First Things First - Messi scores hat-trick, France World Cup favorites, Nick’s Tiers, Spurs or Knicks back to Finals?

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

(0:00) Messi scores hat-trick, France deserve to be favorites? (26:12) Spurs or Knicks more likely to head back to Finals? (38:04) Is Nick Sirianni a legendary HC? (47:05) Nick’s Tiers (01:08:19) Could this be Baker Mayfield’s last year with the Bucs?  (01:17:59) How much pressure is on Ronaldo? 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. Oh, they picked another good anglic, oh, brilliant from a... Well, was, well hit, though. Nusa wanted it. Nusa has it.

Mullah Fulta on the overlap. Ehrlich. With the goal kick. They've been good. They've grown into the game. They've been brave. And you look at the match momentum there. A lot of the time is.

Right up the gut. What a ball. That is. Messi on the turn. Options either side. Lino M. They're totally as far as. Alexis McAllister on the deck's and all the sitting.

Inside. Back out it goes. Nico Gonzalez. Lino Messie. Lino Messie. Live from New York. To show it's not saying that the three Legos inspired Messi, but they didn't hurt. There's nobody out here that.

better represented than Messi. The main piece, which is really a work of art, the big guy here, and the little one over by Brew. You know, who's the only person out here other than Messi with multiple? Mbapé? Nope. Mbapapes got one.

Vinnie Jr.'s got one. Christiana Rinaldo. A lot of pressure on him. A lot of pressure on him. If Rinaldo does not score, his Lego is off the desk. Ronaldo didn't sleep last night. He got at least score. One.

At least he has to score or the Lego gets smashed outside and this side. Relax. It would be fun. Relax. It'll be fun. Relax. Remember we smashed? We'll be smashed.

My friends at the Lego Corporation who have given me nothing for free and I've spent way too much money, especially after that's not. Nothing. Not even. Nothing for free. A little oversight. Not including my guy who Dax was trying to say wasn't as good as Harry Kane, Erling Holland, in his first World Cup game ever.

I like hot. A nice little afternoon, as Bruce said, Brace. Can Harry play a game yet? Can Harry play a game? You know what? I'll take the under on two goals for Harry Keyes. He'll score one. He'll score one.

A brutal mistake. You got to be there. I understand. You got to be there. But today, hold on, Brew. We know you got a lot of it. Hot takes. Today, Messi scores three goals.

How much pressure is on Ronaldo after Messi's hat trick? Meanwhile, Wemby lost. But did he actually win in the long run? run. So Rosie Perez, White Man Can't Jump, reference. Sometimes you win. Oh, is that what that is? You actually lose, yeah.

It's going to be good for it. Okay. And finally reference. Rosie Perez and White Men Can't. Well, I'm sorry. Is Rosie Perez a Knicks fan? Thank you. It's great movie.

Was that before you were born? About basketball? I remember it like it was yesterday. And yeah, and by the way, Jack Harlow was in the remake. It wasn't. No, the remake wasn't really good. They should have left me a little bit.

They should have left me. It came out in the early 90s. It's a great. It was a great stand. World Cup tears. Did you see it? You sounded like you didn't see you. You never saw.

Of course. Wesley Snyder Al-Wayette. But don't. How dare you? DeWayne. How dare you? Oh, from a different world. Flip the glasses up.

I had those glasses as a kid. That is not surprising. Dax McCarty is here to talk World Cup. We're starting in Kansas City. Earlier in the day, Mbafé had passed messy for all time. Cup goals. By the end of the day, Messi had tied Miroslav Closa for the most goals ever. Three goals on the night, 16 total in his World Cup career. Argentina starts their title

defense with an emphatic victory. Here was Henri's reaction. We said before the game that this guy and the guy we're going to see tomorrow, they're both on the moon. And he reminded us why he is, who he is. And Argentina also reminded us that they are the oldest doesn't forget about them. But Leo is just different. It's just a different topic. Okay, so here, oldest players to score a hat trick.

It's Messi and Ronaldo. We're going to have more on Ronaldo's pressure in a bit. But first, we're going to go to your hometown, Nick, your reaction to Messi having a goat-esque performance. Listen, I am very happy that my hometown got to experience that. Not just because it's my hometown, but Kansas City is, in my opinion, I think in everyone's opinion, one of the best soccer season. in America. In my opinion, I think it might be

the best. I think the ratings for this tournament are continuing to back that up. And for them to see the greatest player ever have, statistically speaking, you know, his greatest World Cup performance, obviously the final last year is his actual greatest World Cup performance,

is just unbelievable. And I'm going to let you guys focus more on what he did yesterday. I want for the audience to recognize how unlikely this part of Messi's story existing is. Leo Messi was already in the goat conversation,

and people thought, yeah, but the World Cups have been tough. It was the biggest criticism of him. One, there was, when they made the final in 2014, he was so heavily criticized, he briefly retired. There was a time when Diego Maradona, the previous greatest Argentinian player ever, criticized him and said he cares more about Real Madrid than he does about Argentina. Barcelona. I'm sorry, he cares more about Barcelona in Spain than he does about playing for Argentina.

One year ago, not today, but one year ago after Argentina's first World Cup match, it looked like this was going, they lost to Saudi Arabia, and it looked like, okay, this is just going to be the only yeah but on his resume. Since then, they've played eight games. He has scored 10 goals. He arguably has, you know, on the Mount Rushmore of greatest performances in a final, just tied Marisov-Closé's record. Just in the last 10 games, he has more World Cup goals than Maradonna or Cristiano Ronaldo in their careers.

He now has as many as Ronaldo and Maradona combined in their careers. It is such for one of the greatest athletes ever to at this stage of his career go from World Cup Yeah, but, to being, if we show the graphic dust,

the all-time leader, this is what his resume was outside of the World Cup. That's why he was one of the greatest ever. Solid. But now you actually, to add to it that this is his World Cup resume. He's first in tournaments, first in games, first in goals, one more assist. He'll be first there, first in goals and assists.

I don't know that anybody could have said they saw it coming, and it's just, he just continued the heater he was on in last year's World Cup. He continues to get better with age, which is astounding. A lot of people thought when he came to Major League soccer, that was an acknowledgement of, all right, I'm going to do it for my family, I'm going to ride off into the sunset. And he has done nothing but get better year after year. He's one back-to-back MVPs in Major League Soccer.

And he has been emphatic in his performance last night. And Brew, we joke before the show, I said, hey, do you have the extra neck brace for me to wear? I mean, I'm getting slaughtered on social media from the Argentinian fans. But that wasn't unfair that you thought that they would manage his minutes. The whole reason I thought that Algeria had a chance to spring an upset, a, aka a draw with Argentina in the first game, it was all predicated on Messi's health, right?

He was injured before coming into the tournament. He played 20 minutes in their warm-up game and looked fantastic. But I wasn't sure if Scoloni was going to say, let's manage this, let's ease him in. And Algeria was quite good, actually, in the lead up to the World Cup. They beat the Netherlands, 1-0. They tied Uruguay 0-0, defensively looks sound. And so, yes, you know what? I'm taking heat right now.

I'll take it. But guess what? Lionel Messi is the greatest player that's ever lived. he is just continuing to add to that, to add to his legacy with last night kind of being the exclamation point on behind the World Cup final yesterday, one of his greatest performances ever. Argentina certainly in the form Messy's in right now look like one of the favorites. Again.

Quickly before I go, because you said getting better with age. Yeah. Do you mean that, like, or is it, he's still a great player even at his advanced age? Do you really mean he's getting better? because Nick kind of brought up how he's had this surge the last two World Cups. At the age of 38, about to be 39, I believe, in a week. He is still one of the best players in the world. You can make an argument he is the best player in the world still.

But he has had to adjust. He has had to change his game up a little bit. He's not the same player he was at Barcelona, where he would go on these mazy dribbling runs, and he would dribble by five or six players, and he had this incredible stamina and burst to be able to do that at the highest level at 90 minutes in Major League Soccer, he's had to adjust his game. He doesn't press as much defensively.

He conserves his energy to be able to attack and to do what he does best. And he always makes the right decision for what the game requires. If the game requires him to be a passer, a playmaker, if the game requires him to find teammates because he's being double and triple teamed, he will do that. He can make the passes that lead to goals. But if the game requires him to be a goal scorer and put the team on his back and say, I will take responsibility. He absolutely does that.

The one thing that Argentina does, that is so impressive, they all still play for him. They play for their country, but Messi is Argentina. The most impressive thing about yesterday was not the fact that they completely dominated Algeria. It was the fact that there was no complacency that has set in. They won the World Cup, which was the pinnacle of Messi in Argentina, and yet they look like they're still hungry to do it again, repeat. It was a tremendous performance. So see if I have this right.

Older, but you could argue in moments, in huge moments, you'd rather have him more than anyone else out there. Has conserves his energy, doesn't go on these impressive athletic runs anymore, but still skillful. The moment's never too big, and when the lights are the brightest, he's going to come through. It is very LeBron-esque. Yeah.

No, I mean, no, I was thinking this, I mean, not just during our conversation, But even watching the game yesterday and just looking at his career, guy in the goat conversation, who is just defying father time. And I was going to say this, and it does tie into LeBron, before I even get to Messi fully, yesterday, and we'll get to Mbapé, of course,

yesterday had to be one of the greatest days in the history of the World Cup. I'll say at the group stage. I won't go to the later stages, even though I guess you could argue that. But you got three superstars all at different stages. Holland in his first World Cup at 25, Mboppa, 27 smack dab in the middle of his prime. And Messi supposedly toward the end as an older guy in the goal conversation. And all three of them delivered.

Like I was saying this would be like a Christmas day when the NBA used to own Christmas Day before the NBA. NFL. And Wimby has a great game. And then Brunson has a great game. And then LeBron comes in and throws up a triple double. Like that was phenomenal. And it almost, I know,

I guess this probably wasn't the case. But it felt to me like, wow, did Messi see Mboppe? Oh, I think that's true. He passed. Zero question about it. He passed him on the all-time. goals list.

Right. We were talking about Mboppa. Yesterday on the show, we're like Mbapé is going to catch Closa. At some point in this tournament. You said it. Thank you. No, but we didn't even acknowledge that Mesa was only three behind. Mbapes was four behind Closa, but he's so much younger in Fras.

He had done it in so fewer games and stuff. But I think, Brew, what you're saying, you're saying he probably didn't. I think he definitely did. I think he saw Mbapapé do that. and say, all right, let's see. Anything you can do, I can do better. And let's see if he can. The odds are, when it's all said and done,

it will be Mbapé's record. Like, in the future. In the future. But Messi could own it for the next four years. He could, but. If he outscreened. This is actually, I think, in the, in the macro of the entire World Cup, we now have, I think, a nice little individual rally or rival.

between Messi and Mbapé to see who's, I think they're both going to catch closer. They're both going to pass this season. No question. Who's going to wind up as the all-time World Cup goals leader at the end of this tournament? I think Mbapay is going to have a lot to say about that. It's also who is actually going to win the Golden Boot at this World Cup because Erling Holland is going to have a say in it, as is Harry Kane. You have just this wealth of brilliant attacker. I've already had one bad take, but we'll say the golden boot race in this World Cup is going to be one for the age.

It really did feel like, sorry. That France and Argentina playing on the same day, Mbapé and Messi just picked, it was like the fourth, the third half of the World Cup final. Where Messi scored two goals, Argentina wins, Mbapapap has the hat trick in the final. So those two guys in their last two World Cup games have five goals each. You know what I mean? And so like that is when the all-time record for total World Cup goals is 16, for those two guys have five each in their last two games is just unbelievable. So I think that's exactly what's happened.

Yeah, if they're like baseball, I'd be hitting like 300 home runs. All right. Quickly, I want to get off the goal scoring and talk about. The potential card that wasn't from Messi, it's one nothing. He's already put one in the back of the net. So the 31st minute, around the 31st minute, what was your take on this takedownown from Messi? Well, Argentina fans, now that we've had five, six minutes of kissing, making up,

and you guys like me again, this is a red card from Leonel Messi. Right card. Yeah, and there is a lot of factors that go into this. excessive force, intentional, not intentional, that doesn't matter. That is quite honestly the definition of endangering the safety of an opponent. So the hands up that you don't put intention. But it's because he knows. He knows that that is something, whether you mean to do it or not is irrelevant.

The fact that it's raking the studs down the back of the calf, the force, he actually does it, but then he pulls out. He knows that he makes a mistake, but he knows he could potentially be in trouble. So why not yellow card? I agree. I think everybody sees it. It couldn't be, like most referees, you're going to get 50% of referees that would say, yeah, that probably deserves to be a red card. And then the other 50% would say, well, he pulled out.

Even though he raked down the back of his calf, it wasn't excessive force. I do think that's endangering the safety of an opponent. And the fact that the ref, the VAR didn't even call the ref over to look at it is a little bit surprising. So I think, yeah, Messi's a little bit fortunate. But a yellow question. question. Is it surprising? I don't, I hate to just keep, you know, crossing sports. But I put it in the same exact bucket that I put the Wimby shove on Brunson, which is, there is no harm in a yellow card there. There's no harm in a flagrant one in that, which is

what I was advocating for. Now, you have to be more careful. The problem is the terminology. You're endangering the safety of an opponent right there studs to the back of the guy's cat. Yeah, that was probably, I mean, that was probably worse than Wimby. Oh, definitely. Except one's intentional ones now. Yeah, the unintentionalness of it doesn't matter. It doesn't factor into it. And it's getting on the calf. Is that unintentional?

I mean, you know what I mean? Like, you're not doing that. He's not doing it on purpose. There's absolutely no world where Messi is meaning to do that. But that doesn't matter. That does not, that should not factor into a referee decision. And so you would again, see, 50% of referees reffing this game would say that's a red card. Listen, I know we have other stuff to get to.

Can I? No, I think this is fascinating. I understand you obviously know far better than me how the actual rules are written. If it truly, it's outrageous in my opinion for it not to matter what the intent was in this regard. It certainly should matter if you did try to do it. You understand what I mean? The penalty should be like, you spiked me earlier and I'm going to purposely in the 89. Ninth minute.

If I am in the, we can, you know, again, sorry to cross the sports stuff. But the wimby elbow to Nas read, sometimes there are elbows that forceful that are accidental. And those are. The one where he caught cat. Right. And those and just in my, just logically in my head, I have way more, it's not that those aren't a penalty, but I have way more grace for that than when you know someone did it intentionally.

I do think messy got obviously a messy benefit of the doubt. But I just think, I think a yellow card would have been the perfect kind of compromise there. I don't understand why you got nothing. And I wouldn't have had a massive issue with a yellow card there. But when you slow it down, when you factor in where it was on the back of the cap, it is endangering the safety of an opponent. I think Messi gets a little bit fortunate in here. He doesn't even get a yellow card, which is insane.

But if I am trying to win the ball, and if I'm late to a slide tackle, because I'm playing against Mbapé and he gets to the ball before me and I break his ankle, It does not matter that I did not intend to do that. You have to have control of your. So now, if it was reversed in an Algerian player spiked messy. And didn't get a card, you would have all of Argentina. Even if it was unintentional, then that would make sense. Okay, let's go.

We're at France. I know. I was going to switch it, though. It's your squad. We'll do it quick. Just do France quickly. We'll move it later. All right.

Earlier in the day, New York, France shook off a quiet first half, erupted for three goals, two from Mbapé, who also celebrated by playing the flute. He becomes the country's leading goal score, France rolls. Here's Henri on Mbapé and Olise. Killian answered the call, and I was very confident. I said I will back him for him to answer the call, and he did. But he will always be our MVP. Michael Olysset is starting to be our MIP, most important player, because that connection that we need from midfield defense to him, that's the guy who've been missing for a long time in France,

that little number 10 role. All right. Odds to win the World Cup. France is number one, Spain. Not impressive. At two. England, Portugal. They just weren't.

Argentina is at five. I think that's surprisingly low. Brazil, Germany, and then the Netherlands. Dax, we'll start with you. They're actually second in their group behind Norway because of the gold differential. Did France look like the best team in the world yesterday? In the second half, 100%. In the first half, you described it as, I think, poor, dreadful.

They were awful in the first half. And take nothing away from Senegal, who was very good, organized, compact. Senegal should have been winning that game two zero yesterday. They hit the post, got extremely unfortunate that the ball bounces back off the goalkeeper's heel out for a corner kick instead of going in his own goal. And then just a sitter was missed at the end of the first half. So they theoretically could have been up two zero, should have been up two zero. So Didier Deschonk is one of the best coaches in the world for France.

He makes a slight tactical adjustment. He puts Belondor winner Dembele from the middle out wide on the right. And he moves Michael Elisa, who Tierra-R-Rey-on-Reed just spoke about as being the most important player into the middle to be that connection between the midfield and the attackers. And he was brilliant. Completely changed the whole complexion of the game. Senegal had no answers for France's movement. And Mbapé, when he is in the form that he is in, in terms of his goal scoring, his running in behind, his pace, his finishing ability. That pass right there from Olise. Mbapapé, he doesn't have to take a

first touch. Abpe actually had a couple sloppy first touches in the first half. He had a bunch in the where he lost opportunities for chances. He's right on top of the six yard box. The pace of the ball from Olise is such that he doesn't even have to think. He turns Kula Bali, the centerback is a little bit late and then France is off and running. And then the second goal is a world-class finish. That is killing Mbapapap at his absolute best. France playing like they did in the second half. They are almost unplayable, untouchable. If they do play like that, they still should be considered the favorite, and I still back them to win the World Cup.

My favorite moment of yesterday's game was after Senegal scored. And in Boppe, I think we have the video, it looks like he's telling, I don't know if this the crowd or his bench, because the coach was really upset. And he's telling him calm down. I got this. I got this. A minute later, a minute later, he had. has this long-range goal, which was incredible.

And so that was just stunning to me that he went out there and made them in. It wasn't his fault. They scored. But right away, he answered. And that was my favorite moment of yesterday's game. Listen, switch flipped at halftime. And that's the, it is, you know, the rest of the world watches that first half. And it's like, okay.

All right, you know what? maybe they are a little complacent. Maybe they are, you know, more getable than we thought. And then in the second half, like, in a weird way, them being that bad in the first half and then doing that in the second half made them scarier than if they were just awesome for all 90s. It was their wake-up call with no consequences. And it does, and it does show you, like, if you're playing them,

at no point should you feel like, oh, they just don't have it today. Like to be that they can play. Correct. Because it was, I think, a half dozen plays in the first half. Where it looked like he was just sloppy. Too casual. Right.

Too casual from both. And then they just dominated. Can I ask you about this was, Landon was talking on the broadcast of Senegal's game plan once they were behind and how gold differential works. And they're, and tell me if I'm wrong, but it felt like there was two paths.

Senegal could have gone down. One, we're going to lose this game. We're pretty confident. But you know what? Let's lose one nothing. Everybody will lose to France, and that will be our way out of the group stage. The other one is, which I think is the more honorable way,

man, let's try to tie it up and let's try to win the game. It felt like it backfired. Do you agree with that strategy, and do you see other teams now that going with a more conservative style since you can play it safe and probably escape the group stage. Yeah, no, you have to go for it. You have to back yourself to go and get back in the game, even if you are playing the best team in the world.

And by the way, Senegal is a fantastic team. They are one of the top two teams in Africa, and they have world-class players all over the field. So at no point, even when they go down one-zero, would they be considering goal differential? Let's just sit in. You cannot tell that to world-class players who think they can go toe-to-to-to-to with France.

and why wouldn't they feel that way? They were really good in the first half, and they actually should have scored two goals. And so, yeah, no, I don't think it comes into their minds at all about goal difference. I think they're going to say, we're going to step on the field, we're going to beat Norway, and we're going to try to get second in the group. What if they don't beat Norway? That's a different conversation, isn't it?

It's very interesting. I'm all for like going for it until you're like, eh, hey, that was unwise. All right, France's next matchup is Iraq in Philadelphia on Monday. After the break, we're going back to basketball. Are the Knicks going to go back to back? And, of course, we are counting down to Ronaldo's World Cup debut, eight goals and 22 matches in five World Cups. He will be making his six in two hours, 33 minutes, and 52 seconds.

KW, to your point, Senegal, might be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the third place teams, eight of them. This is all right. This is okay. This could be a new celebration. First game against Senegal. If you not this, score your first goal, bang. Top corner, you run here, here. Straight to here.

Yeah, I'll do it for you. Right? First game. Okay. Well, they picked another good angle again. Oh, brilliant. Tell you what, James Corton must have a lot of pull. One of the best players in the world just a celebration at his request in the opening match of a World Cup.

I have several takes on this. Yeah. That was cool. Okay. Take number one. This is not totally unique that we've seen several pre-planned celebrations in different sports. The video of the planning usually comes out after the celebration. Hey, it turns out the lions were practicing that bowling celebration at practice.

It's not, hey, we're going to do this celebration when we score a touchdown. This was out. So he predicted, yeah, I'll do that when I score in Senegal. So the confidence is 10x what I've ever seen in my life. That is take one. Take two. If it's on the board that guys are taking requests for celebration from hosts in the Fox family like James Courtney is currently. We had the World Cup Wednesday.

We talked to Tim Rine. Very unlikely he's going to score. Chris Richards, maybe on a header or something, Burrhalter we had on the show. Should we reach out to someone and say, hey, for your next goal, could you do a first thing's first style celebration? What would it be? Putting Legos together.

We need something. But this is an opportunity. We just talked about in the A block, hey, oh, saw Mboppe. Now Messi wants to do something. Did anyone get to Messi? Can we talk to Matt? He's in Kansas City. He's in Adidas guy like Mahomes.

You did the never-a-doubt thing. Mahomes tweeted it. This is a huge moment for us that we can't pass up. Okay, leader of the show, you quarterback that one. Okay. You go get in touch with one of them. I'll connect you to Patrick. See if he can connect you to Leonel Messi.

Vee. Start with, look, Wilde loves Adidas. Okay. And it's like, oh, okay. And then Mahomes be like, hey, messy, it's wild, fellow Adidas guy. We got it. We got to come up with something better than...

Yeah, the leg was. I was thinking pretend to be walking in on crutches. Like that. Doorstep of destiny for messy. New York Knicks have the second best odds to win the East. Spurs are tie with the Thunder. Best odds to win the Westbro. Also have the best odds to win the finals.

Now, we haven't had a repeat champion in eight years, the longest back-to-back, in NBA history. Which team do you think is more likely to get back to the finals? Well, I'm not writing off the Knicks chances of getting back to the finals. But the East is going to be tougher. Boston, you'll have Jason Tatum a full year. We'll see if they make a trade for Janus or whatever.

But that would improve them. Detroit has got to go out and get another score. We don't know who it's going to be. But if they do that, they'll be better. And then, of course, Indiana already has Seaccombe, Pascal Seaccombe, and now Zubach. Tyreys Halliburton will be back. so they'll be tougher. So the next will have a chance.

Or one out for Danny. Cavs not even mentioned. No, no. We'll see. Do they get LeBron? If that, then I mention them. But I'm going with the Spurs. No contender is going to improve as much as the Spurs.

And that certainly right now without like making a huge trade or getting a big free agent signing. But maybe even if a contender does make a big signing. Yeah. They're still like the Spur. three best players, Dylan Harper, Stefan Castle, and of course, Wimby, are all going to improve because they're so young. And Wembe, obviously, is a superstar.

Castle and Harper are going to be stars, at least. They're going to be stars. Castle will be a star next season. Harper may be a star next season, right? He was great, obviously, in the finals and the playoffs. So they're going to get much better We'll see if they make any addition. We talked yesterday about could they trade Fox, DeRan Fox?

Did they add a Rui Hachamora, some type of 6-9, 3-D power forward? But they're going and Ms. Johnson is going to get better too, I would presume. So I got the Spurs. Even though they're going to have a tough road because the West is tough, but I'll go with the Spurs. So the case for the Knicks is you can basically bring everybody back if you want. Now, Mitch is a free agent. Shamit, some of their key bench guys are free agents,

but I would imagine at least two of those three, because Alvarado, Shamit, and Mitch are all potential free agents. I would anticipate at least two of those guys come back. I think Mitch would be the one that is there at most at risk of losing, maybe Shamit, but I would be shocked if they lost all three. Alvarado should definitely stay. Yeah, I think Alvarado will want to stay, and he has a player option, I think it is.

So they obviously have best vibes imaginable. Great, you know, you said Mitch Johnson should improve, which is a nice way of saying Mitch Johnson needs to improve. Oh, he does. Needs to improve. Meanwhile, Mike Brown, monkey off his back now, already a great coach. The concern for the Spurs, not that there is major concern, because I agree with almost everything you said as far as,

when your core is 22, 21, and 20, they're going to get better. They're all blue chip talents. None of them have health concerns, really. Wemby's almost always a little health concern, but it's no significant injury that you look at. My actual concerns would be Wimby related. The only one is, is the rest of the league going to look at the NIC's ability

to, I think, frustrate him and get under his skin as a blueprint and be like, okay, I know you say in the regular season you're going to call all this clutching and grabbing, but the Thunder have made a, you know, a nice run out of we are going to play so physical from the opening tip, we're going to make it really hard on the reps, and our team's just going to adopt that philosophy when they play the Spurs. Like, we're going to play Wemby so physically that it wears him down a bit and can frustrate him. That's first worry.

And the other worry is related to the fact that Dylan Harper is going to be a star and maybe a superstar, which is the, it is not always a, it's not always great to have an MVP guy and a superstar sidekick when they're both young and growing together. Russ and Durant broke up, Shaq and Penny broke up. obviously Shaq and Kobe was a difference because they won so much but once Kobe became Alpha Star that you know that that frayed a bit and the added

After three titles though no no no no but that was but they won that's why I said the Shaq Kobe won's a weird one but also Kobe was so at such a different place of his career that you know Russ and KD were very similar spots in their career one guy was just better Shaq and Penny, same spots in their career.

One guy was just better. And the Deerrin Fox thing is the biggest piece of offseason drama, if you will, either one of these teams have. Because Brew, I think he's going to be on the roster next year. I think that they're not going to trade him for nothing. Right. It would be bad business to trade him right now at his low point, which does bring up the, you know, Devin Vassell.

in the post-finals press conference when he was like, you know, shout out to Dylan Harper. You know, he was frustrated with his role in his minutes. He just, I think he accidentally revealed something. He didn't think he made it as a negative. No, he was complimenting him. But it was, it was confirmation of what a lot of us assume might be the case, which is Dylan Harper's like, I should be playing more. I should be starting. I think it was. But that, was that a full, was that finals play off the regular? No, the whole year. He was talking about the whole year. At least that's what I believe he was saying. So I just think the Fox thing is tricky.

Fox and Mitch Johnson obviously trusts him the most of any of the guards. He's the veteran. I don't think you can start all three of them. I think you could. And I'm not saying they will, but I think you could. They essentially started four guards and Wimby already. I mean, Champaignie's 6-7 Vasse. Do you think that would be smart for them, bro?

I would, I think right now I would feel like I'm going to bring Fox off the bench, but obviously you have to talk with him. And he's a max guy. So that is a challenge. That's a concern. That's the big concern. Champini probably to me, if they started the three of those guys, he would be the guy to remain in the starting lineup because of his three points shooting.

Now, Vassell is very good, but I think he'd be a minimum. If you're bringing a max guy off the bench, isn't that? that a confirmation that your team is not structured correctly? Well, I don't think it's about their structure, although they, like I said, they got a ton of six, five to six, seven guys. Carter, Brown, they got a ton of them. But it's just that Harper has become so good, so quickly. Nobody could have, he should have been a sophomore in college this year.

Nobody could have foreseen that. And then Fox's unforeseen struggles. If Fox had played to the degree you expect him to play in the finals, I don't think this would be that big of a question. Well, here's the only... I mean, Harper still would be like, okay, still want to start. And so that is, again, I'm not,

they are the favorites to win the title for a reason. We haven't had not only a back-to-back champ, we haven't had a team make the finals after winning the championship. So I'm not by any means trying to be like a doom and gloom for the Spurs and Knicks are about to start a dynasty. What I am saying is Dylan Harper's ascension, while great, potentially has causes potential good problems and also maybe a couple not good problems

as far as how they are going to juggle the roster, the minutes, the ego part, which is very real in basketball. Coach has always been like, doesn't matter who starts. It's who finishes. Like, yeah, it kind of matters who starts. And I don't know. I don't know how they're going to handle that. And it doesn't seem like, I don't think Mitch Johnson's going to want to put Deer and Fox on the bench.

And I think that's probably the smartest thing. He is their safest ball handle. Yeah. I'll tell you that. Low turnover. Two hours, 18 minutes in one second. We're counting down to Portugal versus D.R. Congo on Fox. Portugal's first game in their ninth world cup.

Two hours in about 15 minutes. Canadian exporters, our ambitions, our ideas, and our potential were never meant to be boxed in. Nothing can contain us. With the support of Export Development Canada's market insights and financial solutions, you can turn obstacles into opportunities, discover new markets, and keep our nation front and center on the global stage. The world needs more Canada. Together, let's give it to them.

Visit edc.ca to learn more. A little American football, headline from Mike Silver in the Athletic. Eagles coach Nick Siriani is a hot head and a lightning rod. Just don't call him a phony. Okay, I won't. Here's what Saquan Barclay said about his coach. He doesn't get enough credit at all. I don't get why he doesn't.

What he's doing in real time? Legendary. Being honest, no one talks about it enough. We talk about plenty for the record. We talk about me rushing for 2,000 yards, but Jalen Hertz. Talk about the Eagles. But he's like the last one to get brought up. It doesn't really make any sense.

So, Sequin really riding for his coach there. Nick, do you agree that Sequin's coach is legendary? Or at least his actions are legendary as coaching. No, I don't think he's legendary. I do think his players clearly love him, and I think that matters a ton in coaching, and so I want to give him credit for that. I also, my pal Mike Silver wrote the article. Even if you can't read the whole article, try to find time to read.

the first two paragraphs. Because the very beginning of the article explains how while at a charity event painting a school, he started yelling at a guy for wearing a Panther sweatshirt in front of Mike Silver and then called the guy of Bozo and then said to Mike Silver, yeah, that's the stuff I got to stop doing. And so it is the push and the pull of, I don't think he's being fake. I do think he can have trouble regulating his emotions. and I think sometimes that works against him, but his players love him.

And so that part, you know, it can cancel itself out or work in his favor. Fine. As far as when Saquan's like, everyone gets credit essentially but him. Yeah. I do think if you take the, this is my old,

if you get the hundred richest people in the world in a room together, someone there is the least wealthy of them all. If you take the eight people most responsible for the success of a football team, you know, owner, GM, head coach, quarterback, four best players, you know, however you want to do it. Someone in that room, even if they won five Super Bowls in a row, is the least, contributes the least to it. And I think that if I were power ranking, people responsible for the Eagles, sustained excellence over the last six years, he would not be high on that list.

And I know that the year right before he got there, they were bad. But two years before that, they won the Super Bowl with a different quarterback and a different coach and different everything. And so, and I also think you, KW, have softened in your vehement support of him because it looked like you were going to have to, it was hard to be a Siriani and a Jalen Hertz guy, and you pivoted more to Jailen Hertz. So I don't even know if you disagree with me as much as you once did.

Very interesting. First of all, to your 100 richest people thing. Once you put it like that, yes, you're right. And I think that is a question that sometimes, Greg, it does seem like the Eagles fortunes fall with, who's the OC this year and if the OC is excellent then it looks like the team follows that path where Siriani who is an offensive coach the team works independently of that he's not able to just make the team excellent all the

time like Sean McVeigh would for example that being said if you looked at the Eagles organization as one unit like the human body and you're like line up the seven most important parts of the human body, the brain, the lungs, the hearts. One of them has to be the least important. Like, well, not necessarily. The thing doesn't work unless they're all functioning together. Yeah, but if the, I mean, that analogy, what if you did, what it, I'm not putting in the toe.

No, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying. Don't take shots at. No, but like, it's like a kidney transplant. It's like, it's the most important. Like, well, we were great before and then we switched you out. We were great again. Like, uh, so, like, you. I don't know how you're supposed to judge the guy.

Antiquotes, haircuts, talking trash to fans, not great, I get. Winning games, making his players reach heights that they had never reached or even expected to reach like Sequin and Jalen Hertz. I think that's a more fair way to judge him. Now, the winning percentage, Greg, when it goes guy Chamberlainville, John Madden, Lombardi, George Allen, Siriani. Look, that is a little... It's all the time.

A lot. The guy Chamberlain didn't coach enough. That's why he's not on the ground. But yeah, I mean, it's those three guys are the most legendary coaches ever. But it is what it is. Here's the other thing, though. Siriani is the only guy since 1978.

The only coach since 1978 in the top nine. So, like, no one in modern football has done what Siriani's I'm more with Wiles. I think the problem with Siriani and why he doesn't get enough credit is because of his just what you said in the beginning of that article

like being a loud mouth and his personality people don't like it. It doesn't seem like he doesn't come off as a smart guy because of the things he does even though he's obviously smart. You can't overlook four wins. I don't care that they won a Super Bowl a few years before.

Four wins the year before he, he got there. All right. Jalen Hertz was viewed as a backup who couldn't throw. And he's turned Jalen, help, he's had to play a role in Jalen Hertz becoming a three-time pro bowler, MVP candidate, and phenomenal two-time Super Bowl or in the Super Bowl twice and played tremendously.

So I just have to give him, to me, it's about wins and losses and results. Like you said, the players like him, play hard for him. And so if he does that, I'm fine with him. I think Sequin's quote is perfect. He's not calling him a legend, but he's saying what he is doing so far is legendary. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, and I think he has a unique perspective

because he was in the division. He was playing against him. And so there was a point in his career where he was looking at him, kind of like we all do because we're outside of that building. We're not our proximity isn't right there. So you're looking like, man, is this guy, you said it. Is this real or is this fake?

So you're kind of asking, is he really like, like people ask me, how is Nick on the show? How is Wilde? Like, are there personalities with? Nobody asks House Wilds, but I appreciate it. I'm a team player, Wilde. Go on, baby. Everybody knows I'm great. But the point that I'm making is once Sequin got in the building, it's like he identified.

He is like this. He's a little different. He's an acquired taste. And once you understand that, you embrace that as the players, you talked about it, the players ended up doing, then it's like you are able to see beyond that. There are some players that probably can't. AJ Brown may have been one of those guys. A quick question, Greg.

He was on, it was fourth best, right? Yeah, fourth on that fifth all time. Is he in your mind? The top 10 coach in the league right now. That's the question. The thing is this? Like we can. Is he?

Yeah, top 10. Like in the league? Like, Greg, you. You get an expansion team. Okay. You get an expansion NFL team. Like, good news. Every coach is available.

Can you give me your list of top 10 coaches because we want to set your expansion NFL team up in a good spot? Give me your list of 10. I think he makes the 10. I think he's closer to the bottom because he doesn't, to your points earlier, he doesn't carry the weight of the others. Like you hear Kyle Shanahan's name and you're like, well, he's a play caller as well. Yeah, but I haven't seen him hoist to try.

Exactly. But you're going to have them up there probably in top five. If he got fired, which I guess could be on the table after this season, I think he'd get a job pretty quick. Maybe not the next year. Well, that's what I was about to say. 158, you're fired in Syria. No, I'm saying if theoretically. He's saying he would get hired.

Yeah, I think you get hired. Two hours for counting down to Ronaldo's sixth World Cup. I can't wait for this game. Eight goals and 22 matches in his five previous World Cup. And then we're going to do a little World Cup tiers next. Right here on first things first. This game's from Houston. Live from New York.

It's the show that has just been going home, crushing World Cup, and not dealing with their kids. It's, hey, can you pick me up from CVS? I said, no, I'm watching this game. You can walk home. I, while I. Great parents. It's not too long of a walk. It's not that far.

And don't worry. KW's kids five. No, he's not. He's working. How'd you get there? How'd you get there? You'll walk there. You keep on walking in that direction.

Hey, it's great parents. I left my kids in Florida. Second hour, first things first. Today. Baker's last year in Tampa? Contracts don't seem to be going too well. Now there's reports that the bucks are a little bit worried about his durability. Baker says,

What are you talking about? I play all the time. And so yeah, you know, but you kind of hurt. Okay. He plays through pain, could that come back to home? Great question. Meanwhile, how much pressure is Rinaldo under after Messi's hat trick? Dax, you have a quick take on this?

Are you guaranteeing a Rinaldo goal today? I'm guaranteeing a Rinaldo goal, yes, but immense amount of pressure for Rinaldo. He didn't get any sleep last night watching that messy performance. My goodness, gracious. I want to get you caught up to speed on what's happening. Last night, while pretending to speak Portuguese, while buying some jerseys, an elite group of analysts, experts, and Lego aficionados

fought and toiled and burned to the midnight oil to deliver the best segment in all of television. It's an honor and a privilege. It is time for World Cup, the inaugural edition of World Cup tiers. Wow. Spent quite some time. putting together this committee.

Yeah, it's all new. It's all new. Well, much like myself, one other member of our original NFL committee is a huge EPL and European soccer fan, so he got to stay. Excellent. But while the committee is mostly anonymous, a couple people I want to shout out who helped for a minute's league. It's 48 teams.

We'lllumann was spectacular, as was Nikai. Great. At the House late. Usually anonymous, but. It didn't give last names. Gotcha. I love how the different sports have different names. There's no themes.

They all kind of. It's pulling from an international. Yeah, it's the world. International flavor. Sadly, we already have some eliminations. I didn't want to do this. Wow, elimination. But reveal the teams that have been eliminated.

This is going to be, this tier is going to be a bit of a geography test depending on how you know your flag. So I'm going to give you the country name. South Africa, Haiti, Kierrasel. Sorry. Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan. They've been eliminated. But that does leave 42 teams.

32 will make the knockout round in the Expanded World Cup. Let's get right to the tiers. These teams haven't played yet. They're pre-eliminated. Uzbekistan, Congo, DR, and Panama. Sorry. I couldn't put them eliminated because they literally haven't played, but they're pre-eliminated.

Maybe our most crowded tier ever in the history of tiers. Again, there's going to be a lot of 42 teams on the screen in a second. Get an extra game tier. Quickly. Canada, Chechia, Paraguay, Qatar, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Turkey, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde, Senegal, Algeria, New Zealand, Iran, and Egypt. Out of here already.

Wow. I'm not saying that, no, I said get an extra game. Teams from this group are going to get to the knockout round. That's what I'm saying. Because, again, there's 48 teams in the tournament. Only 16 won't make it to the knockout round. So the goal for these teams at this point is make the knockout round see what happens. Okay.

Okay. Canada. I was not impressed by Canada's opening performance. Nope. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, but they're not pre-eliminated. They got a point out of it. All right. To be eliminated, you have to have zero points.

To be pre-eliminated, you have to have not played and me saying you're going to get zero points. Gotcha. Get an extra game. Friskey. Why not us? All of these teams. have three points. What's the most points you can have right now?

Trace. Mexico, South Korea, Scotland, Australia, Ivory Coast, Sweden, and Austria. All of their fans right now scattered around North America saying, why not us? South Korea is saying 24 years ago, we made a semifinal. Mexico saying that we are, we have most, no team, no country in history has been a more world

Cups without winning it than us. We go out in a round of 16 every year, except for last year. We went out on group stage. Ivory Coast is like, man, we're going to make Didier Dragbo proud. It's why not us, too? Itching to get started. Three teams I believe in, but they haven't played yet. Croatia, Ghana, Colombia.

Listen, Ghana, the, Ghana is not a team Vegas believes in. I believe in the history there. Croatia's been to back-to-back semifinals. Luca Madrich is ageless and Colombia, while probably not the level of excitement there was for the World Cup for them in, gosh, when was that? I was living in Houston with Hamas Rodriguez. There was two World Cups, three World Cups ago, pardon me, in 2014. I think that they are, you know, everybody talks about Brazil and Argentina coming, being the last remaining standing team from South America. Columbia's got a shot there, but they haven't started playing yet. Big argument about the name of this cheer. Okay. I said, while everyone knows this saying, nobody gets, it doesn't make sense, and it's kind of gross.

And. Good one to choose. Yelberto said, we've got to go with you. Kissing your sister. Oh, wow. Morocco, Netherlands, Japan, Uruguay, Switzerland, Belgium. They all tied. You know what a tie is like, KW.

A draw. You know what a draw is like KW. Zero, zero. Not all draws are made equal, by the way. Exactly. I thought Uruguay looked awesome in their draw. Vegas still really believes in Belgium. Side note.

Switzerland. Been there once. Gorgeous country. Great watches and chocolate. Not a fan of the flag being a different size of everybody else's. This is a little tiny little square. It feels that I don't love it. Is it?

Is it? Is it? Dimensionally? Dimensionally, it's different. Is it? I think. I do it. I don't know if that's true.

Is that? Is that? Yeah. That's theirs? It is. What a power move. I know. They're like, we're not going to get involved in wars.

We're going to have a little flags. We're not going to have the euro. We're going to have our own money. And guess what? We do our own flag. Peaceful people. Come see us and get a watch. Hard to look better.

United States, Norway and Germany. The United States played an A plus game. Germany scored seven goals. Norway, I'm partially how they played and partially how, again, as KW. you said earlier, my twin Erling Holland just actually looks. Yeah. That's what you said. Yeah, you guys look at what you said.

Two Vikings. They couldn't. They, all three of these teams and their fan bases are like, uh, we can just win the whole thing. Now Germany's won the whole thing as much as any team other in world history other than Brazil. Norway hadn't been there since 98 and the US has never come close. But through one game, they look great. Next two. Forked up.

again. What? We don't know what that means. Really? I bet Brutus. I have no idea. Oh my gosh. I do know what it means.

FIFA, World Cup, title, or bust. Excellent. That's what it is, boys and girls. How do you pronounce it? Fooked up. Doesn't roll off the tongue. Get a Bob in there. Yeah, you're using the Bob.

It doesn't roll off tongue like Super Bowl or Bust or Lariat La Bob, Larry O'Brien, or Busbub is what they are. I like that. I like that. Listen, I, I got to stop hearing about Harry Kane, but I'm not going to, evidently, because they could win the first World Cup since 1966. And then there's Portugal, a team that when Cristiano Renato burst onto the scene, it was like him, he was being held back by his teammates.

Now, some people feel like, I don't want to say that he's holding them back, But they have such a great team around him and the pressure to play him and all of that could actually work against him. I'm telling you right now, and whatever pressure was on Portugal just got ratcheted up with what Messi in Argentina did yesterday. It's the best Portuguese team ever.

Arguably, it's the best English team in the last 50 years. They are, obviously, foot top. What a like to better start. Brazil and Spain. You think? Yeah. Listen, they didn't lose. They didn't.

Brazil? They could not. Slow start. Spain is worse. It could have been worse. It could have been worse. It could have been worse. It could have been worse.

And we're not. We're not opposing goalie gets five million Instagram. That means he played great. It means he played great. It could. But I'm not going to panic. It's a long tournament. Would have liked a better start.

You guys totally read my mind with the messy conversation earlier. I was going to try to subtly make this. but then KW just jumped right into it. It's not longevity. It's sustained greatness. Wow. Oh, well, he's the longevity goat. Of course, it's accumulation.

No, it's just been awesome for 20 years. Like Raphael Palmey. Exactly. Give me a break. It is one thing to just be limping along in your older years. It's another thing to at any given moment when you're the oldest guy on the court, I mean field, to clearly be the best player. Pitch, pitch. Thank you, bro.

And just like it's not longevity, it's sustained greatness. Let's go. It's not arrogance. It's confidence. Slatan said it, and he is correct. You can say they played a passive or arrogant game, whatever it is. But when you know, yeah, of the 15 best players in the tournament, we might have five of them. And we got a guy who at the end of this tournament might have more goals in this tournament.

tournament than anyone in the history of the sport, you might carry yourself with a bit of confidence they did yesterday. That is the premier edition. Premier edition of the World Cup tears. Excellent. Dak. That's a full committee. A lot to digest there. Yeah, it's really difficult to to pick it apart and move teams around when the actual descriptions of the tears makes it so difficult. But I take it the same thing. You got to ignore the description. I take it quite literally as in, hey, this is Brazil. Egregious, egregious positioning for Brazil.

England, Portugal, they need to be above Brazil. Brazil needs to drop down further. Morocco needs to also be above Brazil. They got a tie. It's like kissing your sister. Sure, but Morocco looks significantly better. And I'm just, I'm just worried about Brazil. I think that they need to be lower in your tears.

And Senegal, unbelievable to have them that low. We are talking about, I don't want to get into. to the African Cup of Nations controversy. But we're talking about one of the best teams in Africa who should have been beating France, 2-0. Played well. Should have would have could. Like Kenny Atkinson these days.

Should have would have. Dominated the game. Should be meeting them. Go ahead. But again, Senegal is better than every team in the two tiers above them other than Croatia and Colombia. So the two tiers above it. Yes, absolutely.

Senegal is better than Mexico there, better than South Korea, Scotland, Australia, Ivory Coast. Can I ask you a question? This is a preview mine. It was, and again, it was just a friendly. Sure. But we beat Senegal pretty easily, the United States did. Moni still played. We did. Does that color your opinion of Senegal at all? Not at all. Tough to take too much from friendlies in terms of the results. I think it's more so the performance.

Yeah. And Senegal just played the best team in the tournament. and they didn't take advantage of their chances, a lesson to be learned when you do not punish the best teams in the world, they will not extend you that same luxury. They will punish you on the back end. Senegal, they will get to the knockout rounds. They will win more than one.

Well, so, okay, just real quick, they have, now I'm probably higher on Norway than most, but I think Norway is. Senegal's knockout rounds might start in two weeks during the group stage. Because if Norway beats them, which I don't know if they'll be favored to do or not,

then Senegal is going to be in a spot where not only are they going to have to beat Iraq, they are probably going to have to beat Iraq by margin in order to be one of those third place teams that advances. Which they will. I think potentially. I am not certain, however,

that Senegal is even the best African nation on their own tier. I think you're sleeping on Egypt a bit. Just food for thought. Egypt is good. It could be a little bit higher again. The descriptions make it difficult. I know.

It's the secret sauce. Drew. And your Brazil's pessimism is just, we'll just see. That's going to be a fun one for us to go back and forth. Go ahead, Bru. I'm going to move Spain up one tier. Move them up? Yes, alongside Argentina.

All right? You just can't overreact to the first game. Don't be prisoners of the moment. All right? This is what they do in Spain. All right? They don't look good in the open. Long bunches.

Last time they won it in 2010, Wiles, what did they do in the opener? They lost. They lost. This time they didn't even lose. They just had a draw. Okay, I got it. All right? And Yamal, obviously their best player, didn't play but about 20 minutes, made a direct impact as he got in, even though he didn't score.

And then Nico Williams played a few minutes. Three. Three minutes. So when those two get back fully, Spain will be. That's a solid argument. Counterpoint. They cost me a year's college tuition. The sad thing is, that's the true.

Go ahead, KW. Look, I don't know how high to raise this team. Because I'm recognizing my own biases. of loving Budweiser and being born in the United States loving a Clydesdale. When I say a Clydesdale, I'm like, poof, my heart goes pitter-patter.

Flutters. It's just the facts. We played amazing. We were supposed to win a little bit. We won easily. Here are how we've done compared to every team. I think this is our ground.

Okay, we've got four goals. Tied for third. We had possessed the ball 65% of the time, tie for fifth. One of those teams was Spain that's ahead of us. It was basically not a unique game with a team really just trying to play for a tie. Touches in the opponent by 53 at second. There's some stats out there that says in the third of the field.

That's an opta stat attacking third. It's the eighth most of all time. We had 53 touches. We got Chris Richards. How many passes did he were off? target out of the 80 passes he made zero. Locked in. Our coach doesn't pull any punches.

I know he doesn't. I like that. I do too. Straight shooter. Yes, I love it. It's like, hey, we might not have a top 100 player. Okay, maybe not. Or maybe that's just what the team needed.

Let's take a look at the superstars who have scored multiple goals already. Okay. Well, there you go. Granted, this is not no particular Oriole. Messies won because he's one because he's. he scored three. Balagan scored two. And Bafet scored two. Hollins scored two. So am I expecting

Balligan, who was on a hot goal streak all through Champions League? Like he's the guy scores. Champions League is when he was scoring all those goals, correct? Correct. Yes. And legal. Okay, good. I just feel very good about our team.

And I know that it's like, well, you know, we're just being a little home country bias. I think once, if we have a another impressive victory against Australia. We've already beaten in the friendly. Yeah. I appreciate the patriotism. And you'll like this. If we start playing a style that we really haven't seen in U.S. soccer history, which is more creativity, more flair, our one-on-ones that were really good. You're like, oh, certainly we are not Argentina, but we do have an Argentine coach who has brought a little bit of Argentina.

I really care about the team. That's going to be the story. Yes, it's one of the reasons why I believe so much in Brazil. Oh, look at you. It's the, so I think the Pucatino effect is going to be felt throughout the tournament. Go ahead. I respect the fact that you're trying to get an all expenses paid trip to Copp, Copacabana Beach. No.

I appreciate that. But with that said, there's only six teams ahead of them, and two of them, England and Portugal, are two of the four favorites, and they haven't played yet. So if your main argument is... Six teams ahead. Yeah, there's only six teams ahead of... France, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, England, Portugal,

are the only teams on the tiers ahead of the United States. It's totally legitimate. What we just realized in real time, America, is KW brought one of his favorite NBA and NFL tiers processes to this, which is, I'm talking about the U.S. No matter where Nick has him ranked, he's going to have him ranked too long. I think they're in the right spot. I mean, look, I don't want to, look, I like Spain. There's nothing.

I don't care what Spain is. No, there is no question that if the tiers were. purely hot or not. Like who's a hot, who's looked the best? That's a good, that's a good segment. That existed, you know, back in the day. Bruce said it best. Doesn't work.

Prisoner, don't be a prisoner of the moment for Spain. Don't be a prisoner moment on the opposite side for the US. Do it again. Show me you can repeat that same. But again, if they, if, being, having only six teams out of them would mean they make the quarter finals for the second time. They're in the right spot. They're in the right spot.

And then maybe a little home field advantage. Argentina of the north. So you want them on tier two next to Argentine? We look good. I'll tell you that. Wow. Should Buck's fans be worried about the bake show? And we're counting down to this man.

Harry Kane's debut, England, Croatia, today at four on Fox. But first, here's James Winston on World Cup now in Kansas City. Take a listen. Really drinking, matth? I instantly had me hydrated, but they kissed the goat. You know what I'm saying? We all were kissing ghosts today, and we had a great time. You guys.

So wanted it. Nusa has it. Lerner Fulton on the overlap. Spectacular career, Erling Holland's first World Cup goal in Boston. That was yesterday. We are counting down to USA, Australia. That's in two days, three hours. It's going to be Friday at three on Fox.

The last friendly was in October in Colorado. We won that one, 2-1. remember it also, when Baker loved that game, it also presented the quote of the year from Chris Richards. They're lucky it was a friendly. I was ready to go. If the rest didn't give me a yellow, I probably would have killed somebody. Sounds like something Baker would say.

Exactly right. Baker Mayfield says there's been no progress on a new deal with the bucks. I remember a few weeks ago, he said they were, quote, not anywhere close on a new contract. I mean, our eyebrows, I was like, hmm, interesting Baker. Tampa Bay Times report says the team was worried about his durability now. Baker got mad, which Baker pushed back on succinctly. Take a listen. I've started every single game last year for the three years, so I don't know if that should ever be a question.

Okay, there we go. So there's, I think, a little more to this as well, because it's the, talking about them being far apart on the contract, what I had overlooked when that story first came out was so far apart that Baker's team said we're not countering. Like you guys, like this, your initial offer, we're not considering an offer, so bring us a new initial offer. I like that.

And yeah, but very often the counterparty that's like, well, we're not negotiating against ourselves. Like you've got to bring something to us, which means this and then the Tampa Bay Times, like whenever it is a beat reporter who covers one team saying, the team has concerns about X. That means the team, like, that's the team publicly negotiating.

And Baker was upset by that. Everybody knows how much I like Baker and how, you know, I think when he was kind of counted out by many, I still thought there was something there. Sure. With that said, playing every game doesn't mean you don't have durability concerns. I think these are fair concerns by Tampa. The worry is, yeah, man, you're nobody, don't have toughness concerns.

We do have your ability to play the way you want to play without getting hurt. Now, you're so tough, you'll play through getting hurt. But will you play as effectively? That part right there. Yeah, but all of this to me is walking down a road of, like, a very prickly situation because you're publicly negotiating, you're angering the quarterback, and you're kind of, you know, trying to hurt his value in the marketplace. Yeah, and so for that, I believe it can be his last year.

It very well could be. Here's the deal, like, because you kind of alluded to it. They praise you for, and this is the league at large, they praise you and appreciate you and kind of put you up on a pedestal and cheer you on for pushing through those injuries and playing. You know, Baker's been tough for us. He's been amazing for us all year. appreciate him what he's doing and it's like it's it's a glowing gold star if you will but the

moment we're sitting at a table and now you I need you to show my appreciation because the way you show players appreciation is you honored them with a contract in this case an extension and now you're saying the very thing that you were rewarding me and glowingly speaking about now it's it's a hindrance albeit I feel the same way with you it is an issue a true legitimate issue that they have in terms of him being an injury concern and it is primarily because yes Baker is tough yes Baker plays through injury

but when he decides to do that his his production drops we've seen it now two town two different occasions in Cleveland and then he was gone and now again with the bucks And at the start of the season, he was awesome. And then he started having those nicks. And every single week, he was on the injury report for like 10 weeks last year.

And every single week it started getting worse and worse. And then you look at we don't make the playoffs. We got the, we got the Panthers at home to get in. And our quarterback, yes, he's been playing through injury. He didn't look great. He didn't rise to the occasion. and so that all comes right back to the forefront when you're starting to negotiate long-term bills.

To your point about last year, how he played through the injury for the second half of the season and then some actually. Remember, he started the first five games. He was in the MVP conversation early on. These are his numbers by the end of the season. So it shows you how bad things went

over the last 10, 12 games, whatever. And so that's the season he's coming off. Here's the challenge for Baker. He is tough and does play through injury. You might say to him, okay, this is what the Bucks want to do. You saw what the Browns did to you. If you get injured this year or, you know, banged up to the point where you could sit out legitimately, but you could play through it as well.

You should just sit out. The problem is if he doesn't have a contract going into this season, he can't really do that. Which is why he should. should sit out right now because as much as we talk probably right yeah we don't like not going to have any other leverage you don't you don't really see the only quarterback that we've really seen do that is Lamar where he's like I'm not I'm not coming I'm not look I'm not showing up I'm not going to be there nobody loves it but at the end of the day they carry the

most weight if Baker Mayfield says I'm not coming I'm not coming to training camp I'm not going to be there what the bucks are a contender right like they can win that division they can get into the postseason and anything can happen. They were riddled with injuries last year. It wasn't just Baker. So we look at those numbers and we say, well, Baker, he fell off. Well, they had a ton of injuries across the board defensively and offensively. But if Baker says, you know what?

I'm going to sit. Right now, he's saying just the opposite. To his credit as a gamer, but you're right. Contract-wise, that is the only leverage he's going to have. And he also, while he hasn't said this, I am certain he is, feeling like, man, the first year I played for you guys, I made $4 million, and I was an above average starting quarter. He's outplayed. The second year I played for you guys, I was making $33 million, and I was a clear that year top 10 quarterback. Last year, I again, you know, for where my, those

ranks, you know what they mirror about where he was in quarterback salaries last year? Like, it's considered a down year. But I was the 19th highest. paid quarterback and statistically I was the 20th. So you have gotten such a deal on my three years of service. I deserve, not back pay but a contract commensurate

with that. And the team, I understand Jason Light in the team's position of, man. You get both sides. Yeah. Like I, about the anxiety of it. But glass half full is chip on his shoulder

Baker, you sometimes see some of his best football. But the glass half empty is it never works to have a quarterback or a head coach on a lame duck or approve it year. Lamar wasn't on one. You know what I mean? Lamar got he held out but then

got his deal. So do you think like... And when Lamar was on the lame duck started interrupt. Remember he got dinged at the end of the year and was not available being I think in part because... Like I get both sides. I get why Baker has been underpaid these last few years

and it's like, I'm not accepting anything below my market value, which 55 million per year or something like that. And I get them feeling like, number one, we do have injury concerns. Number two, you weren't very good last year. You can say it's injuries, whatever. And so wanting to see him prove it. If he has a chip on his shoulder next year, stays healthy and plays great, I'm sure they'd be willing to pay him.

Now, somebody else would be willing to pay him too so he could leave. But I get where both sides are coming. I think that if you're a popular quarterback in the locker room, man, I think it has a bad knock on effect of. Like, man, they're not taking care of him. Correct. But if you give him all that money, it's tricky. Struggles again.

Just saw a messy score three goals. What will this man do? Ronaldo. Countdown to Portugal, D.R. Congo, one hour and 23 minutes from Houston. Coming up on Fox. Two goals? This spring, denim gets a softer, lighter update. Introducing Old Navy's drapey denim wide leg, a new fit that moves with you.

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What will this man do? England, Croatia, Harry Kane, today at four on Fox. Major announcement. Major announcement here. Upset alert. Croatia? Croatia. Ooh, la la.

Is it because people say you look like Lucamadry? A lot of your takes are based on who you want to look like or people have told you. I don't love the you look like you look like. You look like Luca Madrid as much as I love the. The holland-air? No, it's me, Nick, right. It's because one team plays its absolute best ball in this tournament,

and the other team is England. Okay. It just, it just... I just don't know if it would be considered an upset. It's not an upset. It's plus 425. It would be an upset. But not in the same sense as like a Curis out.

Well, no, that's pretty. I take big swings. Who you got, that? No, he's got England. He's got Harry Kane. Scoring a brace and doing all this stuff. I'm telling you, Croatia. There's a little budding rivalry on that side.

Love it. All right. Yesterday, Holland, Mbapé, and Messey combined for seven goals. All eyes on Rinaldo in Portugal this afternoon. Here's Stu Holden on Messi's historic performance, and now it sets the table for Rinaldo. Take a listen. Just imagine these stars, though,

sitting at home watching each other, where first Mbapé goes. It's your turn. Two goals. And I won goals. Two goals. Messy's like, hey, Brad, hold my beer. That's cute, guys.

How about a hat trick tonight? So what is Ronaldo going to do tomorrow? Dax, do you think there's pressure on Ronaldo after Messi's hat trick? Immense amount of pressure. Amense. immense amount of pressure on Ronaldo. And look, his club career littered with trophies, goals, everything. When Ronaldo was at Manchester United, you would never find a bigger Ronaldo fan than me.

Goes to Real Madrid, becomes more of a goal score. But with Portugal, it has been underwhelming. One big trophy with the Portuguese national team. And they have never had a better team. They have the best midfield in the tournament. Plenty of service. Ronaldo is the finisher. And we saw, we showed a couple clips of him earlier in these buildup games,

these warm-up games. And he was very inefficient with his finishing. Chances that were never an issue for him. in the back of the net nine out of ten times. He looks like a weirdly lack of confidence in and around the goal. And whereas Messi doesn't as much now rely on his physical capabilities because of the way that he plays, the way he thinks the game, the way that he can move in and around the game without having to rely so much on his physical tools,

Ronaldo isn't the same type of player. He has always relied on his physical ability to be bigger, faster, stronger than everyone and an absolute killer in and around the box. You would never see him missing chances like that a couple of years ago. So, yeah, there's never been more pressure on Ronaldo right now. And if he doesn't deliver, whether he likes it or not, the blame will be his. No, look, I think you hit it on the head with one aspect of the pressure is that the team actually around him now is really good. Right.

Whereas before that wasn't the case. The other thing is that it shouldn't be a lot of pressure on him just because, because of his age. And I'm going to make another LeBron comparison. We always talk about now, LeBron, it's all gravy. If he doesn't win a championship or in all NBA, it's not a, we get it because of his age. And he's had such a great career.

With Rinaldo, as you said, yeah, you would say that outside of the World Cup, but because he hasn't been played up to his standards in the World Cups. Yep. And he's got eight goals in, what, five World Cups. Four of them came out of his first World Cup or his second one. He's never scored a goal in the knockout rounds. No, he scored through three of the five came in the game against Spain where he had the hat trick in 2018.

And we always see a clip from it where the free kick, which is one of the most famous, you know, kicks of his career. So outside of that. So he doesn't have, you can't lean on, oh, he was great last World Cup or whatever. Right. If Messi had come out yesterday and looked old and awful and Argentina got shockingly upset by Algeria, it truly, in my opinion, would do nothing to his historical standing because, to your point, he's in a sixth World Cup. They're the defending champs.

Like, yes, it's disappointing, but it's the tiniest footnote imaginable. This is the only thing off Ronaldo's resume. And unlike, if you were watching at the beginning of the show, I talked about how Messi's, initial World Cup history was tortured. There was a tournament where he was named the, he got the golden ball for the player of the tournament and still got criticized at home. Like there were,

Ronaldo, when he first started his first World Cup, he maybe should have won the best young player award, didn't because of some attitude issues. At least people thought that's what it was. And his first year, Portugal, when he was, you know, not a reserve player, but not the best player in the world, made the best run they've ever made. Since then, he's never, like you said, he's never scored in the knockout round.

He's only, he's scored one goal in each World Cup he's played in one only, except for the World Cup where he had the hat trick. And now, unlike before, you can't say, well, it's unfair because the team's not good enough. The team with or without Cristiano Ronaldo, they would be one of the favorites. Correct. So I don't really know that it's fair because of his age, and he's one of unquestionably, the five greatest players in the history of the sport. And some people think he's the greatest player in the history of the sport.

But when you see your contemporary continuing to deliver, it's, again, to use another tortured analogy, it's almost like additional pressure on Steph. It's like, oh, Steph's an old guy. It's like, well, LeBron's even older. What's he doing? Like, those types of things build on each other. Dax, quickly, 30 seconds here before we got to go. You've given a lot of grace to teams that have started slow.

Spain started slow. D'embele was, I don't know if we want to say ineffective, but there's a quiet first half, moved around. France ended up winning, but he didn't have, didn't look like the Bellendor winner. Ronaldo has to show up and do something. You won't come on tomorrow. I'll be like, look, it's Portugal.

So it's a long tournament. I will extend him the same grace that I will extend all these great teams who I expect to get better as the tournament wears on. But because Messy's performance last night, there will be heightened expectations. There's zero question about it. And this is true across all sports. We've seen it with the NBA finals, Wembe, Jalen. If you are considered one of the greatest players of all time or the best player in your league of your era, for better or worse, when you win, you get all the praise.

And when you lose, you will be blamed. that is going to happen. It is non-negotiable. So, yeah, the pressure on Ronaldo is huge. So last year, when they finally won a knockout stage game for the first time since 2006, he came off the bench. He was a bench player for Portugal.

Nursing injuries. Right. But the question I have is, are we even 100% certain that if you removed name and legacy and all of that, that he's right now one of their best 11? No, he's not.

I think he would be better served. I think the coach would be better served Roberto Martinez using him as a late game substitute. But that's not going to happen. Right. I like starting. Start the game. Messy style.