Football Daily - World Cup: Kane & Bellingham Put On A Show

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

England's World Cup campaign is up and running after a 4-2 victory over Croatia.Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith react alongside Paul Robinson, who was at the stadium to witness England's opening win. The team discuss Jude Bellingham's standout display after admitting he had a chip on his shoulder heading into the tournament, while Harry Kane once again showed why he's England's talisman on the biggest stage.They are also joined by Royal Oak Sunday League manager Steve Bracknall, who made the trip to watch England at a World Cup for the very first time. Fresh from what he describes as the best day of his life, Steve shares his experiences of following the fans and soaking up the atmosphere around the match... from his bed.Plus, with Kane, Messi and Mbappé all on the scoresheet already, why is Cristiano Ronaldo still waiting for his first World Cup goal?

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandour Award five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

That's a good bad billionaire 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. And we are up and running. England got their first winner of the tournament four to against Croatia. It feels good, doesn't it, Lloyd? It feels very good. I mean, it was a lot of stress.

The first off, we were reasonably stressed. Which we will talk about later. Now, we are in Yodi. King's Head as normal, but we're in a slightly different location today because, as you can imagine, this is the main English pub in Santa Monica. It is. It was absolutely rammed, and they weren't prepared to give us a section of their pub, which I understand. Completely understand. So we have filmed already earlier on in, well, basically a shop, the sort of back. Yeah, so the Yoldy King's Head has a few sections. It's basically got like the sports bar, the main

bit. Then they've got a little restaurant the area. Then they've got a little tea room, like an afternoon tea room, which is quite regal, which is what we're in now. That's what we're in now. And then there's also a gift shop. Yes. At the old E. O'D King's Head gift shop. And so we were in the back of that next to the

fridges with the drinks and the cakes. Yeah, basically, I level with a bakewart. Yeah. And then actually mouth level with a bakewold tart. Because we both had a bakewold tart. And now belly level with a bakewere. There's a lot of people coming in and stock it up actually. I was quite surprised. And then just two blokes by a fridge

speaking to an Exington goalkeeper. Yeah, it's fairly, I mean, it's all quite surreal, isn't it? Very true. We actually watched the game in a different bar, Jameson's, just up, just up the road, Irish bar. Very nice. Quite, like, weirdly, when we arrived, we thought

it was going to, because we'd been past and seen people watching games in there. It's been, we cycle past every day. Yeah. And so we were like, oh, that'd be a really good place and go and get for a bit of variety. And when we turned up, and we turned up probably an hour or so before we kicked off. And we thought, well, there's no one here. And we were about to turn around.

Then another couple of English lads just came over and said, oh no, this will be good. It's just they all turn up sort of at the whistle. But it meant that we got fantastic seats in this pub. And then it did get really, really busy. And then it was, I mean, it was brilliant. It was brilliant. It was a really great, really great pub, loads of atmosphere, loads of English fans in there, various different strips.

And some Croatian fans? And some Croatian fans, yes. Yeah, it made a bit of noise. And it was great. It was really great to experience an England game in America. In an Irish pub. There was a lot going on. There was a lot going on.

And we had a great time. I mean, it was quite a nerve-wracking game, as I said, at the start. Obviously, the first half more so than the second. And there's a lot of Americans in there as well, just enjoying it. But most people were supporting England. I didn't see many just sort of casual observers. Yeah, there was a few just to your left. There's a few like...

I didn't look to my left at any point. Did you not? No, no. I was absolute eyes on the screen. There's a funny thing that Simon Peach, who's the chief football writer at the press association said, booze ring around the ground as the teams go off for the power-aid hydration break in an air-condition stadium under a roof and it is sort of ridiculous but there was a wonderful moment where

you needed to, we were drinking non-alcoholic lager to try and sort of get into the spirit of it but without actually drinking obviously because we're a professional and after about 20 minutes you're like oh I really need to you know and I was like the hydration break suddenly realised it's perfect it was absolutely perfect

so whilst the players are taking on liquids I'm doing the opposite. Yeah. To be fair, it is great. I mean, it's not great. It's not, it isn't great. It isn't great. It is great if you're in a pub and you need a little widow.

It's in a pub. If you had a couple of pints of non-alcoholic lager and you need, you know, to go to the restrooms, as they call them over here, a high duration break is just a perfect amount of time. Every single time I was in and out within whatever that allocated time was. It's basically the equivalent. I'm not sure if you, did you go to Oasis last year? No. If you'd have gone to Oasis last year, it was essentially the equivalent of when they played Bring It On Down. When everyone was like, oh, really?

And then we go. You're not missing out, she's electric. But you're up, okay, fine. And then you just saw 10,000 men going for a wee. And then running back for cigarettes and alcohol sliding down the steps and getting concussion. So that's what it was. In the second hydration break, in the second half, I think a lot of blokes got wise to it. Yeah, they did.

And I was like hydration. So I just ran off. I went under the table. there and then when I got back there was a bit of a key. He did go on to the table, didn't you? I did, yeah. I did a lot of parkour. It didn't, yeah.

Parkour wasn't the first thing I thought of actually. Was it not? No. I did want to mention something before we get stuck into the England game, which is we spoke to Paul Robinson and John Murray yesterday to build up to the England game. And in the course of the discussion, there was obviously speculation about what the starting line-up would be. And I asked you the perfectly reasonable question, Lloyd, what would your... Lloyd, what would your starting 11 be?

Yeah. And, well, I mean, take it from here, really. Well, to be fair, we were interviewing John Murray and Paul Rumson, who are experts. Yes. We're men in a bar. Yes. You know, letting people know what the vibe is in America and watching the games. In a tea room.

And watching games is three in the morning in England that nobody wants to watch. And then instead of asking Paul Rummston or John Murray what they think they're starting in was, he just turned to me and was like, Lloyd, what do you think they think they're? the starting 11 should be and I was like oh crikey and I wasn't really prepared for it and so I did my Jordan pick fitting goal Nick O'Reilly

I then said John Stones Mark Gehie and then I said Rees James absolutely fine yeah and I said nonny Madewaki at which point you John and Paul

all just laughed laughed at me well it was more the fact you said Maddokei and Saka which can happen okay I said Saka I said Saka sure I said Saka And then I panicked a little bit. I went, Madawakey.

And then I was like, oh, croaky. And then you... And then you started to sweat. The sweat. And then you went red and I could see you panicking. I could see John, like, look at him and going, oh. I was like, oh, no, you might, like, I don't mind being judged by your average, like, podcast listener? Not a problem if they want to send me a little bit of abuse on Twitter.

Are you all right? But to see John Murrow going... And your friend, Paul Robinson as well. Oh, I don't care what he thinks. He was a good. I've got a lot. I've got a lot more dirt on him than he has on me. picking Madawakey and Saka, okay?

So I was like, oh, crikey. So I was like, right, can we stop? Like, I panicked there. Can we just edit it out or I'll do it again? I'm like, we'll just like not put it in. Fine, fair enough. And then what happens? Maddoiki starts.

Yeah. And you were immediately on the phone to Lizzie saying, can we get that back in somehow? Hey, have we still got that? No, because you didn't complete it, because you panicked. You only said eight players. I was like, okay, yeah.

She did only say eight players. She's from Liverpool, just in case anyone was wondering. Oh, I think that was very clear from that. spend a lot of time in Sunderland. Yeah. Well, let's bring in Paul Robinson. Great game for the neutral. Quite stressful for us as England fans, particularly in the first half.

What was your assessment of the game? I think looking back now on it, I think it's a really good performance from England. I think it's an excellent start to the tournament. I don't think we can underestimate the calibre of opponent that they were playing against, playing against one of the top 10 teams in the world, a team that have won a medal at the last two World Cups.

They're an experienced side. And from an England point of view, I think there was a lot of positives that they can take from that game tonight, a lot more positives than negatives. We always generally focus on negatives, and that's what makes the headlines, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives in this game,

and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Harry Kane picked up from where he left off in the season. We spoke yesterday about him. How confident do you think he is, and how good was he today? The lady who's excellent. We saw him in a press conference last night, and the way that he handled himself in that press conference,

it just shows the stature of the man the way he's progressed as a person and a player. I mean, you look at the numbers that he's posted this season for Bayern Munich, but it's not just this season. It's season in, season out. His numbers that he's posted for England on a regular basis.

And I spoke before about Jude Bellingham, about he is not indispensable. Harry Kane is indispensable for England. That's how important he is. I use the word Captain Marvel, like Brian Robinson in commentary, because he scored his two goals, but he didn't want to talk about that yet.

He wanted to talk about the team. He scored his two goals and then in the last five minutes of the game, is inside his own six yard box making a block with his chest to save a third Croatian goal. He's so important to England, is pivotal to England, both on and off the field. He's one of those players you look at the dressing room and you know you've got a chance when he's playing. I thought England looked really good up top, really good in the final third. In the first half in particular, we just looked a bit shaky at the back, a bit vulnerable. Like when we were trying to play it out, it just wasn't really happening.

And we looked a bit nervous, I thought. Yeah, understandably so. I mean, it's the first game of a World Cup. The nerves are there. There's pressure, there's expectation, there's anticipation. And footballers aren't immune from nerves. Having been in that situation myself, I know exactly what it's like. We had a nervy 1-0 win against Paraguay in our first game of the World Cup,

and it wasn't a great performance. Whereas the performance there, at times England, we'll learn from that. You know, early on in the game, there's a time and a place to say, start playing out from the back. The risk and reward, the reward you get as far as the risk you take sometimes isn't worth it. It's not worth playing out the back in those situations. But Thomas Tuka was so animated down there on the touchline, the whole game. He wanted the players to get wider. He wanted them to spread out. He wanted them to play and play through the lines. And one of their outlets was actually Harry Kane dropping in. When Harry Kane dropped in, two wide players,

Anthony Gordon, Maddewke, they hit the line. And, you know, with Kane been right-footed. It was nine times out of ten, the ball was coming to this near side to Maddowecki. And it was a real you have joy for them in the first half. They were getting a lot of joy playing that way. But you can understand the nerves in the first half early on in the game. Duke Bellingham really showed up tonight, especially in the second half. It's been a lot of noise around him and his role within the team. And he spoke to Kelly Somers after the game about how he's been dealing with that.

He's been a bit of a tougher season for me, but I feel fresh. I feel sharp and strong. And I think I've got a little bit of a chip on my shoulder and I. Do you play Vesk when you're like that? I think so, yeah. I think that helps me a lot to find that focus early in the game. to find that intensity. You know, I know it's part of being a football.

I don't discrudge or hold a grudge against anyone who says bad things about me because, you know, sometimes I do deserve it. And today I think it was nice to try and show people and remind people what I'm about. What did you think of Jude Bellingham tonight? I thought he showed the exact reason that Thomas Tuchel chose to start in all honesty. And I think, you know, the way that he's handled him this season, I think he's had to make him a team player. And I think when you listen to the post-match interviews from both the manager and from Bellingham,

There was a lot of references to not being an individual, you know, to being a team player, to being part of a group. And I think with hindsight, looking back this season, that's how he's handled him. I think he's left him out of squads. He's dropped him from starting 11s, and he's made him realize that there are other players that can function in that team, and he's not the main star attraction.

And I think when you've got a Jude Bellingham with his attitude, his application, and he's playing to that level, the way that Thomas Tuchel's managed him this year, this season, if you like, you can see, he's reaping his rewards with that. type of performance because he's a big game player, is a big moment's player and the goal that he scored. Let's not take away from the Noni Madewiki as well from the goal that Jude Bellingham scored.

It was a fantastic ball through from Elliot Anderson, but actually Madowecki realized that Bellingham had run into his space, and then he ran off into the left to the 18-yard box and took two of the Croatian defenders with him that allowed Bellingham the space to then go on and get that goal. He still had a lot to do, but it was a really good team goal, and I think that's the emphasis that England are. Anthony Gordon was interviewed after the game.

Thomas Tuchel, Nani Madewiki and Jude Bellingham. None of them were getting too high. They're all pleased saying there's work to be done. But one big emphasis, one key word that kept coming out of it was the group, the team. There's a real emphasis on the togetherness of this group. And that's what Tuchel's trying to get into them.

I will point out that whilst we were watching that and Jude Bellingham was going forward, Rick was screaming for him to square it and pass it. Yeah, I was. Just want to put that out there on record if that's okay. Yeah, it's absolutely right. Thomas Tuckham spoke to John Murray about how he came to that.

I think difficult decision between Duke Belling and Morgan Rogers. It's an easy decision to have Jude in the team. It's a very difficult decision to let Morgan Rogers out for what he did for Austin Villa and especially also for me and for us since I'm in charge. So that was the tough one. But I'm very happy also of the, of course, of how Jude played because Chude knows that he does not have to do it alone, can rely on the others. He thrives in these circumstances.

We know that. But he can be more economic. He can rely on others. He needs to be a reliable team player, which he absolutely was in the last 17 days and today. So well done. And the guys from the bench were amazing. We can rely on them at the moment and it has to stay like this next weeks because we will need everyone. So it does feel now, Paul, like they've kind of, I don't want to say kissed and made up,

I don't know if they ever. It feels like couples therapy. They've had couples therapy. And they've come out the other end of it. And it all seems, we're fine. We're absolutely fine. Yeah. And it's working.

It's very harmonious at the moment. Yeah. And when you listen to the words of Jude Bellingham and the manager, they're both singing from the same song shoot, if you like, they're in the same place. And I think it was important for the manager to make Jude realize that he was part of a group. He wasn't the main attraction.

He wasn't the star attraction. He was part of the group. And I think when you use Harry Kane as the example, you know, he's the biggest star of that team. And he's the biggest one that wants the group mentality and the team mentality. And you look at the squad that he used today. The substitutes was another really impressive thing as well. I mean, he had the opportunity to bring off Madowecki.

He brought off Jude Bellingham. He brought off Declan Rice. You know, I was surprised when he brought off Declan Rice. But then he talks about utilising the squad and the players that he brought on. Gay, Saka, Rogers and Rashford, all of them were in a conversation before this game that they could have potentially started the game. And one really impressive thing that Thomas Tuchel, did for me today was he made substitutions that affected the game, but he made substitutions

at a stage in the game where he could have chosen to go defensively. When they're winning three, two, we've seen managers change to a back five and sit with the holding midfielders, but what he did was he made offensive changes. He realised that England's strength was in the final third of the field. And he made changes that not only affected the game, but allowed England to go and get that fourth goal, which sealed the win. I think we're going to see an exciting England. They stuck to their identity. Even when they had the backs of the wall, he made changes, not to defend, but to get them out of that situation and to go and get another goal. I think it's going to be an exciting ride this tournament for England. Did you have any

sympathy for the Croatian goalkeeper with the retaken penalty, Paul? Well, he broke the loss. No, absolutely non-whatever. That's hard line from Robinson. That's what VA is there for. Finally, we talk about VAR every week, week in and week out in the Premier League. We're all moaning about VAR. There you go. We've got a little bit back from VAR. In the first 10 minutes of the game, we get another chance to take a penalty. I'm all for VAR. It's marvelous. Harry Kaye was saying he took a similar penalty against Atalanta Ray, does the stutter because he knows that the keeper is going to do that.

Now that he's come out and said that, presumably all the goalkeepers, if he does take another penalty in his tournament, are going to be like, well, we're not going to do that now. Well, the thing is with Harry Kane, he's very, very intelligent, because you know the work that goalkeepers do now. You look at the research with all the talk about the water bottles. And now, more than ever, it's a mind game between goalkeepers and strikers or defenders whoever's coming up to take the penalty.

Because the striker knows that you've done all the homework. He knows that where your favourite side is. But at the same time, he also knows that you know that he's, he knows that you know type thing. So it's a mind game. So the amount of different penalties that you can take as a striker, for Harry Kane to have that in his armoury, it's only good because I guarantee you now,

his next penalty, it won't be exactly the same as that one. But, you know, you give him the credit and where he is, in his own self and with his game and how confident he is, He took exactly the same penalty and went in exactly the same corner but just executed it better than he did the first one. The second goal, it's a great corner from Declan Rice. It's a great header from Harry Kane.

But why is no one picking him up? Well, they changed that actually, Croatia, if you look at the game. They marked zonely. For the first three or four England corners, they marked zonely. And after that goal, they changed for the rest of the game. They went to more man-to-man marking. They did still have players in zones.

but after that it was like closing the gate when the horse was bolted. It was such a simple set play routine. We talk all every week about set plays in the Premier League, but actually a set play, you can have all the intricate movements, you can have all the jostling in the box. A set play is nothing without the delivery. And the delivery from Declan Rice was superb. And the timing of Harry Kane's run and the placement of the header,

it looked so simple, but there was a lot that went into it. Just because you dug me out for saying square it, square it to Bellingham, you asked why was no one picking up Harry Kane ahead of, what did I say? You said, oh, they're marking zonally, which I do get, and Paul, I agree, and I did notice that they were. I'm not completed yet. But even if you are marking zonially, okay, you're defending zonily, if there's Harry

Kane on the edge of the box, surely someone goes, maybe one of us gets it. We'll do the rest zonily, but surely one of us just keeps an eye on him. Is that not the case, Paul? And then leaves their zone. You wouldn't identify Harry Kane as England's best header when you look at the size of the team. I looked at the team. I mean, there's only Rees James and Elliot Anderson in that side that were under six foot. There are a big, strong attacking side.

I mean, if you're going to mark man to man, you mark John Stones, Conzer, O'Reilly. O'Reilly in the second half had a three-heder at the far post, remember, from a set play. England worked the set play as well, and they're a very, very difficult, big physical side to pick up. Yes, Harry Keynes, he had the run of the Croatian box. And actually, in their defence, when you're marking zone, you've got to be, your body's got to be half open because you are looking at the ball coming in. But if somebody's arriving into your space quicker than you are and meets the ball first,

it's very, very difficult to defend against, but it's about the delivery. Can I ask about Croatia's first goal? We lose it in the middle of the part, which isn't great, and then they quite quickly create the chance. It's a great strike. Is Jordan Pickford going to be a little bit disappointed because he got a hand to it, but couldn't keep it out?

Yeah, he will be disappointed. I said that in commentary. look at it first because we're in a really elevated position up here. So you don't necessarily often see things at first glance. And actually when you saw the replay. And I heard Joe Hart talking earlier on the IPlayer show talking about this World Cup football because we've seen a lot of goals going from distance. You look at the Argentina game yesterday, you know, with Messi, and the goal against Eduardo Mendi. He's a quality goalkeeper in the French game. There's been one or two occasions where this football has maybe not necessarily behaved as you would

expect it to. Now I'm not saying that he's, that's the reason that he didn't save it. I'm just saying there's something to maybe keep an eye on because this game was played in an enclosed stadium with air conditioning. Those conditions are going to affect the ball. Mexico in altitude is going to affect the ball. Playing in Boston and New York with the heat and the humidity, they're all conditions to take an effect. When we're talking about fine fine margins, it may be something to keep an eye. Now I'm not making excuses because I think I completely agree with you. It looks like he went underneath the ball with his hand and it hit the top of his hand rather than that.

the flat palm we'd have expected him to make the save. But if there's a reason for that, then we maybe can look into it even more. But I do think he'll be disappointed with the surface that he got on the ball. I think he was unsighted, Paul. Absolute nonsense. As a professional goalkeeper, Lloydy, what's your opinion? Yeah, no, I just think he was slightly unsighted.

I don't think he was expecting a shot to come from there. A shot shouldn't have come from there, and you saw it from his reaction. But I do think that he didn't fully have the shot in his sights and dived quite late because, you know, he wasn't the way it was coming. And then Rick's looking at me, like I haven't got a clue.

But I think you'll agree with me there, weren't you, Paul? Please agree with me. He's not the only one. I think that's everything from Paul, actually. I thought really enjoyed that. Thanks, Paul. Cheers, guys, thanks. What do Beatles member Sir Paul McCartney?

YouTube megastar, Mr. Beast. And former Facebook executive Cheryl Sandberg all have in common. They're all being discussed in the new season of Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast which explores the lives and fortunes of the world's super rich. That's Good Bad Billionaire. from the BBC World Service. Listen now, search for good, bad billionaire, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

I'm Steve Bratnell. Host of Games Gone, the Steve Bratnell podcast. What's my favourite World Cup moment as a fan? I have to say, Michael Owen, skinning the whole of the Argentina defence, and cracking it in top corner. For the very short space of time, I believe. My favourite World Cup player in history,

it won't be popular, but I'm going to say, Diego Maradonna. All right, he unbowled it. But the guy was a complete genius. The People World Cup 2026. Listen on BBC Sounds. The football date at the People World Cup 2026.

With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from L.A. Well, let's go from one pro to another. Steve Bracknell, Royal Oak Manager, joins us now. Direct from... Good Lord. Direct from his bed. Why are you in bed?

I want an answer to that question Well I don't know what time it is in Los Angeles But Fort Worth Dallas It's getting on a bit Are you starkers? No, no I've got Boxer shorts on But I've got air conditioning on

And it's freezing in this van Van? I'm very confused Are you in a van? I've had The greatest day Of my life today And it's ended with me

Laid in a double bed At back of a van Can you remember When you went to school as a kid and they had Greek day, and your mother would wrap you up in a tablecloth and put a crowning you in and said to go. It's a to school. I don't like that. You do actually.

Certainly, certainly very regal. Toga, that's it. A toga. A toga. A toga. A toga. A toga. A toga.

A toga. So talk me through your day then, Steve. Greatest day of your life. Oh, for years and years. I think I came out of my mum's will be mum. Yeah. Oh, God. Dreaming of World Cups.

I've loved football since I was as old as I can remember. And today, first time in my life, I saw England play at a World Cup finals. I were crying as soon as I got in ground. I were crying when I left it. If I carry on on this call, I might cry now. Steve, can you talk us through the vibe? What is it like in Dallas, what it was like in the stadiums?

Well, I've been here for a week, and I've immersed myself in local culture. I went horse riding. I went line dancing. I had Texan barbecue really nice really nice welcome but then last 24 hours

England fans arrived and it just felt like I were in Blackpool to be honest but Blad not and I like Blackpool no wrong with Blackpool but I've never been in Blackpool when it's 110 degrees

or whatever it is that over here are you getting a lot of attention a lot of people recognising you Steve oh I'll tell you like me Mexicans love me. I don't know why. But Mexicans, I think there's a real niche in market for a Sunday League football club,

a Mexican branch at Royal Oak fan base. They seem to just really understand me. But honestly, it's been fantastic. We had a vote this morning. Should we have a Mexican breakfast or waffles? I felt waffles were a bit too heavy for this eat. So we went for a Mexican breakfast. And then we walked to our breakfast.

And then we walk to what they call Texas Live, which is a big complex opposite the stadium. And there must have been 7,000 English fans. I think I've heard Wonderwall about 25 times today. But there's never too many times to listen to Wonderwall. You won't here? Bring on down. I've heard Angels six times.

I'm sick of that. Age you 20 times. There's a really beautiful walk from Texas Live across a bridge into the stadium. But walking into that stadium today was, Absolutely breathtaking. With your manager head on, Steve, were you happy with the line up, happy with how Tuchel set up?

Rock and roll football. It was rock and roll football for years. Listen, I'm a fan of got a Southgate. I've got a lot of time for him. I think he did a lot of good work. But what did they call it? Playing the percentages. We always played the percentage.

We played Dr. Looz. Tuchel's gone in. We're playing rock and roll. football, we're playing it to the left, we're playing it to right, come in the middle if you want, come deep. You were like he said to him, lads, do you know what today, do what you want.

Just do what you want. Have some fun with it. Yeah, have a laugh. How often you're going to be at a World Cup? We may as well have a laugh. If you're not smiling, what's the point? I think Deidler Rice played left back. Exactly. And I'll tell you all. I mean, Harry Kane was playing centreback for a lot of it.

Howdy Kane played centreback? I think I even took a corner at one bit. No one came. Yeah. And I think it suited us. I think finally, maybe we found a manager that wants to throw caution to wind. Did you, as we did, very much enjoy the commentators dancing around the fact

that at one point, Harry Kaye made a block in the six-yard area with his nether regions? Meat and veg. Is that what happened? Did he do it with his private? He did do it with his private? And the commentator is sort of saying, oh, he's taking that in the chest. That is not his chest.

Weird chest. He wishes it where it's chest. That's a mark of the man. It is a mark of the man. And I'll bet you what, Thomas Tuchel's got that much attention to detail. He'll be having had a cane checked out down there after again. Well, let's hope so.

How are you enjoying, I know you're in your double bed now, how you enjoy living on a bus or in a van or whatever it is? I'm missing our Nicky, my wife. She said, Steve, I miss you. But she did say to me, Steve, do you know you? We're a tan. You look a little bit like Pep Guardiola,

and that cheered me up. Oh, yeah, it was great. I've got to be honest, it's a little bit more Pierre-Louisie Kalina for me. Oh, wow. All right, I'll take that one fair enough. Steve, are you managing to do the podcast while you're out there? Someone basically dragged me to a hotel,

rooftop, put a cowboy out of my head and said, talk about World Cup for half an hour. So there is an episode, Art, Game's gone, the Steve Bracknell podcast, just to plug it, but we've managed to turn it around. You always do, Steve. It's a really big sell.

Hey, I'll tell you where I record a podcast. Go on. 100 meters from where JFK got shot. I'm a culture vulture. Very interesting. It's actually, it's like talking to John Murray. It is, but with less clothes on.

Brilliant, I love you, lads. Nice, right. Cheers, mate. Thanks for staying up, mate. That was obviously interesting watching Garner Panama, the other two teams in England's group. And I think it was actually, it was a good game. It was a good game, yeah.

And I think Panama will be gutted not to have at least a point out of it because it was pretty even. I didn't see anything that I think England need to be too worried about. No. I mean, Garner have got some great players, players that play in the Premier League. And I just don't think they've got the depth. I really don't think they've got the depth. So I don't think for any of those teams are going to worry England.

Again, happy to beat my words if we drew against growth or lose 4-0 to Panama. But yeah, it was a good game and to end very even. And as you say, Panama will be absolutely a few minutes. They lost it in the final minute. Yeah, go right at the death from Caleb Yerenchi. And then the game that we watched this morning We got up early, a little coffee Yeah, a little coffee

And Settled down, you watch Portugal and Dr Congo Play out a one-all draw And all lies inevitably As he likes, to be fair, on Ronaldo Because Mbapé scored, Messi scored Harlanders scored, obviously at this point He hadn't, but now Kane scored two as well Christiana Ronaldo not only hasn't scored

I mean, he was he was just well off it today. It's the first time I think I've seen him play where you go, oh, this is a vanity selection. He shouldn't. Like your team is worse with this going on. I think he had 25 touches. That's the fewest in a major tournament game for Portugal

where he's played 90 minutes. And he just wasn't in it. It's kind of, it's sort of sad. It is sad. But it is also funny. So there's a lot going on. I'm not going to profess that I've watched many of the league games that he's played in Saudi this year, but I've seen highlights of games.

And again, you watch some of those games, you're going, crack, this is sad. And obviously there's representation in those leagues now. I mean, there's a lot of players that are playing this World Cup that are playing in the Saudi Pro League. But you just kind of go in, it just seems a little bit. You know, like when China kind of tried to take over football about 10 years ago and just brought everyone, kind of seemed a little bit like that. And he's playing and it's not great. And you're going, well, is it not great?

Because he's not got the same level of service that he had other teams and that he'll probably get at Portugal. And then you saw today, you know, and you've seen like little glimpses from... There was a couple of chances, actually. Two chances that he should have. Yeah, the kind of things that he would have relished. Yeah. And also like 10 times harder.

They weren't difficult shots to get. And you could see his reaction. He was absolutely fuming. Not only that, you could see the other players around him. Fernandez absolutely livid. Yeah. Being, like, what, you know, like, and again, I'm speculating. But it is that, there's a little bit.

Yeah, it's a element of that. And it's, you know. 50 or whatever it is. Yeah. And like, we joke about, you know, that rival routine, Messi and Ronaldo. But it's just got to that point now. And don't get wrong, he's, Ronaldo still looks 23 years old.

Oh, you does. Yeah. It is ridiculous. But it is quite sad when he's seeing someone that has been amazing. And it's, you know, there were probably certain years where he probably was the greatest player in the world if you're doing it on, on stats. But now, he's just a. a shadow of his former self and it's really sad. And again, another stat, he's gone

10 consecutive major tournament games without scoring for Portugal and you do not see that changing any time soon after that performance. The game is just finished. Now, it's Bekistan Colombia, Uzbekistan lost 3-1 Lewis Diaz score

scoring just a classic Louis Diaz goal. If I say to you he scored his goal, you're like, yeah, yeah, he got it on his left, cut inside and then absolutely belted it in. Yeah, that's right. As a Liverpool fan, though, you know that more than Alibati. I do, and I miss it.

And I miss it. Plenty more commentaries for you on Five Lines later today. Chechia versus South Africa from five. Switzerland against Bosnia, Hertz, Governor, at 8. Canada, Qatar from 11. Mexico, South Korea from 2 a.m. We'll be back in the morning with all the reaction to those games, too. Make sure you're subscribed on BBC Sounds.

There's this noise that you make. You don't decide. to make it. It just comes out. I don't know what that's good either. But everyone makes it the same time. And it makes you feel... I don't know how to say it. We know that feeling. The FIFA World Cup 2026. 1 5-5 live in BBC Sounds. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandeau Award. five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the

Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.