Football Daily - World Cup: Spain To Face France & Messi's Email

Episode Date: July 11, 2026

Spain are through to a mouthwatering World Cup semi-final against France.Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith are joined by Guillem Balague and Stephen Warnock after watching Spain's win over Belgium in LA to discuss why Spain keep finding a way to win, whether Lamine Yamal has reached the heights everyone expected and why France now awaits in one of the ties of the tournament.The boys also look ahead to England's quarter-final against Norway, with all eyes on the battle between Harry Kane and Erling Haaland.Plus, Guillem casually reveals he has Lionel Messi's email address... and even gives Rick and Lloyd a glimpse.

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. The Football Daily at the People World Cup 2026 with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Live from LA. Hello and welcome to the Football Daily with Rick and Lloyd. We are back in the sports bar

at the Hollywood Park Casino because we've just been to see Spain, Belgium in the Sofi Stadium, the last game that we will see here it is the only stadium that we have been to thus far although you're going to Miami. I am going to Miami. For the England-Norway game, which is killing me a little bit

because you had a ticket for me and I can't... Well, I didn't really. I just said I did. Just to make you feel better. That did make me feel better. That did make me feel better. due to your other commitments, you know. Not going to be possible.

Not going to be possible. But you are off there. You still going to do the pod? Yeah, I'll do the pod. Yeah, absolutely. I'm going to take some kit, a microphone, some headphones. Can you be trusted with that stuff? Oh, 100%.

All right. Yeah. Don't forget, I went to Congo with a satellite. Oh, I'll be able. Yeah, I do. I do. I do. I do.

Smuggled anywhere. I'm your guy. I've got the ass. Check my LinkedIn. Mm-hmm. But this, this stadium is a, it's a glorious. stadium. It's something else.

It's a fantastic stadium and it's unlike any other stadium I've been to before. This sounds ridiculous. When you walk in, it's like centre parks because you have this like almost like tropical world

of trees mixed with a little FIFA store. It's just very, very large and the roof whisper it maybe a little bit too big when you're right at the top you think I mean I can't see a great deal here. The first half today I watched

up in the gods and I preferred Cosm. A little oink there from boy. I was there and I was going, this is great, I'm so happy. And I'll never take it for granted. You know, we have a fantastic job. And we thank the people for listening.

We do a fantastic job. And we do a fantastic job. But I was there going, I'm at the World Cup. And I remember, my first World Cup I do remember is 1994. We used to watch it on TV. although what I remember more than anything, we had a TV, and my mum probably weren't like me to mention this, and I guess the BBC bosses probably won't either.

When we were growing up, we were quite poor, and we didn't have a TV licence. And so my mum used to have a blanket over the TV so that if someone knocked on the door that she wasn't expecting, just drop it over. That's just a table. It's just a really, really high table with two candles on the top. So I just remember a lot of the island games being watched,

but then it was almost like the theatre, where the drapes are just brought down at half time because my mum was worried that the TV license people will come but I remember that and I have this obsession with American stadiums I absolutely loved them so to be there today I was like look I am high up but I am also at a World Cup game and it is amazing but then I was like I could see more at Kossum yes it was a good it was a good atmosphere not the best atmosphere I still think that was Belgian Iran for me like the Iran fans were incredible

Best atmosphere by Contra Marceaupho. Yeah. There were more, obviously, quite hard to tell. Yeah. Because they're all wearing red. They're all wearing red. But you could sort of tell from the reactions there was more Spain than Belgium. The Spanish were dancing more.

Yeah. And that's not a cliche. That's not me, no stereotyping. Yeah. They were just... But all of them had Maracca's. They all have maracas in a red dress, like the emoji. Yeah.

There's also a big... And I don't know if you noticed this. And I have no idea why, really. when Lukaku came on, who didn't really do anything, there was quite a big boo. Was there? Yeah. And I don't know why Spain would have a problem with the Khaku particularly?

Is that something I've missed? I've got no idea. It was odd. I didn't really clock it. You were probably too high up to it. Well, no, I was with you at that point. At half time I came down and sat with you next to the media spot. But yeah, I didn't realize that.

What I have noticed that with these games, it's been quite different. to other World Cups and European tournaments that I've gone to is you do have quite a large amount of the home fans and the away fans, be that today, Spain or Belgium. And then there are just a lot of neutrals, a lot of neutrals. And it is amazing because you've got people from all over the world.

I mean, we could see people from all over the globe in the stadium today, but they're obviously not cheering specifically for a team. So I think the atmosphere... They're cheering for the football, the neutrals. That's great. A lot of Mexicans in today. But they're not cheering for, you know, Belgium or Spain.

So I think you do lose a little bit of that atmosphere and I'd be interested to see when I go to Miami tomorrow how much of an atmosphere obviously you've got the Norwegians with their row and then you've got England just singing three lions.

Oh, how dare you? We're a classy bonts, thank you. What I will say is I found every single game that we've been to so far unbelievably pleasant. There's been no trouble whatsoever. There's been fans mingling all over.

There's been no segregation. there's been alcohol throughout the whole it's interesting isn't it like not seen a single there has been not one bit of problem a problem that's not there has been not one iota of an issue

it's been not one bit of problem there's been not one bit of problem since we've been here and it's been lovely and it's been lovely just people mixing mingling shaking hands hugging making out

I didn't see that no I didn't see that boy well we're joined now by Stephen Warnock and Guillem Ballagay. Hello, both. And we've got our first semi-final lineup after Spain beat Belgium 2-1. I think we all expected Spain to beat Belgium Guillaume,

but they didn't make it look easy. Never in doubt. Never in doubt. Because I'm not even joking about that. And Stephen will tell you that I was saying all the time, Belgium is playing to our strengths. They cannot do pressure high, they don't have the players for it. They cannot defend deeply for whatever reason.

they decided to actually press a little bit and then medium block, lots of gaps and if you put together, I'll put you together the clips of the actions in which Spain shot on goal. There's about 15. It's just that we were inaccurate in the last pass or we were inefficient.

It just felt like it was about to happen. But I'm from the generation where these games get lost. So I'm thinking, it's not going to happen. I feel like sometimes there's some really nice interplay in the Spain side. but they over-elaborate at the last moment. That was a few times when you're like,

just one of you have a shot. Please, one of you have a shot. Do you know what I mean, Stephen? Yeah, but that's why you wouldn't get in the team, Rick, because you keep on shooting and blazing it over the bar. And that's why they play for Spain. But also, I don't think I qualify in terms of my lineage. So that's another reason I'm never going to turn out for Spain.

But I understand what you mean. They always look for the perfect goal, and they believe in it. We've said on air they're looking for, they're just trying to break Belgium, down, trying to wear them down, and there's a trust and a belief that they'll get that all-important goal late on. However, it comes from Khabasi. Long range. Takes a shot as the opportunity, but that was probably the one moment where no one from Belgium closed down, and he thought, why not? Mistake from the goalkeeper. Needs to work on his hands. Do you catchphrase? You can, you need to keep hold of that.

Yeah, he actually did. We didn't. That's the issue. We did need to. Yeah, we'll come on to that in a minute. Okay. I've got some thoughts. Of course you have. There were moments in that. in that first half especially though where some of the Spanish football was just unbelievable and as you alluded to there Rick like you just go and just have a shot because there was that passenger play which I think had they scored that goal might have been one of the greatest World Cup goals ever because it was it was just so fluid and it was just it was unbelievable showboating and to be honest it could happen anytime in any game at any moment because that's the football that they want to put in practice there's somebody making a run in behind

there's somebody else that drops into the pocket and I mention it every time I'm with you Rick but I went out with the Portuguese coach and staff after Spain and I heard this one before yeah yeah I did I did but one thing they said is you prepare for a way of defending you prepare for you know for Mark in Pedri or whatever but then Almo just gets the ball with his right foot

passes to his left and then with a pass that he's looking somewhere else it just ends up beating two lines of pressure and it's like, what do you do? So it is the game that they're looking for. So sometimes when it all clicks, it's just that when the space was getting smaller and smaller, that wasn't happening today. Or that perfect pass.

I always think, could you imagine they had Harland as a team, how much different they could play? Because they don't have a natural goal scorer, Yamal could actually pick his head up and deliver balls into the box and just go, I've just got to put it into an area and he's that good, it would change the whole way that they play.

They don't play with a striker. O'Yathabal's a false nine, he's a 10, he's a midfielder, he never plays up against anyone. They don't have that out-and-out striker, and you think, if they can produce an out-and-out-striker, a big number nine, as we like, I mean, they'd be scarily good. Is that what Spain are crying out for, do you think?

Even when we had Morata closer to what you're describing, he still had to do a lot of work of linking up. So Yerzabal is perfect in that role. And when you have centerbikes that, which is like, where is the big guy? Where do I have to mark? And then you have to be very careful of those that are running behind and that passing in front of them,

all those things that you have to look at, that is not the physical approach to another player. I think that works in our favor. And we don't produce those strikers anymore. Ferran Torres is perhaps the only one. This is the first time, I think, that I've seen Lamin Yimal play in the flesh. obviously seen him loads of times on the telly.

And in that second, I hate myself, but second quarter, his, oh no. You know what I mean, don't you? They've got us. They've got us. Sadly, we do. I think that's a real big problem, isn't it?

It's a problem. But his, the quickness of his feet and his movements and feints and stuff, it was a real treat. And again, I think, he was a good outlet for Spain. We'd spoken about this before. He was trying hard,

and some stuff was coming off. He never quite. got the end product. But it was a real treat to see some of that. They had to replace the left back. And the previous leg back got injured, the Portuguese one. So he's so influential. It's just that what he's given us already,

and Monday he's 19, so he's only a kid and he hasn't been around for long. Yeah, we'll let him off. But what has given us is, I remember semifinals against Inter in Monjouik, Barcelona Inter Champions League. And I was sitting in the first row, observer seats they called them

so I had for 45 minutes Lamine Amal in front of me and he was incredible because I could see that what he could see and what he could see is like three Inter Milan players that he had to beat and he did it all the time. Those 45 minutes I stood up three times to clap and we were shouting

that I'm not there as a fan I'm not an Barcelona fan he hasn't got there yet. It's been two months not playing and right now you've seen the best Lamina of the tournament and they turned to put it do his head and they did in the break after the first quarter or the first break or whatever you want to call it I think it was the manager Rodri a nice Simon oh nice

Simone that's right approached him and it was like calm down you're trying to do too many things you're trying to rush things you too anxious because he's in all the posters is in all the advertisements yeah I watch as he was filming a Adidas and Coca-Cola advertisement six months ago. And everybody else is having a great World Cup and he hasn't. So he's, they've got to manage that. But what they're trying to tell him is, you only score one goal in the euros and people were in all of you. Right now, just give us that moment. By the way, he gives the ball to Porro in the first goal. Porro squares it to all more thing in the penalty spot. He is influential, but he wants to be more. But he actually, he grew off that one pass. So he misplaced so many

places, so many dribbles, and it was a one five-yard pass that put Poro in for the goal, and suddenly his confidence went through the roof, and that's just the maturity. It's just the side that he's going to get used to. And the thing is, as well, he's an absolute superstar for Barcelona, and everyone turns to him, whereas I think in this Spanish team, he perhaps doesn't realize, or not yet anyway, I can pass the book a little bit, and I can let other people do it, and that comes again with maturity and I mean like you say Rick seeing him close up the way he moves I'm glad I'm retired yeah very very you would have been a very dizzy boy oh I'd have sent off 100% also as an

England fan you're watching him and you're going oh he's great and you're going god we might have to face him we haven't really got any defenders like and like Nico O'Reilly I think is not a bad matchup not a bad matchup at all but currently yeah our defenders No, I'm just thinking, like, Nico O'Reilly's a midfielder. He's doing a great job as a left back. But there's a different proposition when you're playing your mouth. Have you played Norway yet? I missed that one.

All right. All right, Guy, I'm sorry. All right, man. Wow. I just answered the question. I just answered the question. Right. I said we might have to play him.

Okay. In other news, have you beaten France? No. No. Right then. We're still, I'm not talking about it. I did say we might have to, I did say we might. Did I?

Well, if not, one second. Just do it. Might. Just edit that end. That's good. Lamin just said, yeah, he's growing confidence. We won. So he's like, I think France will be the ones that will be scared of us.

And I hear that, again, from my older generation, like, no, don't do that. But he's like, yeah, yeah. Best moment of the game when I saw my brother getting my tongue out, three-year-old, Kenner, who's in the stands. Yeah, yeah, we saw it on the big screen. It was absolutely lost. I actually thought that maybe Spain's best player was an old timer in Rodry.

I thought Rodry was absolutely. It was like watching for City and his pomp again. And I don't know if that was partly about the Belgian midfield, but he was, I just thought he was terrific. He just looked fit, didn't he? And then that understanding of how to play the game, how to win the ball back, he's so good on the ball under pressure, isn't he?

I just can't get the ball off it. No. He's completely unflammable. He's actually beaten a World Cup record, I think, of passes that beat lines of defense ahead of cross today. He can just sort of do everything from there. Like the defending, breaking lines, it was, yeah. It was a master class. Got to about 75, 80 minutes and like the attempted passes, Spain had double the amount of Belgium.

And he's going, well, he means he's responsible. Said, you're safe. And that's boring. Said, said. But, Seid, is in the top of the tongue. But the thing is, though,

when Belgium got the equalizer, which by the way was a good goal, and I hate the term pre-assist, but the little ball from DeBreino, just first time into Castania, it's perfect. Like, any deviation from that, and there's an inception or whatever,

and then the ball in, and then that kid, De Catillera, yeah. He's got a knack. He hasn't scored any goals for Atlanta, but his movement and just timing. And as soon as it came in, you saw him, you're like, I think he'll win this.

He really is. He's like that with USA as well, weren't he? He's nowhere to be. Yeah. And that's probably where I'm talking about is a difference, again, what Spain don't have, is he plays that role at times.

And he might not be a nine, but he became a nine, playing on the shoulder. I thought his link-up play was good. He is a top-top player, but it's, again, making sure you get the surface, isn't it? He had that one moment where I think your heart

may have been in your mouth where they broke and Docu was running down the right and he just had to dig that ball and Docu's in. Absolutely in. No way a Spain defender's getting back and he messes it up and then immediately after puts the most horrible challenge and you know, just like such a like

oh no! Somehow gets away with it. But I did like, At that moment, I was like, well, you know, they are still very much in it having looked like they were probably out. Yeah, I mean, to be honest, I don't remember a team to have such a bad look in like the last week. If you count the fact that Kevin Debrunner doesn't add 19 minutes in him, but he does one or two things of magic for sure. Doku has been struggling with his breathing. For him to last all that long, I bet he's just shattered.

He looked tired towards the end of the game. He did sure. Not surprised. Twas and Tehramans and yet just, you know, everything is so tired at this stage. They do look a bit, I don't mean this in a condes anyway, but a little bit broken. Do I mean, like they need to just go and have a little reset and just go, right, we need to just to get fit. And you got also feel for Lammons who came in for Corswa. Corsua obviously went down injured and was visibly very, devastated, very upset about it.

And I'm not sure what the injury is yet. Lammons comes on. and you think, all right, well, you know, solid goalkeeper had a decent season for Manchester United. And only the second goalkeeper to have come on as a substitute, this tournament, and it's not tactical. So there's going to be a little bit of nerves there. And bless him, he fluffed a bit of a ball.

And just, it was an easy one as well, wasn't it? It was a really easy one. And your little heart broke at the end. Do you know what? I was really upset. So obviously, he was actually crying. I was close to tears. He'd conceded.

And it was, you know, He was his fault. There's no, you know, getting away from that. At the full-time whistle, absolutely nobody. No one went over to him. No one went over to him. He stood by his goalpost on his own, didn't he? For ages.

I think he was kind of maybe thinking, oh, maybe Quarthe'll come out if he can, or the goalkeeping staff, no one for absolutely ages. And then he just stood in the center circle on his own. And I just felt so sad for him. And like, you know, God forbid, you know, England go out to Norway on Saturday. It can happen.

And Jordan Pickford or Herrizz in Goll makes a mistake. you know I just think that the English and I think a lot of other teams have that mentality to to protect their players and go I couldn't believe it as well but I was so generally so sad I was like yeah you were could you not get down there could you not get close to him you were shouting weren't you saying yeah I was surena I love you yeah I was going lemons I love you and it's it's lemons I was like okay fine well I just felt I felt I felt genuinely felt really really sorry for him because there's a lot of pressure to come in having not played at the tournament and then

you have a shot which you know there was a shot what 10 minutes later five minutes later which he yeah arguably harder and and held on to it so yeah i do feel sorry for him and on goalkeepers unais simon obviously held the record for the the longest clean sheet in world cup history 650 minutes but they've they've let a goal in today so just let us have that moment wipe that a smile off your face you can you can focus on the goal we consider or you can focus on the fact that we won every single game in the euros and the world Copaba from one draw. Yeah, I mean, I think

Spain are now unbeaten in 36 matches. I've got nothing, mate. They're unbeaten in 36 matches across all competitions. It is amazing. No, seriously now, yes, as a fan and somebody that suffered defeats against Belgium in 86, for instance,

that really hurt, you think it's not going to happen, is it? It could be one of those games. It could be one of those accidents. But you could see that The base of the game didn't change. They weren't rushing things. They weren't just trying things out of nowhere.

Because, of course, they beat German in the quarterfowls of the Euros with a Marino goal in a minute of 119. We beat England in 19, beat Portugal in the last minute. So the belief that it's going to happen, and we're probably going to win this. It seems to be in the squad in a way that we don't share so much. But winning is a winning side. I mentioned to Stephen earlier what they shared before

they come on once Luis de la Fuente has done his speech just before coming on at the beginning of the game they put all together in a circle and they go like one, two, three, win, win, win! That's all you matters for them. Never mind the style debate that's gone. It's about winning. My absolute favorite moment in the game though

didn't come from a player. It was the ref when he... You know, you see occasionally like the ref gets in the way of the ball or whatever and you have to restart. What you don't see is in body checking a player and he completely he basically just body check daddy almost.

It was great strength because he got his arms or protected himself. He did. Did you notice it didn't put that on ref cam? Yeah, that's... Why not? Finally, something I'd want to see on ref cam. Exactly. Stick it on. Exactly.

Close up. See his nose hairs. He took the wrong technical decision because he didn't touch the ball. So he should have given a throw into Belgium. But he felt so bad about having done that. Yeah, you would, though, wouldn't you? I think I'm going to have to give him the ball. Yeah. No, he definitely took the man and not the ball. That's for sure. 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 the

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 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.

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. Five Lights Force.

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 favorite World Cup moments, Archie Gemmels, 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 day at the People World Cup 2020. with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith live from LA It's tempting now to just keep comparing Spain with France because we know we've got this semi-final coming up

and a lot has been made of the kind of the depth that France can call on but then you look today and Spain bring on Flan Torres they bring on Padre I think you know it's not like this is a shallow squad the Spain squad it's not bad at all is it I would say in attacking areas though I would rather have France's attacking qualities However, I think I would rather have Spain's defensive pair in the centre halves. He's 19. It's incredible how good he is, isn't it?

He looks like he's been playing the game for about 15 years. He just understands the game so well. He is a top talent. He could have been a bit stronger or he lost the Catalera for the goal. But listen, he's 19 years of age. One mistake, and that's what is the World Cup. get punished. In those situations, I'm always crediting the striker more than saying that the defender has done badly. Yeah. Oh, Rick, I wish you were my manager when I was playing. You'd have been

an absolute dream for me. Stephen, don't worry about it, Stephen. Don't worry about it, Stephen. That was excellent for the striker. I mean, he scored a hat trick, but hey, it was all on him. He was great. Your heart was in it, though, whatever. Yeah, exactly. Bless you. Rick, oh, can I come and play for your local team? No, of course, you. I mean, genuinely, yes. sort of school of thought, isn't there, that from that semi-final in the Euros, Spain are probably as good as they were then,

and France have got better. 100%. It's interesting that the Shams says he's still trying to find out maybe he has now, what Oliase can do for him. He hasn't worked that out yet. It's got a problem. He's got a problem. He's absolutely frightening. I mean, for me, he's been the best player in this tournament. Everyone will talk about the goal scorer and everyone will

talk about who's going to finish the gold Brute. He is the best player in this tournament by a country mile. I've said it from the start. He is. I don't think so. No, my God. I heard you say it. Leo.

No, no. No. No. No. No. No. No. I said European.

I said. Hang on. Hang on a sec. Let's just check this. Could you text Messi now if you wanted to? I could email him, yeah. That's not the same. That's not the same.

It's still take that. Well, yeah. But I wouldn't like, what's that? Yeah. We may not get back to you. Hang on. Let me check. I could message him on Instagram.

I mean, he won't see it. Hang on, he's checking. It's a good point. He's checking. A very good point. Has he got a number? I can email in. Text anybody else from his family.

Yeah. That's not one. Not really interested in Mrs. Messy. You know what? Don't give us the email, but is it what you think it might be? Messy 10 at Googlemail.com. Hotmail. I reckon he's quite old. It'll be hotmail.

There's a couple comedians, and I'm talking like big, big comedians, and they're probably going to get a flurry of emails now, where their email is literally their name at quite an obvious email. Give us one. No, but they set that up years and years again. Okay, I'm not going to tell you are, but I'm on, we play comedians football every Tuesday, and there's an email that comes through.

Oh, you nearly went then. He is like Frost Nixon all of a time. He nearly helped me. But there's a lot of people that play, and you look at the emails and you're going, oh, they must have set that up when Ask Jeeves or your AOL first game about. And then it's just their name at Sun and Zones and he's just accessible. So I'm just wondering if... And Leamack is half decent, isn't he?

Hey? Lee Mac's half decent. He's a very good footballer. I've never played with him on a Tuesday. I think, Lloyd, if I say yes, can you imagine what will happen next? Yeah. A thousand million people are just doing that. Yeah.

Hell don't message. See which one doesn't bounce back. Will you just show it to me later? I'm not going to email it. I'm glad you said email then. Yeah. Just show it. And I was like, it would be like the Holy Grail.

I'd be like, oh, wow. Imagine. Anyway, I can't. Like golden glow on your face. If they show it to you, you'll know it. Yeah, well, yeah. That's the problem. No, we only have a speaking emojis.

Due to the language, Barry. Yeah. That's everybody answers. He sent me at his own machine. And it's just him with like the one-way sign. Stop, stop, stop. He answers direct messages on Instagram. He doesn't.

He's tried. He just said that. No, he doesn't. Does he? It does. Really? Yeah. I know of three cases.

One Jamie Carrager when he call him a donkey. Burro. Burro. Yeah, yeah. And somebody else and somebody else. That's fantastic. Does he? Sorry, this isn't the context of the pog,

but just Leonor Messi email people? He used to. Wow. He used to. I don't think he's emailing anyone. I just thought, I think the Instagram was taking over that now. Really? But let's just say, he's buying a house and he needs a solicitor, you know, for combainty.

Will he use his email or? I think he's probably got some people. I'm not sure Giam knows the answer to that. Are you joking? Yeah. Of course he does. He wrote the book. He literally wrote the book.

There was a chapter on the house purchase. I was going to say that, is there? That's why I'm asking. I might have to find that chapter because I don't think it exists. My two most precious emails that I kept, one is from Leo. And the other one is from Martin Odergaard. Because I saw that on Twitter he put my book in Norwegian, the Messi book, saying what a brilliant player he is.

And then of course he went to Madrid and he deleted the post or next. But I screenshot it. So I sent in an email. I said, don't do anything bad. and always answer my calls because I've got this on you. Black man, he was quite funny on that. He's black man. He's black man. Just admitted that on the BBC. It's good when you can hold stuff over people. It really is. We all know that.

Let's look ahead to England, Norway then. Because we must. Guillaume, England should beat Norway. Is that a first statement? Well, that gap was too long. Yeah, didn't love that. Got it. you've reached the results well before the football, the good football and the style that Tujel wants to produce. I think he's realizing, and Anthony Gordon talking to one of us today, I think, was saying it's about camaraderie and brotherhood.

That's the important thing. It's another way of saying, you know, this idea we had to get it, we're not going to get there. And again, on that famous encounter with Portuguese coaches, I've got so many quotes from it, But they insisted on this idea. We just got to have a common idea that everybody can respond instinctively to whatever the situation. So you cannot go very far when you've got players

that come from different coaches. So it has to be quite a simple idea, basically. It goes to be a simple idea. And I think while England is getting to that idea, you've got two big players and you've got a personality that would have just gone. Do you know when you answer for the first time the teacher that you hate, you become an adult that day.

Well, you go to the Aztec and you beat Mexico. Your confidence go up the roof. That helps you win. Just a yes or no, Guillem, come on. You've given us lovely stories, but just admit that we could beat Norway. Or should? England should beat Norway, yes or no? Should, yes, will?

I don't know. I'll take should, yes. We can manipulate that in the edit. How useful is it as a difficult? defender when you know the striker that you're going to be coming up against very well. So obviously, Gaye and John Stone's. And Riley. And Riley.

And Riley. All know Harland. Edjee Conzell will have played against him a bunch of times. But the three who are teammates of his. Is that more of a benefit to the defender or to the striker? Well, it's both, isn't it? Because Harland will know the strengths and weaknesses of each defender. He'll know what hurts that defender.

he'll be able to play on their weaknesses flip it on the other side they'll know that what it becomes more... Are you about to tell me what his weaknesses are because they're not entirely clear are they? No, no. He hasn't got them. Yeah. No, the big thing is

it becomes a mental game now, doesn't it? Is who can be the mentally stronger player and who can deal with the situation better? Who goes into that with the upper hand physically, or mentally walking into it going well, I know how to deal with him as a defender. I know what his strengths are. I know how to nullify his strengths.

And nullify his strengths is make sure that midfield stop that supply into him. So the communication levels from the mid from the defense into midfield. However, then it's what doesn't he like in training? Does he not like little body checks? Is it something that frustrates him? Is the little nuances the way you can you can wind him up? Do they know how to get into his head? What other players do within the Premier League that really frustrates him?

They're the little things that you're looking for and hoping that you can, you can frustrate him. However, we saw against Brazil, he literally needs half a yard, but it's... Sixthence. So much of it is concentration with him, isn't it? Because it can happen in an instant.

Yeah, but you can concentrate as much as you want. The problem you've got with Harland as well is, is that he's that physically strong. I mean, you've seen it so many times where he just brushes people aside so easily, and you think, my word, how strong is this guy? I mean, if you stand next to him, the guy's on my mountain.

It's incredible how big and power. powerful he is and that's tough to stop. Jim, earlier you mentioned about how England haven't really been able to play the way they want to play. Like, how do you think both teams set up with, I guess, knowing that it's, I'm not saying it's the Harlan versus Kane show, but how do you think both

managers will set up for this game? I think they will identify what the strengths are and reinforce them. So Anthony Gordon has been brilliant on the left hand side, getting on the ball. Kane has been interesting because sometimes he drops deep, but mostly he's been close to a close to

goal, perhaps where the ball gets to him, but you have to get the ball to him. For Norway, again, you need just one idea to bring to this World Cup, and they've got it, haven't they? Lines very close together, ball to all the guard, and release the big man afront. So a bit of that, and it'll be you taking the initiative, I would think, and try to beat that. One thing that we've said it a number of times is their goalkeeper, slightly under the radar, has been fantastic. Not just saves, but distribution as well.

He's been across the board. It's been fantastic. And he's currently without a club, which I will keep saying, I feel like his agent. You're going to get him at Grimsby. Yeah, we would love him at Tuesday night. Tuesday night. What?

Tuesday after-do, mate. Oh, sorry. We work on the Eagles. Yeah. When you play with like, you think Michael McIntyre. Oh, no. I'm joking.

He doesn't play. He doesn't play. He does. Big Spurs fan. Big Spurs fan. Yeah, but he doesn't play with us on a Tuesday. Yeah. But there are any players that you came up against that you felt you had to do specific prep

for Stephen? Well the thing is it's different from when I played to what it is now so now you will get listen every game's accessible you can watch every game but you will get the analyst who will send you clips of say for talking sake you're going up against Harland they will clip up certain movements in certain positions if it's off the left hand side what's his movement what's his preferred position is it back post is it near post what run does he like to make is it an out to win run is it does he shove the defender to give himself half a yard there'll be all them little clips thrown in that you can then look at the problem is is that in a football game you're reacting within finest of margins to be able to react to that and the finest of margins you switch off a half a second

like gabriel will have watched harland's every single move and the moment he looks at the ball and loses that player there and goes oh no i'm done i'm done and then feels an absolute beast on his back yeah and he goes oh Oh, no. And that's the problem, so you can prepare as much as you want. But also, Rick, what you can do is you can over-prepure where you overthink things. And then the night before a game, you can be thinking, oh, my God, I'm going up against him tomorrow, I'm not going to sleep. And that's an issue as well where you overthink it.

You look tired. Yeah, I'm just, all right, mate. I've got to work with Lloyd tomorrow. How am I going to handle it? How am I going to handle it? He's too good. He'll start doing the intro. That will never happen

One day This is you done now right I'm done Yeah tonight fly home In time for the game I will should be back in time Yes If you don't get time for the first half

You'll be in time for the Ellie Goulding show She's doing the entertainment Yeah that'll be interesting Yeah if you like her Do you like mind a little bit of Ellie Goulding I think anyone in the crowd will be pretty starry-eyed Oh come on You can watch the games on planes these days

You can, yeah. Yeah. That's fantastic. Guillem just completely ignored it. I know. I know. I'm hoping that was lost in translation. Yeah, yeah.

I know. Actually, got a song called Starry-eyed. So which has been your favorite? Rick, Rick, Rick, if you love me like you do, okay. Oh, here we go. And a burn. Three really good, only golden songs. I've just batted them off.

That's unbelievable. What's been your favorite stadium? And that's a question to both of you. What has been your favorite stadium of the tournament so far? Well, me, this one. Really? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, a hole in the ground of 100 metres deep. Do you know what? I didn't realize we were in a hole in the ground until I was in the first half. I was up in the nosebleed seats and I was like, why is there a road at eye level? It's incredible, isn't it? I didn't realize that. Yeah, it's for the flight path, isn't it? Yeah.

Is it? Yeah, yeah, they had to get it down low. This is fantastic knowledge. This is great. Dion did like a sort of Holmes Under the Hammer style thing. How disappointing was it, though, that he didn't do the stairs to the stadium? Because there's a lot of stuff. There's a hell of a lot of stuff.

So disappointing. But my, can I just touch on my favourite state? I had two. So I enjoyed this one today. But Boston and Philadelphia were incredible. Boston state are like the open air and the actual, the history of it and everything around it, they were very, very good. I think for me, if it's a US stadium, it's got to be open air. Yeah.

It's got absolutely drenched in Philadelphia. And I was like, where is the roof here? I mean, that is the worst part. I mean, you either get drenched or you get sunburn, but it's still great. Commentator's nightmare, just equipment just drenched. I had an umbrella up and I have one of them stupid FIFA ponchos on as well. I was that, oh my God. That was brilliant.

He must have looked like an absolute lemon. It's lemons. Sorry, yeah. Guillaume, Stephen, thank you. Safe troubles home. Thank you very much. See you at the final. Huh?

In the final? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Yeah. He's still teasing us. I'm staying here, no matter what if that's what you mean. But, yeah, England, Spain will be a great final. Let's manifest it.

How do we do it? I think you just show us Leonelema's email. Yeah. And then it'll... Oh, come on. He's just showed me Leo. He's just showed me Leilomess's email. And my eyes aren't quite good enough.

It's actually 10 at Gmail.com. It's not Gmail. No, it's weirdly. It's NTL world. Which is mad. He must have got a really good diamond cable broadband package in the late 90s. Well, that was a bit of exciting, wasn't it? So we've got commentary of England, Norway, on Fire Live Sport from 10pm,

then it's Argentina, Switzerland from 2. Make sure you're subscribed to the Football Daily Feed here. All the latest from the England camp with John Murray and Paul Robinson. That will be out a bit later today, and we'll be back with a podcast after the England game too. Do you want to do the thing about the push notifications? Oh, and please make sure that your push... And this is why I do these bits.

Oh, cricky, it's hard, isn't it? Yeah. 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 at the same time. And it makes you feel...

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