First Things First - LeBron James to leave Lakers, Kawhi Leonard traded to Raptors, France beats Sweden, Nick’s Tiers

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

(0:00) LeBron James to leave Lakers (29:13) France beats Sweden, USA vs. Bosnia Herzegovina preview (45:16) Kawhi Leonard traded to Raptors (51:31) Nicks’ Tiers (01:10:34) Would you like to see LeBron with the Spurs or Nuggets?  (01:20:15) How much pressure is on USMNT? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The excitement of the FIFA World Cup is now streaming live on Fox One, the official English streaming platform to catch every unforgettable moment. Fox One brings the action straight to your screen so you never miss a goal. Download Fox One and experience the FIFA World Cup live. Nusa in a little bit of space. Nusa going for that! Amatielo. This Ivory Coast defense.

Here is Bob. Oh, what a lovely ball that is. Into third. Now, surely. The definition of Inevitable. Things first, though, in Hargreaves, how on earth is Sweden slow down the French attack? I need to put in a heroic effort, but I just can't see it fled. This French team has too much firepower.

Then Belé to Mbapé, step over from Mbapr, still in Beper! You do wonder from a French perspective whether they stand on the doorstep of destiny this year. Michael Alisei played through here. Chance for two! It is two! Inside to Alise. Back it goes to Barkle. They're in again! He's chasing down Leon Nessi for this golden boot.

Look at the green space he was able to run into Julian Quignonez and Torv and Sajendit. He gets the break of the ball here, Raul Jimenez. The defenders in trouble. It's going Mexico's way. are doing their level best to lift the curse of the fifth game. Once up for all. And just like that, the curse is broken.

From New York, it's the show that's just over the moon about the World Cup. Every day's better than the last. It's been shocking. Every day's been great. And today, he's going to be the best. Well, hopefully, yes. But also, the moment the show ends, there's a game on. The moment the show ends.

And you know what? What? I smell something. An upset? Alert. Get out of town. England has not been good. And my guys, DR Congo, have been excellent.

No way. I mean, I like it. I like it's good content. And I'll tell you this much, it doesn't really matter if England wins or not, because they are not going into Estadoos Taka and beating that Mexican team in the round of 16. Jump in there. That round of 16.

I'm sorry to word. I picked English. Did you see the celebration? The whole country was on one street. I'm telling you're right now. Mexico is not losing in Mexico. No, well, they've never lost in that stadium. Well, guess we're the round of 16 against either England or my guys D.R. Congo are in Estadio Laseka.

First hour of first things first. Power pack show today. We do have breaking Norm Powell news today. LeBron's leaving. Where's the best landing spot for him? Meanwhile, Team USA in action tonight. Both Canada and Mexico have advanced already. How much pressure are we on it?

A lot. And finally, a fresh address. edition of World Cup tiers. Best yet. Updated. Teams are out. Teams have advanced. I got to tell you, KW.

Brazil's slightly overrated. You don't know that. I'm saying that was a personal opinion. Also, breaking news. What? I have removed Norway from my dog house. Turns out the rest is just what they needed.

It was a sound of stress. I'm back in on Norway. I don't even bro, you know, if you fully realize why he's doing that. Who does Norway play next? Back in on Norway and Holland. Wait, Brazil. He just wants to pick against Brazil every single round. He's been anti-Norway.

He doesn't like the bike. He wouldn't even call the Viking El but a Viking Elm and he called it a silly little hat. No, I said it was a hat with horns. Yeah, exactly. But anything he can do to undercut the Brazilians, it's unbelievable. Nick Wright, Kevin Wilde, and Chris Broussard. Yeah, that'll be great. in L.A. LeBron will not be wearing

a Lakers jersey for his 24th season. He's moving on. The Lakers are moving on. Nick, this broke post show so we're the last show to get a bite at it. Outside of Gianna's YouTube video, shout out to Gianna. Dust has settled a bit. Your reaction to the news

and where should he go? My reaction is I'm thrilled. Thrilled is interesting. Yeah, I didn't. We've talked about is LeBron leaving the Lakers a dozen times? You know what I mean?

Over the last, you'd call it nine months. And every time I had a version of, I hope he does, I don't think he will. You know what I mean? That it was a real possibility, but it wasn't the likeliest outcome because of family,

for a hundred different reasons. But I, and I wonder if the feeling I had watching LeBron play against the Rockets in that series, backhand on the joystick, was it all similar in a very different way to the feeling LeBron had doing it.

Like, this is fun. This is more fun than the role I had had before. And I want the opportunity to do this as I finish my career. And so he wasn't going to get that if he stayed in L.A., so I'm glad that he's leaving. Where should he go is a very,

interesting question because I yesterday, after Gianna's video, I had, I did my podcast, and I power-ranked it as of yesterday at 2 p.m., Warriors with AD, the heat, the cabs. I've now adjusted that to Warriors with AD, which seems to be off the table for now, at least if you believe the Wizards. Washington is saying, Untouchable. For anyone. Untouchable. Untouchable. J Anthony Davis is untouchable. Call us and offer Wimby, no, untouchable. But assuming Anthony Davis is

not going there. And I believe Washington on that as far as for this all. I think he might be traded during the season, but I don't think they're going to say that and then not trade him, you know, and then trade him the next couple months. I like Cleveland more than Miami.

Wow. Wow. Because I think Cleveland has a more complete roster, I also think it's a better story. And it is more, I don't think Cleveland has, I don't think the chances of Cleveland or Miami, Cleveland with LeBron, Miami with LeBron, championship chances, I don't look at them as much different. Obviously, Miami has the far better best player, or, you know, alongside LeBron and Janus, but to me the far worse overall supporting roster. and you say it all the time, Bruin, you're right. It's about fit.

You know what I mean? Defensively, those guys would help LeBron a lot, but it's still not a lot of shooting. And so I'm glad he's leaving the Lakers. I think it's the most fun if you're a LeBron fan to see where this final, final chapter or chapters are, and I want it to be Cleveland. Look, he's got, I mean, he could go any number of places,

but the three teams we're talking about, and most people are talking about Golden State, Miami, and Cleveland. Those are all three good options. Now, not that he's going to win a championship necessarily in any of them, but they are three good basketball options. I think Golden State, I think that would be the most fun for him basketball-wise, because he would likely have the ball in his hands. Steph's running off screens.

He can feed Steph. The floor is a bit spread. Like, I think he would, if you're just looking at it, like when Kevin Durant went there, it was largely because, hey, I just love the way they play basketball. I want to do that. I think LeBron will have fun doing that. The downside is that Cleveland would really be mad at him. Like the Cleveland fans, you've already heard a few of his teammates that helped him win

the championship in 2016 that are like, he cannot go to the Warriors, put on the Warriors uniform. It would be like if Larry Bird went to the Lake. to play with Magic. Now, it would be a great story and it'd be a lot of fun. It would have been awesome. But Boston, right? It would on one hand, just like it'd be awesome to see LeBron and stuff.

But Boston would be like, how in the world are you putting on a Lakers uniform? There's that famous picture of Larry Bird's retirement ceremony when Magic's wearing a Celtic shirt. Oh, I don't know that picture. Oh, like he opens it out of Celtics shirt. Is it that famous? World famous. It's a famous in New England. It's worth it is.

I won't kill him if he goes to Golden State, but there will be something that are like, come on, what are you doing? And it's Steph's team. You're still going to Steph's team. Miami, look, him and Janus, I mean, that would be great. There's no doubt. You got Bam, they would be very good defensively.

Lack of shooting. I mean, Tim Hardaway, Jr., they just signed. Wiggins can shoot, but. They lost Norman Powell this morning. I mean, Norm was. That norm was very important. Like for real, I know we're joking, but it was very important what they were trying to do.

But they would be very good in Miami. But, and this, let me say this. This is for all the people that say shows like this. They tell you, you take one side, you take the other. And I tell people all the time, I've never, in the years of doing not only this show, first take all these other shows, undisputed. Never once have I been told to say something or take one. side and this is proof of it.

I naturally just disagree with why. I do it. The record. KW. I do it often. Well, he's not told to do it. I tell myself to do it. It's just within the show.

It looks like the cabs. I don't like the kids. Go ahead. Devil's advocate. I'm saying that because somehow you and I have come to the same conclusion.

Caves? Cleveland. Wow. And I actually do feel. I mean, I think, and I actually think, think if I had to rank where I, not only where I'd like

to see him go, where I think he's going. I think it's close, but I think Cleveland is where he's going to end up at. One of his good friends is in the front office, Brandon Weems. I just think it's all, I think it's all lining up. What a way to put a bow

on a fantastic to say the least career. You go home, the team would be good. Look, nothing to James Hardin, I probably would ideally not have Hardin there, but he's going to be there. But you talk about Hardin, Donovan, LeBron,

Evan Mobley, and Jared Allen. You got shooting, whether it's off the bench or Max Drew starts or I mean, they got a young kid. They want to play. I can't think of his name. But they would be very good and have a great chance.

Whether they or the Knicks would be the favorite, but they would have great chance of winning there because they lack in the playoffs, just toughness, umph, grit. LeBron, everything they lacked, he could give them. Yeah, they fell apart and got blown out. Yeah, I mean, he could totally change that. And look, we know if you get to the finals, you have a chance.

Like, if they get to the finals, they would have a chance. And I can already see Netflix, Amazon Prime, whatever. whatever it is, not the last dance, the last hurrah. The last hurrah, or whatever they want to call it. But I could see them filming this whole season with LeBron in Cleveland. He's already there right now, golfing. Yeah. Yeah, did that, did that?

His family, look, they love that area. He's like, I'm driving around my city and he posts it. Like he's driving around all the time. No, they love him there of all the places. he's been that's understandably the most between him and the fans is the best best relationship. Do you want to go before we move on?

Just on my I'll just be honest with you I think for all the reasons you guys say the Cavs would be a nice final chapter I have also already read the going back

to Cleveland chapter. Yeah. So I feel like there's a It's a little bit like the book has closed once the championship was delivered. I felt okay with closure in Cleveland. Again, I'm not from Northeast Ohio. And when we kick around these other teams like we'll do later, I do get more excited to talk about. Teams not on the three lists that Bruce said.

The Nuggets with Yokic. The Spurs. I just get more excited about those opportunities. And here's why I would not, you know, I would not write off. any of those wild card teams. I believe, and this is part I have said for quite some time, I believe LeBron is planning to play 25 years, which means two more years.

Oh. So I don't look at this as necessarily a last hurrah as far as one last season. So I think LeBron and a sub subheader of his legacy, when you go over it is, LeBron went to Miami. Miami had not won a playoff series in four years. In his second year there, they won the title.

LeBron went back to Cleveland. They hadn't been to the playoffs in four years. In his second year there, he won the title. LeBron went to the Lakers. They hadn't been to the playoffs in five years. In his second year there, he won the title. So I think wherever he chooses, it is, can I win the playoffs? the title. I don't think that is necessarily the number one thing, but I think any place that

he feels definitively the answer is no is not available. You know, it's like a Washington wizard. Oh, yeah. I mean, nobody thinks that. I'm just here to play. No, no, I'm saying a Jordan move where titles was not. Or the Clippers, which people, hey, you don't have to leave. Like the clippers, you can't, like, because they are going, youth moving. I, so I'm not, by no means, we don't even know where he's going. I'm saying he's going to, and, you know, he's going to accomplish that with another spot. But I think he wants to leave himself the possibility of it. And so the other thing, and Wendy, Brian Windhorst, to his credit, brought this up.

Are these teams going to now try to win the LeBron sweepstakes, meaning the point Wendy made is Cleveland previously was like, we are not trading Evan Mobley for Jalen Brown? I would not do that. Okay, that's fine. But what I'm saying... I wouldn't think LeBron will want that. So that was just the example he used.

But I'm saying, well, these teams be like, okay, what do we need to do to better position ourselves for the right now to get LeBron? Because what is stunning about this whole thing is headed into year 24 and at age 41. We are not just talking about this because he's the most famous player in the league and one of the two most famous players in league history. he's literally the best available free agent. Of all the free agents of the 2026 offseason, the best player is the 41-year-old going into year 24. And by the way, he is going to next year be on the best contract in the league that's not a Cooper flag. Like that's not a rookie contract. And so I think teams will make moves to try to get him to pick them.

Lakerside, very amicable breakup. Jeannie Buss thanked LeBron in a complimentary state. and said he will be a cherished part of the Lakers family. LeBron responded, said, no, actually, thank you. It's nice. It was really sweet. It was nice to see. Luca was on social media, added that it was an honor to play and learn from LeBron.

Lake Show now have $52 million in cab space. What's this mean for Luca and the Lakers moving forward, bro? Well, it's good for them. It's good for the Lakers. Now, they may take a step back and not be as good as they, They would have been had LeBron stayed. But they weren't going to win a championship if LeBron returns. So look, let's get on with the Luca era.

That's what they need to do. Lucas 27 entering his ninth year and has missed 50 games the last two seasons. Like he's not, I don't know how long his window is, but they need to open it right now and try to, they're not going to win the championship this year, but just start building around him a team that you can, you know, compete with San Antonio and OKC in the future. So what they need are they need a big who can roll to the rim off the pick and roll, finish lives for Luca, from Luca, protect the rim, and they need a bunch of athletic 3-and-D players.

So is that Mitchell Robinson you're describing? I mean, somewhat. He's only a 20-minute-a-game player. Yeah, he's a backup center. Like, yeah, so, but he would be fine. Here's what I would do if I was the Lakers. And they have $51 million in Cap Space now. I would go all out for Jalen Duren.

Now, the problem is Duren, Walker Kessler, even Peyton Watson as a wing, 3&D wing, they're all restricted free agents. So, and Detroit is said they're going to match whatever he gets. I would test Detroit. I would go, I would offer him more than I think Detroit is willing to pay him. And I get it, he was bad in the playoffs. But I think Luca, Luca is a better facilitator and playmaker than Kay Cunningham,

as great as Kate is. So I think Duren would get a lot of easy buckets off Luca. And unlike in Detroit this season, Duren will be the third scoring option behind Reeves and Luca, not the second. So I just think Duren is the guy there. Kessler's okay. Cessler's good.

Yes. But I would want Duren. And I would have. offer him what would look like maybe an overpayment in hopes that Detroit wouldn't take him. If that takes me out of the running from some of the other free agents, like you said, there's not a ton of great ones out there anyway. And my second guy I would go after would be Peyton Watson. The both restricted.

Yeah, try to pay him a little more than Denver. I think Denver needs to keep him. So I don't, so I just, Peyton Watson plus Jalen Dern next year are going to make more than $52 million. So I, you know what I mean? And I don't want to get too much into CBA stuff. The tricky part about restricted free agency is not only that the other team can match,

but they have 48 hours to match. And you can't spend. Exactly. And so, like, if you offer Jayland earned $40 million a year and he signs the offer sheet, for the next 47 hours and 59 minutes, that $40 million is taken off your cap. And then Denver could, or I'm sorry,

Detroit would be like, nope, we match. And then you miss out on it. So what I would, what this means for Lucas? in the Lakers, and you guys know how much I love Luca, good luck. I don't think they are equipped to rebuild the team in any short order. I don't know if people, like, yes, they have 52 million. They also, Marcus Smart's gone. Luke Carnard's gone.

I think they need Rui Hachamara back. That's going to take some money. Right now, they're under contract players in order of where they would have been if they were healthy or actually were in playoff rotation. Luca, awesome. Austin Reeves. Great. Then it's DeAndre Aiton.

Fourth is Jake Laravia and fifth is Brony. Sixth is Jared Vanderbilt who makes $12 million, but Brony jumped him in the rotation. Seventh is Dalton Connect, who was in the G League, even though he was a great draft pick when it happened. Yeah. Can't believe you go. And eighth is, I'm going to mispronounce his name. I apologize. Adutiero, who's a great athlete, but again.

So three of your eight guys under contract, even when you were ravaged by injury, JJ didn't play in the playoffs because he didn't trust him. The fifth is Brani, which it was like a good story that he was getting playoff minutes. And I, like, we are, I, you're saying it's fine. They take a step back. I think it's guaranteed they take a step back. They won 53 games last year. Like there is, and now you, it might be true.

They need to do that to move forward. I get all of that. but I am planting my flag that this is going to be a wildly underwhelming transaction period for the Lakers and they are going to whisper in the years of their friends in the West Coast don't worry.

Joker's coming in a year. I know we got a punt on it. I mean, look, if you could get him, I don't think he's going there. I agree. They should, but it'll be another transaction season before they can really. Correct.

And so I think that, when they are unable to strike gold and restricted free into any of these things, they will try to position it as part of the plan. I understand. Listen, I know it'll be, we're going into a third year with Luca Donchage. We're not

actually trying to win a championship. Don't worry, it's part of a bigger plan. I just think they I think that they will realize over the course of this season. I know they were excited for LeBron to move on and all of that and his contract was an alleged Albatross, all that, that they are, once LeBron leaves, much further away than they think.

So what do you think they, where do you think they finish in the West? Well, I think if Luke is healthy, I think he guarantees you. That's right. It's like six. Like, no, I agree with you on the health thing, but I just had, you got to say that. Like, I think, yeah, I mean, I think you said sixth. Yeah, I think that's the Luca floor, shouldn't it be? That's what I, that's what I agree with.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. And that's about where I think it's also maybe the Laker's ceiling next year. floor and ceiling. The rear floor and ceiling. But that's why when I said go all out on Duren, if they can't give them, don't waste, don't sign players that won't help you long term to long term deal. Correct.

So save some of your flexibility for the next transaction. All right. Quickly, we're going to talk about LeBron's tenure, looking back on his seasons in LA, eight season six playoffs, seven all NBA nods, one championship, pass cream,

played with his son, gave us dozens of classic gifts and memes, put them the goggles when they broke. That was a good one. How will you remember LeBron's time in L.A.? A success without question. He did the one thing I said, you got to do. If you go to L.A., you have to win a championship.

He delivered them a championship. And by the way, it's their one championship in the last 16 years. Yeah, that's a big deal. To some degree, he saved them. You mentioned it early. They hadn't made the playoffs in five years. They have five head coaches in those, in five years before LeBron got them there and got there. And he won them a championship.

Obviously, he broke records, all-time leading score, plays along with his son, first time in NBA history. So he brought a lot of great moments to the Lakers. It was not a rousing success, but it was a success. And I would say in LeBron's four stays, Cleveland first, Miami second, Cleveland again, the Lakers. I think this was the least, this would be the fourth of those four stays. I think this was the, I don't know, not least impressive because he played well. But if you had to power rank, this is number four.

This would be fourth for me. First would obviously, I mean, I would say Miami because he won two there. And then Cleveland the second time with the great, great man over the 73. But that's fine. I think the Cleveland Championship is the biggest of his career. But I just think the tenure to get two rings in four years, Cleveland, you know, he had the one big one. And then I think Cleveland is first stint. I was around that team a lot, LeBron a lot of it.

That was just special. And I know it was, they disappointed because they didn't win a championship. He won a couple of MVP's there. And he was just the young rising superstar in the league. That arena was magic when every game they played. So I even put that ahead of this, Lakers, when they, even though they didn't win a championship. There was an innocence about that extent too. This is where I think where people get tripped up.

I think they grade LeBron's Lakers tenure against his other tenures. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, which is what you're going to do. Of course. Or they fail to, I think, recognize what you said at the beginning. The Lakers and the five, the Lakers, the day LeBron signed with the team, dating back to Minneapolis, had missed the playoffs 10 times ever, five times intermittently over the course of 70 years and the five years before he got there.

Over those five years, the one thing you didn't mention with all that coach is 30 team league, the worst record in the NBA of the 30 teams over the previous five years was the Lakers. Wow. They were the worst team in league, the worst record in the league for a half decade before he got there. And so, and then by year two, they are champions. And this is, you know, I made this point before and you guys didn't like it, but I will run the risk again. Don't show it yet. I would argue that if Shea never wins another title with the Thunder.

His Thunder tenure was a success. Jalen Brunson. He's not LeBron. These guys aren't LeBron. No, no, no. So that's what I was going to say. I totally agree they're not LeBron. But as far as team success of the last decade, LeBron's run with the Lakers has had identical success to what we consider the best teams of the decade.

And now you can show it. It's Joker with the Nuggets, Yannis with the Bucks, Shea with the Thunder, Brunson with the Knicks. They all have won one title. They all have been to two total conference finals. Yonis is now done with Milwaukee's. LeBron's done with the Lakers.

You can write those in ink. Yes, I anticipate that Brunson and Shea are going to add to it. But my point is, if they don't, I don't think anyone's going to be like, it's disappointing. And so that I agree with you, Brew, that those guys aren't LeBron on this. historical level.

But as far as the best tenures of this last decade, the only one that has them clocked is Boston. With Tatum and Brown, there's a bunch of conference finals, two finals appearances. Everyone else is tied. Brooke, quickly before we go, we're going to tease Team USA statue.

It's going to get so crowded up. I don't think they're giving them one. What? I don't think they're giving them one. I don't think you should have a statue there. Are you kidding? He should have Cleveland. maybe Miami

Cleveland. I don't think he's getting one. I think he was going to have to. I'll build my own then for the guy. He has to get a statue. Well, I think he should, but I don't think he should. Because he had late eight years. We'll give Willp one too. I mean, I just think, first of all, they don't have the space. All right?

Thank you. That's what I want to get to get in there. Team USA tonight. Fourth meeting ever between USA and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Well, never lost. Two wins in a draw. We're looking for win number three from San Francisco in nine hours and 30 minutes on Fox. In Toronto, every arrival is a statement,

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Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. Welcome back to first things first. Friend of the show, Chris Richards. Didn't play the Turkey A game. Guess what? Our defense didn't look good. He's back. Nine hours, 26 minutes.

We count down to USA versus Bosnia and Herzegamania on Fox live from San Francisco. More on that game in a second. We've got Dax McCarty here. He's got a new tie on. It's knit. It's beautiful. Jay Z once said, I like goals, goals, goals, goals, goals, goals I do, Jadour. Gianna gave you the space.

That's when I know it's excellent. France looked marvelous and a convincing victory over Sweden. And Bapa had two more goals. Here's Lotton. What we have seen so far, yes. because like I said before the game, haven't seen any weakness. Yet from France, every player they have,

no, I will not say every play, but every offensive from the strikers can win the game by themselves. Let's see how far France can go, but this is scary. This is scary. France playing in New York, where they will also be playing in the final. FIFA World Cup odds, France pulling away from Argentina, followed by Spain, England,

who has that tough game in Mexico. Mexico City if they get past D.R. Con. England, yeah. I'll fade England along. And then Brazil way back there. Dax, welcome. I thought France just looked amazing. Do they look like the best team in the world to you? Easily. Without question. Let's go. And in the group stage, they had a little bit of a wobble in that first half. If you guys can think back all that time ago. First half of the first game. First half of the first game, I was sitting there like, what's going on? France. I picked you to win and you don't look great.

And since then, it has been nothing but just stunning performance after stunning performance. It's a team that is the most balanced team in the world, top to bottom. It's a team that has an attack where if one player doesn't play well, you have three others who can easily start for any other team in the world and can punish you. I think back to Bollondor winner, Dembele, not on the score sheet, not really having a great start to the tournament, Mbapay-Olise playing very well. And then what happens, he just shows up, pops up for a first half hat trick. Like, you can try your best to stymie France in a number of different ways.

You can sit in a low block, but Olise is at this World Cup, the best playmaker in the world. He leaves the tournament with five assists. They will eventually find crevices, cracks in your back line. And then, guess what? If you concede first against them, it's absolute nightmare fuel. They have the most dangerous transition attacking players in the tournament. with Mbapé, Dembele, either Duet or Barcola. It doesn't matter.

Because then you have to come out of your shell, as Sweden did. You have to try to press numbers forward to get back into the game. And once you do that, it's over. They are going to score goals on you at will. I tweeted out yesterday, if you want to even hope to compete with this team, you have to either be planning on going all out attack-wise and hope that they have an off day. You have to score a minimum of three goals.

Correct. Because you know they're, they're not. They're averaging over three goals in this tournament. And their backline with, if I can find one small weakness, which I would slightly disagree with Latan on, they have a tendency because they are so good, so talented, to get a little bit complacent. And their centerbacks, they kind of leave them on an island because they are so mobile, physical, athletic. I love Saliba. I love Umpa Makano.

But they have a tendency to have a mistake in them. Well, that was that Norway game. Sure. No question about it. And so defensively, they are not, as I would say, locked in at all moments of the game, as a Spain, as a Brazil, as an even, I would even put Columbia in that category of elite defensive teams here. So if you're going to nitpick and find a very small weakness, that's going to be it. You are going to have to play a perfect game if you want to beat this French national team.

I agree with all that. They don't, but they don't look like the best team. They are the best team. I mean, they are. Now, whether they win the tournament or not, they're the best team in the world. To me, there's no question about that. I'll compare it to the sport I've covered more than anything basketball. They look to me like the KD.

I was going to say that, too. You could just see, this is just beautiful stuff. It's beautiful to watch, and they just look head and shoulders above everybody else. I mean, they do. It doesn't mean you're going to win it. It's a one and done sport. But that's what they look like. And the front line, I mean, their speed and their footwork and everything is so superior.

Mboppe's first goal, I mean, that was nasty. Like that move, it was just great. And then how about how about Alise? You showed the play of the game that the goal. How about this bicycle kick? Are we, I think we're trying to show that. it again. The near, yeah.

Yeah, here it is. And just. Would have been one of the best goals in World Cup. Yeah. I mean, so that's how talented and great they are. They are the best team. We'll see if they go ahead and. So even Olise's misses our spectacular.

Yeah. He now leads the tournament and assists. It has been bouncing back. Most in 32 years. He leads in a assist. They had 25 shots yesterday. They had 12 on target. The headline from the athletic.

Like, I didn't know if this was too far, so just. Yep. But it's out there. Is France's World Cup attack one of the best ever? Oh, easily. Definitely one of the best. Or is it the best ever? For me, at this moment in time, it is the best ever.

Love it. And then my final thing is here, just as far as like the unity of the team, where we've seen a lot of cross sports where if you have several superstars in one ball, it becomes an issue. Like, Oh, Mbapé's the star. I'm the Ballandor winner. Zlatan says, or Henri says,

Elisei is actually the most important. They're all kind of barkal. Like, by the way, I'm excellent. Look at my goal. I like the unification of the team. And I thought you saw a little bit of that from top down where DeChamps, who had missed the Norway game

because his mother had passed. So after Mbapapes' first goal, he comes and gives him a big hell, It's more than just I scored a goal. And then when he comes off later, he like bows to him. So they feel like a team that really loves each other. It's his last unified soccer. They got tons of unity here.

So I, maybe this will surprise the audience because Wiles has tried to trick you all in thinking I don't believe in France. We're just always talking about Brazil. Well, because so here is the distinction. The team that you think is going to win at all and the odds makers do, I have the audacity to say, I think they're going to finish second. I had France in tears,

and in title pie has been first or second all year, or all tournament, and when we did our predictions, I had France in the final. We argue more about Brazil because the team I think is going to win it all. You think is going to lose every game they play. Well, maybe fair.

And so, like, so that's the distinction there. Josh said, Josh, I'm quoting you even though I didn't tell you I was going to. He thinks France's second unit would be a clear-cut top-10 team in the world. He's not wrong. And so like that, so it's not only how talented they are, but how deep they are. What you alluded to is absolutely correct and the concern. So when France doesn't win, the World Cup final, they score three goals and didn't win.

the nation what is it the is it nations league nations league they scored four goals against Spain and lost and I think yesterday you saw in the first half France could have scored eight goals yesterday they got unlucky on office so I'm going to show them yep and where you do feel like that's not the there were so many times where it's like oh they have these chances and you do feel like a better team might have scored three goals yesterday now I will tell you tell you, had France allowed three goals yesterday, I think they would have scored six. Like, uh, and so the, but there are chances. You know, there are a lot of chances.

And so that is the, and then when you add to the fact that what they're trying to do, like, hey, who's been to how many times in history has a team been to three straight World Cup finals, like in the single elimination tournament had, okay. So it's West Germany and Brazil. How many times in history is a team one, two out of three? Again, it's a longer list than that. My goodness, Brazil must be good at soccer. They're on this a lot.

Look at them. And so it's just their path is going to be, I believe, Morocco, Spain, and then Brazil or Argentina. We can argue about which one it is. It's a hard tournament to win, even if you're the best team in the world. So I don't disagree with you guys that they have looked the best. they clearly have the most dominant attack. I do think that if they are going to get beat,

they are not getting beat. I agree with you 100% 2 to 1. They're getting beat 4 to 3. And so I think that is the path. And now people might, you know, the concern is for me, the team I'm picking, can they score four goals? I don't know. But so that's where I'm at.

France will play Paraguay July 4th. That's going to be a tough one. for Paraguay. Tell them right now. They just go try to get familiar with another expression called Park the Bus. Yeah, right. Tonight in the Bay, USA taking on Bosnia, Hertzcovenia. We've started hot every game scoring in the first 11 minutes of all three of our group stage games.

Here's Polisic with Jenny Taft on tonight. We're expecting a really tough game. We saw a lot of good things from them in the group stage. We've seen in the knockouts so far, there hasn't been an easy game for any So we're not expecting an easy game at all. I think it's going to be a good battle. We have to put on a really good performance if we want to win By the numbers this looks really closer than it is expected goals I guess is is the big gap 4.6 to 1.9 Bosnia herds giving it not a powerful offensive team

Nick will start with you what are your expectations tonight for Team USA 3-1 win. That's good and I think the U.S. is going to continue, pardon me, its trend of scoring often. And I also think that's critical because you mentioned, you know, park the bus or a low block. Yep. The U.S. hasn't had to deal with that once this tournament because they've had the lead through, you know what I mean? They've scored early. They've scored so early, which is what the antidote to this is. Yeah.

Where if a team feels they're overmatched and the longer the game goes on, tied, they will play, you know. They'll get deeper and deeper. Yes. In the group stage, they might play for a draw here. They will, you know, try to get to extra time than penalties. So I, I truly do believe in Pochitino and the overall talent of this roster to where I, you know, we're going to talk about, you know, the pressure on them later in the show. I do not expect this team to have a cataclysmic loss, which is.

is what a loss here would be. And I also don't think this team is good enough defensively to anticipate a shutout against any team in the tournament. I understand they have one. But I just think, you know, the, so I think...

They really don't score, though. Bosnia? Yeah. Well, here's, I guess what I would say is this. Again, I think they will be playing a more dangerous style if we get up early. You know what I mean? And so where they will give themselves more chances, but then be more open to be exploited.

So I think the U.S. scores, once again, before the first hydration break, I think this is a two nothing game at halftime, and I think it is a 3-1 final. Yeah, I think the important thing to talk about is those early goals. Those early goals really settled the nerves. I think of not just a lot of fans, but also of the team. because if you remember leading into this tournament, they lost three out of their four friendlies. And so as a player,

you are always like, hey, we are all about to embark on the most important moments of our career right now. And we aren't really sure how it's going to look until we get out there and actually do it. And if you were to look at the perfect scenario, the Australia game, the Paraguay game, everything went perfectly well, except for the Pulisic injury,

which we now know he's okay, he's fit, great. But if you're, But if you do not score that early goal, I want to know how this team reacts. I want to know what they look like. I want to know if they stay calm. If you see them having a little bit of, I don't want to say panic because I don't think that's what's going to happen, but maybe a little bit more urgency to be like, when do we have to score?

Because the longer the game goes on tide, the better it is for Bosnia. Absolutely, no question. Let me show you this graphic, to your point, Dex. Out of the seven knockout stage games that we have seen so far, four of them have had a equalizer or a winner after the 85th minute. Canada over South Africa, Brazil, over Japan, Morocco, over, that one was tied in Norway late yesterday. So, Brew, are you worried that Bosnia, Herzegovina can just sort of sit back and play a conservative game? No. I expect a great performance from Team USA. I think the vibes like this is the first time, presumably they'll be healthy for 90 minutes.

They've looked much different with Polisik out there, playing faster and all that, a better attack. So I think that's going to be a factor. I think the four guys that sat out the third game with the yellow cards are just chomping at the bit to get out there. They understand, I mean, all the energy that the country, has surrounding them thinking they could actually make a deep run. I think that's going to energize the players too. So I'm thinking, Nick, 2.0.

I think 3-1 is a good prediction, but I'm looking at 2.0. I like that prediction. I was going to 2-0. Boston, you heard, it's giving it 27th in shots, 31st in expected goals, 31st in shot qualities. Only 32 teams advancing. Yeah. So they shouldn't be really attacking us.

My guy Chris Richard. But again, I just think they're going to, if the U.S. scores early, you're going to see them play a different style. Like there's no, there's no goal. There's just no goal different. A big, again, for folks that don't always watch the World Cup, the biggest difference between knockout stage and group stages, they don't care about goal differential anymore.

Teams are so much more likely to lose for nothing in this stage because they got to go through. France cares about it. They even want to run the school. England, Congo, DR, England getting on the bus. This one is in Atlanta. Small ups of them. Noon on Fox.

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Brandon Ingram, Grady Dick, and two firsts. It's been seven years since he was last in Toronto. Maybe he went for an away game, but with the Raptors jersey. Here are his numbers from his great season with the Raptors and last year. Quite similar. Yeah. I mean, one, he won the championship and this year's team didn't get out of play. Nick, you know what? It's a team sport, okay?

Yeah. But I'm surprised there was no, is 27.7, 27.5. He was phenomenal. Rebounds the same, assists the same. But I just kind of put that Raptor season on a pedestal. Can I ask, Brew, because you say this sometimes about, I'll use Duran as an example, amazing numbers doesn't impact winning the way you used to. Good point.

Is that a fair thing to say about Kauai this year? Because statistically it was the best season of his club. career and he was healthy and yet despite that they were in the play in they didn't have an amazing record and they you know he didn't play great in the playing but that's a one-off like do you that's do i think all of the older players lebron steff kd kai all of them put up their numbers are essentially the same step's numbers are better than when he was at his best um but they don't impact the winning as much yeah look i i I am hesitant, more than hesitant, to get into Kauai Leonard business.

Okay. All right. So hopefully he'll be healthy this year because if he's healthy this year, I think Toronto is a contender in the East. For a while? And for the Eastern Conference Championship. Like their starting five is Kauai Leonard, Scotty Barnes, Jako Pertil, who's, you know, solid center, R.J. Barrett,

and Emmanuel quickly. They were a tough playoff team this year, and the one thing they lacked was a closer. Kauai Leonard is a closer, an extraordinary closer. And I think they're looking at the Knicks as saying, a bunch of good players and one great closer. Sure. We've got two Knicks.

We, yeah. They have a bunch of good players and now a legitimate closer. The thing for me is that for all to talk about Kauai, wanting to end his career in Toronto and this and that. This is about money. This is about they're the team that's going to give him a long-term deal, whatever that, two, three, four years,

whatever that is. And that's where I would be like, look, the greatest moment of the Raptors' career or franchise history is when they said, forget the future, we're going for it now and they traded for Kauai with no promise of keeping him.

They won a championship. That to me seems to be what they're doing now. less because it doesn't long term it doesn't make sense to getting the Kauai Linder business and by long term you might mean next year's playoffs like the

yeah absolutely and I would be shocked if he's healthy through next season like the playoffs and the other than the year I don't even if he is healthy brew you have them a grade above where I have him I if he is healthy

even if Kauai is healthy because to the point I was making the beginning I don't think he impacts winning the way he once did. I think everybody knows he doesn't impact the way he once did. I'm not sure how much he impacts it overall at this point. I think they're a second round ceiling team, even with a healthy Kauai Leonard.

I just don't think he is enough to be the only star player on a team. Well, you got Scottie Byrne. Yeah, Scottie Barnes star. You're right. Scottie Barnes, excellent, you know, he's in the Jalen Johnson category of player to me. Like really good player all around, you know, two-way guy, but not yet a star.

My takeaway on this was about the clippers. Just a great transaction. To get two first-round picks and a swap, and Brandon Ingram on $40 million is not a, you know, he's like not a bad way on a short-term contract, spend that money. You're going to have to spend the money somehow, but you're not tied to him long-term.

And now with the Zubots trade, you got the fifth pick from the Pacers. You now have multiple extra first. You're about to finally next year be out of jail from the Kauai, Paul George initial transaction. And there's still one more pick O there. And you start to have a young team with some flexibility. I think that's good. And my other- It's almost like trying to go an OKC route.

Yeah. And Wogler, Keaton Wogler, their number five pick, they think is Shea. Shea. Yes. And then my other thing, just quick, like, man, that Kauai's tenure with the Clippers, which so much promised. Like, one conference finals, two years where they won a single playoff series and the conference finals he didn't even play in. The fact that they were bending over backwards to make it happen. To make it happen. Like, right on the hedge there. The only legacy, like the legacy of the Kauai Clippers era is the Oklahoma City Thunder. And it's just like that was, they were, you know, they were the team to be, yeah.

Well, and just very quickly, it was because of the injuries for five, six of it. His first year there, they were fully healthy. They were the favorite, and they fell apart in the bubble. They were up three one against the nuggets. They were the favorites. People thought that was the team to beat. They fell apart. and then injuries killed.

Raptors 46 and 36 last year. They were fifth in the east. We're counting down to tears. And we're counting down to USA versus Bosnia and Herzegovina. Weston McKinney's played every game for us. Yeah. I think he's the only player that's played every game. Correct.

Eight hours, 56 minutes. Maybe our best tiers ever, by the way. Of all sports? It's international. Yeah. Global tears, next. brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows.

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Do you think? Yes. Must win. Yeah, buddy. Literal and must win? Yes. Must win by two goals. Oh, no. I don't want a 1-0-0 win. I would not know. Win in advance.

Surviving advantage is correct. But I'll tell you this much, if you're up one, it's going to be the most anxiety-riddled last half hour. What do you call that? Oh, just tell him. He's going to blow it.

Squeaky bum time. No, he doesn't like that. You're going to say it one time. You're going to be like Barry Fletcher. You're going to say it one time. Second hour or first. He'll never say it. He will.

Could we see LeBron and Yokic team up next year? Only if it goes gray beard. He's already there. No, I'm saying LeBron with the next team has to keep the gray beard. Great take. Meanwhile, how much pressure is Team USA under? Coach Pochatatatatatino says this is, this is, the World Cup final.

It's not, but he's saying it is. So we'll discuss in a second. But right now, you're in for a real treat. Last night, while continuing to talk about the altitude of a stadio Estadio Azteca, 2,200 meters. Yes, that's correct. An elite group of analysts, gamblers, and people who were told to go to the south of France. And when they said, I've never been to the south of France, they said, well, how? What? You have to go.

I say, I'm not from France, but I won't go. I saw, I watched the games from a French restaurant. Yeah, we know, buddy, but you're not on the committee. So you, all of a sudden, in these intros, have started talking about things you did. When the conceit is, this is what the committee was doing. Which is why in the beginning, you're like, won't stop talking about Estadao, Azteca.

That's me. But then at the end, you're talking about you. I've been to the South France many times. I go there to Monaco, to see AC Monaco, great team, and to roll dice. We all know that. Sorry, can you go back up, Doug? It doesn't make sense. An elite group of analysts, gamblers, and people with crippling nicotine addiction.

There you go. Bought and to oil and burned the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of sports. It's an honor and it's a privilege. It is time for World Cup tears. So, here, thank you, KW, for the excellent introduction. And here's why I have to have it. had to clarify about the committee because some a little controversy with the committee yesterday. Oh.

So you guys know for World Cup tears, the person in charge of naming the tears is, well, I call him Gil, but it's Hilberto's, I think how I'm supposed to pronounce. We call him Gil. I, there was disagreement on how we should do some of these tears. You will see it. I thought it could cause controversy, but he is, it's his, it's his area. It's good leadership. So we'll get there. Yeah, but it's, I want everyone to understand while the teams are, you know, ranked, tier names aren't ranked. It'll make sense in a moment. First, eliminated tiers, a lot of new eliminations.

I'm not going to go through all those teams. However, Germany's on there. That ain't great. Ivory Coast, be proud of yourselves. You had a really good tournament. Netherlands, you got to figure out what's going on. Not total football. I'll tell you that's what not going on.

And by the way, I'm not telling anyone how to run their business in their country. But South Korea, it's disappointing, but it's okay. You don't have to blur out the guy's faces on the news like they're criminals. Like they had a rough tournament. Like my God. They landed in a couple of night. And one of these teams, I forgot the country that canceled the charter. They're like, you're flying commercial. Yeah, I think that was South American team. Whatever it is. Guys, it's a big tournament. I get it. Football is life. Yeah, okay. All right. Bottom of the tiers, someone's winning. Hopefully not Bosnia over the US.

Maybe D.R. Congo over England. Probably not Austria over Spain. Probably not Cape Verde over Argentina. Maybe Australia over Egypt. Maybe Algeria over Switzerland. What I'm telling you is one of these six teams is advantage, a big upset. I'm predicting it.

Okay. Probably still underrated. You have right here, you have Egypt, Senegal and Ghana. I think even though, again, Ivory Coast lost yesterday, there is still an underrating in general of the teams from Africa. And I think Egypt is favored to win their game. Ghana probably has a long shot to win.

Senegal absolutely can win. I think they're probably still a touch underrated at least. All right. So this is where we get to the potential controversy here. Okay. I wanted to call this tier new to the scene, but a great addition. Gilberto said, Dax-McCardy tier. Oh.

Canada, never been this far. You've got, in addition to them, Paraguay, who's shocking upset. Switzerland's been this far, but I don't know if Switzerland's ever been, had a better team in the last 30 years than this one. So new to the tournament this deep. Why is it the Dax? Yeah, because he's new to the same. seen, but a great addition. Oh.

Hilberto. Makes understand. I love it. Yeah. Love it. I wanted to name this tier, the wise elder tier. I said no. Chris Brousart too.

Columbia with Hamas Rodriguez. He's not their best player, but he's got the experience. What about Belgium with Lukaku and DeBriene? Again, past their prime, wise elders, and Luca Madrich, ageless, much like Chris Brousart. in Colombia, Belgium, and Croatia. Three solid teams. I thought I'd be the top.

Well, that's what, see, this was my concern. That's what I was saying is it looks like we're power ranking the people. And that's why I told Hilberto, it could cause controversy. He said, no, everyone understands the teams. Okay. I wanted to call this the frustrating high school student tier. He said, no, it's the Nick Wright tier. You see the potential, but it leaves you wanting so much more.

England, Portugal, and North, well, England and Portugal, really. The Nick Wright part of Norway is just me and Holland, the Twinsies. But England, you see the potential, but they haven't quite done it. Portugal, we know what they need to do, but they haven't quite done it. I wanted to call this the amazing host here. Kevin Wilde's here. We're on Team USA and Mexico. That's great.

I love that. There you go. I love it. Amazing host. Mine was a win. Fantastic. And listen, Canada has already won, but they're not really getting to host anymore. They're playing in America.

Mexico's crushing it. The U.S. Got to keep it and keep the rep going. We can't be the first host nation out. Tell you that much right now. Exactly right. First thing that popped into my head. Sharing same fate, we'll lose to France.

Sadly. These are, I think, two awesome teams. But Morocco is going to lose to. France, I believe in the round of eight. And Spain's going to lose to France. I believe in the semifinal. Could be the rare double Paraguay flag. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Their next cup. Yeah. That's right. These are two teams that absolutely, I believe, can win the World Cup. I just think they are on the wrong side of the bracket to be able to get to the final. And listen, we'll see Morocco is trying to get revenge for last World Cup semifinal. Spain is one team that can say we played France in a real tournament with our real players and we beat you.

But I think they're in probably rough shape. Historical collision course, Argentina and Brazil. They're on the same side of the bracket. They are the two greatest non-European soccer countries ever. However, for a very long time, it was Brazil, Argentina. Here's what, you know, up until 12 years ago, this is what. It looked like. Like, that's really good for Argentina.

They made four finals, one, two World Cups. Four top four finishes. Brazil, on the other hand, one five, went to seven finals, made ten top four finishes. Since then, however, it has flipped. And Argentina's been awesome. Brazil's been non-existent. The one top four finish, they lost seven to one. If Argentina beats them again, then I think folks would be like, yeah, Brazil, once upon a time,

was the South American soccer power. But that was a long time ago. Argentina is now that, and this is the one to your name, I think, Hilberto, absolutely killed. For the second time. Foot top. Someone, someone, people, World Cup title, or bustle. Someone sent me a note about this, that this was so unpopular.

Really? Yeah. Who? I forgot the person's name, but the actual trophy has a name like Larry O'Brien. No, it used to. They're wrong. It's now just called the Feeful World Cup trophy.

They're wrong. Well, again, it was just someone sending me a note. Again, well, whoever said it used to have a name, but now it's just called the Feeful World Cup trophy. It doesn't roll off the tongue. Okay, well, for whatever it's worth, we don't call it Lombardi Trophy or Bust, right? It's Super Bowl or Bust.

It's ESPA. So FIFA World Cup title or bus still works if that's what you want to call it. Agreed? Whiktop. Yeah, everybody agrees. You can't argue with the tiers. So you argue with the names. Silent dub.

I try, listen, I, everybody got the, I even put you with, whatever. Dax, go ahead. Fouktop. Yeah. It's a silent W. Um, I take these tears literally. Yeah. Of course.

Like you, like you are, like the great names, by the way. Frankie. Also. Pleasure to be, uh, yeah. Great addition. Great addition. That makes me happy. Brazil, they got a drop.

They cannot be in the same tier as Argentina. They can't be that close to France. Can't be that close to France. Exactly my take. It's too high. It's too high. Brazil, I've seen, I've seen more. I like them more and more,

but I still don't see them in the same tier as Argentina. Definitely not in the same team. How far down do they go? They drop down a tier to the Spain, Morocco. Is this your real take or is this a bonus take, Dex? This is my real take. Oh, okay. All right.

Oh, sorry. Do you have a bonus take? Bonus take. Columbia. Yeah. See you later to the Chris Broussard tier. Move them up. I need Columbia higher.

And part of the reason is because, first of all, almost every game that they play is essentially a home game. You got to witness that in Miami against Portugal. And when I go through what I want to see. from a team that I think has potential to make a deep run in this tournament. It's a couple things. First of all, what we've spoken about a little bit, a really good back line. Conceded one goal in this tournament, and they are extremely dynamic defensively. They can press, they can sit deep.

It's a team that I just really enjoy watching. And do you have an elite playmaker that can create chances? Hamas Rodriguez, not playing at his absolute maximum peak, but around with Columbia, The team is still built around his ability to create chances. He's top five in the tournament and chances created. And then do you have a difference maker? Do you have a striker or a winger who can change a game at any moment? They do.

Luis Diaz is one of my favorite players in the world. If we're not talking about the French trio or Vinnie Jr. or Laminia Mall, Luis Diaz is right under that tier as the best attacking player in the tournament for me. I think Columbia is underrated in your tiers. and I do think that they are on a collision course with Argentina in the baller finals. Holland's like what? Go ahead, bro. I like that.

I'm going to piggyback off what Dax said and switch Spain and Brazil. I like it. Yeah. Look, I get it. Spain hasn't looked great, and they aren't healthy even now. They got a lot of wingers out. But Yamal is presumably healthy. Vinny one.

Vinny one can see Nick's brazen Brazil. By his Spain, Yamal all the way. Brazen? Brazen. Brazen. What did I say? Brasin.

Oh, yeah. Brazen. Who knows? Yeah, go ahead. If anyone, Diviny one actually isn't bad. But anyway, yeah, I think now that presumably Yamal is,

I expect him to really pop and play better. And Spain is going to look much better. I don't, they haven't looked great, but I don't mind a, as you slow building. Yes, exactly. England in that same category.

Okay, yeah, yeah. So I think that's what we're seeing with Spain, a slow build to they hit their peak at the right time. And they haven't lost a game in years. Yeah, that helps it. That's kind of a big deal. Okay, England, I'd feel better about England had they not in the game. They had to win the third group stage game. Zero, zero at the half. Yeah. Against, was it Panama? Not a great. Not a great performance. As far as Spain was. Won the group. Both Spain and Brazil have tied one game and won the rest. Brazil tied Morocco. Spain tied Cape Berdy. There is no, to me, argument that Spain's been better than Brazil in this tournament.

You can say they are more talented. They have it. I just think they're putting. You just think that they're building. No, and that works fair. They just, and we'll see how they look in their first knockout round game. They're, they play Austria. I would imagine they'll look good.

KW. Dax, I don't know if you've seen the tiers from all the different sports, but when one team is really just rolling and is a level ahead of all of the competition, oftentimes the committee employs a vacant tier. So I would argue, I don't know if my take is keep France or if I'm, I don't know if I'm adding the vacant probably. I'm adding a vacancy tier between, France and Argentina and Brazil, and that's how much better the French team is.

And I know you're thinking, well, what about Messi? Messy's right up there with Mbapé. Here's what Zlatan says that France has actually three of the best five players in the world. Take a listen. Take the five best players in the world. Three of them is in that attack. Dembele, Olize and Bappe. I kind of stepped on it there.

Club and country, this trio of Mbapé, Dembelle, and Olisei. Mbapé has 54 goals and 56 games. Dembele has 24 goals, 14 assists, and 46 games, and Alise has 65 games. He's got 32 assists. He leads those World Cup in assists. He also had a sick bicycle kick that didn't go in. But I'm counting it. and then underrated the defense.

So like you said, well, if you're going to beat them, you're going to have to beat them four to three. Problem is that no one's scoring. Non-penalty expected goals against Senegal, 0.5, Iraq, 0.6, Norway, 0.9, Sweden, 0.7. So I would have really liked to see. So they have the only team with a potent attack on that list is Norway, and obviously they didn't play Norway.

I mean, they did, but they didn't. Back up. You know what I mean? They didn't play. They didn't play. Yeah, Holliday's play. And they didn't give up a fall asleep goal. Correct.

And so keep in mind, expected goals is interesting because you can, your expected goals number can be much lower or much higher than the actual goals number, which is I think why you were looking to scantz at it a bit. Listen, I think I would agree with what Zlatan said if he said of the five best attacking players in the world, France has three. I think in Zlatan, you know, probably understandably thinks, you know, you know what the 10 best players are? They're all just thinking about goals. Goals scores. I have not negged France once and I won't. They are the most talented team.

They are the team most likely to be in the World Cup final and they're the Vegas favorite for a reason. I am very interested in if they are susceptible, as susceptible on the back end against an excellent team as I think they might be. Now, it might not matter. They are the team in this tournament that can allow three goals and win the game. More easily than anybody. I mean, they can beat you four or three. All right, we are counting down to England, DR Congo, Jude, at the stadium in Atlanta. That's in 34 minutes and 47 seconds.

But first, here's friend of the show, Darren Fletcher, with some first things first-esque commentary. Take a listen. You then told us that when you're, you know, over in Europe, you listen to our podcast when you're walking the dog, so you might be familiar with some of our bits. So I'm not, you've already done a lot for the show, just some, a couple ideas quickly. Is you open to taking these ideas? Well, he's just going to turn off the Zoom, so just an idea. Similar to Corden getting Mboppe to do the flute. If during a game that you're calling.

a team is right about to win or maybe make it further than they've ever made it. First things first. No. KW. I don't know. I think it's a name. I've got, I've got just let me, I got this. This is for you though. My God, Owen, Sweden on the doorstep of destiny.

That's an idea. No, but I'm a friend. Just an idea. Doorstep of destiny. I'm going to write this down. I'm going to write this down. Doorstep of destiny. You do wonder from a French perspective whether they stand on a,

the doorstep of destiny this year. We're about to kick off. First things first. Can you please let me... 10 o'clock on FS1. All right, first things. You could say first things first. First things first, Owen Hargreaves. How on earth is Sweden?

Slow down the French attack. This episode is brought to you by Activia. You might already be eating yogurt, but not all yogurts are created equal. Activia contains over one billion probiotics per serving to survive and reach the gut alive. When it comes to gut health, Activia is the number one family doctor-recommended probiotic yogurt brand.

Choose Activia. Feel good from the inside out. Visitactivia.ca for more details. Welcome back to first things first. We are counting down to USA taking on Bosnia and Herzegovina in 8 hours and 29 minutes from San Francisco. Nick, your expectations for your guy, Policic, but you've been a little harsh on one assist.

No goals. One assist, no goals. I'll take that, though. And makes it the full 90 minutes and injured. Oh, that's that. Makes it, it does not come off the big. Who score for us? Baligan.

A defender on a header on a corner. Ooh. That's Chris Richards likes to float down there sometimes. And a sub? Geo time, baby. That's I hear you. I think, well, listen. NBA fast break time.

LeBron is looking for a new home. Where is he going to go? We've talked about the Warriors. We talked about the heat. We talked about the cats. Oh, my. These are some wild card teams. Wow.

Photoshop. A photo. Starting with the finals team, the Spurs, Brew. Would you like LeBron with Wemby, Castle, and Ron Harper's son, who he is a fan of? He's a fan of Ron's son. He liked Ron's son. The father, you know, I'll leave it. Luke Warma.

This, in a sense, this will. would be what wilds? Delicious. That's right. Delicious. I mean, it would be like, LeBron,

I want you to be the full-time power forward. Oh. Because that's what they need. They need a power forward, and he can obviously hit the three. He can play physical when they need it. He can rebound. Like,

I would love that in a sense, but it's not going to happen. And honestly, I don't think LeBron or Wembe or me would want that to happen. The big three. I think they're a young team. I think when LeBron was coming up, he wouldn't have necessarily wanted something like that. So I think they're trying to have their own identity. They feel like they learn from that loss to the Knicks and they're ready.

And I don't think LeBron, I just don't, I don't see that as a, it'd be a great basketball fit, but I don't see them doing it. I know this isn't sound maybe obvious. And I'm not disrespectful. the Knicks. If LeBron were on that team last year, they were the champion. The Spurs? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. There's just, no, if you were just it's like, hey, guys, I can only

play five quarters for you all season. It will be the fourth quarter of your finals games. They win all the, no question. If he got signed somehow, like, didn't even, never played with the team. Correct. Just you would not have blown those. So that's the only it would be a way to guarantee him winning his fifth ring.

Okay. So they're going to win it. But they're going to win it with or without LeBron. Oh, okay. I mean, I don't... Bouncing the ball off guys' backs. So that's the one thing... The one thing you said that I surprised me a bit was... I mean, he didn't rid of Deer & Fox?

Well, I just think... I understand you're saying about his position would be power forward. But he would definitely be your crunch time point guard, right? He would be the guy... Probably in crunch time. Yeah, like, he would be the guy running your offense in crunch time. I... if this, I don't think this is going to happen, I agree with you.

Would I like it? I mean, I guess I would have mixed feelings on it. Let me ask you this. Yeah, what you're surprised about it? Well, yeah, I thought you would like it. I understand what Bruce saying. It would feel a little. I get the passing of the torch piece of it from, you know,

just to not be argumentative. One goat candidate to another potential goat candidate. that part's cool but I understand what Bruce saying which is you know how it would be really

it's a weird spot to put Wimby in like you know that and so he probably I mean it's his team and he probably wants to be his team even though LeBron you know at this stage

it wouldn't be his team it would kind of feel like Wimby and LeBron and I mean LeBron is LeBron right and so let me just ask you this if that here's the other piece of it.

That's your opinion quickly, because I know we have to move on. If they went, if he went there, they won the title and let's assume LeBron was excellent. Do you think he gets full fifth ring credit? No. I don't think so either.

Because like I said, I think they're going to win it anyway and a lot of people feel it. And so... He would get a lot of credit. Full fifth ring credit. Full. 100%. A lot of people, when it comes to the Jordan-Lebron

debate, there would be people, yeah, that fifth ring wasn't the same. But look, a lot of Kareemes, his last three rings were with magic being the man and all that. All right, a few years ago, moving on, a few years ago, some people were saying that no one could beat this team in a seven-game

series, but now they're just a very, very good team that's not good at defense. Defense would still be a problem here. LeBron to Denver, Nick. All right, so I love it from a basketball fit. It would, your point on the defense, I think, is correct. They would be incredibly Aaron Gordon reliant. It would, in a weird way, make me more apt

to try to see if I could do a Jamal Murray, Jalen Brown trade. That's interesting. And even though that, you know, you're cutting down on shooting somewhat there, I just, you don't need another ball handler at all if you have LeBron and Joker. And here's what I will just say as far as wild cards that actually are possible. LeBron's friends, close friends with the owner, or the owner's son. I don't know if Stan or Josh Cronky, who owns the team. But, yeah, Josh Cronkey.

He's good friends with one of the assistant coaches, Jared Dudley. There was the whole LeBron and Maverick and Joker's agent in the south of France on a boat Instagram thing. Like the summer of 25 is great to make plans for the summer of 26 or something that I believe and still believed then and still believe now was more about potentially planning for the league

Maverick was thinking about opening overseas that he's not doing anymore. But I would like this a lot. from basketball's same point. And I do think he would get full fifth ring credit. I absolutely do because I don't think people look at the nuggets as close right now at all compared to where they would be. Look, a lot of, I mean, we talked about the Spurs, the Nuggets.

These are, when you just, strictly basketball, these are great options. Yes. Like we talked about Cleveland, Miami, and Golden State. These are actually better. As far as winning the championship, these are better options. Spurs, I think they clearly win with LeBron. There's no doubt about that. Nuggets, who we know played the Spurs very tough and would probably be able to beat the Spurs with LeBron.

This is another great option to win a championship. Quickly. And him and Yoke is our better fit than Luca and LeBron. Because Yolkish doesn't dominate the ball as much dribbels. We talk about how much fun it would be to play. with Steph and the Warriors and Draymond. Do you think the two genius, you know, several, but like two of the guys were known as like basketball geniuses playing together,

would that be more fun than playing with the Warriors? Wow. It'd be a ton of fun for him. More fun? That's a good question. I mean, like who do you think who, where would he have the most fun? Not talking about like the city. I think goals.

In between the lines. Like, man, it's so much fun to play with this guy. the highest level of basketball. I think the answer to that is Joker. More than Stefan. Yeah, I mean, he's played with Stefan and had a great time. You know what I mean? The Olympics, that was awesome.

But I think the answer to that is Joker because who is, this is pop quiz I don't mean to do it, and I'm doing it to myself. Who's the best passer? LeBron's ever had as a teammate. I think the answer is Lakers Rondo. Like, I don't think, for all, he's had a bunch of great teammates, obviously.

But that's, you know, he's had great scores, great shooters. But he's never, aside from Lakers Rondo, he hasn't ever had a teammate whose, like, best skill might be their passing. And to be honest, I mean, a lot of guys would say that, you know what I mean, other than the point guard. Yeah. And so I'm just saying like he hasn't been a teammate with what I would call a great traditional point guard other than late, late stage Rondo. So this would be the closest to that. And I'm glad for the record, we're not on time to get to the T-Wolps thing, because I do not like that idea. It's an insane team.

I love it. LeBron with Lamello Ball. And Rudy Gaubert. I like the team a lot. All right, Christian Polisic, we are counting down to USA, taking on Bosnia and Herzegovina on Fox Canada won. Mexico won. Can we win all the home countries advancing eight hours, 19 minutes, and 56 seconds. Could AI help you do more of what you love?

Workday is the AI platform for HR and finance that actually knows your business. We help you handle the have-to-dos so you can focus on the can't-wait-to-dos. It's a new workday. Welcome back to First Things First Flo, Balligan. Eight hours and 16 minutes we were taking on Bosnia and Herzegovania from the Bay. Nick, you've got Balligan scoring a goal of this game. Yes, correct. I do. One of three for the U.S.

Policic. He doesn't have a balligan, Polisic, maybe Geo and the bonus. Let Geo get on the board again. He's coming off the bench, definitely. Tonight in the Bay, USA, taking on Bosnia, Hertzcovenia. Last four World Cups for the USA,

we've lost the knockout game four times. Our last knockout stage win was in 2002. How much pressure are we under Nick? Listen, this has been an unbelievable tournament. to this point. The only thing that can change that is losing tonight. It is for all of these guys, the biggest game they've ever played, and it should be treated as our progression towards being a serious international competitor is treating this game as seriously as mixed metaphors a bit, but Brazil would have treated losing to Japan.

Now, Brazil's got obviously the greatest soccer history and they're a better team in the U.S. and Japan's better than Bosnia. So maybe it's, you know, in the similar odds, honestly, as far as level of favorite, it would be an unforgivable catastrophe to lose this game. And it was going to be a disaster to get knocked out in the round of 32 before the tournament. an even bigger disaster given, A, the level we've shown that we are able to play, and B, the fact that we earned this draw and this team in the first round. So maximum pressure is my answer.

Whatever the highest pressure possible is, that's where it's at. Yeah, agreed. Immense amount of pressure on the U.S. men's national team. If you think back to, let's call it eight years ago, when this process started, when the U.S. men's national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Right, but couldn't get a tie against. Trinidad Tobago and so they missed the tournament. Don't remind me, all right.

I was there. Sorry. Thanks. Sorry. That's why I mentioned it. Christian Polisik was there. Young, I believe he was 17 years old, still being heavily relied upon. But, you know, we were in the locker room after the game and he had tears in his eyes.

And then it was Christian Polisic, Tyler Adams, Weston McKinney, the new age of this new hope for American teams, to change the way that the rest of the world views U.S. soccer. This is your moment. 2022, you had 13 players there, you got out of the group and you lost to the Netherlands. Okay, good run. Kind of met expectations. The expectations have been raised. The bar has been raised. So now with bigger expectations and greater expectations comes greater pressure.

You have to win this game. You have to win this game because for a few things that I believe are inarguable. Three things, talent, experience, coaching. We are the more talented team, top to bottom with more depth. We have multiple players playing in the UAF the Champions League, players who have won big, important trophies. We're the more talented team. Experience.

We had 13 returning players from last year who all got great experience, playing in a World Cup, playing in a knockout round game. Bosnia Hertzegovina, this is their first knockout round game. We have more experience. Coaching. We talked about this a little bit off air. This is Bosnia's head coach's first coaching gig. He was a player, and then he became a professional poker player,

Which is absolutely incredible. I do. I have to tell you. That gives them the X-Factor. That's a little bit of an X-Factor, but anyways, Marito Pochitino, one of the best coaches in the world, has proven his chops in this World Cup. And then bonus take. Bonus take?

We're playing at home. There are absolutely no excuses for the U.S. men's national team. Immense amount of pressure. I think they're going to deliver tonight. You guys are completely right. This would be, you could say, the biggest, disappointment in history for this team. But I go back to 98.

In 94, they had finished in the round of 16. So there's hope, like, okay, we're building something. 98, 0 and 3, dead last in the whole 32 team tournament. So that was obviously bad. 18, we missed, you know, didn't even qualify. But this would rank right up there with those embarrassments. I want to talk in-game pressure Dax. This is set-piece goals just in the group stage.

We just took the stats from the group stage. We're great at set pieces. Bosnia and Herzegovina, they don't score a ton of goals, but they have three off of set pieces. Yeah. If we go down one-nothing, does the pressure ratchet up to the point where our play starts to not necessarily fall apart, but will you start to see it in play?

And how will you, what will you see that maybe we don't? We're like, uh-oh, guys are getting tight. The pressure absolutely ratchets up, but I think that this team is experienced enough to know that they can't panic. Depends on when the goal is scored, of course. They score a goal in the first half. I'm not worried.

Kind of like Nick wasn't worried about that first half for Brazil and being down. I would not be worried if the U.S. men's national team was down in the first half because there's plenty of time to get back in the game. We have proven in this tournament that attacking-wise, we are one of the most dynamic teams that has played.

Our chance creation is there, the fluidity and the movement of the attacking front four or five players, we are going to cause Bosnia a ton of problems. If that goal comes in the 70th or 80th minute, then I'm very concerned. And so set pieces are going to be really important because when you play in these really tight games, that is almost the great equalizer. And, by the way, Bosnia is on average height, the tallest team in the tournament. So that is something that we have to be incredibly diligent about is making sure that we do not allow silly foul silly set pieces, dumb corner kicks in and around the box.

That is going to be key for the U.S. men's national team. I think that they are going to be so focused. That's not really a big concern. We're a good team. And it is, there's a little Stockholm syndrome of, you know, U.S. soccer fans at the World Cup of like, all right, and it's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that we don't deserve joy. Right.

But if we simply play our. game, we went. That's never been the case for any game in World Cup history at the knockout round, where it's just like, hey, you don't have do anything great. We're happy to be here. Right, you don't have to have to have Tim Howard set the World Cup record for saves, just

stay in a game. If you just play, you know, 85% as well as you played in either of the first two knockout round games, you'll win. And then you get rolling. Sounds like Wembe. We just play normal. We win. That is true. But we're not

playing Jalen Bruncston and the Knicks.