to know?
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I just, I have a handy assistant, Claude here.
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Claude, let me know what the tiebreakers are used in the FIFA
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World Cup group stage. So one is points like you said.
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Obviously if you have more points, you win.
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Team points? Yep.
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That's good. That's the easy one.
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The second is goal difference. So OK, the goals scored minus
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the goals allowed. So that's kind of like, so
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you'll see teams kind of maybe you're like, yeah, why are they?
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Why are they still scoring on? That's not really fair.
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Like, take the foot off the gas, guys.
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I think what I've seen Chisholm in past years was the 00 tie
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where everybody's like if we tie, we both go right.
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Running that from the last World Cup like this is just like
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watching nothing like they're running across the midline like
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oops, I they're. Passing not lose in that case.
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I feel like there's more of that.
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Instead of pounding on Senegal, is that playing to advance just
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to get to the knockout round? Would that be right?
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Was that accurate? Or am I just making stuff up
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from the one game I watched last time?
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It happens. There's gamesmanship that
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happens all through OK qualifying, all through the
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World Cup finals. Obviously once you get to the
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knockout stage, that's that's out the window because someone's
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got to win. That's right, right?
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I mean, what I respect most about soccer is just the
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toughness where no one flops, no one's just going for a tie.
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I mean, I appreciate the cutthroat attitude of World Cup
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and soccer in general. You definitely get into that in
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the the bracket rounds, right? We'll play, I think a little
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more strategic and a little more like.
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Yep, chess. Chess match.
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Yeah. And then you get into the the
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bracket play and it's like, all right, we got to win five games
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in a row this year to to take it home.
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So all hands on down. So they they really
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interestingly there are 8 different tiebreakers and they
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have really gotten to yes. So it goes points, goal
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difference, goal, goal scored, points in head to head matches
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among type teams, goals in the head to
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And then and then they do FIFA ranking or drawing of lots if
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all else is equal. I want to draw lots.
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The the the closest that they've ever had.
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The funny thing is, in 2018 this actually happened.
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In 2018, Japan advanced over Senegal on fair play points, so
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it went all the way to the 7th tiebreaker.
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Everything was tied and Japan got to go over Senegal because
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they had less yellow or red cards in total.
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Then Senegal went and punched the ref.
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Another one. If we're going to lose my one,
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maybe we could just lose my 2. Exactly.
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My team's on the field, all nine of us.
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Right, right. So that's good.
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That's good background. So Brandon, tell us a little bit
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everybody on this list of this is going to be well, most
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everybody's going to be room for for the US.
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So who's in EU s s group? What do we need to expect from
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them this year? Like, do we?
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I mean, I know we all expect we're going to win, which
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obviously doesn't happen a lot, but.
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Who's coming in second? Give us a little, give us a
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little background on kind of who's in the group and who the
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US is going to play all that. So our first game's up against
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Paraguay, then we've got Australia, followed by Turkey.
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I think the United States is the highest FIFA ranked team in the
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group. Turkey might be top 22, but the
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US is just sitting at 16th. Paraguay, I don't know where
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they're at. I'm sure there's somewhere in
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the top 25. Australia.
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Probably not. Here US is 16.
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Oh, it only went to 20. I got nothing for you.
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Nothing. Are they basically all in the
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top 48, though? Would that be fair?
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I mean, or can you play your way and can there be like a
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Cinderella? Do we have a Cinderella that's
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like 78th ranked in the in the world that just beat somebody
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accidentally in the playoff round?
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Like I just don't know. I can't wait to see Curacao play
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They're they're a nation of 130 I believe.
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Yeah. Well, like.
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Playing against Ecuador and Germany, that should not go well
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probably, but. Germany, Ecuador and Ivory
00:17:41
Coast. So Brandon, you almost nailed
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the lowest ranked team in the World Cup.
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Curacao is actually the third lowest ranked team in the World
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Cup. The the bottom 5 are #65 Bosnia
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Herzegovina, OK #74 Ghana #82 Curacao #83 Haiti and coming in
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as the biggest underdog of the tournament, number 85 New
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Zealand. Wow.
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New Zealand 80. 5th in the world rising, isn't it?
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I thought they were supposed. To be no, It was like 10 people
00:18:23
in New Zealand, right? How big is that?
00:18:25
Kiwis, they just do rugby only. I feel like they're like one of
00:18:29
the best rugby teams in the world.
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I figured you can just start kicking it.
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But what brand people? Have to start.
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Running people around, yes. What Brandon said is actually
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right, though, And it's interesting because Curacao made
00:18:41
history this time. They're the smallest nation ever
00:18:45
to qualify for a World Cup, population wise, 156 people,
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which I think maybe, maybe one of us could play for Cura S we
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tried. That's basically if Springfield,
00:18:58
MO put a team together to compete against the world.
00:19:01
Yeah. Right against Germany.
00:19:03
That's. Yeah.
00:19:05
Springfield versus Germany versus everybody.
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This is Let's go. That's awesome.
00:19:11
Taking on the world. So Brandon, having the pools all
00:19:15
set, like who are the favorites? Who are the Yankees of the World
00:19:19
Cup? Who are the Yankees and the
00:19:20
Dodgers? Like who do we need to hate and
00:19:22
root against with absolute vitriol every time they step on
00:19:26
the pitch? I want to know who I need to
00:19:28
hate. Who do we got?
00:19:31
Every year you're going to have Germany, every year you're going
00:19:34
to have Spain. As of late, Argentina's been in
00:19:37
it France they're they're in my opinion, they're they're the
00:19:42
favorite for this year. They were in the final with
00:19:45
Argentina four years ago. They they, they're number one in
00:19:49
FIFA rankings. They've got all the who's who
00:19:52
the best, best that play in all the Champions League teams.
00:19:57
In my opinion the top five is. It's probably somewhere around
00:20:02
France. I I'm hoping.
00:20:06
United States win, but I'm also going to be cheering for Spain.
00:20:09
OK, yeah, they still have Ronaldo, the 19 year old kid or
00:20:14
is there, is he a little older now?
00:20:16
Is he still on the team? And does Brazil's have
00:20:19
Ronaldinho? The guys I remember from
00:20:22
yesteryear, do they still exist? Is paleo still Dino?
00:20:27
That guy was phenomenal, but he's he's well past his prime.
00:20:32
We won't talk about United States Tim Reem being passed his
00:20:34
prime because he is our captain this year.
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Now for Brazil, you got Vinny Junior and Neymar.
00:20:41
I'm a Manchester United fan as well.
00:20:44
So you got Casamiro for Brazil and A and a new up and coming
00:20:48
young kid from from Brazil. His name is Endrick, so watch
00:20:52
out for him. He can score some goals, but
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Vinny Junior is going to run the show for Brazil.
00:20:57
OK, that'll be fun. And so for the Kansas City
00:21:01
market, what teams are in Kansas City so far?
00:21:04
Our local Midwest peeps, who do they get to watch?
00:21:06
I, I heard my brother said the Netherlands are in there because
00:21:08
he's already seen like the Orange Crush show up in Kansas
00:21:11
City early. It's like they just camped.
00:21:14
Out weeks earlier. I think it was a couple weeks
00:21:16
ago they shipped their double Decker bus over for for the
00:21:21
World Cup. No way.
00:21:23
They marched through the. Streets they'll, they'll do a
00:21:26
parade to the city through the city.
00:21:30
They're they're, they're insane. I love that.
00:21:33
That's a fun. Netherlands are camped out here
00:21:36
and then I think England, right, is making their home base here,
00:21:40
is that right? Who are the other two teams that
00:21:42
are there in the King City? One the.
00:21:45
You know, they there is travel involved.
00:21:47
So, you know, just because they're staying somewhere
00:21:50
doesn't mean that they're always going to be playing there or,
00:21:52
or, or maybe at all. But the the teams in the Kansas
00:21:56
City region are Argentina, Algeria, Ecuador versus Curacao,
00:22:01
Tunisia, Netherlands and then Algeria, Austria.
00:22:05
Those are the those are the four games that are being played.
00:22:09
Kansas City. Group E and Group J are the ones
00:22:12
in Kansas City. Are they playing at Arrowhead or
00:22:15
has it been? I think, yeah, I think
00:22:17
Arrowhead. But I heard like the other ones
00:22:20
like sporting and wherever the current play, whatever the name
00:22:22
of that stadium is, aren't those being used as either practice or
00:22:26
something else like tracking? They're being used for
00:22:29
something. Is it just practice?
00:22:30
I guess obviously since I'm trying.
00:22:32
To remember who's in Lawrence. But yes, Argentina's practicing
00:22:38
at Sporting KC Current is hosting another country.
00:22:42
I can't remember who else where, but yeah, there's there's a team
00:22:46
in Lawrence Swope Park where Sporting trains, not necessarily
00:22:52
at. It used to be Livestrong
00:22:55
Stadium. Now it's I think it's Sporting
00:22:58
City Park, which we're terrible this year.
00:23:02
Yes, I have any very, very terrible we're we're.
00:23:05
At the bottom of the table, not. Very not competitive.
00:23:10
To your earlier point, Brandon, I looked up the odds.
00:23:13
Vegas agrees with you. Spain and France are both the
00:23:17
highest likelihood of winning the World Cup this year.
00:23:21
England is is third. Brazil, Argentina, Portugal and
00:23:27
then Germany. So maybe a little bit surprising
00:23:30
that Germany's 7th. Watch out.
00:23:32
For those Portugal pretty solid teams.
00:23:35
I know Cristiano Ronaldo's 41 years old, but Portugal, they
00:23:40
have multiple guys that just played last weekend in the
00:23:43
Champions League final. Bruno Fernandez, again, I said
00:23:47
I'm a Manchester United fan, but he just broke the record in the
00:23:51
Premier League for most assists in a season.
00:23:55
Portugal, I'm going to be cheer for them as well.
00:23:59
So who would be who is the best players in the world right now?
00:24:02
Like in their prime? Who are the Aaron judges and
00:24:04
show hey Otani's that the casual fan might just want to watch me?
00:24:08
Is it in Bobby? A guy at France?
00:24:10
Is that even how you say his name or they're just one of and
00:24:14
Papa? Like I said, man, I'm generally
00:24:16
in the ballpark. I'm enough to be dangerous and
00:24:18
in a bar and I'll slur my way into that being absolutely
00:24:21
perfect. I like that you're just on the
00:24:24
fringe of almost hitting that. Yeah, close, close.
00:24:28
But who are the main studs and who do people need to watch?
00:24:31
Just a must see TV. Messi's still the Creme to the
00:24:35
Creme. He's he's the GOAT best of all
00:24:38
time. That's for, that's with
00:24:39
Argentina for you guys that don't know soccer very well.
00:24:42
Yeah, yeah, right. Nailed it.
00:24:47
Bape for France, Messi for Argentina, Ronaldo, even though
00:24:53
he's 41, can still play. Harry Kane I think is one of the
00:24:58
favorites for the Golden Boot. Award.
00:25:00
Harry Kane scroller. For England, left.
00:25:02
And right in Germany this year. Yep, Harry Kane's a stud that's.
00:25:09
England, though. We're not, we're not cheering
00:25:11
for T11 iota. So Harry Kane, he's.
00:25:15
Going to treat it all day long Is is Rooney retired?
00:25:23
It was always like Rooney and Kane were the 2 English guys
00:25:26
that were that always got all the highlight reels and past
00:25:30
World Cups I feel like. You you remember when Wayne came
00:25:34
on the scene? Nope.
00:25:35
Nope. As a as a teenager.
00:25:38
It's probably 20 years ago. Yeah, yeah.
00:25:41
So he's, he's 40. He he.
00:25:46
You've seen Wayne Rooney lately. Wayne Rooney, 21.
00:25:50
So there's there's Cristiano Ronaldo and then there's Fat
00:25:54
Ronaldo, and then there's Wayne Rooney and now there's Fat Wayne
00:25:58
Rooney. He's he's still he's a crafty
00:26:03
veteran now he's. Crafty.
00:26:05
He's enjoying his retirement a. Lot.
00:26:08
I'll say he quit running 10 miles a day playing soccer, so
00:26:12
yeah, that'll do it. To your to your but Dex you did
00:26:16
you did name him Bop and he is he is one of the top guys still
00:26:20
I mean he's. For sure.
00:26:21
Place for France? I don't, I don't love France
00:26:25
personally, but he is a great, he's a great player.
00:26:30
But I looked up Vegas odds, like I mentioned for teams.
00:26:33
I also looked up Vegas odds for the Golden Boot award, which is
00:26:37
the top goalscorer during the World Cup.
00:26:41
Brandon, what do you know about this kid Lamenia Mall from
00:26:45
Spain? Phenomenal.
00:26:47
He's, I understand, one of the one of the competitors for, for
00:26:51
maybe a top scorer this year. The kids phenomenal.
00:26:55
Not, not only is he playing for the best club, he's got the best
00:26:59
national team as well. The kid just beats people and he
00:27:02
scores. He's he's won more trophies
00:27:04
before he was 18 years old. Then kids can only dream about
00:27:10
if Spain can go on a run here and and win and they lift the
00:27:14
trophy, he's going to be one of the the favorites to help them
00:27:19
win. And ironically, he will, he will
00:27:23
turn into an adult during the World Cup, his 18th birthday,
00:27:28
18th in July. So if if they actually win the
00:27:33
World Cup, he would win the World Cup like as an adult, you
00:27:37
know, for for the first time, which is.
00:27:39
Like I said, I'm rooting for Spain.
00:27:41
You've got Pedri and Gavi that's going to be in the center mid.
00:27:44
You're going to have you mean them all on the outside,
00:27:46
probably with Nico Williams, Torres up top for mean Lopez.
00:27:50
Those all of those guys play at the highest level for the best
00:27:54
clubs and in my opinion, they play the the the best style of
00:27:59
soccer. So yes, watch out for Spain and
00:28:03
Luminium all. I had AI had kind of a epiphany
00:28:09
or whatever you call it when I was looking this stuff up.
00:28:12
They're like, you know, it's not necessarily the Golden Boot
00:28:14
award is is for a phenomenal player, obviously, but it's not
00:28:19
necessarily the best player. It's the one on the best team
00:28:22
that can play the most matches that gives them the the best
00:28:25
chance to score the most goals, right.
00:28:28
If you you can play on a terrible team and have three
00:28:32
goals in your first two games or something, but unless you play
00:28:37
six or seven matches in this World Cup, you're probably going
00:28:40
to lose out to somebody that's six around till the finals.
00:28:44
So I hadn't really thought about it that way.
00:28:45
But yeah, because you have more chances, right?
00:28:48
Because Yamal is on a on a Spanish team that's really good
00:28:51
and probably will be around for a while.
00:28:53
He's one of the favorites to win the Golden Boot.
00:28:56
But when they get out knocked out by the United States, who
00:28:59
are the people it's going to be because of?
00:29:01
Like, who's the US got going for?
00:29:03
Who's our Lamine Lamalle guy? Who do we got?
00:29:07
Christian Pulisic. Whatever the hell his name is.
00:29:10
Christian Pulisic, you got it. And then to me, it's it's the
00:29:15
three guys that just scored against Senegal the other day
00:29:19
when we played Sargino Dest, who's one of our outside backs
00:29:23
who gets forward. He scored in the middle of the
00:29:26
box from an assist from Christian Polisic.
00:29:30
I think Maligan is also on top form right now and he's going
00:29:36
to, he scored for us the other night and he's going to be one
00:29:38
of our big time guys as well. Nice.
00:29:41
What about our goalkeeper? Who's our dude in the net we
00:29:44
keep talking about for hockey? They, the best teams are riding
00:29:48
the hottest goalies right now. I got to believe that's got to
00:29:50
be sort of true for soccer as well.
00:29:52
The goalie has to have great games and make great saves.
00:29:55
Who do we got in the net for the US?
00:29:58
In my opinion, that's why Argentina won it four years ago.
00:30:02
They weren't the best team. They just had Emilio, who was
00:30:06
the best goalkeeper at that time to to stop the penalty kicks, to
00:30:10
win them the penalty kicks for United States this year.
00:30:14
We've got Turner and we've got Freeze.
00:30:17
I don't know who Poach is going to go with.
00:30:20
Poach is our coach, by the way, for those of you that don't know
00:30:24
Turner and Freeze, I think he's going to go with Turner.
00:30:29
But I think Poach likes Freeze better.
00:30:32
They both play in the MLS. Turner plays for the New England
00:30:35
Revolution and Freeze plays for NYCFC.
00:30:40
And our third goalkeeper, he's, he's not going to get in.
00:30:43
He was in the other night, didn't do much.
00:30:48
And he's, he's our third goalkeeper, yeah.
00:30:50
He's the third goalkeeper. We're down to our third
00:30:52
goalkeeper. We got bigger problems.
00:30:54
Something's gone terribly wrong, Absolutely.
00:30:58
And Pruitt's our 4th. For I got a question for you,
00:31:01
Brandon. So for those of you who like a
00:31:04
little drama, there's a little bit of a lightning rod on the US
00:31:08
team. He's had his share of
00:31:11
controversy. Gio Reyna.
00:31:15
What do you think about Gio Reyna?
00:31:17
Is is he like, is this, everybody knows he's
00:31:20
tremendously talented kid. He's got a lot of ability, but
00:31:25
can tend to be a distraction a little bit.
00:31:27
Do you think his head's in the right spot?
00:31:29
Is he going to be a net positive or a net negative for us, in
00:31:32
your opinion? I'm a huge Gio fan.
00:31:36
Obviously watching his dad when I was a teenager get us through
00:31:41
some World Cup games. I think he's phenomenal and I I
00:31:46
hope he shows up and plays and doesn't happen.
00:31:49
What happened four years ago where it sounds like he kind of
00:31:54
threw a fit and didn't play much?
00:31:59
Right, Yeah, You know, that was kind of the, the knock on him
00:32:02
was he was super talented, but wasn't necessarily bought into
00:32:07
the team concept. And when he didn't get to play,
00:32:10
he he was a net negative in the in the locker room.
00:32:14
But I'm hoping that four years of maturity, he's, you know, got
00:32:18
his head in the right spot. He, he, he could channel a
00:32:22
little Claudio, his dad and little, little maturity and, and
00:32:27
really help us 'cause I think he's one of those guys that if
00:32:29
he, if he does come through and play well, it could be a
00:32:35
difference maker. So Brandon, I want to ask you
00:32:38
one more question. So on some of these teams, it's
00:32:41
going to be like when Freddie Freeman is playing for Team
00:32:45
Canada, you're going to have like a super good player on not
00:32:49
a good team. Are there any players so good
00:32:52
that are on these kind of mid level teams that have a chance
00:32:55
to make it through pool play that would become a fun story to
00:32:58
root for? Is there anybody like that that
00:33:01
we should look out for? Earling, Holland, Norway the guy
00:33:08
is an absolute goal scorer, but Norway, they they might be
00:33:15
ranked in the Top 40, but the guy plays for Manchester City
00:33:21
and scores goals in the Premier League every day by the bunches.
00:33:26
Wow. OK, that's pretty cool.
00:33:30
They're they're in Group I. How's it France?
00:33:33
With France, so that's. People in Iraq, they could, they
00:33:36
could make it out, they could, they can make it out of there.
00:33:38
Senegal, Senegal, as long as they don't have happen what
00:33:42
happened to them in the African nations final when them and
00:33:49
Morocco, Senegal and Morocco basically got into a fight.
00:33:52
Senegal walked off the field in the final, won the match, but
00:33:56
then had to forfeit the match. It was a mess.
00:33:59
Oh. No way.
00:34:01
So they are they a wild card then or did they make it in of
00:34:03
their own merits through calf for Senegal?
00:34:06
Did that fight cost him like a real spot?
00:34:08
Senegal qualified, they didn't have to go through a qualifier.
00:34:12
That was just their African Cup. That wasn't through World Cup
00:34:15
qualification. Ah, OK.
00:34:17
Gotcha. Nice.
00:34:20
That's awesome. All right.
00:34:22
And for other sleeper teams, so of the five, we got the
00:34:27
favorites. Is there a dark horse like in
00:34:30
the Preakness or the Belmont Stakes or just someone just has
00:34:33
a a good name that can make a run that people aren't really
00:34:36
thinking about? It's worth throwing 5 bucks on
00:34:38
if you're of the gambling ilk for chance.
00:34:42
Japan, Japan and I think there's 18 right now in the FIFA world
00:34:48
rankings and they've, I, I looked up earlier, they've been
00:34:54
on a run. They haven't lost in their last
00:34:57
five or six matches. I forget what group they're in.
00:35:02
Looks like they're an F with Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia.
00:35:05
OK, Yeah. Netherlands will be good and.
00:35:08
Sweden and Tunisia, so you got to believe that Netherlands and
00:35:12
Japan are getting out of that group.
00:35:15
So if you wanted to throw 5 bucks on somebody to to make it
00:35:21
to a quarterfinal or a semifinal, that's not the top
00:35:24
four to six teams. Japan could be a dangerous one.
00:35:29
I like that, Brandon. I think they're interesting and
00:35:31
they always seem to overachieve a little bit at the World Cup.
00:35:36
Everybody always kind of thinks they're going to be like Japan
00:35:39
and then they make it to the knockout rounds or whatever.
00:35:42
It's like, oh, how did that happen?
00:35:43
But they they, they play really disciplined and I think it'll
00:35:48
be, I like that pick a lot. All right.
00:35:51
Got anything else? I think that's pretty good
00:35:53
around the world if you're touching all the pools.
00:35:55
We got some favorites. We got some sleepers.
00:35:57
Wait, wait, wait. Before we get off, we
00:35:59
everybody's got to pick who's going to win the World Cup.
00:36:02
We've got to do some predictions, Dex.
00:36:04
Now that I'm all educated, I guess I do feel better by
00:36:07
myself. We'll make we'll make Brandon go
00:36:09
last. He's already kind of given us a
00:36:11
couple of teams to watch out for, but.
00:36:14
Right, right. Dex based on what you've learned
00:36:16
so far in the last 35 minutes. My extensive knowledge says I'm
00:36:20
going with Spain baby, let's go with Espanol Espana.
00:36:25
Going with the the favorite. Nice.
00:36:27
All right. That's not a far reach either.
00:36:30
They're ranked #2 in FIFA rankings, they're phenomenal.
00:36:34
France, yes, you're not going to go wrong with them.
00:36:37
Right, they're both plus 475 in Vegas, Spain and France.
00:36:43
OK. All right, Peru, who you?
00:36:46
Who you going with? I'm going to, I'm going to go
00:36:52
with Argentina just to be different.
00:36:56
Plus 900. I like, I just, I love watching
00:36:59
Messi play Messi. 'S last World Cup, he goes out
00:37:03
on top. Eh, Yep.
00:37:06
All right, all right, I am. I am going to make Brandon very
00:37:13
upset and I am going to pick England, pull up a shocker and
00:37:20
win the World Cup and make Brandon very, very sad.
00:37:24
He's been so long since they won, just threw up his mouth
00:37:32
invite. Me on to this.
00:37:33
I can't. I I don't know that I can.
00:37:35
I didn't know he was going. To do that to you, where's?
00:37:41
The red exit. We've never had AI guess walk
00:37:43
off the show right now so. That's what I think of England.
00:37:49
So, so who's your Now let's get the most educated pick on the
00:37:52
panel. If you're probably really going
00:37:54
to want to play the bat ballot, you probably want to listen to
00:37:56
Brandon. I'm, I'm, I'm going to take
00:37:59
Spain. Woo Hoo, he's following my lead.
00:38:02
He's following. I don't know.
00:38:06
I haven't looked at, I haven't looked at it.
00:38:08
I'll, I'll even say a Spain Portugal final.
00:38:13
I don't know if they're on opposite sides of the bracket.
00:38:17
Once we get the knockout, they can obviously end up on that,
00:38:20
right? I can see a Spain Portugal final
00:38:23
with with Spain coming out on top.
00:38:25
Nice. I like that.
00:38:27
All right, anything else you want to cover in our World Cup
00:38:29
edition? I think we need to talk.
00:38:32
I think we need to talk about 1989, the whole reason we're
00:38:35
here. Let's do it.
00:38:38
The whole reason we're here the the goal heard around the world.
00:38:40
Paul Kalagiri We're down in Trinidad, Tobago, the goal hoard
00:38:46
around the world. That's right.
00:38:47
You guys were in? 19890 total over 1989 All
00:38:53
College Jerry scoring the goal against Trinidad Tobago.
00:38:57
We qualify, we have to win to qualify for the 1990 World Cup,
00:39:02
which then we go in and just get absolutely demolished.
00:39:06
But then we have a great result against Italy, and when we lose
00:39:09
01 to Italy, who was the host nation?
00:39:14
And from there, US Soccer just explodes.
00:39:16
Yeah. Nice.
00:39:17
So there was a beginning. The genesis of US Soccer 1989.
00:39:21
That's right. And and Dex, when you go back
00:39:23
and look, when you when you go onto Google to look that goal
00:39:26
up, it ain't a it ain't a little like short range goal either.
00:39:31
Like it was a it was a long range volley.
00:39:36
So it was a it was a sweet, sweet goal for sure.
00:39:41
Yeah. So when you're in the pub later
00:39:45
watch the World Cup, you could drop the shot heard around the
00:39:47
world, Paul Kalagiri, lots of people all.
00:39:52
Right, one of the one of the greatest World Cup goals I ever
00:39:55
saw and remember was the one of the US guys that bicycle kicks a
00:40:04
a corner kick I think. And he was like right about the
00:40:08
18 yard line. And guys, you know, back facing
00:40:13
the goal, Sky's up and and bicycle kicks it into the upper
00:40:17
left corner. I think of the goal.
00:40:19
Anybody remember that goal? Brandon, do you remember that
00:40:22
goal or the the guy that kicked it?
00:40:24
Not sure what, not sure what. Was it in the World Cup?
00:40:28
I thought it was and it was. It was like in the 1990s or
00:40:33
something. It was a long time ago and it
00:40:36
was out of nowhere. Some like outside back or
00:40:40
something is up, is pushed forward on a corner kick and the
00:40:43
ball comes from the corner to the top of the 18 yard box and
00:40:49
he bicycles it. Full volley upper left corner.
00:40:54
I do remember, I do remember Marcelo.
00:40:58
That's him. Bal.
00:41:00
Marcelo, Boa Balboa. Is that right, Brandon?
00:41:04
Marcelo Balboa, Absolutely. Yeah.
00:41:07
From from 94 he had, I didn't think he made it, but I think he
00:41:14
had. It was when it was when we beat
00:41:16
Colombia is the one I'm thinking of.
00:41:17
We were, we were like, that was the, you know, the one game that
00:41:21
like in 94, that's when everything went nuts because we
00:41:23
beat Colombia, which was insane. And then like, didn't somebody
00:41:27
on their team get killed after that because they lost?
00:41:31
Roberto Escobar. You don't want to lose in.
00:41:33
Colombia, I guess in. Colombia, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:41:36
Yeah, yeah. Lord, that's.
00:41:39
Dark you don't, you don't. You don't want to lose in
00:41:41
Colombia. There's a lot of incentive for
00:41:43
those guys who have a lot of cartel money behind him.
00:41:46
Jism, you're exactly right. He nearly that's.
00:41:50
Not that is the one I know what? He's talking about.
00:41:52
This. Yeah.
00:41:53
You know what you're talking about.
00:41:54
So it's the coolest miss in U.S. history.
00:41:56
Yes, I thought he, I thought he made it.
00:41:58
That's my bad. It was amazing.
00:42:01
I do remember that though. That's that's stuck in my head.
00:42:04
All right, this is 18 seconds long.
00:42:06
It shouldn't hurt us too bad here.
00:42:07
Go. Lip walk.
00:42:11
Able to get across off that. Ball.
00:42:13
What the fuck? That's what he made.
00:42:15
Oh my. Wow, you got to be the goal.
00:42:19
Yeah, I was about to say that can't be World Cup because
00:42:21
there's no one there. Watch it again.
00:42:28
That is. Wow.
00:42:30
That is pretty sick. You've got Cristiano Ronaldo
00:42:34
that scored a a goal at Manchester United, very similar
00:42:37
to that, about the same spot. It just rips it from a bicycle.
00:42:42
This one just barely missed. Oh, there you go, 1994 of my
00:42:48
favorite uniforms ever. Yeah, those, those those kits
00:42:55
were epic. They're my favorite kits.
00:43:01
That's crazy. I want to I want to get one of
00:43:03
those kits. Do you have that kit?
00:43:04
Brandon I I actually thought about going and buying one for
00:43:09
this podcast. I bet I could get them on eBay
00:43:13
or something right? Surely there's they're
00:43:15
available? We're going to have you back on
00:43:17
after the first round in US advances.
00:43:20
Talk about what went well and how we're going to keep on
00:43:23
rolling when. We get around the 32 I'll re
00:43:27
predict and we'll see if your Spain Portugal matchup can even
00:43:30
happen. That would be pretty.
00:43:32
That would. Be pretty sweet.
00:43:33
That would be. So when is game one next week?
00:43:35
Isn't it June 12th? On the 12th we've got Paraguay
00:43:40
out in yeah, Mexico plays. On the 11th they'll play South
00:43:44
Africa. That's the first game and then
00:43:46
we play Paraguay in LA and then I think we go up to Seattle for
00:43:51
Australia and then back into LA for.
00:43:54
Turkey, yeah, I can't believe it's already here.
00:43:57
So we are like 10 days away from the first game and 11 days away
00:44:02
from the US first game. Wow, it's gonna be sweet.
00:44:05
It's be fun. Now I'm actually looking forward
00:44:07
to it. Having a little bit of knowledge
00:44:09
goes a long way. It's like when we talk about our
00:44:11
spring training for baseball and we suddenly get some names to
00:44:14
look at, right? He's like, oh, that is kind of
00:44:17
fun. I, I am excited to go look at
00:44:19
these dudes play. So I'm I'm excited about seeing
00:44:22
Spain now, kind of now I want to root against Cain.
00:44:26
I've got you, Brandon. I'm going to root against him
00:44:27
tunes. Boo Cain.
00:44:29
Boo England. Please do Jude Belly.
00:44:32
And. With man.
00:44:36
We got. Saka here's another here's
00:44:41
another youngster for England. If you if you want to root for
00:44:45
England is you got Kobe menu plays for Manchester United
00:44:50
centre mid, the kids, the kids unbelievable that kids a stud
00:44:55
I've got like I've got the Manchester United bias though,
00:44:58
so. Yeah, yeah, that's that's fair.
00:45:01
As a as a Tottenham fan I don't really need to have much to talk
00:45:04
about so. How many Tottenham players are
00:45:07
playing in this thing? I mean there's a few, they just
00:45:12
they just drastically underachieved this year.
00:45:16
They literally almost got relegated if they didn't win
00:45:19
their last game of the season. Relegated.
00:45:21
They saved it on the last day. Yeah, I hired Ted Lasso.
00:45:26
I mean, there's a reason to say that, right?
00:45:29
That's a good hire. I got I got one final question
00:45:32
and then we'll wrap it up here soon.
00:45:34
But I forgot to ask this earlier, but in your opinion,
00:45:37
Brandon, if you were playing on one of these teams and you had a
00:45:41
chance to win the World Cup or win the Champions League, which
00:45:46
one would you choose and why? World.
00:45:48
Cup's harder. OK.
00:45:50
Period, Yeah, for. Your country too though, I think
00:45:54
feel like playing for your country.
00:45:55
Every single person in the Olympics and otherwise totally
00:45:58
says it means more every single time.
00:46:01
I know the Champions League has so many ranks like, you know,
00:46:05
peers and whatever, that you got to climb the ranks over years
00:46:08
and years to get to be the ultimate champion or whatever
00:46:11
that league. So there's something to be said
00:46:15
for that, I think. But you're right once every four
00:46:17
years that the opportunity for a World Cup doesn't come around
00:46:22
very often so. Pretty.
00:46:23
Special. I thought I'd throw that out
00:46:24
there. To win the Champions League, all
00:46:27
PSV has to do is get rid of all the best players that they
00:46:30
bought, and then they go in the the Champions League
00:46:33
back-to-back years after they sell off all of those best
00:46:36
players that they just bought without the best players.
00:46:38
Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
00:46:41
Unbelievable. You couldn't believe that.
00:46:43
Yeah. All right, well, let's let's
00:46:45
wrap up our at least first World Cup episode here.
00:46:49
Brandon, thanks for being on the show.
00:46:51
Thanks for educating Dex, making him capable of walking into a
00:46:57
bar now and carrying on the conversation.
00:46:58
Dangerous now, baby, I'm a sharpened tool.
00:47:01
I'm like a dole knife now. When they come off the field.
00:47:07
When they're set, it's. Right it is.
00:47:11
I love it. All right, well, hope you all
00:47:14
learned something tonight. I know I did.
00:47:17
I know Dex did. Thanks again, Brandon, for for
00:47:20
joining us. We'll see if we can get you back
00:47:22
on in a few weeks. And give an update when the when
00:47:26
the field is set for those final 32.
00:47:29
And really appreciate your time this evening.
00:47:33
All our listeners out there. Thanks for thanks for joining.
00:47:37
And as Dex always says, stay shrewd.
00:47:42
Stay shrewd, everybody.