Football Daily - World Cup: Who Stops Messi?

Episode Date: July 18, 2026

The World Cup final is almost here, and Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith are joined by John Murray and Chris Sutton to debate the biggest talking points before football's biggest game.Can anyone stop Lionel Messi? Has the refereeing been good enough throughout the tournament? Does a Super Bowl-style half-time show belong at a World Cup final? And why is Chris convinced Americans genuinely mean it when they tell you to "have a good day"?Plus, Rick and Lloyd give their first impressions after arriving in New York ahead of the final.

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Join me, Max Rochton, our expert panel and Barry, every day of the tournament. Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full episodes on YouTube. At the People World Cup 2026 with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Hello and welcome to the Football Daily with Rick and Lloyd. We are in New York. Well, we're not in New York. We're in Jersey. Is it New Jersey?

I think we're in Jersey City, I think, is the bit we're in. We're in jerk. So right on the... Getting a nod. Yeah, getting a nod. An approving nod. So we're right sort of staying. on the water overlooking Manhattan

but not from the way that you normally do it so if I was to show you a photo you'd be like is that Manhattan? Yeah yeah yeah it's just everyone takes photos from the other side. Should we say the cheaper side? Yeah I mean it is definitely the cheaper side we're in the cheaper

that's also getting a nod to approval as well but it's still still very nice and when we landed yesterday we had been told about the air quality and we got various warnings on our phones and if you saw that but when we got off I was genuinely surprised at how a hot it was at sort of 8.30 at night and B, the smog, the sort of

haze was like blade runner. Well usually when you get to New York you can see Manhattan, you can see that beautiful skyline. See some stuff. Probably millions of lights, I'd say. Hundreds of thousands? No, I think millions is probably right. And you couldn't see anything. No. You could not see anything because the smog slash smoke from Canada, was just covering everything. Well, woke up this morning. It's cleared. Clear as a daisy.

Yeah. Is that the phrase? Clear as a daisy? I tell you. Yeah, it should be. My friend texted me and said, oh, now the smog's cleared. Do you want to go for a run in Central Park? And I was like, of course not.

Of course not. Did you not? No. I don't want to go for a run anywhere. Yeah. I had a bit of a howler on the plane coming over from L.A. to New York. I watched the film Hamnet on the plane. Yeah.

So I haven't seen it And the reason I haven't seen it Is because I have been told That it's so incredibly upsetting Yeah, yeah yeah I cried inconsolably In between two men Had never met before

Yeah And then... Four and a half hours And I saw you sort of towards the end Of the fight When you walked past me And your little eyes Were all red and puffy

Well can I say So there was a moment Where I was watching it And it was It's an unbelievable film Okay But not a film you should watch When England

Have been knocked out Of the World Cup You haven't really senior family for, well, really, about four months. And your 30,000 feet in the air where your senses are heightened. So there's a moment where it was just so sad and all I couldn't watch the screen. I was blubbing inconsolably. Luckily the bloke on my right had had some sort of gummies that he was dead to the world.

The guy to my left, I think was quite liberal. So it was like, oh, this man's in touch with this, you know, his emotional side. Yeah. And I was just staring at the toilet sign because I couldn't look at the screen because it was so sad. And then I just saw you get up. To go to the toilet, I was like, oh no. So I just started scratching my face so that you didn't see me crying uncontrollably.

Come on. I know, I know. We're close enough. We are close enough. But honestly, it was unbelievable. You've cried off the table tennis. I didn't cry. I had hay fever.

Oh, right. I had hay fever. The pollen was really bad in wherever you were. But yeah, so just a little word of warning. I kind of, I say, you know, just trying to help the viewers here. Never watch Hamnet in a plane, because you'll just cry your eyes out next to a guy called, Raymond.

Did you and Raymond speak afterwards or? Nope, not at all. No, not at all. He was like, never speak of this again? Yeah, thank you. At one point, I had my eye mask on. I put my eye mask over my eyes. The tears were still leaking through.

Just to dab the tears. Mink, why not? But yeah, fantastic film. Not really won for a World Cup. Well, we're joined now by football correspondent, John Murray, and ex-Lincoln City manager, Chris Sutton. How are you both?

Well, this is quite something, Isn't it? Face to face? Looking directly into your eyes. I know. I'm looking... The first time at this World Cup. Looking directly into Chris's eyes.

And they tell a story, mate. You do not look very healthy. Well, it's been... Thank you. What a lovely introduction. Nobody doesn't. It's been a long trip. I've done a lot of travelling.

And today I'm, yeah, a little bit... You don't have to stand up for yourself. This man... No, no. This man... Look at those eyes and tell me he doesn't have to stand up for himself. He's been travelling around the country. reports on these games. You've been in LA trying to launch a Hollywood career.

Working on your 10. With some success. That's what Jetlag does. Exactly. It takes his toll. Also, just ignore him. Just ignore him. He doesn't want to. He likes me. I've had this for the whole month, by the way. Yes, and you also like me. It's important to remember that. How's the table tennis gone? Right. Who side do you want now? No, it's just a question. It's just a question. The table tennis has been a roller coaster, shall we say? Not from my point of view.

It's been exclusively up. So we thought we'd try something slightly different for this podcast. So I've asked each of us to bring something to the table for us to debate. Something significant that everyone's been talking about at the World Cup. Well, I'll start to get the ball rolling. And I want to talk about

Lionel Messi and the inability of teams to shut him out. And every team has tried it. And even when it looks like they've managed it, then he just takes hold of the game and kind of does what he wants. And I want to know if that is the fault of the teams or if you just have to accept that Messi is too good. Chris, you kind of...

I mean, I can't say if you're grimacing over what I'm saying or just generally how you're feeling. No, that's you. I'm just looking at you. Yeah, it's a good question. And what were the stats about Messi, how much running he's done or how much running he... Look at this, by the way, you've done.

That is. I mean... And you've got a notebook. and then you with your little phone you haven't even looked at it. You've got the same phone, Rick. But it is quite incredible. It's the walking.

Yeah. He's walked more than anyone else during the matches. He's covered sort of five kilometres in the last couple of games. It's like half of what an average player would cover. Yeah, but it's just the moments, isn't it? And he's, I mean, I think it's his most successful World Cup

in terms of goals. Yeah, eight and then four assists. And yeah, just, I mean, just his influence. And I mean, the final's really interesting because I think we all think that Spain will control the game but the way that Argentina have played, they have played for moments and he's been the biggest part of that. And, you know, we had the Ronaldo Messi debate earlier on in the tournament.

Ronaldo wasn't contributing and Messi certainly was and at the heart of everything sort of good about Argentina. Yeah, can Spain do it, John? It must be possible. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely it is. As we were discussing last night during the more sensible moment, this is a one-off match.

This is a one-off cup match. So anything is possible within the course of that 90 minutes. But I would sound messy because we've commented on him a lot over the years, haven't we? We've been fortunate. We've seen him a lot in club football. I've commented on him at every World Cup. And he, to me, has got the edge over Ronaldo. And I think part of the reason for me is that I've commented more on Ronaldo,

because of course he had that spell playing in the year. UK, but it's always felt like whenever I've commented on Messi, almost every time that he's really stepped up. And it feels like he scores every time I watch him. And some of the stuff, the way that he bounces off people, you know, for the size that he is, how robust he is, and how rarely he's been injured is remarkable. He's got a bottom as good as John McGinn. What does that? I do believe. You know John McGinn uses his bottom. It's not quite as big. No, no, no, but he also uses his bottom in order to get the bounce. Yeah. That's not something that gets discussed much.

That's true. I just think he's the perfect size just to get around people. Like he's pirouetting around people. And obviously when he was first spotted, when he was how many years old, he was given growth steroids in his legs to try and boost himself. And everyone thought he'd grow a bit bigger. But he's just stayed the same kind of height. And I just think that's a nuisance, isn't it?

Like he's not, you know, he's not at the right level where he can put your arm around his neck and grapple him. You just wheeves around. You're not allowed to do that anyway. Unless you're Argentina. This has underlined his status. This is edged him ahead of Ronaldo, I think. I watched the assist for what was the winning goal against England. And you look at the two England defenders who are on him

and they're basically half his age. And to be fair to them, they have shepherded him onto his weak foot. And then he's just produced that cross. And you kind of think, well, I don't know what, I guess maybe they should have got a bit tighter or it's just emphasised to me in certain situations I don't know what you're supposed to do

you know you need more than one man out against him really but then you know you leave you leave spaces in other areas but no I mean he's you know he's a left foot he's nimble he's sensational and no I mean it was a brilliant brilliant piece of magic from him once again

he's been the difference for Argentina out of possession he doesn't work at all that's where I think I think Argentina may come a cropper against Spain because I think Spain will control the game. They'll dominate. And I covered the Swiss game. And I was supposed to come on with you after, wasn't I?

And the Swiss were better than Argentina. They really, really were. I mean, they were in the ascendancy, like right on top when they got their equalizer, and it felt like they were going to go on and win that game. We covered the Egypt match. And, you know, I'm saying, 10 minutes ago, I'm saying, this is the end of the road.

This is the end of the road for Argentina. Messi had had had the penalty saved, He'd had quite a quiet match. 79th minute it was, wasn't it? They were two nil down. And then before you know it, he's absolutely come to life and really is the major force in them

winning that match over the course of the remaining minutes. And the longer the games have gone on and gone into extra-m, he starts to drift out to that right-hand side and in those 1v-1s, I mean, he's unstoppable. You actually can't do anything against him, one-v-one, which is why, as you say, you need two on him, but then the, bases emerge. But it does occur to me, effectively, out of possession,

Argentina are playing with 10 and a half men? He's not doing any defensive work. He doesn't track back. But that's the way that played all tournament. No, of course, but you think that a team would be able to exploit that, and maybe that team is Spain. I think so. I actually thought the I thought the winner would come out of the Spain, France, semi-final. I think, I can't remember who might have been Julianne, who phrased at the final before the final. I think he was absolutely bang on with. with that assessment.

And, yeah, without the ball, he just stands. He literally stands. His other teammates have to work exceptionally hard. They'll sit deep. It'll be a very similar game to the game against England in terms of the way that Argentina set up. I'm sure about that. They'll defend the box early on, defend strongly,

try and hang on in the game and just look for a moment. And Alvarez, who likes to come to the ball. He's been the one who's actually had to have a bit of variation with his play and sort of stretching and running him behind because they don't really do the Argentina. But surely for this one, they'll have parades in there with McAllister and DePaul, and obviously Enzo Fernandez as well,

who works incredibly hard. So you've got four really hard workers there. It's a hard-me-filled-like. I've got to say, it's a hard-meat filter-like. I love watching Argentina because, I mean, the way they defended the... When they got in front against England, and they don't have a great deal of size. And we put Dan Byrne up top, Ivan Tonya come on, and then we were going direct, Thomas Tuchel Ball direct late on.

But the way they defended the box and how ferocious they were. And I've got to say that it's hard to measure this, but they look like a team and a nation where it means more to Argentina than virtually. How do you measure that? But it does seem to mean more to them than anybody else. Yeah, it does seem that. I was on the plane here with Emma Hayes and she said exactly that. She said that's what England need. England don't have that.

They'd probably say, yes, we do. I mean, they're horrible. The way the game started, I thought they should have been, the referee should have dished out of you yellow cards. Ideally, you shouldn't be allowed to get away without going something in the back of the head. No, you shouldn't. Exactly. But then they're in and around the referee when things go against them.

I didn't think, we disagreed on that. Elliot Anderson. and I didn't think that was a booking, actually. I thought was it Messi. I thought Messi more ran into him than the other way around, but they're surrounding the ref getting involved. I was amazed it was a booking given everything that had gone before that. Exactly that.

I think in a normal game, I'd say it's a booking, and that game definitely not. No, exactly, but they're so streetwise and smart, and that's why I thought they had no chance of winning at watching them. I thought England would beat them, and I still think Spain will have the edge. But there's something inside. You just think, will they find a way once again?

If Messi goes on to that right-hand side like he did and like it has been in the last few games what does Coquaree have to do? I'll tackle him. He's a hot head though, isn't he? Like he's a loose head though, isn't he? He's a loose cannon. He's always in the ref's face.

He's going to be as Argentinian as the Argentinians. Yeah. Do you think he'll do a job? I don't think anybody can do a job with him with him sort of 1v1. I just think it'll be emphasized more with the way that Spain play. I think they've been the best team with the ball, the best team without the ball.

They're the only team. who really hunt when they lose the ball and press high. I mean, I actually don't know how many games are played inside, how many games are played outside. Am I right in saying this is only the second one they'll be playing outside? Right. All right. Should we move on to our next talking point?

Lloyd, you've got something you'd like to discuss. Yeah, well, one of the biggest talking points throughout this World Cup, it's the refereeing and the VR decisions, the VR decisions that haven't gone to the screen, the red cars, the penalties, and basically the debate over consistency. How much confidence do you have that the officials in this final

won't become the actual story? I quite like the way the referees have let things go in the sort of physical tackling sense. There have been the odd errors. I think simulation. Hang on, that's what we were saying at the start of the tournament

and then I think that sort of dissipated. That's fair. But I certainly thought, With the group stage games, I thought I would love games to be referee in the Premier League, like I saw in the group stage. You know, there were some strong challenges, and the referee were left things. There was a lot of this. There was a lot of get-up.

Simulation's been worse than ever in this tournament. I think that the referee should have been more robust in terms of yellow cards. And that was another one, Argentina. Somehow got away with, wasn't at the end, the embolo where they turned to do. I'm not sure they were allowed to do that. But anyway, they found a way of getting in Bolo. sent off who was stupid anyway. But yeah, I quite like the way the game

has been refereed. And of course there's been the odd moment, the odd incident, which, you know, been high profile, which everybody was always going to get stuck into. Could have gone, either way, we're going to talk about the Argentina-Egypt. That's the one that really gets to the nub of a couple of the issues, isn't it? Because you've got usage of VAR,

how far it goes back, and then consistency. Yeah. Because Egypt's, what would have been there, second goal that got chalked off. Obviously, it was a wonderful goal, which is sort of part of the story in a way, isn't it? Because you wish it had stood.

And I know that can't really come into thinking, but it does. Gets chalked off because 17 seconds before when they win possession, there is a foul. And I don't think there's much argument that it's a foul. It's just how far you think VAR should be going back looking for things and re-refereeing the game. That's the thing. And if you accept that, then why?

doesn't the same thing happen for Argentina's third goal? The winner, yeah. When Salar is appealing for a penalty immediately before they go up the other end and score it. Now, in fairness, I don't think it's a penalty. It would have been very soft,

but I can't understand why VAR hasn't got the referee to have a look at it because it seems like such a comparable situation. So, yeah, it didn't sit quite right with me. It certainly didn't sit right with the Egyptians. It certainly did not. I mean, that's why they were like they were.

Yeah. It feels to me like we don't really know who's in control. Like, we don't really know who's in control because there are some decisions where they won't even look at a review. And so you kind of go, well, I know that the referee is supposed to be in control and then someone's on his ear and goes, actually, I think you should have a look at that. But I just, I don't actually think that anyone is in control of the game. They will look.

They will be looking all at the time. You know, you think they've not looked at that, but they will be. be looking. With a situation like that, do you think that it would have been worth the referee going and having a look? I just think that, and we do get this from Howard Webb, don't we, in the Premier League this last season, about this high bar and low intervention. I think it's my feeling. That's what people want. They want intervention when you absolutely have to do that. Is it, and I know that it sort of shouldn't be, but is it that it's a higher bar for an incident in the penalty box than it is outside.

Because I feel like there's been a few decisions where... We don't know. I think it's so hard to measure. I do think that there's an element because those two decisions we're talking about were for Argentina that, you know, us English are enraged by that. I do think that there is an element of that. Had it been England, Egypt and things gone for England, I thought, gone the way that they did for it, you know, we'd have been...

And Rick's right as well. it was because it was such a good goal. But that doesn't... No, I know. It doesn't. Emotionally, it does make it. There we go. But also, there's been plenty of absolutely absurd decisions that have gone in...

Well, not plenty. A couple of decisions that have very much gone in England's favour, I don't think. So the penalty for... The Croatia one? No, no, no. The one that cons are clearing out... Yes, that's right. It seems like a long time ago now, isn't it?

That is a... a stone wall penalty. I mean, as you say, VAR, I've looked at it, and the referee hasn't gone to the screen to look at it. Just that inexplicable, terrible, terrible decision.

And then actually, yeah, the Modrich penalty in the first game, pretty soft. Soft, but it probably was. Yeah, but then if that, I sort of then I look at the Salon and I go, well, that'll be soft, but, you know. But then they set the bar there,

haven't they? So then when the Mexico one, you go, well, actually they gave that against us. So therefore, we're going to have to, to give that. I just think that there's been consistency in some things, but not in a lot of others. That's all opinion, isn't it?

It's the soft bar, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where is the soft bar? Great, great question. A fantastic power in that. Get out on a t-shirt. Is that the soft bar? Yeah, I think Chris well knows that's the hard bar.

What I will say is I quite enjoyed ref cam. Yeah, yeah, ref cam. I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. Really? Yes, I am. Really? Yeah, when it was announced that we were going to have ref cam, I thought, Oh, no.

I think terrible. I think we all did. As soon as I saw it, I thought, actually, I can't like this. I know you'll be, you will be surprised that that's my view. I'm very surprised. I knew you would. I'm not that excited about it. What excites you?

It's a completely different angle. It's a nice view. It's a completely different angle. Because you've played a reasonably high level, Chris. A very high level. You've seen some of these angles. We haven't seen these angles. It's exciting to us.

I'm mere mortals. I'll tell you what's an interesting aspect of ref camera that I think you could use even more is, you do actually see what the referee is seen. So if there's a contentious incident, or not seeing. Or not seen. And that could actually help the referees because it shows that they can't see. I'd quite like a bit.

So it's a game purely on RefCam just to see what they have to go through the whole entire time. But also, the stuff that you missed. There was a point when we couldn't work out on our telly how to get the games. And we were just watching fan park reaction to games. And Refghan would have been better than that.

I think Refcom would have a lot been for that. Television's been difficult, hasn't it? to find what you need. I don't think we can sort of have a pop-up the US for their TV channels with the amount we have. Nobody's actually quite hard to find the World Cup. Hang on.

Producer Jonathan just sorted it out for us. He had to sign up to something on YouTube for a different channel. I wasn't getting into that. We had to go onto an app. We couldn't just go on to a normal... Because what happens is you go onto the channel, you'd get five minutes for free

and then it would just throw to a camera of a fan park in Detroit. Yeah. Well, I would have the thing where I'd be watching a game, so that game finished and I think right in an hour it's an extra one I put the television on on the same channel and it's like they're selling

diamond necklaces yeah which is exactly what you wanted I'm baffled because I am useless with technology and I just yeah I just go through the remote until you found it and then the game comes up World Cup you just look for World Cup coverage and then we did

welcome to four grand that's talk about modern life that would have been nice to say a chess cam the table tennis as well that would have been good Look, we're trying to find a table tennis bar in New York so that we can have a little football daily. What about pool? I can't play him at pool because I'm too good. I've got a table named after me at Kewild in Grimsby.

What's it called? The grifter. I didn't lose a game for two and a half years once. How many games did you play? It was about four. I was a busy kid. I was a busy kid singing a lot of choirs. Let's move on.

Five life sports. My favorite World Cup moment. It's the first World Cup I properly remember. watching Argentina 78. The ticker tape, Mario Kempes, Ari Hahn's scoring goals from miles out, and always one of my favourite World Cup moments. Archie 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. I have to feel.

33 days, 33 episodes, no off switch. From the goals and the glory to the politics and the problems of the World Cup, if you want football analysis from a podcast that's been over-analizing the game for more than 20 years, this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of football journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt? Probably not. Or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably.

World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcast or watch the full episodes on YouTube. with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Listen on BBC Sounds. Next discussion point, I think from you actually, John. Yes, this is the sister topic of the adverts during the water breaks, but this is what's coming up this weekend. Also, I quite like the fact that you call it a water break as well. Yeah, well, not what they call it.

Yeah, hydration break. Yeah, it's like cricket, isn't it really? Yeah, a little water break. Yeah. And that has angered me throughout this tournament, and people aren't getting this back home. but in America, when the adverts come on halfway through a match, that really upsets me because that's not what it's supposed to be.

And therefore, this weekend, the halftime show, in the World Cup final, the most important high-profile match on the planet, now is super-boleified with the halftime show, which they say is only 11 minutes long, but with all the setup and everything, the expectation is that it will be all round about half an hour. so half an hour in the middle of a football match. They're aiming for between 20 and 25 minutes is what they think,

but you imagine it will probably spill over. I have yet to have this conversation with Gary Flintoff, our producer, but the conversation will be. As soon as that whistle goes, at the end of the first half, stop watch on. And the thing is, Rick, it is Law 7. This is the IFAB, the International Football Association, board, guardians of the laws of the game.

That's what they. say they are. That's what they say they are. It says law 7, 7.2 halftime interval, players are entitled to an interval at halftime, not exceeding 15 minutes. And that's it. That's the crucial part of that. We discussed before and that Mancet got fined this season for taking too long to come out.

For exactly that reason. They can afford it. Well, they can actually. That's not the point I'm making. My suspicion is like, Go on. Anyone who has the best interests of the game at heart should feel that, or I'm sure will feel, that this is totally wrong. This goes against what the game should be.

This is John being enraged. All I would say, ask Ian Dennis about this. His head nearly fell off, learning that this could go on for, what, 25 minutes. And I've got to say, I agree. And the fact you're reading out of the game, and FIFA just do what they want. I mean, in some ways, I admire them because...

They just carry on regardless, don't they? Even under the much-questioned rule of set bladder, we never had anything like this. It's become a circus. It has become a circus. I know we're in America and everything's been American-fied and stuff. But just going back to that 15-minute, there's a reason why, I'm assuming,

those breaks are 15 minutes, because the footballers' bodies have been conditioned to have that 15-minute break, I assume. Lactocassic build up. You know, they'll just come out all stiff as a board. What are they going to be doing for the extra, 10, 15 minutes. Are they going to be on...

We're resting, probably. No, but are they going to be on bikes? Do you see rugby players on bikes? They'll be listening to BTS. They're not going to watch it, are they? They might, we don't know. They want to be out and, you know, getting ready. How long did you do, like, an interval to be?

Interval. I've gone from... I love musicals. No, I mean, it's just embedded. There's always been 15 minutes. Well, it used to be 10 minutes. There you go, it used to be 10 minutes. But were you chomping at the bit to get out during the halftime.

No, but I'm quite lazy, man. Not really, no. So the line up, BTS, Shakira, Justin Bieber and Madonna it's all curated by Coldplay's Chris Martin.

I think a much better system would be if you have to have this, each team in the final puts up an act. So the Argentinians put up an Argentinian pop star the Spanish put up

a lovely sort of flamenco. Can you name an Argentinian act for me, Rick? No, but I don't need to. That's a great show. Yeah. Is there one? Because that, well, there will be. that's quite fun,

isn't it? Madonna has got a link to Argentina. Yeah, I suppose. Will she be singing? What was the song? I don't think she was coming out and doing a Q&A, is she?

Oh, Don't cry for me, Argentina. Yeah, but that wasn't Madonna. Was it not? There was Evita, wasn't it? They were different people? Yeah.

Yeah, not everything you see in films is true. I just think, like, it would be a nice detail if the nations had to provide you know five minutes of entertainment and you also don't know who that is until obviously the finalists have decided

so you're sort of whittling around yeah so if we'd have got to the final we'd have ended up with you know probably Jedward but you see we did have that Chris at the opening match we did have that because that was Mexican entertainment yeah yeah yeah that we had do you remember Manor

the guy with a long hair little mariachi band that came on yeah I remember them can I say my favorite two half time shows of the last I say three or four years is Grimsby, Cambridge away, where Cambridge are sponsored by a skip company. And so two men brought out this massive fibreglass skip and put it in the half, the halfway line.

Fibreglass. Fibre glass. I don't think you could bring a big skip onto the. Not two men wouldn't be out to, would they? No. You'd have to drive it on a skip lorry. Two men brought on a fiberglass skip popped it in the middle. And then a Grimsby Town fan and a Cambridge United fan had to basically chip a ball into the

skip. And it was one of the best 15 minutes of into. entertainment, really good. I think we do that. Good that. I think all of that, like basically a child taking a penalty

against, you know, a former goalkeeper, that sort of stuff. That's what you want to say. Or a mascot. Yeah, lovely. I think we go old school, 80s entertainment,

pop it in there and you win. Mascots fighting is also good. And you win a platter of meat. Yeah, why not? Okay, so I've bought Messi to the table. You've bought refereeing. John has bought the half-time show. All big subjects.

Chris, what are you bringing? Just the thing about people from the US, I mean, I always thought people from the US aren't sincere. But when I've been at this tournament and people say to me, have a nice day, I believe them. I think they are sincere. I think I got them wrong. Can I just have one more, just quick go on the accent?

Have a nice day. That's really good, actually. It's very good. Honestly, I genuinely believe them. I didn't before. I thought all Americans were frauds. But no, I think that they really, really, mean it. I do honestly.

So, well done. I got you wrong, America. It's a revelation. Yeah. You've warmed to the American people and they've warmed to you. Do you know what? I've been thinking about this. Like, Americans are just very friendly in general, aren't they? Yes. And apparently, have a nice day was a thing that was brought in by waiters and waitresses in order

to try and get more tips. That was like it'd be overly friendly to go and get more tips. So that is a little bit disingenuous then. No, but the thing is saying that. No, no, because, and you start at the point, and so have I. So I don't think you can say that fairly. You can't, you can't measure what somebody's thinking if they want to say,

have a nice day. But I think, I think, just through osmosis, everyone now says it. And I think that's a lovely thing for society. So everyone is just nice and friendly. It's started off insincere then. But it's not, it started off because people wanted tips, because it's a tip society. And then everyone's saying, I'll have a nice day. And then just through osmosis

and, you know, evolution, people are just being nice and I'll have a nice day. So everyone says it. And I think if we had that in the UK, imagine. It'd be great. You said the dump truck that is now. If you compare that to the Aussies who say good-day, they don't mean that. We all know they don't mean good-day.

Do they? They do not mean that. I don't know when he's been to Australia that much. But they just, they hate us. The Australians? Yeah, they hate us. But hang on, do they say good-day as hello or good-day as-in-gob-bye? It doesn't matter.

It still means the same thing, doesn't it? Good-A. No, but is it a greeting or a goodbye. It doesn't matter. But hang on, so they probably do. They probably do mean hello, don't they? Yeah, they do. It's just their way of saying hello.

It's actually there way of saying good day. Good day. Yeah. We had a great one in Atlanta, so the waiter came over. I can't remember his name strangely because they do always tell you their name. They do. What's wrong with that? No, I do quite like it.

But I feel sorry that I can't remember his name because he did tell me. Anyway, let's say he was called Chad. So Chad comes across. I said, could I see the menu? And he said, right, okay, he comes over with the menu, puts it down in front of me. And he says, okay, talk. to me. Like it's a deal or a contract.

Yeah, it's awesome. I'm a bit flustered. I'm not sure. And my other favourite one, which I really love this. And this has actually become a bit of a catchphrase of for our group of the World Cup. Whenever they ask for anything, like a ticket, parking, parking pass, that sort of thing. They look at it. And then it's, you're all set.

You're all set. I was like, I don't know. Oh, what do I do now? Rick and I and producer, Lizzie, went to Manhattan Beach in L.A. And we went to his nice little restaurant. We were watching one of the games there. And the waiter was really lovely. And he was like, do you know what, I'm going to bring you over some chips and some quack.

I'm like, oh, that's really nice. Guy must really love us. And then we just looked at the bill. He went, I just charged us for him. Also, $17. $17. It was good, but it wasn't $17. It was good.

Do you know, I don't think anyone's actually said to me on this trip, have a nice day. Well, I'm about to. But people say to me all the time, you're all set. And when they say that, I actually am. That's the most beautiful thing I think I've ever heard. Go ahead. And now do the accent as well. This is great.

Have a nice day. And now take the hat off. Thank you. You may go. Yeah, so I think we settled all the big debates there. Nice to have John and Chris in person as well. Chris has definitely gone for a long lie down. He said he's going to do a show, but I think he's gone for it.

He needs to recover. He's gone for a sleep and a cry. We've had a couple of nice messages. I mean, we've heard more than a couple of nice messages. Am I going to read a couple out? Can I just ask, producer, have we had any horrible messages? Yes. The answer to that.

No. No. Listen, the answer to that is always yes. So on... That's a man who does five-flip. Listen, listen. On five-life breakfast, oink. I only...

So you have an option to look at the curated feed of messages, which is the ones that kind of get green to be read out on it. Or you have the unfiltered raw text console. That is psychologically unacceptable. Oh, it's great. Oh, my God. Also, what I love, if you go on to one of those horrible messages, you can also click on history and see what they've sent in the past and go, oh, right, I should never go to that neighborhood.

Hugely complimentary. But we've had no horrible ones. We will have done, but we don't need. Of course she is, because she's nice. She's protected. He's protecting her children. She knows I'll start crying again. He cried at your eye mask.

I'll get your eye mask. But this is a nice one. Kristen in Santa Monica says, gutter that you've done your last episode from my neighbourhood. I've been hoping to spot you on your hogs around town. It's nice that we've got a ref in the area. There's a burrs. A couple of things.

They don't make that noise. No, but I wish they did. It sounds like a drone. I'm trying to paint a picture. chair. You don't do that either. What do I do? You press a little button with your thumb.

No, I know. I've ridden on the hogs. Yeah, I know. But also, as well, as someone who rides a motorbike. I do. I do ride a motorcycle. No, just, okay. Just leave it there as somebody who writes a motorcycle.

I've got a photo. Rides a motorbike. Sorry, as someone who's right to motorbike. Is that one that one wearing that shirt? You've been crying at a film and a plane. Obviously, you're worse than those. because they go, why are you wearing a grimmisbee top? An England game. I can wear

whatever shirt I want. Yes, yeah, absolutely you can. If I went for my motorcycle license, they would not pass me wearing this, okay? I'd need to wear leathers. Just a quick one, Rick, throttles on the right hand side. Yes, but I'm holding. I know that as well. You can just swap it, mate. You can just swap it. All right, fine.

Better. Thank you. You've passed. That's not the... I've passed my test. That's good news. I finally get to put those leathers to some different use. I she said I live up the hill from Penma in Santa Monica which was the golf course

we watched a couple of games at and I was barefoot at whatever you both have been a welcome respite from the American punditry if we can even call it that I mean I think a lot of people are calling what we do punditry as well I was the last match from Jamison's possibly your Irish local

yes it was and it was a sad long walk back to my car tell me about it headed to New York to watch the final in a Brooklyn pub with my brother it'll be nuts if you're close by again. Well, Kristen, we will be close by. I don't think we should meet up. I think it'd be weird. But we are close by.

We are close by. Do you know what? Yeah, fine. I mean, I'm lonely. You go and you're going to meet you. Kristen and your brother. But we were in Jamestown's for the last match as well. Oh, would you not have spotted us?

No. Well, certainly me. A man came over to me, went, I know you. I was like, do you? And then he was like, what's your name? I had to type my name into Instagram. And then he looked really disappointed. I was like, cheers, mate.

Didn't even follow me. That is exactly what I did when they said this is going to be your co-host. Oh. Evan in Seattle says, thanks for your daily reports. I don't even watch football and you all made it a joy to learn more about a sport

you will love. I'd love to hear more of Rick and Lloyd doing sports. Now, does he mean covering sports or playing sports? Either way, a bit of fun. We're down. Thanks, Evan. If you want to get in touch with us over the next couple of days,

so we have got, well, how many more shows? Two more shows after this? Two more shows. Two more shows. You can. 08,000, 289, 369. 08,000, 289, 369. We'll be back with a...

Yeah, it's all right, is it. We'll be back with a podcast tomorrow morning after the England-France game. That literally nobody cares about. And there will be commentary on 5 Live Sport from 8 o'clock if you want to listen to that, which you don't. Thanks for listening.

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 at the same time. It makes you feel... I don't know how to say it. We know that feeling.

The FIFA World Cup 2026. 1 5 live in BBC Sounds. The World Cup is back and because we have no off switch, Football Weekly is going daily. If you want a podcast with more footballing heritage, than a Brazil number 10, more talent than a French starting 11, and more predictable than an England penalty shootouts. Look no further.

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