Football Daily - Destination New Jersey: Hope in the Caribbean & Latin American domination

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Destination New Jersey continues, and on this episode of the pod the focus is on the Americas. Kelly Cates is joined by Rory Smith as they get a real flavour of how the tournament is building around the globe.Destination New Jersey regular and CBS Sports Latin American journalist Nico Cantor joins the pod to talk about the domination there – as there could be as many as 12 countries from South and Central America at the World Cup - that’s a quarter of the teams!Attention turns to the Caribbean. Only four teams from the Caribbean Islands have ever competed at a men’s World Cup finals. But this time around, the American Dream is still alive for five nations in this region including Jamaica - so Jamaican news and sports journalist Karen Madden joins Kelly and Rory to talk about what it would mean to the country to qualify for the tournament, after the devastating effects of Storm Melissa. One country aiming to be part of it for the first time in 40 years is Iraq. In this international window they face the UAE in a playoff to reach the intercontinental playoffs, which take place in Mexico in March. Hassan Balal from the Iraq Football Pod gives his analysis on the state of the national team at the moment. Then Boston is the focus, as the city prepares to host seven games at the Foxborough Stadium. Timecodes: 4’00 - Latin American Journalist Nico Cantor chat. 11:47 - Jamaican news and sports journalist Karen Madden on teams in the Caribbean. 15’00 -Interview with Juninho Bacuna, who’s one of many Curaçao internationals born in the Netherlands. 28:30 – Hassan Balal on the state of the national team in Iraq. 35:00 - Julie Duffy from Boston’s tourism board.

This is the Football Daily podcast with Kelly Kitts. Hello and welcome in 250 days time. The biggest game in football will take place at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, the final of the 26 Men's World Cup. But who will be there? We'll have a look at what's going on in North America. Who will join the co-host USA, Canada and Mexico from that part of the world? We'll also take a look at Asia, where eight teams have already qualified,

could Iraq become the ninth? Plus, we'll see how preparations are shaping up for one of the host cities in the USA. Rory Smith is alongside me to tell these incredible stories that only the World Cup can give us, Rory. Absolutely. This is kind of the business end of it, isn't it? Kelly, we're finally sort of there, almost. Almost there, just 250 days to go.

Everybody else is counted down to Christmas, but you're counting down to the World Cup. The World Cup's much more important. It's once every four years. It's much more important than Christmas. I mean, I suppose that the kind of the complication is the intercontinental playoffs. They are too far in advance, Kelly, for me to even be thinking about them. As far as I can tell, every country in the world can still qualify for the intercontinental playoffs.

But in terms of Europe, this is that rarest of things, even rarer than the World Cup. It's a really interesting international break. Egypt qualified while everyone was on air during the last episode. Since then, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verdi, South Africa, Qatar, England, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, the Ivory Coast also reserved their places. 28 teams from six continents have already qualified. This month

another 14 will join them. Then in March, the playoffs will decide the remaining six spots. And that is where we're at, although we won't be keeping a check on whether everybody's across all of those numbers. But when the draw finally takes place on December the 5th, that is

what's going to make it feel like it's real, Rory. People will start to be able to to plan, we'll get a sort of mental image of where the teams are going to be based? Yeah, you know when they redid the Champions League and they did the Swiss model? I think at least

part of UEFA's thinking in still having a draw, because the way they did it originally was meant to be kind of ninth, played 24th and then 10th, played 23rd and stuff. But they changed it around so the teams were paired and it was completely unnecessarily complicated. And I was pretty sure it's just there's quite a lot of people UEFA whose job

is basically dependent on their being draws quite a lot of the time. But I really love the draw and I think most fans love a draw because it's a chance to kind of envisage what the tournament will look and feel like and there is something I mean this draw is going to be mad

because it's in Washington and we're not quite sure whether there'll be some sort of oval office ring walk there's 48 teams involved there'll be more countries than that named in the draw because as you say

the playoffs won't have been decided yet but there is something quite magical about a World Cup drawer draw I think that's kind of when it becomes real yes or certainly having all the names in cities and all the countries kind of

with their bases for the rest of the thing. I'm not sure about the whole performance around it. I have to say, I'm not entirely sold on that. But I like to know where everybody's going to be. It suits my organisational mind. Exactly, yeah. There's a chance for a spreadsheet. Yeah.

Every opportunity we can get. Now, the World Cup isn't just coming to America, to coin a phrase, is bringing all of the Americas together. Destination New Jersey regular, CBS Sports, Latin American journalist. Nico Cantor joins us now from Argentina.

And before we get into the World Cup, Nico, we need to talk about the Super Classico. That's where you've been. Yeah, Kelly, Roy, thanks for having me on. Once again, I was at El Super Classico on Sunday, and it was absolutely crazy. I must confess, it's been transparent through my whole journalistic career.

I am a Boca Junior's fan, and it was a Boca Junior's win that we celebrated with everything. So it was pretty epic. Yeah, so you're in a great mood. We've got you at the perfect time to start to, to look ahead to all of this. So you grew up in Miami, Nico, where two-thirds of the population

are Latino. So with the influence of all these kind of countries coming to the World Cup, it's going to be an area where they potentially could be a real capturing of the imagination. Yeah, absolutely. Listen, I'm born and raised in Miami. And I have a very quintessential American experience where growing up in Miami, you get this pan-Latina. experience that I don't think you get anywhere else in the world, perhaps in New York as well. But in Latin America, really, Argentines don't really know too much outside of their Argentine bubble and Chileans the same for them and so forth, right? So in the United States, a lot of these countries are the home team whenever their national

team comes to play. Just ask the United States that they have to take their national team games against Mexico to Columbus, Ohio, to see. Seattle, Washington to just a seldom few cities, because if not, they will be overrun by Mexico national team fans. And the same would apply, for example, they played Costa Rica and World Cup qualifying. In the cycle in 2018, when they didn't qualify, in New Jersey,

they played that home game, and it was a Costa Rica home game. It's going to be incredible because I think there's a chance that a quarter of the teams could be from South of, Central America. Yeah, absolutely. And there definitely are hotbeds all around the country for these,

for different countries, right? I mean, really, it's not exclusive to Latinos, right? Because even if you want to talk about Cape Verde, Cape Verde has a colony in Boston. I would assume it's the biggest colony of Cape Verdeans outside of Cape Verde. So if the draw of December 5th

And then the scheduling that happens right afterwards gives Kate Verde a match in Boston. You'll feel that passion. But same goes for Salvadorians or Hondurans if they make the World Cup in any Texan venue or Mexicans. Or Mexicans in California, if they are to leave Mexico and then play their knockout round games on the West Coast, it'll be crazy. Salvadorians in Washington, D.C., the fans from D. DC United and Major League Soccer, a lot of these fan groups were started by Latin Americans. And the traditional dish of El Salvador are pupusas. And the best pupusas are the ones that you could get at the old RFK stadium where DC United

played back in the day when MLS was inaugurated. And that's kind of like traditional quintessential American soccer football history, if you will. Niko, there was that amazing scene It was the semi-final of the Gold Cup this summer where the US played, I think, Guatemala and the stadium was Guatemalan. It was in the US, but the interest in the fans that had travelled

were, I guess, part of the Guatemalan community in the States. How much of a disadvantage will that be for the US depending on who they get in the draw? Like if they end up in a group, I guess, with a European nation, there might well be still be like a home field advantage for the US, but there'll be an awful lot of countries where there is a massive expat diaspora community in the States,

and they will want those tickets. Yeah, you're absolutely on point, Rory. The United States already knows where they're going to play their games. The host nations know where their three group games are going to be. For the U.S. is going to be L.A., Seattle, L.A. So, yes, if you do happen to get a Spain, for example, you might run the risk of that game turning into an away match. But, Rory, this isn't anything new for the United States.

They've been playing away at home for decades now. That's just a given. So the United States, as the generations pass, they understand that perhaps they're not the most popular national team even in their own country. So it comes with the territory of being a U.S. men's national team member. And frankly, the better you do, the more you work towards kind of unconstructing that in the United States,

because we are a nation of immigrants, we are this grand country that for so many years has accepted all of these people from around the world and created these colonies throughout the United States. So when that translates into soccer, you get this incredible mix of cultures, these incredible mix of backgrounds, but the Americans and the American national team knows that sometimes that works against them. Nico, I said at the beginning, we've probably got you at the best time because Bucca Juniors have just won, but also there's a chance that Honduras could be about to qualify for this

World Cup as well. Yeah, absolutely. So my mom is Honduran. I'm born and raised in Miami, Argentine father, hunder and mother. A lot of people might not know too much about that because I speak Spanish with more of an Argentine accent than I do with a hundredian accent, but I am very proudly Honduran. but yes, it would be incredible. Honduras is very past their golden years.

You guys might remember Minor Fierroa, Roger Spinoza of the Wigan Athletic Days, and that golden era is beyond them. But they've gone back to a coach that they had a lot of success with Renaldo Rueda. He's a Colombian manager.

And they've kind of found this second lease on life. They're at the top of world. Cup qualifying. They have two critical games left. That group is pretty tight with Honduras at 8, Costa Rica at 6, Haiti at 5, and Nicaragua at 1. So Honduras, they manage, it's funny because it just, it feels like it is a life or death thing as football is in Central America for all these countries that might not be recognizable to the European ear, but it's everything for them. And if Honduras makes the World Cup, it will be the greatest of festivals. And if they It will feel like the most introspective, what's going on with our project of football

or national project of football on our country that has not allowed us to get to another World Cup. They haven't made the World Cup for a while now since Brazil 2014, so it would be great to see Los Catrachos back in World Cup contention. What does Los Catrachos mean? Good question. Los Catrachos. That's historically what Hondurans have been called.

Wow, I'm very embarrassed that I should know that. I can doodle it, don't worry. It just means, it's going to doodle, it just means Hondurans. Yeah, Hondurans, Caldia, you know, I don't, there must be some story. Now, wow, I really hope my grandfather isn't listening to this because I really should know this right on the back of my hand. So it's the colloquial Honduran term. Every Central American, basically from Mexico downwards,

every Central American nation has a nickname to them. Like Panama are called the Canaleros, for example, which are they're the canal men essentially and Mexico or the Aztecs and all its stuff so everybody has nicknames and the Honduras are called Los Catrachos but that might be better than like having a mysterious name

that doesn't really translate might be better than just being the canal guys I don't know if I'd want to be a canal guy and we're going to turn our attention to the Caribbean now only four teams from the Caribbean islands have ever competed at a men's World Cup finals and Jamaican news and sports journalists Karen Madden joins us now. Hello, Karen. Hi, Kelly. How you doing? Doing really well. Thank you, Karen. And I need to ask you first of all about what's happening in Jamaica,

obviously still suffering horrendously from the after effects of Storm Melissa. Is this a time where football doesn't matter or is this a time where it can actually mean something to people to have something to look forward to? Yes, thanks again for having me. guys. Certainly, as you may know, football is perhaps the most popular sport in Jamaica. But yes, it's a very, very tough time for Jamaica right now. We are battling back against the devastation brought by Hurricane Melissa just exactly today two weeks ago, especially to the western end of the island. Devastated communities at last count, the government told us just Tuesday that the official death toll now stands at 45 and we still have people missing and we still have

people who are marooned in unusual remote areas. So it's a really, really tough time for Jamaica and Jamaicans, not just Jamaicans at home, but also Jamaicans in the diaspora. But what we've been seeing is a real rallying force. We've got tremendous help from our international partners, scores of countries coming to our rescue, as well as individuals. individuals, you know, just rounding up Jamaicans in the diaspora, just rounding up support, and we have seen a lot of financial and

material aid coming in. But when we spoke to the reggae boys, when the reggae boys' head coach, as Steve McLaren announced his squad, at the weekend, he put it square and center that the players are under a little bit of pressure to deliver

this good news for Jamaica, you know, and even the players themselves, they have been actively involved with their various foundation in just bringing help and support of Jamaica. But to qualify for the World Cup now would bring some would be of remarkable significance

and would bring really some really you know, last two weeks have been dark so this would really, really lift the spirits. How difficult will it be do you think for Jamaica to qualify for this World Cup? So I like to call what we are facing with this qualification for the

26 World Cup as perhaps the perfect storm for Jamaica because as one, the tournament is being held in this region in Concacav, in the Concaf region, Mexico, the United States and Canada, of course, are the joint host. So that's good for us. The FIFA expanded the number of countries for the tournament from 32 to 48. Again, that helped us. And also, we got a favorable draw to the teams that were joined against match us on keel,

match us on paper, you know. So we're right there. We have two games away. And if you ask any Jamaican, if you ask any football fan, they're telling that this is when we do it. The last and only time that we qualified for the World Cup was back in 1998. So there's a whole generation that do not know the feeling of Jamaica qualifying for the World Cup. So this time around with Trinidad to face away on November 13 and, of course, Kurosau at home, November 18, most Jamaicans to a man, to a boy, to a girl. to a woman believe that this time around,

Jamaica will qualify for the World Cup. But like you said, that game against Curacao, currently 82nd in the FIFA World Rankings, could potentially be a straight shootout for a place at the World Cup. So Curasaw, small island, located in the Caribbean Sea, 37 miles north of Venezuela. They've only been an independent nation since 2010. Junino Bakuna is one of many Curasau internationals,

who was born in the Netherlands. Last week, he caught up with BBC Sports, It's Dane Massey. I started with the play for Curseau, I think in 2019, if I'm right. It was a big decision for me at that time because I was only 21. Of course, I got still a lot of years in front of me to look forward to to maybe see my chances for the Dutch national team. But I made a choice early to play for Curse.

So one reason was, of course, I can play in the same team as my brother. brother. There was always a dream of mine and from his and from the family of course to play together. And so that was one reason why I did it. And the other reason was at that time my chance is to play for the Dutch national team. Realistic it was not capable for me to get there. Let me just say it like that at that time. I saw a lot of players from my age already playing for the Dutch national team. I didn't even get a chance. to even call up. So for me, the choice was quick to make it a role play for Curacao, where everyone literally loves us, is behind us, and plays with their heart.

Curacao have been coached by Dick Advocate since January 24, so nearly two years. What's he like to work under and what kind of a difference has he made since he took charge? Like everyone knows, Dick Advocate is a big name. He's a big coach. everyone respects him in his decisions and the way he works. His president is really big for us as a team and also for the country itself. So his impact was really big. We started working with him in the qualification of the Nation League

and he saw a big growth in the team. The way we work, the way we fight in the games. You have even seen more players that are still young and still was able to play for Holland that came to play for Kurosau. and made the team even stronger. And so I think his impact was really big for us. You've played six qualifiers under Dick Advocate. 29 players have been used in these matches.

Only one of these, Revi and Rosario, was born in Curacao, the rest born in the Netherlands. We've touched on the Dutch diaspora in this series already with Indonesia, which is the fourth most populous country in a world with nearly 300 million people. Kurosau, on the other hand, has a population of just over 150,000. How have you been able to dip into this diaspora?

It's a big difference, especially with Indonesia. Yeah, we got just about over 150,000. And you can see there's a lot of talent coming from Kurosau. He had players before that used to play for the Dutch national team. For now that the players are starting to represent Curacao, it's only as good for the country, making your family even proud to play for the country itself. And now that we can see that the chances are really close to get to the World Cup, it's one incredible feeling.

If you would say maybe five, six years ago, you would even be this close. And now you literally two games away to qualify for World Cup with the smallest island. almost on earth. It's crazy to even think about it. One Dutch player who could have played for Kurosau through his mother was Arsenal Jury and Timber. Earlier this year, Jury and Timber opened up Kreifkort on the island to give young people more access to football. What kind of impact do you think this could have on the future generation? It's good to hear that the guys that are now even representing in Holland, that they are still doing everything to help Curacao to build and growth in certain

things. It's only good for the youth because the island itself doesn't have a lot to offer. That's why a lot of family will move to Holland to give their kids the opportunity so they can grow and get better footballers and all in different sports. Last month, Cape Verde became the smallest nation by size, 4,33 kilometers square. to qualify for a World Cup. You can fit nine Kurosau's inside of Cape Verde because Kurosau is just 444 kilometres squared. That story in itself is absolutely incredible.

Could you put into words what it would mean to qualify? It's incredible. It's amazing. Not even a few years ago, you wouldn't even think about it. But now we are this close with two games to go and we are certain to just, and give us all in the next two games to qualify for the World Cup

and it's going to be crazy. It's going to be one of the biggest thing what will happen on Curacao and for me personally to be part of it and to make that dream come true. It's just incredible. Curisau with an opportunity to qualify for the World Cup

but it looks as though it's going to be a straight shootout between themselves and Jamaica. They've got Trinidad and Tobago first as Karen was telling us. Then it's Curisaw. That is where it could come down to on November the 18th. Karen, this should be a game that Jamaica would hope to win. But Curisal beat Jamaica last month, is that right? Certainly did.

They surprised us on October 10, their Independence Day, in fact. I remember watching the game on television. The stadium was jam-packed with blue-clad supporters of the home side. And they surprised Jamaica and the entire Jamaican. football fraternity was shocked, stunned at that defeat, a two-nil defeat away, but coming back home and in that game, we recovered from that game and to beat Bermuda 4-0.

So the thinking now is that with the roles being reversed, with the Curacao team coming to Jamaica, coming inside the national stadium, that it's ours to lose at home. And nobody sees that happening. So I think that the fans are going to, come out. It's an important fixture. We think that even if we lose or draw the game in Trinidad and Tobago that coming back home on November 18 with the stadium full of Jamaican fans

with the recovery efforts that's going on right now, with the mood that the country is in right now, with the players all showing up, all knowing what's important, all knowing what's at stake that the Jamaica team has what it takes to win that game at home. and automatically qualify for World Cup 2026. Karen, we heard Janineo talking about the fact that so much of Curisow side is drawn from the diaspora. That's also true of Jamaica. There's a lot of players who were born in England who are in Steve McLaren squad. How does that change the way the country feels about the team,

or does it change the way the country feels about the team? Is there a pride that there are so many players of Jamaican descent coming through in England? Are there questions over trying to get homegrown Jamaican talent into the squad? Is it just not an issue as long as everybody's happy to play for Jamaica? I really love that question. It's a really important question because it's something that we've been grappling with since the 1998 qualification when we only had three players brought in by then Coach René Smois into the Jamaica team.

Since then, we've had more and more players from second and third generation, what, second and third generation Jamaicans who have expressed an interest to playing for the team and they are really good players. There are players who may not necessarily have been pushing at the door of, say, the England team, but certainly there are quality players. And Coach McLaren named another one, the only newcomer he's named to his side this past weekend in Nico Henry of Brentford in the English Premiership. He's still waiting on a Jamaican passport, still waiting on a change of association. So it's something that we have got accustomed to, and the players, I have to say,

that are not necessarily born in Jamaica, but are born from Jamaican parentage. They have grasped Jamaica. They have embraced the culture. You see them at the national stadium ahead of the games and they are singing the national anthem along with the other players who are born and raised here. So they bring,

and they also bring a level of professional listening that some of the homegrown talent do not necessarily have because obviously they are playing at a higher level. So I think Jamaicans on a whole have embraced. That's what started as an experiment, now becoming the norm where, and they have to play for the opposition. It's not like they walk into the side

because they, you know, they are born outside of Jamaica. They have to play for their game. They have to compete for their game. And what we see now is that they are becoming popular with the fans and there, as I said, ingrained into the team and, you know, they are part of the psyche and culture of football. Yeah, and qualifying for the World Cup would only add to that and help that whole process.

Nico, do you think, terms of this qualifying campaign in the Conquer Calf region, is it showing that there's a closing of the gap, do you think, between Latin America and the Caribbean nations? Yes, I think so. I think the main players as 10 years ago, like your Honduras of the world, have dropped off and there's other teams that have gotten better. The thing is that I think there's been a striking distance between the United States, Mexico, and Canada, perhaps, and the rest of the peloton of teams. It is more competitive than ever.

And the Caribbean has closed that gap, especially by being able to pick players out from a growing diaspora, especially those playing in England, in the Premier League, sometimes in the championship. other countries in Central America don't particularly have that benefit. El Salvador, their diaspora, spreads to the United States. They've done an incredible job of going after dual nationals, but obviously not of the quality of what Jamaica is able to do. So I do think the gap has tightened between Central America and the Caribbean nations,

but then you always get these one-offs, right? Panama has been absolutely extraordinary over the past four, five, six years. Their national team coach, Thomas Christensen, who played for Barcelona, Danish-born. He is the longest-tenured coach in Konkakaf. And Panama plays really, really well. It just so happens that their World Cup qualifying

hasn't been great. These four games that they've played, it's one win in three draws that have put them in a pretty compromised position in a group that you'd expect them to get out of, but it's Suriname, another team with a big Dutch diaspora that's heading that group, both tied on six points, albeit it's something that Panama kind of needs to correct

because if they don't, it would feel like they've been building in crescendo for it to be absolutely crashing down in a very dramatic fashion at the end of World Cup qualifying. Nico, thank you very much, Nico Cantor, And thank you to Karen Madden as well for joining us as we start to build up to the World Cup. I'm Maisie Adam.

And I'm Susie Ruffle. And we host the Women's Football podcast, Big Kick Energy. Each week we bring you the latest from the WSL and beyond. Whether you're a lifelong fan like me or a newer fan like me and have recently got swept up in the lioness's excitement. We've got everything you need to know about the women's game. And chance.

We've got chance. Oh yes, we love a chance. And finding ways to shoehorn in some truly obscure pop culture reference. It's actually quite a silly podcast. Yeah, listen now on BBC Sounds. Yeah, you should. Okay, cool. This is the Football Daily podcast with Kelly Kitts.

Exactly seven months to go now to the start of the World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the USA. The opening game is the 11th of June, 26. One country aiming to be part of it for the first time in 40 years is Iraq. They competed at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. In this international window, they faced the U.S. UAE in a playoff to reach the intercontinental playoffs, which take place in Mexico in March. We are joined now by Hassan Balal, Voice of the Iraq Football Pod. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you so much for having me here. I'm excited to talk about the crazy world of Iraq football. Yeah, it is going to be a crazy world and potentially a World Cup qualifying crazy world. So two huge games coming up against the UAE on Thursday and then on Tuesday, which is the return one in Baghdad. Yeah. Fans, I would say, are cautiously optimistic. The fans, I'll be honest with you, they think that the team shouldn't be in the situation and we should have qualified months ago. We at one point, we're second in the group, but we lay it slip with two catastrophic results. We drew two-two against Kuwait at home, and then we were leading against Palestine, and we conceded two late goals, and we let automatic qualifications slip through our fingers. So fans, understandably, are frustrated. They're upset. We have a very, very good team. And we at one point were doing very very well, but the wheels seem to have come off these last 18 months. Do you know what's happened in that? Can you put your finger on what's gone wrong? We had a new manager that started in 2021 called Jesus Casas. This is a former assistant manager for Barcelona when they won the treble and with Spain when they won the Euros.

So he had no first-term experience, but he was very experienced in terms of being around top-quality players. He was brought in by the president of the F.A. Annan Darjal, and he was brought in with the vision of completely developing Iraqi football from the ground upwards. That involved a plethora of different things, involved building several new stadiums, working alongside La Liga to improve the Iraqi League and building several academies, including now and. Academy from Real Madrid, Barcelona and in Spaniol within Iraq to develop that next generation of players. They also did things like adding VAR to the league, etc. Now when Casas came in, he had a fantastic start. In fact, they couldn't have gone any better. Within his first year, we managed to win the golf cup, which was actually hosted in Iraq. So fans were rejoicing to see football finally returned to home tough. We won it in amazing fashion. So everybody was very very

very, very excited. Come to 2003, I think, we played in the Asian Cup. And again, we started the group very, very well, we beat Indonesia 3-1, then we played against a Japanese team that I think had the longest win streak across the world, or I think it was an unbeaten streak. We batted them, we beat them 2-1, but we were very, very good in that game.

And then we won the third game again against Vietnam. So we topped our group against all odds. We were doing very, very well. and then this is where things started to go wrong because we played against Jordan in the last 16 and everybody had us down as favourites but what happened unfortunately is that we got completely exposed in midfield

we could have been 3-0 down at half time somehow it was only 1-0 the second half the manager makes some changes we lead 2-1 and the goal scorer who scores Eman Hussein the kind of the leader of the team, he celebrates his goal and he gets sent off for the celebration

and the players didn't have any idea what was happening the team capitulates completely we end up losing 3-2 and that left a kind of sound one note in the manager's mind Casas ever since that game he continued to make change after change after change the players would come to the squad

not knowing what the tactics were going to be not knowing who's starting not knowing what was expected of them until essentially he lost the dressing room and the nail on the coffin really was against Kuwait and the Palestine games I referred to earlier

we also prior to that we had the Gulf Cup again earlier this year we were horrific we won the first game against the Yemen that got batted against Bahrain and Saudi so it's been very very bad but in comes in a new manager and experienced Australian manager called Graham Arnold so he's tried to fix things

he's had six games with the national team so far it's actually been pretty good we've won four games we only against Indonesia Hong Kong Jordan and Thailand we lost a game against South Korea at home but to be fair we played very well and we had the players off after only 20 minutes

and South Korea topped the group so that's not exactly an embarrassing result but we also drew against Saudi in the last game that we played. Overall, we've looked a better team. The team looks more settled. The players know what they're doing, but we've managed to keep things tight at the back.

We've only considered three goals, but we've struggled really to create chances, and I think that's going to be the biggest factor come Thursdays match. Can we create chances? Across those six games, we've only scored five goals. So it's going to be very interesting to see what happens against the UAE

who are actually a very good team. Hassan, we talked before with Jamaica and some of the countries in Central America about the fact that their squads that lean really heavily on diaspora players. Is that true of Iraq as well? There are players who were born in Germany, I think in Norway as well. How much of this team, this talented side, how much of it has come from outside Iraq and how much of it is kind of the product of Iraqi football itself? We have a mixture of both what we call expat players

and local players we refer to them in Iraq players that have been like living in Iraq born in Iraq and develop their football there. It's about 50-50 to be honest

the last four years, five years there's been a massive push to bring in all these expat players from Leeds and it's not just Norway or

not in Germany we have players in the UK for example two of their players in the squad right now Zidane Akbal former Manchester United Talent and Ali al Hamadi

who is on loan now to Luton He's at Ipswich. He was playing Premier League football just a couple of seasons ago. So we have a ton of players in the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Holland a lot. Sweden, we have a massive number of players from Sweden. Obviously with Iraq's history, the 2003 invasion, Saddam, ISIS. It's led to many people leaving Iraq, settling elsewhere, and football is now living there, being raised there. my job and the FA were working towards bringing all these players and getting them to represent Iraqi football.

Hassan, honestly, it's been fascinating talking to you. We're going to leave it for now, but still an opportunity to qualify for the World Cup next summer. So best of luck with all of that. There's two big games coming up against the UAE. So good luck with that. Thank you so much, Hassan. Thank you so much.

To finish this episode of Destination, New Jersey, we are delighted to be joined by Julie Duffy. Now, Julie is a member of the FIFA World Cup Boston 2026 host committee and is currently in London for Boston's Tourism Board promoting the city ahead of the World Cup next summer. So seven games are going to be played at Foxborough Stadium outside of the city. Julie, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks so much for having me.

I'm excited to be here. Well, we're really excited to hear about how Boston is preparing for the World Cup. This has been in the making for years, And we're so excited to welcome the world to Boston. As you mentioned, we have seven matches happening. And there's going to be so much excitement, both within the tournament at the stadium, but also in all the surrounding communities and areas, Greater Boston will have a fan festival and so many exciting things for people to take part in.

So we're excited to welcome the world. And there's such a great sporting legacy in Boston as well. This is true. Born and bred in Boston, we are so privileged to have had so many great teams. championships, our fandom is like no other. And we welcome all sports to our city. So the fact that we have the World Cup coming is extremely exciting. We're excited about it. A lot of excitement about the World Cup coming to Boston. And as you say, there is this great history of sport and sporting culture. The 30 mile travel outside of the city center, is that going to be an issue?

Is that going to be something that people who don't know the area are going to find problematic. It's funny that you say that. There's something we've been pondering and talking about because it's very, you know, normal for us to say Gillette Stadium and now it's going to be Boston Stadium, which is 30 miles outside of the city. But having been in London this week and spent so much time with football fans here, they say the stadiums are all over the place. People understand. They get on their public transportation. They get there because they're excited to see the matches and the teams that they support. So I'm actually feeling better about it since I've been here in the UK.

We were talking earlier about how the diverse population in the states means that actually there are huge pockets where actually, although football or soccer is not the number one sport across the country, there are pockets where it very much is. Yes, absolutely. And we're really looking forward to the draw for that very reason. You know, I think there are a number of, you know, Brazilian community is massive and Massachusetts, it is second most populated Brazilian community in the U.S. Portugal, Portuguese community in southeastern Massachusetts is very popular as well. You know, clearly Italian and

Irish, whether or not they make it, likely not at this point. But we're looking forward to welcoming all the different cultures. And the exciting part about having seven matches is that five are group stage matches. So we will learn, you know, in, a month's time, less than a month's time, 10 of the teams that are coming to play at Boston Stadium. And we're really, really excited about that. Julie, how much changes with the draw? Because ultimately, I suppose different countries will bring different numbers of people. What happens after 10 December the 6th? Does everything suddenly have to be reassessed just to make sure that you've got the right estimates for the number of people you might be able to expect?

Or has that work all been done? Yeah, I mean, the work has been in progress for a very long time. But I think as the draw happens, people know where they want to book their travel to. They know what teams that they want to follow, where they want to go. And we're ready and waiting for that to take place in terms of travel and accommodations. In terms of flights, we have so many direct flights that come into Logan Airport in Boston. We're the closest airport to Europe and to England. And we're very excited and hopeful that a lot of the teams that we love and cheer on will be coming to Boston as well. I wanted to ask as well about the comments that President Trump made about potentially

relocating. He said he would make a call to Jenny and Fantina, the FIFA president, if Boston didn't, quote, clean up its act after disturbances in the south of the city and talked about he was critical of the mayor. He was talking about potentially moving locations. How as an organizing committee do you prepare for a tournament in such unpredictable times? Yes. I would say our preparations have been ongoing for a couple of years now. We have had, you know, security working groups and transportation working groups for over two years now with all of the right agencies coming together to make sure that this is a safe tournament, that people can get where they need to go. It really hasn't interrupted our flow in terms of planning. We're very

much looking forward to being a World Cup host city. It's an honor to have seven matches and we're not focused on distractions. We're focused on continuing our planning and getting to the tournament itself. Yeah, because I suppose you can't do anything except plan for what has been what has been scheduled for the for the city that's right that's right i mean we have an important job to do and to execute seven matches and you know over a course of a 39 day period um that's the task at hand and that's what we're focused on at all costs and we have the support of our city and our state um you know the federal government has really stepped up in terms of security funding and that's obviously critically important um and we're just continuing to to plan day by day and

excited for the world to come to Boston. Julie, lovely to talk to you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you both so much. It was great to see you. Thank you, Julie. And enjoy your time in London as Boston prepares for the World Cup. And it's all about traveling around and kind of drumming up the support for Boston as a host city. For now, though, Rory, thank you very much. Thanks to all of our guests on the next episode of the pod. It's 72 plus with Joby McEnough, Lyle Taylor and Phil Brown.

From us, though, thanks for listening. Five Live Sports The Rugby Union Autumn International Unbelievable scenes are shell-shocked Twickenham Rugby Union's elite clash in a bid to close out the year in style Oh, what a try! Keep up to date with all the insight and analysis with the Rugby Union weekly podcast.

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