Football Daily - World Cup: England Through & Miami Melts Lloyd

Episode Date: July 12, 2026

England are through to the World Cup semi-finals... and now Argentina await.Rick Edwards is joined by John Murray to reflect on England's quarter-final victory over Norway, the performance that booked their place in the semis and why Rick wanted a showdown with Argentina instead of Switzerland.Lloyd Griffith also joins from Miami after experiencing the match as a fan, giving his take on England's performance, the incredible atmosphere inside the stadium, the relentless heat and what one USA supporter shouted at him during the game.Can England take one more step towards the World Cup final?

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 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 podcasts. At the People World Cup 2026 with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Hello and welcome

to the Football Daily with Rick and Lloyd. Although on this occasion, we are not together. And it feels weird, Lloyd. It feels weird. And I've got to say, I think you're in a better place than I am. I'm having a nice time, and I'm so sorry. I know you in the garden, but...

I'm not in a hotel room in Miami with, you know, some horrible modern art. I mean, am I? I made that earlier. What do you mean? I'm afraid to tell you, it's crap. No, it's lovely. They give me some paintbrushes as I checked in, and I've just whipped that up. Look, England are through to the semi-finals for the fourth time in history.

First time since 2018. They beat Norway 2-1 in extra time. They're going to face Argentina on Wednesday night. Just finished watching that game. Absolute disgrace, in my opinion. We'll come on to that. There'll be live coverage of the semi-final lacrosse. Literally all of the BBC.

So whether you're watching BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC 3, if that exists anymore, BBC 4, no idea. I player, BBC sounds, Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, 5 live, 6 music. they will all be showing that semifinal or you'll be able to listen to it probably so we'll break down the game in a bit Lloyd you were there I mean look watching it in our in our golf club across the road which you're very familiar with of course it was incredibly stressful it really was not a it wasn't a pleasant watch what was it like in the suffocating heat first and foremost I think it is the hottest game I have ever, ever been at. It was so ridiculously hot. I think the hottest game I've been to before that was, and you're going to get annoyed, Grimsby Town versus Braintree in the second leg

of the semi-fus, second leg of the playoff semifinals years and years ago. But today, you mentioned suffocating, like it felt at times, like we were struggling to breathe and we were just walking up the steps to go to the stands. How the players felt after even just like two or three, minutes of playing that. I mean, everyone was just noticing it. And as we walked out, people were just dripping in sweat.

Everyone was just sweaty. Like I wear my lucky shirt. You can just see it behind me. It's just over there. Have you washed that? Or in my lucky Grimsby Town shirt. Have you washed it? Like, this might sound a little bit rank.

I could have wrung it out after the game. That's why I've changed into this shirt. It was so, so hot. Everyone was absolutely dripping. What was a lovely little... Can you answer my question, please? Have you washed it? I've watched it since the last game,

but I've not washed it. it now, no, I'm in a hotel room, Rick. I'm not, not hand-washing in a sink, you monster. You've got to take something. Well, I'll just put it on the side and I'll get you to wash it and then put it out when I get back.

I'm a sweaty shirt over the hotel furniture. You're an animal. Do you know what? Leave me alone. It just seems like you're a little bit jealous. No, I, I, I, let me go on the game. Of course I'm a bit jealous. You know I am.

Everyone, everyone was really, really sweaty. It was the most ridiculous game. But it was, unbelievable. And then we, you know, we sat down after the game as we were waiting for our card to pick us up. And we're like, do you know what? That wasn't, that wasn't that enjoyable. It was nice until they scored. But actually, looking back, going, that wasn't that enjoyable. Like, it was really, really stressful. I know you talk about hating the fact that,

you know, we have quarters now. You know, up until that first hydration break, it was unbelievable. The atmosphere was fantastic. I think it was the best stadium atmosphere I've seen for a long, long time, especially this World Cup. Since that Grimsby Braintree

game, I guess. Thank you. Really. You're slowly learning. It was proper England versus Norway today.

There were obviously neutrals today, but we talked about Spain and Belgium the other day where you could really tell who was where

and stuff, whereas there was just a sea of England fans and a sea of Norwegian fans. And it was brilliant, just like

a proper, nice little sing-off. And they felt like a bit of an edge today, more so than there's ever felt.

Like a game, yeah. And it just felt, oh, actually, this is, you know, the Mexico game, obviously I wasn't at the Azteca, but in the stadium, it just felt like, oh, this is actually worth something here. And I just think that the influx in England fans, especially behind that, you know, the goal that we saw at the end singing Wonderwall, they just seemed like a different energy to what I've seen at the rest of the games. Obviously, we've only really been to the LA stadium, but we've seen a number of teams play there. But lots of singing. Lots and lots of singing. So many flags. Unbelievable.

Cricy. What's the stadium like? The stadium, like, fine. You know what? Actually, I think it's the most European stadium within this tournament. Oh, like a normal football stadium, kind of. It was like the stadiums that we went to together in Germany,

very similar to that. It was very, very European. Even when you're walking out, had like the spiral staircases, very similar to the San Ciro. So the whole atmosphere leading up to it, like the Norwegian fans absolutely love them. They were so lovely, so many in Miami,

so many Norwegian fans in Miami all coming up being like, do you know what? We hope that we win today, but if we don't win, we'll be supporting England and we're like, oh God, so lovely, thank you so much. Like, you know, we hope that we win today, but if you win, I mean, we won't be watching the World Cup. That's right.

Just like, you know, we'll be watching reruns of, we'll be watching reruns of Wimbledon, just to see how we did, how we did in that. I'd tell you, I mean, we've met some Norway fans. I had a bunch of Norway fans on breakfast yesterday. Really good fun. We did a bit of rowing.

I felt a bit like a traitor, but it was enjoyable. What I don't like, it turns out, is so where I was watching, there was a lot of people supporting Norway, but they were just Americans, and they were just sort of doing the rowing. And I was like, now that is not for me. that can I think that might have to be beeped

they might have to beaped but yeah no no no no no no it's funny it's funny she mentioned that so we had quite nice tickets we were like relatively towards the front of the pitch

and then about four rows behind us there were some Americans okay and I mentioned earlier there weren't that many neutrals but there were a smattering there were some Americans in England tops

yeah supporting Norway. Oh, God. It's a mess. It's an absolute mess. And I have never been more gaslit in my whole entire life, apart from that time where you said you never played table tennis. It was, they, and they were telling us to sit down.

What? We're like, no, we're not sitting down. Oh, it was ridiculous. Everyone started standing up, and, you know, every time England got on attack, we'd just started standing up, and they were like, sit down, sit down. And then one of them went, it's Madawakey, sit down. and we're like, oh, I really don't want to agree with him, but he's got a point. He has got a point.

He does come to nothing. And I was sat with my friend Jack, Jack Whitehall, and he was like, oh, that's probably the worst moment of the World Cup for me. I was like, yeah. Being corrected by an American. Yeah, but it was really weird. It was like a really, really weird cosplaying for an American wearing an England top, but supporting Norway. So, yeah, quite mad. But I tell you what, England fans.

Absolutely fair play to them because they came out in their absolute droves, that end that you saw where everyone was singing, World War at the end, where you just saw Jude Bellingham just in a, like, I don't know, in it, in a kind of like a haze. This tournament has been, obviously, you know, heavily talked about, not a cheap tournament to come to, so absolutely fair play to them for coming in their numbers and absolutely given their role. What I thought was amazing, and I'm not sure if this came across on the TV.

The rowing chant. So an American lady about three rows behind us went, it's boring now okay okay we've got to read it with her but whenever this is quite a funny thing

that the England fans are doing the rowing chant is brilliant it is brilliant but it's a bit it's a performative piece okay so it takes a long time and there's large gaps in it

so whenever the England fans realize that they were doing the rowing chant England fans would just start doing the England actually that's not even the right one that's not even the right clap.

I've just done the Grimsby Town fish chant. Was anyone else doing that? Yeah. Come on up the Mariners. I was looking for the flags. I couldn't see any Grimsby Town flags. I just saw that. Sheffield United one, which we can't talk about.

But yeah, everyone was just chanting England, almost like drowning, ironically, drowning the rowing chance, really. But yeah, look, amazing that we won it, but by far an absolute roller coaster and didn't enjoy the majority of the game. Well, no, I mean, Certainly in the 90 minutes, I thought Norway were probably better than us.

Yeah. It was just a few of the decisions, you're kind of going, what's, like, sure. I've got to ask you. Norway were better. Go on. From your nice seat, did you see the ball hit the spider cam cable? No. We weren't aware of that until we were being cettled out of the stadium and everyone was

like looking at their phones. Oh, apparently the ball hit the cable and the keeper kicked off. A few of them did. Did you see it? Certainly not in real. time and only after the game became aware that it was a thing and now loads of people are sort of trying to analyse it. The chip in the ball registers no contact but when you look at the flight of the yeah so you kind of go okay but then you look at the flight of the ball and the sun

happens and it is you can't you obviously can't see the ball hit something but the trajectory appears to change quite a lot and when you look at the way that it comes down to it's like Gordon or Anderson, it does appear to just sort of drop from the sky. It's quite, I didn't know. It's peculiar. I'd be fuming. I would be fuming. I'm going to mention Grimm's Big Enkis. It's all I know. There was a game this season where I think it was George McCackering, launched a ball and he hit a seagull. It hit a seagull. And the ball just came down dead, St. David Gazerturi. It just landed perfectly. And it's the most grimsby thing in the world where we got on assist from a seagull, which was absolutely brilliant.

And also, again, the first game that, you know, I've had emotional involvement in, where we couldn't tell whether they were fouls or not or whether things were offside. So it offered the other element of jeopardy and going to the VAR screen and just being like, I've got no idea what's going on and texting my friends and stuff like, is he off? Is he on? Is it a pen? Is it not a pen? I'll answer those. He was off. Look like a pen to me. There go. Those are the two on them. Just really quickly. first time I've watched a football match

where two or three of us in our party couldn't properly watch the game because our eyeballs were sweating. It was that hot. It was such a hot game. I cannot get over how hot this game was. It was ridiculous. And you are, at the best of times, a sweaty man.

Yeah, I mean, I'm an athlete, sure. But I am a sweaty man. I would have said. Lloyd, while I was waiting for you to exit the stadium, I caught out with John Murray. Well, John, it wasn't pretty. It wasn't easy. but England are through.

Yeah, and, you know, I cannot understate, and I know before this World Cup, we knew that England were going to have to play in sweltering conditions, and I know it's exactly the same for Norway, but, you know, being in the stadium, this really brought back memories to me of being in South Korea at that World Cup

back in 2002, which have been some of, I think, the most humid conditions that I've watched football in, and it was like that here today. So I think that played a really big part in what happened, how the match developed. And in the end, you know, England managed with the conditions slightly better than Norway. Well, that's the thing, isn't it?

Norway, well, I thought actually were really good. You know, they had that goal ruled out. They hit the bar. They had that moment in the first half where Sorda had a kind of, and Harland had a two-on-one, and he didn't play across to Harlan. Like they should, it absolutely should have been. 2-0, I think. And so England had to ride their luck, but then when it came to extra time, I think Norway just kind of ran out of steam. And I don't know if that was conditions or

good substitutions from England, maybe a bit of both. Yeah, I think so. And obviously, they lost Erling Harland, you know, from the point where he was substituted. I think it was at half time, an extra time, wasn't it, that he went off? And actually, Stola Solbacken, the Norwegian coach, said that maybe he should have taken him off 10 minutes before, because what happened was Harland suffered a dead leg in the second half, he told us, combined with the fatigue of today playing at the World Cup. And he actually said Stoller Solbach and he said it was not a tough decision because Harlan was finished in the match.

So that's what happened there. And they've had a brilliant World Cup. They've gone further into a major tournament, World Cup European Championship than ever before. But there's also this bizarre episodes in the building. up to the England goal, the equalizer, Jude Bellingham's goal. Yeah. I mean, they are adamant.

They are adamant, Norway. I've just been sitting, listening to Stoller Solbach in his media conference, that the ball struck one of the cables that suspends the spider cam above the pitch. And I know that FIFA have had a look at this. The chip in the ball has shown up nothing, no contact. But Stoller Solbach and said that his coaching staff were, he said, the ball suddenly dropped from heaven. He said it dropped straight down from heaven.

And he said it was pretty clear what happened, but the chip hasn't shown any contact. And of course, if it had, play should have been stopped and it should have been a drop ball. I mean, it was interesting. As soon as it happened, or once the goal had gone in, all of the Norway players like Neil and the goalkeeper was pointing up to it.

They'd seen something, or they certainly thought they saw something. I've looked back at the footage of what there is available and it's fairly inconclusive to be honest Well he was adamant the other way He said that his coaching staff saw it drop straight down He said he wondered what happened But his staff were adamant that it had deviated It struck the wire

And it helped England in the build-up to the goal But actually I should say as well He said he was quite phlegmatic about it He said listen it was a bad moment moment. We can't do anything about it. And I know that this match is not going to be replayed now. So they're basically taking their medicine. But I know if that had happened to England, and also they were unhappy about the VAR stepping in and disallowing the goal for Harlan's push on Elliot Anderson. They weren't happy about that either. So they feel as though things have not

gone with them today. And I think on the other side of the coin, Thomas Tuchel was quite open about the fact that England had fortunate breaks of the look but as I said during the commentary today I really remember him clearly saying on the day that the squad was announced when he was asked about England winning the World Cup he said two things will have to happen

we'll need nerves of steel and we'll need a bit of luck and they've got a bit of that look today Pickford looked not quite as authoritative as he has in previous games yeah and this is off the back of him

having possibly his best game for England in the Aztec Stadium when he was so dominant, the saves that he made. He was a pivotal figure in England getting to this quarterfinal, but for whatever reason, it did look as though he was affected by that goal, which really had the opening goal for Norway by Sheldrop, which had definite echoes of Ronaldino scoring over David Seaman. What it did was, you know, it called for a bit of character again. And they found a way through, a little bit like Gareth Southgate.

I know we've mentioned this before in Germany two years ago. It's just about negotiating your way through. And we still have this kind of almost a promise from Thomas Tuchel that at some point it will all come together. But they are relying massively on Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. And I mean, Jude Bellingham in particular, he just seems absolutely determined to drag England through this tournament. He looks like a man on a mission.

He looks in absolutely prime condition as well, the way that he scored that second goal. I mean, we're in Miami. That had Miami written all over it, didn't they? The skill, it was so smooth. And the way that he just rolled it in, the touches that he had, that was right off South Beach, wasn't it? Tugel spoke after the game, and again, not like mass. I'm massively happy with what he saw, I don't think.

I think this was the one where I thought, you look a little bit frazzled here and whether that was part of it. I mean, I feel frazzled having commentated on the match because it was draining. It was draining sitting in the stands commentating on this match, never mind playing in it or trying to mastermind it. And he said, Thomas Tuchel,

he thought they were very, very good in central defence, he said. He said with Bain and Bellingham together, he just puts them together, they do the rest. He said, we need to be better attacking. And he said, I'm not upset with the result and the team. He said, in my heart, I'm proud and happy because this team refuses to lose. He said, we want to bring out the performance. So because of that, he said, my head is not 100% happy. He said, I want faster, clinical football.

There have been too many errors. and today mistakes in crucial moments. So, you know, there's a lot of areas there to improve for England, but they're still in the competition, and they have the potential and the opportunity to do that. That's great. John, thanks so much. And, yeah, I think we will need to go and have a little lie down, don't we?

I think so, yeah. 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 26 World Cup started with 48 teams, and we've now reached the knockouts. age. 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.

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Football Daily Podcasts at the People World Cup 2026 with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffin. Listen on BBC Sounds. Now something unusual here, Lloyd, is that our plan was to talk to Chris Sutton about the England game, about the football,

but we've had some horrible technical issues that mean we can't get hold of him. God. And the direct corollary of that is you are now going to play the role of football expert. And I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but that is one.

But you are an actor, so I believe in you. So I can introduce you, if you like, sort of separately. So what would your title be? What football analyst? Football fan.

BBC's football analyst? BBC's football fan. BBC's football fan. Okay. Well, delighted now to be joined by BBC's football fan. What a game. What's an absolute game. Too early?

Hang on. Hang on. Sorry, sorry. Go on. Delighted to be joined now by BBC's football fan. Lloyd Griffith. Hi, Lloyd. Thanks for having me on, Richard.

You were, it's Rick. You were at the game, but you were really sort of, you weren't really consuming it as a fan. You were just doing this kind of deep analysis of technical analysis of everything you saw, when you. So that's why we've got you on today for that. Yeah. Yeah. So talk to me about the about the way that Norway set up.

Well, very tricky actually, the way in which Norway set up. Obviously, they went with the goalkeeper and goal. Yeah, yeah, lovely. And then Harland up top. Conventional so far. Yeah, and I think he just gave free license to everyone else just to play where they wanted to play.

They just had those nine other players just roaming, didn't they? Exactly. Yeah, and I think he just said, look, what are positions? Yeah, quite a philosopher, the coach. Manager. Mm. And I think England struggled to break that down. Yeah.

Because they were like, why is, I thought that guy was playing right back, but he seems to be on the left wing. Exactly. Well, actually, we do joke about it. But some of the substitutions that Thomas Dukle did make, I had no idea who was playing where quite, quite regularly during that game. So we brought off Madawakee, and he brought Sacchar on.

You kind of go, yeah, fine. And he brought off rice, and he brought on Eza. You kind of go, okay, yeah. So CDM. Bellingham drops back a bit. Does Bellingham drop back? I'm not entirely sure. And I think everyone was still a bit like, oh, what's going on there?

And then he brought off Princess Gordon. Yes. And he brought on Rees James. So a left winger for essentially... A right back? A right back. But then he played him in like... Sort of in midfield?

Central defensive midfield. Kind of like a almost what Rice was playing. And he kind of go, Okay, well, I'm sure I'm sure he can do that. Then he brought on Jed Spence for O'Reilly, and he kind of go, okay, that's absolutely fine. And then cons are off for Rogers. But it worked.

Yes. It did. It did work. In the end, it worked. And some of those did shuffle around into their natural positions and stuff. It took a while, though, didn't it? It felt a little bit like Tetris, where you kind of going, I think we're going to, it's going to be game over here.

soon, but we managed to get rid of the layers. Yeah. And we completed the game. Yeah, I don't think it's a perfect analogy, but we'll leave it in anyway. I don't know how it felt in the stadium, but I would argue that Norway were the better team, probably in the 90 minutes and should, I think should have been two nil up. So they scored their goal that is a bit of a freak goal. but if you remember after that

so they're 1-0 up and they had that break where I think it's Saurlot has it and it's two on one Sourland and Harnland and he just mate give it to Arland if you give it to Arland

which surely is the game plan and he will score from that position and the fact that he didn't is I mean only he knows what he was thinking it's mad it was so funny because when he went off on the right-hand side and you could see Harlan basically

just step up a couple of gears and all I could think of was your impression just to kind of the give me the ball I think it was riding chasing I need the ball I'll score with the ball yeah

a ride is really fast and he's kind of going he's getting nowhere near him of course not and then he didn't give it to him and he going you should have been you should have absolutely been two-killed up there

it felt and I'm not sure if this was an instruction from the management team from both but for the first, definitely like 20, 30 minutes, it felt like I was watching walking football because none of them were going into like second or third gear. Yeah, because it was so, as you've said, so bloody hot.

It was, it was so hot. It was so hot. And you do wonder, was it hotter in the Azteca, or is it a different kind of heat here? I'm not entirely sure, but it did. Much hotter in Miami, I think. Was it actually? Yeah, much hotter.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So let's talk about the good stuff from England then. Jude Bellingham he just he's just a force of nature when he puts on and I know he's been you know one in particular

fantastic scene for Real Madrid but when he is in that England shirt I see he is something else he really really ran himself into the ground and you could see there were moments him and Harry Kane I'd say from about 65 70 minutes onwards

clearly exhausted clearly exhausted but he just did not stop running. He just did not stop running. He was chasing stuff down and we saw at the end of the Mexico game. There were lots of clips doing the rounds of what it meant to him. You know, like as soon as that final whistle went, he just dropped to the floor. You can tell that it's a player that doesn't leave anything in the tank. I know that is a bit of a cliche thing to say, but he just just ran and ran and ran and he did what he needed to do. And I think also is quite telling was, you know, that the interviews post-match from, uh, from Thomas Tuckold.

and then also from Jude Bellingham, you know, where Thomas kind of criticises the team a little bit. And you can see Jude going to be like, no, no, I'm not having that. And you don't know how friendly they are behind closed doors. I think, you know, fair play to Jude for standard. I'm going, no, we gave everything. You do not realize how hot it was.

The bit where he says, maybe he just doesn't know what it's like playing in those conditions. It's pretty good. It's like, you can have to give us a break there, actually, Gaffin. Because that was our work. Not many people. not many people will no how to play in those conditions

under those extremities on a world stage at that level so I mean fair play to him but just going back to it and I've said a few times now he ran and ran and ran and so too did Harry Kane and you could see at the end of it they were both absolutely exhausted

but Harry Kane I noticed there was a close up of Harry Kane after about 15 minutes and that guy was red in the face and dripping with sweat and I thought it's going to be a long game and I thought actually

what I thought in my head was well let's just hope but does it go to extra time and lo and behold. I just think a lot of the players what's the part and the bit where Guillain Balaget just talks about Leila Messi walking for 65% of the game and they've gone, might try that

actually. Yeah. Might just try that. If it works for him, it must work for me. So we now know that England will face Argentina in that semi-final in Atlanta after Argentina beat Switzerland, 3-1 in extra time. So I was slightly conflicted here about whether I would rather

Argentina or Switzerland in in the semi-final, there will be something sweeter about beating Argentina. Emotionally, I think I will really enjoy that for various kind of footballing reasons over the years. I would love us. And I also think we've got a pretty good chance because I basically don't think Argentina are very good. So it's got back into the game where we're having a really, and deservedly so, and we're having a really good go at them. And Argentina looked iffy. and then there's this instant where Mbolo gets sent off

because he gets a second yellow for diving. But Paredes, it looks like, as Fowled Mbolo, he gets a yellow card. And then VAR has a look at it and says, oh, no, actually he hasn't caught him there. It's a dive from Mbolo. Now, as a fan, you just look at it. And when you watch the replay,

you go, oh, yeah, that is what's happened. You just go, oh, right, so you just, so Paredes doesn't get a yellow card. Probably, I guess it's a Fowlerodian. But the idea that he's getting a yellow for that dive in that part of the pitch is absolutely insane. To be clear, like it is a dive. Imagine getting a yellow card for simulation against Argentina. Just imagine that.

That is a disgrace. Argentina. Argentina. And I don't even need to explain that because everyone knows what I mean. Rick, I know that you've been having quite a lot of meetings in Hollywood the last few weeks, but I've got a feeling Mbolo is going to get a call from a few agents, being like, you were fantastic. You, that was great.

You did the business. We're going to sign you up and make you a star, boy. So, yeah, absolutely ridiculous. And you said earlier about, like, what would you rather do, you know, to get to the final? You know, is it sweeter to play Argentina? but like you can only play who you can play in front of you and if you know yeah but when as I'm watching the game I'm thinking I'm obviously thinking England are in this semi-fri against one of these teams who would I rather yeah I believe that

England are better than both Switzerland and Argentina and I just emotionally would prefer to be Argentina that's that's really it yeah oh yeah course yeah the problem we've got is that Argentina have not been great for the last three games I don't think but they can flick a switch and it can be devastating. One thing that did give me slight pause is producer Lizzie wheeled out this stat.

You know, and this is something we will have a word about. You know that she sort of ones around the house in her Argentina shirt quite a lot. I've said that's going to have to stop, I'm afraid. I'm really kind of matter. She also pointed out that Argentina haven't lost a semi-final in their six semifinals

in the World Cup. It doesn't matter. With the Embola instance, she was chanting off, off, off, off. Oh, that is disgusting. Yeah, right. We need to have a word with the bosses, maybe getting producer Jonathan or producer Lucy.

Just literally anyone who's not supporting Argentina. She's a big McAllister fan, isn't she? Yeah. Look, we can only play it in front of a brick. It's one of your work, isn't it? McAllister, we think. What, hair transplant? Yeah, I think so, yeah.

Yeah, big time. Welcome to the club. What, cacketed train singer? No, mate, hair transplant. No, okay, fine, fair enough. But look, we've broken a number of records, this whole tournament. There's been so many records broken this whole tournament on player or team level. So, you know, we haven't been...

Let's move on to Argentinian hearts. And Mexico hadn't lost. There we go. Yeah. Well, no games tomorrow and no podcast from us either because we have a day off, mercifully. And to be fair, depending on how your night out in Miami goes, we may never see you again. Well, no, I'm hoping to come back. That is the...

But you can't guarantee it. Because Miami's Miami. Oh, absolutely not. Yeah. What does that mean? Miami's Miami. People have been to Miami knows what it means. I don't know what that means.

I've never been to Miami. Well, you're about to find out tonight. Just be careful. I've not even been to Western Super Mayor. Don't look at it. Do you never come to Tifa on the beach? Oh, with respect. No.

I went to, I did all the radio one. And big weekend ones. Yeah, fair enough, yeah. Yeah, big weekends. Yeah, big weekends. I'm a big, a big fan of that. Yeah, good point. What are you going to do on your day off, Rick?

Any of them? I'm going to go and swim in the sea. I'm going to come back at 2 o'clock, so I'll be back at about, I think, 4 o'clock. I think with time difference, I've still not worked out. And then maybe a couple of games of table tennis, then maybe should we go for dinner tomorrow night? I think I've got a table booked, actually.

Oh, we're going. Yeah, that's right. Where are we going? That's a little surprise for you. Oh, I love that. I know. I think you actually will like it. There's a pizza hut in L.A.

Yeah. All you can eat. Yes, please. I know what you're like. What did you call me? Nothing at all. Thank you. There will be a podcast on the Football Daily Fee, but I mean, who cares?

It's on BBC. I could only imagine producer Lizzie's face right now. Let me try that again. BBC Sounds is where you want to go. You'll also get all five lives, commentaries, coverage, and more football podcasts all in one place. Just search World Cup on the BBC Sounds app, which I do have actually. So. And have you enabled your notifications?

He knew. No, sir. Hi, this is Alice James. It's the middle of the night. You've just been following a World Cup match. Now you can't sleep because your body clock is all over the place. Well, we've got a playlist for that. Hear people like me and Kelly Kate's calmly reading scorelines from historic World Cup's overshoothing music.

Austria 1. Sweden. No. Just search sleep goals in 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 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 podcast. 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 podcasts.