Football Daily - World Cup: England Survive Mexico Thriller

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

England are through to the World Cup quarter-finals after surviving the game of the tournament so far.Goals, red cards, VAR drama and an unforgettable night at the Azteca Stadium had it all as Thomas Tuchel's side edged past Mexico in a last-16 classic.With Lloyd Griffith back from Las Vegas, he joins Rick Edwards and Dion Dublin to relive an extraordinary evening, break down how England overcame one of their toughest tests yet and ask what it means for their World Cup hopes.Plus, friend of the pod Greg James checks in, fresh from Taylor Swift's wedding, with a voice note from Brazil v Norway.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the global story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story, and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive, but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States,

2.50. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2026 World Cup started with 48 teams and we've now reached the knockout stage. Records have been broken the way that Messi has been able to score all these goals late in his career. He's happy to play football and broken records is the consequence for him. And new heroes have emerged. This country's caught the fever. casual fans are now diehard fans. And The More Than the Score podcast

is bringing you the stories beyond the score lines. More than the score from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. The Football Daily at the People World Cup 2026. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from LA. Hello, welcome to the Football Daily with me, Rick Edwards. And back again.

Lloyd Griffith. Yeah. It's nice to have you back, actually. Honestly, I missed you a tiny bit. No, I listened to the podcast whilst that was away, and you did mention me quite a lot. If anything, I'm honest, it was a little confidence booster

because I was listening in, and I mean, you obviously, you know, throw a few little jibes my way. Yeah, that's absolutely fine, yeah. But then Guillem Ballagay, who I love, thinks I'm absolutely hilarious. It's been to see me do stand up a couple of times

and he was big in me up, and I absolutely loved that. Second language, isn't it? Yeah, I can do comedy in two languages now. Can you? Well, I mean, it... As in English or English. In English or...

English for a Spanish speaker. Or Steve McLear and Dodge, that kind of thing. And then also, another little confidence boost that Dionne D'Obblingham thinks I'm that much of a good actor. He didn't realize it was me that was playing Steve from Gillingham. Yes, I think it took me half a second. Well, yeah, because we spend all day, you know, with each other and stuff. Yeah, we do.

And I've heard you Steve and Gilligan before. Yeah. Is that you wake me up in the morning? No, no, I booked the table for six people. I want it. Also like an audition for a Guy Ritchie Phil. I know if he's listening, Guy. Which is not.

I know he is. He's not. But he was nice that Dionne thought I was a fantastic actor as well. He didn't say that. He didn't have a clue. It's slightly different. Anyway, enough of that. I'm back.

And what a day to come back? Did you win any money, by the way? Oh, let's not talk about that about $600. Did you? Well, give or take, $600. Well, that, mate. Thank you. I won $50.

Okay. Can I take that back? Yeah. I am absolutely full of, I think, adrenaline. Yep. And cortisol, is that the stress one? Yes. And various other things.

My body is a maelstrom in here. We've just had a maxed two hours. Oh, my man alive. That was insane. It was a lot, wasn't it? It really wasn't. much. It was too much for me. 11 minutes.

We knew it was going to be. 11 minutes extra time. Ref, we've already got 10 men left. You sent one of our fellas off. It's not fair. And the goal keep you should be on the pitch. No, you were quite keen on that idea, weren't you?

I didn't enjoy the father he stayed on. No, you didn't. Didn't even get a card. Yeah, bring Dion on him. Come on, big man. Come on! Come on!

Come on! Come on! I mean, beyond stressful Dion. Beyond stressful. That was an extraordinary game of football. So England... It's horrible to watch, wasn't it? It was...

It was a few minutes that were lovely, two in particular. Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, but it was... Like, the last sort of 40 minutes of that were agony. That was an extraordinary game of football. So England... It's horrible to watch, wasn't it? It was...

It was a few minutes that were lovely, two in particular. Yes, yes, yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, but it was... Like, the last sort of 40 minutes of that were agony. So England beat Mexico, just three, two. And it had, it basically had absolutely everything. Red card, two penalties, five goals, a load of VAR stuff. Dan Burn.

Dan Byrne coming on, which was, I think, surprising, but worked. Bodies on the line at the end. Relentless, relentless pressure from Mexico. Us having literally zero outball at all. It was just like, and as who fit as far as you can. To anyone? Just as far as you can. Doesn't matter.

Takes up a few seconds. Get it away from your goal. It takes up a few seconds. It felt like clay pigeon shooting. Do you know what I mean? Just like launching out there. And they're just opened that someone might get on the end of it. Yeah.

Listen, that's all you need to do. That's all you need to do. It was, I mean, imagine if you've stayed up for that at home thinking I'm going to go to bed afterwards, you're not getting to sleep. My mom just text me. No chance. It's 4 a.m. She's got work at 7. Oh, it is 4 years.

What an absolute legend. I know. I know. To stay up and get that. that result though. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just, it's just bizarre. You don't mind being tired at work tomorrow,

knowing that you just watch, in my opinion, I think one of the best England games. Yeah, I think that's right. I think this is the best game at the World Cup after the Cape Verde game. Oh, yes. After the Cape Verde. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The best game. There's so much on it. And the subs that came on, stopping the ball going into the box. You know, because Thomas Dukle had to go at Jess Spence, by the way, about letting crosses come in the box. Really? So at the end, that's why I know.

no crosses came in our box because it was all about stop the ball going into the danger area we'll defend it but stop it coming in stop it at source. Like everyone did such a good job at the end there. That one where John Stone's just nicked in and it dribbled past the post I was like I thought I thought I did

I thought Jimenez had done the shot as if he's missed that and then he'd go oh wow there were so many of those I'll go through the whole game in a minute but like the Bellingham clearance You know what I mean? Which again, I thought At the back post

Yeah, yeah That's a goal Without that timing Timberne, head and right at the four post is well Brilliant, brilliant Jordan Pickford Immaculate

Excellent Two unbelievable saves From him and that The first one, The first one That's what I'm talking about Banks-esque Oh, banks-esque

Oh, hang on Bank-esque Hang on, hang on Hang on mate It was good But hang on Stop it Be happy to say

He's a very good friend of mine And I'll stand up Gooden Banks you do know all the goalkeepers and seeing the scenes and after the game just like the elation the exhaustion

like run into the ground after 102 minutes or whatever it was in the end come out the other side and then you have done if you've heard this Dion but Harry Kane interviewed afterwards

obviously the guy's absolutely shattered and then he's been singing with the England fans and when he comes to the interview can't speak That his voice has gone. And it's like squeaky and breaking. It's so funny.

He sounds like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's true. But it's such a good way. What for the younger view of that. He'll have to say, though, I think that was probably a mix of him singing Wonderball at the end and just like communicated

and shouted at the whole game. He does do it so well. He'll marshal from wherever he is on the pitch and they all listen to him. It's all about his voice means the most when you're out there over the white lines. So, yeah, I would imagine both of those things. Before we get into the game,

Also probably worth noting that Jordan Henderson has been stretched off at the end of the game. Yeah. I saw that. Apparently he went over the advertising hoardings. It's maybe hurt his arm. And on oxygen. Was he really? Yeah.

Hopefully he's all right. But he didn't play. But he managed to get a yellow card and get injured. So I mean, that's not easily done. But I think that, and I'm not making light of that, that just goes to show. Like, even if you're not playing, you put your bodies on the line because he was interfering with the play, which helped buy in time and stuff. So I genuinely think that everyone. I think that's a stretch.

I do think that's a very good, very good. Stretcher. I just think it's, you know, great for him. And hopefully it's okay. I think he'll be fine. It'll be fine. Let's try and just dissect it as it played out. So the first like,

can I sit back? Yeah, the first half an hour. There was a lot of pressure from Mexico. A lot of pressure. And then we get the goal. Fantastic goal. Great header. Great, great ball in.

Great cut back. Bellingham just popping up exactly when you need him. and then very quickly after that, the second, and you just think, come on, we're in here, we're absolutely in. And it was against the run of play with a two-gold cushion. You sort of thought, fine, just hold this. A two-gold cushion is possibly the worst cushion that you have. One you know you...

One goes worse, isn't it? No, no, no, but one you know you've got to get two. When you get two, you think, right, we have to get three, otherwise we're in trouble. And I just feel that the way we started was just absolutely perfect. you know, Bellingham and Kane again, doing what they do, but the way that Jude gets about the pitch

you spoke about, you know, it just seems to make sure that we're okay and what he does as well and what Gordon did very early was let's get the ball into the final third, let's run the ball into the final third and play in the area we want to play in. I thought Anthony Gordon was, I mean, you could probably go through every player

but I thought Anthony Gordon in particular was superb. Very positive. Really positive. Great to see that as well. That's what you want from your wingers. Go to Ansackers. Oh my gosh. It was great. Just like the little... Just a little wedge.

A little wedge. Little wedge, wasn't it? And also, it was beautiful. They had a fantastic replay on the screens over here. It was like from an aerial view. And you could just see. It was like, it was like chess pieces. Just moving forward.

And the way that Bellingham could see what's happening. It was like, right, I'm going to peel off. Lost his man. And then Kane kind of, they thought that he was going to be Kane. And then just goes over with a lovely little loft way. The way that Jude went into the box, he gets to the edge of the box. And then the guy that was marking him, leaves him.

Yeah. Leaves him for the other defender, but the other defender doesn't do anything about it. But it's movement on the way into the box. And you know what? I'll tell you this right now. When you know that Saka's in that corner and he's going to wedge it, your eyes light up.

Honestly, as a centre forward or anybody attacking, your eyes light up and you go, oh yes, please. And then you time yourself and you go, bam. Everything goes in the box, the player, the man, the ball, everything. Then Kignonas, who we knew was going to be a danger man, scores the Mexican goal and it's a good finish. Yeah, it was slightly disappointing that he's on his own.

But also going back to that second goal as well, our second goal, that came from just pressing and like closing it down and just not giving up. Energy, give it your energy, energy, energy. And that was with 11 men, do you know what I mean? So they were just from the off just like going, right, we're not going to be second best here. Yeah, and then, to be fair, after Mexico scored, England definitely wanted half time to come because there's a lot of pressure. Needed it as well, to be fair.

And then as we discussed, unbelievable block from Bellingham at the far post where that is a certain goal. It's four yards out, isn't he? It's four yards out. And Jude just gets there, takes it away from him. Which is good. What I did like is the togetherness when something was done well, the togetherness of we are in. And Jordan saves, you've mentioned already. He saves and everybody's gone, brilliant.

So you're all on the same page. It means, I mean, we just got through it. Imagine the lads, the energy they put in. and how they feel now. You know, this is the goal. We have to get by these hurdles. And I think that's probably the biggest one. For sure.

I mean, that atmosphere, particularly when Mexico were pushing, you've got to withstand that. And then the ref, I don't know. Actually, let's talk about the red card. So, 54 minutes, it was early in the second half. And Kwanza, I mean, he gets the ball. It's a red card. When you watch the replay, you're like,

I think he's a red card. I think he's unlucky. Completely unlucky. Because he bounces on the ball. And it bounces. Absolutely. It's the foot bounces up. I agree.

So it's not that he's come in with a high, but it just sort of glances up. And it looks worse than what it is because like you say, he rolls the top of the ball. He rolls on top of the ball. He bounces his foot up high. It looks terrible. He's got it wrong. And he's unlucky, but it's a record.

And then you're just thinking, right, this is going to be. Oh, we've seen this before. Yeah. We've seen this script before. I do we don't see it again, do we? Not particularly. But yeah, 40 minutes of just backs against the wall, really. And then the penalty, again, it's a lovely flick from Harry Kane.

It's great awareness and pace from Gorn just to nick it past the goalkeeper. It's a clear penalty. You think the keeper should have gone? No, I don't think you should have gone. That's what you were, you were screaming that quite a lot. He's got, he's got a go, red, red, red. You're screaming it. So what are you saying?

That's very happy. We were at the golf club and there were a lot of Mexican fans. There was a lot of Mexicans and they were giving it. I was like, I'm just going to give a little bit back. You were red carders and Mexicans in the face, I don't believe. Imagine how you read? No, you're not imagining.

He always goes. I'm not even joking. I actually do have a Premier League set of red and yellow cards. That doesn't surprise me. Pathetic. Yeah, no. A ref gave them to me. Still pathetic.

Okay, fine. I don't think, he wasn't the last man. Don't point it. He wasn't a less man. There were players around, but I don't even think he got carded. We were like to see, looking if he got carded. I don't think he did. And it's like, well, you've committed a foul there in the box.

And they were just, yeah, they were very underhand. To be fair, I don't care. No, no, no, true. To be fair, you could have given me a yellow, three reds, I don't care. We got through. What a penalty by the skipper. Under the pressure. I mean, that pressure, by the way.

And the guy, it's interesting, isn't it? because the keeper goes, we saw a very poor penalty in the Brazil Norway game. Yeah, we did. And this was just like power exactly where he needed. It doesn't matter that the keeper's gone the right way. He's never stopping it. It's a lovely, lovely pen under incredible pressure. Yeah.

And the way that the captain takes the penalties is I'm going to do what I'm going to do regardless of where you go or where you dive. Therefore, it gives you that mindset of I know what I'm going to do anyway. So even if I see you move, I'm not going to change. and he takes it so well it's just amazing. And then you think, okay, back to the two-goal cushion. I know you don't like the two-gold cushion, Dion. I prefer it to the one.

I've got to tell you. And you just say, okay, okay, just settle, settle. And then the penalty, which it did remind me of the one that we got Modrich. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A good point, yeah, good shout. Which was soft. Yeah. In real time, I was like, never a pen.

Yeah. And then you watch it back. Maybe. Maybe, maybe. But it's very soft. But as always, as soon as it goes to VAR, and he jogs over to his little screen, and he's got 85,000 Mexican screen at him,

I'm like, well, I think I know what's going to happen. And he wants to get out the stadium alive as well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And get home to his family, not safe. I understand it. So fair play. Final decision is penalty. Yes, yes.

Yeah, all right. I've heard that before. I've heard that. And so Jimenez penalty actually gets a good penalty. Pickford takes that slight little jump to the left. And if he hasn't taken that, then he might get a hand to it. That was my first thought. And I take, you're digging your mate out, won't you?

Oh, no, that was my first thought. But actually, again, even if he didn't go to that left, I think, I think, the power. The power is good. It's not as in the corner, though. It wasn't as in the corner, no. But, and again, you know, we talked about it before. If you're a goalkeeping those situations, you're either a hero or it just goes in.

As long as you don't make a mistake. And I think, you know, it's a good penalty. Jimenez, I mean. He played brilliant, by the way. He was super. Very unlucky to, you know. Yes. Not of one, but, I mean, got it.

Yeah, not too good for him, actually. But yeah, yeah, he did play well. He's an absolute nightmare to play against because as a centre forward, he's always in the right position. Yeah. He always seems to get on the end of the cross. How many headlers did he get across his man? I know, I know.

I know. Strikes on the ball. You've got to know exactly. It was like Harlan's goal today. Harlan's goal when he got across his man. Yeah. what him and it does all the time. And it's a good job that we haven't got to play

Harland in the next game. Oh, who not next time? Oh, Harland. Harlem, Norway. Can we not think about that for that? And then it's just, can England hold on? There was nothing but holding on and the substitutions were...

Brilliant. They worked. They all worked. Went to a... I guess we went to a back five, although at times it sort of looked like a back 10, really. Yeah, happy. Back six, back seven, I don't mind.

Well, no, not a back 10, a back nine. Yeah, it worked. But it worked. You know, the defensive mind. of Stones and Dan Burns. It's just the organisation of, you know, you go there, I'll go here. It's natural for a defensive-minded player to deal with that situation and know where you're the teammates going to be and tell them where to go.

And it just worked. It worked perfectly. So those changes that he did make, what was the thinking of me on that for the layperson watching it, like to bring Dan Byrne in? Was it just bigger bodies? Yeah, because he knew that when you get to a certain stage in a game, everything's going in the box. Yeah. Everything's going in the box.

And it was. And it was. So you need to make sure that people that go on the pitch are happy to go and attack that ball. And Stones is, as we've seen, with that little nick away. And there was a massive head out at the far post like Dan Byrne that went right over the halfway line. That's all you need. Head it away. Squeeze up.

Go again. There was that moment as well. Whereas I can't remember if it was from a corner or it was sort of bubbled around. Yes. And then somehow it just kind of popped up into Jordan Pickford's hands. And then he fell on the floor. Yeah. You stay on that, right, you stay on that.

But for seven seconds. Exactly. How hard is it, though, when you're having to, I mean, forget the atmosphere for a moment, when you've got 45 minutes plus to keep out 11 men when you're down to 10? It's down to, and they want to do it on the training pitch. It's very much what we call forwards against defence. You go into an defensive shape, and when the ball goes into a certain position, you find your way into a position.

make sure that people like Jimenez don't get a run on you. And they would have known exactly what to have done. They did it to the letter tonight. They were absolutely outstanding. And sometimes it's not going to be pretty. I don't care if it's not pretty. I don't care if we don't play the beautiful game. We did.

We got our goals. They came back into it and they deserved to come back into it. They did play their part. But I just think the organisation that Thomas Tuchel sorted out with his team that went over the players that went over the line was absolutely spot on. I also think that it was a very strong recommendation for the squad choices. Because definitely there were eyebrows raised when he takes Dan Byrne.

And then Dan Byrne comes on in a situation like that and is a colossus and does exactly what you need him to do. And you're like, right. To be fair, Rick, to be fair, if he'd have taken three or four players out of his squad now and brought in the Fodens and the part of Cole Parman, then he's still got it wrong. He's never going to get it right. You know, we're never going to agree with everything he does.

What we have to agree is the players that are there and his tactics. Yeah. And he's got it spot on. And just so many people stepped up today as well. They did. We talked about Pickford. Like, he was coming out. He commanded his box.

Like, I haven't seen for a long, long time. Some of those punches, I mean, Alvarez was in the crowd. And I'm sure he was, like, right in. That's pretty that. Oh, that's how they do, is it? And, you know, stones coming in. Gay, it's always brilliant. The fact that we've not really talked about him because you just had, you know, a great game.

That means he's had a good game. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's the way he plays the game. He's very understated. He's not six foot three, six foot four. He just does the job.

Paul Robinson we had on last week and he was talking about England. He got this fantastic spine of the team. And you could see that today. Just like straight down through the middle. Jameen, Gae. And then through the middle, Anderson. Again, just so, so good. Rice.

Beringham. Cain. Rice, right. He's playing 100 minutes on a yellow card and just going, right, I've got to play. I can't go into every tackle. I've got to give everything that I can do. Bellingham, outstanding today. Kane is incredible.

He was just going, oh, everyone's just stepped up here. They were on it, weren't they? I love that moment right near the end, probably in like the 100th minute, where I think it is, Jordan Pickford has kicked it out and Bellingham is out wide on the right. And he's annoyed with himself because he doesn't quite bring it down perfectly. I'm like, we're fine with that. I think you've, you've played your part. But also on that, what was really nice is that that ball came,

Bellingham took it and it was just a little bit like maybe a foot or so just to the right and he just looked back at Jordan and then just like I apologize to Jordan and just those small little things

where other teams you go what are you doing I mean like they were both trying and that's the only options they really had at that point because they were just what you know

trying to survive with 10 men it was a different feeling did you get a different feeling about the way that they dug in it felt different tonight it felt like they really felt like they could win it and they can go far

because the attitude I think it's because they trust each other. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Everyone knows we're all here because we trust each other. And these foundations have been laid by Garas Southgate for how many years. I was watching it with my pal Scotty, right? And I said, Scott, Jed's on it. Jed's on it.

Because he obviously got a bit of a rocket from the manager about letting crosses come in. And he stopped every single cross. Yeah. That's how hard you have to work. Help your teammates out by doing your job. Although we were unbelievably stressed, it did feel like we were going to be able to do it. And previously in situations like that,

I would have thought, well, we're definitely going to concede. 100%. There was that real feeling, wasn't they? Going, look, we have seen this. We're going to repel all this. We have seen this script before, but there was just something different. We're going, no, we'll dig in.

Like, there's been a few decisions that have gone against us. And obviously, you know, the red card is a red card. And, you know, Harry came, bless him. I mean, I'm so glad we won that because you did not want Harry to be like, oh, it was down to that penalty. It wasn't at all. He had to go for it. He didn't know who was there.

But it was just the belief. It was different. It was different. was and you just think I think we can do this we're not just convincing ourselves it was different because of the result are we no no no I'm sorry that it might be a bit of that you know what I honestly don't I just think there was something there today at the first 15 minutes you know you're going oh crickie you're you're mean and we're looking for signs to them being exhausted you kept doing the Henri Carragher touch to me oh did you panic panic sets in what's this

and then you're like looking I'm trying to look and see if they're exhausted and there was moments in that first 10 minutes and I'm not sure it was just the camera work where they were like pan to Bellingham and he was just dripping with stress. But you're going, well, I think everyone is. Do I mean, so are we getting too worried about it? But I think that the feeling that we all had, and it's better now, obviously, we've got over

the white line, we've got the result. Can you imagine being in that situation as a player? Now you know what it takes. You know, muscle memory is, oh, we have to go to those lengths, do we, in order to be successful. So we have to stop all the crosses, and we have to have everything. And Jude has to run that far and maybe take a wrong touch and then get back and say sorry.

They're the lengths. If you want to win, they're the lengths, and they know now. We talked a lot about the altitude and the conditions of the Mexican fans. We've also not mentioned the fact that Mexico hadn't lost and hadn't conceded. They have now. They have now. And we are delighted, no, we are delighted. Yeah.

Absolutely delighted. Completely agree. And then on the Kwanza red card, I guess we'll just hope that Kirstama gives it, Infantino. Yeah, I'm sure that's how it works now, isn't it? I think so. You call them up and you say, I'm not sure about that, actually. Just take your social. Take your social. We'd rather have quonser available for the courses. I think that, yeah, that would just happen.

Yeah. And you just make sure you say, please, isn't it? Yeah, and you'll be alright. Just wait. Party time. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive but not well.

From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2026 World Cup started with 48 teams and we've now reached the knockout stage. Records have been broken. the way that Messi has been able to score all these goals late in his career. He's happy to play football and broken records is the consequence for him. And new heroes have emerged. This country's caught the fever.

Casual fans are now die-hard fans. And The More Than the Score podcast is bringing you the stories beyond the score lines. More than the score from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcast. Five Lights 4th My favourite World Cup moment It's the first World Cup I properly remember watching Argentina 78

The Ticker Tape Mario Kempes Ari Hahn's scoring goals from miles out And always one of my favourite World Cup moments Archie Gemmell's great goal for Scotland against the Dutch What makes the World Cup such a special tournament Is the atmosphere, the colour It is a meeting of the nations And of people who love football

The People World Cup 2026 Listen on BBC Sounds The Football Daily Podcasts At the People World Cup 2026 With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffin Listen on BBC Sounds Next up then Norway

After they beat Brazil And look We were talking after that After that game and saying Norway are a good team And they've got some good players but they have this man up front. I think he's an alien.

Yeah, he is beyond good. It's unbelievable. So, you know, this amazing battle between Gabriel that's continued from the Premier League, you know those two are always at it, and Gabriel was doing pretty well, and then he just gets absolutely banged. I don't know how Harlem plays that well all the time,

and his goal stats are just bizarre. It's 62 in 54 for Norway. I don't know. I don't know how you mark him. I really don't. I don't know how you do with it. Joint top scorer for Golden Boot. And he didn't even play one of the games in the group stage.

Had a little rest. And he didn't really do anything today in the game. He scored his goals. So often he doesn't. Which is fine. And they accept that. They accept that that's what he does. And what he does do, he says,

when you have the ball in a certain position, I will be on. So give him the opportunity to score a goal. Never moans. Never says, got to cross it, got across it. But if you don't give it to him

when he's made a good run, then that's different. On that, he only had 30 touches before the game ended, stop his time in the second half, but he ended up with two goals.

Yeah. And that's what we've got to. But that's what we've got to try and stop. Yeah. And listen, with my defender's hat on, if you don't know where he is, and if you can see your number,

as in if he's behind, you're in trouble. Yeah. As in the head of today, Yeah. Because if you watch the header today, the cross is that side, he goes behind, he goes behind. And what happens is, as a defender, you're looking over your shoulder, you're looking over, when you look at the ball, that's when he comes.

He's in. That's when it comes. Because you haven't got time to go like that too late. I'll maybe just hear the breath. Oh, God. Yeah. And the snorting. The snorting of the absolute machine on his way to you.

That's a second goal. That's awful defending. You've got to close him down. It's awful defending. I don't quite know why they haven't. but the finish is immaculate. Yeah. They don't think there's a problem, Rick.

No. They don't think it's a problem because he shoots. He's not going from there. Correct. They don't think it's a problem. So they've just ambled out and just stuck a leg out thinking, it's going to hit me or the keeper's going to save it. But he puts it on such an angle.

Through the legs. Through the legs. What he does, he shoots where he wants to shoot. If it makes it there, he's got a chance. What a goal. My other half messaged me. And she watches a lot of football, but she's not, you know, an expert Premier League footballer.

And she said, why do they give him so much space to it? It's a great question. It's a really great question. Thank you, Phoebe. She knows her stuff there. But also, as well, you could see Alison. You know, the thing,

you saw Harland shoot and just almost go away and celebrate before it even hit the back of the net. It was very cantinaw against Sondland-esque, and you could just see Alison go, but Alison, as Alison goes over to his right, and Harlan goes over to his right, he thinks everything's safe because the defender should be covering

the far post but he shoots through his legs listen sometimes what we call a purple patch as a centre forward when you're in a purple patch like he has I think he's been a purple patch

all of his life because he's always scored goals that's what happens they always go in so nonchalant he scored in 14 consecutive games for normal but he's not going to score

he's 15th exactly because we're putting an end to all these records thank you very much and how are we doing that closing him down quite quickly Yeah.

Back eight, I think. One in front, one behind. Even with 11 men, just a back eight. He also, for about two minutes after he scored his second goal, played with his hair down. And it was fantastic. Just full, like full Viking. Pure confidence, pure.

I loved it. Look at me. Look how good I am. You can't help but love the man. That's the thing. I do love him. He's a genius centre forward. absolute genius.

And apparently he's a lovely, lovely man. A friend of mine used to be the kit manager for Manchester City. He said he's one of the nicest men you'll ever, ever meet. And he's kind of go, oh, bugger. Is there nothing wrong with him? I wanted to be horrible. What about the shots of his dad? Yeah.

What about the shots of his dad? Yeah. You know, Alph is there. He's just, he wanted to go, but he had to sort of hold it in. And he just said, my boys, don't they again? Against Brazil. I know. Against Brazil.

I bet you any money? I bet you there's Brazilian players, which will never happen. Brazilian players asking for his shirt. You know, which is bizarre, because everybody wants a Brazil shirt. I don't think Namar was. I think he had other priorities that was like stop crying in front of a billion people. Namar, I just, I don't know why he brought him on anyway. And then the penalty and all the chat he was given to the keeper,

who, by the way, who had a great game as well. He's been brilliant. That one that he sort of was looking. sort of was looping over him and it coming back and he's Paul Parkes. Yeah, exactly. And he gets it. Fantastic. And Namar's like, it's a penalty in, it's going to be the last kick of the game.

Yeah. You're giving the keeper a load of chat and then you score it and you're celebrating. Your team is about to go out of the World Cup. What's wrong with you? Potentially your last kick ever. Yeah. As an international. I mean, I hope it is.

You're giving a Norwegian keeper a load of grief. Just go and get the ball and take it to the ball and take it to the world. Just get on with it. I know lots of people have found him unlike him in the past I've never really had a problem and then today I was like nah not having that

you're happy to unlike him yeah I'm happy to unlike him now yeah I thought that was that was nonsense unnecessary really to be fair you're right to mention the keeper by the way because he made about three or four I think he's been brilliant this whole tournament he's been a real constant for that side

and again he's probably gone a little bit unnoticed due to you know Highland forward geese yeah yeah with fantastic he has been brilliant and he's really kept

in this tournament. So again, let's hope we can pop a few past. We'll be okay. We'll be okay. Brazil, disappointing. Overall, I think. I mean, they had that one big chance

for Endrick when he came on. And Vinnie Jr., it's just a perfect ball. And then he takes, the amazing thing is, I think he takes three touches and all of them are bad. So the first touch is bad. First one's bad.

Second one's awful. And then finally the finish is bad. The finish is panicked. And also the keeper is, again, He's done well. I mean, he's been allowed to because of how bad the second touch is. In that situation, when you're played through, I scored my very first goal for Aston Villa against Tottenham with a ball that was played through for me.

And then you have to make your mind up on what you're going to do before you get to the ball. He hadn't. No. He didn't know what he was going to do. He said, let me get a touch and let me get comfortable and then I'll make a decision. And by that time, the keep on you. It was terrible. Yeah.

It really was. Yeah. I mean, if he scores that, which he really should. Should have. All change. Who knows? But I think Norway would definitely... Better side.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. A bit slow, a bit slow, Brazil. Pedestrian, not with the ball. They just sort of sat back and looked to hit on the break and you're like, that's not... That's not Brazil. They've done a lot of that for a number of these games. Yeah.

But it's Angelotti, isn't it? They've not got the players. They weren't great. Norway just a little bit more dynamic in the final third. And when you've got someone like, you know, Harlem that can put all the hard work, sort of sprinkling it with, you know, your hundreds of thousands. You're going, yeah, that's me. Cross it. Cross it. I'll deal with it. Brilliant. Brilliant. We actually had a friend of the pod who was at the game today, and he gave us a little match preview.

He's had a big weekend, but he's managed to send this to us. Hi, Rick. Hi, Lloyd. It's Greg James from Taylor Swift's wedding here. I love the show. You know I do. I haven't missed an episode. You join me live in the middle of a mass exodus at the New Jersey, New York Stadium. as Brazil have just been battered by the Vikings. I'm wearing a Brazil shirt. I bought it during the first hydration break. It costs $120 and is an XXL. I look like Homer Simpson in the episode

where he buys a moo-moo. These fans are furious. The party atmosphere has dissipated. The drums have been put away for another four years and the Brazil boys have... Oh, they've blown it. There was only about a thousand Norway fans in there. They don't need to row home just yet.

So yeah, that's my match report. Good hot dogs. Overpriced beer. I need a wee. Should have done that before I left the stadium. But all in all, a great experience. By the way, I do love the pod. I've just realised that I'm drunk.

I only got one ticket. And my wife, Ben, I didn't want to go anyway. So I just was standing on my own, making friends with the Brazilian fans. One of them bought me an ice cream. So I've just, yes, I'd really, I don't know what I was talking about. Lizzie edit this, please.

For God's sake. Anyway, how long you've been in Canvas? Oh, that's nice to hear. Big fan of the pod. Yeah, and that's actually just him doing a voice again. I know you've never noticed, Dion. Steve from Gillingham here. I'm Greg from the radio.

Go on to it. Good morning, it's Radio One. Breakfast Radio One. Yeah, sorry, I need to work on it. But, you know, you know, I love Gregg from. Thank you, Greg. Deion, always a pleasure. Thank you very much, Jets. Doing a great job.

Doing a great job, Jets. Absolutely lovely. And thanks for standing in for me as well. I really appreciate it. No problem at all. Would you do it again? That's what Rick said, I would.

Yeah, would you do it again? Or whenever you want. Yeah, fantastic. Tomorrow. Got a day off. Let's move on, show. All right. See, mate.

So we've just let Dion go and for a little kind of sneak behind the, sneak behind the curtain. It might even be sneak tonight. Well, you could be. as we were having a quite lively chat about England, we were very excitable, we all became aware of some background noise. So we're in the sort of back courtyard area of where we're staying.

And the, there's no easy way to put this, the neighbours were having sexual relations. They're having fun. They were having some fun. And they were having some quite loud fun. And we were all a little bit distracted. And I think it is a mark of our professionalism that we just allowed them to finish and carried on. However, if you do see the footage of me, it's me looking at producer Lizzie because she's going, Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm just trying to look at Dionne Dublin in the eye, knowing that there's people copulating. Yes. Only a hedge away. Yeah. And I'm like, if you did told me, as a 10-year-old kid, big fan of Dion Dublin. Of course.

in about 30 years you're going to be chatted to Deon Dublin in America whilst there's a couple quite loudly copulating and you have to maintain eye contact with the undublin the whole entire time. I'd have said, Mom, who is this person speaking to me? And why is she telling me about all this? But what are they?

One other thing that we do have to talk about is this story that is dominating the headlines here in the US which is the following Balagan, red card that has been overturned or rescinded or something has happened. So he got sent off against Bosnia-Herz governor.

So that's an automatic one-match suspension under FIFA's tournament rules and FIFA also said the suspensions can't be appealed. And they were very strict about that. Yeah, yeah, no, no. There's no allowance for that. That can't happen. It's a red, it's suspended.

And it's now been suspended for a year. And so he is going to be available to face Belgium. And the amazing, when you hear that, the joke response you have in your, mind is, well, Trump's probably called Infantino. And now the Athletic have reported that the White House spoke to Gianni Infantino before the decision was made. And the White House have confirmed that.

So that is literally what has happened. And Donald Trump has called Gianni Infantino. We don't know what he said, but it's along the lines of much better if he was available for us, I think. And Infantino said, yeah. You know you're in USA at the moment. Yeah. Do you want to stay in the USA?

But also, I'm not sure if you saw, there was a tweet from the White House that quote tweeted FIFA's decision and just said, USA, USA, USA with an eagle. And it does feel like they've just gone, we can kind of do what we want, really, because it's on our soil. Which, like, we're making, being like hearted about it. But, I mean, Belgium are few.

Belgium, a few men. Bosnia. Bosnia. So, fuming, understandably, it's ridiculous. Yeah. And also, like, you've got to go, well, then you've, you've kind of, you've set your standards here. The thing is that I don't think that the original offences are red card. No.

So, weirdly, I think that you sort of ended up at the right decision. But the way that it's been arrived at is an insanity. But also, like, weirdly, quite happy for, for, for, for Baligan, because lovely bloke, didn't mean it. Oh yeah, yeah, but that's sort of irrelevant. Of course, yeah, it is. But it's just, it doesn't seem great. It smells a bit of fishy. Yeah.

Belgium coach Rudy Garcia said in his press conference today after that news it broke. I didn't know that at the World Cup, the 5th of July is actually the 1st of April. It's April Fool's Day. Yeah. And again, like, if you're Rudy Garcia, you're going to be going, well, what are you doing? Like, you're just, you aren't just changing the rules when you want, when pressure has been applied so. But he also said we're not defending the national team or federation we're we're

defending football and I sort of think he's got he's got a point like you can't have decisions made in this way you just can't. It's got to be consistent and you can't be hopefully not consistently always just well if a government calls up and asks then yeah that's fine but I also do hope that Kwanza's red card is rescinded. Oh yeah I do really do hope that yeah so get on the brilliant get on the blower please here. Well, after all that, we will have live commentary of Portugal, Spain from 12, USA, Belgium, from 5. Subscribe to the Football Daily Feed and turn push notifications on your settings so you don't miss an episode. It's really handy, actually.

The 2023 Ballandor France footballer is Lionel Messi. The winner is Chrysena Raim. This is the story of the greatest rivalry in the history of sport, a rivalry that split football into two fates for a job. generation. There could be no, oh, Messi and Ronaldo are both great players. There had to be one that was better. They 100 million percent pushed each other to the next level. You know, we were the lucky ones who got to see it. I'm Steve Crossman. This is Sporting Giants, Messi v. Ronaldo. Listen first on BBC sounds. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world. world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe.

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